The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns Bridget Jones is named after a beloved literary character and thinks she too suffers the Bridget curse when it comes to love. But now things might finally be looking up - the hot Italian barista seems to be showing an interest in her! It'd be easier to enjoy this turn of events if Bridget didn't have to deal with a terrible (and noisy) neighbour and the busybodies at the seniors book club she's helping to run.
When I first arrived at the library to pick up this book and saw it on the reserved shelf, I knew immediately what the problem with it was going to be. 500 pages is excessive for women's lit/romance. That's not to say these books should never be that long... it's just that the page count here was detrimental to the story and its pacing. I get that this was a coy homage to the genre but cramming in everything was a bit too ambitious (basically, certain parts of the book suffered due to other unnecessary parts). When I got to the stroke, I actually still thought The Other Bridget was clever. When I got to the brain tumour, I rolled my eyes. When I got to the epilogue, I was angry because what little goodwill I had for the book evaporated. The annoying thing is, this book had excellent bones and Johns is an excellent writer. It could have been saved by an editor asking Johns to kill her darlings. Content warning: eating disorder, PTSD, cancer, transphobia
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The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella After a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to join a convent, Sasha goes on leave to recover from the burnout her job has given her. Her holiday in Devon is going to be about mindfulness and health. She has the beach to herself - until she has to share it with Finn, who is also handling burnout. Sasha's annoyance with his presence fades when mysterious messages start appearing in the sand.
I actually haven't read anything by Sophie Kinsella before and now I wish I'd found her books sooner. I was hooked from the moment Sasha was being chased by a nun. Oh, how I cackled. This was such a charming and at times amusing story that had me fondly reliving memories of my own adventures in Devon (including a detour to some caves, ha!). I was a bit bemused that Sasha's supposed friend was more of a name instead of a character, but the rest of The Burnout is so good that it's easy to overlook this minor flaw. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa Takako has lost her boyfriend and her job in one go. When her uncle, Satoru, invites her to stay in a room in his bookshop, she cannot afford to refuse. Takako would prefer to spend her days abed. She is going nowhere and doing nothing. The Morisaki Bookshop is the perfect place to recover from one's setbacks and move forward. But sometimes the setbacks make a reappearance.
I was expecting something a bit more cosy when I picked up this book. I also thought the bookshop would feature more prominently, since similar stories turn the bookshop (or library) into a character itself. That didn't happen here. Alas, the characters that do exist inside these pages sometimes failed to interest me. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is an okay read that doesn't outstay its welcome. The Switch by Beth O'Leary After suffering a breakdown, Leena Cotton is forcibly put on leave and no longer has work to distract her from her grief. Meanwhile, her grandmother Eileen is frustrated with the lack of suitors available to her in her village. The solution is as simple as it is ridiculous - a swap! Eileen heads to London, on the hunt for romance, and Leena returns home. Just how much can change in two months anyway?
Oh my goodness. This book is beautiful. I don't often weep when reading, but obviously this is an exception. I'm glad I persevered with Beth O'Leary's backlog. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been wrapped up in the warm embrace of The Switch and its loveable characters - who I will dearly miss. I am so fortunate to have such remarkable women in my own family or I'd wish Eileen was my very own grandmother. In want of a Viscount (The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction #3) |
AboutAlyce Caswell, when she isn't drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, can be found dabbling in multiple genres and writing forms. She has self-published several titles in her space opera family saga, which is divided into two series: The Galactic Pantheon and The Pantheon War. Her most recent book is The Shadow of the Gods. 
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