I'd never even heard of this book before it showed up as an Audible Daily Deal but OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Seriously my new favourite book; it's absolutely beautiful 😍

This is an absolutely brilliant audiobook (read by the fantastic Lenny Henry) and it's only $3.95 on Audible today!!!

Just stumbled across the Season of Stories channel on the 60dB app - how cool is this? Stone Mattress read by the author! Plus there's Homegoing & a whole lot of other stuff, all for FREE 😍

"... to everyone else he just looks like a fanny who won't play the game." ?
Christopher Brookmyre has such a delightfully Scottish way with words...

That feeling when you get approved for an ARC of your FAVOURITE AUTHOR'S NEW BOOK 😍👍🍾🎉❤️

This book is just spectacular. Everyone should read this book and everyone should know about it - embarrassed to say that I'd never even heard of it until very recently ☺️ It's moving & powerful & important, but it's also a very readable, character-driven story. Honestly, just so very good ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finally got around to reading this book after many, many years and it was absolutely worth the wait! Genuinely compelling reading and it translates really well to audio format. If nothing else, the audiobook is worth the money purely for the bit where the mature, upper-class English narrator sounds incredibly awkward while reading a sex scene from the woman's perspective. Comedy gold.

Quite possibly the weirdest book I've ever read. Loved it 😍

It looks like reviews are a little mixed on this one, but I LOVED it. Part ghost story, part prison drama, part whodunnit - what's not to love? It was always going to be difficult to follow up the absolutely brilliant Girl with All the Gifts & this one is not quite as good but it was really, really enjoyable nonetheless :)

"It was like someone dipped me in hot wax and stamped me with him and I dried and that was it"

SO MUCH beautiful writing in this book ?

I'm so torn on this one. On the one hand, it feels wrong for a white author to be a voice for POC when there are already so many fabulous voices from within that community who are more than capable of telling their own stories. On the other hand, this is a very approachable way for a white middle-class audience to see things from a different perspective & maybe better recognise their own privilege? I honestly don't know how I feel about it!

A solidly-plotted crime novel with a cast of unique characters and some great twists & turns. Took me a little while to get into due to some clunky writing in the initial chapters but it all came together pretty quickly into what's really a surprisingly good debut novel. Well worth a read 😊

Some parts of this were great and it's an undeniably compelling read, but it also annoyed the bejeezus out of me. There are two different narrators who alternate between chapters, which is great except that they sound EXACTLY THE SAME. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine, so I'm sure that normal people would find this book very enjoyable :)

A beautifully-written, fascinating story full of life, history and wonderful characters. I have a feeling that this one will stay with me for a looooooong time ❤

Oh my god, you guys! It was SO GOOD 😍

Just got approved for this on Netgalley. SO EXCITED! 😀

Another fantastic audiobook experience (thank you Audible Daily Deals!) 😀
Fast-paced, mysterious and just confusing enough to keep things really, really interesting. Blasted through the whole thing in one day because I NEEDED to find out what happened next!

Honestly, I'm so torn on this one - some of the writing is just beautiful and the sense of place is quite stunning. On the other hand, all of the characters left me cold & there's really not a lot of plot to be found. Ultimately I have to go with "pick" rather than "so-so", but it's a close call & I really didn't enjoy this half as much as I'd expected to ?

As a sci fi/romance novel, this is nowhere near the genres I'd normally go for, but it had a cover recommendation from the wonderful Matt Haig, so I thought I'd give it a go. So, so glad that I did - this is a sweet, inventive & truly unique novel so captivating that I read it all in one sitting. Just spectacular 😍

A fast-paced, compelling & interesting thriller - just a really enjoyable audiobook :) With the exception of a truly atrocious (but mercifully brief) New Zealand accent, the narration was spot-on. Also, now I REALLY want to go on the sleeper train to London 🚂

I've discovered SO MANY fantastic new authors through Audible's Deal of the Day emails. This one was a great read (everything you expect from good Scandinavian crime writing, plus some great characters, an unusual setting and generally fabulous writing) & I am going out immediately to find more Gunnar Staalesen novels to read :)

This is the cheesiest book I've come across in a really long time. It includes every single Christmas cliche you could possibly think of (grinchy cop with a heart of gold, sick kids' hospital, cheerful elf with a mysterious past, underprivileged children writing heartfelt letters to Santa, redemptive love story, underdog sports team hoping for a Xmas miracle...) and yet somehow, I must admit that I enjoyed every ridiculous page. 🎅

This book! Just so very good 😍

This was not at all what I was expecting. Absolutely beautiful, compelling & heartbreaking ❤️

Absolutely brilliant adaptation of a fantastic book. Spent hours on completely unnecessary cleaning this week just so that I'd have an excuse to listen for a bit longer...😍

An unflinchingly honest story of a far-from-perfect marriage, set in and around a Dorset seaside home so richly imagined & perfectly described it almost feels like the setting is the main character. There's a compelling mystery at the heart of the book, but it's not really about that so much as it's about people & relationships & language & love & communication... Really, really good 😊

This may just be my favourite book of 2016 (and that's really saying something; it's been SUCH a good year for books!). So beautifully written, set in two fascinating historical periods (1960s London & 1930s Spain) and packed full of fantastic, unique characters. Captivating, suspenseful and full of passages so wonderfully written you just have to stop and savour the words. Jessie Burton is an absolute star & I can't wait for her next one 😍

If first sentences are anything to go by, I'm going to enjoy this a whole lot 😀

That feeling when you love a book SO MUCH that you start getting panicky that it's going to end soon... 😍

I'm a big fan of Diane Guerrero so was expecting to enjoy this audiobook, but it was SO MUCH more than I expected. It's an incredibly moving true story of a family torn apart and a sobering reminder of the consequences of immigration laws. As the book says, behind every headline are real people, real families and real lives. Highly recommended 💛

Anna Kendrick is relatable and hilarious and a genuinely talented writer. A fabulously enjoyable audiobook experience 👍

Just brilliant - as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside ❤️💛💜

Just an absolutely glorious celebration of 80s high school comedy/horror/drama fabulousness. LOVED IT💋

I feel like this quote sums up my feelings about the book pretty well. It is fantastically well-written by an undeniably talented author, but it's left me feeling kind of sad and hopeless about life in general 😳
Time to move on to something a little more lightweight and life-affirming...

Ordered this from Amazon for my brother's Xmas present; it just arrived and OH MY GOD IT'S SO PRETTY 😍

I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan of The Sympathizer (fantastic writing but the main character just didn't do it for me...), but this one I LOVED. A great collection of short stories on a common theme, with a cast of diverse & fantastic characters. Really, really good 😍

Dark, moody and intense - not exactly an uplifting story, but so very good. Bonus points for the audiobook, read by the absolutely perfect Tom Stechschultz 🔫💰

Somehow I've managed to colour-coordinate my book, my table & my coffee cup. Winning at life!

"...Mrs Sheppard, brusque and businesslike, was the type of person who'd rather do something herself than show you how (The type who would prefer to give a man a fish not only because she could catch a better one herself, but because she felt important being the only thing standing between that man and starvation)."

So far, this book is every bit as good as I'd hoped ?

It's a wee bit of a gimmick (a crime novel "written by" a character from another novel) so I really wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a capably-written, solidly constructed & very readable suspense novel, if a little lightweight. Now I really need to read "Fractured" to figure out how it all fits together :)

This was every bit as good as Litsy led me to believe it would be. Upsetting, confronting, heart-breaking but also sweet & hopeful and just so very well-written. Without a doubt, one of the best books I've read this year ❤️

This is exactly what I love about London ❤️🇬🇧😍

Just brilliant ❤️

My #quarterly box finally arrived in New Zealand! SO EXCITED 😍

Really, really enjoyed this one. Funny, sad, moving, relatable - the Wangs are without a doubt one of the coolest families I've come across in fiction. Loved them all ❤️

Such fantastic writing and just LOOK at that cover 😍

Quite honestly, I just don't have words to explain how much I loved this book. Can't believe I hadn't read it earlier; this is now officially one of my favourite books of all time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not a bad spot for a bit of reading...

Out of town for important work conference. So obviously I'm taking this opportunity to catch up on a spot of light reading...

Litsy has led me to believe that I really should get around to reading the Dark Tower series asap. One down, seven (?) more to go! TBH, I didn't love this one but it was really good in parts & I hear that it gets better from here...