Book Club #2

[nbt]

Three nominations for February and votes are as follows:

Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter - 13 votes
@Caffeine Fiend

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston - 13 votes
@nbt

Preloved by Lauren Bravo - 11 votes
@ToolaRoola

So a really close call between all three this month! I’m going to say go for whichever you fancy as I think most of us will end up reading at least two, if not all three of them at some point.

Annoyingly, FLW is back up to full price after being 99p for a few days, so hopefully people snagged it at the cheaper price.

Really looking forward to getting stuck into them all

 

[OH.FFS]

I’m doing the 52 week challenge so if I can inculcate all three into that challenge then I’ll be doing all three.
If not … eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

 

[ToolaRoola]

I'll be reading all 3.

I'm 30% into Preloved and have purchased the other 2.

 

[Smca53]

I bought HSD and FLW so will probably try to do both in February

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

I might read all three

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

I havent bought any yet but will only be buying one as Im really trying to cut down on kindle buys! Havent decided which yet

 

[Big_Summer_Blowout]

I have finished HSD, Preloved is my next book and will need to buy First Lie Wins

 

[fudgebox]

I’ve started HSD about 10% in, really hoping to finish it, it will be my first book of the year

 

[vanilla cupcakes]

I missed first lie wins at offer price, but bought hot springs drive and preloved so will try and read both next month

 

[Mrssd]

I’ve reserved preloved from the library so will start with that. Then will check out the library belonging to one of my children to see if they have the other two . I am on a ban from buying books just now.

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

I'm lucky that I have First Lie Wins as ARC from Netgalley and I never got round to reading it

 

[ToolaRoola]

I finished Preloved the other day, I enjoyed it and liked the little interludes of people's stuff they're buying from or donating to charity and the little story with each.

Spoiler: Spoiler about storyline and TW about death

I also liked that Gwen was at a stage in her life where she seems a bit lost and lonely but it's just plodding through normal life that brings her happiness, finds new friends and helps her make peace with family etc.

I lost a young family member to a sudden heart attack 4 years ago and my family do a lot for Cardiac Risk in the Young. I hadn't expected that to pop up in the book so that was a bit

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

Started First Lie Wins last night and I am loving it! I’m 34% in and it’s so different from most crime & thrillers that it’s really a pleasure to be reading it

 

[Marylou]

I have all 3 books and have started with Preloved. I'm picking it up every chance I get and find it's slow going with fractured storytelling. I think I need to read a huge chunk and completely ignore everything else since I'm getting easily distracted

 

[Marylou]

I finished Preloved late last night and gave it 4*. Loved the little snippets in between the main story about donations and the stories behind them. Glad I stuck with it.

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

Finished First Lie wins at 3.00am, could not put it down!
Gave it 5 stars, loved the writing style but also enjoyed the story. Characters were great and I want more!

 

[nbt]

I’ve finished First Lie Wins too and I wish I felt the same excitement as @OnlyHereForTheLolz

It felt like something was missing for me and honestly I can’t even put my finger on what it was.

Spoiler

I think I just didn’t warm to the characters very much. A few things didn’t really seem to work for me. I read the first 25% and thought I was really going to love it, but then felt myself not caring too much. I wouldn’t say there were loose ends as such as everything did seem to tie up well, but I think at the time that things were happening, it didn’t really make much sense. I dunno maybe someone else can articulate my thoughts better than I can!

I have Hot Springs Drive to read which I will hopefully start within the next week. I’ve reserved Preloved on Libby so I will read it at some point, but it’ll be a few weeks yet.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

So I feel like Hot Springs Drive has some similar themes to The Virgin Suicides! I didnt mean this when I nominated it. Didnt get that vibe at all.

 

[Katykatykaty]

Finished Preloved last night. It’s not my usual genre but I did enjoy it. Gave it 4/5 as although I really enjoyed the little side plots scattered through the book, I found they often took me out of the main storyline too much.

I didn’t really know much about the plot when I started the book, just went off the recommendations here but it resonated so much with me.

Spoiler: A tad spoilery but not really…

I too lost my brother when I was younger and recognised the change in parent/child dynamic that Gwen experiences. I’m also going through the redundancy process unexpectedly and working out where I fit in the world so it was almost like my life was being played out on the pages.

It was quite a surreal experience but definitely one I enjoyed.

When I finished the book the Kindle app recommended What Would The Spice Girls Do? by the same author so I immediately downloaded it for 99p and I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m about the same age as Lauren Bravo so reading about her experiences growing up in The Spice Girls era made me so nostalgic!

 

[Smca53]

Couldn’t put First Lie Wins down tonight so I only just finished it at half two but I really enjoyed it - fast paced, lots of twists I didn’t see coming, enjoyable storyline. It’s 4 stars from me because even though I enjoyed it, I felt a bit of a disconnect from all of the characters, I can’t quite explain why