JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Sunday Story Club by Doris Brett and Kerry Cue

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry. But the salons have given me the opportunity to look back and think about my life…I don’t talk to anyone about these feelings outside of the salon.’

We all carry stories within us – wrenching, redemptive, extraordinary, and laced with unexpected and hard-won wisdom.

These are the real-life stories that a group of women tell each other when they gather for a deep and structured conversation – once a month in a suburban living room – about the things that really matter.

They discover that life can be a heartbeat away from chaos; that bad things happen to good people; that good people do outrageous things; that the desire for transformation is enduringly human.

A mother tells of the heartbreaking loss of control when her daughter develops anorexia. A sister reveals the high psychological cost of being hated by a sibling over the course of her life. Husbands leave wives; wives take lovers; friendships shatter; wrong choices turn out to be right ones; agency is lost and re-claimed.

The Sunday Story Club is a compilation of profound, heartfelt, true stories from everyday women who have experienced incredible events in their lifetimes.

Each of the stories possess a unique perspective, a touching, warm voice that guides the reader through a really private moment in their life.

This is non-fiction — each story is the true story of a real woman. The women are anonymous and have given their permission to be in this book; Doris and Kerry have met these women in their story club and have chosen the most affecting, the most moving stories to include in their work.

Sometimes, it feels like you’re reading someone’s diary. You’re shocked, upset, or worried, but you also feel like you’ve been given access to someone’s private moments — someone’s well-kept secrets.

“Inside, of course, there was nothing clinical, detached or objective about my experience. I was a human being, not a science experiment, and my feelings oscillated between hope and disappointment. The overwhelming emotion I felt during the IVF treatments was frustration.”

The Sunday Story Club is about memories, healing, bonding, relationships and regrets. It’s about the moments in our lives that we carry with us, perhaps in silent.

Profound, layered and clear-sighted, this collection of real-life stories reveals the emotional untidiness that lies below the shiny surface of modern life and reminds us of the power of real conversation to enlighten, heal and transform.

“The state of our hair was an anxious undercurrent to our day. If we had managed to emerge from the house with it straight that morning, that was wonderful and afforded us a moment’s relief as we looked in the mirror. But in half an hour’s time, and every half-hour after that, the internal question assailed us: was it still straight?”

Naturally, some of the stories resonated with me more than others. There’s a story about a woman whose husband leaves her one day while she’s at work — takes his stuff, empties their bank account, leaves a note, and abandons his wife and child.

There’s another woman whose father was an abusive alcoholic for most of her life. And another woman talks about her daughter’s anorexia — a dangerous illness that almost kills her.

These stories are all so different that I’m confident any female reader will be immensely affected by at least one of them. It’s impossible to read this and not feel for the women who experienced these events. One woman spent years and many rounds of IVF trying to conceive, only to experience joy on the final chance. How could that not affect you?

“My distress faded eventually. and I could at last think about what happened without a sense of heartbreak and shame. And when I observed our friendship from a distance, I saw that the clues to its demise had been there from the start.”

The Sunday Story Club brings a wonderful group of women into your life, their voices rising from the pages with clarity and ease. I recommend this to female readers, and regular readers of non-fiction. Each story is relatively short, so it’s the perfect read for the daily commute.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Sunday Story Club
Doris Brett & Kerry Cue
July 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Girls by Chloe Higgins

In 2005, Chloe Higgins was seventeen years old. She and her mother, Rhonda, stayed home so that she could revise for her exams while her two younger sisters Carlie and Lisa went skiing with their father. On the way back from their trip, their car veered off the highway, flipped on its side and burst into flames. Both her sisters were killed. Their father walked away from the accident with only minor injuries.

This book is about what happened next.

In a memoir of breathtaking power, Chloe Higgins describes the heartbreaking aftermath of that one terrible day. It is a story of grieving, and learning to leave grief behind, for anyone who has ever loved, and lost.

The Girls by Chloe Higgins is a memoir about the death of Chloe’s two sisters in 2005, and the aftermath.

While Chloe was studying for her HSC at the family home in Western Sydney, her father and her two sisters were on their way from an annual trip to the snowfields. On a highway near Canberra, Chloe’s father veered off to the other side of the road — presumably falling asleep — and he hits another car. Their vehicle flips and the back of the car bursts into flames. Chloe’s two sisters are killed, but their father walks away with minor injuries.

This is a memoir about grief, and what comes after a tragic event. It’s about how Chloe’s life went down a very different path than what she’d have planned as a young girl.

The Girls is tender and well-written, but also just very heartbreaking. People all over the world experience heartbreak, grief, and death every day, but when you focus on one person’s story and read beyond the tragedy, you realise the effect such events can have on a person’s health and wellbeing. We read about Chloe’s life beyond the death of her sisters, and we experience how her and her parents have attempted to move past the car accident.

“I am ashamed by how little I remember them. I’ve been reading books lately where people write their memories of losing a husband to cancer, their eyesight at eighteen, their father to the Vietnamese/American War.”

Chloe turns to sex work, drugs, alcohol and self harm to cope with her loss. In a way, focussing on these activities helped her avoid thinking about or remembering her sisters.

It’s stomach-dropping to read about Chloe’s father’s reaction to the accident — his guilt, his tears, his mental deterioration. Chloe does her best to maintain a relationship with her mother and father, but it’s complicated for all parties. They’re coping in the only ways they know how, and Chloe — being the only child left — sometimes finds it easier to not be at home.

“Sometimes I am well for weeks at a time: my head is clear, it is easy to smile, I feel less tension than usual around other people. I spent years working out how to get to this place, and often it comes down to routine.”

The plot jumps around a little, and at times feels a little uneven and jolting. The first third of the book centres around the girls, the accident, and the aftermath of the accident. The middle third of the book is years later when Chloe is in psychiatric care and is then working as a prostitute. The final third focuses on the girls again. The back and forth did feel a little inorganic, but the writing is beautiful and lyrical — poetic, even.

One of the toughest sections of the book is reading Chloe’s father’s diary entries from after the accident. He regained very little memories of that afternoon, and so he relies on information from others to understand what happened.

At first, they thought it was a car fault. But then after eye witness statements, it’s clear that Maurice fell asleep at the wheel. This information is incredibly difficult for him to swallow, and even in the present, he tries to find other reasons why the accident may have happened.

“We have a good day at the beach, Kris and I. I am glad Mum made him get the razor off me, but I like the little scab that is forming across my wrist. I don’t want anyone else to see it, just my parents and Kris, so they will know I need help.”

An exploration of grief, family, understanding and identity, The Girls is a devastating, harrowing read. It’d be a tough read for anyone, even if you don’t have children yourself, but the messages within its pages are important, relevant and universal.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls
Chloe Higgins
September 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg

Desperate to put her past in the rearview mirror, Finn Hunt leaves the Midwest for Phoenix, Arizona, where no one knows her story.

While she’s working a dead-end job, a chance meeting with Philip Martin, son of a prominent US Senator, leads Finn to a position as nanny for Amabel, his precocious four-year-old daughter. Quickly seduced into the Martins’ privileged world, Finn can almost believe she belongs there, almost forget the dark past that haunts her.

Then, in the stifling heat of a desert summer as the Senator’s re-election looms, a strange woman begins to follow Finn, claiming a connection to Philip and threatening to expose the family to scandal. As Finn tries to protect Amabel, and shield the Martins, she’s inadvertently drawn deeper and deeper into their buried secrets.

The family trusts Finn, for now, but it will only take one mistake for everything she holds dear – the Martins’ world, her new life – to fall apart . . .

Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg is a mystery thriller novel about privilege, power, family and expectation. Set in Arizona, twenty-something Finn works as a babysitter for a very high profile family and she quickly finds herself entangled in a dangerous web of lies.

The family that Finn nannies for — the Martins — are rich and very powerful. Philip Martin is the son of a prominent U.S senator, and there’s nothing they can’t buy their way out of. No scandal they can’t weasel their way out of. No undesirable blackmailer they can’t pay off or make ‘disappear’.

When a woman shows up claiming to hold a secret that could destroy the Martins’ lives, Finn tries desperately to fix the situation before it implodes. But has she bitten off more than she can chew? Will she just make the situation worse?

“Marina would never miss her own party. She wouldn’t retreat from Philip Martin and let Iris have him. Yet that’s exactly what she was doing…I could tell her I knew about Iris. Offer to help. But knowing of my involvement would make her quiver. If she found out I’d know for days, she’d fire me on the spot.”

Initially, the pacing is incredibly slow. The first third of the book doesn’t move fast enough to grab the reader’s attention, and you have to hope the reader continues to invest in the storyline. Girl in the Rearview Mirror is a fantastic read, but the beginning had me bored.

Finn’s mysterious and secretive past isn’t really mentioned until the second half of the book and I couldn’t really see how her past and present were going to link. And the first third of the book is all about Finn’s babysitting, and the world of US politics — two things that I found pretty boring.

“I put together their childhood in pieces: the album, the anecdotes Philip let slip, Bryant’s longer knowledge of the tension between Philip and his father, and something else — a feeling I had of knowing Philip.”

Finn’s paranoia grows over the course of the novel — she’s an unreliable narrator. She second guesses everything and questions every moment. She embarks on some rather absurd (and unbelievable) investigatory trips. At times, she’s incredibly naive and really rather stupid. It’s super obvious that *spoiler alert* her boyfriend is drugging her at night and I’m pretty sure she realises it and yet she just keeps on downing the drinks that he makes for her and then she’s really ‘surprised’ when she wakes up the next morning feeling rubbish. It’s hard to sympathise for her and her situation when she’s so clueless.

Kelsey builds tension really well, revealing little snippets of information and secrets to intrigue you even more and pull you in further. There are plenty of plot points that I didn’t see coming. Sometimes with crime novels, the structure of the plot can be fairly predictable, but I honestly didn’t know where this one was going and so I was more than happy to keep reading.

“The redhead observed us, arms crossed, and I swore she was smirking. She was older than I’d guessed at the fair, early twenties, maybe. Even in the shadow of her hat, her skin was pale, almost opalescent. Against it, her hair was bright as a flag.”

The writing is sleek and sophisticated, the characters all unique and dynamic. Girl in the Rearview Mirror highlights issues of wealth and privilege, and how those two things can mean a lot of collateral damage for a lot of innocent people.

Recommended for fans of mysteries, crime and thrillers. Stick with the book, because the first 100 pages may be a struggle, but the effort is worth it in the end.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Girl in the Rearview Mirror
Kelsey Rae Dimberg
July 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar

Kitty Hawke, the last inhabitant of a dying island sinking into the wind-lashed Chesapeake Bay, has resigned herself to annihilation…

Until one night her granddaughter blows ashore in the midst of a storm, desperate, begging for sanctuary. For years, Kitty has kept herself to herself – with only the company of her wolfdog, Girl – unconcerned by the world outside, or perhaps avoiding its worst excesses. But blood cannot be turned away in times like these. And when trouble comes following her granddaughter, no one is more surprised than Kitty to find she will fight to save her as fiercely as her name suggests…

Wolfe Island is the second literary novel from Australian author Lucy Treloar, set on an estuary that is slowly disappearing in the ocean.

Wolfe Island is part of the Chesapeake Bay estuary off the east coast of the US. The ocean is slowly swallowing it and over the years, one by one, the locals have fled the island for the mainland. But not Kitty Hawke — she’s now the sole survivor of that island, and she’s determined to stay there for as long as possible.

But when four young runaway kids — one of whom is her 16-year-old granddaughter Catalina Hawke — show up desperate to hide from their families, Kitty takes them under her wing. They stay in a vacant house on the island and over a period of many months, Kitty and the group bond.

“I went to the marsh walkway, a structure that ambled above the eastern salt marsh like a caterpillar in search of a leaf. It had a way of clearing my mind, which was muddled then by many worries: about the future, and about Claudie and what she knew, and whether I should tell Claudie about Cat, and what I suspected about her.”

In Wolfe Island, America is in the midst of a climate crisis. The coast of the country is being eaten away by the ocean and scores of people from the south are venturing to the north in seek of refuge. But this is not a safe world. They’re not welcome in the north, and anyone fleeing north — ‘runners’ — are hunted, captured and locked up.

Two of Catalina’s companions are runners seeking refuge.

“Not long after, we passed a farm prison where illegals and children, perhaps their own, all dressed in orange, were in trees picking fruit. It was the first I had seen of that sort of thing.”

A talented artist, Kitty is an interesting protagonist — reserved, independent, quiet, but also fierce and brash and determined. The writing is tight and almost flawless, the characters all just as interesting, diverse and integral as the next.

Her closest friend is her wolfdog, Girl, and her memories of their time together on the island. The book moves between past and present seamlessly and regularly, taking the reader on a journey through history so that by the end, we feel like we’ve been living on Wolfe Island for centuries.

The book is atmospheric and effortless, exploring themes of fragility, flight, survival, independence and adulthood. It’s about people who runs from their problems, and the people left behind.

“Summertime. When I wake early I can pretend things haven’t changed. I wait for this moment: first light arriving on the plain of Wife Island like a can of paint-wash water of clearest watermelon pink flung in an enormous delicate rush.”

It takes a bit of time to warm to this book — the writing feels sparse at the beginning, and the characters a little dry and distant. But over time, the book finds its rhythm and the horrors of the world scarily reflect our own and you find yourself drawn to the characters and their journey.

Recommended for fans of literary fiction, and character-driven stories. Recommended for regular readers.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wolfe Island
Lucy Treloar
September 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

REVIEW AND AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Relic by Bronwyn Eley

In the city of Edriast, there is no deadlier duty than to serve as the Shadow.

As the personal servant of the powerful Lord Rennard, the Shadow’s life is all but forfeit. Rennard possesses one of five rare and dangerous Relics – a jewel that protects his bloodline, but slowly poisons everyone else in its proximity. When the current Shadow succumbs to its magic, nineteen-year-old blacksmith Kaylan is summoned to take his place.
It’s an appointment that will kill her.

As the time Kaylan has left ebbs away, hope begins to fade… That is, until she discovers a plot to destroy all five bloodlines in possession of the Relics.

A rebel force plans to put an end to Rennard’s rule and Kaylan suddenly finds herself embroiled in a cause that might just be worth fighting for.  But no cause is without its costs…

As her life hangs in the balance and rebellion bears down on Edriast, Kaylan must decide where her loyalties lie – and how she’ll leave her mark on the world.

Relic by Bronwyn Eley is the first novel in the dark YA fantasy series, The Relic Trilogy. Set in the fictional city of Edriast, teenager Kaylan is selected as the new Shadow — a cursed role serving Lord Rennard, that guarantees imminent death.

Bronwyn’s debut novel is an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the premise, and the characters, and the pacing. At times, I felt the stakes weren’t that high but I still think fantasy readers will be entertained by this debut story. The relationship between Lord + Shadow is an interesting one, and certainly something that readers will be intrigued to find out more about.

“I flinched when Lirr’s hand rested on my lower back, firmly pressed against me as I tried to back away from his approach. I didn’t look at her, though, keeping my focus on Rennard. When he stopped, he was so close I could smell the heavy wine on his breath, so strong it was as if the fumes were pouring out of his skin.”

Friendships and alliances are a strong element in this book. Kaylan forms connections with a few other people whilst living as the Shadow, including Lord Rennard’s wife Jesper, and the delightful Markus.

Family is also a strong element in this book. Kaylan is really close with her family, particularly her siblings. It pains her to leave them behind when she is chosen as the new Shadow and she does her best to try and reconnect with them and check in on them after she’s left. It’s a heartwarming element to the story.

A few of the characters didn’t feel like they were fully fleshed out — Lord Rennard is an interesting character, although I didn’t feel like he was as three-dimensional as he could’ve been. I imagine we’ll come to know more about him and his motivations as we progress through the series. Additionally, Bellamy is a character we only hear about from other people. We don’t fully understand his intentions — good or bad — but I imagine this is setting things up for the sequel.

“Pride flourished in my chest briefly, suddenly replaced by a dark knot. In doing my job, I was helping Lord Rennard get one step closer to Bellamy. And what did I know about him? Nothing. Lord Rennard had put me in the middle of a dance without me knowing any of the steps.”

Kaylan is a relatable character that readers will sympathise for and empathise with. She’s a likeable character — a young girl who has been thrust into an unfortunate situation that she can’t do anything about. And it has a huge ripple effect on the rest of her family and friends.

At times, we’re dealing with an unreliable narrator and that’s always a welcome and enjoyable element in the fantasy genre. Over time, Kaylan’s mind falls victim to being Shadow and Kaylan can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. As a result, sometimes the reader is in the dark about the events in the book. This helps build the tension in the story,

“Better to come clean now, tell him why I wouldn’t be attending the celebration as a guest. Remove that look from his eyes. Quell any hopes of dancing under the stars with me. It couldn’t happen. And yet, I couldn’t stand the idea of those eyes turning cold and sorry.”

The world-building feels a little underdeveloped, and the plot points a little similar to many other fantasy novels. And the pacing is a bit slow in parts. But, the story kept my attention and the characters are interesting and I think YA readers will be entertained by this debut.

Rebellion is mentioned a lot in this book, but we don’t ever get to see any acts of rebellion. I look forward to the next book in the series, where the tension between Bellamy and Lord Rennard will no doubt reach boiling point.

Recommended for teenage readers and fans of fantasy novels. 12+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Relic
Bronwyn Eley
September 2019
Talem Press

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH BRONWYN ELEY

How do you juggle full-time work and writing?

Quite easily, honestly! I actually have three jobs (including my authoring) – my full-time work at Booktopia and I’m also a barista on Sundays at a cafe. Basically, I leave work and go to sport and then sit my butt down in front of the computer with some yummy snacks and beautiful instrumental music and just write! I always write after work and on the weekends, never in the morning before work. I don’t know how people do that – I like sleeping!

What skills from the military helped you write fantasy?

I’m not sure if my skills from the military helped write fantasy specifically but it helped writing in general. This is because I am a much harder worker now than I used to be. Being in the military got me to used long working days and that’s what writing with a full-time job is! It also showed me that I can do and be a lot more than I think. It made me believe in myself, so if I’m ever having a long day and finding it hard to write after work, I just remind myself of all the crazy and incredible and hard things I got through in the military. Then I think that sitting in front of a computer with some tasty snacks doesn’t sound too bad after all!

What element of novel writing do you think is your biggest strength?

Finishing the novel? Haha. Seriously, though, I am good at getting the words down on the page. Sometimes too many words! I’m definitely a waffler. I also like to think that I’m good at dialogue, that it comes across as natural.

What element of novel writing do you most struggle with?

Condensing my word count! As previously stated, I am a waffler and having to cut unnecessary words and scenes – or condensing them – is really challenging for me. Luckily, my wonderful editor is a total badass when it comes to this!

Working at Booktopia must give you an insight into another side of publishing that most people don’t see. What benefits do you think there are to writers knowing more about the publishing and/or bookselling process?

Great question! Working at Booktopia has been both a blessing and a curse in this regard. It’s great knowing the backend of the book publishing process: the realities of selling books, of becoming a bestseller, of what interests the booksellers, of how enormous the demand is – all incredibly helpful knowledge. On the other hand, it sometimes makes me wonder if there is even a point in me trying to make this work. So many books don’t even make a tiny splash, while others explode.

I do think it would benefit writers to understand how their books are processed – from the suppliers to the bookstores – and if they can help the process along. It’s also just really interesting! Seeing the trends and the people behind the books… it’s an interesting little world!

The fantasy genre is often filled with a lot of familiar tropes, storylines and characteristics. How do you craft your writing to either avoid or embrace these common elements?

I start by reading a lot of books in the fantasy genre in order to know these tropes and elements. I then decide which elements I don’t like – which is easy for me – and avoid them like the plague. On the other hand, if some moment or character in a book sticks with me, I make sure to investigate why it did so. I don’t want to force anything into one of my stories that doesn’t feel natural or right but if I can include/avoid these tropes then I will.

What can we expect from the next book in the series?

I’m going to avoid spoiling things from book one but I’m so glad you asked this question. I love book two, despite it still needing a lot of TLC. It’s all about stepping forth into the world and experiencing everything for the first time. Kaylan has a lot of challenges ahead of her and she is going to come to understand things she never thought she would.

There are a few new characters – two who I love to write so much and I really think readers are going to adore both of these people.

RELIC, Bronwyn Eley’s debut fantasy novel, is slated for release September 12.

About the author
Bronwyn joined the military right out of high school, where she learnt (among other things) to disassemble and reassemble a rifle blindfolded. After that she spent a lot of her time travelling around the world. Her favourite places (so far) are Scotland, Mongolia, Iceland and Ireland.

Bronwyn finally found her natural habitat when she landed her first job in the publishing industry. While she has always been a writer, it was only when surrounding herself with books that she realised her life’s dream was to become an author. Relic is her first novel.
Bronwyn lives in Sydney and spends her time eating chocolate, reading and practising her martial arts.

You add Relic to Goodreaders HERE, and visit Bronwyn’s website HERE

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