April 2023 Mini Reviews - part 3
Published: 5th April 2018 by Electric Monkey
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I've read a couple of this duo's books before, like Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, which I loved and continue to re-read every Christmas, so I was expecting to read another good book from Cohn and Levithan. Going into this I had seen a lot of negative reviews, mostly baout how pretentious the book was in its concept and execution, and while I thought that may have been a bit harsh while reading the first half, I could definitely see where this opinion came from - I thought the idea of these teenage twins hosting a dinner party sounded fun (it's fiction for a reason!) but when the conversations became almost existential towards the end I did find myself becoming slightly frustrated, and I did definitely hurry my reaidng along so as to finish it. Always well-written from these two, but I think the interesting concept of the dinner party fell flat towards the end.
3 stars
One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake
Published: 20th April 2023 by Tor
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I feel as though I have been hearing nothing but great things about Blake's other novel, The Atlas Six, all over TikTok, and so I was excited to read this earlier novel of hers when I got the chance to. The concept intrigued me, as I love stories about magic, and the mafia-esque warring families is a trope I normally enjoy. There were a lot of aspects of One For My Enemy that I really enjoyed - the subtleties of magic, no casting of spells, and how the Antonova family used theirs in the form of goods sold at their apothecary. I also really warmed to Sasha and Lev as the younger couple between the two families shown in the book, but I couldn't warm to Dima and Marya or the problems their love for one another caused. I found the writing to be slightly cliched at times, with great declarations of love cropping up in casual conversations, and my interest in the story waned towards the end, but this was a solid read that I enjoyed!
The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent
Published: 12th January 2023 by Penguin
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I was definitely drawn in by the cover of this book, and that it is being sold as having shades of The Secret History and Promising Young Woman, but this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the overall story of Clare as a bit of an outsider of a protagonist, hoping to worm her way in to the 'inner circle' as she perceives this friendship group to be at uni, but I wasn't a massive fan of the way that her former life, all the hints and eventual reveal, was integrated into the narrative. It seemed as though Darwent was attempting to portray Clare as two things at once that I don't think necessarily went well together - the outsider and the dark secret of Clare's past that is attempted to be hidden from the reader, when in reality most of the twists were predictable. I also think the whole 'honey trap' business plot would have been better served with a more naive protagonist. Overall this was well-written but the plot left me wanting more at times.
From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon
Published: 22nd May 2018 by Hodder & Stoughton
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I really enjoyed Menon's other novel, When Dimple Met Rishi, a lot more than I initially expected to, and while it would have been nice for this next work to follow in the same universe, I was still excited to dive in and see what story Menon would tell in this one. Despite the characters being younger this time around, 16 and 17 as opposed to just starting college, I found the writing style to be consistent and not juvenile in the slightest. I loved that Twinkle was an aspiring female filmmaker, and that the book took the form of her writing journal entries as letters to famous female directors. I thought it was a really nice touch and provided a unique way of telling the story. I really engaged with the story and read From Twinkle, with Love in a day, which is a testament to Menon's writing, but the characterisation of Twinkle did leave me frustrated at times with her lack of self-awareness.
3.5 stars
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