July was an interesting reading month. It’s the month where I picked up an incredibly thick tome which took me most of the month to read. I read a few “Advanced Reader Copies” which I received through Netgalley (I also decided to splurge and buy a Kindle for that purpose). However, I also dragged my whole collection of Fear Street books from the basement to re-read; this month I read the first book. Anyways, in this post you’ll read all about the books I have read this month.
Stats
Books: 8 books
Format: 2 physical books, 4 e-books and 2 audiobooks
Total Amount of Pages: 3.110
Authors: 5 new to me and 3 (Paul Tremblay, Hilary Mantel and R.L. Stine) already known
Language: 7 English and 1 translated into Dutch
Paul Tremblay – Survivor Song (2020)
Horror
Believe me when I say that I don’t like to do this in the slightest. I’ve been sitting here. In front of this blank page, willing positive things to pop in my mind to say about Paul Tremblay’s Survivor Song. Unfortunately, they’re not there.
I can tell you what the book is about, which is something that could’ve potentially been very positive. Tremblay’s latest release is about a rabies virus that is spreading through the state of Massachusetts. This disease has a short incubation period and those who are infected lose their minds. It affect animals and humans alike. Needless to say, hospitals are overrun and people are advised to stay at home. We follow Dr. Ramola and her friend Natalie, who is eight months pregnant and who is looking for safety as her husband has been killed and she has been bitten.
We then follow these two characters on their quest from hospital to hospital to find someone to operate on Natalie to deliver her baby.
Sounds great, right? Especially now that we’re living through the Corona pandemic. I don’t like writing reviews for books that I give a book 1-star rating. When I give a book 2 stars, I can still show people what I didn’t like, but what they might like about it. That’s not the case here though. Ok, let’s just start and see where it goes.
First of all, I didn’t like Natalie and Ramola (or Nats and Rams as they annoyingly call each other). I thought they were crude, and completely out-of-touch with their surroundings. Natalie is the worst of both. Her chapters are short rants into her phone for her future baby, which are annoying complaints about the world and about herself.
Tremblay’s writing doesn’t do them any good either. There are points where he gives us a big back story about why Ramola knows Natalie is sarcastic. I mean, the sentences she speaks are clearly sarcastic almost all the time. It didn’t take me ten years to figure out. The fact that it’s highlighted further, makes me dislike the characters even more.
Secondly, the side characters all enter the stage swiftly and disappear just as rapidly. I didn’t feel any attachment or anything really towards them. Why should I, when I don’t even care about the main protagonists?
The language in this book was also too lengthy for some reason. The long descriptions and wordy paragraphs mess up the horror and overall pace of the story.
Thirdly, I didn’t find the story itself to be special. A tale about zombies, or people infected with some kind of virus, is as old as time itself. Well, as old as George Romero has been around at least. The fact that it’s caused by rabies doesn’t add anything for me. I didn’t find the animals particularly vicious either. There’s nothing that distinguishes this novel from other horror novels in terms of storyline.
The fact that this is some kind of “road trip” novel, doesn’t add anything either.
I’m still very thankful to Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy! I will still check out Paul Tremblay’s writing in the future. Horror is one of my favourite genres, and he’s still and incredibly strong writer.
⭐️
Lydia Kang – Opium and Absinthe (2020)
Historical Fiction
The premise of this book sparked my interest when I saw it in the line-up of Amazon First Reads. I was happy to see it pop up on Netgalley as well. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy!
This book is about Tillie Pembroke whose sister is found dead with two puncture wounds in her neck. The book takes place in 1899, around the time Dracula by Bram Stoker is published. Needless to say, Tillie who is interested in science and research jumps on the challenge to search for her sister’s murderer. She comes across mysterious figures and she has a hard time trying to figure out what’s real and what is not.
I leave the fact that Tillie is addicted to opiates out of this premise, because it’s something that would have stopped me from reading it. Protagonists who are addicted to any kind of drug while researching a crime is one of my major tropes. I try not to touch books that use this concept, because I think a mystery should be a strong mystery without the need for the main hero to be confused by her own thoughts.
That having been said Lydia Kang executes this concept perfectly. Tillie starts using opium to ease her pain after an incident. This is how the addiction starts, which was something that happened often back in the 19th century. Sure, she didn’t always remember what happened the day before; however, we did which I think was a strong way to eliminate my trope from the plot.
This novel has strong and well-developed characters and relationships. I can identify with Tillie to a certain extent, because I loved horror stories when I was younger so my real world also started to get muddled with the fictional world. I like the way she approaches the mystery and how she tackles her research. The way this novel is built up, you get to know the side characters really well, including what motivates them which adds to the mystery.
The writing is a bit of a mix between YA and Adult. I guess it’s something you should be open to if you choose to read it.
Other than that, I enjoyed this Sherlock Holmesian novel a lot. I’m eager to read more of Lydia Kang’s books now as they seem to be right up my alley.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mick Conefrey – Everest 1953: The Epic Story of the First Ascent (2013)
Non-Fiction
This is a straightforward, no non-sense account of the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.
Almost everyone in the world will know Ed Hilary and Tenzing’s name. These are the two climbers that made it up the highest mountain in the world first. However, there was a whole team of climbers led by John Hunt who tried to make it to the top. For example, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans who came within 100 meters of being the first to summit. Can you imagine?
Conefrey has a very solid way of telling a story. He doesn’t jump from plot line to plot line, rather he tells the story chronologically. You can split this book in parts. Pre-climb, climb and post-climb.
I enjoyed the read, but I was enthralled when they were trying to summit the mountain. Those tales made my toes tingle. So many things could’ve gone wrong, I love stories where man’s will is tested. Where adversity is conquered.
It’s enjoyable and I highly recommend it for people who are interested to learn more about the Mount Everest and the first ascent.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hilary Mantel – The Mirror & The Light (2020)
Historical Fiction
I can’t believe it’s done. The story of Thomas Cromwell aka Crumb aka Cremuel aka ‘he’ is told. It wasn’t an easy task, but I have completed it.
Wolf Hall was a tough nut to crack. Bring Up the Bodies was an unexpected fast read and the final book in the trilogy is a little bit of both. I tried to take a break in between to read another book, but I should have persisted.
That’s OK though, because when I picked up the second chapter, I didn’t stop reading.
I can relate to Cromwell quite a bit, and I like that Mantel tells the history of Henry VIII through his eyes. It gives us a completely different story than the one told by most other historians. The one were the king is central.
I won’t tell you too much about this book, as it’s the third in a trilogy but it picks up right after Anne Boleyn has been beheaded.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I’m happy I picked up this trilogy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
J.P. Delaney – Playing Nice (2020)
Mystery/Thriller
I’m not normally into books centred around families with children. I don’t have children, so I sometimes find it hard to relate to these kind of stories. That having been said, it wasn’t much of a stretch to understand the horror of JP Delaney’s Playing Nice.
This book is about the Rileys whose lives are spun upside-down when they find out that their little 2-year-old Theo, isn’t their birth son. The person giving them this news is Miles Lambert, the father of the child. He in turn has a son, David, who isn’t his natural son either. David and Theo were switched at birth.
I have to confess that my mind immediately started reeling. I was considering what I would do in this situation. I felt so bad for the Rileys and Lamberts for this conundrum. This is a story of nature vs nurture at its best.
The two families decide to entwine their lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional family. However, how easy is it to trust each other in this situation?
I really enjoyed this concept & plot. This is a horror story even people without kids can understand. The characters are believable and they are consistent. You know what they are made of and by the end of the novel you understand their motives. That’s incredibly important in a hard-hitting slow-burning thriller like this.
The plot twists are mild, but incredibly shocking. They suit the story. It’s not a conventional thriller, but it is insanely creepy. I couldn’t put the book down because I couldn’t wait to read what would happen next.
The story is told from three perspectives: Pete Riley, Maddie (his girlfriend) and court evidence. This provides an interesting mix of different and sometimes conflicting perspectives.
My rating isn’t the full five stars, because I unfortunately didn’t like Pete that much. He made decisions that at times frustrated me. These decisions often resulted in “twists” but those are the ones you can see coming from a mile. It didn’t necessarily ruin the experience for me, but it was something that certainly dampened it for me a bit.
All-in-all I found it to be a great novel with a fantastic storyline. I have never read anything else by JP Delaney, but I’ll immediately have a look through his previous books to see if something tickles my fancy.
Many thanks to the publisher Quercus Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rosie Price – What Red Was (2020)
Contemporary
Let me start by saying that I had high expectations for this book. Due to the comparison’s with David Nicholls writing, I had expected something as beautifully written as One Day. One of my favourite books of all times.
It’s easy to understand the comparison initially because Max and Kate meet at university. They become instant friends. However, unlike the aforementioned novel they’re not the only ones at centre stage. Max’ whole family, the wealthy Rippons, are as well.
It took me around 50 pages to realise that this book is nothing like my much loved One Day. The plot is incredibly linear. I don’t know if this is a thing in literary land, but it feels like everything is as it should be. As such, it’s incredibly predictable. The friendship between Max and Kate was a fact from the moment they met without explanation on internal ruminations. It felt a bit too set in stone for my taste.
After graduation, Kate’s whole life is turned upside down during a party at the Rippons. I really hope that the author has tackled all the heavy subjects such as rape, self-harm and suicide well. I can’t comment on any of that, just know that there are quite a lot of mentions of these subjects.
The ending as a reveal I thought was incredibly strong and needed. It took me by surprise, which I’m happy about since it redeemed part of the novel for me.
Not enough to call it one of my favourite novels. I’m happy I persisted through to the end though, because I thought the second half was a bit stronger and less predictable than the first. It’s still unfortunately a bit of a mediocre read in my opinion. I give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
Many thanks to the publisher Random House UK, Vintage and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
R.L. Stine – Verkeerd Verbonden (English Title: The Wrong Number (2020)
Mystery/Thriller
I’ve read this book years ago, but recently I became inspired to reread all the Fear Street novels I own. All of them have been translated in Dutch.
At the start I thought it wouldn’t be any good. I thought I was too old to enjoy this book. However, I do appreciate it was written for a younger audience and the story itself was still pretty shocking to me today.
This book is about two friends who are prank calling people from school. When Deena’s half brother arrives in town the prank calls take a bit of a turn.
I can’t wait to read the other novels!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lucy Foley – Guest List (2020)
Mystery/Thriller
I’m 100% sure that there are lower ratings for this book because of the character driven plot and the lack of actual mystery until the last 20% of the book.
I have to say I quite enjoyed that though. Granted, it did take me a while to be at peace with the fact that I had no idea what actually happened on the island. Normally for a murder mystery, or a whodunnit, you need at least a victim or something to have happend. What has happened also gets revealed later on.
If you, like me, are able to persist through the characters’ backstories the reveals will be worth it. At least they were for me because I was so well-acquainted with the characters. I have to say I even quite liked the frat boys.
The book is about a wedding on a remote island in Ireland. As guests arrive, we find out something has gone very wrong indeed. To find out what it is, or why, or who is involved you’ll need to read the book.
I didn’t give it the full five stars because the ending wasn’t all that unexpected for me. I’m also not completely satisfied with the fact that we know what has happened later on, because I like at least some parts of my mystery to be known in order to be even more invested in the back stories.
I can highly recommend the audiobook due to all the different narrators.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
How was your reading month? What books did you read in July?
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