Tag: book reviews

Review – A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 15

Posted July 25, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 15

A Side Character's Love Story

by Akane Tamura

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 161
Series: A Side Character's Love Story #15
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Nobuko and Hiroki have graduated college, and their relationship is now long distance. One an office worker in Ehime, the other a graduate student in Hiroshima, their lives are very different and their schedules no longer match up. The stress of it all leads to one anxiety after another, but if they don't want their relationship to falter, they must learn to face it head on.

Volume 15 of A Side Character’s Love Story is a bit less pure cuteness than some of the others, bringing a serious note. Nobuko is building her adult life in Ehime, making friends and spreading her wings, and back in Hiroshima, Hiroki’s having trouble adjusting to that — to Nobuko hanging out with people he doesn’t know, meeting people, etc.

He’s not even wrong, because Tai is of course trying to flirt with and “steal” Nobuko. That said, she’s having none of it, and it’s really high time for them to have one of their discussions about how they feel and get Hiroki out of his funk.

There’s also a fair amount going on with the new side characters, with both Aoike and Asuka getting “screen” time for their relationship woes, more so than was usual for the side characters from earlier volumes, like Fumi-chan.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – A Case of Life and Limb

Posted July 24, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – A Case of Life and Limb

A Case of Life and Limb

by Sally Smith

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 336
Series: The Trials of Gabriel Ward #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Winter, 1901. The Inner Temple is even quieter than usual under a blanket of snow and Gabriel Ward KC is hard at work on a thorny libel case. All is calm, all is bright - until the mummified hand arrives in the post...

While the hand's recipient, Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring, is rightfully shaken, Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But as more parcels arrive - one with fatal consequences - Gabriel realises that it is not Sir William who is the target, but the Temple itself.

Someone is holding a grudge that has already led to at least one death. Now it's up to Gabriel, and Constable Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who, before an old death leads to a new murder.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I loved Sally Smith’s first Gabriel Ward book, so I was very eager to dig into A Case of Life and Limb. I enjoyed it just as much, though the wintery vibes are a bit at odds with the weather, and enjoyed once more the kindness and decency of Gabriel, the way his conscience nags at him so that he seeks out true justice — and the way the real world outside of his work is beginning to tug at his attention, through his friendship with Wright and his unexpected detective work.

I did find that this sequel did have a few surprises: I didn’t expect a particular character to die, I didn’t expect one of Gabriel’s trials to be quite so sad, and I saw a certain issue coming somewhat but I almost expected it to be a red herring — I’m trying not to say too much, in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say that sadness touches the story more than I’d expected. There’s also some period-typical homophobia (not approved of by Gabriel).

I did feel that a particular event didn’t linger quite so much on Gabriel as I’d expected, but then he is a rather dry character and not really moved to great grief.

All in all, I probably prefer the first book as a fun reading experience, but I did really enjoy this too, and in some ways it surprised me, well-versed in reading crime as I am. And you’ve got to love the introduction of Delphinium, and Gabriel’s surprising affection for her.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Heavenly Bodies

Posted July 23, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs

by Paul Koudounaris

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 189
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

In 1578 news came of the discovery in Rome of a labyrinth of underground tombs, which were thought to hold the remains of thousands of early Christian martyrs. Skeletons of these supposed saints were subsequently sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The skeletons, known as "the catacomb saints," were carefully reassembled, richly dressed in fantastic costumes, wigs, crowns, jewels, and armor, and posed in elaborate displays inside churches and shrines as reminders to the faithful of the heavenly treasures that awaited them after death.

Paul Koudounaris gained unprecedented access to religious institutions to reveal these fascinating historical artifacts. Hidden for over a century as Western attitudes toward both the worship of holy relics and death itself changed, some of these ornamented skeletons appear in publication here for the first time.

Paul Koudounaris’ Heavenly Bodies is a really amazing book discussing the “catacomb saints”, whose skeletons were found in catacombs in Rome. To be accurate, the skeletons called the “catacomb saints” came from Roman cemeteries that contained largely early Christians, although some Jewish and other non-Christian Roman people were buried there too, those that preferred inhumation. The book discusses their provenance in some detail, and how the ones sent to European churches as “saints” were chosen, based on markers that were considered to suggest they were martyrs.

Obviously, as a modern reader who isn’t part of similar traditions, it all seems so weird — the exhumation and “translation” of these “martyrs”, the random selection, and then of course, the decoration that was heaped upon them, wound around their bones and sewn into their clothes and stitched over their eyes and noses and mouths. The book is fully illustrated by colour photographs of various surviving examples, and it’s both macabre and gorgeous.

I’m not sure how many images are in the book, but it’s a lot. The text is fascinating too, delving into what these “saints” meant to people, touching on some of the people who decorated them and the methods they used, and discussing what’s happened to many of them now.

It’s a somewhat embarrassing chapter in Catholic history to many modern Catholics, but even as it seems pretty odd to me now, I can still imagine the faith and love people had for these relics, so lovingly decorated. Sometimes it was to show off, sometimes it was to pull in crowds, of course — but it was also an act of faith. I did my best to remember that while looking at these images.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

Posted July 22, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

by Erica Ridley

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 368
Series: The Wild Wynchesters #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

As a master of disguise, Thomasina Wynchester can be a polite young lady — or a bawdy old man. She’ll do whatever it takes to solve the cases her family takes on. But when Tommy’s beautiful new client turns out to be the highborn lady she’s secretly smitten with, more than her mission is at stake...

Bluestocking Miss Philippa York doesn’t believe in love. Her heart didn’t pitter-patter when she was betrothed to a duke, nor did it break when he married someone else. All Philippa desires is to decode a centuries-old manuscript to keep a modern-day villain from claiming credit for work that wasn’t his. She hates that she needs a man’s help to do it — so she’s delighted to discover the clever, charming baron at her side is in fact a woman. But as she and Tommy grow closer and the stakes of their discovery higher, more than just their hearts are at risk.

This is an older review which it turns out I never posted! So I’ve unearthed it from the archives for you all.

This was my first book by Erica Ridley, and on the strength of it I definitely want to read more. Tommy (not quite a girl, not quite a boy, just Tommy) and Philippa (a bluestocking who is eager to get a husband, if only to please her parents) are a lovely pair, and the Wynchester family and their hijinks are a delight. I clearly need to read the first book to find out about all the things referenced in this one, and to hope for more of Jacob and his menagerie.

I enjoyed the inclusion of both Tommy’s ambivalent approach to gender and Philippa’s slow realisation of her interest in Tommy. It’s not entirely clear whether Philippa is attracted to women in general (and just hadn’t realised it yet) or purely to Tommy, but I think you could read it either way. I lean toward believing she’s demisexual, particularly since some of her described feelings fit quite well with someone on the asexual spectrum.

It’s not just a love story, though: they also have a shared mission, to declare Philippa’s friend Damaris the creator of a cypher used by the armed forces to encode messages, as opposed to her uncle who has stolen her work. That has a satisfying end, despite the censure Philippa then faces.

Now romances for Graham and Jacob, please? And all the other Wynchesters, to be fair…

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Correspondent

Posted July 21, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Correspondent

The Correspondent

by Virginia Evans

Genres: General
Pages: 288
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

A woman tries to heal old wounds and make sense of the world the only way she knows how—through letters—in this charming, laugh out loud debut novel about a life fully lived.

"There is a movie coming out this month and I saw the trailer and it made me think of you. It’s about an old woman who lives alone like a hermit. She is eccentric and rude…."

Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from a distinguished career in law, an avid gardener, and a writer of letters. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books.

Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. But as Sybil expects her life to go on as it always has, letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel that is a testament to the power of the written word.

I didn’t expect to love Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent: I got it more because it was an epistolary novel that I could review for Postcrossing, and because it looked like it might be a fairly quick read. I found myself very much enjoying the way the author used the letters to build up a picture of the characters (mostly Sybil, but also others) and their feelings, their histories with one another, etc.

It is obvious from fairly early on that Sybil’s been through a lot, but it takes the entire book to fully spin out why she feels the way she feels, why she acts the way she does, why letters have become so very important to her. I quickly got fond of her (while thinking she might be quite annoying to actually know), and of the people around her too.

Three things I didn’t love, now I’ve sat with them:

  • The vague and intermittent nature of her developing blindness bothered me, because I couldn’t place it; is it meant to be real? The condition is never named (unless I missed something), and I’m not familiar with it. It’s not really my area, of course — but on the other hand I did volunteer for the RNIB and it started out with some education around the types of blindness people in the clinic I’d be working in were dealing with. Nothing rang a bell. I’m curious, darn it! It made me worry it was more of a plot device than anything, and that sat oddly with everything else.
  • Quite a bit of time passes between the letters. It took me a while to realise there were gaps, that we weren’t being shown the whole correspondence — sometimes I’d turn back trying to remember where something had been previously mentioned, but it hadn’t been. Dates orient most people, of course, but I don’t really log them in my brain even if I try. Gaaah. So this might’ve been a personal issue rather than a general one, though I think the gaps might sometimes confuse people (e.g. letter where a question get asked are omitted and we only see the answer).
  • The letters “from” real people like Joan Didion. It felt a little like RPF (real person fanfiction), which has always sat quite oddly with me.

It isn’t really a book with a plot per se, in any case. It’s a character study, through the medium of letters, and a slow unravelling of what exactly makes Sybil the person she is.

I may have been particularly susceptible to giving it a pass on some stuff, given personal circumstances: from mid 2022 to March 2025 (when she died from dementia), I wrote to my grandmother every week. Letters mean a lot to me. So if I’ve been a little soft and sentimental with this book, well, it reached me at the right moment for that.

It obviously does take liberties with realism, it’s obviously trying to be a book that is, in the words of the blurb, “Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived.” If I think too cynically about it, it spoils things a bit. Mostly I just tried to enjoy Sybil and her family, warts and all, so to speak.

One note about the blurb: I don’t think I ever laughed out at loud at it. It’s not really a comedy. Definitely don’t read it for that.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Castle of the Winds

Posted July 20, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Castle of the Winds

Castle of the Winds

by Christina Baehr

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 212
Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #3
Rating: one-star
Synopsis:

At Midsummer’s Eve, the Red Dragon will choose his bride.

Following this mysterious invitation, Edith sets off on a quest to the Castle of the Winds to find a lost family of dragon keepers in the mountains of Wild Wales.

But all is not as it seems. Edith must guard her own hidden power, or she might not return to her friends in Ormdale—including the man who has come to love her. Will Edith make an alliance with the legendary Red Dragon of her dreams to safeguard her ancestral charge, or will she lose everything she has tried to protect?

Book 3 of The Secrets of Ormdale is a breathtaking adventure that will take Edith to exhilarating new heights…and deeper into peril than ever before.

Oof, it’s difficult to know what to say about Christina Baehr’s Castle of the Winds. I think in writing it and setting it mostly in Wales, she did do some research into Wales at that period: she seemed to know about things like the Welsh Not and the Treachery of the Blue Books (Brad y Llyfrau Gleision), even if she didn’t directly reference the latter: certainly her characters discuss the situation of the Welsh versus the English in the Victorian period.

But… all that research, and she didn’t really think that maybe this wasn’t a story she should be telling, at least not with an Anglican clergyman’s daughter as the heroine? It risks becoming a bit of a “white saviour” sort of story (granted, of other white people, but nonetheless of people she’s viewing as “primitive”). It’s especially problematic since Nonconformist religion was part of what led the Welsh to be viewed as lesser. It’s all a bit messy and interacts weirdly with the fact that the bad guys have set up a socialist, atheist Welsh commune with faux-medieval trappings.

I was basically uncomfortable with the story from the moment someone was announced as “Arthur, Prince of Gwynedd”, and also “Lord Pendragon”, and I didn’t get any happier about it the further I went along. It tiptoes along the edge of being okay, nominally sympathetic to the ordinary Welsh people caught up in it all, but… I don’t know.

It’s probably also pretty weird that despite her Jewish mother, she’s so very Anglican Christian.

I don’t know if I’ll read more of this series to see how things shake out. I enjoyed it quite a lot prior to this book, because when she’s not being positioned as a saviour to the poor ignorant Welsh, Edith and her relationship with Simon are great fun. She’s a little bit in the mould of Emily Wilde and Isabella Trent, and I enjoy that very much. I guess we’ll see how it sits with me given a little time.

Rating: 1/5 (“didn’t like it”)

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Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 2

Posted July 19, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 2

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga)

by Kazuki Irodori, Yatsuki Wakutsu

Genres: Fantasy, Manga, Romance
Pages: 178
Series: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga) #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Not long ago, in a fantasy world in a different dimension, a business guy was dragged through a portal. Stranded in a new land, Kondou has only one request—to spend his days peacefully working himself into the ground. But when he collapses from downing potion after potion day after day, it’s the handsome knight captain Aresh who rescues the bean counter in distress... However, ‘twas just the beginning of the tale for these star-crossed lovers. After all, not even a near-death experience and his first time can stop Kondou from working the very next day! And so, jilted by the man he saved after a night of many firsts, Aresh starts a personal crusade to teach Kondou how to work to live instead of living to work. Meanwhile, Kondou for the life of him just can’t figure out why he’s not allowed to take any overtime...

The second volume of Kazuki Irodori’s adaptation of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter into manga form is fun! It mostly focuses on Aresh’s attempts to get Seiichirou to take care of himself better, with Aresh quickly becoming fascinated by as much as exasperated by him, along with some world building.

I do wish Aresh would talk to Seiichirou about how he feels a bit more, and tell him that he likes him and wants to spend the time with him — and that he’d maybe be a bit less controlling, even if Seiichirou has no sense of self-preservation. The scene where Seiichirou says he’s not interested in younger people is really pretty funny in a sad sort of way — poor Aresh!

I’m not sure entirely where it’s going to go, as far as weighting between plot, pining and actual relationship stands. We’ll see, I guess; I’m interested enough that I’m thinking about reading the light novels.

Since this review was posted quite a while after being written, I have of course now read all three light novels. The review of the first is up!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Comet in Moominland

Posted July 18, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Comet in Moominland

Comet in Moominland

by Tove Jansson

Genres: Children's, Fantasy
Pages: 192
Series: Moomintrolls #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

When Moomintroll learns that a comet will be passing by, he and his friend Sniff travel to the Observatory on the Lonely Mountains to consult the Professors. Along the way, they have many adventures, but the greatest adventure of all awaits them when they learn that the comet is headed straight for their beloved Moominvalley.

I either never read Tove Jansson’s Comet in Moominland or forgot most of the story — or maybe it’s present but shorter in the comic strip versions? It’s been so long. The beginning and ending seemed familiar, but not the middle stuff: I remember never entirely being clear where Snufkin or Snorkmaiden came from, but this is where they join the family!

Speaking of which, I really love Moominmamma just relentlessly adopting anyone who needs a mother. The end of the book, where they all creep into the cave in fear, is just so sweet (Moominmamma sings a comforting lullaby, promising them all “your mother is here” — but only Moomin himself is actually her child).

I love the way things just are in these books: Snufkin’s a Snufkin, Sniff’s a Sniff, a Hemulen is a Hemulen… we don’t get enormous amounts of explanation, it’s just on with the adventure, and you’d better keep up!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Chinese Dress in Detail

Posted July 17, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Chinese Dress in Detail

Chinese Dress in Detail

by Sau Fong Chan

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 224
Rating: five-stars
Synopsis:

Chinese Dress in Detail reveals the beauty and variety of Chinese dress for women, men, and children, both historically and geographically, showcasing the intricacy of decorative embroidery and rich use of materials and weaving and dyeing techniques. The reader is granted a unique opportunity to examine historical clothing that is often too fragile to display, from quivering hair ornaments, stunning silk jackets and coats, festive robes, and pleated skirts, to pieces embellished with rare materials such as peacock-feather threads or created through unique craft skills, as well as handpicked contemporary designs.

A general introduction provides an essential overview of the history of Chinese dress, plotting key developments in style, design, and mode of dress, and the traditional importance of clothing as social signifier, followed by eight thematic chapters that examine Chinese dress in exquisite detail from head to toe. Each garment is accompanied by a short text and detail photography; front-and-back line drawings are provided for key items.

An extraordinary exploration of the splendor and complexity of Chinese garments and accessories, Chinese Dress in Detail will delight all followers of fashion, costume, and textiles.

The V&A’s Chinese Dress in Detail, written by Sau Fong Chan, is a gorgeous physical item with glossy pages full of colour photographs, displaying both close-ups and zoomed out images that give you an idea of what the full garment looks like, and accompanied by sketches of how the garments are put together, and at times with useful context like illustrations from the period.

The book has a useful introduction setting the scene, and then each garment has its own little description/discussion section. Most of the garments get a full double-page spread. It’s only a sampling, inevitably, but Sau Fong Chan has selected garments that represent different ethnic groups within China like the Uyghurs and the Miao, and tries to be clear about how diverse “Chinese” fashion can be.

It was fascinating and beautiful, and I recommend it if you have an interest!

Rating: 5/5 (“it was amazing”)

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Review – Standing Female Nude

Posted July 16, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Standing Female Nude

Standing Female Nude

by Carol Ann Duffy

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 64
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

This outstanding first collection introduced Carol Ann Duffy's impressive gifts and the broad range of her interests and style. The poems are fresh, skilful, passionate. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow in 1955. Her awards include first prize in the 1983 National Poetry Competition; three Scottish Arts Council Book Awards; Eric Gregory, Somerset Maugham and Dylan Thomas Awards in Britain and a 1995 Lannan Literary Award in the USA. In 1993 she received the Forward Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award for her acclaimed fourth collection Mean Time. On May 1, 2009 she was named the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.

I remembered Carol Ann Duffy’s Standing Female Nude, her first collection, better than I thought I might. I knew a couple of the poems very well from reading selections of her work for GCSE English oh-so-many moons ago (how’d it get so long ago!?), and still liked “War Photographer” very much.

I did feel that this collection obfuscated meaning more than I was used to in her later poems, at least for some of the poems, and that I wasn’t overall as keen. I especially disliked “$” — not to my taste.

Some strong poems, but a lot of weaker ones and ones I didn’t care for. “War Photographer” is very worth it, though.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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