Tag: #literaryfiction

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ARC Book Review: Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu

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Title: Here Again Now

Author: Okechukwu Nzelu

Publisher: Dialogue Books

Length: 288 pages

Synopsis: Achike Okoro feels like his life is coming together at last. His top-floor flat in Peckham is as close to home as he can imagine and after years of hard work, he’s about to get his big break as an actor. He’s even persuaded his father, Chibuike, to move in with him, grateful to offer the man who raised him as a single parent a home if his own. Between filming trips, Achike is snatching a few days in London with Ekene, his best friend of twenty years, the person who makes him feel whole. Achike can put the terrible things that happened behind him at last; everything is going to be alright. Maybe even better. But after a magical night, when Achike and Ekene come within in a hair’s breadth of admitting their feelings for each other, a devastating event rips all three men apart. In the aftermath, it is Ekene and Chibuike who must try to rebuild. And although they have never truly understood each other, grief may bring them both the peace and happiness they’ve been searching for…

This is by far my favourite book of 2022. It was the first book I read this year because I knew it would be special. And it was. It truly was.

Here Again Now, is a book about love. Love in all it’s forms. What it’s like to feel it but not say, what it’s like to not be able to admit, what it’s like to not be able to show, to not be ready for it. Okechukwu takes the reader to the depths of what love is and what it really means.

It’s about romantic love, in the case between Ekene and Achike. First Okechukwu captures the intamcy between them perfectly. It feels so real, so raw, yet it feels like it can be taken away at any second. It’s tinged with the awkwardness and the uncertainty and it crackles on the page. To read love between two men like this is just an absolute treat. 

It also explores the precarious relationship of Achike and his father Chibuike. The love here is so tenuous and constricted and Okechukwu conveys it perfectly. It’s also a deep look at the damage that can be done when love it withheld, when its conditional. What I really enjoy about the novel is how Okechukwu shows how simple love really is, how joyful it can be before aspects get in the way.

Here Again Now is full of complex characters that really will earn a place in your heart. I know I’ll never forget Achike and Ekene. All these characters are dealing with grief, masculinity, what it means to be your true self. And it’s all glorious to read.

Okechukwu is a phenomenal writer. I can’t tell you how many times the beauty in his words made me cry. I had to pause reading a lot to really let it sink in what I’d just read. I still think about the writing in this book. It’s so tender and searing honest. Okechukwu said he’s put his soul into this book and you can absolutely feel.

There are moments in this book that shocked me, that broke me but I was left with a feeling of hope. Basically what I’m trying to say is its one of my new favourite books and you should all read it! Okay!

Here Again Now is a tender exploration of love in its many forms that will soar into readers hearts with lyrical prose.

I can’t recommend this book to you all enough. I think it’s truly something special.

Thank you to the publishers for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out today.

Until the next review

Jthbooks

#fiction, #literature, #memoir, author, blog, book blog, book blogger, book bloggers, book review, books, fiction, gay, literary ficton, queer, review, Uncategorised, ya

October Wrap Up

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Another month come and gone and October was a strange reading month for me. Some of the books I absolutely loved, some I hated and some I felt let me down a little.

I only managed to read seven books, it felt like more and I was a little shocked at that number.

So let’s talk about the books shall we?

First up was Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Loved this. Absolutely loved it. It’s definitely one of favourites of the year. It’s so imaginative and immersive. I adored how the story connected and it’s just pure bliss. Thank you so much to the publishers for my copy.

Then I read The Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. A brilliant and original fantasy book, which is part of a new series that I absolutely loved. Full of fantastic characters and African mythology. I adored it. And who doesn’t love mermaids? Thanks to the publishers for my copy. It’s out now. You can check out my full review here.

Thirdly I read The Selfless Act of Breathing by JJ Bola. This a book that slowly creeps up on you, and it definitely has left me thinking about this book long after I finished it. But I’m also left with the feeling that something was missing. It was times incredibly powerful. Thanks so much to the publishers for my copy. It’s out now.

Next up I read The Madness of Grief by The Reverend Richard Coles. A really heartbreaking memoir, that I did at times feel could’ve gone a little deeper. I maybe needed a little more, but it definitely had me emotional at times. You can pick this one up now.

Up next I read The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. I had such high hopes for this book, but I ultimately didn’t like it. At all. It took me such a long time to read and I found myself not caring at all. This one is out now.

Sixth up I read Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Beautifully written, with such heart and heartbreak. Did I feel it was a little too long? Yes. But in the middle of the book, when Maggie is writing about grief, it doesn’t get better. It just doesn’t. This one is out now.

Lastly I read Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Rawaguchi. This book is a little bit of magic. It can’t be denied. There is something really beautiful about this, without it ever going to far. I adored it. The more I think about it, the more I love it. This one is out now.

So that’s it for me this month. Have you read any of these? Let me know.

Until the next review

Jthbooks

#contemporary, #fiction, #literature, author, blog, book blog, book blogger, book bloggers, book review, books, historical fiction, literary ficton, review, Uncategorised, ya

Arc Book Review: Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

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Title: Damnation Spring

Author: Ash Davidson

Publisher: Tinderpress

Length: 442 pages

Synopsis: For generations, Rich Gundersen’s family has made a living felling giant redwoods on California’s rugged coast. It’s treacherous work, and though his son Chub wants nothing more than to set into his father’s boots, Rich longs for a bigger future for him. Colleen just wants a brother or sister for Chub, but she’s losing hope. There’s so much that she and Rich don’t talk about these days – including her suspicion that there is something very wrong at the heart of the forest in which their community is built. When Rich is offered the opportunity to buy a plot of timber which borders Damnation Grove, he leaps at the chance – without telling Colleen. Soon the Gundersens find themselves on opposite sides of a battle that threatens to rip their town apart. Can’t they find a way to emerge from this together?

This a strange book for me to review as I went through so many stages of what I felt about this book. At times I thought it was average, at times wonderful, then totally captured by the story and then let down.

I’ll start with the positives, the characters in this are quite incredible. From the very first pages they felt so real. I just felt like I knew them, like I was reading about real people. I think the best character in the book was Colleen. I think Ash Davidson really captured what she was going through incredibly well, it was so moving and heartbreaking. Ash Davidson really can write characters.

This book also tackles some hard-hitting points, such as deforestation, the taking of Native American land and the poisonous spray the used to help with the deforestation. It felt like this book was going to make some really powerful points. The first three quarters of the novel felt like a social commentary of the time this book was set and how everyone felt about the changes happening and it was really interesting.

It wasn’t till about 75% into the book that I realised how attached how had become to the story and the characters when Colleen went against the town people to fight against the poison and the story felt tense and taught. I thought the story was going to go down that route but I was wrong. Then when an incident happened with Chub, the son of the two main characters, I found myself quite emotional and then I thought this book was excellent.

However, then after the incident with Chub, another incident with his father happened and it felt like the whole novel changed course. The two shocking incidents almost cancelled each other out and totally lost their impact. It felt the author just went for shock factor. I couldn’t help but feel let down. The more I thought about it the more it just ruined the story for me.

When these incidences happened, everything else got forgotten about. The poisonous spray, the deforestation, the towns people, the Native American protesting deforestation and conflict between them just never got resolved or even mentioned again. It was strange and slightly jarring. It felt like this meticulously detailed novel and the build up was for nothing.

So when I take all this into consideration Damnation Spring can only come out as an average read for me. I think the thing I’ll remember it for is the disappointing ending and such much promise gone to waste.

Thank you to the publishers for my copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out August 3rd.

Until the next review

Jthbooks

#literature, author, blog, book blog, book blogger, book bloggers, book review, books, bookstagram, fiction, literary ficton, review, Uncategorised, ya

Book Review: Redder days by Sue Rainsford

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Title: redder days

Author: Sue Rainsford

Publisher: Doubleday UK

Length: 258 pages

Synopsis: Twins Anna and Adam live in abandoned commune in a volatile landscape where they prepare for the world-ending event they believe is imminent. Adam keeps watch by day, Anna by night. They meet at dawn and dusk. Their only companion is Koan, the commune’s former leader, who still exerts a malignant control over their daily rituals. But when one of the previous inhabitants returns, everything Anna and Adam thought the knew to be true is thrown into question.

I read Follow Me To Ground by Sue and I absolutely loved it and then I found out she had a new book coming out and I couldn’t have been more excited. I also couldn’t wait to read it and picked it up right away. After reading this book, I think its fair to say that Sue Rainsford has become an auto-buy author for me. Whatever she writes, I’ll read.

Redder days is so intriguing and consuming that I couldn’t put it down. Here’s what I loved about the book, you are just dropped in the story and for a while you aren’t sure what’s going on, and how it all happened. And its not until Sue introduces different character perspectives that you begin to piece the story together and it really keeps the novel interesting and kept me totally hooked.

The writing, much like Sues plotting, is so clever. The story at times is so brutal and harsh, but Sue’s writing is so engaging and lyrical that it just keeps you turning the page. It’s such harsh topic but the writing is so lyrical and at times ethereal. The setting feels sparse and empty. Sue captures the atmosphere of this book perfectly. It feels desolate and isolated. This book was like nothing I’ve read before.

Sue writes brilliant characters, they were brilliant in Follow Me To Ground and they are just as brilliant in redder days. They are engaging, twisted, damaged and you can’t help but feel for them. But there was also something about the twins, Anna and Adam, that you can’t connect with and it makes them so intriguing. It shows the effects of two children left behind to grow up in a strange, scary situation. And they are so well crafted that and the story is engrossing that every decision they make, makes sense, even if you didn’t want them to make the decision. It’s just brilliant.

I can’t recommend redder days enough, as I’m sure you can tell I loved it. There’s no one out there writing these unique stories like Sue Rainsford. Redder days is unique and unforgettable. I’m looking forward to reading this again and getting lost in the world and the glorious writing.

Thank you so much to Tabitha at Doubleday Uk for gifting me with a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out March 11th.

Until the next review

Jthbooks