madamelacy's reviews
127 reviews

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

An account of Monisha’s journeys around India. I found this book absolutely fascinating. I sometimes wanted more details, but then the book would have been huge I suppose. It was a really nice mixture of stories about trains, fellow travellers and cultural sites.

I initially found it a bit twee that she called her fellow traveller Passepartout, but it does become obvious why she doesn’t name him. 

First They Killed My Father Movie Tie-In: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

An emotionally difficult read, but also something that I felt that I needed to learn about before visiting Cambodia. Blows my mind that this happened in my lifetime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

The Beholders by Hester Musson

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I found this book a real page-turner. It dealt with some tawdry issues and wasn’t emotionally easy to read.
+ I found the MC believable; she was flawed, fallible and multidimensional 
+ the subtext of nature versus nurture was interesting 
+ the story itself was sadly credible 
- some of the more peripheral characters were less credible. Some characters really didn’t seem to serve any function and were dropped from the story for huge numbers of pages.
- I just didn’t love the ending… it all wrapped up too quickly. For example the podcaster was an interesting angle, which was then just finished very  abruptly. Amanda Herron having the last chapter seemed silly because she wasn’t a character who’d been developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Restless by William Boyd

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The book was well-written overall, but it was a bit slow. I didn’t really understand why Eva’s daughter seemed so unsurprised by her mum being a spy. The wartime sections were interesting, and I have learned how to lose someone following me and how to get new identities. Never know when that will come in handy. 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This wasn’t my usual read as it was a bit Gen Z but I found the main character’s struggle with coming to terms with neglect as a child, coping with racism and realisation that she doesn’t have to put up with sexual violence very believable, as it wasn’t a smooth journey. The ending was really uplifting and I wanted to hug Queenie when she finally learned to love herself, but she’s not a hugger.

There were aspects I liked less. There appeared to be a suggestion that her life disintegrated due to pregnancy loss, but it was clearly spiralling before that. I didn’t find the amenability or the responses from the counsellor very credible. 

Overall an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Emotional abuse

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Not my usual sort of read. I enjoyed it but I did get the characters confused, not least because the writer constantly swapped between using first or second names. None of the characters were very developed, but I guess the main characters are developed across the series rather than within one book. I wouldn’t rush to read another of these books; I think I prefer the tv adaptations of crime dramas. 

The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, Murder, War, and Classism