Emma's Bookish Lifestyle

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities, their lives splitting like their shared egg.  This time lapsed family saga is written with such truth and beauty you feel like you are part of the events as they happen.  The echo of the twins similarities and differences can be seen as we move into the futures of their own daughters and the intersection of their lives again. Desiree finds herself married to the darkest man she could find, in an abusive relationship and worried for the safety of herself and her daughter, finding herself back home with an old life, old love and subjecting her daughter to a far worse fate than she ever experienced while growing up their due to the colour of her skin. Stella chose the path less travel...

Every child's potential is regularly determined by a standardized measurement: their quotient (Q). Score high enough, and attend a top tier school with a golden future. Score too low, and it's off to a federal boarding school with limited prospects afterwards. The purpose? An improved society where education costs drop, teachers focus on the more promising students, and parents are happy. Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the state's elite schools. When her nine-year-old daughter bombs a monthly test and her Q score drops to a disastrously low level. As a teacher, Elena thought she understood the tiered educational system, but as a mother whose child is now gone, Elena's perspective is changed forever. She just wants her daughter back.  And she will do the unthinkable to make it happen. This story is impactfully written, I can tell you now that if you want to like the main protagonists in your books, this won't be for you however, if you can go beyond that and ...

I would like to thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this debut YA novel. This book is set at a residential school based on an island off the coast of america.  Raxter School is for girls and has been put under quarantine due to the outbreak of an unusual condition.  Since the arrival of the Tox, Hetty's life has been turbulent to say the least, as she see's her fellow classmates, suffer and vanish! The disease takes it time to spread, first with the death of the teachers then the students begin to fall one by one, the Tox affecting them all differently turning their bodies into unusual and foreign objects. Now cut off from access to the rest of the world and nobody knowing who is fully aware of what is going on at the island, the girls are left to survive for themselves on the island they now call home!  They dare not go beyond the boundary fence as the contents of the woods themselves are infected, wild and dangerous.  But when Hetty's frien...

This is the 3rd book in the Hidden Iceland series and returns us back to the life of Detective Hulda prior to the death of her husband and daughter. This case starts in 1987 on an isolated farm house in the east of Iceland.  A severe ice storm at the start of the Christmas celebrations should have prevented anyone from getting to them however, it didn't. The couple should never have let him in. But they did.  Their unexpected guest is telling them a story that doesn't ring true, why is he there and is he the cause of their death. So far I have found this series fast paced and beautifully written.  Starting with The Darkness we are introduced to the characteristic but far from effervescent Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir, she is a Detective Inspector forced into early retirement at 64 but who fights her cause and manages to convince her boss to review an old case on the murder of a russian women that washed up on the shore,  The amazing and unexpected ending meant I wa...

Kat wants to do GOOD FEMINISM, although she's not always sure what that means. She also wants to be a writer, get together with Hot Josh (is this a feminist ambition?), win at her coursework and not make a TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT of herself at all times.  But the path to true feminism is filled with mortifying incidents and when everything at school starts to get a bit too much, Kat knows she's lost her way, and the only way forward is to ask for help . . . Join Kat AKA the Confused Feminist as she navigates EVERYTHING from menstrual cups and mental health to Instagram likes and #TimesUp in her HILARIOUS, OUTRAGEOUS and VERY EMBARRASSING diary. Firstly I would like to thank Hodder Children's Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to give a true and honest review on this YA title. This book was not aimed at my age group however, I had hopes that the feminist message implied by it's title and blurb would offer an interesting insight for teenage girls who want to know more ab...

Eileen is sick of being 79. Leena's tired of life in her twenties. Maybe it's time they swapped places... After a life changing event happens within her family Leena Cotton finds herself reeling from the aftermath, life and work all seem to collide in an emotional turmoil that finds Leena placed on a two-month sabbatical from the job she loves.  She decides to visit her grandmother Eileen in her home in a tiny Yorkshire village. Eileen divorced from a loveless and finding herself about to turn eighty and wishing for companionship, takes her second chance at a new way of life and love as she cannot see herself finding an eligible gentlemen from the slim pickings in her local village. Leena proposes that they switch lives during the two-months of her sabbatical, Eileen can go and find the answer to her what-if's and enjoy the dating pool of London and Leena can take a step back from all things work as her boyfriend can visit and she can use the time to focus on her new busine...

Young Adult - Trigger Warning for Child Grooming on the Internet   Holly is 14 and feels alone, her best friend has moved away to Canada and her parents are dealing the normal stresses of both work and home life as well as caring for an elderly member of the family. This has caused Holly to feel both isolated and alone, spending increasingly longer amounts of time fending for herself and in the house alone, where she is terrified of every noise that she hears. Her mum does try to get her to befriend Noah, a boy in her year who is experiencing bullying from another class mate and member of his synagogue. Although Holly does not realise it this friendship may not only save Noah, but also herself. Then Holly meets Jay, someone she believes is friends with her bestie Amy and other people in school as he was posted about on an online forum, quickly this situation gets out of hand and she begins to isolate herself from those she cares about and her personality notably changes. Is Jay wha...

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for allowing me to give an open and honest review of this must read 5* book. This is a debut novel told in the voice of a young Nigerian girl who is entrapped into a life not of her choosing by her father after the loss of her mother to enable the male family members to get an income. Adunni, is our 14 year old protagonist and despite the loss of her mother at such a tender age she knows what she wants and that is an education, she believes that with this comes the freedom and "louding voice" which will get her the right to speak for herself and gain the respect she feels she is entitled to in life.   Sadly despite her mothers wishes for her to continue her education, when her mother passes away Adunni is left with her alcoholic father and two brothers to look after.  With all the will in the world her father decides to sell her into a polygamous marriage, being the third wife of a local man whose main focu...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Set during the reign of Henry VII at the introduction of the Tudor Dynasty, this followed the story of Joan Vaux herself a victim of the turmoils of court during the reign of the polar opposite kings in Edward and Richard. The death of the two boys in the Tower still lingers in the memories of the court as a new era approaches.  Lady Margaret's son Henry has returned and assumed his rightful position on the throne, he is to merge the two houses with his marriage to Elizabeth of the house of York with Lancaster.  Joan was kindly under Lady Margaret's patronage for a time during the upheaval and her mother was her lady in waiting for a time, now Joan finds herself honored with a position in the future queens court. Joan finds herself living in the shadow of the Tower of London and she not only has to navigate the politics of court, a jealous younger sister of the queen and the expectations of a women at court.  She finds hers...

I would first of all like to thank Hot Key Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to give my true and honest review on an ARC copy of this book. In a world where the flightless are ruled by those who can fly... When her father dies just before her birthday harboring a family secret, seventeen year old Aderyn's not only finds herself the Protector of the domain of Atraty's, where your bloodline determines the type of bird you can transform into.   Aderyn whose ancestral bird is the swan has not been able to transform since a tragic accident many years ago, when she witnessed the cruel death of her mother, torn apart by hawks which have long since become extinct. With her parents gone Aderyn finds herself at the mercy of an Uncle she has never met, a history she does not know, in a Court she has never attended. Seeking revenge for the murder of her mother and the love she has for her, Aderyn heads to the heart of the Citadel ruled by her Uncle to seek answers to th...

Firstly I would like to thank Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and provide a true and honest review of this book, having been an avid Jane Austen fan this was a book I could not miss getting my hands on. This is a continuation story in the style of Jane Austen and set's off with a recap of the Bennett sisters and their trials and tribulations during Pride and Prejudice.  Janice Hadlow seamlessly continues the story from the perspective and somewhat ugly duckling of the family, Mary's point of view as she seeks to find her true self and transforms into a women of some substantial substance. As the marginalized middle daughter to the Bennett family, the plain bookish girl of frustrating intellect takes Mary on a journey by her siblings before her.  She learns that true happiness can only be found within herself and that the rantings of her mother are both found less and hurtful preventing her from ever being able to meet with the exp...

Cilka's Journey  by Heather Morris Firstly I would like to start by clarifying the content used to write this novel, this is a "fictional" story based on some information relayed to the author by Lale Sokolov (The Tatooist of Auschwitz).  Heather Morris is clear on this subject at the end of the novel when she relays where she gained her research, what contributed to it's creation and what she hopes a reader will get from this story. This is the story of Cilka Klein, a jewish prisoner of Auschwitz who at the age of 16 is wrenched from her family and placed in the women's camp Birkenau, to enable herself and her sister Magda to survive she finds herself not only put in front of Menghele but also ends up in Hut 25, this is where the sick and dying go. Cilka manages to survive however, carries a large amount of survivors guilt so when she is brought in front of the Russian's who have free'd her she is devastated to find freedom is to evade her.  C...

If you are a lover of Helen Fielding, Jojo Moyes and the like then this book is for you. Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast to leave her relationship with Justin behind her. Leon Twomey works nights as a paliative care nurse and needs cash to support his family during a difficult time. Their friends think the idea of sharing a flat together with a complete stranger is insane, but it’s the solution they both need: Leon will live in the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time including weekends when Leon will be with his girlfriend Kay. It transpires that Tiffy's ex-boyfriend is not ready to let her go (despite being engaged), her work life pays very little and she is frequently called upon by a demanding author who wants her at all her events.  At times it feels that the only connection she truly has is the one she is building with Leon, yet they have never met.... Leon has problems of his own, K...

"The Marquess House Trilogy #1" by Alexandra Walsh 4* England 1539 When Catherine Howard arrives at the court of Henry VIII it is to be maid of honour to the new Queen, Anne of Cleves yet she had no idea where this path would take her. When Catherine becomes the King's new fancy she finds herself caught in the politicking of her Uncle, the Duke of Norfolk and his ambition to put a Howard heir on the throne. Terrified by the health of the King affecting his behaviour, the fate of her cousin's Anne and George are forever on her mind and stoke fears for her own safety. Wales 2018 Dr Perdita Rivers is the estranged grand daughter of Mary Fitzroy a famed Tudor historian.  After Mary's inexplicable loss of contact with both herself and her twin sibling, Piper.  Mary's unexpected death and the girls sudden inheritence of Marquess House a beautiful tudor estate on the Pembrokeshire coast, Perdita begins to learn and unravel the reasons...

by Sonia Velton 4* "...There are no secrets in London " Esther Thorel is a wife of a Huguenot silk weaver, she rescues Sara Kemp from her unfortunate life in a brothel under the pretext of doing gods work however, when Sara begins her maid duties she is not convinced she is any better off but to escape her madam the offer is too good to ignore. In the Thorels Spitalfields home, the ghost of two looms haunts the attic.  As the women's relationship is forged through the physical intimacies between maid and mistress, Sara becomes ever hostile to Esthers inability to see the hypocrisy of her household, too absorbed in her own secrets to believe Sara is a threat. Esther is a painter, keen to transfer her artwork to the craft of silk weaving.  Her husband rebukes her suggestion which forces her to develop a relationship with a journeyman weaver working on the loom in the attic, in the hopes of obtaining his own status as master weaver.  This relatio...

Normal People By: Sally Rooney Rating 3* Connell and Marianne grew up in rural Caricklea in Ireland.  They come from different worlds when they meet in school and their lives collide.  Despite the social barriers of school a connection develops between them that follows them to their University years in Dublin and well into their futures. This book is my first from author Sally Rooney and I was uncertain if this would appeal to me as her writing has been deemed the "Millenial Voice".  I can honestly say that the writing style was light and easy to read however, felt that the political inferences only seemed to be for effect and didn't really have any relevance to the context of the plot or the characters personalities. The story I believe was intended as a modern love story but sadly, I believe that is a matter of view point as I feel the characters from very early on had an unhealthy relationship which infact developed into a more toxic dependancy based a...