Month: February 2024

Book Review: Nuclear Family by Kate Davies

Posted on by Libby Price

Nuclear Family was recommended in Red Magazine, and I was delighted to be granted an advance review copy by Net Galley. I’d heard high praise for Kate Davies’s previous book ‘In At The Deep End’, although haven’t yet read it myself, but I had high hopes for this too. Here’s the blurb:

“When Lena buys DNA testing kits for her father Tom and her twin sister Alison, she thinks they’ll enjoy finding out where their ancestors come from, and what percentage Neanderthal they are. She has no idea the gift will blow her family apart.
Tom is forced to admit that he isn’t his daughters’ biological father: he and his late wife, Sheila, used a sperm donor. He’s terrified Lena and Alison will reject him, and desperate to win back their trust – whatever it takes.
Alison thinks DNA doesn’t matter. She and her wife are trying to start a family using donor sperm, too. To her, Tom is their dad, and that’s that.
But Lena becomes obsessed with tracking down their biological father. And when she discovers she has a half-brother – an actor with a blue tick on Instagram – she becomes obsessed with him, too…
From the author of the Polari Prize-winning In at the Deep End, this is a very funny and deeply moving novel about identity, donor conception and what it means to be a family.”

I really enjoyed this book. The chapter titles are a work of art before you even get into the content of the book itself! The storyline is modern, well written, funny, emotional – and really makes you think.

Whilst my husband and I have both done the DNA kits mentioned in the blurb and that feature as a key part of the book – ours didn’t reveal anything shocking, but I have had a conversation with someone who works with troubled families, who said that she could see them causing huge issues – exactly as happens in this book.

We’re also really lucky that we had 4 quick to conceive and successful pregnancies and births (even with a vasectomy and reversal between children 2 and 3 – that’s a whole other blog post!) but I appreciate we were incredibly fortunate – and the book looks at many different ways in which a family can be created. Having read the acknowledgements, it’s evident that a number of these different family structures are based upon the authors own experiences as a child and subsequently as a parent.

Whilst each of the characters I felt was at times a bit selfish – fundamentally they all love each other deeply. I also liked the fact that some non-traditional topics such as older people embarking on a new sexual relationship, and trans men carrying a child, are part of the supporting story arcs and not thrust front and centre, but discussed as being totally normal.

The book also doesn’t end with all of the elements of the story tied up in a neat bow – which would have been a total sell out to – so I’m pleased with that.

I also think this would be an interesting book to discuss at a book club if you’re that way inclined!

I’m every so slightly behind with my reviewing – and this came out last week, so if you like the sound of it you can order it right now!

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my ARC.

Book Review: The Island Swimmer by Lorraine Kelly

Posted on by Libby Price

Like most people in the UK – I’ve grown up with Lorraine Kelly ever present on my TV screen – the definition of a National Treasure! So when I heard she’d written her first novel, I was delighted to be granted an advance review copy by Net Galley. If you need to read the blurb – rather than just read a book because you love the author – here it is:

“Once the tide turns, you can’t hold it back…
When Evie’s father falls desperately ill, she finally returns to the family home on Orkney and the wild landscape she left as a teenager, swearing never to return. Not everyone is happy at her arrival, particularly her estranged sister Liv, their relationship broken after a childhood trauma.
As Evie clears out her father’s neglected house to prepare it for sale, lonely Evie finds herself drawn to a group of cold-water swimmers led by her old friend Freya, who find calmness beneath the waves. Together they help Evie face up to the mistakes in her past, unlocking a treasure of truths that will reverberate through the community, and shake her family to its core.”

The book follows three different time lines:

The 1970s when Evie’s parents are meeting for the first time and starting their relationship;
2004 when Evie leaves Orkney after an unknown trauma; and
the present day when Evie returns to her family home after finding out her father is seriously ill.

Each of the individual timelines has a storyline in its own right – and it was lovely seeing them unwind and how they impacted on each other.

Getting to know Evie and the supporting cast of characters was great – and the descriptions of Orkney and the different settings there was really evocative. It sounds stunning.

Whilst the book is primarily is a family drama – it does touch on other topics such as coercive control, discrimination faced by trans people, cancer and accidental death – so there is definite light and shade.

I have to say that there were some grammatical errors and words missing or repeated in sentences – but I suspect those will be dealt with before the book is actually published (and I am a total pedant!) as this was an advanced review copy.

Overall I would say the book is exactly what you’d expect from Lorraine Kelly – feel good, clever, warm, community spirited, but with enough spice and cheekiness to be interesting! A warm hug of a book.

Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC. It came out on 15 February 2024 – so you can buy it now.

Book Review: Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

Posted on by Libby Price

I appear to be one of the few people who didn’t read Kiley Reid’s debut novel ‘Such A Fun Age’ – which ended up being one of the books of 2020 and a Sunday Times bestseller. So when I heard she had a new book out – I requested an advance review copy from Net Galley. Here’s the blurb:

“Everything comes at a price. But not everything can be paid for.
Millie wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house. She’s slowly saving up from her job on campus, but when a visiting professor offers her an unusual opportunity to make some extra money, she jumps at the chance.
Agatha is a writer, recovering from a break-up while researching attitudes towards weddings and money for her new book. She strikes gold when interviewing the girls in Millie’s dorm, but her plans take a turn when she realises that the best material is unfolding behind closed doors.
As the two women form an unlikely relationship, they soon become embroiled in a world of roommate theatrics, vengeful pranks and illicit intrigue – and are forced to question just how much of themselves they are willing to trade to get what they want.
Sharp, intimate and provocative, Come and Get It takes a lens to our money-obsessed society in a tension-filled story about desire, consumption and bad behaviour.”

Before I started reading this I noticed that it had really mixed reviews on Net Galley – with some people questioning the lack of storyline – but I decided to not be deterred and started reading!

The book tells the story from the view points of various people based around a University dorm – Agatha and Millie as mentioned in the blurb – but also Kennedy, who is one of the students in the dorm around which the story is based. Whilst there is a ‘real time’ timeline – it also looks at the back story of each of the characters, and thus what has made them who they are today.

I can totally see where the reviews are coming from with the story not really going anywhere. Observationally it is brilliant, and you really get a feel for campus life – and the characters are very well described – but I just didn’t get the point of the book. I kept reading to see if something exciting happened – and it just never really did. 

It feels like after the acclaim given to the author’s first book – this ‘difficult second album’ didn’t really hit the spot.

Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC. You can ‘Come and Get It’ right now, as it was published on Tuesday 30 January 2024.