Review: Tin Man by Sarah Winman

Title: Tin Man

Author: Sarah Winman

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Pages: 224 (Paperback)

Publisher: Viking Canada

Publication date: May 15th, 2018

Synopsis from Tin Man's Goodreads page

4 hours, 33 minutes

This is almost a love story.

Ellis and Michael are twelve when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more.

But then we fast forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between?

This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that.

THOUGHTS

I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you Penguin!

This is a book that I was drawn to because of the cover (isn't it GORGEOUS?) as well as how short it was. Also, it has a 4.05 rating on Goodreads, and so I figured it must be good! Reading the synopsis, I also had super high hopes for it, but unfortunately it fell really flat for me.
Everyone has been absolutely raving about this book, and it is on a lot of really big lists from publishers and on the news, so I know that a lot of people are going to really disagree with me, but unfortunately I really didn't enjoy this as much as everyone else seems to.
One of my major issues with this book is how everything was described. Every single detail was painfully described, and not in the best way. I enjoy a lot of description, but I feel that about 50% of this book was just descriptions, and no real story line. There's a huge chunk of the book where the author is just describing France, and the streets and it was just list after list of street names and building names and I got really, really turned around and had no idea what was happening.
I found that the shortness of this book wasn't good for this case. I find that a lot of things were left unfinished, and I feel like I have more questions coming out of reading this book then I did going into it.
I also feel like I was expecting a happier story, one about love and happiness, but I was shocked to when I finished it. It was so sad and I feel like nothing actually...happened in this book? It just made me sad when I finished it and I'm not even sure why, because if someone asked me to explain this book I feel like reading the synopsis would give you all you needed to know.
That being said, I did enjoy what the author was trying to do to show the differences between gay relationships and straight relationships, and I really enjoyed what she did in showing friendships and how if you have the right people around you everything will be okay in the end. I really enjoyed the relationship aspects, but I wasn't able to really enjoy them until I had hit the second part of the book, where the second main character is telling the story.
I did also enjoy how the book was formatted differently; this book didn't have any chapters, so you could just read it right through to the end, which was different and I feel like it was a good idea for how short the book is. I also enjoyed how she didn't use quotation marks when the characters were speaking; it was strange at first but after about 35,40 pages I was able to get used to it and I feel like it really added to the story. Also, how the second half of the book changes over to the other main characters point of view was very enjoyable; I actually preferred the second part of the book to the first part.
I really wanted to love this book as much as everyone else seems to, but I feel like it didn't leave any mark on me and I feel like I wasn't able to really gain anything from this book. The formatting of the book was really interesting and cool, and I loved the relationships. The whimsy was just a bit too much for me unfortunately!
I definitely would suggest giving this book a read though, as 99% of people who read it seem to absolutely adore it; it just wasn't for me!

Overall - ★★☆☆☆

Review: The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet

Title: The House Swap

Author: Rebecca Fleet

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320 (Paperback)

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Publication date: May 22nd, 2018

Synopsis from The House Swap's Goodreads page

Be careful who you let in . . .

When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap--from their city flat to a townhouse in a leafy, upscale London suburb--they jump at the chance for a week away from home, their son, and the tensions that have pushed their marriage to the brink.

As the couple settles in, the old problems that permeate their marriage--his unhealthy behaviors, her indiscretions--start bubbling to the surface. But while they attempt to mend their relationship, their neighbor, an intense young woman, is showing a little too much interest in their activities.

Meanwhile, Caroline slowly begins to uncover some signs of life in the stark house--signs of her life. The flowers in the bathroom or the music might seem innocent to anyone else--but to her they are clues. It seems the person they have swapped with is someone who knows her, someone who knows the secrets she's desperate to forget..

THOUGHTS

I received a finished copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review - Thank you so much Penguin!

I find that I really seem to enjoy reading a lot of thriller books when I'm busy, and that is exactly what I'm doing this month! Working a lot, and that is great because I'm able to read these thrillers in one to two days, and I find that I'm really enjoying most of them.
The House Swap was one of the thrillers that I enjoyed, however I could see the ending coming and it left me wanting a bit more out of it.
The premise itself is extremely interesting; this woman and her husband swap houses for a week with a person that they don't know, but it turns out that this person has been stalking them and has everything planned out.
I enjoyed the idea as a whole, and I also really enjoyed the setting of the book. It takes place in the U.K., and as someone living in Canada I really enjoy thrillers that take place in Europe.
However, I wasn't a huge fan of some of the characters. I found Francis to be a drag and very annoying at times, and I found him to be quite unbelievable. His wife had been having an affair for awhile (which you learn VERY early on in the book) and I found how he reacted to it, to sort of just accept it, to be very unbelievable.
I also had some issues with how the chapters of the book was told about 75% from Caroline's point of view, and about 25% or so from Francis'. I personally feel that in Francis' chapters not much was learned, and I feel like it would have been better being just told from Caroline's perspective.
That being said, this book also alternated between past and present tense, so that the reader can understand how the affair happened and why, and how Caroline and Francis are dealing with it in the present. I really enjoyed how it jumped back and forth, because I was able to see a lot more connections and that was very well done.
I found this book to be interesting and the idea itself was super interesting!!

Overall - ★★★☆☆.5

Review: Our Animal Hearts by Dania Tomlinson

Title: Our Animal Hearts

Author: Dania Tomlinson

Genre: Literary Fiction/Folklore

Pages: 352 (Paperback)

Publisher: Anchor Canada

Publication date: May 29th, 2018

Synopsis from Our Animal Hearts' Goodreads page

Deep in British Columbia, at the turn of the 20th century, lies Winteridge: a small village perched on an enormous lake made famous by the monster said to haunt its depths. 

Twelve-year-old Iris Sparks lives in Winteridge with her brother; her working-class Welsh mother, Llewelyna; and her blue-blooded father from England, a progressive bohemian who has brought his family to Canada for an adventure.

But amid the idyllic, Edwardian setting, there are dangers lurking. A blend of Welsh and Indigenous stories of a predatory lake monster take real shape for young Iris as she begins to unravel the truth behind her mother's dark fairy tales, and watches in horror as her mother increasingly succumbs to seizures.

As the First World War reaches its height, Iris must contend with the demands of a deteriorating mother and the harsh realities of a toxic love triangle. All the while, Iris's mind continues to exert its strange and awesome power, and she and her entire community must find a way to survive at the mercy of otherworldly beasts and a hungry darkness.

THOUGHTS

I received a finished copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review - Thank you so much Penguin!

When I first came across this book, I was immediately interested. A lot of family (including one of my parents) is from Wales, I thought that it was really cool to be able to immerse myself in some of the Welsh folklore from their part of the world. I've also never been able to really find any Welsh fiction, as most fiction from that part of the world is usually from a more well known place, like England. So, naturally, when I came across this I jumped at the chance to read it and see how it was.

This book was definitely dark. I was expecting it to be a bit on the dark side, because that's how a lot of welsh folklore goes, but I wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it actually was. It had a lot of deadly creatures, a lot of scary stories and a lot of sadness and death.

This book takes place over the course of a few decades, from the beginning to the middle 1900s. It covers times when there was a lot of segregation between people from England and the surrounding area and Japanese people. It also covers the first World War, and the Spanish Flu that came around after it.

The entirety of this book is very dark, but in an interesting way. Every once in a while I do really enjoy something that is dark and sinister, and this fits the bill. It kept my attention and had me reading it late at night, and it was very different from the books that I usually read.

I loved the characters in this book. I really enjoyed how they were so different from each other, and I loved how those differences were portrayed.

The setting of this book was also amazing - the early 1900s on the West Coast, with forests and dark bottomless lakes, where lots of creatures and beasts can hide. The setting really helped move the story along, and I really enjoyed how the author was able to tie the setting and the folklores of the story together so well.

Overall - ★★★★☆

Review: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian (ARC)

Title: Stay Sweet

Author: Siobhan Vivian

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Contemporary

Pages: 368 (Paperback)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication date: April 24th, 2018

Synopsis from Stay Sweet's Goodreads page

A summer read about first love, feminism, and ice cream.

Summer in Sand Lake isn’t complete without a trip to Meade Creamery—the local ice cream stand founded in 1944 by Molly Meade who started making ice cream to cheer up her lovesick girlfriends while all the boys were away at war. Since then, the stand has been owned and managed exclusively by local girls, who inevitably become the best of friends. Seventeen-year-old Amelia and her best friend Cate have worked at the stand every summer for the past three years, and Amelia is “Head Girl” at the stand this summer. When Molly passes away before Amelia even has her first day in charge, Amelia isn’t sure that the stand can go on. That is, until Molly’s grandnephew Grady arrives and asks Amelia to stay on to help continue the business…but Grady’s got some changes in mind…

THOUGHTS

I received an ARC of this book from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review - Thank you so much Simon & Schuster!

I've been in a super summery reading mode lately, where I want to read contemporaries and just cute beach reads. When I started this, I really enjoyed it from the very beginning. It was super cute, but also very realistic.
I found the characters to be frustrating at times, but also in a way that they are meant to be. They're teenagers who are graduating high school, so they have a lot of pointless teenage drama, and I absolutely loved it. I loved the drama, the pointless fights, and especially the fights over boys.
Besides that, the characters were also very well done. I was able to see myself in each and every one of them, from the stressed out Grady and Amelia to the fun loving Cate, and I adored all of their relationships.
The setting was also wonderful, it took place in a cute old ice cream stand, and it just made me think of all the times during the summer when I go to the beach and I can get an ice cold ice cream, on one of the hottest days of the year. It just brings back memories from everyone's childhood.
I also really enjoyed the backstories in the book. Meade Creamery was originally founded by Molly Mead, and although she does die in the very beginning of the book, it feels like she lives on throughout it, because Amelia is reading things she has written. So, although we don't get to know Molly for who she is, we do get to know who she was, and that's something that I found to be a great addition to the story, and something that if it was missing, the story would be nowhere near as good as it is.
Overall, I found this to be a super cute, beachy read, and I really enjoyed it!
Overall - ★★★★☆

Review: My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley (ARC)

Title: My Ex-Life

Author: Stephen McCauley

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Contemporary

Pages: 324 (Paperback)

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication date: May 8th, 2018

Synopsis from My Ex-Life's Goodreads page

David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams. His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7.

The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him.

Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal. And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her 17-year-old daughter.

That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices.

When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago―they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences. But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix.

THOUGHTS

I received an ARC of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you Raincoast Books!

Reading the synopsis of this book, I was super excited to get into it. The idea seemed extremely interesting, and it seemed like it would be a fast, funny read.

When I started reading it, I immediately both loved it and had some issues with it. I loved Julie, and I loved the relationship she had with David. I loved being able to see an adult man and woman be in love with being friends with each other, but not IN love with each other. I find that finding relationships like theirs are rarely ever seen in adult contemporary books anymore.

The two of them are also absolutely hilarious together, they both had a lot of really funny and enjoyable one-liners, and I found myself laughing at some of their memories and the inside jokes they shared together.

With the amount that I loved them, there were also some things that I didn't enjoy about this book. I feel like the two of them never really were able to grow, as people and as friends. I found them to be stuck in one place, and I feel like they were both the same people at the end of the book as they were at the beginning.

I also wasn't a huge fan of their daughter. Some of her choices were very bad decisions, and I didn't like how she knew that they weren't the right decision to make, and yet still did them any way, and she really had to face the consequences. I didn't like how broken she was at the end of the book, and it really broke my heart to see how she was such a strong, independent girl at the beginning and how she was so broken and sad at the end of the book.

The writing of the book was very well done, and I did really enjoy the setting of the book, however I found the characters to be saddening and I wasn't expecting this book to be as sad as it actually was!

Overall - ★★☆☆☆.5