Book Review: How Far We Fall by Jane Shemilt

Book Review: How Far We Fall by Jane Shemilt

Saturday, 30 June 2018

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At the moment, for me, books are a little bit like buses: I read nothing for a long period of time and then smash through a pile in an incredibly short space of time. I’m not sure what it is about this time of year, but I find that I always find myself much more motivated to read now than I do in the earlier months of the year. Must be the weather! A few months ago I received a very exciting book in the post and I’ve been eager to get it read and reviewed since then: time hasn’t allowed for me to zoom through it in the way I would have liked, but I had some spare time last week and managed to read it in a single afternoon. 

How Far We Fall by Jane Shemilt is attracting from the word go – armed with a gorgeous cover and an intriguing tag line The perfect marriage. The perfect murder? I had an inlking from the word go that this book would be one that I would really enjoy reading. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t disappointed and the story caught me from the offset. 

Beth is a surgical nurse, full of grief after the loss of her daughter. She meets Albie, an ambitious neurosurgeon, at a party hosted by her former lover, Ted. Their relationship ends after Ted’s daughter goes missing and Beth births a still-born baby shortly after. Her feelings towards Ted are, quite naturally, toxic as she blames him for their child’s death. Ted also happens to be Albie’s superior, which puts her, naturally, in a bit of an awkward situation. In an unconnected turn of events, Ted offers Albie a promotion and the opportunity to lead on a trial for a possible cure to a rare children’s brain cancer. Slowly but surely the tables start to turn and Albie finds that Ted has taken credit for the hard-work that he has put in over the years. Couple this with Beth’s immense hatred towards Ted and it’s fair to say that no good can come from this situation and the two work together to come up with a final solution. 

Jane’s characterisation is incredible. I found myself really connected to the characters – all of them, in differing ways- and her medical experience is evident throughout the story. The story was thrilling and I found myself imagining all sorts of crazy conclusions to explain bits and pieces about what happened. In the end, I didn’t need to imagine- every question that I had was answered fuss free and wrapped up beautifully at the end of the story. I’ve never read anything by Jane Schemilt before so I’ll definitely be going and picking up some of her other books next time I do a cheeky book haul. The story centres itself around manipulation, jealous and a web of lies – the story did start off quite slowly but it was quick to pick up the pace. Once you got used to the writing style it was a very enjoyable and well written piece of fiction. I’ll definitely be recommending this book to people who ask -  and probably to people that don’t, as well! 

4/5. 

Goodreads: My June/July Reading List

Goodreads: My June/July Reading List

Friday, 1 June 2018

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It’s been a while since I did a post talking all about the books I’ve hauled recently and there’s good reason behind this. I’ve been on a self-imposed book ban and for the most part I’ve stuck to it- one of the benefits of being a book blogger are the dozens of books I receive on a monthly basis from publishing houses. It means that generally, I don’t have to buy books unless they’re ones I really, really want and for the most part I can get by reading the books I get in the post. Richard and I are flying over to Paris tomorrow morning and I’m super excited about this: however, pretty much all of the books on my to-read pile currently are hardbacked and the last thing I want to be doing on a weekend break is lugging around a heavy hardback in my backpack. 

I put in a teensy amazon order last night – and it actually WAS teensy, for once- and picked out a few books that have been on my radar for a while now. I tended towards Young Adult fiction this time despite the massive amounts of contemporary fiction in my basket at the time. I thought I’d share the two books that I chose, along with a few of the books I’ve been sent by publishers recently. 

The book I’m currently reading isWhistle in the Dark by Emma Healy. Having read (and of course, loved) Elizabeth is Missingby Emma, I was over the moon to receive a copy of the book for review from the publishers. I was quick to get stuck into the book (although I did finish off my most recent read The Tatooist of Auschwitzbeforehand) and about 120 pages in I’m enjoying it – I am waiting for something big to happen at the moment but I’m sure that that will come soon enough. The story follows Jen, a mother whose 17 year old daughter vanishes seemingly without a trace until suddenly she is found- but nothing goes back to how it used to be. Lana can’t – or won’t- remember what has happened to her and is reluctant to discuss where she went for those hellish days of Jen’s life. However, her daughter is different now and she can’t quite put her finger on why or how this is the case. It’s fair to say that I am very intrigued to read on and find out all the answers. 

Another book I received in the post for review is Kismet by Luke Tredget. I’m not too sure that this one is my cup of tea – based around dating apps, Kismet is a love story, seemingly, and focuses on the inperfections in people and consequently their obsession in finding the perfect match. First of all, I am completely in favour of dating apps. As a person whose work life has completely overshadowed ANY possible chance of going out and meeting people, I understand the convenience of being able to meet and connect with people from home. As a nearly 25-year-old socially inept woman, the prospect of going out and striking up conversation with a potential suiter would absolutely terrify me. I am quite intrigued by this book and am planning on reading this book as soon as I’ve finished up with Whistle in the Dark. 

As most of my readers are probably aware by now, I am a teacher and consequently I spend a lot of my time reading Middle School age books, prior to sharing them with the children in my class. I recently received a copy of The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd and I cannot wait to share it with the kids at work. I’ve been reading a chapter at a time whenever I have a chance so I’m already a fair way through the story without even knowing it, and it is absolutely hilarious and exactly the kind of story that my class are going to adore. The cover is absolutely beautiful as well – from the looks of things, I’ll definitely be adding the sequel which comes out later this year to my wishlist as well! 

The final book from my proof pile for this month’s to do list – not that I’m being at ALL ambitious here- is probably the one I’m most excited about and the only psychological thriller I’ve included! My love for thrillers knows no bounds and I would happily read nothing but thrillers if I had to, so going this long having not read one is definitely unlike me. I’m excited to be a part of the blog tour for How Far We Fall by Jane Shemilt and the book sounds exactly my cup of tea. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on this book on the blog on the 30^thJune so be sure to check back then for a full review if you’re interested in this one! 

Onto books that I’ve actually purchased now. My Year 4 English class are using Grandpa Chatterji by Shamila Gavin as their class reader this half term so naturally I bought my own copy to read prior to planning. I was a little bit apprehensive about using this book within my lessons as it’s quite old fashioned – I’m pretty sure we might even have read it when I was at school – but having flicked through it I’m reassured that it’s of good quality and I’m excited to see what work the children in my class will produce using it. My Year 3 English class are focusing on Greek Mythology this half term so I’m going to be reading lots and lots of Greek Myths and stories based on them in the coming weeks as well! 

My final books in this little haul are The List by Siobhan Vivian and 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough. Both of these books have been on my radar, and consequently in my Amazon basket, for a good while now. They both fall into the Young Adult category what was just what I was looking for for my trip to Paris – quick and easy reads that don’t require all that much thought and that I’ll fly through. I’m on track with my Goodreads challenge as it stands but I’m conscious that there’s always time to fall way, way behind! 

What are you reading at the moment? Have you read any of the books on my list? Let me know in the comments! 

Book Review: The Leavers by Lisa Ko

Book Review: The Leavers by Lisa Ko

Monday, 30 April 2018

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If you would have told me, a few months ago, that I would be reading a debut novel about a Chinese immigrant in New York City and loved it as much as I did, I would probably have been pretty surprised about it. Not because of the genre, or because of the culture, but because I never imagined that I would love a book as much as I did this one.

Let me start by saying that Ko’s prose is beautifully written – I found myself instantly attracted to the novel, primarily because of the bold colour of its beautiful cover and then because of the way it presents itself as a piece of literature. Instantly I was sucked into the story and wanted to delve as deep as possible to understand the reasoning behind Deming’s mother’s disappearance. Deming naturally feels resentment for his mother after she disappears without a trace after heading to work for the day. This resentment builts to the extent that he has absolutely no interest in finding out what happened ot her – until of course, he hears news of her and the natural, questioning instinct of humanity sets itself upon his mind. He feels guilt for wondering about her, having been adopted by a middle-class American couple shortly after his mother left. He is the only Chinese boy in his year group at school and he quickly establishes himself quite unintentionally as the outsider – making friends with another outsider, a Mexican boy who he later plays in a band with.

The second part of the story directly parallels the first part and we hear Polly’s side of the story and follow her journey as immigrant from China to self-sacrificing mother in the States. In doing this, she aims for freedom but this does not happen to her in the way she desires.

It is clear that Deming feels a significant degree of cultural displacement, struggling to fit in within the white suburban family he is adopted by and feeling locked down by his adoptive parents’ expectations – they want him to succeed so that they succeed in themselves and in their task to socialise this seemingly ‘lost’ child. Ko, as the author, does well in subtly critiquing this, depicting the family as being unintentionally condescending in a society where migrants and minorities are seemingly overlooked.

There’s a reason why this book was a bestseller in the US and I have no doubts that it will have similar success here in the UK.

4.5/5.

Goodreads: The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Goodreads: The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Saturday, 7 April 2018

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I’m really getting back into the swing of this reading thing, aren’t I? Get me, with yet another book review! Last week, my friend and I were lucky enough to be invited to a brunch at Santa Maluco and inevitably, brunch led to a little shopping trip and a shopping trip wouldn’t be a true shopping trip if it didn’t end in new book purchases. I was quite good, all things considered, and only left Waterstones with two books: The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed and A Hero in France by Alan Furst. I’d heard a lot about the former online and thought it was about time I found out what all the fuss was about. The second book was a bit of a spontaneous purchase, but sounds like it’ll be right up my street – historical fiction at its finest. The Nowhere Girls is of course the purpose of this blog post so enough babbling on about nothing, Hol. Let’s get stuck into the review.

The Nowhere Girls is set in a high school in the States and revolves around a trio of girls who come together with the sole intentions of avenging the rape of a girl from their school. In a particularly misogynistic environment, the victim of the rape is made into a laughing stock and driven from the school with absolutely no consequences for the boys who committed the act. Grace Salter has just moved to the town after her and her family were run out of their town because of her mother’s more liberal views towards life in a particularly conservative church constituency. Rosina Suarez is the daughter of a family of Mexican immigrants who dreams of becoming the next big thing in the rock n roll world. Erin Delillo is neurodivergent, obsessed with Star Trek, and has a secret of her own that she hasn’t even shared with her best friend. Seperately, the girls lead lives that aren’t particularly intriguing – they are not cool, they are not popular, and they are certainly nothing special – but together they make up the forefront of the Nowhere Girls, a revolution created to fight sexual abuse and change the misogynistic views that had settled in the minds of the town’s inhabitants. As a group, they meet, inviting the female population of their school to join them – to raise awareness and collectively make the decision to refuse sexual contact of any kind until they start receiving the respect they deserve. They raise the importance of understanding that sex is not a right- it is something that someone chooses to do, without the sense of entitlement that a lot of the men around them seem to have.

The book focuses on the perspectives of multiple characters throughout and is incredibly poignant. It’s very rare that I read a book that has such a massive affect on me. I found myself unable to put the book down, whizzing through it in a matter of hours and feeling the need to talk all about it at every possible opportunity. Just like The Hate U Give, the book focuses on a topic that needs to be talked about and approached in a thoughtful way; and if people stop talking, remind them of it. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book to some people, as there are quite detailed accounts of sexual assault, and there are also (intentional) examples of racism in the pages. Immediately, the principal of the school decides that the only person who could possibly be responsible for creating the group is Rosina, the ‘angry’ Mexican in a principally white town.

The book is dark- there’s absolutely no hiding that fact. In spite of this, it is beautifully written and gets its message across well and truly. It paints positivism and shames victim shaming. Amy Reed has done a mighty fine job here, and I’ll be recommending this book to everyone who asks for the foreseeable future.

4.5/5