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REVIEW: Hide by Nell Pattison
Hide was a difficult book for me to rate. It didn’t work all that well for me. The cover is extremely enticing, and the plot sounded like one of my favourite thriller tropes – whiteout conditions. A lot of people think that the snow is this beautiful phenomenon that reminds them of Christmas time and sitting around an open fire. I, however, have always found it just a bit too scary. Imagine being caught in whiteout conditions, you can’t see anything, and someone or something could easily sneak up on you without your knowledge. Scary stuff! However, the plot was a bit flat for me. Imagine spending Christmas with those…
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REVIEW: Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan
Parenting is hard…that’s an accepted turn of phrase, right? In mainstream media expecting parents are given the impression that welcoming a new child is a joyous occasion, you will be filled with a tremendous sense of love from the moment you meet them. You aren’t told how the birth can leave a permanent scar on both the mind and psyche, how the sleepless nights wear you down, and the constant second-guessing of whether you are doing it right. I suffered from post-natal depression with the arrival of my second son and although it affected me in ways I never anticipated, I would never change the experience for anything. Little Disasters…
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REVIEW – The Need by Helen Phillips
The Need, I need a moment to review this book. It’s strange because although I devoured it, I am left feeling a bit like “what the fuck did I just read”? The Need follows the life of Molly, a Palaeobotanist that is struggling with the juggling act that is being a working mother. Working at the archaeological site they have discovered an alternate bible that has god as she. They give tours but with the alternate take on the bible, they are at risk from religious zealots who question its authenticity. Molly worries about potential attacks and is battling anxiety due to it. The Need delves into the pressures of…
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Review: We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
Andrea Bartz is back with an all-new psychological thriller. Living out the rest of your twenties abroad sounds like the best way to live, but if you had an overbearing, manipulative, and gaslighting best friend would it be worth the bother? Backpacking in Cambodia and Chile should give them memories galore but what if the type of memory you are left with consumes you with guilt and tears apart your psyche? This is the situation that Emily finds herself in. Destructive and compulsive is the yarn spun in We Were Never There. One death looks like an accident but what if two adds up to more than a coincidence. The…
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The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd | Book Review
“The True end of tragedy is to purify the passions.” Aristotle. In a way I feel me taking The Rising Tide on was a bit masochistic. I have always had an indescribable fear of the sea. I think it has something to do with how little we know about it. It is a body of swelling emptiness, an ebbing flow of desolation and destruction. Water can give life but it can take it away just as easily. Lucy Locke and her family love the ocean, her children have grown up around it and in it, just what happens when a storm of a lifetime heralds the discovery of their family…
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The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird | Book Review
The End of Men is a truly unforgettable book and its insane ability to make you feel everything. The intensity and the raw and gritty edge this story has over other epidemic related narratives, gah, it just leaves you feeling wrought out. Imagine running a marathon – you’re out of breath and gasping…but whatever you do, don’t breathe on your fellow man! This is a book that I’m going to go back to, it deserves a second and third outing, its masterful and bleak and it certainly gets thoughts whirling around your head. The End of Men have some of the most badass, strong and awe-inspiring women ever to grace…