I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was last 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 Honeysuckle & Bone by Trisha Tobias. Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
After a tragedy rips her life apart, Carina Marshall is looking to reinvent herself in her mother’s homeland of Jamaica. With her new gig as the au pair for the wealthy and powerful Hall family at Blackbead House, Carina wants nothing more than to disappear into their world of mango trees, tropical breezes and glamorous parties.
At first, Blackbead House seems like the perfect escape. Carina’s job is pretty easy, her boss is very welcoming and her new friends, especially the handsome and charismatic Aaron, help to ease the loneliness she’s felt for a long time.
But new beginnings don’t come easy. Because Carina isn’t who she says she is, and Blackbead House already knows…
Publication Date: 14th January
CW: death, murder, grief, violence, injury, blood, sexual assault, harassment, gaslighting, manipulation, physical abuse, infidelity
My Thoughts:
Honeysuckle & Bone was an atmospheric and spine-tingling YA story.
I really enjoyed this Jamacia-set Gothic YA mystery. Tobias captures the setting so well – bringing it vividly to life on the page and completely immersing you. There is a vibrancy that is wonderful but also a huge disparity between classes with social tensions brimming over. Within this, it is epitomised by our central setting and the Hall family that resides within. Blackbead House is a classic haunted house with that unsettling feeling beneath exquisite facades. It is a glossy pretence, trying to hide the cracks and disrepair within. Tobias has a wonderful ability to conjure up menace in the scenes and make the house feel like its own character. You can feel that weighty history that has changed the house fundamentally. This is reflected with the Hall family and their hordes of staff too. Not everything is at it seems here. Tobias infuses this with some political and social commentary around power, hierarchies and the corruptive influence of both.
Overall, I thought the book had a brilliant sense of atmosphere, characterisation and good twists. Carina was a great protagonist – conflicted by the secrets she is keeping and exploring this part of her heritage she hasn’t been able to connect with. She is loyal and loving, but has made mistakes that tear her apart. I also like how Tobias includes snippets of Jamaican culture through Carina’s exploration as well. It adds a new element to the story. Through Carina’s story, Tobias explores grief and guilt in such a nuanced way. We all have our own ghosts in so many ways. Tobias interrogates the destructive way regret can eat us up. On the flipside of this, we have the lights of the book: the Young Birds. This is a really lovely friendship group formed of some of the staff – they had great dynamics and dialogue that felt natural & quick.
Honeysuckle & Bone is a sinister and stellar Gothic YA mystery.
Next up, I’d like to talk about I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin by Katy Brent. Thank you to HQ Digital for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
My name is Kitty Collins and I’m a serial killer.
I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it.
Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges.
Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder.
But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?
Publication Date: 30th January
CW: murder, death, gore, violence, rape, sexism, sexual harassment, drugging, domestic abuse, kidnapping, torture
My Thoughts:
I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin is so delectably wicked – it is deliciously dark.
I loved reading How to Kill Men and Get Away with It earlier last year and loved the skewering, sinister tone of the book. It was deeply unsettling but with a twisted sense of humour. So I was delighted to meet Kitty Collins once more. Again this is full of dark comedy and sharp societal insights, particularly around rape culture, the rise of incel thinking and toxic masculinity. It is terrifyingly real. Brent has such a skill for balancing that horrifying reality with bucketloads of dark humour. The writing is fantastic and I will keep reading whatever Brent decides to write. Again, the mystery here is well-paced, gripping and with twists that will astound you. You have an awful sense of foreboding and the tension is kept up in the rafters throughout.
You find yourself rooting for Kitty, even though she is doing pretty horrible and unjustified things sometimes, but sometimes it feels like she is the only possible justice here. In this sequel, she is trying to go cold turkey and struggling with her urges. With the misogynistic society around her though, it is proving very difficult. She is an unlikeable and deeply complicated character but you still can still feel empathy for her. Brent does a wonderful job of adding further dimensions to her here with the plotline around her mother’s wedding. With everything you learnt in the first book, this is an emotionally fraught situation from the off, before you add any bodies to the mix.
I Bet You’d Look in a Coffin is magnificent in its malevolence. It is uncomfortably true to life – holding a mirror up to the monsters amongst us and levelling the balance with blood.
Finally, I’d like to delve into The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King by Harry Trevaldwyn. Thank you to First Ink for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Patch has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it’s goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world!
Unfortunately, the only other “out” boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn’t going to be easy . . . Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam.
Patch is confident that one of them will be his first boyfriend. So, armed with his over-supportive best friend Jean and an alarming level of self-confidence, Patch sets out to make his mission a success. Whether or not they actually like boys or him is a problem for later.
Publication Date: 30th January
My Thoughts:
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King was a sweet and utterly charming YA contemporary story.
This had that kind of embarrassing, silly humour that I love. It felt like a modern take on Adrian Mole or an LGBTQ+, slightly older version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It is the classic tale of an awkward outsider trying to find their place in the world. Patch is fantastic immediately with a flair that captivates and a sense of sass. He thinks he knows everything and has everything mapped out, but life is not quite that simple. Trevaldwyn nails that teenage voice – it is instantly relatable and funny and just warms your heart a little. I really enjoyed following Patch’s story of first love and friendship. Trevaldwyn gives equal weight to both types of relationships, which is so brilliant to see in a YA book especially. It emphasises the power of all types of love.
I also loved how much this book centres around theatre – a space of escapism and high drama, both on and off stage. You get all of these complications but also this safe space, particularly for LGBTQ+ young people. You can be anyone in theatre but it is often one of the first spaces people find where they can also be themselves proudly. This book is such a love letter to that power and the transformation theatre allows for. It is so steeped in musical theatre culture, which is wonderful and adds another layer of humour to proceedings. There is a sense of poking fun at yourself, a type of humour that laughs with rather than at.
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King was a really fun YA contemporary novel about friendship, first love and the power of theatre. It had plenty of heart and humour, which I really enjoyed.
A Short Book Lover 
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