#119 Sanctuary

Sanctuary by V.V. James 

I am mortified to admit that this book has been sat on my kindle waiting to be read for over a year! Ive recently (the last month or 2) created a kindle tbr jar which i try to pull at least 2 out a month to try and get some of these books read. I always find with kindle books that they are out of sight out of mind! I have around 50 books on my kindle that need to be read and im making it a goal in 2021 to get that number down by at least half. Right enough rambling, i picked Sanctuary out of the jar early last week and man i was so excited to finally read this one. I dont typically care for 'urban fantasy' type stories but this was was so much more than that!

Sanctuary is a marketed as an adult mystery thriller that has been desribed as Big Little Lies meets The Craft. Its set in a small town in Connecticut where everyone knows everyone. In this world witches live among regular ole humans, they ahve their seperate laws they must abide by and they have their own union if you like that represent the rights of witches (its all very woke and im here for it!). When the star quarterback and much loved teen Daniel Whitman dies at a house party, his ex-girlfriend whos mother is a witch is automatically accused of killing him by witchcraft. 

An out of town detective, Maggie is enlisted to come to Sanctuary to investigate his death. The book has some mixed media which who doesnt love? there are newspaper articles, interview transcripts and tweets which gave this book such a modern feel. It very much read like a crime novel as its so very procedural with Maggie interviewing practically half the town, if you enjoy crime/mystery books then this is very much for you and its very light on the fantasy elements. 

Dan's ex-girlfriend, Harper is such an interesting character. She was raised to take over from her mother Sarah as the town witch. When Harper find out that she doesnt have the gift she very much distances herself from that way of life and doesnt show any further interest in magic. Sarah as a character to me was just perfection, she was so conflicted between keeping her status within the town, being there for her friends but most importantly protecting Harper with every ounce of strength that she had, she was definitely the stand out character to me. I also though Abigail was done really well, she was so believeable as the grieving mother who would do anything to not let people taint the memory of her dead son. 

This book reads as very current, i loved how easily the magic was embedded into the story, it was very light and not in your face with fantasy elements. It was so normalised that i was almost believing that this was a contemporary book. Sarah provides the town with potions for all kinds of ailments from stress, grief to a minor headache, it made for such an interesting read. 

I loved how there was embedded societal issues within this book such as the 'me too' movement and how we shouldnt judge people when we don't know them, it made me fall even more in love with this book. There are so many diverse characters within this story and it was so effortlessly portrayed, usually when books have so many diverse characters it does read as diversity for the sake of diversity but this book is one of the best examples i have read of a truly diverse and normalised community. There was also so many twists within this story and i must admit i thought i had it all worked out when that ending had me speechless with my jaw hitting the floor! It really wasnt predictable at all, it was so tense at points towardsthe end too. Such a great, dark, witchy book! 

#118 The Cousins

 The Cousins by Karen M. McManus 

Ive been a big fan of Karen M McManus for a while and have read all of her other books so i was so stoked when i was given the opportunity to be a part of this blog tour run by @TheWriteReads for her new book The Cousins. 

The Cousins follows the story of the Story family who reside at Gull Cove Island on the East Coast. When the matriarch of the family Mildred invites her three gandchildren whom shes never met to spend the summer working at her resort its too much of a mystery to pass up. The grandchildren Milly, Aubrey and Jonah want to find out what happened many years ago to fracture their family, all they have to go on is that Mildred dis-inherited them by sending a letter stating 'I know what you did'. 

Mildreds children are Adam, Anders, Allison and Archer. Allisons daughter is Milly, Adams daughter is Aubrey and Anders son is Jonah making up the 3 grandchildren/cousins. The family tree is a bit complicated but luckily its included at the beginning of the book, not very handle when its an e-arc as its not that easy to flip back and forth but definitely a nice touch that it was included. 

No one writes a YA mystery like Karen M McManus, her books are all superbly written and The Cousins was no excpetion. It had all the elements of a great book, interesting premise, relatable characters and an intriguing mystery. I was kept on my toes throughout, there was so many twists and turns and i was so engrossed. If life hadnt got in the way then i would have read this in one sitting. There was so many twists that i just didnt see coming, not a single one (which is a bit embarrassing but oh well). I really loved the theme of family and how they can shatter so easily, i applaud McManus for not leaving it as a happy ending which is so customary for YA that eveything is fine and dandy at the end but in this book the siblings are still not harmonious at the end of the story, made it feel a lot more real to me. I also would have enjoyed more of Allison's chapters from the past and a greater look into the childrens relationship with their mother, i did enjoy the brief glimpses into the past that we did get. 

A massive thank you to Penguin Platform, Karen M. McManus, Dave from TheWriteReads and also Netgalley for letting me read one of my most anticipated books of the year early. This book was fast paced, interesting and fun. It reminded me in a way of The Inheritance Games which was another blog tour i was part of last month for TheWriteReadsTours. I really liked the characters of Milly, Aubrey and Jonah but i must admit i did get their parents mixed up especially Archer and Anders. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes books such as The Inheritance Games and A Good Girls to Murder. 

4.5 stars 

#117 Milkman

 Milkman by Anna Burns

Im just going to start by saying this book is such an important piece of literature. Milkman is set in Northern Ireland, its never specifically said but it very obvious from the way it reads. Anna Burns deliberately removed all the place names and the character names so i think if you arent familiar with Irish culture or the area you may struggle a bit with this as it is very typically Irish in the language and slang that is used throughout. The book reads as a dystopian future but in actual fact it is desribing a very realistic version of how things actually are living there (maybe not so much now but in the past, definitely. I grew up in County Down in Northern Ireland for anyone who was wondering). 

The story follows an 18 year old nameless girl growing up in a nameless place. She attracts the attention of an older man referred to as 'Milkman' who is seen as a bit of an icon within the local community. He's known to be very dangerous and everyone in the community fears but respects him. There is a lot of gossip within the area of his interest in this girl. The whole book is centered on these waves of gossip and what is true and untrue.  

Milkman won the Man Booker Prize in 2018 and this was my first experience reading a Man Booker winner. This book is written very oddly, you question what is real and what isnt constantly well at least i did. I can see 100% why people wouldnt get along with this book it reads as a constant stream of consciousness which i didnt mind, if anything i thought it really added to the story. It is confusing in parts and initially i started this book physically but struggled with it as it felt very loopy in the way it would start with one scene but the narrator would get constantly distracted and then you would end up back in the original scene which is fine but very difficult to keep up with physically so i switched to the audio version which was narrated wonderfully.

I did find this to be a bit of a tricky read, it reads as a bit samey in parts and it felt a bit like the film Memento in that i was reading the same thing over and over again but i must admit i did enjoy it. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the writing of this book (google it) which i must admit i dont agree with as you cant put a value on good literature (dont come for me!). 

All in all, i enjoy many parts of this but in terms on enjoyment levels i did really struggle with the looping and never would have been able to read this physically. I fully understand why in won the Man Booker but unfortunately it was only a middle of the road read for me. 

#116 Second Cousin Once Removed

 Second Cousin Once Removed by Kenneth L Toppell

I was asked to be on the blog tour of this book run by Dave (@TheWriteReads) who always does such an amazing job with these tours! Admittedly this book doesnt sound like something i would usually read but given how short it is (232 pages) i thought id give it a whirl.

The story follows Henry, a semi retired lawyer who is a senior partner at Foxglove Associates. Hes not your typical high profile defense lawyer or a district attorney instead Henry works on the boring side of law that no one ver hears much about. (I personally work at a law firm so think im entitled to comment on how mundane his job is haha). When Henry begins researching his family tree and discovers a second cousin that he has never met, he immediatley begins delving into this lost connection to find more information about him. Henry contacts his Uncle Ira to find out more about this cousin, Shelley. When Ira ends up dead and Henry gets a text from Shelley that basically tells him to stop looking Henry fears for his life. 

Henry bumps into a lady at his office called Carolyn and after she mentions Ira's name Henry immediatley becomes suspisious that shes been sent by Shelley or that shes bad news. When he confides in her about what is happening the two set off out of state to evade Shelley whilst continuing their investigation on him. 

My initial impression of Carolyn is that she doesnt make much sense as a character. When she met Henry and he was so elusive yet aggressive towards her why didnt she run for the hills like any other normal person would have? Instead she leaves the state with a man she doesnt even know, cuts all her hair off and agrees to temporarily change her identity. It all felt a bit off to me if im completely honest. 

I found the plot a bit disjointed, both Henry and Carolyn fear for their lives but have no confirmation that Ira is dead or that Shelley is in any way dangerous (these things come much later but it didnt make much sense about how they panicked without knowing all the facts, didnt seem at all rational to me) 

As the story goes on i did grow a bit fond of Henry i must admit and the writing is good i just dont think im the target demographic for this book. It also very American and a bit old fashined with its references, for example, Burt Lancaster (im sorry but who?), Elmer Gantry and 'It Happened One Night'. They all went over my head im afraid and i do think it hindered my enjoyment of the book overall. 

Shelley is a bit of a weird antagonist, i dont think i could take him very seriously with a name like Shelley. I would have liked a bit more of his background and why he was a contract killer etc. 

Overall this wasnt terrible, it just wasnt for me at all. I could see my dad reading and enjoying it a lot more than me which is no fault of the book really.