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A group of friends embark on the Coast to Coast hike across England. As in One Day, David Nicolls writes human emotion extremely well; you hear what the characters are saying whilst knowing what they want to say, which makes the reader root for their relationship to work out so much more. It’s a warm, delicate romcom of a book, and I’m sure it will be adapted into a television series soon.

Rebecca F. Kuang ~ Yellowface ~ 7/10. 

A satire on the publishing industry, Yellowface is funny (at times far fetched) and I raced through it. It explores who has the right to create and tell a story, and to whom an idea belongs to. The themes reminded me of John Boyne’s, ‘A Ladder to the Sky’. Yellowface is so different from Babel in its pace and storyline, and Kuang’s versatility means I’m very excited to read her other work. 

Taylor Jenkins Reid ~ Carrie Soto is Back ~ 6/10.

A documentary-movie type style of a book based on a female tennis player’s comeback to the grand slams. It was an easy read and great to get in the tennis spirit before Wimbledon!

Elena Ferrante ~ My Brilliant Friend ~ 9.5/10. 

Wow - what a novel. I absolutely loved it; the character portrayals and the honesty of their emotions, the interwoven storylines between the families in the fractured neighbourhood, and the vivid descriptions Naples all come alive in the pages. There are so many scenes that stayed in my head; the dance evening, the fireworks on the roof, Elena and Lina skipping school to go to the sea, the last night on the island, the list goes on. It really was amazing and I’m so excited to read the next books in the Neapolitan Quarter. 

Stacey Halls ~ Mrs England ~ 7/10.

A young woman leaves London to become a nanny for the children of a wealthy family who are the owners of a prolific mill in West Yorkshire. It’s atmospheric and gothic and keeps you captured to the story until the end. I really enjoyed the style of writing.