One of the things I love about this challenge is that you can substitute certain books. I have made the decision to substitute some of the books on my list because I can’t find them! I have a lot of books in piles and a lot of books in boxes because I am still trying to sort out my library and now I can’t find certain books I had planned to read. I know I own them, I just can’t find them! You can find my original list here.
So here is my new list:
Medea by Rosie Hewlett
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Vertigo by G. S. Jennsen
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien
The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Lady Catherine and the real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon
The Princes in the Tower by Philippa Langley
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom
Hopefully I will manage to read these over the summer.
My next three months are going to be based around my 20 Books of Summer Challenge but I am planning on dividing my planned 20 books between the three months. So here are the planned books I hope to read during June. This month I plan on focusing on physical books as I have my Kindle books planned for July when I am on holiday.
I am currently trying to finish two big books so I’m not sure when I will get around to these but hopefully soon.
I didn’t take part in the 20 Books of Summer last year and I will be honest I really missed it so I knew that I had to take part again this year. I am so pleased that Annabel at AnnaBookBel and Emma at Words and Peace have taken over the challenge. Of course a big thank you goes out to Cathy at 746 Books for creating this amazing challenge.
The challenge runs from June 1st to August 31st. You can find all the details of the challenge here.
I am planning on reading a mix of physical books and kindle books with the hope of lowering my my physical and kindle TBR lists. Some of these books are recent additions to the TBR and some have been sat on the TBR for a very long time.
Medea by Rosie Hewlett
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien
The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Lady Catherine and the real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon
The Princes in the Tower by Philippa Langley
The Curator by Owen King
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom
Wish me luck! If you are taking part please drop me a link and I will head over for a visit.
It was first serialised in the Merry’s Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the chapter “Six Years Afterwards” and so it ended up with nineteen chapters in all. The book revolves around Polly Milton, the old-fashioned girl who titles the story. Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live–but also left out because of her “countrified” manners and outdated clothes.
Review
I was really excited to read this because I love Little Women and the sequels and have always wanted to read more books by Alcott. The version of the book that I bought was a big mistake though. Sadly I got a printed by Amazon edition and it was bizarre to say the least. The book contained weird pictures that didn’t entirely relate to the story and they were all badly pixelated. The layout of the book was also terrible which made the book difficult to read and I found myself wondering who random people were because new names had suddenly appeared but then realised that yet again it was just a wrong name for one of the characters.
Anyway, ignoring all the terrible faults with the publishing I really enjoyed this little story of the adorable Polly. The story begins with Polly visiting her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw and her family. Fanny lives in the city and is fashionable and surrounded by wealthy and fashionable friends. These friends find Polly countrified and old fashioned and this also means that poor Polly feels left out at times. However, Polly soon makes an impression on the Shaw family.
The Shaw family comprises Mr and Mrs Shaw, Grandma, Maud, Tom and of course Fanny. Each of these characters need some sort of help and comfort and little Polly in her own way sees this and helps them.
As the book goes on we see Polly getting older and eventually moving to the city herself and we see her struggles, her loneliness and isolation. However, we also see her grow, we see her learn and appreciate every little thing around her. Polly shows us that there are things to be thankful for everywhere even things we don’t normally consider or even think about Polly considers them and appreciates them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book but for me it was nowhere near as good as Little Women and it just felt less sophisticated in the way it was written than Little Women and the sequels. Whether it is because the book was originally written in a serialised format I don’t know but I didn’t gel with the writing as I usually do. However, I still give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels.
Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise – she’s just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems…
Just one more night. Then I’ll end it.
Alison drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle.
I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up.
Alison’s client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself.
I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing.
But someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything….
Review
This has been sat on one of my TBR trolleys (I have many) for a very long time. In fact I remember buying it on an Amazon deal during one of the many lockdowns but I never seemed to get around to reading it. Thankfully, along came the amazing 20 Books of Summer Challenge and this was the first book I read off my list.
The first thing I will say is that once I started this book I could not put it down. I just loved Tyce’s writing and for a debut novel I was pleasantly surprised by how excellently written this book was. However, there was main problem for me and that was that I hated the main character! I just could not get on with the character of Alison and yes I know she was written that way but gosh she drove me mad! Thankfully, I didn’t let this put me off and carried on reading.
Alison was not the only character I did not like. I really did not like her husband who just felt off from the start. In fact most of the characters in this book I disliked but I loved the storyline and that is what kept me reading and not giving up with this book.
As we are reading about Alison’s chaotic life we also meet Madeleine who Alison is defending. Madeleine is accused of murder and as we learn more about the case we see many parallels between Alison and Madeleine’s lives and situations.
This book made me quite uncomfortable at times but it didn’t put me off and gave me a great deal to think about. It’s also a book that I think will stay with me for a long time and that shows just what a great author Tyce is. This book was a difficult book to rate for me because I loved the way it was written and the storyline but I just could not get on with the characters so in the end I decided to give it 3 out of 5 Dragons. I am really looking forward to reading Tyne’s other books soon and hopefully they won’t sit on my TBR pile for quite so long this time.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Harriet Tyce (1972) is a Scottish barrister and novelist, the author of Blood Orange, The Lies you Told and It ends at midnight.
Lady Book Dragon 