Book Review: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Last night I dreamt this was enjoyable.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

With these words a reader is swept up into a world of secrets and lies; one of the most passionate, psychologically twisting and complex stories of all-time. 

Working as a lady's companion, the orphaned heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. Whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to his brooding estate, Manderley, on the Cornish Coast, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers . . .

Rebecca is a story that I was roughly familiar with, having seen a few adaptions of it that just happened to be on TV and obvious with Rebecca having never been out of print, after 80 years it has been its way into pop culture.

So I knew that Rebecca was the first wife of nameless protagonist's husband and the big twist. There were a few things I didn't know, such as the 20 year age gap between the protagonist and her husband Maxim de Winter. Also the Ableism. No one really talks about that and that the plot semi-relays on an "Idiot's" reclation of events.

It's not just dated language, the protagonist seems scared of him just because he's mentally disabled. Words like "sly" are used to describe him and his "Idiot eyes". I'm not sure what is meant by this. Is he meant to have Down Syndrome? People do seem to base his capabilities on his looks. Mr De Winter does say he's more capable than he behaviours and his part of in the solution of the book is questionable. I think I could let it go more as just a dated language if the protagonist attitude towards him wasn't so detestable.

Besides the Ableism, which is never fun to read a book with, I think my biggest problem is that our protagonist is so bland. She completely defined by her social anxiety and is easily modelable. She is so obsessed with what other people think of her while not being worth much thought by herself. Even as someone with social anxiety I found it really hard to relate to her. The words shy are used obviously, but to me, it does seem on a level above shyness since she obsesses with it even when she not with people.

I know the two Mrs De Winters are meant to contrast and be each others' wrapped reflections, but I just don't like the protagonist at all. And I know that woman characters get away with less than their male counterparts but I would hate a male character like this too. I know she a product of her time as well, as girls were raised to follow and be severdo then. It just feels like she has no spine at all, questions no one with her fantasies of Rebecca. Her obsession with Rebecca becomes really dull, her unwillingness to question anything right till the very end. I suppose I should have more sympathy for a character who messes her life up so completely.

I listen to part of this on Audiobook, I read the first 30 pages physically and rest on Audiobook. Maybe that's part of the reason why I disliked it, that the writing style can be lost with a bad voice narration or even just an okay one. The narration was okay, listen to it on 1.50x speed to match my reading pace. I usually listen to audiobooks at 2x and did have to slow down because sometimes I couldn't understand the voice actor.

Overall, I gave this 2/5 stars for Sly Eyes. This rating probably comes down to enjoyment. Yes, this a well written, crafted novel, that happens to age poorly. I think it is hard to review books this old from just your gut, even with the more recent decades that I didn't live through I can flame them more easily with their counterparts as with this. Maybe I would enjoy this book more if I took the time to deep analysis and do research on how it stood next to other works. However, I have no reason to that. Yes, at it's core it's a compelling story, which probably why there are so many different adaptions.

Book Review: House Swap by Rebecca Fleet

We going to have an accidental theme.

‘No one lives this way unless they want to hide something.’ 

When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap, they jump at the chance for a week away from home. After the difficulties of the past few years, they’ve worked hard to rebuild their marriage for their son’s sake; now they want to reconnect as a couple.

On arrival, they find a house that is stark and sinister in its emptiness – it’s hard to imagine what kind of person lives here. Then, gradually, Caroline begins to uncover some signs of life – signs of her life. The flowers in the bathroom or the music in the CD player might seem innocent to her husband but to her they are anything but. It seems the person they have swapped with is someone she used to know; someone she’s desperate to leave in her past.

But that person is now in her home – and they want to make sure she’ll never forget . . .

This book is sadly not really a thriller, it tries to have a twist but especially doesn't work and with the audiobook production I was more annoyed than anything. It mostly dances around the facts of the story, or things that they no reason to dance around other than laziness and to drag this thing out. The characters are very bland, they work in marketing kinda bland (they might not work in marketing, it just reference to obsession with marketing as a job in film. I don't know what they work as). I think this lacking important thriller elements as well as the characters not having much development. I guess we're meant to feel sorry for them, but I don't know who they're meant to be.  The audiobook performance was fine, not sure why they decided to spend the money on four narrators for this book. Frankly, it would have worked better with just one, with the dumb twist. It's probably OMG moment when the narrators switch but as soon as the POV was introduce it was clearly not going to be who she thinks it is, otherwise they couldn't market this as Thriller.  This book does have Thriller elements, like an obvious mystery that you know will be solved as soon as you know what terrible secret the MC has, so it's not thrilling at all. There's also the Husband's mystery drug problem, that he started because of stress, so it is a prescribed drug. I know it's not antidepressants but imagining it was and his wife was just being an arse about him still taking it, it would really fitted with this book. It's never stated so feels very McGuffin. I guess it's a sleeping pill, he's a therapist, so maybe he's meant to have self-prescribed them but that would be a scandal on it's own.  If this is not a Thriller what genre is it? I guess Drama, or just fiction for what it would be market in bookstore or library. The idea of that's promised on the back is a Thriller, but its more about petty relationships. Most of the relationships were sex scenes: have an affair and it's love because the sex is good. I'm Ace so if this meant to have been some great love story with tragic ending, it's okay if you say so. The one time it goes to back to a thriller, it sways away again. I got really excited that something was going to happen but then it didn't so back to petty nonsense.  Overall, I gave this book 2/5 stars for Dead Hamsters. If want something that's actually a thriller then go for You Let Me In (I will review this book soon, I read it first and probably should have review it that way.). It's actually a thriller and I didn't question not finishing it. It has a similar feature of someone renting their House to someone while they away.

Book Review: Bad Girls with Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten

I didn't buy any nail polish off this book.

No one is good enough for Xavier. Not according to Sasha, his best friend. There's nothing Sasha wouldn't do to protect Xavier from getting hurt, especially by his cheating ex Ivy, who's suddenly slithered back into the picture. Worried that Xavier is ready to forgive and forget, Sasha decides to do a little catfishing. She poses as a hot guy online, to prove cheaters never change.

But Sasha's plan goes wrong fast, and soon the lies lead down a path from which there's no return . . .

This is my second encounter with Weingarten. I really liked Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls and was excited to immurge myself into her writing. This does have similar to that book, but I didn't like this one as much. I mean I did really like Suicide Notes.

The plot is okay, there were some twists attempts, but I wasn't the right type of invested to care. Half way point kinda lost me. It works well in theory, but also seem like quite a standard affair. The plot is bit reliant on the characters being idiots.

This is another friendship bordering on romance. It works well and funly tragic. The characters do a lot of dancing around each other. This is more relationship based than plot, as everything that happens due the character's relationships have with each other.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for locked accounts. I had high hopes for this book and sadly it didn't meet them. It was still a decent read, and if you're looking for a YA thriller, give it ago.

I recieved this book for review off NetGalley and Electric Monkey, it came out on the 11th January 2018.

Book Review: S.T.A.G.S by M.A. Bennett

Geer's attitude to fish is why we have an overfishing problem.

Nine students.
Three bloodsports.
One deadly weekend.

It is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin' shootin' fishin'. 

When Greer learns that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered. But when Greer joins the other chosen few at the ancient and sprawling Longcross Hall, she realises that Henry's parents are not at home; the only adults present are a cohort of eerily compliant servants. 

The students are at the mercy of their capricious host, and, over the next three days, as the three bloodsports - hunting, shooting and fishing - become increasingly dark and twisted, Greer comes to the horrifying realisation that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits Henry has brought with him from school...

This idea was cool, but...disappointing? I was expecting more full-blown horror over having nightly dinners with drunk antagonists. Apparently, this was a thriller, a thriller that everyone liked. It literally didn't occur to me to ever label this book as such. I guess it is technically, there's a mystery in deadly situation. But...it pretty obvious from the start.

This book is told from a reflective Geer in first person, this mean once in a while we get a reminder than bad stuff is gonna go down. It hypes up to nothing in my opinion. Yeah, something happens, but its kinda small (in terms of books). 

The bad guys are bad, the main characters do stupid stuff for no reason. The ending doesn't work well for me. I have specific reasons, but we don't do spoilers here. They feels like this book had another ending at one point, because something that happens would have made more sense if the characters had done the more obvious thing. I really hope that things weren't changed to force a sequel because this book doesn't need one and the ending would have been stronger. Like I feel like its been set up for one, but I don't think there's enough interesting stuff going on for another book. There's nothing wrong with being self-contained.

We have another pointless romance. Why ROMANCE? This is weakly use to give character motivation, that's not needed, nor is it done well. It's stated. The motivation could have been about finding courage instead pairing up characters for no function.This is more a general YA complaint, I'm just going to complain until someone gives me friendship and and developed characters. I actually would have liked the relationships, the thing is this book just has a lot small scenes that overbalance it into the negative for me and with only 300 pages they have a big impact in my memory when trying to review this book.

Geer is all about the film references, since she named after film star. I usually enjoy this sort of thing; but it soon becomes apparent that this a crutch to cling to, using other people's imagery and emotions than your own ability. Also the youngest film she references is Twilight. 

I live in the country, I basically always have. Deer and pheasant are roadkill. If you're city folk, you might be horrified by shooting a deer, but pheasant are pigeons of the country in the same seagulls are the pigeons of the coast. Deer are counted as vermin due to how many they are. They like to jump in front of cars in pairs, like sheep. Pheasants choose to wander roads to be ran down and cause damage to cars. There a point where Geer (a name that never flows) picks up a dead pheasant, I thought it was alive, never questioned it until she started crying in her head. Pheasants are stupid, a pheasant would let you pick it up as it stares at its dead comrades. If I wanted I could catch a pheasant, I could with my bare hands. Literally, no reason to do so. Hunting Pheasants is the same as fishing in fish farm. I don't approve hunting without reason, eat what you catch and don't agree with some of the practices in this book but as a country girl I have kill pheasants and I will probably kill again (Stop jumping in front of my car).

Geer becomes dislikable when she doesn't care about fish...The one thing that there is not an over-abundance of (though, they probably farmed anyway).  Though, if your a city girl like Geer, you won't know this stuff so really this is just my pet problem. I often have those.

 The plot while interesting, makes very little sense. Modern society is bad, there clearly think its bad in several ways, but ends up being all about the internet. The arguments for and against the internet are hella weak. It involves the media's wrong definition of what an online troll is. Trolls don't specifically harass someone and bully. Troll is someone who intentionally annoying and idiotic, yes often offensive, but not towards individual people. The art of the troll is annoy large groups of people. If someone sends you a death threat or personalised insult they are not a troll. Sadly some people are just as dumb as trolls pretend to be. Though, it probably getting to the point that media is dumb enough that kept repeating that, the definition might have changed for younger people, but living with a 13 year old, I can tell you they don't call their antagonists trolls. It kinda felt like it was written by someone who doesn't use the internet (with research I can tell that this non-debut novelist has to be at least ten years older than me and therefore did not grow up with the sites that can be argued to have shaped the modern internet and might be like my sister who knows nothing about internet despite using it daily). The arguments are dumb because hate mail has existent since the start of anonymous mailing systems have and bullying has been a problem for like always. Geer nor any of the characters challenges this argument meaning it doesn't do much. Argument have to be challenged to stand at all. By the way, I would have took Vine out of this book, as vine has been dead for a year, there is no way it couldn't be took out. It just quickly dates this book. I wonder if Vine had a bigger part until it died or no one noticed it died (I got an arc but it doesn't have the Proof disclaimer at the front so...I'm going with its the finished novel).

There's an obsession with rich YouTubers...yeah some of them are trash, but YouTube is never defended as being more than a place for rich boys doing nothing and hosting viral cat videos. Its hosts several community involving intelligent discussion and artists as well. Also there are tons of daily vloggers that puts tons of work into their videos. I've been on YouTube for ten years and the target market will include people who remember YouTube always having been a thing for them. If this is gonna be such a thing in the novel, then at least give me a character that watches YouTube. Geer loves films, there are tons of films on YouTube and there is the more legal practice of reviewing and discussing films. There are groups of young filmmakers that make short films on YouTube. There are production value on YouTube. It would have better if anyone had challenge them.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for This is M.A. Bennett's first YA novel. This an okay, quick read that tries to place class snobby within the internet age. Secret murder societies in bordering schools are over done and the internet aspect just wasn't done well enough to be interesting. I think a big problem is this book is that it wasn't as cool as the summary made it sound and therefore I am disappointed. There were things I should have liked and enjoyed about this book, but sadly it was very whatever. It's an okay read, if certain things had been different it could have been brilliant.

BTW, I read this on my phone. I read books on my phone the majority of the time, phones are carry of media. Another argument that could have been used in their favour.

Update: I have access to the acknowledgements and pretty much confirms my suspicions.

I got this book off Netgalley for Review and it being published by Hot Keys Books by 10 Aug 2017.

Book Review: Finding Jennifer Jonas by Anne Cassidy

Can we lose her again?

Kate Rickman seems just like any other nineteen-year-old girl. She goes to university, she dates nice, normal boys and she works in her local tourist office at the weekend. But Kate's not really normal at all. 'Kate' is in fact a carefully constructed facade for a girl called Jennifer Jones - and it's a facade that's crumbling fast. 

Jennifer has spent the last nine years frantically trying to escape from her horrifying past. Increasingly desperate, Jennifer decides to do something drastic. She contacts the only other girl who might understand what she's dealing with, breaking every rule of her parole along the way. Lucy Bussell is the last person Jennifer expects any sympathy from, but she's also the last person she has left.

This is one the best example of pointless sequels. This sequel really adds nothing to the story and the fact it came as part of the first book's 10 year adversay just make me think that Anne Cassidy didn't have a story about JJ in her and forced one out instead. There are things resolved from the first book, perhaps because readers kept pointing out. For the point of ease I'm just gonna call our protagonist JJ in this review. I have a review of the first book if you're interested in that rather than the sequel.

Even though JJ has sworn off relationships, of course there's a romance. He treats her better than last one, so obviously she not that invested in him. I know Frankie was her first love, but she was a 16 year old who thought about breaking up with him often (and should have), then the did the deed because virginity is always made out to be a big deal in all media. I mean  this attitude isn't really about Frankie and more JJ has decided to be a loner and just let depression take her. 

This book's lesson is that depression makes people do incredible dumb stuff. JJ unhappy so decides to put her way of life in danger for no real reason and no play off. In this book, the journalist that found her in the last book has comes back with a book which would have been, the meta interesting thing to have released for the 10th anniversary and it would have been a lot more interesting. The idiot that JJ is, she never reads this book which could have contain all the answers she was wondering about. The fact she didn't, makes me think it does fact contains the answers to the universe.

A lot of stuff happens in this book and then is immediately dropped.There is a random murder in this book and JJ shows she somehow doesn't know how the police work, despite all her encounters.

Overall, I give this 2/5 stars for sandy cliffs. The ending is really stupid to match what an idiot she is. Feelings of lack of identity is an interesting thing to explored but its not a decent length. I just don't think book add anything to JJ's journey.

Book Review: Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy

I was never caught for my childhood murders and I never will be. *Evil Laughter*

Three children walked away from the cottages on the edge of the town towards Berwick Waters. Later that day only two of them came back. Alice Tully knows exactly what happened that spring day six years ago - though it's still hard for her to believe it's real. The images, the sounds and the aftermath are imprinted on her memory. She'll never be able to forget, even though she's trying to lead a normal life. She's making a go of things, putting her past behind her at last. But Alice's past is dangerous, and violent, and sad - and it's about to rip her new life apart.

This book big selling point is its about a child killer, as someone who killed someone when they were a child. I forget when it actually discoursed in the book that what Alice has done but it not spoiler as this standout feature of this book.

The plot is mostly made up with her new daily life and constant threat she will be discovered. Her murder was big news event meaning now she been released they are people looking for her for a cash grab. Ar...the horror of 00s newspaper, slowly becoming aware of their dying. 


The book is made up of the present with flashbacks to the past to explain what lead to the murder. This works well and the past is mixed well though out the present narrative.


Alice is a our main character who starts her life anew at the age of 16. She a sympathetic character and I wanted things to turn out well for her. The characters were realistic, except for the victim. She a emotional manipulating bully and a spoilt brat. There's never any more depth to her, therefore it doesn't feel like she actually killed a person. Alice is a flawed character and justifying her murder by having the person she kill be so detestable takes away from the horror JJ feels after her crime and the realism. 

Alice does become unlikable as she never chooses to tell anyone her reason for going to the lake that day which I get at the start but at certain point I don't get why she continues to kept it a secret. She loses her reason pretty quickly and it could effect more people than just her.

Alice's boyfriend, Frankie is a fail that kept distracting to me. In this book for some reason, uni is called college despite being set in England. He is in his third year, meaning he's like 21 year old. At least 20 to Alice's 16. That's four years difference during major development years. I know Alice has got a her A levels and is ready for uni when she 17. This is more noticeable since he controlling arse. The thing is we are meant to feel for this relationship as though it would be sad if Alice was separated from him, where I'm thinking she should break up with him. Was this seen as acceptable 10 years?

I did not like this voice actor at all. I think it might have just been personal taste, but I did not appreciated her character choices. I hoping for a better actor in the next book as I know they are different actors for that one.

Overall, I gave this book 3/5 stars for nude dolls. The novel has a good idea, but they were some hiccups in the execution of it. I'm aware of the time period it was written, but still I rated as someone who would have been just ageing into target market upon its release. I probably would have liked at the time as it does feature a ten old killing someone, but that probably why I don't the get the shock or Tune in next week for the Review of the sequel.

Book Review: The Unforgotten by Laura Powell

It ain't a serial killer without a type.

It's 1956 and fifteen-year-old Betty Broadbent has never left the Cornish fishing village of St Steele or ventured far beyond the walls of the boarding house run by her erratic mother. But when the London press pack descends to report on a series of gruesome murders of young women, Betty's world changes. In particular she is transfixed by mysterious and aloof reporter, Mr Gallagher. As the death toll rises, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Betty and Gallagher. But as their bond deepens, they find themselves entangled with the murders and each is forced to make a devastating choice, one that will shape their own lives - and the life of an innocent man - forever.

The only reason I finished this novel was that I wanted to know if I was right about the plot. I didn't fully read the summary before I started listening to it because I was in a hurry to find an audio book  for the long drive home. If I had read the whole description, then I wouldn't have pick it up. It doesn't help that Laura Powell has the same name as another writer, who I thought this was when I picked it up. This is made more confusing by the fact they both British with Welsh links. This is (one of the reasons) why pen names are a thing.

The opening is really strong, introducing us to Betty and what's the situation going on within the village. It really hooked me in.  However, then the next chapter is a flash forward to 2006 Mary, a pathetic 65 year old that has no motivation and is waiting for the sweet kiss of death. Except for revealing what happened in 1956, I didn't care what went down in these chapters involving Mary. Especially, as1956 Mary is completely unlikable without a redeemable thing about her and 2006 Mary is the same.

The biggest problem is the characters. They are all terrible, uninteresting people who only grow more unlikable the more time you're forced to spend with them. I liked and was invested in Betty in the beginning but this was ruined half way into this book. She starts as a capable 15 year old who often left to run a hotel by herself due to her mentally ill mother. The complicated nature of her relationship with mother, who is most likely Bipolar, was done really well. The more the book goes on the more Betty becomes like the other characters who are whinny and bland. You can have unlikable characters, but they should be distinct from each other. 

An another big issue is the romance. Even if you look past that Gallagher is double the age of an underaged Betty, he is still terrible to her. He's all we can't do this but keeps doing it while being a jerk to her. The plot largely rides on this relationship and the Betty we get at the beginning disappears into him. While some people do start relationships and change into them, Betty is gone immediately for plot reasons. It some what mixed signals about whether we are meant to like this relationship or not. I get the feeling we are, in the beginning Gallagher is described as younger, so you don't realise that he middle age for this time period straight away.  I'm almost anti-romance in books in general, so this might be less of an issue for some other people, but Gallagher is still a grown arse man who blames everything on a 15 year old and still gets to play hero.

The plot in theory is really good, but the execution is weak. I honesty don't think anything is gained by having parts set in 2000s. A lot of the better parts of plot go undeveloped and the ending is rushed. I figured out the ending and thought it would actually be really good until we got there. Then it was unsatisfying and Betty has no agency at all. Yes, she directs the plot but its to kick someone else into gear. The mystery is what actual mystery are like, you don't know who it is until they tell you. I did figure it out but this more random guessing. This hard to explain without spoiling but I will try my best. I have a really big issue with the solution. I totally believe it, it works. However, we get no overshadowing so it ends up being lazy and stereotypical.

I listen to this on audio book and I wouldn't recommend it. Not sure if it was the voice actress
or the writing but parts often sounded like audio description. I lean towards writing, as we got sentences for actions e.g. Betty put her shoes on. The main reason I would suggest reading over listening is I often had to rewind back to clarify what was said. The end was especially bad for this but I think is mainly to do with the ending being rushed.

Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Missing Knifes. There's an interesting idea here, but the execution is done terribly. Some things are done well which I wished more time spent on these aspects. As this is Powell's debut novel I'm incline to be more forgiving, e.g. maybe she doesn't realise than none of the female character has any real agency. There's definitely a good novel in her. This isn't it- for me at least. I would read her again if the plot was right.