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whatdaniellereadnext's Reviews (640)
This could seriously be a contender for my favourite read of the year. It's definitely right up there alongside Betty. If you've read my review of that then you know I can offer this book no higher praise.
We follow siblings Lucy and Sam who are only children when they have to face the world alone after their father dies.
When I read the blurb and realised it was set during the gold rush era I was unsure whether it'd be something I'd enjoy. I guess I expected a novel that lacked the depth that How Much of These Hills is Gold ultimately has. Where I was expecting a story about cowboys and duels what I actually got was a story about the struggle for immigrants, abject poverty and destruction of land all at the hands of rich men trying to get richer. And these are not the only issues this brilliant book tackles. It's no surprise that this book has brilliant LGBQT+ representation, seeing as it was included in @booksthatmatteruk pride box for June.
So, obviously, this is not an easy read. Parts of this book made me feel physically sick, but it's a beautiful, haunting read. I fell in love with Sam and Lucy, two wonderful, resilient characters.
How Much of These Hills is Gold is easily a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ read. My first 5 star read of July!
We follow siblings Lucy and Sam who are only children when they have to face the world alone after their father dies.
When I read the blurb and realised it was set during the gold rush era I was unsure whether it'd be something I'd enjoy. I guess I expected a novel that lacked the depth that How Much of These Hills is Gold ultimately has. Where I was expecting a story about cowboys and duels what I actually got was a story about the struggle for immigrants, abject poverty and destruction of land all at the hands of rich men trying to get richer. And these are not the only issues this brilliant book tackles. It's no surprise that this book has brilliant LGBQT+ representation, seeing as it was included in @booksthatmatteruk pride box for June.
So, obviously, this is not an easy read. Parts of this book made me feel physically sick, but it's a beautiful, haunting read. I fell in love with Sam and Lucy, two wonderful, resilient characters.
How Much of These Hills is Gold is easily a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ read. My first 5 star read of July!
This was a perfect, short read after finishing A Little Life at less than 170 pages.
It's a tough book to review as not much really happens. We follow Keiko a 36 year old woman who has spent the last 18 years in a dead end part-time job at a convenience store.
She loves her work and takes pride in being able to do it well and pleasing the customers. But everyone around her is telling her it isn't normal for someone to still be unmarried and working this job at her age.
Keiko learns to copy the way her colleagues speak to make her more 'socially acceptable'. She discusses excuses she can use for being in the job she's in with her sister. But still, she is seen as odd.
Convenience Store Woman was an interesting read. It wasn't necessarily as funny as I expected from some of the quotes on it. There were moments I laughed, but there were also moments of sadness really at the way Keiko was treated.
Some of her observations and interactions were incredibly funny though and the book felt like a breath of fresh air after my last read.
It's a tough book to review as not much really happens. We follow Keiko a 36 year old woman who has spent the last 18 years in a dead end part-time job at a convenience store.
She loves her work and takes pride in being able to do it well and pleasing the customers. But everyone around her is telling her it isn't normal for someone to still be unmarried and working this job at her age.
Keiko learns to copy the way her colleagues speak to make her more 'socially acceptable'. She discusses excuses she can use for being in the job she's in with her sister. But still, she is seen as odd.
Convenience Store Woman was an interesting read. It wasn't necessarily as funny as I expected from some of the quotes on it. There were moments I laughed, but there were also moments of sadness really at the way Keiko was treated.
Some of her observations and interactions were incredibly funny though and the book felt like a breath of fresh air after my last read.
I need to start this review with wow. I will never be the same after reading this book.
A Little Life encapsulates all there is to know about the life of Jude St Francis and the myriad of people in his life.
But Jude hasn't had just any old life. He has been abandoned as a baby and shockingly abused.
I have to admit, there were parts of this book where I almost DNF'ed. Not because it is a bad book, it really isn't. But because at times it felt like misery porn. That's the best way I can think to describe it. If you need a cry you could basically open this book on any page and find something to be upset about.
It was rough reading in multiple parts. It just felt never-ending. And I predicted one of the major events, purely based on the fact that the writer seemingly didn't want any happiness left for Jude.
Maybe it's that I'm just ill-equipped to deal with so much torment at the moment, but it took me much longer than I expected to finish this book because I needed multiple, lengthy breaks from it to regroup and come back ready for my heart to be broken again.
But with all that said I would still recommend this book. There's something so profound about it. The relationships Jude has with his friends were some of the best relationships I've ever read about. They were truly beautiful friendships that felt real. They included the rough times all friendships have, but the warmness emanating from the page during their interactions was joyous.
I can't say I enjoyed this book. I didn't and I doubt anyone could truly say they enjoyed it. But I won't be able to forget this story, ever.
A Little Life encapsulates all there is to know about the life of Jude St Francis and the myriad of people in his life.
But Jude hasn't had just any old life. He has been abandoned as a baby and shockingly abused.
I have to admit, there were parts of this book where I almost DNF'ed. Not because it is a bad book, it really isn't. But because at times it felt like misery porn. That's the best way I can think to describe it. If you need a cry you could basically open this book on any page and find something to be upset about.
It was rough reading in multiple parts. It just felt never-ending. And I predicted one of the major events, purely based on the fact that the writer seemingly didn't want any happiness left for Jude.
Maybe it's that I'm just ill-equipped to deal with so much torment at the moment, but it took me much longer than I expected to finish this book because I needed multiple, lengthy breaks from it to regroup and come back ready for my heart to be broken again.
But with all that said I would still recommend this book. There's something so profound about it. The relationships Jude has with his friends were some of the best relationships I've ever read about. They were truly beautiful friendships that felt real. They included the rough times all friendships have, but the warmness emanating from the page during their interactions was joyous.
I can't say I enjoyed this book. I didn't and I doubt anyone could truly say they enjoyed it. But I won't be able to forget this story, ever.
I have to be honest and say I really struggled to get into this book, for about the first 30%. It was for multiple reasons, not all of them the books fault. I think the biggest issue I had with the start of the book was the dialogue. There was a lot of it and it wasn't written in speech marks. Not a problem in itself, but couple that with there being a lot of different voices in Ellis' first chapter and I was struggling.
Another reason was that Ellis' first chapter was incredibly dull. He described his work day, the people, his breaks - everything really, but it feels dreary. It's supposed to, I'm sure, but I just found it hard to want to continue.
I'm glad I did though. Because by the time Annie enters the story it really picks up and becomes a truly beautiful read about love and friendship.
As ever, my reviews are spoiler free, which I feel really limits what I can say about this book. Part of the magic for me was in watching the story unfold, not knowing where it was going next.
The friendships and relationships encountered in this book are beautifully written and very powerful. The writing is lyrical and emotive making Tin Man a truly haunting reading.
Another reason was that Ellis' first chapter was incredibly dull. He described his work day, the people, his breaks - everything really, but it feels dreary. It's supposed to, I'm sure, but I just found it hard to want to continue.
I'm glad I did though. Because by the time Annie enters the story it really picks up and becomes a truly beautiful read about love and friendship.
As ever, my reviews are spoiler free, which I feel really limits what I can say about this book. Part of the magic for me was in watching the story unfold, not knowing where it was going next.
The friendships and relationships encountered in this book are beautifully written and very powerful. The writing is lyrical and emotive making Tin Man a truly haunting reading.
The first quarter of this book made me cringe a little, and I just couldn't warm to Alex at all. I think it felt quite caricature-ish. Obviously the blurb (swipe for it btw) makes it very obvious that Henry and Alex will end up together so all of the exaggerated cattiness Alex displayed towards Henry felt so incredibly juvenile. But maybe I'm just too old to appreciate it
The idea behind this book is fascinating, so despite it being a YA (which I just feel too old to enjoy a lot of the time) I wanted to pick it up. Then I found it in a charity shop for 50p. It didn't even look like it had been read!
The world in which Rufus and Mateo live has a company with the ability to tell people that they're going to die today. An alert and a phone call will happen between the hours of midnight and 3am, prompting you to 'live this day to the fullest.'
Rufus and Mateo both receive this notification on the same day.
Now if you're going into this hoping to get the science behind the predictions then don't bother. We are briefly told that no one is told how the predictions are made only that they're true. Instead this story is about the little things that make up a life, and how living knowing full well when you're going to die might change things.
I have to admit when I was reading Rufus' first chapter I almost wanted to stop reading. He is 17. And he speaks like a caricature of a teen. Everything is 'mad pretty' or 'crazy stupid'. I mean he's written really well, completely believable as a teen character - if not a little caricature-ish sometimes - but I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes at his dialogue.
I got past that though. And I'm really glad I did. Because at its core They Both Die at the End is a really beautiful story about growth and love.
As ever you'll get no spoilers from me, I'll only ever mention things that are clear from the blurb. But don't be out off this book because it's a YA. I nearly was. And I'm so glad I read it now.
I love that the book was written from multiple perspectives, not just Rufus and Mateo but other people that they crossed paths with. I especially loved that each new characters first chapter began with whether or not they'd received the call from Death-Cast. It was brilliant.
The world in which Rufus and Mateo live has a company with the ability to tell people that they're going to die today. An alert and a phone call will happen between the hours of midnight and 3am, prompting you to 'live this day to the fullest.'
Rufus and Mateo both receive this notification on the same day.
Now if you're going into this hoping to get the science behind the predictions then don't bother. We are briefly told that no one is told how the predictions are made only that they're true. Instead this story is about the little things that make up a life, and how living knowing full well when you're going to die might change things.
I have to admit when I was reading Rufus' first chapter I almost wanted to stop reading. He is 17. And he speaks like a caricature of a teen. Everything is 'mad pretty' or 'crazy stupid'. I mean he's written really well, completely believable as a teen character - if not a little caricature-ish sometimes - but I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes at his dialogue.
I got past that though. And I'm really glad I did. Because at its core They Both Die at the End is a really beautiful story about growth and love.
As ever you'll get no spoilers from me, I'll only ever mention things that are clear from the blurb. But don't be out off this book because it's a YA. I nearly was. And I'm so glad I read it now.
I love that the book was written from multiple perspectives, not just Rufus and Mateo but other people that they crossed paths with. I especially loved that each new characters first chapter began with whether or not they'd received the call from Death-Cast. It was brilliant.
We follow Michael through his life living in London with his Mum and - a little later - his sister. Half Jamaican and half Greek Cypriot he struggles with his identity, even as a young child. He can't understand why he keeps being given Ninja Turtles, or why later, it's ok for his sister to play with them and Barbie's when it was frowned upon for him.
I recently read Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak and I loved it, even though I'd gone into it sceptical. So I bought this at the end of May, not knowing all too much about it. I then learned it had some LGBQT+ representation which made it perfect for a #pridemonth read!
It's a book with a strange premise as the main character is dead at the very beginning of the book. What follows is the story of key moments in her life as she remembers them, for the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after her life has ended.
And wow, what a story this is. There is so much tragedy in these 306 pages, honestly almost anything you can imagine happens to either Leila or someone else in her life. But what takes centre stage in this novel is the relationships Leila builds with other people who are on the outskirts of society in Istanbul.
The book is split into three parts, the first part takes pretty much half of the book and is Leila remembering her life. The second part is told from her friends point of view. And the third, I'll leave you to find out
It's a book with a strange premise as the main character is dead at the very beginning of the book. What follows is the story of key moments in her life as she remembers them, for the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after her life has ended.
And wow, what a story this is. There is so much tragedy in these 306 pages, honestly almost anything you can imagine happens to either Leila or someone else in her life. But what takes centre stage in this novel is the relationships Leila builds with other people who are on the outskirts of society in Istanbul.
The book is split into three parts, the first part takes pretty much half of the book and is Leila remembering her life. The second part is told from her friends point of view. And the third, I'll leave you to find out
I can honestly say I don't think I've read a book quite like A Witch in Time! I have to admit I'd read the blurb before and skipped past it thinking it wasn't for me. But then I'd seen a few people saying it was great on here and it was only £2 on Amazon new so I bought it.
The Sanatorium had plenty of twists and turns. Some I saw coming and other I didn't. It's set in a plush hotel high up in a mountain. Bad weather means that the main character, Elin, gets trapped there for some time. Unfortunately so does a murderer.
I liked the setting of this book and the overall plot. I found myself mostly eager to continue reading but there were times I felt a little bored. I think mostly with Elin as a character. She frustrated the life out of me and I couldn't warm to her at all. And when I think about it I don't think I really liked any of the characters in this book very much. I found I wasn't too bothered about who wound up dead. I was definitely more interested in the reasons behind it.
The Sanatorium isn't bad, but it's very middle of the road.
I liked the setting of this book and the overall plot. I found myself mostly eager to continue reading but there were times I felt a little bored. I think mostly with Elin as a character. She frustrated the life out of me and I couldn't warm to her at all. And when I think about it I don't think I really liked any of the characters in this book very much. I found I wasn't too bothered about who wound up dead. I was definitely more interested in the reasons behind it.
The Sanatorium isn't bad, but it's very middle of the road.