When God Was A Rabbit

When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman

The blurb: WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT is an incredibly exciting debut from an extraordinary new voice in fiction.

Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

My review: This is a lovely book, at times sad and tender but also deeply moving and filled with light bubbles that centre around some of the elderly characters. It’s also about a relationship between a brother and a sister which is touching and something I really related to.

It starts with tragedy and ends well… that would be giving too much away. This book didn’t hook me from the first page. I was disappointed with the story set up, the childhood traumas, I hate to say it but I feel they have been done so many times before. But there was a freshness to the characters, the story follows Elly and her family over two acts. Her childhood in Essex and subsequent move to the Cornish coast. The characters the family attracts are what really makes this book lovely, they are simply yet beautifully drawn.

Nancy, the eccentric, opinionated actress, Elly’s Aunt who is also a fiercely outspoken lesbian is wonderfully funny, as is Ginger an old lady with hidden depths, a great friend to Arthur, a guest who arrived at Elly’s parents B&B and never left.

I was sceptical about this book, I don’t know why but there is something about the book club reads that puts me off buying them, but I’m glad I succumbed to this one. It’s hard to talk of the story without giving bits away so I will say that Sarah Winman has a strong narrative voice and if you like family dramas then give this a go!

7 out of 10 stars! *******

Getting Away With It

Getting Away With It by Julie Cohen

The blurb: Liza Haven couldn’t wait to escape the small village where she grew up with her perfect identical twin sister, Lee. Her life in LA as a stunt woman is reckless, fast and free – and that’s just the way she likes it. But when a near-fatal mistake drives her home, she finds Lee gone and everyone in the village mistaking her for her twin sister. Liza has to deal with her ailing mother, the family ice cream business, and Lee’s dangerously attractive boyfriend. Liza’s always been the bad twin, but as she struggles to keep up the masquerade and puzzle out where her sister has gone, she realises it’s not so simple. She’s spent her whole life getting away with it – is it finally time to face up to who she really is and where she really belongs?

My review: It feels like I haven’t read any chick-lit in ages, probably because I’ve been immersed in fantasy but this was a welcome diversion.

Getting Away With It tells the story of twins, Liza and Lee who begin as chalk and cheese, unappreciative of each other’s lives and the journey they go on to rediscover each other. There are some heavyweight topics in this book, the twins mother suffers from Alzheimer’s and there are some delicately handled scenes that give this book an added dimension.

I loved Liza, bar her ridiculous job as a stunt woman which I just couldn’t believe, I thought she was a great central character, warm, funny and someone you’d like to be friends with. I didn’t warm as much to Lee but that might be because she was less of a focus.

I initially struggled with this book because the beginning is set in LA where Liza works as a stuntwoman, I dont know if this is something the author is familiar with but it didn’t feel very relatable to me. However when the focus moves to stoneguard I was hooked, the village cast of characters are brilliant, they’re funny, Ma Gamble in particular is genius as is Will’s father. The ice cream storyline was also something I found myself invested in. I was pleasantly surprised that I couldn’t put this down and had to read the ending twice as I liked it so much.

This is a great summer read, pack it in your suitcase for some rural charm and escapism.

7 out of 10 stars! *******

Luxury

Luxury by Jessica Ruston

The blurb: A scandalously good look at life lived in the lap of Luxury

Sexy, smart New Yorker Logan Barnes knew how to take what he wanted to get where he wanted to be. But you can’t win the girl, make the money and live the high life without picking up enemies along the way…

There’s only one enemy who matters, and that’s the friend Logan betrayed years ago – Nicolo Flores. He got mad, but better still he got even, waiting in the wings to pull the plug on Logan and see his fortunes come crashing down.

Now Logan’s back, in London with a perfect wife, perfect family, and the perfect jewel to crown his rebuilt hotel empire: a stunning island getaway for the truly über-rich. Nicolo’s crazy to find a way to crush him again – but with gambling, addiction, sex and scandal all knocking on the Barnes’ family door, maybe they’ll destroy themselves before he even has a chance to…

My review: This is the beauty of having a blog, you feel a commitment, a responsibility even to give a book a good go before throwing it against the wall where it bounces and hopefully flops into the bin. This may sound like a bad start to a review but all is not as it seems. Luxury is another book I struggled with at the beginning. I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t like the ‘dynasty’ feel to the whole thing, why should I care whether their lives were full of luxury? And yet 100 pages in I couldn’t put it down, I had developed character allegiances, there were villains I couldn’t stand and plot twists that shocked me. I was genuinely upset when the romances turned to vile, bitter relationships and when whole families turned against each other. But there was always a little piece of me that knew it wasn’t my cup of tea (or champagne cocktail might be more appropriate!)

Yes Luxury is well written which stands it in good stead and yes it is complete fluff. There is nothing about the lives of the characters that resonates with my own life, it is pure voyeurism in every sense. My greatest criticism is that it’s too long for my liking, as many pages as it took for me to like it, double that and I was bored. There is only so much betrayal and scandal one book needs. Nonetheless for sheer escapism and non-stop drama Luxury is the novel of choice.

6.5 out of 10 stars ******.5