Top 5 Friday – Books of 2021

A little late, but there were so many amazing books that I read last year that I just had to write this post, late or not! Trying to whittle down the 100+ books that I read last year down to a list of my five favourites was incredibly difficult so there may be a part two to this post, but then I will probably want to do parts three, four, five… So, let’s dive in! Just a heads up, these novels aren’t in any particular order!

Continue reading “Top 5 Friday – Books of 2021”

A little late, but there were so many amazing books that I read last year that I just had to write this post, late or not! Trying to whittle down the 100+ books that I read last year down to a list of my five favourites was incredibly difficult so there may be a part two to this post, but then I will probably want to do parts three, four, five… So, let’s dive in! Just a heads up, these novels aren’t in any particular order!

Continue reading “Top 5 Friday – Books of 2021”

The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

Firstly, a huge thank you to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication Date:
03/06/2021
Length: 224 pages
Genre:
Translated Fiction | Japanese Fiction | Thriller

CW: mentions of stalking, mentions of abuse

Blackwells.co.uk

The Woman in the Purple Skirt is being watched. Someone is following her, always perched just out of sight, monitoring which buses she takes; what she eats; whom she speaks to. But this invisible observer isn’t a stalker – it’s much more complicated than that.

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All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
25/01/2022
Length: 592 pages
Genre:
Historical Fiction | Horror | LGBTQIA+

CW: Graphic depictions of war and death, abuse, psychosis

Blackwells.co.uk

In the wake of the First World War, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Antarctic expedition, determined to find his rightful place in the world of men. Aboard the expeditionary ship of his hero, the world-famous explorer James “Australis” Randall, Jonathan may live as his true self―and true gender―and have the adventures he has always been denied. But not all is smooth sailing: the war casts its long shadow over them all, and grief, guilt, and mistrust skulk among the explorers.


When disaster strikes in Antarctica’s frozen Weddell Sea, the men must take to the land and overwinter somewhere which immediately seems both eerie and wrong; a place not marked on any of their part-drawn maps of the vast white continent. Now completely isolated, Randall’s expedition has no ability to contact the outside world. And no one is coming to rescue them.

In the freezing darkness of the Polar night, where the aurora creeps across the sky, something terrible has been waiting to lure them out into its deadly landscape…

As the harsh Antarctic winter descends, this supernatural force will prey on their deepest desires and deepest fears to pick them off one by one. It is up to Jonathan to overcome his own ghosts before he and the expedition are utterly destroyed.

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An Altar on the Village Green by Nathan Hall

Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date:
05/07/2021
Length: 366 pages
Genre:
Horror | Dark Fantasy

CW: suicide, child death, graphic depictions of violence

Blackwells.co.uk

“If one suffers, I suffer. If one is chained, I am chained.”

My faith called me to become a Lance. My compassion drew me into one of the fallen lands. Through my connection with the Chained God, I alone can find and destroy the Horror that stains the land.

Death can no longer chain me.

But I couldn’t have imagined the madness waiting for me in this village. I’m not sure my faith can withstand the secrets I’ll uncover. Or that my compassion can survive the violence to come. This Horror may swallow me whole.

Death can no longer free me.

A creature stalks in the dark. Buildings burn. People die. An altar has been built on the village green.

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The Book of Baku by R.L. Boyle

Firstly, a huge thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
15/06/2021
Length: 284 pages
Genre:
Horror | Gothic Horror

CW: disturbing horror, child death, drug abuse, animal death, animal abuse

Blackwells.co.uk

Sean hasn’t spoken a word since he was put into care. When he is sent to live with his grandad, a retired author and total stranger, Sean suddenly finds himself living an affluent life, nothing like the estate he grew up in, where gangs run the streets and violence is around every corner.

Sean embraces a new world of drawing, sculpting and reading his grandad’s stories. But his grandad has secrets in his past. As his grandad retreats to the shed, buried at the end of his treasured garden, The Baku emerges.

The Baku is ancient, a creature that feeds on our fears, and it corrupts everything it touches. Plagued by nightmares, with darkness spreading through the house, Sean must confront his fears to free himself and his grandad from the grip of the Baku.

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Horseman by Christina Henry

Firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you to Titan Books for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
28/09/2021
Length: 336 pages
Genre:
Gothic Horror | Retelling

CW: graphic depictions of death, mentions of abuse, alcoholism, attempted sexual assault

Blackwells.co.uk

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt’s grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that’s just legend, the village gossips talking.

Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play “Sleepy Hollow boys,” reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?

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