The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Hey everyone,

So I’m not reviewing a romance book today. In fact its probably as far from a romance as one can get, however, through the course of reading The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, I realised I had quite a few things I wanted to say. So without further ado, lets start the review (and yes I did intend for that to rhyme).

The book:

"There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed...”

On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office-leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.

But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist-an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .

Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand-and fear-the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?

My thoughts:

If you follow me on Instagram (Bookstagram) you might have noticed that this book has been in my photos for a few weeks. This is partly due to the beautiful cover that I loved photographing and also because The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton took me a while to read. Normally I zoom through book, roughly reading three or four books a week on average. Yet for some reason I just couldn’t get my teeth into this one and I’m not entirely sure why.

“ To be reduced by her own mother caused her a new sort of distress, and grief for her father was replaced by a sort of grief for herself ”

The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester

Hey everyone,

Oh. My. God. I’m not reviewing a romance book today?! Can it be true? Yes, yes it can! The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester is a historical fiction novel focused around the suffragette movement that gained momentum in the early 1900s. Thrown in with all the political intrigue, and the fight for women’s rights is a good old fashioned mystery!

The book:

1912 and London is in turmoil…

The suffragette movement is reaching fever pitch but for broke Fleet Street tomboy Frankie George, just getting by in the cut-throat world of newspapers is hard enough. Sent to interview trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, Frankie finds herself fascinated by the tightly laced acrobat and follows her across London to a Mayfair corset shop that hides more than one dark secret.

Then Ebony Diamond mysteriously disappears in the middle of a performance, and Frankie is drawn into a world of tricks, society columnists, corset fetishists, suffragettes and circus freaks. How did Ebony vanish, who was she afraid of, and what goes on behind the doors of the mysterious Hourglass Factory? 

From the newsrooms of Fleet Street to the drawing rooms of high society, the missing Ebony Diamond leads Frankie to the trail of a murderous villain with a plot more deadly than anyone could have imagined…

My thoughts:

Due the mysterious nature of this book I will endeavour to keep my review spoiler free because part of the joy of The Hourglass Factory are all the twists and turns in the plot. I loved the way we, the readers, discover what was really happening to Ebony Diamond alongside Frankie and her band of misfits.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Hey everyone,

Today I’m reviewing The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, arguably a comedy with strong-romantic elements, rather than a contemporary romance. This book has been out for over two years and is extremely well-known, therefore I decided it was about time I read it for myself and see what all the fuss is about!

The book:

“I’m not good at understanding what other people want.”

“Tell me something I don’t know...”

Love isn’t an exact science - but no one told Don Tillman. A handsome thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don’s never had a second date. So he devises The Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner. Enter Rosie - ‘the world’s most incompatible woman’ - throwing Don’s safe, ordered life into chaos. Just what is this unsettling, alien emotion he’s feeling?

My thoughts:

Is it weird that I don’t really know how I feel about The Rosie Project? It was an easy read and I pretty much devoured it in two days but now looking back on some of the scenes I can’t really explain why I enjoyed it.