Sephora Shopping List 2017!

We're off on our holidays stateside again soon and that can mean only one thing. Not just that Himself is in Extreme Planning Mode (he has maps) again but that I will be visiting the beauty mothership; Sephora. I'll also be in Korea Town and China Town so there'll be some Asian beauty buying in my not-too-distant future.
And so, I do my type of planning; a shopping list! Hurrah! 

Let me know in the comments what I simply HAVE to buy. Chances are I may well have already have it, given my beauty-loving ways, but I always appreciate the suggestion. I've done a fair bit of blog-reading and Pinterest scouring for inspiration, and these are what I'm thinking:

(note that Himself knows much better than to ever question my make-up purchases but I really love this meme so I still wanted to pop it up...I also need to ask you to ignore that missing 're' in you're.)

Skincare

Y'all know by now that I'm all about my skincare and K beauty in particular does some really great products for a youthful glow so for that, I'll be looking at things like that Watermelon Sleep Mask, which is a big deal at the minute. Not sure what it actually feels or smells like yet but I will investigate further! Tatcha Violet-C Radiance Mask is the one you've seen all over Instagram; bloggers with bright purple face masks, looking very Alien-esque...I'm intrigued!
I just used up an overnight mask from Fresh that I bought in New York two years ago so I'm keen to see what their new Vitamin Nectar masks are like. The Belif aqua Bomb was another sample I tried and really liked and the Farmacy products come recommended by my sister after she discovered them in a Sephora set I bought her, not unlike the one picture below. I love those Sephora sets- it's a great way to try out new products plus you get lots of mini sizes, which are great for travel, save you money and make you feel like a giant- bonus! I'll probably get a few of the Sephora own brand sheet masks too as they're super handy. The Biossance eye gel is a super lightweight product that helps increase circulation around your eye, thus helping those dark circles! Sephora apparently can't keep it in stock..so good luck to me! I've been using a mini of the Dr.Jart+ Ceramidin for a while now and my skin seems to like it so I may get a bigger size. They also do some very space-agey looking hydrating masks so I'm gonna check them out too. I'm desperate to try something from Drunk Elephant! They're pricey but come highly recommended! Obviously I won't be buying ALL of these so I'll have to do some back-of-the-hand testing in-store and be very selective!!

Make-Up:

There's not a huge amount of make-up stateside that we can no longer get at home. In the last couple of years, Wet n' Wild, Kat Von D, Too Faced, ELF, Milani, Huda Beauty, and Physician's Formula, amongst others have all come to Ireland so really I'm mostly looking at Tarte, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Fresh and Bite Beauty for something a bit different.

Fairy Drops Waterproof mascara is a Japanese brand, I've been informed that it can be found in Asian stores in San Fran and LA and it's kind of a must. It's reached cult status amongst beauty bloggers, and even though I'm pretty loyal to my YSL mascara, I really want to try this. It's been a while since I had an Anastasia Beverley Hills Brow Wiz in my life and I need a new one! I've tried all the dupes and they're just not the same. I had a little test of my friend's Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer and now I need my own! We can get these via QVC here but I want to try it out again in person. It Cosmetics are sold in Ulta so I'll be on the hunt for this CC Cream, which is another beauty blogger fave.

I love Fresh's Sugar lip balms and I used up a tube of their rose one last year, which is lovely. The Lip Caramel Hydrating Balm is a new release for them and sounds good! Flower Cosmetics is Drew Barrymore's make up brand and is (unfortunately) exclusively sold in Walmart. I'll be buying more of these jumbo kohl liners in brown, they're the absolute business and really good value! The bunnies are just to symbolise Tony Moly products, a Korean brand that I love! Lastly there, is one of the lipsticks from Bite Beauty. I bought their Lip Mask the last time I was over and I absolutely love it, I'm hoping the lipsticks will be as moisturising. 

My Best Buy of the year so far has been the Too Faced Peach Palette, which I use pretty much daily. I love the shades in it- the shimmers and the mattes are so pigmented and work really well on blue eyes. This is a new release from the brand; a peach palette of only mattes, which look stunning! As far as I know, this is a Sephora exclusive, so we can't get it over here (although I could be wrong there), making it something I'll be seeking out for sure!

And that's that, apart from the "sucker aisle" as I like to call it- those shelves as you queue for the till that contain all the adorable minis of brands you've never tried but always wanted to, perfume rollerballs and things you don't need but all of a sudden, very badly want. 

Have I chosen wisely?

What have I missed!

To the comments!

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10 Stephen King Books To Read This Halloween

I normally do a Halloween book list at the time of year; creepy and or downright terrifying books that I intend to read for the season that's in it, but I thought I'd do something a little different, considering all of the Stephen King love that's going around at the minute. I actually can't believe that I haven't done a blog post on this before, given my King super fan status but better late than never.

This is not an exhaustive list, King is a prolific writer; I'm trying but I don't think I'll ever get through his entire back catalogue. Nor is this in any particular order, all the books featured here are ones that I love, no more, no less than each other. I've also read plenty more of his books than what features here but I guess these are the ones that have stayed with me the longest. If you think you know the story because you've seen the film, and that you don't need to read the book, think again. As with all King adaptations, so much of the finer descriptive work and backstory goes missing when it's transformed onto the big screen. This is a timing issue- too much story to fit into an hour and a half/two hours. I'm gonna assume that you, the reader are a King novice for the purpose of this post and go right ahead and explain the storyline of each novel.

I've got a weird love and fascination for his writing. It's often disturbing, scary and bizarre but it's also funny, emotive and extremely clever. I love the many pop culture references, the descriptions of small town Americana and the "Easter eggs" from his own work that are peppered throughout his books. "Easter eggs", in case you think I've gone mad, are the references that are hidden in a book, film, TV show etc. that are placed there specifically as a treat for fans. King does this with aplomb- mentions of killer clowns, "army experiments gone wrong, like that movie, The Mist", the Overlook Hotel, etc. are really enjoyable for utter book nerds like myself when spotted somewhere unexpected. The more of his books you read, the more you'll realise they're all connected and exist in their own little King Universe. Not a place you'd want to live in, sure, but it's the perfect location to get lost in a great story!

The Shining
I was obsessed with the film long before I read the book and for some reason, I chose the time I was very ill in hospital to work my way through this 500 long page-turner. Jack Torrance is a budding writer and part time teacher. He's struggling to make ends meet for him, his wife Wendy and son Danny and so he takes a job offer as a janitor in a hotel during the winter months when its doors will be closed. The family drive on up to the foreboding Overlook Hotel, where they're warned about the dangers of isolation, cold, dark weather and cabin fever. Jack thinks they can handle it and so they're left to their own devices to keep an eye on the boiler and general maintenance. Jack plans to write his novel now he has peace and quiet but the force of evil residing in the hotel has other ideas. Little Danny meanwhile, has "the shining', an unwanted ability to communicate with the dead. Unfortunately for Danny, there's lots of dead people in The Overlook Hotel and they all want to play with him. Let me tell you that this book scared the actual bejaysus out of me. I remember reading this in my hospital bed and debating about whether or not I should attempt to go asleep after a particularly terrifying passage. Forget everything you know about the film, this is where its at. I'd also recommend the sequel, Doctor Sleep.
Be prepared to be scared forevermore of; topiary animals, hotels, abusive fathers/husbands/men in general (to be fair) and boilers.

Carrie
King's first book and the one his wife Tabitha, fished out from the trash and told him to persevere with. G'wan Tabitha! Carrie is a marginalised teenage girl. She's bullied by her peers for being "weird". Her mother is extremely religious and so they both live in relative poverty- Carrie's clothes are old and unfashionable and because her mother thinks it's sinful, she has never explained to her what menstruation is. Carrie then thinks she is dying when she gets her first period in school and just to compound matters for her, all the mean girls are there to witness her breakdown and torment her even more. One of her schoolmates feels bad for bullying her so makes her boyfriend agree to take Carrie to the prom. All the other bullies have a different idea though, and plan to humiliate Carrie as much as they possibly can. Unfortunately for them, they don't realise that the onset of Carrie's period has given her telekinesis and she will get her revenge for how she's been mistreated her entire life. This is a tricky one cause you do feel very sorry for Carrie, she's a tragic figure, but King being King just pushes the boundaries that little bit to the point where you want her to stop. This is a pretty quick read so if you're a King newbie, it's a good one to start with.
Be prepared to be scared forever more of; teenage girls, religion and high school proms, I guess.

Misery
Another excellent film adaptation, but I felt the book put me right into the main characters shoes so I got double the terror! Paul Sheldon is a very successful writer. He's the author of a series of romance/drama novels whose main character, Misery Chastain, he is desperate to be rid of. She's haunted his career and so, with relief, he writes the final in the series, where he finally kills off Mercy. His tradition upon completing a book is to drive up to a cabin in Colorado where he enjoys a bottle of champagne and a cigar but the roads are snowed in and he gets into a terrible car accident. His biggest fan, Annie Wilkes saves him from the wreckage but instead of bringing him to the hospital, she takes him home where she tells him she'll nurse him back to health..he just has to write a new book the way she wants it where Misery lives. Annie isn't in any way mentally stable and becomes Paul's jailer and tormentor. Good sweet Jesus, the horrors poor Paul has to go through. Even the description of pain in this book is so very real that it can be difficult reading at times, but it is oh so brilliantly written. This was another one that I read into the long hours of the night, sat bolt upright, adrenaline pumping through my veins, hoping Paul would win.
Be prepared to be scared forevermore of; nurses, small animal figurines, being bed-bound, and hobbling (that's ankle bashing with a sledgehammer), if you already weren't, for some reason.

IT.
OK, deep breath for this one. I only read this book last year. I'd been putting it off because the TV mini series back in 1990/1991 scared the living daylights out of me and I didn't even really see it (my sisters were watching it, they made me sit with my back to it so I heard everything and peeked around in time to see goddamn Pennywise and his massive array of teeth). Himself and I re-watched it a few years back (lads, we rented a DVD version, so that should age us even further) and although it has aged incredibly badly, the concept was still scary. Fast forward to last October then and I thought it would be the ideal time to finally read IT, and so I got all 1,200 pages of it on Audible where some voice actor proceeded to scare the crap out of me for the following two months. I listened to this primarily walking to and from work and so many times I found myself stopped in my tracks, internally screaming at something absolutely horrifying that was taking place in my headphones. Pennywise is just a representation of an unspeakable evil that's lived in Derry since the beginning. It reappears every 27 years to feed by luring children and then eating them and It takes the shape of whatever your biggest fear is. That varies from child to child obviously, providing a rich and imaginative storyline that keeps you scared witless for the entire book. If you've seen the new movie, which was great, I'd recommend reading the book now as it combines all the lovely nostalgia from the first half, where the kids fight Pennywise, to the newer setting of the second half of the book, where the kids, now adults, must return to Derry and take on the evil yet again. Plus, you'll be ahead of everyone else before the next film comes out!
Be prepared to be scared forever more of; clowns (although you really should have been anyway, to be honest. What's wrong with you?), lepers, old women, sewers, syphilis, storm drains, balloons, abandoned houses, being a girl, bullies, small town Maine, birds, werewolves, libraries, Chinese food, perverts, abusive husbands/fathers/men in general, blood, bathrooms, being a small child.

11/22/63
This is a more recent book from King and one that I recommend the most to people who want to read King but don't like horror. This is a time travel novel that brings us back to the 1950's and poses the question, "would the world be a better place if John F. Kennedy had never been shot?".
Jake Epping is a high school teacher in a modern day setting and comes across an essay written by a mature student; a janitor who fifty years ago survived a violent assault by his father on Halloween night that killed his mother, his siblings and left Harry disabled. When Jake is approached by a friend and the local diner owner who tells him he can travel through time, he sceptically agrees to try to change history, firstly by helping Harry, and if that works he can work on saving J.F.K, as is his friend's goal. Jake doesn't realise it yet but every action he takes is changing something else, and not always for the better. I absolutely devoured this book. I loved it so much. That's a period of time I find fascinating anyway but the book deals with much more than just time travel; there's a love story, a whole host of perfectly drawn characters and even though it's not technically a horror, it has plenty of spine chilling moments. I laughed, I cried, I was shocked to my core but also thoroughly entertained. Oh and you best believe I sweated absolute buckets with the sheer tension of it when it gets to the part on the grassy knoll. I'm jealous of anyone who hasn't read it yet..go read, now!
Be prepared to be scared forever more of; sledge hammers, small town Maine, Russia, abusive husbands/fathers/men in general, the government, time travel.

Under The Dome
Another more recently written work, I'm actually currently reading this one so I can't give my full verdict yet but I'm completely absorbed and the story has fully pulled me in. Another winner! Chester's Mill is a small town in Maine where on a crisp October day (congrats to me for starting a book in the month in which it's set- not planned at all) the town is suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible border. It takes the town's inhabitants a day to figure it out after several deaths and car crashes. Now the issue becomes how can the town generators survive? Will the patients in the hospital die? Who will take over the police force? Will there be enough food? All of that is aside from the very obvious; what is it, how did it get here and how will they get out? As with so many of King's books, the main threat is supernatural and obviously scary but the real worry becomes mankind itself. We're introduced to both good and very bad people living under the dome but who will survive? I'm loving this one, it's set in the modern day, so there's plenty of mentions of the internet, blackberries, iPods etc. but at the same time, it has that old school small town Stephen King vibe that's associated so clearly with his books. The perfect mix!
Be prepared to be scared forever more of (based on my reading so far); people but let's face it, mostly men, religion, terrifying invisible dome structures that effectively trap you with some undercover psychopaths, small town Maine, police brutality.

Pet Sematary
I still think about this one quite regularly. Another story that made my hairs stand on end. King calls this one his scariest book and I think he may be right. Louis Creed is a doctor, moving to small town Maine (guess what I'll be telling you to be scared of at the end of this? I've actually been to Maine and it's rather lovely but you should probably still be scared) for a job and bringing his wife Rachel, son Gage and daughter Ellen with him. They move into their new home and instantly become friends with the elderly couple living across the road. Their new neighbour, Judd, brings the family to see the local "pet sematary", so spelt as it was created by a group of children as a place to bury their pets when they died. The family are a little freaked out but think no more of it. In Louis' first day in his new job a young man is brought in following a road traffic accident with most of his head missing. Louis dreams he's visited by the young man that night and although the dream seemed very real, well it can't be cause he's dead, right? WRONG. You're in Maine now, buddy. Things go from bad to worse after that and I won't go into it cause if I had to be close to tears with fear and stress then you should too. Let me just say one name though. Zelda. *shudders intensely*
Be prepared to be scared forever more of; kindly old men that seem helpful, cats, pet cemeteries, actual people cemeteries, road traffic accidents, the dead, small town Maine, children (always creepy).

Salem's Lot
King's ode to Vampire movies and or Dracula, the novel. This might be one of my lesser favourites but it's still up there cause several parts of it terrified me good-o.  Guess where Salem's Lot is situated? You guessed it, Maine!! Ben Mears, a writer and former resident of Salem's Lot, returns to town, still haunted and fascinated by the old Marsten House, a forbidding and ghostly building overlooking the town. He plans to write a book about it and starts dating a local women, Susan, and all is going well except that the new owner of the house is so mysterious and then of course, people start to go missing. Including a local boy that is found almost entirely drained of his blood. He's buried but begins to make nightly visits to his little brothers window, knocking from the outside and begging to be let in *cue blood curdling scream*. The head vampire himself is not overly scary but the build up and the tension in this book is masterful.
Be prepared to be scared forever more of; Vampires (obvs), small town Maine, night-time, small children, windows.

Mr. Mercedes
Another relative newbie, this is the first part of a trilogy about retired detective, Bill Hodges. The book gives us a really shocking introduction to the killer, Mr. Mercedes and his first known crime, for which he is never caught. Bill is not enjoying his retirement; he's begun to put on weight, feels he has no purpose and is considering shooting himself with his service revolver. That is until Mr. Mercedes begins to send him taunting emails begging him to play the game and try and catch him, or more people will get hurt. This is a bit gory in places but is really more of a thriller, so it's another good one for those who don't love horror. It's also now a TV series starring Brendan Gleeson and from what I've seen, it's pretty good. This book was my favourite in the trilogy but when you read this one, you'll be hooked and will want to read the rest anyway!
Be prepared to be scared forevermore of; clowns (as always), psychopaths, cars, computers, computer nerds, inappropriate mother/son relationships, burgers, retirement, ice cream vans.

The Stand
I'm saving the longest for almost last. I think it took me most of a Summer to read this but it was so worth it. This is pure dystopia at its very best. A bio-engineered virus, produced in a U.S government lab is accidentally released, and within a couple of weeks almost all of humanity has succumbed to a super flu that kills within days. Those who are left, quickly fall into two categories; good and evil. The two groupings begin to have the same dreams every night about two mysterious figures; Mother Abigail, a kindly and wise old black woman, telling them to come to her in Colorado and Randall Flagg, a dark shadowy figure telling them to come to Vegas. Bad enough to have an apocalypse thanks to a virus but Flagg intends to destroy humanity altogether and this book feels quite biblical because of that. Flagg could definitely be seen as the Devil's representative on Earth and Mother Abigail, as God's representative but it's really more about the individual characters and what they bring to the storyline. This is an absolutely epic read and one of the very best from King- it's a mixture of fantasy and horror but will make you think on a deeper level about humankind and why we are here in the first place- not always what you would have expected from either of those genres.
Be prepared to be scared forevermore of; the flu/common cold/any randomer even barely coughing near you on the Luas, viruses in general, pyromaniacs, the Devil, the sort of people who can survive an apocalypse (I'll be gone first anyway- I have no survival skills and the people who don't have those but survive anyway, survive cause they kill everyone else), the government.

Bonus round: The Mist
The Mist is a novella so will be a super quick read if you're looking for just one of these to add to your Halloween reading list. You can read the others throughout the rest of the year!
It's actually the first King book I read and I became a lifelong fan based on this one alone. You might have seen the movie adaptation a few years ago that has the most depressing ending of all time (different to the book) but if you haven't and even if you have, I'd recommend giving it a read. I think about this book constantly. What I would do in a similar situation (I think I'd just stay in the grocery store, I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to face the giant spiders and all the winged things) and if I too would become a follower of local religious lunatic, Mrs Carmody. I'd like to think not, but you know, extreme circumstances and all.
Basic plot here; David sets off from his (say it with me folks) SMALL TOWN MAINE home, bringing his son to the grocery store after a violent storm that night. By the time they get to the parking lot a sudden mist has begun to creep across the town and with it comes gigantic, stomach churning creatures who only want to eat you and make you suffer while they do it. Gigantic spiders that shoot webs of acid, anyone? Nope, didn't think so. Oh god, the scuttling. And the flying ones. Vomit. Vomit all over my keyboard. Anyways, David and his son become trapped in the supermarket with a whole host of random people (again, who's more of a threat, the supernatural creatures or the people surrounding you?) who are under constant attack from the beasts living in the mist outside. They need medicines but the pharmacy is next door...oh and they may eventually need to escape but can they get to the car in one piece and how far does the mist even go?
Prepare to be scared forevermore of; Mist (obvs), the government, viruses, people but let's face it, mostly men, gigantic winged creatures that want to eat you, gigantic scuttling insects that want to eat you, gigantic acid spitting spiders that want to kill you and use you as a nest for their many evil spider babies, supermarkets, religion, small town Maine.

Before you start any of these, I obviously recommend clearing some space in your freezer, a la Joey Tribbiani.

And that's your lot. Give me a couple more years and I'll return with a part two! Speaking of which, any recommendations for what to read next? I hear the Dark Tower series is good, any thoughts? I'm definitely more old school King but I'm hoping to read them all at some stage so it's more of a matter of what to read first! 

To the comments!

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Recently Read: June & July.

Monthly book roundup time y'all! I'm very late with this but that seems to be the standard I've set for myself! We're now well over the halfway point of the year (how did that even happen?) and so that means I need to kick my reading up a notch in order to reach my 60 book goal for the year. 

A couple of these are book club reads, some are audio books, some are library finds. 

Most, were excellent!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I suggested this one in my Summer Reads post way back in May and I was correct! Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine has been a huge seller this Summer and if the Rick O' Shea book club is anything to go by, then every second person has read it. Eleanor is an unusual character. When I started it, I considered that she might be autistic and it reminded me a little bit of The Rosie Project. Eleanor has her own way of doing things. She has a strict routine; she goes to work and eats the same M&S meal deal for her lunch every day, she doesn't make friends with her work colleagues cause she doesn't see the point, she eats pasta pesto every night, whereas at the weekend it's a Margherita pizza and a litre bottle of vodka. There's something not quite right in Eleanore's life (the vodka was not the only giveaway). The darker side to her is slowly revealed after she decides it's time she got a boyfriend. Her attempts to improve herself in order to achieve this, lead her into the path of good people who treat her with kindness and slowly but surely, she starts to unravel. This is a really great book. It's been slightly over hyped now but it's definitely still worth a read. You'll get sucked into Eleanore's world and find yourself laughing, crying, despairing and hoping for her. 

The Cows by Dawn O' Porter

This is Dawn O' Porter's first non YA novel. I've read her other books so I was interested to see what this would be like. The Cows focuses on three different women who on the surface, don't know each other and have nothing in common. There's Cam; a lifestyle blogger, famous for her somewhat inflammatory feminist-lite posts. She's sponsored by L'Oreal and becomes the "face of childless women". Stella is a hate-reader of Cam's blog- she only reads it to be outraged and then email Cam with abusive comments. Stella works for a lovely man, who she's decided she's going to seduce in order to get pregnant and make her life a little less sad. Lastly, there's Tara, a single mum of one who goes on a really successful date, lets her sexual desires get the better of her and ends up being very publicly shamed. This is a really odd book. When I started it, I thought it was quite an interesting concept and it covers some interesting and important topics; internet shaming, being childless both by choice and not by choice, expression of female sexually and the negative connotations surrounding that, blogging, single parenthood etc, all quite relevant in today's society. Having said that, I feel like the book kind of lost the run of itself and some of the events that took place and the actions of the characters didn't seem at all realistic. I finished it because I wanted to know what would happen (I was both surprised and not surprised by the ending) but I can't say I would recommend this one. 

The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney

This is the sequel to The Glorious Heresies, which was one of our book club picks last year. In case you didn't read that one, it's set in Cork city and follows several people; some of which are part of the criminal gang scene- drug dealers, drug users, sex workers etc. The Blood Miracles follows on exactly from where that left off but the focus here is on one of the main characters in the first book;    Ryan Cusack, now 20. In spite of his promises to his girlfriend, he has only gotten deeper into the criminal underworld. His life begins to unravel when he meets both a nosey older woman who thinks she can save him and a beautiful but secretive younger woman, who is "slumming it" with Ryan. I didn't love this as much as the first in the series, the writing itself felt different to me and didn't flow as well. I really like Ryan's character and warmed to him in both books but by focusing only on him in this book, Grew quilt disinterested in his story and I'm not sure I'll read another in the series, if the author writes one. 

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

This is a modern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. Anne Tyler is a great writer; this flowed along so nicely and was a pleasure to read. Anyone who can take such a well known story from Shakespeare and put their own spin on it is definitely one to read more from. As an aside, you can read more in this series, including Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood, a retelling of The Tempest, which is next on my list to read. Kate is in a bit of a rut. She dropped out of college, works as a teachers assistant, even though she's not very good at it. When she's not working, she looks after the house for her younger sister and dad. She has no romantic prospects, friends, or any real life, sadly. Her dad is a scientist and seems to be going out of his way to get her to his lab, to meet his assistant, Piotr. Kate is horrified when she realises that he's trying to set her up with Piotr, who needs to marry in order to stay in the county and finish his important work with Kate's dad. This is a really light hearted book that would be perfect to bring on holidays; it's in no way mentally taxing and overall was really enjoyable.

Theft by Finding, Diaries, Vol.1 by David Sedaris

I'm a big Sedaris fan and I was really excited about this book coming out. I got it on audible because, if it's read by the man himself you just know it's going to be even funnier. Parts of it made me actually laugh out loud. "I ain't never cooked a squirrel in my life. Wouldn't know how to, wouldn't want to". 
That particular line had me laughing away to myself on the street as I walked to work. There was plenty more like that too- the description of him doing construction work and careening into a tree with a wheelbarrow is priceless, as is the fight he got into on the street with a Native American woman over his broken window frame. So much of this book is incredibly random and bizarre, humorous and of course, poignant. He gets abused on the street a lot in the earlier years of his diary which is always difficult to read..leave David Sedaris alone! There was something missing here for me though, perhaps because it was diary entries it made it less cohesive than his other books. Still worth a read for fans. 

Princess by Jean Sasson

This is one of those cult faves that's been around for years. I remember someone telling me years ago in absolute outrage about how terribly women are treated in Saudi Arabia, after she read this book. This is the first in a series of three books about the life of Princess Sultana, a member of the Saudi Royal family and so, quite a privileged young woman with uncountable wealth. She has absolutely no freedom though and like her mother and sisters is a prisoner in her home, subject to the whims and rules of her brother, father and eventually, husband. It's basically misogyny 101. Parts of it were shocking and enraging but mostly, I knew a lot about this culture already so the interest for me stemmed from reading a first hand experience and even at that I'm still not completely convinced that this really has been written by a Saudi Arabian princess. 

I'm not sure if I'll read the next in the series, it felt poorly written at times and a bit trashy (which sometimes is exactly what you want to read) but engrossing nonetheless. 

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

I See You focuses on Zoe, a forty-something year old mum of two who takes the same route to work every day and the same route home. She favours the same seat on the tube, drops money into the hat of a busker at the same station exit every day, completely unaware that someone is watching her the entire time. Then she spots a photo of herself in a classifieds section of the paper. Surely it's just someone who looks like her and it's a weird coincidence? She puts this out of her mind until other women who's photos were also used without their consent in the paper become victims of crime; house break-ins, muggings, rape, murder. Unfortunately, pretty much no one will take Zoe seriously, including her live-in boyfriend, who we're all supposed to suspect, cause it's always the fella, right? This was really unnecessarily dragged out. There was so much filler that didn't need to be there/ I get "setting the scene" but there was far too much repetition added in there. I hadn't figured out exactly who the baddie was but I knew who it wasn't and even the final twist was one I had worked out thanks to some hinting previously in the book. This just didn't do it for me, it wasn't terrible but there are plenty of better thrillers around, I wouldn't be recommending this one.

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

The book begins with Nic returning home to small-town Cooley Ridge, where she hasn't stepped foot in ten years. She's now built a successful life for herself in the big city with a fiancé and a good job but has to go back to look after her sick father and tie up loose ends; cleaning and selling the family home. 
As soon as she arrives back she becomes embroiled once again in the unsolved disappearance of her high school best friend, Corrine, which could involve pretty much everyone she knows; her family, friends, neighbours. When another local girl goes missing days after Nic's return, the heat is really on to unravel the truth. 
This one is told backwards, which only served to increase the tension- I was absolutely dying to find out what was going to happen and piecing it together myself because of the way the timeline is written, made it all the more interesting. I really enjoyed the "high school first love" storyline that runs through it as well. Well worth a read.

The Break Down by B.A. Paris

This started out really well. Cass is driving home from a a work night out and decides to take a short cut down a dark path near her home- her husband doesn't like her driving this way but it's raining and visibility isn't great so she chances it. She passes a woman sat, waiting in her car and the side of the road, and although she pauses, Cass decides not to stop, in case its a trap of some sort, plus the woman looked fine. She somehow, forgets about this seconds later when she gets home and goes to bed. Waking up the next day, she's horrified to hear on the radio that the woman was murdered in her car shortly after Cass drove past her. She's worried that she is partially guilty so she tells no one and hopes to forget about it (again. Way to go, Cass) until that is, she starts to get prank phone calls every day and at the same time becomes more forgetful, showing signs of the alzeihmers that killed her mother. Does someone know what she saw and can she outwit them before she succumbs completely to the loss of her mind? 

Lookit, save yourselves. This was brutally bad. Repetitive, extremely predictable, obvious and overall, unsatisfactory. 

And that's that! I'd love to know your thoughts on any of these books if you've read them and of course, what you're currently reading yourself!

To the comments!

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Love Your Local Library!

As it's Book Lovers Day, I thought now would be as good a time as any to write about libraries and why they're so great. My Mum and Dad brought us to the library in Limerick and got us cards before we could even read and I still count this as one of the best things anyone has ever done for me. It meant that I had access to swathes of books suitable to my age at every age, as I grew up but also that I learned from when I was very young that books were wonderful, basically. 

Firstly, it was all about the picture books before moving on to Meg and Mog, Roald Dahl, the Ramona series, the S.K.U.N.K series, the Ruby Ring series and anything by Marita Conlon McKenna, all before moving on to Goosebumps, Point Horror, Agatha Christie and Stephen King in my early teens*.

*That's only to name a very few of the books I borrowed, growing up. 

I didn't stop there though and kept going back to the library throughout my teens and early twenties. Although, for a time, the college library was more than enough library for me to handle so my own personal reading fell by the wayside. I then went through a brief period of "buy ALL the books" once I had a reliable wage, picking up books I had wanted to actually own for years; some of which had become favourites in the first place thanks to the library. 

When I moved to Dublin, I of course had to get a library card so off to Rathmines with me, drawn as I was to the beautiful building the library sits in there. I enjoyed pottering about in there before getting a coffee and strolling home along the canal with my latest stack of books but now I attend a library closer to work for ease. 

In the last year or so I've realised all of the amazing services the library provides in this country that I was completely unaware of. I've been using BorrowBox for about a year- it's an app for your phone. You log in with your library card number and password and you then have access to hundreds of ebooks and audio books to use on your smartphone. 

Often, the newer releases or very popular books may be on a waiting list so you can request them and will be given a date that it'll be yours. It's automatically downloaded to your phone on that date and you get an email letting you know it's there. It's like getting a little free surprise gift every so often! This has revolutionised how I read. Now, I always have at least one borrow box audio and ebook on the go, along with one or two real life books borrowed from the library and my usual kindle/other books I happen to be reading. 

Life is way too short for the amount of books I want to read so this works really well for me.

I also love that I can request the books I read for my book club and the date I need them by. Even if they're a brand new release and I'll get an email letting me know when it's available to pick up. 

There's way more that the library has to offer; I love mine for the collections of books it'll have on display. Award winners, Irish authors, pyschological thrillers, new releases, book club favourites. Lots of ideas if you're stuck in a book rut! If you have kids there's loads for them there too, along with dvd and music rentals, YA novels, plus a good selection of graphic novels, which can be expensive. There's also computer services and study areas. 

I get a unique feeling of enjoyment from visiting the library, which I know, makes me a total book nerd and I'm totally ok with that. I love reading and I love that there's a place that facilitates that love for absolutely no money whatsoever. On that note though, bear in mind that our library services will be cut back unless we use them. I know I'm paying towards mine with my taxes, and that's great but I found out recently that they no longer charge to renew your account when it's out of date, like they used to. Support your local library- attend, borrow, start a book club, tell everyone else how great it is!!

And that is the end of my nerdiness! Tell me all about your own love of the library, let's be book dragons together!

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*How many times do you think I said "library" in this post? Eleventy billion? You'd be correct. Also, I was not paid by the library to write this post, although I can totally see why you might think that...

Recently Read | April & May

As always, I'm at least a month behind with this but it's my predictable haphazardness that keeps bringing you back, right?
Anyway, I read lots of great books over the last few months, some of which were even on my Summer 2017 book suggestions list (read more about that HERE).
As an aside, this is the first book round up post in ages that's had so many male authors in it- which is weird because it's not something I specifically arrange that way, it just so happened that I read three male authors recently. I think there's just more female authors producing really high quality thrillers etc. lately, which can only be a good thing!

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

I had vaguely heard about this psychological thriller last year but didn't get around to picking it up, until I got it for 99p on Kindle a couple of months ago. Ted Severson's flight is delayed so while he waits, he chats up a beautiful woman, Lily, at the airport bar. A couple of martinis in, he reveals to her that he knows his wife is cheating on him and he half jokes that he should really kill her off. Lily, very seriously, suggests that he do just that, and that she can help him. 

I was obsessed with this book. 

I started reading it and straight away, got a kind of 70's, Ira Levin vibe from it, which is a big deal for me, as I love a lot of Ira's books*. It has of course drawn comparisons to Gone Girl, because any and every psychological thriller that has been released in the last four years has been given that somewhat dubious link ( I liked Gone Girl but I don't think it's always a fair comparison). There's many levels to this book; Lily is not your typical female protagonist, her back story is fully explored and is fascinating and yes, there are lots of unexpected twists and turns in here. I read it in two days and I couldn't put it down. 

*Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary's Baby.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

This was a book club choice, my choice actually as I was going for a bit of a feminist dystopian theme (considering everyone has read Margaret Atwood & Louise O'Neill, this was a newer option, I felt). Himself got me this for Christmas and when I read the blurb in the back I actually exclaimed "OH! Oh wow!" several times, so excited was I at the concept, which is; young girls around the world wake up one day with a kind of electric power in their bodies that they can use to control and inflict pain on others (men in particular). They can teach older women how to wake up the power within them too and so, out of nowhere, the power balance between the sexes completely shifts. The book starts off really promisingly; we're introduced to a handful of characters that stay with us for the book: Roxy, a tough British teenager and the daughter of a gangster, Allie, a mixed race teenager who runs away from her foster home after years of abuse, Margot, a middle-aged woman who develops the power and also happens to be a mayor of an American city and Tunde, a young Nigerian man with ambitions of becoming a journalist who sees this power shift and it's unfolding impact as the break he needs. To start with, I enjoyed all of their back stories. I could appreciate the way in which the author used shocking scenarios of violence against men to highlight how patriarchal and misogynistic our society currently is but truthfully, that got old fast and violence for the sake of violence, particularly sexual violence, is never a pleasant read. In this case, I mostly felt like it wasn't wholly necessary either. There was also a huge emphasis on religion, which became very monotonous to read and overall I really felt like this was a brilliant concept that was unfortunately, poorly executed. 

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

I read this while we were in Crete and it was a great beach read, being a quick paced psychological thriller that I didn't want to put down. I've read all of Erin Kelly's books and bar one, I've enjoyed all of them. In this one, we're introduced to what seems like a normal thirty-something year old married couple living in the UK. Kit is an eclipse enthusiast and travels to whereever one is anticipated. He's packing to go see one while Laura stays at home, pregnant with their twins. She's abnormally anxious about his departure, given that she has an element of agoraphobia due to an incident from their past. Years previously she witnessed a sexual assault and became a star witness in the case. This one incident brought two potentially dangerous people into their lives- the accused and the victim. But which one should they really be worried about and will Laura be safe on her own? I mean, of course she's not, that's the whole point but getting to her realisation of the truth via flashbacks results in an intricate but absorbing plot that teaches you not to take everything you read at face value.

*This was an ARC from Netgalley, thanks so much Netgalley!

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

This was another book club read and a good choice as there was plenty to discuss. Days Without End begins with a 17 year old Irish immigrant, Thomas McNulty, who having fled the Great Famine that killed his family, begins a new life in America. He finds a companion in another young lad, John Cole and together they take on jobs in a bar before signing up to the army together. At their tender age they find themselves brutally murdering Native Americans in The Indian Wars and later they also fight in The Civil War. Somehow and in spite of all the horrors they've inflicted and endured themselves, they seek to create a life together away from it all with a young Sioux girl they adopt. The story is narrated by Thomas and his own poor grasp of the English language makes it feel all the more authentic- it's like you've found a diary from the 1850's. The love story in the book is romantic and mundane in the way that everyday love is, which I thought was well done and again, afforded the story a feeling of authenticity. The description of the scenery was beautiful, in sharp contrast to that of the war scenes, which were bloody and gruesome. I'm not sure who I would specifically recommend this to. I can't say I enjoyed it but I also didn't not enjoy it. It was a very different style of book for me and I'm glad I read it because it was completely out of my comfort zone.  

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Again, a book club read but I had actually bought this book last year and had been meaning to read it since. Paul Kalanithi was a talented neurosurgeon who was near the end of his training when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. Having had a lifelong wish to write a book, he decided to put down onto paper his experiences of transitioning from being a health care professional to that of a patient, and a patient dealing with cancer at that. Paul had previously studied English and philosophy in college before he decided to retrain to be a doctor so his writing is quite beautiful; thoughtful and introspective. I identified so strongly with him for so much of this book, having been seriously unwell myself before and so it felt almost like reading my own thoughts at times, albeit far more eloquently put! The book ends with an afterword from his wife, which made me cry like a baby but I really feel like the lasting impact from this book should be from Paul himself. If I could, I would give this book to every health care professional I know. It's like a handbook for how to be a better doctor, nurse, midwife, care attendant, physio etc etc. Having said that, there's something in here for everyone; health care professional or not. I really loved it- it's definitely a book I'll return to in the future. 

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

I had read and loved Life After Life and so I had high hopes for this, not exactly a sequel but a look at another character's storyline. All of the focus in Life After Life is on Ursula, a character I loved and suffered through her various death scenes in the hopes that one of her lives would see everything going right for her. A God in Ruins follows her beloved brother Teddy's life. Teddy was an RAF bomber pilot and in later years, a husband and father. I'm sorry to say that I just didn't get on with this. I liked Teddy's character and enjoyed all of the WW2 flashbacks but I greatly struggled through the chapters about Teddy's daughter and grandchildren who were really the worst characters ever. I only got just over halfway through and gave up and I never do that! I kind of figured that unlike Ursula, I won't get the chance to relive this life so I may as well save myself the time and effort!

Bridget Jones's Baby; The Diaries by Helen Fielding

If like me you have read all of the Bridget Jones books, including the godawful Mad About The Boy, then you will want to pick this one up and use it as a palette cleanser for the aforementioned book. This is Bridget back to her best- funny, inappropriate, charming and just a little bit incapable. Good news is that both Mark D'Arcy and Daniel Cleaver are also back, as are all of Bridget's madcap friends and parents. This is one you can read in a day and is extremely light but sometimes that's just what you need!

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

I read this one on a five hour flight and could barely put it down; even for tea and an in-flight magazine, as I previously mentioned. I'm mentioning it again cause that's a big deal for me, OK?! The book begins with fifteen year old Lane Roanoke having to move to her wealthy grandparents sprawling country estate in Kansas following her mother's suicide. When Lane arrives, her cousin Allegra, also fifteen, conversationally tells her that 

"Roanoke girls don't last long here around here. In the end we either run or die". 

Cut forward to eleven years later and Lane has escaped to Los Angeles when she gets a call pulling her back; Allegra has gone missing. The book veers between flashbacks to that Summer when the girls were fifteen and to the present where Lane tries to figure out what happened to her cousin. This is an extremely atmospheric book; it's stiflingly hot, sticky and muggy. The town in Kansas where they live is vividly described and I felt like I was there throughout. It's also quite a dark and twisted story and I should give a trigger warning for incest and abuse- even that is sensitively handled and is never graphically described. It's almost like a YA novel within a thriller/mystery. I really loved it. It's hard to like the main protagonist at times but I still did and still worried for her the whole way through. This probably won't be for everyone but it felt very fresh and different to me and I would definitely recommend it. 

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M McManus

This was an ARC from Netgalley, so thank you kindly for that! I had heard a bit about this one and then when I read the blurb and saw the cover, I had to request it. 

Five students are in detention. They themselves even comment on what a cliché "Breakfast Club" group they make; there's the A student, the jock, the homecoming princess, the bad boy delinquent and the misfit. One of them is going to die in detention that day but which one, who did it and why? This was a great read- fast paced and entertaining, a bit like a combination of the aforementioned Breakfast Club, with a bit of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars thrown in for good measure. Considering I liked all of those, this is an ideal read for me, although granted, that's not everyone's cup of tea! I still love teen drama, even though I'm in my thirties and I'm totally cool with that as it's pure escapism, as all good books/TV should be. 

I felt like all of the characters in this were well developed and made me want to root for them, even if I didn't always know the motivations for their actions. I also didn't guess the end, which makes me very happy with a book like this! This is another great Summer read- pop it in your beach bag and you'll find yourself glued to it by the pool with your Pīna Colada. 

That's all for now but obviously I'm already well into my June reads which will be up next month, along with July's. 

Tell me though, have you read any of these?

Do you have any of them on your Summer reading list?

And lastly, what are you reading right now?!

To the comments!

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Summer Reads 2017

So. You may as we speak be planning a holiday, some relaxation by a pool or the sea somewhere gloriously warm and exotic and you may be imagining yourself doing that with a book in one hand and a cocktail in the other.

In order to do that, you're gonna need some book suggestions and I as always, have your back.

Most of these are being released soon, which automatically makes them "Summer reads" and others have a storyline that is basically just all Summer, all the time. So you have options, is what I'm saying!

Personally, I love a good thriller when I'm on holidays, because I find if they're really good, they'll keep me gripped for the whole trip. 

To start then there's:

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris

This is the second novel from successful domestic noir author, B.A. Paris, after last year's hugely successful, Behind Closed Doors, which apparently everyone but me has read (it's on my kindle, I have yet to actually read it). Cass is driving home from a work party when she passes a woman sat in her car in a dark rural road in the middle of the woods, in a storm. None of that sounds good, right? Right. Cass drives on after her instincts tell her the same thing and she puts it out of her mind until she finds out the next day that the woman she saw was murdered. She's horrified by this news and continues to blame herself, while at the same time, she begins to have memory loss issues to accompany her guilt. Is it all in her mind or is someone watching her, who knows what she did?

I'm reading this one at the minute and it's flying along nicely; it pulled me in from the first paragraph and I'm really eager to see how the story develops. 

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

Another second novel, this time from the author of Girl On The Train (find my review of that HERE. Spoiler alert, I was underwhelmed). At the start of the Summer, a vulnerable teenage girl is found dead at the bottom of a lake. A few months later, a single mother is found in the same dark waters. Their deaths dredge up secrets that have been hidden for a long time. I haven't read this one yet but it's ready to go on my Audible account and I'm willing to give it a try, in spite of my feelings for its predecessor!

Final Girls by Riley Sager

I read an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this a few months ago (full review HERE) and although it's not out 'til July, I'd advise you to keep an eye out for it. It's not the best written book of all time but I was utterly glued to it and could not put it down! A great thriller for a beach read, especially if you're a fan of thrillers/horrors. 

If thrillers aren't your thing but you still want a cracking good read, then try:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Described as "a smart, warm, uplifting story of an out of the ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey, as she realises the only way to survive is to open her heart", this sounds like a fabulous book full of wonderful characters. I have this reserved in my local library and I can't wait to start it!

The Cows by Dawn O' Porter

I previously read and liked DOP's YA books so I was really excited to see she's released a book for adults! I've been listening to this for a few days now on Audible and I'm really liking it. The story follows three different women, leading three very different lives and how each finds their own, unique voice. Topics are explored that feel quite relatable for modern women; internet dating, being a single mum, trying to succeed in a male dominated industry, choosing not to have children, grief and loss. 

Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh

This is sitting in my to-be-read pile, staring at me and I really want to get started on it as it sounds just like my cup of tea! Set in 1950's colonial Kenya, young British woman Rachel returns to her fathers Kenyan farm, where she spent her childhood, to find all has changed. Her father has remarried a strange and intolerant woman, while the political climate in the country has grown strained and approaches boiling point. Throughout this, Rachel begins a covert relationship that society would not approve of and may cost her more than she bargained for. This sounds like the perfect historical fiction to while away a lazy Summer's afternoon with.

If that all sounds great but you want to read a book that involves very little mental expenditure on your part, then check out these YA novels that have caught my eye:

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

I read this in the space of a five hour flight last month- I could not and would not put it down. I didn't even stop to look at the in-air shopping magazine and that's saying something! 

This isn't actually YA but the author has previously only written YA and this felt like that style to me, so I'm including it here, even if that is cheating. Ahem. 

Lane Roanoke is fifteen and her mother has just killed herself. Her wealthy grandparents, whom she's never met, take her in and so she goes to live on their sprawling Kansas country estate, where her cousin Allegra also lives. Allegra informs her that the Roanoke girls "never last long around here. We either run or we die". Creepy, right?

It is! And a great Summer read as it's permanently sweaty and boiling hot in the book, so you'll feel like you're right there with them!

One Italian Summer by Keris Stainton

It's been a year since Milly, Elyse and Leonie's dad died and a year since their family trip to Rome. Even though their grief is still raw, the sisters decide to  return to Rome for the Summer for gelato, sun and new love interests. Of course, life is not that easy and Milly in particular must find her way back to the person she used to be. This is again, waiting for me on my Kindle. I requested an ARC of this because Italy, obviously but it also sounds like an ideal Summer read!

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

This is another ARC that I just read a couple of weeks ago and again, I could not put it down. It's The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars; a jock, a straight A student, a homecoming queen, a delinquent and a weirdo are in detention. One of them dies while there, but who did it? As the book goes on, it appears they all had a motive. I partly guessed the ending to this one but if you like to read something a little trashy and haven't gotten over a love of teen TV drama (raises hand), then this is the one for you!

Other options that I don't know enough about I'm going to include anyway:

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan.

I have this on my kindle, I haven't read it yet but it's been described as "the feel good novel of the year" so if that's your thing, go forth and read!

David Sedaris Theft by Finding. Diaries 1977-2002

I LOVE Davis Sedaris. He could read his grocery list aloud and I'd buy it. I've pre-ordered this on Audible for its release- you have to listen to him read his own books, it's the best way!

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey

This is the second novel from the author of the zombie-tastic, The Girl With All the Gifts. This is not a sequel to that but the author has said that it "exists within the same universe". And that's all I know about that, except that I will of course, be reading this. 

I will be reviewing all of these in full (if I haven't already) right here but feel free to follow my progress over on Goodreads also! 

And that's all for now. 

Have any of these made your Summer reading list?

To the comments!

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Recently Read: February and March

Sure look, I know, it's almost the end of April but better late than never, as always! I'm on track with my 60 books for the year goal and for the most part, I'm loving everything I've read so far. There are some truly excellent psychological thrillers out this year and over the last couple of years and some beautiful historical fiction. Here's what I read over February and March, not including A Man With One of Those Faces, which I reviewed HERE. 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

This received a whole lot of hype when it was released at the start of the year. Its PR campaign used the hashtag #WTFThatEnding and so as you can imagine, I was pretty keen to see how it ends. Louise is a single mum and a secretary in a doctors clinic, generally bored with life with only her (extremely annoying) five year old son to give her life meaning. And so, she inadvertently starts an affair with one of the doctors she works with and also inadvertently becomes best friends with his wife, who obviously doesn't know about the affair…or does she? As the book progresses, the perfect marriage of her friend and lover appears less and less ideal as David seems to be controlling and brooding, while Adele seems fragile and weak. Bizarrely, Louise discovers that both she and Adele can astro-project, for Louise this often happens when she sleeps and she can't go very far but Adele seems to have mastered this supernatural skill. The plot thickens! OK, so there's a few red herrings in this one and most of the characters are terrible people who I found it hard to sympathise with. Louise is a bit of an eejit, truth be told and her child..I can't even explain how irritating he was and yes, I know he's a fictional five year old, I don't care. And that ending. Well, I know it annoyed a lot of people but I can honestly say that it completely floored me. There is literally NO way that you can guess this one so if you're looking for an unpredictable psychological thriller- this is it! #WTFThatEnding indeed!

The Trespasser by Tana French

I love Tana French, I've mentioned that several times before but her Dublin murder squad books have for the most part, all been excellent. This is number 6 in that series, I think? You don't need to read them in order but the previous book will feature the detective that's the main character in the next book in the series. If that makes sense. Here, Antoinette Conway is battling to stay on the Dublin murder squad- it's where she's always wanted to be and since she made detective, she does not want to go back to Vice or Undercover or anywhere else. Her partner Stephen is the same. They both have a hunger for it. Unfortunately, Antoinette is not well liked- partly because she's a woman in an all male environment but also because she takes none of her team's misogynistic bullshit. She's a tough cookie. Because of their persona non-grata status, they get the cases that go nowhere, including the murder of Aislinn Murray, a young, pretty blonde, found murdered by a single blow to the head in her own home. There's a distinct lack of DNA evidence at the scene and no obvious suspects, other than a fella Aislinn was seeing. All is going reasonably well until Antoinette and Stephen realise the rest of the squad are not so subtly pushing them into arresting the boyfriend, fast. What they have to figure out is if this is more of the bullying Antoinette has been on the receiving end of or if there's a more sinister reason why they are being coerced into solving the case in a certain way. This is a good thriller/crime/whodunnit. As always, what makes French's books that bit more interesting is the innate Irishness to them, which often translates quite darkly in her stories. While I enjoyed this, I can't say that it immediately hooked me, the way some of her other novels have but I did enjoy it and was keen to see how it would end. 

Final Girls by Riley Sager

I had seen this reviewed on someone else's blog and the name and concept made me want to read it immediately. I was kind of horrified to find out that it's not released til July so I went and asked for it on NetGalley and they very kindly complied. Thanks NetGalley, you completely put me out of my misery! 

The name "Final Girls" derives from horror movies where there's always one girl left. She's faced the slasher/serial killer and has somehow escaped where all of her friends have been brutally murdered. Quincy has been given the nickname of a Final Girl by the media, after surviving a horrific attack in Pine Cottage, a cabin in the woods that left all of her college friends viciously murdered. There are other Final Girls too, each the victims in their own private but conversely, extremely public horror movies- Lisa, who narrowly avoided being one of nine sorority girls murdered by a serial killer and Sam, who was tortured by the "Sack Man" at a motel she used to work in, where all the guests were left for dead. It's ten years later and Quincy now writes a baking blog and lives as quiet a life as she can with her boyfriend. That is until fellow Final Girl Lisa is found dead and Sam shows up on Quincy's doorstep. Did Lisa really kill herself and is Sam a friend or a foe? It looks like someone is after the Final Girls and is trying to drag Quincy back to that forest where she will eventually find out what really happened in Pine Cottage. I am definitely the right market for this- I love horrors, especially 80's slashers so this was right up my street. I was completely addicted to this book. I took a brief break in reading it (I read it in one day) to go to the cinema but spent the time on the way there and on the way back going "I wonder what's going to happen next in my book…and what the hell happened in Pine Cottage?!!!" etc. Sorry, Cilian and Ailbhe for my poor company that evening. I also held my kindle and continued to read whilst simultaneously making tea. Boiling hot water and a lack of attention do not mix, kids. Some of the plot points are a little bit stretched if I'm honest and it was a bit trashy in places, but that's kind of what I liked about it, it made it feel more like an authentic horror movie but in book form. Awesome! 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I'd been aware of Kate Atkinson as an author for quite a while now but this is the first of hers that I've read. This is an unusual book to try and describe but sure, I'll have a go. The story begins on a cold snowy night in 1910 where a baby girl, Ursula is born. Neither the midwife nor the doctor get there on time and she dies. On an alternative version of that night, she lives and continues her life. This is basically a series of sliding doors universes where Ursula lives but is murdered later in life or lives but someone she loves dies or lives but she in turn kills Hitler. I know. Very cool. It's ultimately about the many possibilities that life gives us and the many possibilities that fate takes away from us. I listened to this on Audible and it did take me a while to get into it. I'm not sure that this particular book lends itself well to audio but after a while I really enjoyed it and I loved Ursula. I rejoiced when she re-lived her life and avoided a decision that had been catastrophic for her in a different life and in turn, felt dejected when all the many awful men she met along the way destroyed her. I felt both sad and triumphant at the end, that it was over but also, that I had survived the saga that was the many lives of Ursula Todd! Still, she felt like a friend and I missed the characters so much that I'm now reading the sequel, A God In Ruins. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet- I will report back of course, but I can definitely recommend Life After Life.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

This was for our book club but both my sister and Himself had also bought me super fancy hardback editions for Christmas, both of which are very swoon-worthy. It's also nicely fitting for the story itself, which is dark and twisty but also full of descriptions of nature. This was a really pleasant book to read, I loved the use of language and the imagery that it conjured in my mind. Parts of it floored me. 

This whole paragraph for instance: "One day he said: 'In Japan they'll mend a broken pot with drops of molten gold. What a thing it would be: to have me break you and mend your wounds with gold.' But she'd been seventeen, and armour clad with youth, and never felt the blade go in". 

Anyway, the "she" in that paragraph grows up and becomes a widow with a slightly unusual son and a devoted ladies maid. Cora is a complacent widow as her marriage was an unhappy one but she is an intelligent and inquisitive woman and wishes to see more of the world, which was unusual for 1893. With that, all three move to Essex, hoping for fresh air and a fresh start but Cora becomes obsessed with a rumour about a large serpent living in the waters of Essex and killing its inhabitants. She also becomes close at this time to the local vicar and his family. He is a sceptic about the serpent but finds himself more and more drawn to Cora, especially as his wife becomes more and more unwell…so you can see where that's headed, but lots of other weird things happen in the meantime and overall, it's a strange book. At times enjoyable but often slow and convoluted. There's plenty of competing story lines, that I haven't even mentioned here because we actually don't have the space. I'm not sure I'd recommend this one unless you were very specifically looking for a book like this, which is not to say I didn't enjoy it…I still haven't quite made my mind up about this yet!

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

I saw the film of this a few years ago and thought it was somewhat enjoyable and then I spotted this on the Library ebook section, which I of course then downloaded. I love the Library. Anyway, in case you don't remember, Andy has just graduated and needs a job. She somehow ends up interviewing for a PA position in Runway (a not very well disguised version of Vogue), which she thinks will help her get ahead- she has lofty ambitions to be a serious journalist for the New York Times. Her boss is Miranda Priestly (again, a not super well disguised version of Anna Wintour), the most hated woman in the fashion magazine industry. It turns out that she is the "devil" of the title and treats everyone who works for her with utter contempt using a good old dose of what we now call 'gas lighting' to destroy in particular, Andy's spirit. Meanwhile, Andy is also trying to juggle relationships with her boyfriend and her best friend as she slowly but surely gets sucked into the world of Runway. But can she get out before it consumes who she is? To be honest, by the end of this you probably won't care either way. None of these people are super likeable characters but it passes the time nicely. Having said that, there are plenty of other, better books in this kind of genre, if you're looking for some lighter reading. 

The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

This was the second Alex Marwood I've read, having previously enjoyed The Darkest Secret, another psychological thriller that read like a "what really really happen to Madeline McCann" expose. The Killer Next Door is set in a dingy house in London, divided into bedsits and filled with a group of very different people, all with something to hide. Their landlord is an out and out creep and spies on and sexually harasses the female renters. One of them is Collette, she's on the run from her gangster ex-boss who she's stolen from, while Cher is hiding from the social services. Vesta, an elderly woman is trying to cling on to what's left of her home, while the male tenants are all loners, asylum seekers and generally outsiders, trying to keep to themselves. Tension builds up in the house as the Summer heat increases until it comes to a head one night when a crime takes place in the house that they all in turn, become embroiled in. None of that is helped by the fact that separate to that there is also a serial killer living and operating in one of the apartments…but who is it?! This was an absolute gripper of a book, I could not put it down and had finished it in about two days. One thing I would say though is that it can be quite gory and at times even my stomach turned at some of the descriptions, which is saying something- it takes a lot to make me squeamish. Having said that, if you like a good thriller and you enjoy trying to figure out who the killer is, you'll definitely like this. 

Paper Girls, Vol 1 by Brian K Vaughan

I bought this in a comic book shop in Galway on a bit of a whim. I'm a fan of graphic novels anyway and had heard this was a good'un but it wasn't 'til I saw it in real life that I knew I had to have it- it practically jumped at me from the shelf and I can't even explain how much I love it. The guy who sold it to me said if I liked Stranger Things then I'd like this too but it goes way beyond that. I adore the colours, the drawings, the pop culture references and the story itself. Four girls who deliver newspapers in an American suburb in the 80's, cross paths on Halloween night and end up joining forces when the apocalypse hits them. This encompasses time travel, other worlds, monsters, feminism and four kick-ass girls taking all of that on. When a twist was revealed I actually went 'OMG!!!' and tried to tell Himself and ruin it for him, just so I could tell someone (I didn't), so you know it's good. I've already bought Vol 2. Very excited for that! 

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood

This is actually Marwood's first book, so of course I have read it last in the sequence of her releases. Way behind there. I probably have enjoyed this one the least. Three little girls meet on a hot Summers day, but only two of them get home that evening. Jade is from a deprived background, she wanders the streets looking for food and gets up to mischief wherever possible. She meets and befriends Annabel, from the big mansion in the town but also from an abusive home. They somehow end up being lumbered with a four year old to look after for the day, even though they're only kids themselves and don't have the capacity or ability to look after themselves properly. Through what eventually turns out to be a horror of a day, little Chloe is killed and Jade and Annabel are not only found to be to blame but they are vilified and become the most hated girls in Britain. Fast forward several years and both girls are now grown up, using different names and trying to move on with their lives. Annabel is now Amber, a cleaning supervisor in a funfair, in an unhappy relationship with sleazy ladies man Victor, while Jade is now Kirsty, a happily married journalist with two children. They're under strict instructions never to meet or speak to each other again but they have no choice in breaking that promise when Kirsty travels to Amber's seaside town to investigate a series of grizzly murders. The book is peppered with flashbacks to the day of Chloe's death, so we don't find out until almost at the end of the book what actually happened. Add to that the fact that there seems to be two modern day serial killers added to the storyline, who are nothing to do with each other and this one ends up being a bit convoluted. I think the concept of this book was better than it's execution but it was still a good read, it just didn't quite grip me as much as her others have. 

And that's that! Have you read any of these?

What are you reading right now?

To the comments!

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