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shortbookandscribes

Thank you @trapeze_books for #TheQuickening by Rhi

Thank you @trapeze_books for #TheQuickening by Rhiannon Ward. I've been looking forward to this for ages! Blog tour review coming on 18th August.

#BookPost

Thank you @bloomsburypublishing for the beautifull

Thank you @bloomsburypublishing for the beautifully presented #ANetForSmallFishes by @lucy__jago along with the gorgeous throw. I'm really looking forward to reading this book which is published in February 2021. It sounds amazing.

#BookPost

I'm so pleased to meet up with Thomas Hawkins agai

I'm so pleased to meet up with Thomas Hawkins again. It's been too long.

I'm #currentlyreading #TheSilverCollar by Antonia Hodgson and I love it.

Published by @hodderbooks on Thursday!

#SundayShelfie * * * * * * #bookstoread #bookblogg

#SundayShelfie
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#bookstoread #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #instareads #instabooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklove #booklover #bookaddict #bookshelf #bookshelves #shortbookandscribes

New review: True Story by Kate Reed Petty. Publish

New review: True Story by Kate Reed Petty. Published by riverrun on 4th August.
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I actually don’t know where to begin with this review. True Story is a much hyped new release and I can understand why as it’s high concept fiction offering a mixture of genres. I’m not entirely sure I really ‘got’ it though.
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It’s billed as a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, hence the four different covers, and the story is told in different ways: conventional narrative, film script, college application and emails. I found it all very easy to read and I raced through it, although I have to say I preferred the conventional storytelling device out of all of them.
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The story is about a sexual assault on a private school girl after a college party in 1999 America. The girl, Alice, was never sure exactly what had been done to her by the boys who took her home that night, and it had a huge effect on her life over the years that followed, as you might expect. The other major character is Nick, not one of the boys in the car, but an onlooker, complicit by being part of the gang of lacrosse players, reluctantly backing up his friends.
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It’s all very cleverly tied together in a way that isn’t always obvious. I think this is a book I will remember and think about as there are parts that really worked for me, and it’s such a thought-provoking story of a girl being taken advantage of and the power of rumours. However, there were also sections that didn’t quite work for me where I couldn’t quite figure out what part they played. I think it’s the quality of the writing that got me through, rather than the unconventional structure.
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There’s a strong message in there about the power of the truth though. Whose truth? Is your truth really the truth? I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it. Nonplussed is the word. True Story.
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Thank you to the publishers for my proof copy of the book for review purposes.
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#bookreview #bookreviewer #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #instareads #instabooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookaddict #TrueStoryBook #shortbookandscribes

Yay, #BlurredLines by @hannahbegbie is here! Thank

Yay, #BlurredLines by @hannahbegbie is here! Thank you @harpercollinsuk. I'm really excited to read this.

#BookPost

July reads 📚 These are the books I read in July

July reads
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These are the books I read in July. I enjoyed all of these to varying degrees. How to Disappear is my absolute standout 6* read of the month and A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom and Small Pleasures were 5*.
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What was your top read in July? Have you read any of my July reads?
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#julyreads #july2020reads #booksread #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #instareads #instabooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookaddict #shortbookandscribes

I love @drjocannon's writing so had to get myself

I love @drjocannon's writing so had to get myself a copy of #BreakingandMending. It looks like a brilliant read.

#BookPost

Huge thanks to @boroughpress and @lovereadinguk fo

Huge thanks to @boroughpress and @lovereadinguk for sending this beautiful proof of #TheBetrayals by Bridget Collins. What beautiful shiny foil it has!

I loved #TheBinding so I'm really excited to read this.

#bookpost

New review: Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMa

New review: Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon. Published today by Sandycove/Penguin.
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Nothing But Blue Sky is the story of a marriage, seemingly perfect, but is anything actually really as good as it seems when you are forced to confront the memories of it?
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This is David’s story of his life with Mary Rose. Married for 20 years, theirs was a brilliant relationship. They complemented each other, a foil for one another. Where David sometimes used cruel humour (which he didn’t really mean), Mary Rose was a more caring person. David was a journalist with all the hard edges that job brings with it, whereas Mary Rose was a neonatal nurse, caring for premature babies. In every way that they were alike or different, they just worked as a couple.
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So when Mary Rose dies unexpectedly it leaves David not only cast adrift and lonely, but questioning his life with her. Did he always tell her he loved her? Did he sometimes take her for granted? How much of what he didn’t say did Mary Rose actually know, both good and bad?
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This is a beautifully written story of life, love and loss as David looks back over his marriage. His feelings for Mary Rose and his grief at her death come through very strongly in Kathleen MacMahon’s searing narrative. It felt very much to me as though David and Mary Rose formed one piece of a jigsaw that was suddenly ripped apart leaving a gap where there shouldn’t have been one.
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It’s very much a character-driven book but I did also enjoy the strong sense of place. David and Mary Rose are Irish and their Dublin life plays its part well. However, the strongest setting is that of Aiguaclara in Catalonia, the place where they spent their annual holidays, where they became a part of the community every year, where they made up little stories for the people they saw. I thought it was really clever how the author weaved all this together for the later parts of the book.
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This is not the easiest of reads with its very introspective nature, and certainly not one I could whizz through, but I found it so insightful, tender, honest and brave. I enjoyed it very much.
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Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Thank you so much Beth at Piatkus for sending #The

Thank you so much Beth at Piatkus for sending #TheEducationOfIvyEdwards by @hannahclaretovey. It looks fantastic!

#BookPost

Last • Now • Next 📚 Happy Tuesday. Hope eve

Last • Now • Next
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Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is well today 😊
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These are my last, now and next reads.
Last - Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon. I thought this was a well-written story of a man looking back on his marriage after the death of his wife. Review coming soon.
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Now - I've just picked up True Story by Kate Reed Petty. I've heard so much about this one so I'm looking forward to diving in.
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Next - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle. I'm on the blog tour for this one next week and I can't wait to read it.
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What are you reading at the moment? Have a great day!
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#booksread #TBR #tbrpile #lastnownextreads #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #instareads #instabooks #booklove #booklover #lovereading #lovebooks #bookaddict #shortbookandscribes

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Today Week Month All

ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - If I Can't Have You by Charlotte Levin
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
ShortBookandScribes #PublicationDay #BookReview - How to Disappear by Gillian McAllister #BlogTour
ShortBookandScribes #BlogTour #Extract from If I Can't Have You by Charlotte Levin #MeetConstanceLittle

ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – True Story by Kate Reed Petty
ShortBookandScribes #PublicationDay #BookReview – Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
ShortBookandScribes #BlogTour #Extract from Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Old & Ugly by C L Moir
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Eleven Lines to Somewhere by Alyson Rudd

Today Week Month All

ShortBookandScribes #PublicationDay #BookReview - Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
ShortBookandScribes #BlogTour #Extract from Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - True Story by Kate Reed Petty
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - Eleven Lines to Somewhere by Alyson Rudd
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - Precious You by Helen Monks Takhar

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