Kathryn's Inbox

Popularity is a curse. Especially for Colleen Hoover, whose phenomenal success with It Ends With Us has led to some of her lesser known novels being rushed back into print. Regretting You isn't necessarily her finest work or one that has quite the same level of mass market appeal. Told from the duel perspectives of a sixteen year old girl and her mother who is in her early thirties, it uh ... has some vague plot about second chances. Shortly after her high school graduation Morgan finds out that she is pregnant and puts her dreams on hold so that she can marry her boyfriend, Chris, and be a good mother to her daughter, Clara. Fast forward sixteen years and Morgan is leading a life that is unfulfilling and becoming increasingly complex when her  husband's death reveals a surprising--and crushing--infidelity. This one reads more like a first draft in need of tightening up than a complete novel. Plot twists and cliffhangers are not told nearly as well as they could be, and occas...

Wait ... what? They made a graphic novel of After, Anna Todd's sexually explicit novel about a toxic relationship and pitched it at a teenage audience? Yep. Then again After has a strange history. It has also been made into a movie that changed the ending to make Hardin's actions a little more forgivable. And the whole thing did start out as a bizarre One Direction fan fiction, with Harry Styles as Hardin. I know. Weird. Yet somehow, even though it shouldn't, this graphic novel ... works. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the story. After tells the story of Tessa, an intelligent and conservative young woman who has been raised by an overprotective single mother. When she begins college she finds herself constantly thrown in the way of Hardin, the baddest, bad boy of them all who has cruel intentions. What blooms is well, a whole lot of sex and a whole lot of trouble as Tessa steps out into the world and gets her heart broken again and again, while Hardin's lif...

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There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour ~  Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

Despite their abundance, writing a Pride and Prejudice retelling is always a risky move. Sometimes the most unusual retellings or reimagining can really take off--think Bridget Jones's Diary, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, or Mr Darcy's Diary. In this retelling, author Melissa De La Cruz makes some bold moves--Fitzwilliam Darcy becomes Darcy Fitzwilliam a twenty nine year old woman who also just happens to be a workaholic, New York based millionaire, while Elizabeth Bennett becomes Luke Bennett, a working class boy from her hometown who bullied her in high school. Oh, and it is a Christmas story. Hence the mistletoe. This was such an interesting concept, filled with fun and plenty of Christmas warmth. Unfortunately the novel suffers from too many changes and a lack of depth that often reveals itself as things happening a little too conveniently for the characters, whom the reader has little opportunity to get to know. Of course, it's lovely to see everyone get their hap...

Perfect on Paper may well be the perfect title for this punchy, well written YA rom-com. I loved every page (and, consequently chapter,) of this story about Darcy Phillips, a high schooler who has a secret life as the person behind the famous Locker 89, which offers relationship advice to lovelorn teens. The best kind of chaos ensues when Darcy's secret is uncovered by Alexander Brougham, a wealthy and spoiled Australian boy. He will keep her secret, on the condition that she help him win his ex-girlfriend back. And even though Darcy cannot stand Brougham, she needs him to keep the secret. After all, she may have been guilty of intervening in the relationships of her best friend and crush, Brooke, who wrote to the locker for advice. But what happens when Darcy finds herself falling for Brougham? This was such a fun read. The scenes with Darcy and Brougham are so much fun, and strike a perfect balance with Darcy's unrequited crush on Brooke. Darcy's reaction in both scenari...

Pip Drysdale's latest novel The Next Girl is a finely turned psychological thriller about a paralegal who takes the law into her own hands, taking on a truly dangerous man in the process. Billie Spencer-Tate thought she was doing the right thing by encouraging a woman to give evidence at trial. When it all goes spectacularly wrong, Dr Samuel Grange, a truly dangerous man, is free to harm more women. When Billie is fired from her job she vows to find a way to stop him from harming the next girl. And the most foolproof way to do just that is for Billie to become the next girl. Is she in too deep? Or is there much more to Billie that meets the eye ...  The Next Girl is an enjoyable thriller about a woman whose life has been shattered and shaped in the cruelest of ways. Billie finds solace in taking the law into her own hands, targeting those who have caused the greatest of harm to others and the results are truly jaw dropping. Of course, a number of complexities arise from the situa...

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The forgotten or, more to the point, overlooked of the three Bronte sisters, Anne Bronte wrote just two novels before her untimely death from consumption at age 29. (A disease now better known as Tuberculosis.) The first of her two novels Agnes Grey is an insightful look at privilege and the precarious position that unmarried educated women found often themselves in during the nineteenth century. The only respectable career path available is that as a governess. But as the title character Agnes soon discovers, it is not a position that leads to respect, let along personal fulfilment. Agnes Grey has come from a respectable family who has lost most of their income through an unfortunate event. With her father ill, she has little choice but to leave the family who has loved and sheltered her and go out into the world and take a position as a governess. With the first family, she ill prepared for the badly behaved children in her care and the flippant and often cruel attitudes of their pa...

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What Baby-Sitters Club fan could ever forget Karen, the imaginative and effervescent stepsister of club president Kristy? After all, Kristy's new family situation and the bond that was quickly forged between the stepsisters was a very important feature of the series. Soon enough, Karen had her own spin-off series pitched at a slightly younger audience, and from then on many fans of the Baby-Sitters Club would discover the series through the Baby-Sitters Little Sister series. Karen's Little Sister is the sixth book in the series. Like the previous novels in the series it covers topics and lessons that might be important to a child who is six, almost seven years old. Karen lives her life between two radically different households and families. Along with her four year old brother, Andrew, she spends most of her time living in what she has termed the 'Little House' with her mother, her stepfather Seth and their pets. Every second weekend she stays in what she calls the ...

A worthy instalment in the Great Comics Artist Series, A Charlie Brown Religion examines the complex spiritual life of Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz (or Sparky as he was known to his family and friends).  Spirituality is a huge theme within the Peanuts comics, as is philosophy and the struggle of well, being human. Through themes such as the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown's struggle with the commercialisation of Christmas and the occasional mention of Christianity, the comics often had a subtle religious flavour to them. This in itself has been discussed (and perhaps misinterpreted,) in books such as The Gospel According to Peanuts. But what was Sparky's real life views on religion and how did it influence his comics? The answer, according to A Charlie Brown Religion, is complex. Schulz was not raised in a religious family, but chose to embrace Christianity after he returned from military service in the Second World War. From there, the answers are varied and complex. Stephen...

A travel memoir like no other, Eat Pray Love tells the story of Elizabeth Gilbert's quest to find herself over the course of a year, staying in three very different countries and having very different experiences in each. The author has reached something of a crossroads in her life. She is in her mid-thirties, recently divorced and in something of a position of privilege with a good job and income--though she doesn't necessarily see how fortunate that last part makes her. Feeling somewhat unfulfilled she finds a way to work travel in with her career and sets off across the globe spending time in Italy, India and Indonesia. Her experiences in each country are unique--and often entertaining. At the beginning of the book, author Elizabeth Gilbert is a bit of a mess and she seems to be basically honest about the fact. Where she shines, however, is in her willingness to travel and the beautiful depictions she makes about the places she visits, whether it be a restaurant in Italy, s...

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  The smallest country in the world is Vatican City

Becky Albertalli has written a number of fun, playful YA bestsellers about first relationships and kids trying to make their way in the world. Take for example Simon Vs the Homo Sapien's Agenda  which is about a spitrited young man and his coming out and The Upside of Unrequited which is about a twin who first suffers a huge case of jealousy when her sister falls in love, and then she finds herself falling for a guy that neither her twin nor her friends really understand or approve of. Both novels feature some wonderful raw moments. There is also a lot of fun to be had in Leah on the Offbeat and various novels that Albertalli has coauthored with some big names in YA. Kate in Waiting does not live up to the high standards set by her earlier work. This one feels very much like a by-the-numbers work of fiction, with limited world building and a love interest that lacks depth. The set up is this. Kate has been best friends with Anderson for a long time. They often share crushes, on ...

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  Dunce caps were originally used as a sign of intelligence.

Tim Winton's novel  Blueback still gets me emotional almost eighteen years after I first encountered my slim blue copy on the shelves at a local bookshop that has long since gone out of business. The novel tells the story of Abel Jackson, a ten year old boy who dives for abalone with his mother. Abel's Dad has passed away, but he has left his son with a deep appreciation for the ocean, one that his mother nurtures at every turn. During one of his diving expeditions Abel encounters Blueback, a large groper that has lived in the area for many years, defying all kinds of risks and odds. It is Blueback who truly helps Abel to cement his love of the ocean, which he eventually turns into a career, before eventually discovering a higher calling. Along the way, the reader learns of the many personal and environmental challenges that come to Abel, his mother and to Blueback, the kind that truly make the reader stop and think about what we are doing to our environment, and what, precise...

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Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion ~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

  Lest We Forget

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One day I will find the right words, and they all will be simple ~  Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

  Sloths can hold their breath longer than dolphins can.

Wilkie Collins offers readers a short and satisfying gothic mystery in his classic novel The Haunted Hotel. A strange countess marries a gentleman under scandalous circumstances. The pair met abroad, and he soon became infatuated, breaking off his engagement to Angus Lockwood, a woman from his close knit circle. From there, things get more and more bizarre. The countess suffers from strange yet oddly prophetic delusions, and shortly after her marriage, her husband is dead and one of their employees is missing under strange circumstances. When their former residence in Italy is converted into a hotel, the deceased's younger brother and former fiancé decide to investigate both mysteries ... and things become odder and odder. This was a satisfying read with many twists and turns and unusual characters. At a little over two hundred pages, this was a relatively quick read, meaning that readers won't have long before they get to the twisty, chilling end. If you haven't read any W...

Colleen Hoover it seems, is the master of writing her own fan fiction. Years after It Ends With Us was published, and a good two years after the book had a surprising resurgence on TikTok and went straight back on the bestseller lists, a sequel to the book the author always said was a stand alone is here. And it feels completely unnecessary. Told from the duel perspectives of Lily and Atlas, it tells the story of what happened to the pair after Lily left her abusive husband Ryle. The book also delves into the past of Atlas. Their lives are, unsurprisingly, melodramatic, full of heavily emotional situations, surprise twists, one dimensional characters and the occasional moment of hot and steamy sex. We learn of Atlas' past, growing up with a distant mother who occasionally became abusive and who chose her abusive husband over her son. What the reader never learns is the reason WHY Sutton behaves the way she does, which seems slightly ridiculous considering that breaking the cycle of...

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