Possibly more like a 2.5 stars but I’m feeling generous. This shouldn’t have taken me a year and a half to get through, but here we are. Very slow at Possibly more like a 2.5 stars but I’m feeling generous. This shouldn’t have taken me a year and a half to get through, but here we are. Very slow at the start, picks up a bit when the action is finally taking place in Egypt, but quickly becomes overly repetitive and lacks detail and clarity. Doesn’t really need a sequel, so I might treat this one like a standalone. ...more
'I had to find a way to get rid of him. I remember this thought process in detail. What I don't remember is what I did with the spanner.'
Paul Morris is'I had to find a way to get rid of him. I remember this thought process in detail. What I don't remember is what I did with the spanner.'
Paul Morris is the definition of a bachelor. He's always on the lookout for his next conquest, which is how he ends up going to the book store in Charing Cross: he sees a young redhead through the window, and decides to try his luck. He strikes out. He's embarrassed: how dare she not want him? He looks good for 42. He's a published author, a Cambridge graduate. A catch. When he bumps into old school friend Andrew, he's distracted. Andrew asks for his number to arrange a lunch and he gives it to him, wondering if the redhead behind the desk will be surrepititiously writing it down now she knows how successful he is. He doesn't want Andrew to contact him, and decides he'll decline the call when it arrives. He lets his guard down, though, hoping to hear from a journalism student who wanted to wrack his brains for advice. Next thing he knows he's booked in that lunch date with Andrew and he's travelling across London and back into his past. Arriving at Andrew's house, he meets Alice. He can't remember, but they've met before: ten years ago, when they were both on holiday in Greece. Alice and Andrew have a yearly pilgrimage back, taking both of their families on holiday to a villa that Alice owns: one that they won't be able to visit again, as developers are tearing up the property to clear the way for a new hotel complex. Alice is on a mission. Ten years ago, when they were all in Greece, a young girl named Jasmine vanished. She feels personally involved, as she was there to comfort Jasmine's mother in the hours directly following her disappearance, and she's been campaigning for the last decade to get the Greek police to do more to find Jasmine, who she's convinced must still be alive. She's too old for Paul, but her drive turns him on. She has a villa in Greece, a huge house... She has a lot of money, and he's about to lose the place he's been living. He decides to seduce her, then when her daughter Phoebe goes to university he's hoping she'll invite him to lodge in the spare room. Their romance is a whirlwind one. Alice seems unconvinced to start with, inviting Paul to Greece and then refusing to mention the offer again despite his hints, but he pushes into her affections until he finally seems to have her under his spell. He gets the invitation to Greece, and he's certain he'll be able to move straight in as soon as they get back. Easy. But Paul starts to wonder if something's going on between Alice and Andrew. The long, lingering looks between them make him uncomfortable, and when he finds condoms in Andrew's bag he takes them, hoping he can stop the affair in its tracks. Then there's a rape on the island, and Alice and Andrew collude to cover up the potential involvement of Alice's son, bringing them closer and making Paul feel as though he's being pushed out... Paul just wants her to trust him and open up to him, but she won't. He doesn't think it's fair: he's doing everything he can, granting her every wish, but she still seems to favour Andrew. He feels like he has to lie to her constantly, because she believes he has more money than he does - he wants her to have a high opinion of him, and is afraid that if she knows he's broke she'll no longer be interested. Keeping up with all of the falsehoods he's weaving is exhausting, and she still doesn't seem to care for him as much as he does for her. Their beautiful getaway isn't really a holiday. Alice is so focused on the Finding Jasmine campaign that she barely has time for him, and tensions are rising between him and Andrew. The teenagers aren't making things easier: Louis is moody and uncooperative, while Phoebe and Daisy are constantly flaunting their bikini bodies.With family drama at the forefront of his mind, Paul can hardly relax at their villa, especially with the constant droning of the diggers working ever closer to Alice's property line.
The first third of the book is achingly slow, but as soon as Paul gets to Greece the tension becomes unbearable. I will admit, I almost gave up a few times towards the beginning. Paul is arrogant, and reading the story from the viewpoint of a man with such an inflated ego is exhausting. He thinks he's so clever, lying at every possible opportunity, but that gave me secondhand embarrassment. It was obvious that he was going to get caught out. That's the moral of this story: even the smallest lies catch up with you. His constant scheming to get invited to Greece is also tiring. If he didn't get to go to Greece their would be no story, so all of the chapters where he's hinting his interest are unnecessary. He's so needy, refusing to outwardly ask if he can go, just desperately trying to manipulate her into wanting him there. I hate men who treat women as though they're less intelligent. Paul is one of those people who only sees women for their bodies, rather than for their minds. He's not attracted to Phoebe, Alice's teenage daughter, because she has badly dyed hair, so when she asks him about journalism he's dismissive and uninterested. If you haven't guessed, Paul is a hateful man. That's the point.
First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Headline publishing for sending me a copy of this book through bookbridgr in exchange for an honFirst things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Headline publishing for sending me a copy of this book through bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.
'No matter how strong her feelings for him, she refuses to rush the words. They're too significant, too definite, too lasting. When she finally says them, she wants it to be to the first, last, and only person. She wants it to count.'
Aidan and Clare have been together for two years, but with both of them departing for colleges on different sides of the country in the morning - him off to UCLA, her off to Dartmouth - they spend their last day together trying to work out what to do about their relationship. Clare is adamant that they should break up, because she doesn't want them to stay together and despise each other. Aidan is certain that they should stay together, because he loves Clare and he's certain that they'll be able to make it work - his parents were childhood sweethearts, after all. However, Clare's parents used to be married to other people before they found each other, and she doesn't want to risk missing out on meeting her 'one' if Aidan just isn't it. Clare designs a list of places that they need to visit before they make a decision: a 'greatest hits' of their relationship, touring them from the place they met to the place that they had their first kiss. Clare puts all of her energy into convincing Aidan she's making the right choice for both of them, but when she starts to doubt herself will she be too late? The first (and only other) Jennifer E. Smith book I've read was 'The Geography of You and Me', which I absolutely adored. I'd been expecting so much from this novel, because the concept was adorable - a mini road trip based on their relationship? Cute! - but unfortunately this one just didn't end up appealing to me that strongly. I think the problem might be the time scale.
First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Bookbridgr and to Hodderscape, for allowing me to receive an advanced copy of this novel for revFirst things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Bookbridgr and to Hodderscape, for allowing me to receive an advanced copy of this novel for review.
'Way Down Dark' is the first book in a brand new young adult science fiction trilogy. The Australia is a ship that left Earth hundreds of years ago after the planet broke down and destroyed itself; first of all by becoming horrendously overpopulated, then through depletion of all fuel sources. Scientists panicked, creating as many ships as they could to stuff full of people and send out into the universe, searching desperately for new hospitable planets. There are four clans making up life on the Australia; the Bells, the Pale Women, the free people and the Lows. The Bells are rumoured to have been genetically engineered soldiers, but due to a lack of command their strength has depleted to violence for the sake of violence. The Pale Women are extremely religious, living on the very top floor of the Australia and forcing themselves to live completely in darkness as a personal sacrifice dedicated to a higher being. The Lows are the bottom of society, dangerous and angry, but with complete control over a half of the sections of Australia. The free people are free, but as the Lows power grows and they start trying to take more sections their lives become even more hellish than normal. We follow Chan, a free person struggling with life aboard Australia; she's only a young teenage girl, and she's attempting to deal with the death of her mother while also trying to keep promises that she made to a dead person. When Chan's mother died, she made her promise two things; be selfish, and stay alive. But as the Lows start invading her section of Australia, and she sees people she knows and works with being tortured in the most terrible ways, Chan needs to struggle with her promises and her own sense of what is right and wrong. 'Way Down Dark' is split into three parts, and each of them progress the story in rapidly different directions, so I'm going to focus on the first part to avoid giving any spoilers to the later sections. Just know that this novel is a lot more than it seems at first glance, and if you think the wrap-up I've given above is covering even a quarter of the plot, you'll be completely mistaken.
EDIT 09/06/22: Every time I read this book I think I’m not going to cry my eyes out at the ending, and every single time I do.
If you haven't read my reEDIT 09/06/22: Every time I read this book I think I’m not going to cry my eyes out at the ending, and every single time I do.
If you haven't read my review of 'Golden Son', the second installment of the 'Red Rising' trilogy, go and check that out now - it's also spoiler free! "Why would I care what you were? I care about what people do. I care about truth. If you have told me, I wouldn't have done a single thing differently. I would have protected you." The only spoiler I'm going to put in this review is something that happens at the end of 'Golden Son', so if you haven't read the second book in the series you should seriously LEAVE, LEAVE RIGHT NOW, GO AND READ IT. LEAVE, I TELL YOU. GET OUT! Phew! Now that outburst is over, I shall continue with the spoiler: you have been warned...
At the end of 'Golden Son', shit went down. A whole bunch of bloodydamn shit. But the biggest thing that went down?
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