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Blog Tour: ‘Strong Female Character’ by Fern Brady

I’m delighted to take part in the blog tour for the paperback of Fern Brady’s brilliant memoir, ‘Strong Female Character’.

Thanks to Random Things Tours and Octopus Books for inviting me on to the tour and for my copy of the book for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Publisher:

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘I tore through this hilarious, smart, sad, revealing book’ – Bob Odenkirk
‘Funny, sharp and has incredible clarity’ – Jon Ronson
‘An absolute riot. I’m literally going to read it again once I’ve finished, and I’m a miserable bastard…it’s a belter’ – FRANKIE BOYLE
‘A set text for all of us in 2023’ – DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE

A summary of my book:

I’m diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it.
My terrible Catholic childhood: I hate my parents etc.
My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed.
Homelessness.
Stripping.
More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns.
I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc.
REDACTED as too spicy.
After everyone tells me I don’t look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax.
REDACTED as too embarrassing.

‘Fern’s book, like everything she does, is awesome. Incredibly funny, and so
unapologetically frank that I feel genuinely sorry for her lawyers.’ – PHIL WANG

‘Of course it’s funny – it’s Fern Brady – but this book is also deeply moving and
eye-opening’ – ADAM KAY

‘It made me laugh out loud and broke my heart and made me weep…I hope
absolutely everyone reads this, and it makes them kinder and more curious
about the way we all live’ – DAISY BUCHANAN

‘Glorious. Frank but nuanced, a memoir that doesn’t sacrifice voice or selfawareness. And it has brilliant things to say about being autistic and being
funny’ – ELLE MCNICOLL

‘Strong Female Character is a testament to the importance of self-knowledge.’ – Rachael Healy, The Guardian

‘Fern is a brilliant, beautiful writer with a unique voice and even more unique
story. Astute, honest and very, very funny.’ – LOU SANDERS

‘So funny and brilliant’ – HOLLY SMALE

‘Witty, dry, and gimlet-eyed, Strong Female Character is a necessary
corrective. Brady offers a compelling, messy, highly resonant portrait of what
masked Autism feels like.’ – Devon Price, author of Unmasking Autism

My Review:

I was so glad I was invited onto the blog tour for this book – I’d picked it up a few times in bookshops and weighed up whether it would be too sad, too challenging, too harrowing for me. I know Fern Brady is a comedian, but still…

Book Review: ‘The Mystery Guest’ by Nita Prose

Happy publication day!

Having 2022’s ‘The Maid’ and been charmed by Molly the Maid, I was very happy to be granted an advance copy of ‘The Mystery Guest’ for review. This is Molly’s second outing and a lovely sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts with Molly Gray – now Head Maid – preparing for a big event at the Regency Grand Hotel. A famous crime writer has a big announcement – but, before he can make it, he drops dead on the floor of the tea room. Molly, with her quirky ways and ability to be in the wrong place when it counts, immediately comes under suspicion as the police start digging into secrets in the hotel. However, Molly knows that she has important information – even though it means confronting some truths about her past…

Book Review: ‘Went to London, Took the Dog’ by Nina Stibbe

As a big fan of Stibbe’s writing (and her previous autobiographical book, ‘Love, Nina’), I requested this without actually knowing what it was about. I don’t regret this at all!

In fact, it’s kind of tricky to pin down what this book is actually about. It’s Nina Stibbe’s diaries covering her move to London (with dog, Peggy, as indicated by the title) in the period of an impending divorce. Leaving her home in Cornwall, Stibbe takes a spare room in the home of author Deborah Moggach (‘Debby’) and spends a year navigating a new life in the city. Surrounded by friends (including lots of other writers) and her grown-up children, Stibbe reevaluates her life and muses on a range of topics – from the big things (life, love, family) to the very small (toads, internet adverts, swimming at the lido).

Book Review: ‘Night Side of the River’ by Jeanette Winterson

I love Jeanette Winterson’s writing – it’s always engaging, thought-provoking and beautifully-written, and ‘Night Side of the River’ is no exception.

This is a collection of short stories, billed as ‘Ghost Stories’ but actually so much more than a bunch of unconnected tales. Instead, Winterson divides her collection into four sections: Devices, Places, People and Visitations. There’s also mini-essay sections where Jeanette Winterson herself puts forward ideas about ghosts or personal perspectives – I particularly loved the introduction where Winterson explores the human fascination with ghosts and their place in different cultures.

Book Review: ‘The Bookbinder of Jericho’ by Pip Williams

This is a book I should have read and reviewed before now – apologies to the publisher and NetGalley for my lateness, but thank you for the review copy.

This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction set in Oxford during the First World War. Peggy and Maude are twin sisters who work in the bookbindery at Oxford University Press, very much part of the ‘town’. Despite this, Peggy is an avid reader, living with her sister on a barge stuffed with the bindery’s rejected books, and dreams of becoming part of the ‘gown’ side of Oxford – a scholar at the prestigious university where woman aren’t even given the degrees they earn. When war breaks out, the sisters’ lives change forever as the men of the town join the military and Oxford fills with refugees from Belgium and those injured in the fighting. Peggy might finally get her chance at her dream, but at what cost?

Blog Tour: ‘Bright Stars of Black British History’ by J.T. Williams

Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this beautiful book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Publisher:

A dazzlingly illustrated collection presenting the extraordinary life stories of fourteen bright stars from Black British history, from Tudor England to modern Britain.

Brought to life through hand-painted illustrations by award-winning illustrator Angela Vives, this important and timely book from author and educator J. T. Williams brings the lives of fourteen shining stars from Black British History into the spotlight, celebrating their remarkable achievements and contributions to the arts, medicine,
politics, sport and beyond.

Featuring a constellation of iconic individuals – including storytelling freedom fighter Mary Prince, football star and World War I soldier Walter Tull, and Notting Hill Carnival founder Claudia Jones – ‘Bright Stars of Black British History’ shines a light on the courage, resilience and talent of remarkable individuals who have left a lasting mark on our collective history.

My Review:

Blog Tour: ‘Last to Leave’ by Lucy Martin

Thanks to Random Things Tours for my place on the blog tour and copy of this book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

The Blurb:

When Hannah Lloyd falls from her third-floor balcony at the end of her birthday lunch party, suspicion falls immediately upon the three guests who had only just left the apartment, alongside Hannah’s estranged husband Adam and a jealous neighbour with an axe to grind. But as the investigation develops, so does the network of suspects, eventually revealing a chilling connection between the crime and those in charge of preventing it. Forced to work alongside her arch-nemesis DCI Matt Preedy, DS Ronnie Delmar finds herself looking over her shoulder at her own colleagues and questioning the motives of those she thought she trusted.

My Review:

Book Review: ‘The Murder Mile’ by Lynda La Plante

Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me onto the #TeamTennison project and to Zaffre Books for my copy of this – the fourth in the series covering Jane Tennison’s life before Prime Suspect.

As always, opinions are my own.

In this book, Jane Tennison has been made Detective Sergeant and is working in Peckham CID, in a tough part of London and in a policing team imbued with the all-too-familiar misogyny and racism that we’ve seen before in the series. When a young woman is found killed in Bussey Alley, Peckham, Jane Tennison is first on the scene and keen to find the killer. A second body with no obvious link to the first other than physical proximity throws Tennison’s team into confusion…and a third murder on their patch tests them further. The newspapers begin stirring up panic about a serial killer in Peckham – as Tennison uncovers some baffling links and leads…

Book Review: ‘A Power Unbound’ by Freya Marske

In this novel, we meet the mean and moody Jack Alston (Lord Hawthorne) who is living in the shadow of his sister’s loss and has renounced his magical skills. However, storm clouds are gathering for the magical society of Edwardian England; the pieces of the Last Contract need collecting and bringing together by those on the side of good – before those with evil intent can get there first. Along with the various characters from previous books, Jack gets caught up in the magical battle that plays out in the grounds of his family estate. Along the way, he has to fight his attraction to criminal and pornographer Alan Ross…

This is Book 3 of The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske – and it’s an absolute treat for those who’ve enjoyed the first two books. It might not be the place to start if you haven’t as Marske’s alternative Edwardian society with an undercurrent of magic takes some wrapping your head round, as does the Last Contract plot and the recurring characters across the trilogy.

Blog Tour: ‘The Ideal Couple’ by Anna Willett

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Ideal Couple’, a lively Australian crime novel and the fourth in the series to feature Detective Veronika Pope.

Thanks to The Book Folks for inviting me onto the tour and for allowing me access to the book for review purposes. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

This book was published on 2nd October, 2023.

From the Publisher:

When detectives try to close a missing persons case, a small town’s twisted secrets begin to unravel…

A couple disappear in a region of the outback known for its gold mining. Some three years on, there is still no trace of them.

Detective Veronika Pope is handed the cold case. It’s cold only in name. When she turns up to the godforsaken town where the couple were last seen, the heat is sweltering; suspicion simmering.

The detectives stay in the same seedy hotel as the couple did. The townsfolk aren’t
welcoming. Nobody wants the cops probing into their affairs.

From what Pope can gather, the missing duo were the perfect couple. Loving. Happy
together. The picture of marital bliss.

Assuming a murder but missing a motive, the detectives do make progress. They might even find the bodies, as the trail is hot. Almost too hot to touch.

Pope is in serious danger of getting burned…