prettylittlewriter

Synopsis
‘Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.’

Yet another novel by Colleen that had me hooked from the start.

This was a brilliant sequel to It Ends With Us, I loved seeing Lily and Atlas’ relationship blossom, and for them to finally have a normal dating life (in a way).

It wasn’t quite as emotional as the first book, but I don’t think Colleen meant for it to be. Sure, it had some bumpy parts (mainly when dickhead Ryle was around, and Atlas’ Mom) but for the most part, this was a more lovely and romantic story.

Lily was still the most amazingly strong character, and it was amazing to see her bond with Alyssa going from strength to strength, even in the face of Ryle’s wrath. There’s a particular scene where both Alyssa and Marshall get involved with Ryle (if you’ve read it you’ll know what I mean) and this scene almost made me cry happy tears for the support that they were giving to Lily.

It was also brilliant having Atlas’ POV. Finally knowing what went through his mind throughout his time homeless and having met Lily, and also getting a glimpse into his childhood trauma caused by his Mom and stepdad. There’s also a lovely surprise within Atlas’ life that although starts of Rocky, becomes something that is really sweet to read about, and I love that he got the chance to prove that sometimes blood isn’t thicker than water.

I won’t go into any more details as we’re at risk of spoilers, but this is definitely the perfect follow up to IEWU and if you’ve read that and enjoyed Lily and Atlas’ story, then you’ll definitely enjoy this.

4/5 stars

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.’

This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster!

Lily is a wonderful main character, full of heart, determination and spirit. I was rooting for her to have the best life throughout, and when she was thrown a few curve balls, I was sad for her each time.

Her relationship with Ryle at the beginning was lovely, I was so happy for them and really wanted them to work, until he started doing things that are completely unacceptable, and then I wanted him gone.

The best part of this story is actually Lily’s relationship with Alyssa, Ryle’s sister. When Lily buys a property to open up a flower shop, Alyssa asserts herself into Lily’s life by taking a job she doesn’t actually need, and inadvertently becoming Lily’s best friend. They were bestie goals, and the support Alyssa gave Lily through the issues with Ryle, I was tearing up whilst reading (if you’ve read the book, you’ll know the scene I mean).

I loved reading Lily’s journals, to see her relationship with Atlas develop throughout was incredibly sweet, they were each other’s saviours, which I loved. The final journal entry surprised me quite a lot however, as there’s the mention of something that happens with Atlas and Lily’s Father, which was completely unexpected and personally, I don’t think it was needed (it’s never mentioned again!). It was cute having the moments with Ellen Degeneres as her journal too, and there’s a gift from Atlas to Lily that is just the sweetest thing that relates to her.

I’m also super happy that Lily’s relationship with her mum is still good, after all that she went through as a child, having to ignore her Mother being beaten by her Father and her Mother acting like it was nothing must have been incredibly hard, so it was nice to see them still having a relationship after everything.

I can’t really say any more about it as it would give the story away, but if you love a dramatic romance novel, Colleen certainly delivers with this one. I absolutely loved it.

5/5 stars

 Synopsis
‘Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.

I was looking forward to reading Daisy Jones as it’s had such incredible hype, not only from the book itself, but as the TV show has now been released on Amazon Prime (I've watched it and it's AMAZING!!)

I love the way it is written, in the format of an interview with every character from the novel (including some with minor roles); I thought this was an incredibly clever way of telling the story.

Daisy was a character that I loved, she had so much passion in so many ways, including in the music, which made her story that much more bittersweet. There were a couple of other very strong female characters within, including Karen the pianist, and Camila, Billy’s wife, who kept him in check when he started drowning in his addictions.

Billy was a character that I struggled to actually like, mainly due to his infidelity, but there were times when he surprised me; him taking care of his family, including Camila, was part of that.

The plot itself, young starry-eyed, beautiful woman joins a band and falls in love with a band member, was your typical music-related love story, however, it doesn’t end how you would expect. There’s a brilliant time jump at the very end, which explains the importance of Camila’s character, and how she really shaped the band and those within it, to make some hard-hitting decisions.

There were some parts of the novel that felt inconsequential, and even characters that could have been missed out (Eddie & Pete mainly), and I think because of the way the novel is written (interview transcript) it did take away from the emotions of the story, and felt a lot less personal. I think this is the main thing that was missing for me, it just felt very matter of fact, and I wasn’t particularly invested in the characters’ lives.

It did however, have the incredible rock ‘n’ roll feeling, and the things that the characters went through/were doing (think lots of drugs) was true for the 70’s era.

Overall, I would say it is a very good novel, with an interesting plot, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that has a passion for music and musical novels, it just had that little bit of personal character-reader relationship missing for me.

 I would also highly recommend the TV show, as it has been done incredibly well and all the cast are amazing!

4/5 stars

 Synopsis
‘Everyone talks about falling in love like it’s the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know …

This was my last book for February, I picked it up as it’s a nice short read.

There were some incredibly intense family dynamics within this book, including that between Kit & Hugo, and it was interesting how our main character remained anonymous in terms of name and gender. Personally I chose to interpret them as female, a young girl who started falling for the charm of Kit, much like Mattie.

I enjoyed the storyline, it felt similar to We Were Liars, but with more intense one-on-one relationship drama, rather than a running drama within the entire family.

I liked that the MC had some reserve when it came to Kit, they knew that he was bad news, and she resisted him a lot at first, but eventually succumbed to his charms as does everyone it seems, that meet him. However, the author did throw in something that Kit had previously done (groomed a 12 year old) which I didn’t think was necessary to the story (apart from making Kit a predator, not just a manipulating scumbag).

Hugo’s character was one I struggled with. I wanted to like him, with his broody behaviour and shy persona, I wanted him to bond with our MC and come out of his shell, for them to then be together. However, his warnings to our MC to stay away from Kit were very subdued, he may as well have not said anything, as it made no difference. He knew everything that Kit had done, so he should have just told our MC exactly what he’d done, and I’m sure she would have steered WAY clear, and may have been able to warn the rest of the family.

The big reveal of the twist was also somewhat disappointing. I was hoping for a bit more drama, maybe a murder? But the actual twist was something I managed to predict a few chapters before it happened, and it just fell a little flat. Within a few pages, it was over and done with, and I think it could have been fleshed out a lot more.

It seemed like the author just wanted to tell a quick story about toxic relationships and to pinpoint a particularly toxic character, rather than making the story really count for something.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it’s a nice and quick read, but it’s not a book I’m necessarily going to be recommending to others.

3/5 stars

 Synopsis
‘Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

This was a weird one for me.

There were parts of it that were enjoyable; I liked the mystery and intrigue of what was happening in the world and why these people were suddenly thrown together with no contact with the outside world, but there were also plenty of parts that were incredibly frustrating and that nearly made me DNF.

Within the first few pages of the story, you are given a full page and a half worth of a shopping list that Amanda was buying for their stay in the rented property; WHY? It seemed like the author was just trying to fill the pages to make the book longer, it really had no reason to be like that, a simple sentence saying she’d purchased £200 worth of food was enough.

There were quite a few other moments like this, where either words were repeated (including speech from the characters to each other) or we were given a really indepth description of something that we really didn’t need.

The other thing I really didn’t enjoy was that we didn’t have a resolution or explanation as to what was happening in the world, and why people were getting ill or lost. We were just left with these people were stuck together, end of. WHY WERE THE DEER MIGRATING IN HERDS OF THOUSANDS? WHY WERE PEOPLE’S TEETH FALLING OUT? I WANT TO KNOW!!

If I’m being brutally honest, it all just felt a little pompous and a bit like the author just wanted to use the book to showcase how shit humans really are, especially in the face of crisis.

In actual fact, I can’t really say I enjoyed it at all, because at the end of the story I just felt completely disappointed.

1/5 stars

This was a beautiful and heart-breaking tale surrounding a young woman in the midst of her sexual discovery, and how she was treated for being young and beautiful. This woman also happened to be a mermaid.

It took me a little while to get used to the language used within this book, with our characters and narrator speaking via the native dialect of Black Conch island, but once I got into the story, it was easy to understand.

Most of the characters within this novel were abhorrent; David, Aycayia, Antonia and her son being the only ones that seemed to have any compassion, so it was a continuous battle for me to stop myself throwing the book across the room in frustration!

Priscilla was one of the worst characters for me, trying to ruin David’s life because he wasn’t interested in her as a mate was incredibly spiteful.

I had so much sympathy for Aycayia; she was a lost soul who managed to find a little light in her life through David and Reggie, but she was never really free. What she went through at the hands of some vile people, was unbelievably cruel and it’s a wonder she survived so long.

There were some moments within the novel that I found myself cringing at, and not because those scenes were badly written, but because I could picture them as they were happening, and it was hard to read. There’s a particular moment near the beginning, Aycayia has been captured and is hanging upside down on the dock, that really made me shudder and I still find it hard just thinking about it.  

Just a guess on my part, but I believe the main aim of this novel was to showcase how terribly judgemental humans can be, and how sometimes, those judgements cannot be taken back, and the damage is done. Humans can be incredibly cruel, especially towards something they don’t understand.

Overall I really enjoyed the story, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoyed other books such as Where The Crawdads Sing & The Island.

4/5 stars