I was a Bitch, Emily Ruben

Two months after an horrific accident, Lacey Jones emerges from a coma. There is a problem, though. She thinks she is still 16, but she is in fact 18 years old. During those two years, she became a completely different person of which she has no memory. She is the Queen Bee, the Bitch, the ruler of the roost, with a hot and popular boyfriend, Derek, to boot. Finn is probably the most well developed character, and because of the main conflict Lacey has good character development.

This story seems ready made from translation to screen, and I've no doubt that if the right people pick it up, that is what will happen. For a young adult, it's a great read.

Stylistically, though, I think Ruben has more to develop. The writing seems littered with thesaurus substitutes and repetitions, which if edited more carefully could have cut the book size down considerably. The constant iterations of how hot Derek and Finn were made me glaze over certain sections, and in the end I skipped forward to the last section to find out what happened.

Overall, the story and plot has great promise, but I think could benefit from some more careful editing.

Review: The Last Voyage of the Valentina, Santa Montefiore.

A definite must-read for anyone in the mood for a dreamy escape.

Alba Arbuckle is a fiery, passionate young woman living on a houseboat in London. Her lifestyle is one of excess and indulgence, not least when it comes to her loves. Enter Fitz, a handsome man whom happens to be the literary agent of Alba's author neighbour, Viv. When Alba finds a portrait of her mother, of whom her father never speaks, and demands to know the truth, Viv concocts a plan that will give all of them what they need.

Alba and Fitz, pretending to be a couple, visit Alba's father's and stepmother's vast estate in the country. Fitz ingratiates himself with the family, playing his role a little too well, in order to win over her family and Alba herself. It works - Alba slowly opens up to Fitz, but with it opens a vulnerability in her that drives her to Italy in order to search her past.

Alba's story is interspersed with the story of how her father and mother met in the sleepy town of Incantelleria during the Second World War. As the story goes on, the mystery both unravels and deepens, until the final part of the novel where the true loss of Valentina is revealed.

Santa Montefiore creates a love story that is fluffy, warm and inviting. Rich descriptions abound (though I did roll my eyes at the relentless use of 'simple') and the reader is drawn into the family drama; empathetic with Thomas, whose wife's death hangs over him still; Alba, spoiled but you feel for the mother she never knew; and Fitz, who doesn't know just what to do about Alba.

The resolution is a happy ending, in one way, but not necessarily the classic love story ending the reader might be expecting. This is definitely fiction for escapism, a curl-up-on-the-sofa or whisk away to a foreign beach kind of read.

Review: The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins

Two short, eerie prologues set the tone for this smash hit of a novel, The Girl on the Train. A body in the woods followed by a woman fearing for her life.

Rachel catches the 8:04 in London Euston and returns just before six each day. Her train stops at the same signal each day, which gives her plenty of time to look out of the window and stare at the houses beyond the tracks. Two of these houses hold particular meaning for her. One, the house in which she and her ex-husband lived. He still lives there, with a new wife and daughter.

The other one is a bit more of a mystery. She calls the couple Jason and Jess and imagines their lives for them. Perfect couple, perfect life. And she reflects on how she has fallen.

Then one day, she sees something that could change the course of not her life but the lives of those who live in these two houses. And she is determined to solve the mystery.

This is no small feat, however, between her alcoholism, her blackouts, and the trouble with her ex and his wife. And as she unravels the mystery, slowly but surely, she comes to discover the gaps in her own memory, so convincingly filled by others, are not what she previously believed.

I found The Girl on the Train to be one of those books that you just have to read wherever you are - making a cup of tea, doing the housework one handed, staying up as late as you can... It's brilliantly paced and the three points of view - Rachel, Anna (the new wife) and Megan (the actual name of the woman Rachel called Jess) - help the mystery keep pace as each chapter reveals something new.

Highly recommend this book - but don't start it just before you go to sleep as you once you start it will be very hard to put down.

Review: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson

Firstly, hats off to the translator of this book, for so brilliantly getting across Jonasson's dry humour in this novel.

Allan Karlsson is sitting in his bedroom of his nursing home, waiting for his one hundredth birthday to start when, suddenly, he decides he doesn't want to be there anymore. Rather sprightly, for someone who is turning one hundred, he climbs out of the window and decides what he wants to do next. He heads for the bus station and has an encounter with a man which decides the course of his next few months.

Interjected are episodes of Allan's past, which bring him into several of the world's most important events in the most random ways. From the Spanish Revolution, to Operation Manhattan, to boozing with Stalin, Allan's life and the crazy events that happen almost by accident make extraordinarily entertaining yet still plausible reading.

It is one of the funniest books I have ever read without it meaning to be... the comedy isn't overt, it's implicit in the way that he wanders into things and cleverly but nonchalantly wanders out of them, too.

For anyone needing a genuinely good read but also some light relief from the cracker that 2016 is turning out to be, find this book.

Review: Blackbeard's Daughter, Diana Strenka.

"Colonial dreams have become piratical nightmares. Margaret takes one disastrous turn after the other as she confronts the perils of murder, war, and revenge. When her father decides to pursue criminal mischief aboard a pirate's vessel, Margaret joins him in an effort to save his life. Though unsuccessful, Margaret discovers the unforgettable treasure that her father has left her: love, laughter, and an unquenchable spirit for adventure."

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Although there are several great scenes and sections to this novel by Diana Strenka, the blurb and the book itself don't always match up. A fair amount of the novel is dialogue - sometimes, it reads more like a screenplay than a novel - and a lot happens very quickly without much depth or world-building. The reader can sometimes barely draw breath before the next significant thing happens. For me, this reads like an early draft of an otherwise very promising story. With some more time and careful editing and revisions, this could be a very interesting story.  

Review: The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton

1913: A little girl is hiding on a ship headed for Australia knowing nothing but a strange woman called 'The Authoress' told her to hide and wait until she came back.

Decades later, Nell is told the mysterious circumstances in which she is found, and seeks the truth. 

After Nell's death, her granddaughter, Cassandra, finds that her enigmatic grandmother has bequeathed her a cottage in England. Resolved to make light of her grandmother's hidden past, she goes to England and discovers an extraordinary past. 

The Forgotten Garden is both sweeping in scope and precious with detail. Kate Morton handles each time period with generous description and setting, and character painting in drips and drabs so the mystery of each character fits in with solving the mystery of the whole novel itself.

The stories of each are bittersweet, endings resolved but not in a cliche happily ever after matter, necessarily. The problem, as it can sometimes be, of identity is brought to the fore here, particularly in Nell's story - what do you do after thinking your origins one way for twenty one years, only to have them pulled out from under your feet? Slowly but surely, Cassandra pieces together the clues to her grandmother's past and her journey of discovery and, in doing so, finds resolution herself.

This is a novel to be absorbed by, perfect for curling up on the sofa with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a few hours in which to escape. 

Review: The Muse, Jessie Burton

The Muse is the second novel from the bestselling author of The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton. Where do you go after such a smash hit of a debut novel? Burton more than rises to the challenge and produces another novel steeped in history, rich characterisation and settings abundant in detailed description.

We begin with Odelle in June 1967, an immigrant from Trinidad. These days it might as well be 1967 with the feelings that the word 'immigrant' may evoke, and the London that Odelle is promised is not the London she finds, at least at first. Despite her prestigious qualifications, she finds many doors closed and works in a shoe shop with her friend Cynthia, until one day a woman named Marjorie Quick employs her as a typist in the Skelton gallery. Finally, Odelle thinks she's getting somewhere.

However, ill - sort of - circumstances strike again when Cynth gets married, moves out, and Odelle finds herself lonely again. A man with a painting turns up and promises excitement and mystery, not least with Marjorie's reaction to seeing the painting.

We are soon transported to 1936, Spain, and meet the Schloss family. There is Harold, an art dealer, Sarah, a glamorous woman missing society and suffering with depression, and their daughter, Olive, a closet artist, whose dilemma is whether or not to accept an offer to study Fine Art in London.

Into their lives arrive Isaac and Teresa Robles, and although their arrival is met with joy and gratitude, danger follows in their wake. For Olive is inspired to paint like never before, paintings full of complexities and substance, though they are never credited to her. The backdrop of this story is the revolution in Spain, to-ing and fro-ing between the left and the right, with the innocents, as ever, taking the fall for the ambitions of a few powerful men.

Therein, the story flits between 1936 and 1967, with Odelle getting closer and closer to discovering the story of the painting, and the mystery of Marjorie, though not without battling her own demons in terms of her relationship with her writing. She says, "My writing became the axis upon which all my identity and happiness hinged" and it's interesting to wonder how much of this came from Burton's own feelings.

Burton combines substantial research, complex characterisation and a flair for scene setting that makes The Muse a novel to truly immerse yourself in. From visualising yourself in Olive's stool as she pours herself into her paintings, to tense conversations with Teresa and Isaac about the state of Spain, and walking around late 60s London, The Muse gives you a rich depth of experience that reminds you how reading can be so enjoyable, inspiring and enlightening all at once.

Link for purchase: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-muse/jessie-burton/9781447250944