I have some more mini book reviews to share with you all today! I’m slowly catching up now. 🙂

Him by Clare Empson

This book was incredible, I read it months ago now and have put off reviewing it because it’s impossible to put into words what I thought of it. In the present day Catherine has elective mutism, something traumatic has happened to her and now she can’t speak. It’s heart-breaking knowing the pain she’s in, and the struggle she’s having while knowing she can’t articulate what she’s thinking. In the past, fifteen years previously we slowly get to see Catherine and Lucien’s story. Lucien is from a different walk of life to Catherine and spends his time with his friends being rather unlikeable. Catherine and Lucien had a passionate and fiery relationship. The book flicks between the past and the present and we see Catherine and Lucien’s perspectives. Gradually we begin to see why these two fell for each other and a sense of unease begins to build as to why Catherine has ended up unable to speak. The end when it comes is a shock and left me breathless. This is one of those books that is impossible to do justice to but it’s beautifully written, compelling and just brilliant. I highly recommend this on. I’m already looking forward to whatever Clare Empson writes next!

The Dark Path / You Were Made For This by Michelle Sacks

I read this novel when it was called You Were Made For this but I believe it’s now been re-titled The Dark Path. I prefer the first title but the new one works too. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this novel but it wasn’t what I got (and that’s a good thing!). It initially seems that Merry is the perfect mother to her young baby – she bakes, gardens and supports her husband whilst looking after their child. Sam is busy pursuing his film career from their new home in the woods in Sweden. Then Merry’s old friend Frank comes to stay and soon the cracks in the Merry and Sam’s marriage, and in each of their careful facades, begin to show. This book quickly feels dark, there’s so much tension simmering away and you just know something awful is going to happen but you don’t know what. I found this book really hard to put down and when I finished it it was lodged in my head for such a long time. I recommend this!

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

This book was really good, it was such an engrossing read and I still keep thinking about it and it’s weeks and weeks since I read it. This novel follows multiple women in a world were their reproductive rights have been stripped from them. Ro is a single woman who is desperate to be a mother, she can’t adopt because she’s not married and IVF is now illegal. One of Ro’s students is pregnant but doesn’t want to be; abortion is illegal so she’s desperate to find some way of getting rid of her baby. Gin is an outcast, who lives on the fringes of their society, she makes potions and natural remedies to help women but now the authorities are on a witch-hunt. This book is chilling to read at times, it feels very prescient and very possible. It’s a brilliant novel though, one that really makes you think as you learn more about the different perspectives and find out how these women are linked. This is a book I definitely recommend.

Vox by Christine Dalcher

I’ve been so eager to read this novel, it’s such a fascinating concept. Pretty much over night women are rendered powerless – their bank accounts are frozen, their passports have been taken away and they all wear a bracelet which counts each of the 100 words they’re allowed to use per day. If they go over that, they are shocked with high volts of electricity. Jean is the main character in this novel. She’s struggling to discipline her sons when she can’t speak in a normal way; one son is beginning to see himself as more powerful and she doesn’t know what she can do. She’s also finding it really hard to help her young daughter to understand that she can’t speak even when she’s having a nightmare and frightened. For me, the first two thirds of this book were really good, I didn’t want to put it down and was keen to see how things were going to end up. Unfortunately the last third took away from the first part as even when women were sensing a chance to re-gain power, the men were still involved. I also struggled throughout the book with strange phrasing and metaphors that made no sense.  All in all this was an interesting read and I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it but it didn’t live up to my expectations.