Book Review: My Soul To Take by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir

I took this book with me on my Icelandic holiday, except the holiday didn’t happen. So, having unpacked my suitcase again, I wasn’t sure whether I still wanted to read it. Would it be sad to read about a country where I was going to go and then didn’t? Even worse, the exact region where the story takes place, Snæfellsnes, was one that we were planning to visit on a day out with a 4-by-4.

As it happened, I was glad I did read the book, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My Soul To Take: What it is about

What the publishers say: “In the mystical Snæfellsnes region on Iceland’s west coast—at a New Age health resort in a renovated farmhouse—the body of a young woman is discovered, savagely beaten, with pins inserted into her feet. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, lawyer and single mother of two, has been retained to represent the resort’s owner and prime suspect. But a fresh corpse is not the only abomination Thóra encounters here—for local legend says this place is haunted . . . and a bizarre series of inexplicable occurrences soon suggests it is so.

As Thóra digs deeply into the farm’s past, she unearths a shocking history of evil and depravity—and her once-solid view of reality begins to waver. But a second murder, shockingly similar to the first, pulls Thóra back to earth by making two inescapable truths abundantly clear: the killer she seeks is very real . . . and is not finished yet.“

My Soul To Take: What I thought

I loved this book! This was such a good mystery. There is an strong element of the mystical, with ghosts and superstition present in much of the investigation. I loved that, because I know many Icelandic people believe in otherworldly beings – and not only the old people.

Thóra doesn’t believe in ghosts (in particular, the sound of a baby crying at night is heard, in places where there are no babies anywhere in the surroundings), but people around her insist that they are there.

I thought this book gave an interesting insight in Icelandic people and culture and the absolute remoteness of some of the places there.

Thóra is being aided by a German friend, Matthew, in her investigation into the murder. I’m not really sure what he was doing there, but he added a foreigner’s view to the whole setting, which in a way allowed for observations that a native Icelander would not be able to give.

I loved the whole story. It was set up perfectly, with one murder, followed by an introduction to a number of characters, another murder, more characters, and more information about the characters of interest. Slowly, Thóra and the reader get some idea of who could be responsible for the crimes. Unfortunately, Thóra missed a piece of information that the reader got from the police. Because of that, I kept in the back of my mind another (partial) solution. It was a little annoying to see Thóra try to solve a crime without all the information. Maybe it would have been better if the reader didn’t know about this particular issue either.

Other than that, I had good fun reading this book and consider it one of the better mysteries that I’ve read in the last few years.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 416 (my Dutch copy: Neem mijn ziel)

First published: 2006 (this Dutch edition: 2011)

I got this: from the library

Genre: mystery

Book Review: The Wish List by Jane Costello

The Wish List: What it is about

What the publishers say: “There are six months left of Emma Reiss’s twenties. . . and she has some unfinished business.

Emma and her friends are about to turn thirty, and for Emma it’s a defining moment. Defined, that is, by her having achieved none of the things she’d imagined she would.
Her career is all wrong, her love life is a desert and that penthouse apartment she pictured herself in simply never materialised. Moreover, she’s never jumped out of a plane, hasn’t met the man she’s going to marry, has never slept under the stars, or snogged anyone famous – just some of the aspirations on a list she and her friends compiled fifteen years ago.

As an endless round of birthday parties sees Emma hurtle towards her own thirtieth, she sets about addressing these issues. But, as she discovers with hilarious consequences, some of them are trickier to tick off than she’d thought…“

The Wish List: What I thought

This was a great chick-lit that I enjoyed reading. It was an unsolicited review book from Simon & Schuster and somehow they always arrive at a convenient time. I was about to make a long car journey, and this kind of book is ideal (given that I wasn’t driving, that is). It’s an easy read and the story isn’t too complex to follow – so I can still keep half an eye on the navigation system (my husband usually ignores it and relies on me to repeat what Tammy (as we call her) just said).

In this book, the focus wasn’t rigidly on Emma’s wish list. That way, the book didn’t follow a particular scheme in which one item is highlighted and ticked off, followed by the next one, etc. That can get rather cumbersome after a while. In contrast, in The Wish List, the items on the list almost happen to be tackled. Sometimes Emma takes special actions to work on the wish (e.g., she asks her ex-boyfriend for guitar lessons) while on other occasions she is aided by friends, rather casually (e.g., “Didn’t you say you wanted to do X? Well, a friend of mine…”). And so, before you know it, you reach the end of the story and the end of the wish list.

Emma was a reasonably normal person (not empty-headed like you sometimes see in chick-lit). She does quite funny things, sometimes, e.g., she tries to make sure someone doesn’t spot her, but what she does has the effect that she is spotted after all, but then in some compromising situation that would not have happened if she hadn’t tried to hide. That sort of thing. Sometimes hilarious, but never over the top.

It is very fluently written and an easy read. To me, this is a very good chic-lit, à la the better books of Sophie Kinsella. Certainly worth a read if you’re a fan of this genre.

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 484

First published: 2013

I got this: for review from the publishers, Simon & Schuster UK

Genre: contemporary fiction, chick-lit

Quick Book Review: A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde

Another fun book by one of my favorite chick-lit writers.

Sophie Apperly is the Cinderella of her family and they’re happy to send her off to care for their grumpy great uncle Eric for a while, hoping they’ll all share in his inheritance. She actually gets on really well with the old man and when she tells him she’s off to New York for a temporary job, he asks her to look up another family member who could help them all to a lot of money.

In New York, she meets Matilda, an old and very rich lady, that she happens to run into at an art gallery. She has a dashing grandson, Luke, who is very suspicious of Sophie, assuming she is friendly with his grandmother for her money.

Luke promises to search her family member in the USA while Sophie is on a quest for Matilda back in England. Turns out Matilda has some plans that neither Sophie nor Luke expected…

This is a fun and predictable story. I had some idea which way this story would go but not how it would get there. And it was a great, quick read that took the reader from England to New York, to Connecticut and back to England, to the lovely Cornwall countryside.

A fun, light read. I flew through the 400 pages!

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Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Number of pages:400

First published: 2010

I got this: from the publishers, St Martin’s Press, via Netgalley (ebook)

Genre: chick-lit, contemporary fiction

Extra: My review of Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde, for Dutch readers.

Book Review: Stay Close to Me by Helen Warner

Stay Close to Me: What it is about

This is the story of a mother and her two adult daughters. Jennifer is a widow who is contacted by an old lover. She has been on her own for the last two years but still feels a strong loyalty to her late husband. On the other hand, can it harm to just meet up once?

Her eldest daughter Kate is living nearby with her husband and two children. They don’t have a lot of money, but they get by. But when Kate meets an interesting and handsome man who wants to go out with her, she wonders whether staying with dependable boring Miles is really all she wants from life. But is it just a crush or real love she feels for Jack?

The other daughter, stay-at-home mother Amy, also has a husband and two children. They are living an expensive life in London, which they can’t afford any more when Ben loses his job and has a break down. Now it’s up to Amy to provide for her family and live a more modest life.

Stay Close to Me: What I thought

This was a good story about family relationships. It was built up really well, I didn’t see some things coming at all, while in hindsight they seemed very possible. There is a lot of crying and eyes brimming with tears in the book, which I didn’t like quite so much. On the other hand, some dramatic (but not over-dramatic) things happened to the main characters so a tear here and there was really not that strange. My eyes didn’t brim at all, though.

I found the story very believable. I could easily imagine these three women living their lives as they did. Amy in London (losing all her wealthy friends the minute her husband loses his job), Jennifer in a small town meeting up with an old friend, re-acquainted via Facebook. And Kate, a nurse, who is a woman as there are many in England, just trying to get by.

I’m afraid to say that Jennifer’s old lover was a creep! I didn’t like him at all. But she seemed to, and he seemed good to her. I had mixed feelings about him. For different reasons than Jennifer I was also wondering whether it was a good idea to let him back into her life. I’m not sure whether he was supposed to be regarded as creepy, but he seemed rather stalkerish.

If you like good women’s fiction, then this book about family relations is one for you!

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Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 402

First published: 2012

I got this book: received for review from Simon & Schuster UK

Genre: contemporary fiction

Have you read this book?

What did you think?

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Book Review: Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell

I was very attracted by the cover (I mean, there are biscuits and books!) and I love stories about cooking! Also, I love stories about women that manage to improve their life after a bad time. So, I expected this to be a good read, and it didn’t disappoint. Except, I wanted more food-talk!

Vanity Fare: What it is about

From the publishers : “Molly Hagan is overwhelmed.

Her husband left her for a younger, blonder woman; her six-year-old son is questioning her authority, and now so is she. In order to pay her Brooklyn rent and keep her son supplied with Pokémon and Legos, not to mention food and clothing, she has to get a job—fast.

So when an old friend offers Molly a freelance position copywriting for a new bakery, finding romance is just about the last thing on her mind. But the sexy British pastry chef who’s heading up the bakery has other thoughts. And then so does Molly, when she meets the chef’s intimidating business partner—who also happens to have a secret that might prevent Molly from getting her own happily ever after.“

Vanity Fare: What I thought

This was a very pleasant read about a woman who is left to fend for herself after her husband leaves and, as it turns out, loses his job soon afterwards. She has two friends and a therapist to confide in and to ask for help, and there are a few love-interests running around the book, too.

The story is a bit predictable, but that didn’t matter (sometimes it’s nice to see whether a story will develop as you expect). It was fun to see how Molly got more confidence as the story advanced and how she distanced herself from her ex-husband.

Molly helped with the setting up of a new bakery, but there weren’t a lot of pastries around in the book. Of course, the bakery wasn’t open yet, but as a reader, I would have loved to be tempted a bit more with talk of chocolate and bakes.

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Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 410

First published: 2013

I got this book: received for review from William Morrow (an imprint of Harper Collins)

Genre: contemporary fiction, chick-lit

Have you read this book?

What did you think?

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Book Review: The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

The previous book I read by Cecelia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow, I really, really liked. So when I saw this new book in the library, I just had to read it. It was not quite as good, but still a very enjoyable read.

The Time of My Life: What it is about

From the publishers: “Lucy Silchester keeps receiving this appointment card and sweeping the gold embossed envelope under the rug. Literally. Instead, she has busied herself with work (a job she doesn’t love), helping out friends, fixing her car, feeding her cat, seeing her family, and devoting her time to their life dramas. But Lucy is about to find out that this is one appointment she can’t miss.

One day life shows up at her door, in the form of sloppy man who is determined to bring about change. Life follows Lucy everywhere—the office, bars, her bedroom—meets her flabbergasted friends, and won’t let Lucy off the hook. What she learns in the process is that some of the choices she’s made, and stories she’s told, aren’t what they seem either. Now her stubborn half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory…unless Lucy learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her.”

The Time of My Life: What I thought

Life visiting you? It’s impossible. But not in this book. I loved it how Life (as a person) coming to visit was accepted as normal in the book, but nothing else was different from the world as we know it. No other impossibilities were allowed for. Ahern did a good job of slotting the idea of Life (the person) into the story, and had worked out the consequences to some extend, enough to make the story believable.

Lucy has been lying about the breakup with her boyfriend 3 years ago and her friends don’t dare to ask. Life forces her to speak the truth and when Lucy’s old lies are exposed, it turns out her friends aren’t half as bothered as she’d thought. Bit by bit, Lucy’s life starts to change and Life changes with it.

I loved the snobbish family that Lucy came from and how they changed along with Lucy. Also, when Lucy calls a wrong number, she starts a fun texting conversation with an unknown man, a story line that was good fun and becomes more important as the story develops.

The book was an easy and fun read, and I loved spending some time with Lucy and her Life.

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Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 376 (my Dutch copy)

First published: 2011 (My Dutch translation, De tijd van mijn leven, 2012)

I got this book: from the library

Genre: chick-lit, contemporary fiction

 

Have you read this book?

What did you think?

Book Review: Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris

I bought this book to get into the Christmas mood. Last year, some people reviewed this book and I wanted to read it, too! I didn’t get round to buying it then, but this year I did. It’s light and friendly, although a little too sweet. Nearly 500 pages was a bit too much, but overall, it was a really satisfying read.

Miracle on Regent Street: What it is about

The story is about Evie, who is working as a stockroom girl in a traditional family-run department store, Hardy’s, in London. She has moved to London and taken the job after she broke up with her boyfriend. Evie is friendly with lots of the staff. When they come to the stockroom to collect something, they often stay and have a chat. Evie knows a lot about her colleagues, whether sales floor staff or behind-the-scenes staff.

However, Evie is so unimportant to most of the staff, that they call her Sarah, the name of the previous stockroom girl. She is passed over for promotion too, but feels as loyal as ever to the company. She used to come here as a small girl, and her mother used to work her before she was married. When Evie hears that the department store may have to be sold, she’s worried for everyone’s jobs and starts her own fight against the shop’s closure.

The shop is getting more busy and Evie meets a nice guy, who takes her out for dinner. It sounds like a miracle! Will it be enough, though?

Miracle on Regent Street: What I thought

I loved this light and easy read! Evie is a woman who needs more self-confidence and some encouragement. She hides away in the stockroom, still thinking about her old boyfriend and while she has some ambitions, she doesn’t show it, so nobody knows about it.

But the fact that Hardy’s might be closing gets her into action. What follows is really good fun, but slightly unlikely. What happens in the end is extremely unlikely and that spoilt the story a little for me. But everything in between is good fun.

Evie is very good with people and all the heart-to-hearts pay off: a lot of people like her and want to help her achieve her goal. The whole story has a warm feeling about it. The book counts down to Christmas, but except for that warm feeling, I didn’t get much more into the Christmas mood (which had been my reason for reading it). That didn’t really matter, though, and I think that this book would make a nice read any time of year.

After a while, I found it rather unlikely how convenient some of the things were that happened. For instance, Evie comes into the shop very early in the morning and no one else ever discovers that she’s there preparing something in secret. Also, when she invites some of her colleagues to the pub, everyone can make it. All seven people. Apparently, no one lived too far away, needed to find a baby sitter, didn’t have money for a night out, had an evening course or other arrangement. But what happens in the very end, was worse: a whole crowd clapping for Evie, as if they knew exactly who she was and why she was amazing (they didn’t).

This book is an absolute feel-good read and ideal for any time of year when you want something light to cheer you up. Don’t analyse the story too deeply, though.

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Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 492

First published: 2011

I got this book: bought it

Genre: contemporary fiction

 

Have you read this book?

What did you think?