Books #43

[Itchy of Itchington]

Just read Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. Somehow missed that it's based on a real case/situation and read it because I quite enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive in Netflix. Hard to describe it as enjoyable but I was hooked and liked the different characters and time periods.

About to start Ken Follet's Circle of Days. Really enjoyed the Kingsbridge books (apart from all the heaving bosoms and lusty widows being mentioned. Ken, get a grip. Not all women have huge wobbling breasts). Hoping this one will be satisfying in the same way although a Neolithic set novel is a new one on me

 

[CommentBelow]

maybe that’s it; her female leads have started to become identical to each other (though i guess her men are really similar too). i couldn’t get over how lazy and almost by numbers GBBL seemed.

it will have to fight to the death with happy place to be recognised as my least favourite emhen. though i have never in all my life rooted against a lead couple being together like i did in happy place (actually, no, i did in talking at night too 🥲)

(un)Happy Place is very firmly my least favourite, its active dislike/I don’t like any of these people/I can’t look a pottery the same way.

 

[Em28_]

I’ve just finished The Wedding People and it’s another one I couldn’t get on board with but finished it out of spite. Need a good recommendation because I’ve had a few duds and it’s dampening my spirit now for reference, I’ve loved Dissection of a Murder, Sunburn, The Safekeep and Wild Dark Shore so far this year

 

[QueenBW]

maybe that’s it; her female leads have started to become identical to each other (though i guess her men are really similar too). i couldn’t get over how lazy and almost by numbers GBBL seemed.

it will have to fight to the death with happy place to be recognised as my least favourite emhen. though i have never in all my life rooted against a lead couple being together like i did in happy place (actually, no, i did in talking at night too 🥲)

It's funny because EmHen said with GBBL she was stretching out of the Romance genre and doing something different, by which I guess she meant the poorly done historical fiction half of it all. But by focusing on that for half the book, the romance half was left to be super basic and by the numbers because all the character development went out the window.

Unhappy Place is still dead last for me because truly none of those people should be in each other's lives.

 

[LaBlonde]

(un)Happy Place is very firmly my least favourite, its active dislike/I don’t like any of these people/I can’t look a pottery the same way.

WHY WAS THE WHOLE BOOK ABOUT HER BEING BAD AT POTTERY AND THEN WE WERE MEANT TO SUPPORT HER BEING LIKE OH I WILL ACTUALLY QUIT MY REALLY GOOD JOB TO FOCUS ON MY POTTERY GIRL YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT IT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SELL ANYTHING.

(not to mention that we were told numerous times that wyn didn’t want to be in his hometown didn’t want to make ludicrously expensive furniture but we were meant to feel happy about the fact that he was?)

to quote adele; divorce, babes. DIVORCE.

 

[CommentBelow]

WHY WAS THE WHOLE BOOK ABOUT HER BEING BAD AT POTTERY AND THEN WE WERE MEANT TO SUPPORT HER BEING LIKE OH I WILL ACTUALLY QUIT MY REALLY GOOD JOB TO FOCUS ON MY POTTERY GIRL YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT IT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SELL ANYTHING.

(not to mention that we were told numerous times that wyn didn’t want to be in his hometown didn’t want to make ludicrously expensive furniture but we were meant to feel happy about the fact that he was?)

to quote adele; divorce, babes. DIVORCE.

I’m still low level anxious about her fictional medical school student loans.. she’s 100% bankrupt by now

 

[Blueblue123]

Just finished the audiobook of Victorian Psycho, thought it was really good. The main character was really unhinged. Had funny bits too.

 

[Carapop]

Amazon daily deal! I read the ARC last year and it was 4.5* from me. Well worth the sale price

Amazon.co.uk

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

I finished 28 Summers by Elin Hildebrand and despised it. Can't fathom why it is so beloved by her fans.

Oh I am one that loved that. It was the first E H I had read and convinced me to read more, but I have now also read Hotel Nantucket and didn’t like it.

 

[BWGossip]

Travelling today and packed Beach Read and Promising Young Women, hopefully tattlers will help me break my reading dry spell (ngl I tried to find Happy Place as I like hate-reading )

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

i finished great big beautiful life yesterday and i need to have a talk with emily henry about the complete dip in quality in her last three books 🥲

all have involved couples i think should be actively avoiding each other rather than dating

This was my first Emily H and did not rate it at all. I’ve since read Funny Story and really liked that. Currently reading People We Meet on Vacation and … meh

 

[ToxicPony]

Emily Henry does one good book followed by one bad one:

Beach Read - Good
PWMOV - Bad
Book Lovers - Good
Happy Place - Bad
Funny Story - Good
GBBL - Bad

We're due a good one this year

 

[Mamacita]

I think her books are just ok. I looked back at goodsreads and apparently gave Book Lovers 4 stars but even reading the description i don't remember any of it tbh all the contemporary romances blend into one for me anyway

 

[Booklover]

Loved The Correspondent. 5 I loved the fact that one of her letters was to Ann Patchett and then the actual Ann Patchett has a snippet review of The Correspondent on it's front cover.
Now onto The Homemade God. Anyone read it?

 

[mindlessness]

Emily Henry does one good book followed by one bad one:

Beach Read - Good
PWMOV - Bad
Book Lovers - Good
Happy Place - Bad
Funny Story - Good
GBBL - Bad

We're due a good one this year

Oh TP! I have all the same opinions (except I thought GBBL was okay, but given the universal dislike here, I was likely wrong haha).

My EmHen gripe is with People We Meet on Vacation because I hhhaaaatttte a miscommunication (or complete lack of communication) trope and those two should have just talked about their damn feelings.

 

[LaBlonde]

My EmHen gripe is with People We Meet on Vacation because I hhhaaaatttte a miscommunication (or complete lack of communication) trope and those two should have just talked about their damn feelings.

yes!!! i hate a “there are absolutely no barriers to these people being together yet they’re going to angst about it for 300 pages” storyline and that’s exactly what that one is. they were, from page one, so obviously into each other and there was no literal reason for them not to be dating.

exhibit b in this format is lovelight farms by bk borrison because, GOD. it’s so annoying to read and then by the time they actually do decide to be together you (the reader) are immediately over it

 

[Kerrie86]

exhibit b in this format is lovelight farms by bk borrison because, GOD. it’s so annoying to read and then by the time they actually do decide to be together you (the reader) are immediately over it

I was so bored by this one. I read the second and it was only marginally better. I also have the fourth coz it was a 99p deal but need to wait for the third, but unless they are amazing, they’ll be functional reads rather than something to enjoy. I just somehow do not care a jot for any of the characters in that world.

 

[LaBlonde]

I was so bored by this one. I read the second and it was only marginally better. I also have the fourth coz it was a 99p deal but need to wait for the third, but unless they are amazing, they’ll be functional reads rather than something to enjoy. I just somehow do not care a jot for any of the characters in that world.

same! i didn’t overly mind the first, but the second one was so boring that i skimmed a huge amount of it. she’s a decent enough writer and i’ve really loved a lot of her other books, but she tries so hard to make the whole town charming that it backfires and makes me find them all annoying

 

[Kerrie86]

It’s why I eschew so many books which I know are part of a series. I can make it through one book I’m not enjoying, but not finishing a series annoys me and yet I massively resent one I’m not enjoying!
now you mention it, i find the ‘small town’ trope also very dull in the chestnut springs and rose hill books.

 

[ordinaryjelly]

Books # 44

Don't think we can start a thread without anything but @Harlot O'Scara's mammoth effort. https://tattle.life/threads/books-43.52674/post-24876219 Followed by @daisynoon's List Challenge. https://www.listchallenges.com/book-threads-favourite-books Happy reading!

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I made us a new thread