Counterfeit - Kirstin Chen

 

Description

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer coming June 2022…

Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.
 
Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.
 
When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined. 
 
Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all?

Review

An entertaining read.

One thing I didn't care for about this book was the style. It's written as the story being told to someone, we find out who soon enough and wonder what that means. The writing wasn't that engaging but once the descriptions of the luxury bags started to flow I was hooked.

I didn't feel invested in either of the main characters of Ava or Winnie. I wondered about their business model and how it was really going to turn out. I think that was the wrong thing to do, basically just turn off and read and enjoy.

Eventually there was a little twist and that really piqued my attention and got me to the end of the book. It's certainly an intriguing tale but I just wished it had been told a little faster and some of the scenes didn't really add to the storyline.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Frequency of Us - Keith Stuart

 

Description

*** A BBC2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK ***
*** BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME ***

In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets Austrian refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and worldly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the newly married couple's home is bombed, and Will awakes from the wreckage to find himself alone.

No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say he was never married.

Seventy years later, social worker Laura is battling her way out of depression and off medication. Her new case is a strange, isolated old man whose house hasn't changed since the war. A man who insists his wife vanished many, many years before. Everyone thinks he's suffering dementia. But Laura begins to suspect otherwise . . .

Review

I loved A Boy Made of Blocks, but this is not really in the same league.

I took some time to get into this one. The story begins with Will having rejected any help from Social Services and their suspicions that he has dementia. Until Laura arrives and he invites her in. We then flash back and forth from 2008 to the war years and the life he remembers but no one else can verify. The dual time line was well laid out but I just didn't feel any connection with the two main characters of Will and Laura. Having said that I was so intrigued that I did read to the end.

Laura has her own demons and the description of her emotions and feelings was so well written and sensitive. Yet, I could not connect with her. 

I had a hunch of what was happening in the book and it did play out the way I thought it would, until the very end. I found it strange that a totally new character is introduced and the storyline takes a swerve that was not in my opinion necessary.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Holiday Bookshop - Lucy Dickens

 

Description

Are you looking to start a new chapter?

Role: Bookseller wanted! (3-month fixed-term contract)
Location: A luxury resort on the tropical island of Bounty Cove Cay.
Skills required: The ideal candidate will have experience in a retail environment, preferably within the book industry.
Desired qualities: This role will appeal to a book lover with an adventurous streak who is looking for an escape from their everyday life.
What to expect: Sun, sea, and a bookshop that is far from thriving. No one said it would be smooth sailing!
Please note: You may fall in love with more than just our island along the way...

Looking for your next beach read? Look no further! Escape with The Holiday Bookshop, perfect for fans of Jo Thomas, Phillipa Ashley and Jenny Colgan...

Review

A lovely escapist read for the summer.

I did mostly enjoy this book, what's not to love? A book about running a bookshop and on an island in the Maldives. 

In fact there are two bookshops in this book. Marianne and Jen run a bookshop in Cornwall - so far so good. Marianne thinks that Jen needs to lighten up a little and do something different with her life rather than concentrating on the bookshop 24/7. So when Jen sees an advert to set up a bookshop in a luxury resort in the Maldives, she dreams of applying and fills in the form for fun. In a rash moment she sends off the form never thinking she will get the job.

Meanwhile Marianne the free spirit of the partnership finds a new love and decides to do a USA road trip with him. Unfortunately it coincides with Jen actually getting the job in the Maldives and surprising her best friend with the unusual news. But if they both go on their trips who will run the Cornish bookshop?

I enjoyed the route Marianne took in the USA as I had done a similar one previously and knew the cities she described. The Maldives sounded so dreamy but I was less impressed with the time Jen spent there. The plot felt a little laboured to me. I also didn't really warm to either character, they both seemed very immature.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. 

The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris

 

Description

'The Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada crossover you've been waiting for' Cosmopolitan

'Riveting, fearless and vividly original'
Emily St. John Mandel

'The year's most buzzed-about debut' i

Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada in this electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of book publishing.

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and the micro-aggressions, she’s thrilled when Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events cause Nella to become Public Enemy Number One and Hazel, the Office Darling.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.

It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realises that there is a lot more at stake than her career.

A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

Review

Sucked in by the comparison to The Devil Wears Prada I felt a little cheated by this book.

The rivalry and goings on, plus the redoubtable boss do indeed resemble The DWP book, but it stops there. This goes much deeper and is very dark, not a light hearted read by any means.

The book began with a character I didn't recognise from the blurb but I plodded on and soon found my way into the book. Then the flashbacks began to feature characters doing things unrelated to the main story and I got a little confused. Around 60% into the book the penny dropped about what was actually happening, but then I had to suspend my disbelief too.

I do think the book went on far too long with the scene setting and long drawn out descriptions of days in the office. The action took place in the last 25% of the book. Otherwise it was an imaginative storyline that definitely highlights issues not only in the publishing industry but in the world at large.

Be prepared to stick with this until the end for the pay off and to expect a rather out there plot line. I admit being intrigued about how this was all going to end. I did have to read the ending twice just to make sure I had understood the last twist - not the ending I was hoping for, but a good ending non the less.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.