matmatmatty's reviews
107 reviews

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

This should be essential reading for every British person (and also many Americans).

I have a personal passion about black history, as a black brit myself, and so wanted to read this, and I am genuinely surprised by just how moving and emotional this made me. Not because of the depictions of terrible things but by the amount of history that I was unaware of and just how connected I now feel to this history.

This book covers the history of black people in Britain, starting from Roman Britain, up to present day, explaining in detail the context of views and decisions from those periods of time.

This is an important work for everyone to read, to fully understand the place that Black people have in this country, not as 'recent invaders' as so many like to think, but rather as people who have been here since before England was even established.

David Olusoga, if you end up reading this, I just want to thank you for providing such a fantastic account of the history of my nation, and allowing me to learn more about my place here, and about my culture.
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The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews

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emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely ADORED this! 

Jasper and Julia's story is so sweet and such an amazing romance.

I am absolutely loving this series and I can't wait to pick up the next one!
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The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard

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adventurous lighthearted
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This is a story about a cat who is given a second chance at life but this time was a ghost cat. He experiences life across 120 years haunting in his Edinburgh flat.

This was a nice wee novel following time through the story of one flat and the cat that experiences it all. It's quite nice to remember how much has changed in the last few years, and especially in the last 100 or so.

It was cute, but there wasn't much to be said about the second half, when we get into the modern day. I think that could've been a bit better
and I thought the author insert was a bit weird but overall it didn't ruin the story for me
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Now She is Witch by Kirsty Logan

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

A very emotional story about the roles women play, and the roles they are forced to play. I really loved this.

Will add that I wasn't expecting this story - this isn't really a fantasy, so don't expect a fantasy!

I found this to be beautiful, especially in the second half.

Would recommend checking out CWs, there's some heavy stuff here. Extra CW not listed below:
depictions and descriptions of witch trials and killings
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The Fairy Tale Fan Club: Legendary Letters Collected by C.C. Cecily by Richard Ayoade

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funny lighthearted

3.0

This is a collection of letters written to fairytale characters, with their responses.

I found it quite cute, and I think as a kid I would have really enjoyed this. 

Not much is said on these stories, but for younger kids who know fairy tales really well, I can imagine them really liking this!
The List by Yomi Adegoke

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.
Unlikeable characters, the background makes no sense (how can she be part of a power-couple so famous everyone online knows who she and he are, but her work doesn't??? Also no idea why they are together in the first place). I couldn't stick with it since I wasn't enjoying it at all
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Struggling to finish it and it's a library borrow so can't keep it any longer. 

May try again at a later date. 
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Let It Snow: A Novel by Debbie Macomber

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lighthearted slow-paced

2.0

This was a weird little story. I'm honestly not a fan of romances like this but I know others are so I will try to give a full explanation of the story for anyone interested.

This story takes place over Christmas (starting the day before Christmas Eve, and ending a couple days before New Year). Shelley is travelling back to see her dad for Christmas when her plane gets rerouted because of a snowstorm. Her and another passenger, Slade, decide to hire a car to make the rest of the journey together.

Good points:
  • Book is short - my copy was 68ish pages, so if you are looking for a short read for an afternoon, this is a good option.
  • Holiday themed - it takes place around Christmas and features a snowstorm so feels quite wintery.
  • Strong family bonds - Shelley is close with her dad, and that was nice to see. It was a bit like 'the two of them against the world'.

Not-so-good points:
  • I understand that with romance, you have to set your expectations down a little. People in romances don't tend to behave as people normally do irl, so you need to expect that. However. This story had the characters acting so strangely that I could not reasonably expect anyone to do that.
    When Shelley and Slade first start driving together, he asks if she needs to phone her husband and she responds by saying she's not married. She asks about him and he says he's engaged. Shelley then starts quizzing him on things about his relationship, even asking when they're gonna have kids! All while they've known each other for like 10 mins. This isn't the only time this happens, but considering they just met, it's the weirdest.
  • Shelley liked Slade way too early.
    As soon as he says he's engaged, she's like 'man i really like him', which is crazy. She knows nothing about this man and is already in love with him. Make it make sense.
  • Why did Slade need to be engaged? He could've been 'married to the job' and the story could have been the same. Why did we need to have a poor woman off screen who was cheated on and then dumped? I really don't like cheating for the sake of plot stories.
  • There is a weird misogyny coming from Shelley (very I'm not like other girls)
    Shelley hates Margaret as soon as she hears about her. She calls her boring and talks shit about her, when she literally knows nothing about her. All she knows is that she's engaged to Slade, and she's acting as if she knows everything about this woman and can speak on her character. There's no need to do that.
  • Random fatphobia??? Shelley complains about being fat and gaining weight, and then literally admits she hasn't gained weight. Why was this needed? It wasn't. 
  • god, the ending.
    Slade acts as if Margaret is crazy for not supporting him when all she knows is that he went on a business trip and came back and quit his job and said he's going to be a pianist. I would also be like 'wtf' if my partner did that. Also what is with the flowers? I get it is a reference to the start when Shelley was like 'all girls love flowers' or whatever but it was weird behaviour.

Overall, I found this kinda boring, I didn't like any of the characters, and the ending was nonsense. I personally wouldn't recommend but it is short so go ahead if you want.
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Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fun little story (although will say that the audio narrator wasn't my favourite).

As usual with a Talia Hibbert story, this story isn't just a straight romance, but a romance with a curvy black female lead, and a male lead with trauma.

I think that Talia Hibbert can cover some really good topics in her story. It was obvious to me that this was written earlier than some of the ones I had read, and since it is shorter and Christmas themed it didn't really go into a lot of depth compared to some of her other work, but it was still enjoyable and a sweet story.

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