Review: The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap

Nova has been blind her entire life, but is convinced by her brother to have an operation that will restore her sight. After, Nova discovers that seeing isn't everything she thought it would be. In the hospital, she meets Kate, who's dealing with her own issues, including an abusive husband. As the two of them begin to entwine their lives, many secrets are revealed, and some are more dangerous than others...

I really enjoyed this book. It is very different from what I was expecting and from anything I've read before. I found Nova's descriptions of her blindness, and it's varying levels, to be really interesting. The relationship between Kate and her husband is complex, and the violence was well-written - reading it made me feel genuinely quite tense. I also liked that in theory, these characters shouldn't work as a couple - they're so different, and yet somehow they do. Their relationship is a very slow burner, but the result at the end is so worth it.

My one grievance - what happened to the husband?! That story ended kind of abruptly. Apart from that, this was an excellent book.

Review: The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

‘It was never home until you were there, Tiffy.’

This is one of those feel-good, warm and fuzzy books that you can devour in one sitting. Which I totally did.

The premise is simple: Leon is a palliative care nurse who works nights and weekends. Tiffy is an editor who works 9-5 weekdays. He needs the cash and she needs a room. Talk about two birds with one stone! But Tiffy and Leon soon come to realise that living together but never actually meeting comes with it’s own problems. Throw in an obsessive ex-boyfriend, a jealous current girlfriend and a brother in jail for a crime he says he didn’t commit, and you’ve got one hell of a story!

This book is 400 pages long, and I read it in one go. Well, 300 pages in one go, fell asleep, and the last 100 pages immediately on waking up. It was so good!
The characters were just delightful and so complex.

One thing I would say - I would have loved to hear from Holly and Mr Prior in the ‘two years later’ epilogue! How are they getting on? I guess we’ll never know.

Everyone should read this. It was heartwarming.

Review: Beneath the World, a Sea by Chris Beckett

Ben Ronson is a police officer who has been sent to the Submundo Delta to investigate the killing of Duendes - strange, humanoid creatures with long limbs and a strange psychic effect on the mind. But to get there, you have to pass through the Zona - a journey of a couple of days that you will have no memory of whatsoever when you come out the other side. Locals say that your deepest, most repressed thoughts and desires come to pass here, and Ben is concerned about what he will do while he is in the Zona...

This book was so weird. Like, seriously so weird. The story sounded so promising, but it just fell a little bit flat, to be honest. Essentially, this book is about the human mind and how it can lie to itself - none of us can ever know who we truly are because we are taught to act in a certain way. I thought there would be more mention of the Duendes, but we don't find out much about them at all. They are almost like secondary characters to the main focus of the story: the Zona and it's effect on the human mind. The human characters of the story aren't much better either - they had no real depth and were just kind of dull.

I was really disappointed by this book, despite it's gorgeous cover!