The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Pages: 502

First Published: 2012

What is it about: Marco's and Celia's life have been intertwined by something bigger than they could even imagine. One game that can result in one winner only. The rules? Do your job. Setting? A circus of dreams, that only opens at night, you don't know when or where. It simply appears one day and it might be gone the other. A game that goes on for many years, even before the circus is open. A game that has been going on way before Marco and Celia. Who will be the winner?

My Thoughts: I have to admit, I've never heard of this book until probably a month or so ago. It appeared one day in my Amazon research and I got intrigued by the storyline. I simply had to have it.

It started a bit slow, I am really impatient with books and want for the main event to arrive soon, but I felt like the circus was not even mentioned at the beginning and did not understand where it was leading to. But once the circus arrived, oh boy, I could not put the book down. Everything was magical. Reading this book made me feel like when I was reading as a child, I have not felt like this in a very long time. All the books I've been reading lately make me feel so grown up and I cannot transport myself in the world described between those pages. But with the Night Circus I was just able to do so. Everything was described so well that when I had to look away from the pages for one reason or the other, I was surprised to be still in my room rather than inside one of the circus tents. 

The characters were also fascinating, although I feel like one or two of them were superfluous to the storyline.

I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone who wants to escape reality for a little bit and feel that spark we all had as children.

Ciao ciao ♥

V.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

Title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Pages: 390
First Published: 2018
What is it about: Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled existence. Except, sometimes, everything...

My Thoughts: I am a bit behind time with this book. When everyone was reading it when it first came out, I did not understand what the fuss was all about. So, when I saw a copy of the book in a charity shop, I decided to pick it up.
I have to admit, when I started it, it was so strange that I almost put it down. I powered through a few more pages and I was hooked!

Eleanor is a very strange woman. She has no clue how to interact with other people, resulting in extremely embarrassing and extremely funny at the same time.

Something has happened in her past and she doesn't talk about it. She has locked it far away in her mind, but this is affecting her reality.
She experience love for the first time and it's like watching teenagers with their first crush.

"Well, there was a man that I took a bit of a liking to, a little

crush, you might say, and I got slightly carried away, and then I

realised that, actually, I'd been a bit silly. We weren't going to be

together. And he - well, it turned out that he wasn't even right 

for me anyway. He wasn't the man I thought he was. I felt sad

about that, and I felt extremely stupid for getting it all so wrong. 

That's all it was..."

- - - - - SPOILER ALERT beyond this line - - - - -

But the book is more than this. There is a story of abuse and murder. Eleanor is this way because of her mother. She is very much conditioned to what she thinks of her, even after all this time. Reading the book, I found myself thinking, well, why don't you just stop talking to her; she's not good for you, you can clearly do better. And yet, Eleanor, never missed her weekly call with "Mommy", as she calls her.
I definitely don't want to spoil the whole book here; but this story is funny and it makes you think at the same time. For how much a person thinks their strong on their own, we all need help, we all need love.
I am guilty of this myself. I always think that I am a strong independent woman, that I don't need anyone in my life but myself. And for how much I still believe this, there are moments in which a simple phone call or a text from my family means more than anything in the world.
I am blessed to have such amazing family and friends that I can count on for anything. Good and bad things.
This book makes you think.
This book made me think.
If anyone needs help, I invite them to seek it. Whether in a family member, in a friend or in a stranger - sometimes it's easier - but do not bottle up your feelings.
Life is beautiful and everyone deserves to live it in full.

Ciao Ciao,
V.

The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin

Title: The Immortalists
Author: Chloe Benjamin
Pages: 346
First Published: 2018
What is it about: Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya, four siblings that in 1969 visit a woman who can predict the exact day of everyone's death.
At the time they are only 4 Jewish children living in New York with their mother after their dad's death.
 How would they react about knowing the date of their own death?

My Thoughts: I had great expectations about this book, I really did. It started off pretty good, I was hooked. I read the first half of the book pretty quickly, it was interesting the way the author portrayed Simon and Klara. They were great characters. Until the day of their death. After that, Chloe Benjamin, goes on talking about these other two siblings, Daniel and Varya, not even remotely interesting as the first two. I think even the author liked Simon and Klara a lot better. They were independent, they were free, they did exactly what they wanted to do without fearing the consequences. At the end of the day, they knew exactly when their "end date" would be, so why not live fully? 

The author tells their stories separately, from the youngest sibling to the eldest. 

Simon is a gay teenager in the 70s, he runs away from New York so he can fully experience his homosexuality. 

Klara loves magic, she knows she has that something special, she knows she can make it as a magician, but she can't do it in New York, she has to go away also.

Daniel and Varya are just two normal people. They live a completely normal life, but even so, their lives are based on what happens to their younger siblings. 

As I said, I really liked the first part because it was concentrated on Simon and Klara, who I liked really much. When it goes on to Daniel and Varya, I slowed down a lot. I just wasn't interested anymore on what those two did.

Ciao Ciao

V.

Book Review: The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker

Wow!
I don't even have any other words to describe it.
My good friend Elisa has recommended this book to me and when I finished it she asked me how it was and I just didn't know what to say.
I will try to review this book without spoiling it too much, although I see it a bit hard to do.

So, the basic story is that Harry Quebert gets arrested for killing a 15-years-old girl disappeared 33 years before the discovery of her body.
Marcus Goldman, a good friend of Harry, intervenes to help his friend and prove his innocence.

The book is 615 pages long and - I kid you not - every page is filled with an unexpected turn!
There was not a minute where I was like "WTF is happening!!", screaming in my room cause I did not see one thing or the other coming.

I must admit, I had an intuition on who the murderer was from the beginning, but I just didn't know the reason. And believe me, you will never see it coming.

Sky is now airing the TV serie of the book, I saw the first episode before I read the book, but managed to finish the book before I saw any other episode. So now I can enjoy the TV serie.

I could go on talking about this forever, but it will be full of spoilers and believe me, you want to read this without spoilers!

If anyone has read it and wants to talk about it, please feel free to message me!

Ciao Ciao,
V.

Book Review: Another Woman's Husband - Gill Paul

Well, this was another great novel by Gill Paul. I read this book in 24 hours, that's how hooked I was.

This is the story of two women that have deeply affected the course of the English Monarchy.
From one hand we have Wallis Simpson, a divorcee that captured the English prince's (and then king) heart; on the other hand there's Princess Diana, whose death is still a mystery.

I knew about Lady D., even if at the time of her death I was too young, I watched documentaries, I watched movies and heard all about it.
What I didn't know, it was Wallis Simpson. Yes, I knew who she was - those English history classes actually paid off - but I didn't know anything else about her. It was such an insight!
I even bough another biography about her because I was so fascinated after reading this novel and I want to find out even more.

What Gill Paul has written, is a novel based on the truth. Like all historical fiction, there are some true facts and some others are made up.
The story goes back and forth from the "becoming" of Wallis to the accident of Lady D. and the inconclusive (might I add) search of the truth. The author has great knowledge about every historic period she writes, and this is an enormous bonus in her books.

The book was well written and intriguing. I am a big fan of historical fiction books because I always learn something new. I am very looking forward to read Paul's new novel coming out in October!

Ciao Ciao  ♥

V.