I took a little break, but today I’m back and sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was the other week. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about.
First up, I’d like to talk about I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner. Thank you to Nina Douglas and Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
George has always been in love with their best friend, Eleanor – and has always tried to ignore it.
Now Eleanor is coming of age and expected to marry a suitable man, it doesn’t matter how George feels – they have to let her go. Besides, George is busy avoiding their aunt’s matchmaking, taking over the failing family estate, and trying to keep their dressing in men’s clothes a secret.
Eleanor has always wanted to do everything ‘right,’ including falling in love – but she’s never met a boy she’s interested in. She’s more concerned with finding the perfect match for her cousin Charlotte, and working out why George is suddenly pulling away. But Eleanor’s friendships seem to be falling apart, and she’s beginning to realise that she likes George more than any man she’s met at a ball…
Publication Date: 10th October
TW: transphobia, homophobia, racism, classism, misgendering, infidelity, death of a loved one, grief
My Thoughts:
I Shall Never Fall in Love is a shining beacon of joy, it is just heart-warming.
This was such a wonderful read, full of heart and love amidst its fantastic characters and the romances you just rooted for. The illustrations were sumptuous as well with plenty of detail to discover. Conner’s skill is immense, with characters sparkling off the page and straight into your heart. For me, it was like Heartstopper meets Bridgerton, with those interwoven personal dynamics growing into something more. George, Charlotte and Eleanor are all fantastic, well-developed characters that I fell in love with instantly. The way their relationships develop over the course of the book is excellent as well.
I loved the way real history was woven into this story, with a shade or two of Jane Austen’s Emma too. It felt like a love letter to historical romance, while also spotlighting those who are often excluded from those narratives. Queer history is not something taught in schools, it’s often still surrounded by shame and secrecy. To have something like this is just revelatory on its own, before you start to delve into the beating heart of it.
The use of the graphic novel form also makes the story more accessible and brings these wonderful characters to life. I really enjoyed the amount of details and flourishes in these gorgeous illustrations. There is so much to uncover. Conner cleverly includes a section at the back that talks through the history unpacked in the narrative, which also points out some of these lovely details and equips you to find more.
I Shall Never Fall in Love takes queer angst and found family to create a narrative that shines with love in all its forms.
Next up, I’d like to talk about The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel. Thank you to Penguin Michael Joseph for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Alfred Smettle adores Hitchcock. And who better to become founder, owner and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a remote, sprawling Victorian house sitting atop a hill in the beautiful White Mountains, New England. There, guests can find movie props and memorabilia in every room, round-the-clock film screenings, and an aviary with fifty crows.
For the hotel’s first anniversary, Alfred invites the five college friends he studied film with. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years. Not after what happened. But who better to appreciate Alfred’s creation?
His guests arrive, and everything seems to go according to plan. Until one glimpses someone standing outside her shower curtain. Another is violently ill every time she eats the hotel food. Then their mobile phones go missing. You should always make the audience suffer as much as possible, right?
The guests are stuck in the middle of nowhere, and things are about to get even worse. After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a dead body.
Publication Date: 10th October
TW: death, murder, violence, misogyny, stalking, blackmail, sexual harassment, sexism, illness, cancer
My Thoughts:
The Hitchcock Hotel surpasses its brilliant premise to deliver a tight, twisty thriller that will keep you up, racing through its pages.
I really enjoyed this film-immersed and well-crafted mystery that has a unique and fascinating setting. It is deeply steeped in both filmic and literary celebrations of the genre. Obviously Hitchcock has a strong influence throughout the book with the characters, setting and the style of tension being built up. The characters are immersed in his classic stories and there are plenty of hints for fans to pick up. As a storyteller, he left behind an immense legacy that continues to influence works today. However, I also enjoyed that Wrobel pointed out the more problematic elements of himself and his work. There is a tendency to romanticise the past, particularly with figures lauded as geniuses in their field and I feel like Wrobel walked that tightrope with great care.
As I would expect from anything drawing on Hitchcockian influence, the plotting, pace and tension are superb. Pages seemed to fly by as the night grew darker. It is a twisted tale of obsession and the secrets we bury starting to bubble up once again. I enjoyed how it centred on the fairly toxic friendship of this group and how that has ruptured in the years that followed. They are not particularly happy to be drawn back together and you instantly question why they would. Wrobel moves between past and present, creating a compulsively readable mystery in each timeline. We also move between characters, though always with a slightly voyeuristic third-person detachment from it all. There is this meta sense of being aware of their status as characters in a narrative they have set in motion, but can no longer fully control. Wrobel has plenty of surprises in store, with some killer twists and turns.
The Hitchcock Hotel stays on a razor edge throughout with proceedings feeling foreboding and akin to descending into chaos at any point. It is a wonderfully executed story.
Finally, I’d like to delve into The Hollow and the Haunted by Camilla Raines. Thank you to Titan Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Miles Warren hails from a long line of psychics. Resigned to a life in the family business, Miles is perfectly happy, thank you very much. Apart from the fact he hasn’t told anyone he’s gay, and that he’s constantly exhausted from long nights spent wrangling angry ghosts in creepy cemeteries. Perfectly happy.
But Miles’s comfortable routine is interrupted when he starts having visions of an unfamiliar boy. He soon learns the stranger is Gabriel Hawthorne, whose family have a mysterious, decades-long feud with Miles’s own—and that the visions are a premonition of his murder. Gabriel is everything Miles expects from a Hawthorne: rude, haughty, irritatingly good-looking. But that doesn’t mean Miles is just going to stand by and let someone kill him.
The two form an uneasy alliance, trying to solve Gabriel’s murder before it happens. As they begin to unravel the web of secrets between their families, and with dark magic swirling around them, Miles is horrified to realize that he doesn’t hate Gabriel quiteas much as he’s supposed to. He might even like him.
Too bad Gabriel is probably going to die.
Publication Date: 22nd October
TW: death, murder, violence, homophobia, classism, anxiety, grief, panic attacks, death of a loved one
My Thoughts:
The Hollow and the Haunted was a wonderful and well-paced queer horror mystery filled with excellent twists and some incredibly imagined paranormal elements.
This was the perfect type of book to pick up this time of year. It is perfectly paced with excellent characterisation and a cracking mystery to unravel. Raines builds brilliantly on that incredible premise, just let the story sink its claws into you.
I really enjoyed our central characters of Miles and Gabriel, particuarly Miles at first. He has such an interesting power and one that definitely feels like it could be a curse. Raines weaves his premonitions into the narrative in a way that feels disruptive and different. The two of them have such a great dynamic, with that enemies to maybe something more gradually building up. Their feud is deep-seated with a mysterious family rivalry that involves a bit of death and destruction. I liked how Raines added a class element to this fraught dynamic as well. It grounded it in the midst of the fantasy atmosphere. They’re both fiercely loyal to their families, feeling the weight of their legacies on their shoulders.
The mystery is well-crafted, with plenty of red herrings and surprises in store. It is incredibly paced, with that ticking clock adding a sense of urgency to proceedings. In fact, the whole magic system is deeply fascinating and has a sense of darkness that casts an eerie atmosphere over it all. It is so rich and Raines gives us just enough to keep you craving more. Without giving anything away, the ending is spot on, but I do have a bone to pick with Raines over it. I am beyond excited to see where the story goes next and will be thinking about that ending until then.
The Hollow and the Haunted is a spine-tingling, sensational YA debut that I thoroughly recommend.
A Short Book Lover 
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