Oh, how I loved this book. I have read a few spy books recently, but they have tended to be quiet different in pace to this! Once I had appreciated the level of action that was going to take place in this story, I couldn't put it down. It's rare for my husband and I to share books because we have quite different interests, but I have been recommending this one to him non-stop since about page 30. I am still quite bereft at having finished it!
*****
Following I Am Pilgrim was a tall order, but Us did a pretty good job of it, frankly. I have to confess that I am one of probably a handful of people in the world who didn't love One Day. I'm sorry. I really enjoyed the cultural references to an era that I was growing up in, but I really didn't like Dexter, or the ending, and I could go on, but I know I'm going against the grain here. But that's what's great about books, it would be dull if we all had the same opinion of everything we read. ANYWAY, Us made me much happier. I liked the characters and could empathise with their emotions and their journeys (both physical and metaphorical). I enjoyed the Grand Tour Of Europe because it reminded me of my inter-railing days, and I just 'got' Us in a way that I never managed to get One Day. A heart-warming read.
*****
You know where you are with a Marian Keyes book. I think that perhaps I loved her earlier work more (although it's a while since I read them); there were some parts of the plot of this that I thought were rather weak. But I still laughed and laughed at points in the story, and I thought that Stella was a very sympathetic character. This is a lovely warm read.
*****
So I mentioned this in my last post (and it is still free if you have Kindle Prime membership). But I read it, and I didn't love it as much as I had hoped. It's a bit too predictable (I know it's a romantic comedy, so you can't expect too many surprises), a bit too cliched (particularly in terms of Sarah's Americanisms), and the 'flouncing off in a strop' plot device is used an awful lot. But there were parts of the story that I did enjoy, and if romantic comedies are your thing it's still worth a try. Maybe this is another One Day and I'm going against the grain...
*****
This is a collection of short stories, and I read the Christmas Pudding story not long after Christmas, and then put the book to one side until later this month. I love Hercule Poirot, and there is the bonus of a Miss Marple story at the end here too. Some of the stories are more ingenious and pleasing than others, but all in all it was an entertaining read.
*****
I kind of need a half star here, because I feel that it is worth more than 4 stars, but I didn't quite love the ending enough to give it 5. But you get the picture.
*****
I've set myself a target of reading 50 books in 2015, and I'm off to a pretty good start! Goodreads tells me that I read 36 books in 2014 (although I'm not convinced that I recorded everything that I read last year on there), so time will tell whether I am successful!
I hope you are spending at least some of your weekend tucked up in the warm with a good book. Let me know what you're reading if so!
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