TLDR: this was so boring it made me angry. Ehhhh. What a disappointment. Having absolutely adored book one, I was sorely let down by this instalment, which felt like it had none of the good stuff that made book one the epic read that it was.
This was my first Beth O'Leary, and it was very much so as pacy and page-turning as I had anticipated. I read this while on a little holiday and I have to say, she makes for excellent vacation reading.
My main takeaway from going through all the July releases is that July is cosy crime month! There were so many fun and quirky mysteries abound (and plenty more that didn't make my list).
It's no secret that I'm a great admirer of anything that Kate Quinn writes – and this is certainly no exception. This book was everything I wanted The Midnight Library to be. A magical library set in another realm (an in-between sort of realm) where you can live in your favourite novel and escape reality.
This was genuinely awesome. I loved every minute and I really loved the full-blown Irish sass of the main character, Kinch.
This is a hard book to describe in detail – it's sat with me for some time since I finished it, and I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience. But to put my finger on what exactly made this so good, is difficult. The book has a quiet, complex atmosphere – it's a sophisticated novel of family ties, the plight of women and the scandalousness of witchcraft.
I think I need to officially take a break (give up on?) reading Kuang books. Everything sounds so promising, and yet everything is overcomplicated and underdone. I am disappointed.
This was super duper fabulous right up until the ending, and then things were a little too open-ended for my liking. Which is where the stars have been knocked off – we were full-steam ahead to the five-star rating up until that point.
I loved Lucy Adlington's writing in The Red Ribbon, and while this is non-fiction rather than historical fiction, I loved her writing in this just as much. This is a very poignant and well-researched novel on a group of women who survived Auschwitz in part thanks to their sewing abilities.
I really am a big fan of Brusatte at this point. Having read The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us before this one, I knew I would be in for a good time and it didn't disappoint.
Upside-Down Books 