Book review: Aria's Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin

 Title: Aria's Travelling Book Shop

Author: Rebecca Raisin

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication date: 8th April 2020

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: Review copy via NetGalley

Rating: 5/10

Description: 

Aria Summers knows what she wants. A life on the road with best friend Rosie and her beloved camper-van-cum-book-shop, and definitely, definitely, no romance. But when Aria finds herself falling – after one too many glasses of wine, from a karaoke stage – into the arms of Jonathan, a part of her comes back to life for the first time in years.

Since her beloved husband died Aria has sworn off love, unless it’s the kind you can find in the pages of a book. One love of her life is quite enough. And so Aria tries to forget Jonathan and sets off for a summer to remember in France. But could this trip change Aria’s life forever…?

My thoughts:

On the one hand, this was a light, enjoyable read and a bit of travel escapism while we were all stuck at home during the pandemic. It's a delightful look at some French villages, as the bookshop van travels along. There's a lovely little community of several travelling shops who move along together, including Aria's friend Rosie (who stars in the first book of the series), and there's a really nice friendship between Aria and Rosie. 

On the other, I don't think it holds up to other contemporary romance I've read & enjoyed in the last couple of years; I won't be going back to reread it. The encounters between Aria and Jonathan felt a bit awkward more often than not, and there's a lot of focus on the troubled relationship between Aria and the mother of her late husband. And maybe it's because I was pregnant while I read this, but there's a plotline I found particularly frustrating: one character, who's in a relationship, has some of the stereotypical signs of pregnancy and it takes everyone a long time to realise that's what's happening. Then, once it's confirmed, people try to wrap the woman in cotton wool and comment on what she's doing & what's "safe". I wanted to yell at these 'friends' and tell them she's pregnant not ill. 

So, a light read with some travel escapism, but there are a whole bunch of other contemporary romance books I'd point you to before this one. 5/10. 

Book review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Title: Beach Read

Author: Emily Henry

Publisher: Penguin Books

Publication date: 20th August 2020

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: Review copy from publisher via NetGalley

Rating: 10 stars

Description: He doesn't believe in happy endings.

She's lost her faith that they exist.

But could they find one together?

January is a hopeless romantic who likes narrating her life as if she's the heroine in a blockbuster movie. Augustus is a serious literary type who thinks true love is a fairy-tale. January and Augustus are not going to get on. But they actually have more in common than you'd think:

They're both broke.

They've got crippling writer's block.

They need to write bestsellers before the end of the summer.

The result? A bet to see who can get their book published first.

The catch? They have to swap genres.

The risk? In telling each other's stories, their worlds might be changed entirely...

Set over one sizzling summer, Beach Read is a witty, feel-good love story for fans of The Flat Share and Our Stop.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. January and Augustus are both published novelists. When January's father died, she inherited a lakeside house she didn't know he owned, which she finds out about when his mistress turns up at the funeral to give her the keys. So she's a little conflicted arriving there, and is planning to finish writing her latest novel in some peace & quiet while also clearing out the house to sell. The first night, she has an awkward encounter with the neighbour next door - Augustus. I won't spoil the details, but when they run into each other in daylight, it turns out she's met him before, and knows who he is, although he clearly doesn't remember her. 

They don't get on, but gradually their antagonism leads to the bet described in the blurb: they're going to swap genres for their current writing projects, and they each try to show the other some 'research situations' to help them with the new genre. I read a lot of light contemporary romance of characters being away somewhere for the summer, meeting someone, and having some important realisations over the course of the book. I love that stuff, and Beach Read does it perfectly. But it's like it takes that typical light, quick, contemporary romance read and elevates the writing level a step. I don't know how to describe it better, just that it seemed... deeper, than some things I've read recently. The story itself wasn't so different, but the telling of it made it stand out. You also only get the story from January's point of view, so that adds some more tension to things in particular places, wondering what on earth Augustus is doing or thinking. 

As an aspiring writer myself, and working in publishing, I particularly loved that Augustus and January were writers. It prompted me to do a bit of writing on my own stuff, reading January's struggles! And I love the small town setting, especially being by the water, as that's very similar to the way I grew up. 

Overall, I highly recommend Beach Read. It was one of my favourite books I read last year, and I'd like to get a physical copy at some point so I can reread it and keep it on my shelves. Contemporary romance at its best. 

Book Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Title: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Author: Hank Green
Publication date: 25th September 2018
Publisher: Trapeze
Source: Complimentary copy from publisher
Rating: 9/10

Description: The Carls just appeared. 
Roaming through New York City at three am, twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship - like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armour - April and her best friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - from Beijing to Buenos Aries - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre of an intense international media spotlight. 

Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. 

My thoughts: This is one of those tricky books to review because there are so many twists, and I really don't want to give anything away and spoil the suspense of other readers uncovering things for themselves. So, I'll start by saying I really loved this book.

It's about a lot of things: fame and its consequences; the fickleness of people; the power of the internet; working together; puzzles; friendship; growing up; personal values; consequences. Hank Green's personal experience as someone who not only became well-known through YouTube but also managed to maintain his online presence over time comes through. There were a lot of points where I felt like you could see his interests and history reflected on the page.

I think it's really well written, and I enjoyed the pacing. Something else I enjoyed about it was that April May as a character has the personal background that the decisions she makes and the way she works to stay in the public eye is believable. This isn't just someone getting really lucky. That accounts for the first incident with her making the viral video. But her experience with marketing and branding gives her a starting point early in the book where you see her and one of her friends sit down and properly work out a strategy of what they are going to do, which I think doesn't happen very often in fiction (at least not the things I've read) and added a really good level of grounding to it, balancing out some of the other things. It was one of those small details in a story that helps sell the less-believable aspects.

I did go into the book thinking it was a standalone, which it is not, so beware of that, but I'm relieved that the sequel will be out soon! Overall I'm giving An Absolutely Remarkable Thing 9 out of 10. I was able to attend the blogger launch party for this book in London, and picked up a free copy there, so although it wasn't specifically a copy for review, it was gifted - thank you Trapeze!

Book Review: Paris By The Book by Liam Callanan

Title: Paris By The Book
Author: Liam Callanan
Publication date: June 2018
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Contemporary/Literary Fiction
Source: Review copy from the publisher

Description: In a city of millions, it’s easy to lose someone…

Twelve weeks before Leah Eady arrived in France, her husband disappeared. Early one morning, he walked out the door and never came back. All he left behind was a scrumpled note in a cereal box, leading her to the bustling streets of Paris.

Once she arrives, she discovers a mysterious unfinished manuscript written by her husband, and set in the very same city. Hoping to uncover more clues, Leah takes over a crumbling bookshop with her two young daughters, only to realise that he might just be closer than any of them ever imagined…

…but what if he doesn’t want to be found?

My thoughts: From the description and cover, I was expecting a light, charming story about a woman running a bookshop in a foreign country, trying to trace clues of her missing husband and struggling with life alone in a new place trying to look after her daughters. Well, the first big difference to that is that it is not light and charming. I found it incredibly boring and slow in a lot of places. It's trying hard to be 'literary', I think, which does not come across in the cover at all.

A good portion of the book is set before the family arrive in Paris. It covers Leah meeting her husband, their hopes and dreams, and how they don't actually communicate very well with each other. It's a look at a not-particularly-strong relationship. Then we get to him disappearing. I found all these flashbacks a bit frustrating, when I was promised a story about a bookshop in Paris. There isn't even much focus on the bookshop when the story does get there. Leah isn't really looking for clues - she's jumping at shadows, looking for her husband around every corner and on every stranger's face, unwilling to move on and accept that he walked out on her and their daughters.

Overall, I found this a very boring book, and I think it must have been one of the last ones that I pushed through until the end before I started embracing more of an acceptance for DNF'ing (did not finish-ing) books. Life is short, there are lots on my shelf I do want to read, so I'm not going to force myself to carry on with books I'm not enjoying. Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan gets 4 stars from me.