January 2024 Mini Reviews - part 3
Published: 18th January 2022 by Tinder Press
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
This felt like a real departure from what Rutkoski is known for writing - the popular YA Fantasy series The Winner's Trilogy - but this venture into Adult Fiction was gripping, and shows her range throughout ages and genres. I feel as though the whole "strippers being murdered" storyline is one that can be done badly very easily, but Rutkoski puts the stories of the strippers at the forefront of the novel, allowing their lives the be the focus, and ultimately the heart of the story, rather than the killer or the detectives investigating the crimes. The sisterhood borne out of circumstance seen between the women in Real Easy, including the female detective, felt very authentic, in loving but not necessarily liking one another, but always protecting their kin. I was genuinely surprised by the twist at the end, which I appreciated, and while this wasn't the most original of stories, it was certainly a well-told one, and I will be looking out for more.
How to Love Your Neighbour by Sophie Sullivan
Jansen Brothers #2
Published: 18th January 2022 by Headline Eternal
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I enjoyed this book so much! I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but I always keep my expectations relatively low for romances, especially as Sullivan's name wasn't one I was familiar with - so this was a pleasant surprise. I flew through this and kept picking it up throughout the day because I was such a fan of Grace and Noah and their dynamic of enemies-to-lovers quickly turning into a flirty competition between one another. I appreciated Noah's earnest apologies in owning his mistakes, and how Grace brought together people from his and her lives to form a community around them that they have both shied away from embracing previously. After getting to read some of the interactions between Noah's brother and his girlfriend, I will definitely be going back and reading their story of how they fell in love too!
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
Published: 3rd January 2023 by Piatkus
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I have heard nothing but great things about Talia Hibbert's romances, and this YA debut of hers sounded so sweet - I'm so glad I gave it a go! I had no idea that she was British, but the whole time I was reading Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute I was honestly shocked at how accurately British it felt, and how appropriately aged the characters behaved and spoke. While the plot itself didn't have me as entertained as some other romances I've read recently, the fact that I didn't get annoyed at the characters either being too immature, or inappropriately aged up in their behaviours, made me really enjoy this. I liked that Bradley and Celine had that foundation of previously being best friends, as I found it made their budding relationship more realistic and believable, and how their families really shaped them and helped them grow up. This was very cute, and now I want to read some of her adult romances as I think they would appeal to me even more!
Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth
Published: 4th January 2024 by Atlantic Books
I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review.
I went into this book thinking it would be such a standout, page-turner that I would eat up, but unfortunately, it just fell quite flat for me. I love fiction like this, but I do think that the trope of unhinged women breaking out of domestic rigidity has become an almost over-saturated topic in contemporary fiction lately, and so to stand out, I think Normal Women would have had to do something truly out of the box to stand apart from its contemporaries, and I just didn't find that with it. I can see what Hogarth was trying to do by bringing in the 'cult' element, and having that as a contrast to Dani's mundane interactions with her fellow mum friends, but I felt as though its potential got lost once the book became more of a mystery than a commentary of maternity in society, and I just wasn't as interested in it from there.
3 stars
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