Final Girls – Riley Sager

10/10. Love this cover!

“Each girl survived an unthinkable horror. Now someone wants them dead…

They were the victims of separate massacres. Grouped together by the press, and dubbed the Final Girls, they are treated like something fresh out of a slasher movie. When something terrible happens to Lisa, put-together Quincy and volatile Sam finally meet. Each one influences the other. Each one has dark secrets.

And after the bloodstained fingers of the past reach into the present, neither one will ever be the same…”

I downloaded Final Girls – and finished it – in one evening. After reading and loving In A Dark Dark Wood and Black-Eyed Susans, two of my favourite crime/thriller novels, I knew I’d love Riley Sager’s book, and it didn’t disappoint (even if it did leave me with very odd dreams).

Quincey Carpenter (slightly gimmicky name, but I’ll let it slide) became a ‘Final Girl’ when, during a weekend away with her friends in a remote house near a mental asylum, an escaped patient massacres them all – bar her. Constantly questioned over the years as to why she was the only one left alive, and nicknamed by the media along with two other sole survivors of mass murders, Quincey hates thinking about the past. She’s moved on, has a fun career and a steady partner – and is kept supported by Coop, the first police officer to find her at the scene of the crime all those years ago, and Xanax (washed down with grape soda). (Side note: I don’t know what grape soda is but it sounds DELICIOUS.)

That is, until, one of the other remaining Final Girls, Lisa, is found dead, having committed suicide, and the other, Samantha, shows up at Quincey’s house to talk to her. When it becomes clear that Sam has very little in her life, Quincey invites her in to her home and the two begin to grow closer – Sam encouraging the secret dark streak within Quincey that she’s never dared let out. But things take an even darker turn when Lisa’s death is ruled a murder, not a suicide, and Quincey embarks on an increasingly dangerous path to find the truth, which leads her back to the place that she nearly died and where she finally discovers all of that night’s grimacing truths…

Although I guessed the big twist of Final Girls from the get-go, it didn’t stop me enjoying this book immensely. Riley Sager is masterful at creating and keeping tension – hence why I raced through this book in a matter of hours. I know this is a novel that I’ll return to again and again – a compelling thriller full of nail-biting twists and turns. A must read!

It Was You – Jo Platt

9/10. Cute cover!

“Alice Waites has been happily single for almost two years. When her close friends in The Short Book Group gently question her current distinct lack of interest in men, she accepts that maybe it is time to deal with the past and open herself up to new possibilities. However, things soon unravel for Alice as she uncovers the secret heartache and hopes of those around her. And her most surprising discovery is the life-changing truth which she has kept hidden, even from herself…”

It Was You is a witty, warm, character-driven novel – a fun distraction, if slightly predictable (and a bit too heavy on the commas).

Platt brings us a cast of amusing, memorable characters. Centre stage is Alice, along with Miriam, a friend from university, her bubbly and forthcoming work friend Sophie, the sweet and sincere Abs and Connie (who I have to say we get to know the least). Notably absent is Lydia, who we meet at the beginning of the story – another university friend who sadly passed away years previously.

Others join the fray – Lydia’s widowed husband Jon, Connie’s husband Greg, Miriam’s husband Craig, her sister, Romy, and David, who Sophie and Alice work for. Single Alice, still somewhat recovering from an acrimonious split from Eddie years previously, contends good-naturedly with her friend’s matchmaking attempts. Abs’ friend Hugh turns out to not be a match made in heaven for her, but when Alice meets Greg’s friend Stephen, it seems like she may have hit gold…

Uncertainties linger, however, as Alice tries to deal with various things bubbling under the surface: her widowed father has a new girlfriend, Jon appears to have moved on with a new woman, and Eddie reappears on the scene with some unpleasant news… Will Stephen turn out to be The One or will an unexpected contender for Alice’s emotions prove more suitable?

It Was You is an enjoyable, sweet novel, driven along by a cast of relatable and witty characters. 

The Breakdown – B. A. Paris

7.5/10 – I really like the cover, but I think there was a more suitable image that could have been used!

Reminiscent of The Girl on the Train, The Breakdown is a satisfying, gripping crime thriller that keeps readers guessing til the very last page – it was one of the best books that I read on my travels.

When a woman is murdered near the isolated house that Cass and her husband Matthew share, it sends Cass into a tailspin of guilt: not least because she realises she drove past the woman on her way home the previous night. At the time, she’d thought something might be wrong, but the weather conditions were too bad to stop – and the lane she passed her in was dark and dangerous. Fearful of a mugging attempt, Cass had kept on driving, planning to report the car when she got home – but she forgot. The next thing she hears, the woman is dead. Cass’ guilt intensifies when she realises that she knew the victim, Jane; she’d met her only recently and they had had dinner together. She’d thought it was the start of a close friendship. 

Jane’s murder sparks a chain of events that Cass can’t keep ahead of. Too scared to admit that she took the same route as Jane home – treacherous in bad weather, she promised both her husband and her best friend, Rachel, that she wouldn’t – Cass works hard to cover up the lie. Prone to forgetfulness, her memory lapses get worse and worse – and phantom phone calls, threatening and repetitive, continue, until she’s forced to turn to medication to deal with what she thinks is going on: that she’s being stalked by the murderer, convinced he saw her that night and hellbent on silencing her before she tells.

Matthew, patient at first, begins to get frustrated with her – and Rachel also deals well with the forgotten lunches and appointments that Cass misses, but things start to come to a head when Cass receives a letter saying she might have early on-set dementia. It’s the same horrible fate her mother suffered in her mid-forties and what Cass has been terrified of. Aware that her marriage is becoming increasingly fractious and worried that her friendship with Rachel is at breaking point, Cass suddenly makes a shock discovery that throws everything – even Jane’s murder – into question. 

As the tension increases, page by page, so does the reader’s – I read this book on a train and started in a relaxed position, then moved to being upright and alert as I raced through the story, unable to put it down. Truly a fine mastery of the unreliable protagonist genre and perhaps the best book I’ve read this year so far! 

A Day at the Office – Matt Dunn

9/10. Great cover – just not very Valentine’s themed!

This novel would perhaps have been better suited to the title of A Valentine’s Day at the Office, given that it revolves around one February 14th at a dot-com company. 10 of the company’s employees are looking for love – in various guises. 

The novel is character driven, featuring a cast of excellently-drawn office workers – even the women are authentically portrayed, which can be hard for male authors to achieve (and vice versa). Sophie, having broken up with Darren and moved to London from Eastbourne, worries that she’ll never find love again. Nathan, who got dumped three years ago to the day, whilst down on one knee with a ring in his hand, still hasn’t got over Ellie. Callum, a nervous singleton who is forever trying to make himself as appealing to the opposite sex as possible, has got a first date tonight – but he has no idea what his companion looks like. Judith and Mark shared a drunken kiss at the office party but haven’t discussed it since. The former has a somewhat unusual lovelife scenario, whereas the latter hasn’t managed to get the night out of his head since…

This Valentine’s Day, the entire cast embark on their own romantic journeys to find who they hope will be The One. Though the story follows fairly familiar rom-com-lit patterns, Dunn occasionally throws in a curveball or two to keep readers guessing. An entertaining read no matter your relationship status!

His Kidnapper’s Shoes – Maggie James

9/10. Evocative and communicates the book’s themes perfectly.

Daniel Covey has spent his life thinking something isn’t quite right with his mother. He’s also spent his life hating his stepfather – who has stopped him attending art school to study his passion. He’s also spent his life drinking away a secret pain and finding solace in taking strangers to bed. And now, he’s about to uncover the biggest secret of his life – one that will bring him a whole new world of pain…

As Daniel pulls at the threads of the lies that make up his life, is all hope of redemption – and the semblance of a normal life – lost? Or can he find his way to forgiveness and understanding to craft a new path for himself?

There’s not much that can be said about this book without revealing major spoiler alerts, but His Kidnapper’s Shoes delivers plot twist after plot twist, keeping readers intrigued and on their toes. A few of the events seem slightly disconnected from the main narrative – the fate of a character’s husband, for example – but otherwise James sketches a shocking series of events that eventually fall neatly into one very messed-up jigsaw. A compelling, if somewhat unbelievable, read!

The Travel Auction – Mark Green

8/10. A little busy, but sums up the book well.

After Jonathan Cork finds his girlfriend cheating on him, he realises that their plans for a three-month trip – all paid for upfront – are about to be wasted. Suffering from a severe nut allergy, Jonathan can’t travel alone – and he can’t change the name on his companion’s ticket. In a last-bid attempt to keep his plans – made as a promise to his mother before she passed away – he advertises on eBay for a travel companion with the same name as his ex-girlfriend: Kate Thornly. No-one seems to fit the bill, until the seemingly perfect woman comes along: she’s a nurse and can administer adrenaline should be accidentally ingest nuts. But there’s just one flaw; she’s blind.

Jonathan, who needs someone to look after him and not the other way around, nearly backs out at the last minute – as does Kate, offended by his reaction upon realising that she’s visually impaired. However, spurred on by the thought of keeping his plans, Jonathan and Kate (who eventually becomes nicknamed KT2, then Angel) decide to give it a go. Not all is fair in love and travel, however: from meddlesome ex-girlfriends and estranged husbands to paparazzi and Jeep crashes, Jonathan and Kate are about to have a much more exciting trip than they originally planned for…

The Travel Auction is a funny read, especially perfect for those travelling, that will keep you turning the page with its unexpected turns of events. It’s hampered in places by bad grammar and poor spacing, but all in all it’s a decent, funny read.

Thursdays in the Park – Hilary Boyd

8/10. A friendly cover with nice, chirpy colours!

Fifty-nine-year-old Jeanie Lawson has a lot of decisions to make. She’s unhappy with her marriage – her husband, George, hasn’t shared her bed for a decade – and with her life: George and her daughter Chanty are both trying to encourage Jeanie to move to the countryside, away from her beloved granddaughter Ellie and her successful health-food shop, Pomegranate. And when Ellie decides to play with a boy called Dylan one day, and Jeanie gets talking to Dylan’s grandfather Ray – a kind, warm man with piercing blue eyes – Jeanie realises just how much she loves her life in Highgate. 

As she approaches her sixtieth birthday and tensions increase between her and George (who, to Jeanie’s irritation, insists on calling her ‘old girl’ and on railroading her more and more into the countryside move), her feelings increase for Ray. Calm and sincere, he’s miles away from the emotionally-distant and controlling  George. But when Jeanie’s selfish son-in-law concocts a story that stops her seeing Ray, and Chanty twigs as to Jeanie’s feelings, things get ever more complicated.

George further adds to the confusion by dropping a bombshell that explains his ten-year absence from Jeanie’s bed and tries to return to it, becoming more like the husband she’s always wanted. Aside from the controlling and making decisions for her, of course…

Jeanie is torn in two: between Ray, who she is growing sure that she loves, and George, her companion of thirty-two years, who she simply can’t contemplate leaving. Will she put her happiness first, or her family’s? 

Whilst I didn’t always agree with Jeanie’s decisions – and found the character of her friend Rita slightly overbearing at times – I enjoyed Thursdays in the Park. It’s an enjoyable, gently life-affirming novel ideal to while away a few hours with.

KCARAB is back…

Hello fellow book lovers! 

Sorry for the silence recently, but I’ve been away travelling across Europe. Although I had to pack light, I of course carried my trusty Kindle with me and downloaded plenty of books to keep me occupied during all of our long train journeys.

I’ve been reviewing along the way, and I’m now going to share all my reviews with you! Most of the books have been fairly light-hearted and easy-to-read, but there’s a few thrillers and murder mysteries thrown in for good measure. I re-read quite a few books, as I LOVE re-reading books, but I’ve not re-reviewed them.

There’s also a couple of DNFs that simply didn’t grab my attention:

Lift and Separate by Marilyn Simon Rothstein – I just didn’t enjoy the premise, sorry!
All I Left Behind by Sarah J Palmer – the spelling/punctuation errors put me off. I may have persevered had it had a final polish.
The Corner Shop of Whispers by Debbie Viggiano – I just found this too predictable and exclamatory, with everything happening all at once and everyone playing the pronoun game.
Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse – it seems like this would have been my cup of tea, but sadly it just didn’t hook my attention.

Still to finish:

IQ84 by Haruki Murakami – another re-read and the book I’m currently on, 25% through.
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney – I actually spotted and downloaded this on my travels. I’m 9% through. It didn’t grab me enough at the time so I turned over to IQ84, but I will return to it.
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood – Atwood is one of my all-time favourite authors so it broke my heart when I just wasn’t in the mood for it (hence only being at 6%) but I WILL finish and review it.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – we watched the TV series whilst we were away and I loved it so much that I decided to buy the book so that I could do a feature on the site. However it’s not quite as well-written as I was expecting, so I’m only at 33%. I’ll do my best to finish so I can do my feature!
The Cosy Teashop in the Castle by Caroline Roberts – I’m only at 4% with this as I wasn’t in the mood for the genre at the time. I think I’ll return to it, but it may end up a DNF.

Still to start:

Lie Still by Julia Heaberlin – I LOVED Black Eyed Susans (remember?) so I was sort of ‘saving’ this and then our travels finished before I had time to start it. I will read and review it!
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman – I got an odd urge to re-read this; I will do at some point.
Mad Love by Nick Spalding – can’t really remember much about this one, but I’ll give it a go at some point.
The Girl Who Lied by Sue Fortin – again, one I downloaded pre-travel after liking the description. Read and review to come…
Scoundrels: Volume One by Major Victor Cornwall and Major St. John Trevelyan (from new start-up, Black Door Press) – I’ve heard about this one a lot on the grapevine. I’ve pre-ordered a copy, but I’m going to try and get hold of an ARC so that I can review it before it comes out next month…

This Is How It Always Is – Laurie Frankel

10/10. Gorgeous cover – spot on use of imagery and colour.

“Claude is five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes. This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.”

When a proof copy of This Is How It Always Is popped through my doorbox, I was intrigued by its gorgeous, minimalist production values (cream cover with gold foil; bare blurb). I opened it up and read the first few pages – and soon I had put aside all of my plans for that evening and just kept on reading.

Laurie Frankel’s book is a gorgeous, life-affirming novel about a set of parents, Rosie and Penn, with a large family (Orion and Regel, Claude, Roo and Ben) and an ever-evolving array of methods to bring them up with. As with all siblings (and people), each son has their own distinctive and different set of personality traits, quirks, and flaws. Claude is a little more different. He is three when he announces that he wants to be a girl: five when he decides that he’s going to be called Poppy and start dressing like a girl.

Accepting, tolerant, patient and loving parents, Rosie and Penn, still aren’t quite sure when them batting away the inevitable childish questions (why is the sky blue? what do turtles eat? when I grow up and become a girl, will I start over?) and quirks became Claude/Poppy’s new way of life. All they know is that they want to accept and nurture Claude’s flourishing personality. It’s a mixed blessing for Rosie, who desperately yearned for her fifth child to be a girl – and a great source of confusion for Claude’s siblings, until, with trademark childlike equanimity, they accept his new identity without any qualms. But when a couple of occurrences make it apparent to Rosie and Penn that where they currently live in Wisconsin isn’t the best place to encourage a gender-dysphoric child’s growth, they decide to relocate to Seattle, a much more welcoming environment for their rambunctious family – despite the family fractures that they are unknowingly causing in the process.

Though their new neighbourhood is much more welcoming, they decide to keep Poppy’s ‘true’ gender a secret, and thus the biggest secret that the Walsh-Adams will ever have to keep is born – and carried, throughout the years, as the children grow, develop, make friends, start to date, and, eventually, fall in love. As Poppy struggles to accept the black-and-white gender-role obsessed society that, for her, raises more questions than it answers, Penn’s bedtime stories, featuring Grumwald and Princess Stephanie, shows art imitating life as he uses his stories to help guide his children – mostly Poppy – through the rocky terrain of child- and kidulthood.

But then Poppy’s secret is revealed, and everything the family has built together starts to collapse. Old fractures come to the surface; new ones start to develop. As the Walsh-Adams family struggle to deal with the fallout, Poppy – who is now Claude again – experiences a total identity crisis. Will she find courage to accept the identity she’s been sure of since she was three years old, or will the struggle she now faces leave her confused and alone? Rather than try and answer all of the difficult questions that the book raises, Frankel leaves the ending in an open-ended but optimistic manner, letting readers draw their own interpretations and conclusions.

Simply put, This Is How It Always Is is a stunning novel, and one that our ever-evolving society desperately needs. Laurie Frankel shows razor-sharp insight with her depiction of Rosie and Penn’s parenting skills, Poppy’s struggles and how they all fit into the wider context of modern society. This is not only an essential book for anyone who wants to understand more about the transgender experience, but also for anyone who enjoys a heart-warming and thought-provoking read.

Frankel’s relatable, likeable writing style delivers the novel’s key messages in a subtle yet poignant way, showing how no-one – least of all parents – is completely infallible, and right all the time. It also reinforces how, more importantly, a lot of us are muddling through life, following our hearts and trying to forge a path through an often uncertain world according to our hopes, dreams and desires – something that the novel’s message encourages us to do, rather than conforming to life’s ideals and standards. An intelligently written, evocative, important read – I cannot praise this book highly enough.

Many thanks to Headline for the review copy.

Seven Steps to Happiness – Stella Newman

9/10. Great use of colour, and I love the illustration.

“Is there a formula for happiness? If it’s Netflix, two-for-one Malbec and the perfect toasted-cheese sandwich, Lenny has it covered. But when her friend Juliet finds herself at rock bottom, Lenny realises it’s going to take more than that to fix her. Luckily help is at hand in the form of HappyGuru: a plan which promises happiness in seven easy steps. So when Lenny is asked to research it, she puts scepticism aside and persuades Juliet they should give it a go. The friends quickly find themselves immersed in mindfulness, juice cleanses and death-defying circus stunts. Yet as Juliet becomes increasingly buoyant, things only get more complicated for Lenny. Can it be that happiness is only seven steps away?”

Here on the KCARAB blog I’m very open about how much of a Stella Newman fan I am. From Pear Shaped to Leftovers The Dish, as soon as I saw that she was publishing a new novel (I’m not ashamed to admit that I sporadically search her publisher’s page to check) it was my next purchase.

I will admit, however, that it didn’t seem like a classic Stella read upon starting – this novel has a new writing style, with the story split between two protagonists, Lenny and Julia, and the starting protagonist isn’t a talented cook/all-round foodie (see: Pear Shaped‘s Sophie, Leftovers‘ Susie and The Dish‘s Laura) – Seven Steps to Happiness immediately showed a new writing side of Newman. However, there was certainly enough mention of food to keep me happy – not to mention that Julia is a ghost recipe writer-turned-artisan bread maker.

However, Julia’s new bread empire doesn’t come easy – a married mother and talented chef, her world is turned upside down when she realises that her seemingly perfect husband, Matt, is a serial cheater. Her best friend, perpetual singleton and unfulfilled tech worker, Lenny, takes it upon herself to bring her back to life – with regular visits, emotional support, and the use of a new app she’s trialling – HappyGuru. Julia starts off at a happy level of four, but as she takes the advice that the app offers her – taking up exercise, new hobbies and challenging herself creatively, that level starts to creep up as she embraces life and sloughs off her broken relationship. Meanwhile, Lenny is going the wrong way – moving from having a stable job to being unemployed, wearing inside-out clothes and wasting time with Ellis, a man who has refused to commit to her for years and who can’t even carry out a simple instruction right.

Julia’s new endeavours start to help Lenny too, as her business starts to expand and she needs Lenny’s help to turn her business into a success story, rather than simply keeping her afloat. As the two pair up to take Julia’s company to the next level, navigating friendship bumps, love life issues and the mission to find the perfect toastie combination, they both find happiness – all without the use of the HappyGuru app.

As always, there’s a link to Stella’s other novels – something I’ve always loved about her books. Seven Steps to Happiness is a classic serving of literary comfort food, penned by the eternally talented Stella Newman – who always serves up the perfect blend of friendship, romance and cuisine. The only thing missing from this book was toastie recommendations – though that’s perhaps no bad thing, when I already learned how to make the Compost Cookies from her first novel and I’m trying to avoid having a classic ‘winter body’ this year…