The House Mate by Nina Manning

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Boldwood Books UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller! The House Mate is the tale of Regi, a woman suffering from OCD who moves into a student houseshare after mysteriously uprooting her life. She quickly becomes obsessed with an Instagram cleaner, as well as a troll of said cleaner who won't stop posting nasty comments.

Firstly, I really liked the unique set up of this book. I've never read a thriller set in a student houseshare and Regi herself was a really interesting character to read about. There were so many unique elements which really made this stand out as a thriller and kept me paying attention. I normally zone out or miss details when listening to a thriller audiobook, but that didn't happen here. Manning is a skilled thriller writer and I definitely want to check out her other work now. I also found the OCD rep pretty decent on the whole, although it is a relatively minor part of the book.

Sadly this book was a little let down by the fact it had so much going on. Whilst reading it, I liked this element a lot but when you reach the conclusion and find out what's going on, there are large plot points which don't seem to matter much at all. The houseshare elements trailed off towards the end and the book became more generic without them. A lot of the earlier tension is lost as characters or plot points just disappear, and it's a shame to learn how much didn't really matter in the end. It's still a good read and I'm glad those elements were there, I just wish they'd been better woven into the story.

Overall, The House Mate definitely stands out as a thriller and has some really engaging, interesting stuff going on. It falls a bit flat near the end but it is still worth the read and it certainly won't be a book I forget in a hurry. It also works really well as an audiobook and I would recommend listening to it if you're so inclined. I look forward to reading Manning's other work.

Overall Rating:

.5

Pretending by Holly Bourne

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review

There is no doubt about it, Holly Bourne has solidified herself as one of my favourite authors. Pretending is her second adult book and boy does it pack a punch. April is a woman in her early thirties, tired of putting up with mediocre men and worn out from her job at a sexual advice charity. After yet another failed date, she decides she is going to get her revenge on men. She is going to pretend to be Gretel, the perfect no-fuss woman.

That premise may sound like a light-hearted comedy romp but don't be fooled. As with all of Bourne's stories, the focus here is solely on the main character dealing with her mental health and trauma from her past. There are huge trigger warnings for sexual assault, trauma but also for general sexist, entitled, borderline abusive behaviour from men. These things are captured so well that it's astonishing how unafraid Bourne is to write them down. It is both refreshing and heartbreaking to experience them in a story form and I will forever treasure this book because of that. I cannot stress the potential triggers enough though, as important as they are. I have no history of sexual assault (at least in the traditional sense) but this book made me reflect deeply on my previous relationship and ask some serious questions about what marks it might have left on me.

Putting that aside, this is just a stellar example of Bourne's writing skill. The characters might as well be real people, the pacing is perfect and the plot, though a basic slice of life on paper, is exactly the story that needs to be told. I have no doubts this will resonate with any woman at least a little bit, but it could also open some eyes for some men if you're willing to not take the prose as a personal attack. I desperately want the straight men in my life to read this, if only so they can finally appreciate the complexity and depth behind navigating relationships from a female point of view. The beauty of it as well is that a book of this kind could so easily feel like cheap pandering but it doesn't even come close because it rings so true.

Is this book perfect? No. I can see some people having issues with aspects of the plot, and this is by no means an easy read. But I love Pretending for daring to tell women their feelings are valid and to not shy away from the uglier truths. If a book can rip you apart and stitch you back together, not by pretending everything is okay but by promising it might be...that's a book we all need to exist.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Other's Gold by Elizabeth Ames

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pushkin Press in exchange for an honest review.

I read an extract of this book aaaages ago and was instantly intrigued, despite it not being my usual genre at all. As a rule, I dislike more literary books and I try to stay away from them. But something about The Other's Gold just drew me in and I was very happy when I finally got the chance to finish the story.

This is the tale of four women spanning several decades, who meet in college and form very tight friendships. Each of the four women will make a 'mistake' throughout the course of the story and the plot structure is built around that. This is literary fiction as I stated so you are kept almost at a distance from the four characters throughout the book. You get a strong sense of who they are but I never quite felt close to them and I think that's because of the writing style. Having said that though, I found them a varied and interesting group to read about.

One thing I wasn't expecting about this book is that it is remarkably refreshing. I had a rough idea of what the mistakes might entail before I started reading it and I was surprised by the nature of almost all of them. Two of them are very weird in an almost off the wall way and these were my favourite to read about (although that's an odd phrase given they're not pleasant haha). The first mistake is pretty pedestrian and I actively disliked the nature of the second one.

The main problem of this book is that there are several things which don't feel fully explored, despite the length and the entire plot basically being a character study. Each mistake is focused on in turn but then the feelings that caused those mistakes aren't really resolved for anyone. This isn't as big a detriment as it sounds but it particularly stood out at certain moments and was a bit of a shame.

Overall, The Other's Gold is a compelling and expertly-told tale of four women and the lives they build together. Is it perfect? No. But I found it both enjoyable and extremely hard to put down. The story and characters sucked me in and I know this is a book I will remember for a long time.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

What a curious book! I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this thriller. I personally haven't read many books about polyamory and I think it's actually the perfect topic to explore in a thriller-type setting. Thursday is one of three women married to the same man, named by the days he spends with them. One day she finds out the full name of one of his other wives and so she investigates her life, leading her to find some potentially disturbing things out about her own husband.

The first third or so of this book was brilliant. Thursday was a great narrator, the setup was a little unbelievable but gripping and best of all, I had no idea where the story would go. Unfortunately the book doesn't stick with this premise the entire way through which is really all I can say without massive spoilers. Instead it takes a rather confusing swerve in topic and plot and it never manages to quite recover from it in my opinion.

The writing itself (in terms of style) is probably the strongest aspect of this book, followed by the characters. Even after it took the turn I disliked, both of these elements remained strong and I was invested in the story because of the connection I had built to the characters. I still couldn't predict what was going to happen which was nice, although I found the ending a little confusing and I'm still not quite sure what actually happened with everything.

Overall, I still think this is a decent thriller but it does a lot of stuff in the last 60% which is going to put some people off. I wish it had stuck with the excellent story it began as but as it is, it's a pretty standard but well-written thriller.

Overall Rating:

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

VERY LIGHT SPOILERS FOR EVERY HEART A DOORWAY & BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY.

I am unbelievably happy I got an ARC of this book. I love this series with every fiber of my being and so far, I have yet to be disappointed by a single book. Come Tumbling Down picks up a little while after Beneath the Sugar Sky with the return of my personal favourite character, Jack. She has come back to the school to seek help because her sister has stolen her body and the very existence of her own doorway world is in danger.

There isn't much else I can say about the plot without spoilers but this book brings back a lot of characters I had missed and with them, all that fantastic representation. It makes me so happy reading about everyone in this series because every single bit of representation seems so well-handled (obviously I cannot comment on the groups I am not part of but there are no obvious red flags to me) and every character is so fully-fleshed out and interesting in their own way. The storyline continues to be creative and just a joy to read about. As much as I enjoy the one-off explorations of the doorway worlds, every new book seems to add to the growing overall storyline and this is just the perfect way to continue on with Jack in her world. The only potential downside is some people might be sad that their other favourites aren't in the spotlight but I'm sure future books will address this and give them their turn.

Honestly, there's not much more to say. If you're a fan of this series, this next installment will not disappoint. If you've not started this series yet, I highly recommend it. McGuire creates a magical world with magical characters and who could ask for more?

Overall Rating:

.5

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Quercus Books in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly never thought I would rate a thriller 5 stars. I gave If We Were Villains 5 stars at the start of the year and that is indeed a thriller but it is quite differently tonally than most I read. The Perfect Wife on the other hand is pretty much a traditional thriller, albeit with a neat sci-fi twist. And I absolutely adored it.

This is the story of Abbie, a woman who wakes up only to be told that she's not a woman at all. In fact Abbie is now a robot, built by her husband to replace his dead wife. As she tries to resume her life five years on, she realises that her memory is not quite complete and there are some things that her husband isn't telling her.

I wouldn't dream of spoiling anything else about this book. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was completely gripped by both the basic plot and the execution. Fascinating questions about AI and what it means to be a person are raised and, while this is nothing new in sci-fi, it is wonderful to see it explored within a thriller setting. I was not only surprised by the plot but I was surprised multiple times, and each one made me more excited to find out what happened next. This rarely happens for me with thrillers and so I was delighted to experience it here. I hesitate to mention twists in my reviews because I feel like if you expect them then they have less of an impact, but fans of thrillers won't be disappointed here.

The writing and characters are another strength. The story is told in dual perspective, with the chapters from robot Abbie's POV being told in the second person (an unusual choice but one that works really well) and the alternating chapters being told from the POV of an unknown narrator back when human Abbie first met Tim at his workplace. Every character is nuanced and I particularly love how Abbie is explored in such detail.

Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this thriller. It's unusual, gripping and has a plot I found really satisfying. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you like the genre and I'm so happy to have found a new favourite.

Overall Rating:

Mother Knows Best by Kira Peikoff

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

Oh what a delicious find this was! I really don't know how to categorise this book because I haven't read anything like it before. It's mostly a thriller but it reads very differently to the majority of thrillers I've read and it has a loose sci-fi element to it too. Mother Knows Best is the story of several different characters and it focuses on a simple scientific concept-what if you could genetically engineer a child with three parents? The plot itself is very much rooted in the real-world and it explores the legal and ethical ramifications of such research and what might happen to those involved in it. At its core though, this is a story about a very unusual family, a desperate mother and a driven scientist who won't stop until she gets what she wants.

I am genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I requested it after reading a sample and this is one of the most unique and interesting thrillers I've ever read. The characters were all brilliant and nuanced (Abby perhaps was a little flat but she read as a realistic child at least) and they provide the different facets and dimensions to the plot. Every character is valid to some extent in their point of view and that creates interesting dilemmas. You can also tell that the author has certainly done her research with regards to the scientific stuff. She has a degree in bioethics and she's put it to good use here, making the story all the stronger for it.

On the whole, this is definitely worth checking out if you are a thriller fan. It has a more unique premise than most thrillers and it is written and executed fantastically. It isn't the darkest or most suspenseful of stories, but it makes up for it with strong characters and a plot that keeps you guessing where it will go next. I look forward to seeing more books from this author.

Overall Rating: