book reviews

Reviews of books by relationship gurus, dating experts, and cautionary tale-tellers.

Click! Judging By Its Cover
As much as I say, never judge a book by its cover - there are some cases where you just can't help it. Through chance, I was browsing through stories on Instagram and a targeted ad caught my eye. Before that, I had not heard of The Woman Who Fell Through Time by J.M. Fry. It's rare that queer historical fiction shows a same-sex pairing on its cover as - well a romantic pairing. Through reading the brief blurb provided, I was hooked - Jane Austen vibes, queer romance and time-travel! - to say I clicked fast was an understatement. I immediately found it on Waterstones and waited the fifteen days for them to get a copy of this indie book sent my way. It was worth it.
By Ted Ryan5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: The Lost Apothecary
“The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner is a great book for both lovers of historical and contemporary fiction. She masterfully blends the timelines to create a moving story about heartbreak and vengeance. Along with unlikely friendships forged by women in times of crisis. The story is told through her three main characters bringing a richness of each personal perspective. You feel the emotions of these unique women as they make some challenging choices in their lives. I enjoyed meeting each of these characters and walking with them through London.
By Katherine Selestok5 years ago in Humans
A Book for Everyone
A lot of people may know that I am not a necessarily religious person. It is not that I do not believe in anything or have completely shut religion out of my life - it is just that it is not something I am devoted to or focused on. With that being said, one may understand my apprehensiveness when I decided to purchase The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. If you're not familiar with Mitch Albom, he is a famous writer whose stories normally revolve around heaven or some form of Christian theme. Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. I am just someone who is not one for books that are too heavy with talking about religion.
By makenna5 years ago in Humans
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
How I came across it? Long time ago, I remember someone mentioned it on a forum. The person said that Fingersmith by Sarah Waters was one of his favourite books because of the storytelling and wonderful romance between Maud and Sue. This is about the third or fourth time, I’ve read this book and I felt hooked straight away. Even though I have a long TBR (to-be-read) list on Goodreads, I always find myself coming back to this one one way or another.
By Chloe Gilholy5 years ago in Humans
Life Support (Crush #6) by Elouise East - BOOK REVIEW
Thanks to my first collaboration with Gay Book Promotions, I had the pleasure of reading Elouise East's latest romance prior to its release. The story centres on Casey and Luke (characters seen throughout the Crush universe) as the leads and tackles sexual harassment within the workplace. Both of the characters were well-developed and I am a fan of the opposites attract theme and it was a really nice slow-burn to delve into the romance.
By Ted Ryan5 years ago in Humans
Character as situational allegory in Altaf Tyrewala's 'No God In Sight'
A character in the form of the novel produced today cannot behave in the way in which they did in the period of the bildungsroman. Or, put differently the singular focus on select characters to sketch a depiction of the totality of their lives and efforts is possible today primarily in the genre of memoirs and autobiographies. When a novel cannot resort to such a sustained first person account of oneself, when it slips out of its closeted confessional register which since the Victorians evaluated romances and finances, the use that it makes of character has to change. This is where it is of my interest to examine Altaf Tyrewala’s ‘No God In Sight’ (2005) – a novel that draws on several colliding narratives which appear as snapshots or perhaps postcards of people in their abject entrenching into the professions and personal plights that animate them, to present a representation of metropolitan Mumbai and its periphery. Here the subject is the space of the city itself, with the characters serving as episodic points who illustrate the situation of their lives, perhaps weaving together, in a new way a social imaginary or totality if you prefer which barely resembles historical or mythological epics which traditionally fulfilled this role.
By Arsh K.S5 years ago in Humans
Life Support (Crush #6) by Elouise East - Novel Excerpt
For this Release Blitz and Blog book tour, I am pleased to say I will be reviewing and interviewing the author of this upcoming novel. In the meantime, here's a some more details sneak preview at Life Support!
By Ted Ryan5 years ago in Humans
#currentlyreading
One of my new favorite books (for this week, anyway) is this little 140ish-page book by Austin Kleon called, Steal Like an Artist. I borrowed this book from my sister, who is an entrepreneur in all things delicious! It ranges from catchy quotes to truth-filled deadpans. Additionally, it has journal-like sketches and doodles throughout, which are right up my alley when it comes to remembering several bits of information.
By Hannah Marie. 5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "The Other Wife" by Claire McGowan
I was sitting on my bed from about 9pm until about 1am reading this book. I didn't look up from my book, I didn't stop at any time and I had let my tea go cold because I didn't want to take my eyes from the page. I was so involved with the book that I had just lost the real world for those few hours only to be unwillingly thrown back into it when the book finished. It is a brilliantly written book that employs the multiple narrator perspective and the information we learn, we learn and piece together along the way. It is all like a massive jigsaw puzzle and reminds me a lot of one of my other favourite books which I won't tell you because it will give the storyline away but it's by Graham Greene.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Humans
Michelle Obama Is The Friend I Didn't Know I Needed
I remembered back in November of 2018, when Michelle Obama appeared on the Ellen show in a Costco doing a book signing. It was hilarious! Ellen was playing on a Piano and singing while Michelle was trying to be serious and actually get to know people while signing copies of her book. You could tell while she was slightly annoyed, the pair equally have an amazing friendship that is hard to come by. However I didn't think much of her book until this year, when I was looking for a new audio book in the Audible store.
By Kayla Lindley5 years ago in Humans
Review of ‘Into the Heartless Wood’
Into the Heartless Wood is an enchanting dark fairy tale that defines humanity by actions and choices. Defining Relationships
By Cyn's Workshop5 years ago in Humans
3 Obscure Novels About Male Relationships
I don't think that male friendships, male relationships and men's mental health is something that is explored enough in the more obscure modern novels of the 20th and 21st century. We have the obvious books we can name such as "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice which explores not only the suicidal depression of the main character but also the homosexual relationship he has with Lestat (it is also one of my top five favourite novels of all time, so there you go). And we also know of the novel "Brideshead Revisited" in which Charles Ryder is bewitched by the mysterious but juvenile and self-destructive Sebastian Flyte. We have seen how Christopher Isherwood writes his life lessons of father-son type relations in "The Memorial" and the brotherhood of "A Meeting by the River". We even have the introspection explored in novels like "Less Than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis by the narrator Clayton, and Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as autobiography, and finally Chuck Palahiuk's "Fight Club" characters of Tyler Durden. The list goes on.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Humans