This was the perfect measure of drama, heart, poetry and magic.
Neila runs her late mother’s apothecary, set up in the 1700s to help heal women’s ailments. But after a horrible betrayal from her lover, Neila helps to poison men who have wronged their partners. This is all pulled apart when we meet Eliza.
The book follows Caroline in the modern day, who is on the path to finding herself, uncovering the mystery of the apothecary murders and realising that she rules her own life.
I loved the theme of postions in this book, I loved how part of it was set in 1700s London and the mystery element also.
It all tied together so well, it was poetic and dramatic! Everything you need and want.
A while ago now, I did a group read along for The Familiars by Stacey Halls. It was such a good experience! It was amazing and exciting to read the same book at the same pace with a group of others. I really appreciated being able to talk about what has happened, the characters and also see from other perspectives.
I am currently reading Rainbow Milk for a read-along. We are on day two of the reading (at the time of writing this) so we haven’t got through a lot of the book but I love Norman Alonso’s journey from Jamica to the England in 1958 and his experience being part of the Windrush generation. I find his perspective so engrossing and loved reading about his love for gardening. The character perspective has changed in the second section of the book and is set in 2002 so I’m sad that Norman’s perspective hasn’t continued but we will see how I get on with this book!
Do you like to take part in book clubs/ read-alongs?
April was definitely my slowest reading month. I was in a bit of a slump trying to read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and honestly I’m happy that I just stopped and focused on stand-alone books instead. I read 6 books in total in april- let’s talk about my highlights!
This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
★★★★★
I loved this book! I was hesitant to read it because I knew that if it had anything to do with c****r in there that I would be really upset. I knew I’d end up crying and it happened but I really wanted this insight into hospitals, what goes on and what the doctors and nurses and all the staff think and feel. I’ve always had the upmost respect for people who work in roles caring for others and this insight was very valuable to me. It reaffirmed how much respect doctors deserve and I think it’s brilliant that it also took a political stance against how the government berate and underpay doctors and anyone in this profession.
The Familiars by Stacey Hall
★★★★★
I read this for a group read-along and it made the reading experience so much better being able to chat in a group about it. I wanted to read ahead so many times! The chapters ended on cliffhangers and the book was everything gothic, female lead, fiesty and action-packed. I surprise myself every time I read out of my ‘comfort zone’ and wish I would venture out of it more often because whenever I read anything like a thriller, historical or fantasy book I have the best time.
I’ve been given good book recommendations from 2 of my friends lately and wanted to showcase them on here!
It is so, so lovely to share experiences with books. There’s nothing like lending books, recommending them and bonding over them. I am lucky to have friends who love to read and who have different reading tastes to me.
I never want to stick to one genre/theme with books but I think it is difficult to buy books from genres you’re not drawn to. I often find that reading a synopsis puts me off a lot of books, but when someone close to you has said they loved a particular book and tells you their personal experience with it, it is more appealing. I definitely rely on my friends (and now Bookstagram accounts) to tell me about books from other genres whch they loved.
My friend, Amy, sent me some recommendations after seeing my Bookstagram account which was so kind and I always love her recommendations, she has the best taste from books to films to TV shows!
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix ★★★★★
I’ve already read this book, I couldn’t resist this cover and wanted to read it straight away. It’s oversized, looks live a video and was so perfect! It is set in the ’80s in a highschool and is centred around music, frienship and the supernatural. I loved this book! I usually like books around heavier topics but I always want recommendations because I would never usually go for a book like this but had the best experience reading it.
I’ve yet to buy a few more recommended to me from Amy but they will be on the way next month!
Ellie recommended me this next book! I lent Ellie Selected Poems by Silvia Plath and got this in return.
The Graduate by Charles Webb
I have yet to read this book. It is a bout a graduate called Benjamin who’s life is laid out for him but he wants more. He ends up having an affair with a family friend and which runs into a few complications to say the leasr. It sounds dramatic, I like the premise and I always trust Ellie’s recommendations! I can’t wait to start this book.
Source: My lovely boyfriend bought this for me as a gift!
Synopsis
Alison is in a loveless marriage, she’s a ‘bad’ mother and is having an affair with her workmate… what could possibly go wrong?
What I thought
Initially, I found this storyline very different. The author played on traditional nuclear family roles; the father was a stay-at-home dad and the mother worked as a prosecutor, was working a lot and was pushed out of activities with her child because the father said she was doing everything wrong. I couldn’t tell what was going to happen in this story for the longest time. In one respect, this meant that there was a lot of filler in the book, I believe the first half could have been more condensed, but I did still find it interesting and never wanted to give up with it.
The second half of the book was so intense. I never caught on to how much Alison’s husband and lover were so filled with hatred. They were very twisted characters and I will say there is a trigger warning for SA and R in this book. I honestly felt like I was watching a television show rather than reading a book it was intense and messed up in places.
The book is well written, the plot came together so well and mirrored a murder case that Alison was working on. This is definitely not my usual read but it was entertaining to say the least!
April brings many events such as April Fools, Autism Awareness Day, Earth Day and St. George’s Day. I wanted to create a TBR inspired by these events to celebrate them or raise more awareness around them. So let’s have a look into these events!
April Fools Day
Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams
I wanted to go with a fool in love theme with a rom-com style book for this event. This is a commute to work turned love story where there is an ad posted in the daily paper saying ‘to the girl with the coffee.. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… drink sometime?’ I’ve seen a lot of memes about these messages in papers before, bringing the daily commute to life, and thought it would be fun to read a story about it.
Autism Awareness Day
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
This is a remarkable book written by Higashida, who’s autism makes spoken communication impossible, but an ambitious teacher taught him to point to letters, build words and paragraphs to communicate. This is an extraordinary account of what it is like to be autistic, to answer all the questions people have about autism and to see life through the eyes of someone with autism. This book raises awareness and is a bid for more education and awareness on autism.
Earth Day
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This is a remarkable novel which is a true love story to nature, the wild and the free. I have already read this but I could not think of another book that is such an ode to nature, a novel with a strong pull to the earth and its beauty. Aside from this focus, this is a masterpiece of a novel. It is a love story, an abandonment story, an outsider story and a murder mystery tied all into one.
St. George’s Day
The Best of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Can you get more british than Sherlock Holmes? I have always loved the films and the series shows. I want to read the stories this month! St. George’s Day is also my birthday, so I prefer to refer to this date as St. Charlon’s day but the rest of the world is yet to go along with this.
I managed to read a lot in March, these are the highlights! There was some godly stories, and some horrors (and I’m not talking about the genre).
I saw so many lovely posts for World Book Day at the beginning of the month, it’s so lovely to see sucha lovely event celebrated and to remember all the dress-ups and book fairs at school and the true beauty of reading.
I did do a celebratory TBR for March and in this post, I said I wanted to read Gods of Jade and Shadow to celebrate my younger love for gods, mythology and the magic in reading.
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno- Garcia ★★★☆☆
I loved the chance to read Mayan mythology for this book. I loved the god of death and the romance element to this book but I thought that it would be so much more of a wild ride than it was and fell short in a lot of places for me. I wanted this book to be dripped in magic and I beleive there was a lot of lost opportunity for more magic in this book. Overall it wasn’t the best in my opinion but I don’t regret reading it at the same time.
In celebration for World Poetry Day, I read Selected Poems.
Selected Poems by Sylvia Plath ★★★★★
I haven’t read poetry since university where I really didnt enjoy it because I felt like I didn’t understand it at all. I have previously read The Bell Jar by Silvia Plath (which I loved) so thought her poetry would be a comfortable place to start. I loved these poems! My favourite was Mirror and Resolve. I definitely want to read more poetry from now on.
For Mother’s Day, I chose a strange one. This book was about a toxic mother-daughter relationship. The main character has to care for a mother who never cared for her after an Alzeimer’s diagnosis.
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi ★★☆☆☆
I really struggled no to hate this. The female characters were awful to each other, I couldn’t ignore the misogyny in the book and really struggled with the concept. I feel bad that I didn’t like this and really want to re-read it and not get so hung up on the ‘bad mother’ concept. This title was later released for the International Women’s Prize Award 2020 and after these I felt even more like I had missed the main object of this book. I am aware that I’ve missed the underlying theme to this book but I really didn’t enjoy it.
Ok, a five star read to change the pace!
My Policeman by Bethan Roberts ★★★★★
This book was a masterpiece! It’s a journal to the other lover in a triangle. Set in 1950s Brighton, Tom settles for Marion in an intolerant society where he cannot show his love for Patrick. It is a story of how everyone gets hurt when you can’t just be with the person you love. There was commentary on fascism, women’s rights and homophobia. This is my type of book, it was littered with greek mythological metaphor, literary references to Anna Karenina and said something about society. It was perfection.
Then I ended March on a high…
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan ★★★★★
Reading this was a Watermelon Sugar high! It was such a trippy book and was so so unique and interesting. Harry Styles was definitely inspired by reading this (he has actually read it) and I’d definitely recommend this read it was fantastic! It was set in a town called iDeath where everything is made of watermelon sugar, the sun shines a different colour every day and they live in an alternative version to society.
Charlon's Book Corner 