March reads

Another month in lockdown means I’ve managed to get through quite a few more books. I’ve nearly read more books this year than I did last year all together, which is pretty impressive for me as I never seem to be able to stick to anything.

So, in March, the books that I read were: Expectation by Anna Hope, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle, The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

I’m half way through Little Fires Everywhere as I write this so make sure to read my ‘April reads’ blog if you want to hear my thoughts on that next month.

Expectation by Anna Hope

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone looking for a realistic portrayal of late twenties life (or what I can imagine is realistic based on how I feel in my early twenties). The story follows Hannah, Cate and Lissa, and explores how their lives have all changed ten years after living an exciting, sociable lifestyle together in London. And no surprises, none of them are where they thought they would be in life.

The story covers many elements of life that many of us are all too familiar with, fading friendships, strained family and romantic relationships and falling flat on our faces when we put ourselves out there in the world of work. It was a really good read and showed me that my expectations for how exciting my late twenties might be, need to be lowered a little bit!

I gave this book 5 stars – so definitely one to add to your list!

You can grab a copy of Expectation here. Funny story: I thought there was a follow up to this called ‘Verwachting’ and got excited to read more but turns out it was just the german print version of this book oops.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this book because I wanted to catch up on my books:weeks ratio for 2021, and this was only 180 pages. I did enjoy this novel nonetheless. Nora Ephron is famous for When Harry Met Sally and, one of my favourite films, Sleepless In Seattle.

Heartburn is a, fairly funny, story of an affair. The story follows Rachel Samstat who has discovered that her husband is seeing another woman, and the book follows her journey of confrontation, pregnancy and her career writing cookbooks. There is a lot of recipes randomly thrown into this book which I quite enjoyed seeing, as it offered a really nice touch.

I was a bit disappointed by this read overall, however, as it felt quite chaotic at times with the story and it didn’t resolve the way I would have hoped. It’s definitely still one I’d recommend as it’s such a short story and offers a different kind of read to what I normally go for.

I gave this one 3 stars. If you want to read it yourself, pick up a copy of Heartburn here.

All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoy Mike Gayle’s writing style. It reminds me of Beth O’Leary’s style of storytelling and I really enjoy the types of novels and characters these two authors create.

In All The Lonely People, Gayle takes us on a journey with his widowed character, Hubert Bird. Hubert Bird “is not alone in being alone” and the book shares a really personal story with the reader about how he navigates loneliness, from firstly not admitting that he is lonely, all the way through to making really great friends and confronting some hard truths.

This book was a really easy, heartwarming read that I didn’t want to put down. I gave it 4 stars and I’m looking forward to reading Mike Gayle’s “Half the world away” soon.

Grab a copy of All The Lonely People here.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I basically just want to do a review as short as: I loved this please read it you will also love it. 5 stars.

But for a bit more detail… this book is incredibly gripping and follows three characters stories on alternating chapters. Luckily, I was never disappointed to see that we were back to any one person’s story which can sometimes be the case with chapter styles like this. The story starts when Libby, a 25-year old, inherits a house on her birthday. Only to find that the house is full of history, and not the nice kind – more of the cultish suicide pact kind.

I don’t know how to say much more without giving things away but I would really recommend this one!

Pick up a copy of The Family Upstairs here.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was another book that I’d seen so often on social media, that I was sure it would be amazing. Sure enough, I did really like the concept and story. But I felt the whole time that I was just rushing to the end, when I’d find out what had actually happened the night she shot her husband.

I did feel gripped by the story but I can’t tell whether that was because I was enjoying it from start to finish, or if I was just keen to find out the answer. Once I’d read the last third of the book, I felt that the whole story could have just been those last 100 or so pages and still had the same effect. I completely understand how it set the scene and teased what the real answer was all along but….. I’m just not sure on my thoughts here.

I rated this 3 stars, but I do feel like if I read it again I might enjoy it more – as I might still be just a tad confused by it all. Perhaps one to revisit soon.

I’d love to know what anyone else thought of this one. If you haven’t already read this, you can get a copy of The Silent Patient here.

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That’s all for my March reads! Have you read any of these books? I’d be so interested to hear what you thought of them if so!

As mentioned, I’m currently reading Little Fires Everywhere, and I’m *thinking* (as it always changes once I have the opportunity to choose my next read) that in April, I’ll be reading: The Cactus, The Husband’s Secret, The Midnight Library and who knows what else…

Make sure you don’t miss my next reading roundup and other posts about my life as a twenty-something by subscribing to receive email alerts below!

💛