Simone Reddington

When I started my Substack, back in January, one of my ideas for regular content was to write a full review for every book that I read this year.  While I have found the time to stick to my reading goals, I’ve only written one review, which I posted nearly two months ago.  So, as we enter approach the end of the first quarter of the year, here are my thoughts and opinions of all the books that I’ve read since then.  

The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman):

I enjoyed reading Richard Osman’s debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, last year so I was delighted when I found the sequel in my local charity shop.  The novel follows the same quartet of septugenarians who find themselves with another mystery to solve at the retirement complex where they all live.  The Man Who Died Twice explores the backstory of Elizabeth, the ringleader of the gang, when her ex-husband turns up at the retirement complex and announces that he is on the run from one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy men.  This prompts a wild adventure for the amateur sleuths as they must race against time to solve a mystery and save their own skins.  I absolutely love Osman’s warm and witty writing style and attention to detail as he makes the protagonists feel so familiar to the reader, like they are our neighbours or grandparents.  Elderly people are vastly underrepresented in literature and popular culture, so it is refreshing to read a story with characters in their twilight years who are not confined to their armchairs and left to reminisce about their past. I much preferred the second installment to the first as the secondary characters were more developed and interesting, which in turn made the plot more gripping.  I can’t wait to read book number three in the series.

The Woman in Me (Britney Spears):

It’s been a long time since I read a celebrity autobiography, but I really wanted to read Britney Spears’ 2023 autobiography to learn the truth about her conservatorship which shocked the world when she was released from it after 17 years.  The Woman in Me is an account of the darker side of fame and shines a light on the rampant misogyny that exists within all levels in the music industry and the media.  The world laughed at Britney, who had previously been regarded as the perfect, all-American pop princess when she had her infamous breakdown in 2007, in an era before conversations about mental health were normalised.  For years, it appeared as though Britney had moved on from her lowest point, like most celebrities do after a stint in rehab, as she went on to record five more best-selling albums and returned to performing around the world appearing to be perfectly fine.  However, it was recently revealed that was not the case, as she was trapped in cruel conservatorship contract where her family controlled every aspect of her life and career.  It was interesting to read about what went on behind closed doors, but The Woman in Me was not the best memoir that I’ve ever read.  I have never been a huge fan of Spears’ music and, as Britney is a popstar rather than an author, her writing wasn’t brilliant, and I got the impression that a lot of it was ghost-written.  It is impossible not to sympathise with her though and I hope that the Spears family are ashamed.  

Ice Breaker (Hannah Grace): 

The least favourite book that I’ve read so far this year has to be Ice Breaker, the first of Hannah Grace’s ‘Maple Hills’ series. I am far from a literary snob, and I normally love a light-hearted girly romance, but this was just dull.  The story is about two gifted sports students at a fictional California University; Anastasia (a figure skater) and Nate (the captain of the ice hockey team) who fall for each other when they start using the same ice rink. I found both the characters to be very annoying with no real depth or charm to them. The plot was so predictable as, apart from the characters having a lot of sex, nothing really happened.  The most shocking aspect of the book is that Grace managed to drag it out for 400 pages.  The sports romance genre is currently very popular, as every day there seems to be a different paperback with an athlete on the front cover trending on TikTok, but if Ice Breaker is anything to go by, I don’t think it is the genre for me.