Tag: Book Review
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Our Beautiful Mess by Adele Parks: Messy Families and Buried Secrets
This was my first Adele Parks book (a Goldsboro Books Crime Collective pick for me), and it definitely won’t be my last. Our Beautiful Mess centres on Connie and her family over Christmas – a time that should feel warm and familiar, but very quickly spirals into something far more complicated. Her daughter Fran returns…
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The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami: A Chilling, Clever Look at Surveillance, Freedom and the Data We Give Away
A clever, unsettling speculative novel about surveillance, freedom and the data we give away. A thoughtful 3.5-star read from the Women’s Prize 2025 longlist.
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The Five by Hallie Rubenhold: Reclaiming the Women Jack the Ripper Erased
This book came highly recommended by my sister, so when I got round to reading it I wasn’t sure what to expect (we don’t normally have the same taste in books). However, The Five by Hallie Rubenhold was such a welcome surprise. I went in thinking I knew the infamous Jack the Ripper story –…
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Tart by Slutty Cheff: Raw, Unfiltered and Deliciously Fun
I picked up Tart by Slutty Cheff without knowing much about it (aside from some buzz and those cheeky cover quotes from Lena Dunham and Dolly Alderton), and I’m so glad I did. This memoir is an absolute riot – a no-holds-barred through the life of an anonymous young chef in London’s restaurant underbelly. It…
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This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen: Chaos in a Locked-Room Whodunnit
You know when a book just delivers exactly what you hoped for – clever, cosy, a little bit camp, and absolutely cramped with red herrings? This was This Is Not a Game for me. A classic murder mystery in a snowed-in mansion, but with a quirky modern twist (and a lot of martinis). What’s it…
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Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall: A Cosy Whodunnit Worth the Wait
Let me start by saying Death at the White Hart was a slow-burn mystery – and I absolutely savoured it. You know those books that feel like curling up by the fire on a rainy evening? This one had that vibe in spades. It’s not a thriller that grabs you by the throat; instead it…
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The Seven O’Clock Club: A Gripping Tale of Grief and Healing
Every so often a book sneaks up on you in the best possible way – and The Seven O’Clock Club absolutely did that for me. I went in expecting something soft and comforting, maybe even a cosy tale of community and healing. What I got was a story that’s layered and emotional. And no, I…
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Good Girl by Aria Aber: What it Means to Be Seen
Let me start by saying Good Girl absolutely wrecked me. Not in a sobbing-on-the-floor kind of way, but in that deep, disorienting, quietly-knocks-the-air-out-of-you way. I picked this up because it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize and I was intrigued, given how much I loved the other longlisted and shortlisted books that I’d read. Aber…
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All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman: But I Kind of Loved Her
This books was exactly what I needed after a period of heavier reads. This one felt like a true palette cleanser – fun, fast-paced, and just the right amount of messed up. We meet Florence Grimes, a gloriously chaotic single mum with a past in a barely-famous girl band and a present that involves balloon…
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Perspectives by Laurent Binet: Whodunnit in Florence
Have you ever picked up a book and thought, “Wait…have I ever read anything quite like this before?”. That was me, immediately after reading the prologue of Persepctives by Laurent Binet. Told entirely through 176 letters exchanged between a host of very real, very dramatic figures from Renaissance Florence, Perspectives is part murder mystery, part…
Books With Megz 