mppilk's reviews
357 reviews

Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fans of Donal Ryan will not be disappointed with this sequel to his award winning “The Spinning Heart”. While it is a sequel this book also works as a standalone.
The author sums up rural Ireland in a most poetic yet realistic manner. Similar to “The Spinning Heart” this novel is told in 21 voices all with their own story to tell yet with individual voices. I would suggest keeping a pen and paper handy to note the characters and connections. 
A joy to read. 

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC. 
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Set in the 1890s in Montana we have as wild a west as they come. Tom Rourke, a young Irish immigrant, writes letters and poems for his colleagues but drinks heavily, is hooked on drugs and a bit of a chancer. A love affair starts with Polly Gillespie, a new bride shipped in from the east and soon the pair are headed west on a stolen horse and with stolen money. 

Kevin Barry, as always, writes beautifully allowing the reader to feel genuinely in the heart of the story but this is not always an easy read. It is beautiful, passionate, romantic but also desolate and brutal. Well worth a read. 

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC.
Costanza by Rachel Blackmore

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fascinating but not altogether an easy read. Costanza tells the story, based on real people, of Costanza Piccolomini and her love affair with Lorenzo Bernini. Lorenzo is part of Rome’s elite society favoured by the Pope so when it all goes wrong Costanza bares the brunt. 
There is a slow start to this book and Costanza is not a particularly nice character but then again no one else is either. 
My biggest disappointment is that it simply ended too soon. It finished up just as Costanza was coming into her own and showing us what an intriguing character she really was. 
Would definitely recommend this book, well worth a read. 

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC.
Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Somewhat disappointing crime novel from Ragnar Jónasson. A short book but could have been made even shorter as it was very repetitive possibly as it is told from several different viewpoints, maybe one too many. 
Helgi is finishing a dissertation on murders take took place years earlier in a closed down TB sanatorium and trying to avoid taking up a job with the police department. He is obsessed with his father’s vast collection of old crime novels and takes this “old fashioned “ way of solving these crimes by interviewing all the people involved at the time. 
It was all much ado about nothing from what I could see and there seemed to be no explanation as to what they were all doing in this disused sanatorium to begin with. 
A harmless read but this author has done better.

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC.
Any Human Power by Manda Scott

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This wasn’t really for me and to be honest I found myself confused with all that was going on. The commentary on society and the political establishment was worthwhile and could have been both interesting and thought provoking on its own. However the whole business of Lan looking out for her family from the afterworld with the crows, salmon and lions ruined the narrative for me. I’m not ever sure she actually helped anyone. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.
The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The story of Anna Maria, an orphan in 18th century Venice. But no ordinary orphan and no ordinary orphanage. This orphanage is the home of a renowned orchestra and Anna Maria is a highly skilled violinist. She is accepted to attend private lessons from the music teacher and her ambitions to become a maestro has a profound effect on her and her relationships with her friends. 
She is not a pleasant character, allowing no one or nothing to stand in the way of her ambitions. I did not realise until the end that it is based on a real person and horrid music teacher that stole all her compositions was in reality Vivaldi. I’m not sure how true to reality this book is but it does tell a good story. A worthwhile read. 

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for this honest review. 
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Another classic from Elizabeth Strout featuring Olive Kitteridge and her eclectic mix of friends and their families. Bob Burgess has landed himself a case defending a man accused of murdering his mother. This brings to the fore his feelings about accidentally killing his own father as a child. Bob and Lucy Barton take walks and tell each other their stories. Lucy also spends afternoons with Olive and they too tell stories. This essentially is what this book is about, the stories of our lives…..”unrecorded lives” as Olive describes them. 
These characters are a delight even with or maybe because of all their flaws. A must read. 

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for this honest review. 
The Giant on the Skyline: On Home, Belonging and Learning to Let Go by Clover Stroud

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reflective slow-paced

2.75

This book really wasn’t for me but having said that I’m glad I read it. Clover is living with her 5 children in the rural countryside of England. Within view of the famous chalk White Horse on the hillside. She has a remarkable affinity with nature and her local community and her love of this shines through in the book. However her husband is working in the US and it applying pressure to make the family move to Washington DC so they can be together. Although how that will make that much of a difference to them I don’t know as he seemed to be working all over the US.
I found both Clover and Pete very annoying people. He reckoned he couldn’t afford to keep a family of 5 children afloat by working in the UK…….really!! Plain selfish I thought, his career was far more important to him than his family or at least this is how it comes across. And Clover never seemed to be able to spell out how she felt, what sort of a relationship was that? In the end it all worked out for the man and I hope it works out for them. 
Rounded up to 3⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC
A Short Walk Through a Wide World: A Novel by Douglas Westerbeke

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emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m finding it difficult to gather my thoughts on this book. I’m willing to suspend belief and dapple in magical, mystical even Sci-fi genres and am often pleasantly surprised. This book however brought me on a roller coaster. 
9 yr old Aubrey finds a magical puzzle ball and then refuses to sacrifice it a well. She then develops a strange illness that causes to to constantly move from place to place around the world. What follows is a summary of those travels with visits to strange libraries along the way. 
I really feel there was a message somewhere in the middle of all this but I just couldn’t grab hold of it. The stories meandered at times and I found it difficult to hold my attention to it but then it would bounce back and the ending left me feeling glad I had stuck with it. 

A solid 3.5 ⭐️ but not quite the 4. 

Thanks to Netgallry.co.uk and the publishers for this digital ARC.
The Bay by Julia Rampen

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The opening chapter of this book immediately brings back memories of the Morecambe Bay cocklers tragedy. While it takes until the end of the book for that tragedy to happen along the way the author brings us on a remarkable journey about the difficulties of the illegal immigrants and also the difficulties of aging in our society. 
Suling is seeking a better life for herself and her family but to get to the U.K. she has accumulated a large debt and realises the job of picking cockles in the bay won’t settle that debt. Arthur is grieving the loss of his life and has a daughter suggesting he reside in a nursing home. The two meet and neither hesitate to help the other. This gives a poignant and at times disturbing look into the lives of illegal immigrants. It also examines loneliness, prejudice and aging. Yet out of it all the value of friendship and simple humanity shines through. A thought provoking and heartwarming story. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.