three stars | Lost in a Good Book

Time of My Life by Mary Frame

09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, Fiction Tags: Audiobook, mary frame, rachanee lumayno, three stars, time loop

Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all.

Published: 04 January 2021 (print)/10 August 2021 (audio)
Publisher: Self Published/Self Published
Pages: 270/6 hours, 32 minutes
Narrator: Rachanee Lumayno
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
★ ★ ★ – 3.5 Stars

Today is the worst day of Jane Stewart’s life. And she’s reliving it over and over (and over and over) again.

She’s late to the same make-or-break meeting.

She’s fired from the same soul-crushing job.

And—the cherry on top—she’s dumped by the same lying, selfish dirtbag.

But no matter how many times she relives the same disasters and no matter what she tries to change them, it all ends in the same abysmal mess. Because, apparently, being stuck in a time loop on the worst day of her life hasn’t cured her crippling social anxiety. Go figure.

The one bright spot? Her long-time crush wants to be more than friends…if only she can get them past their first date. And so her happily ever is doomed before it can even begin unless she can find a way to save her job, her heart, and, oh yeah, the space-time continuum.

I love a time loop story, and I like too one that plays with form, though there is something to be said for the classics too. This story dives into a bit of both.

Frame skips over multiple loops almost instantly which was interesting. Part of the fun of time loops is seeing the multiple early loops play out, but after a few the story skips and a lot of it is telling of what Jane has done instead.

There are a lot of deviations from the original day too, Jane changing up her routine almost instantly. Which is fine, but I was hoping for more exploration of the same day for a bit, it’s a core feature of the time loop I think to see characters adapt. This could easily be a time saving thing, and a chance to explore further down the line.

It isn’t all bad, I enjoyed the format in a few place where we see repeats of the same situation play out, but I still think it was an interesting choice to start skipping so soon. Jane comes to terms with it so quickly and it’s curious to see her shift in mindset.

The addition of magical realism – clearly proven early inclusion of magical realism – was also interesting. I like having a cause for these kind of situations. Mysteries are nice, but when something strange happens that has these kind of effects it’s fun.

I enjoyed the resolution to the loop. It was sweet but not over the top and it felt natural which is what you want with a story that has a little bit of magic in it.

Lumayno was a good narrator and it was an easy listening experience that let you fall into the story right away. It’s a relatively short story but one that tells a well-rounded narrative while still being light.

You can purchase Time of My Life via the following

Wordery | Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

24 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, LGBTQIA, Young Adult Tags: Audiobook, caroline sorunke, claire kann, lgbt, LGBTQIA, three stars, young adult

Published: 04 June 2019 (print)/2021 (audio)
Publisher: Swoon Reads/Spotify Audio
Pages: 352/9 hrs and 48 mins
Narrator: Caroline Sorunke
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Winnie is living her best fat girl life and is on her way to the best place on earth. No, not Disneyland–her Granny’s diner, Goldeen’s, in the small town of Misty Haven. While there, she works in her fabulous 50’s inspired uniform, twirling around the diner floor and earning an obscene amount of tips. With her family and ungirlfriend at her side, she has everything she needs for one last perfect summer before starting college in the fall.

…until she becomes Misty Haven’s Summer Queen in a highly anticipated matchmaking tradition that she wants absolutely nothing to do with.

Newly crowned, Winnie is forced to take centre stage in photoshoots and a never-ending list of community royal engagements. Almost immediately, she discovers that she’s deathly afraid of it all: the spotlight, the obligations, and the way her Merry Haven Summer King, wears his heart, humour, and honesty on his sleeve.

Stripped of Goldeen’s protective bubble, to salvage her summer Winnie must conquer her fears, defy expectations, and be the best Winnie she knows she can be–regardless of what anyone else thinks of her.

I almost gave up on this book quite early on. It was uninteresting and I wasn’t connecting to these characters or their weird small town celebration. It is one of those small town beauty pageants that is revered to only those in the town limits. Puddin’ had something similar which was also just as strange.

I persisted because I wanted to see the diversity rep, it had appeared on a few lists and I was reading it as a box ticker instead of any real interest in the plot. Thankfully it got better by the halfway point, by then you get to know the characters and could work around the weird stuff and pick out some good moments.

I liked Winnie, and I liked her opinions and her fight against injustice. The weird pageant isn’t as big of a plot point as I thought it would be which made it better. I zoned out on a few bits but it didn’t impact the plot or my understanding.

It is a great book for representation because it covers a lot of different experiences. Winnie is queer, kinda bi, kinda pan, but queer easily covers it. Despite armed with this knowledge I’m still not entirely sure what the deal is with Cara. There is mention of a queer platonic relationship which is fantastic, and she has been pegged as aromatic but it is vague within the story. Again, unspecified is totally fine, there doesn’t need to be neon signs and labels pointing everything out to a reader, but sometimes it is nice having things confirmed. I think the implications are enough to go on though, especially given Kann’s history of writing LGBTQIA rep.

Around the strong opinions and the personal strife the story does get boring again but you power through. There’s generational issues to explore plus there are good, serious, and honest conversations between friends and family members which is a nice change from unrealistically avoiding conversations for plot tension.

Overall it’s slow, it’s a bit boring, but I can see it is important and Winnie is a good character to tell the story. Sorunke is a decent narrator and brought Winnie’s voice to life. I liked that the ending wasn’t a perfect happily ever after. It felt real, and it felt hopeful, which is all you could ask for really.

You can purchase If It Makes You Happy via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Henry the Flying Emu by Niraj Lal

18 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: adam carruthers, children's picture book, niraj lal, picture book, three stars

Published: 1st June 2021
Publisher: Woodslane Press
Illustrator: Adam Carruthers
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Henry the emu wanted to FLY! But flying fish, eagles, and launchers cant seem to help. Its only after meeting Wallagoot Jean that Henry learns about the science of orbit, and the importance of flying first with his mind.

This was an interesting but slightly underwhelming book for what I was expecting so I suppose that’s on me a little. Weirdly enough it also took a few goes to work out the rhythm of the rhyme and found I could only find it was by reading it out loud. It isn’t hard, but for some reason my brain wouldn’t do it. It’s kind of like the old limericks or nonsense poems in rhythm, the closest I could think of was The Owl and the Pussycat beat. It was fun once I got the hang of it.

It isn’t a long book but it is broken up into chapters as we follow Henry’s journey of flight. It’s a curious concept in that it mentions that it’s impossible to fly, but at the same time trying hard and imagining he can results in Henry actually doing it? I think. It does make it sound like he really achieved this and it isn’t in his imagination which is nice for Henry I suppose. There’s maths and calculations, and a little bit about space mixed throughout so there is a bit more than pure faith and trust getting Henry in the air. I liked that it teaches you about how orbits work and how calculations can help adjust your results. It was a nice addition from only belief getting him his dream.

Carruthers’ illustrations are great. The full page art is bold, the colours are classic outback reds and brown, and the designs are fun, I enjoyed looking at the little details. Henry’s expression is fun and the other characters are quirky but not overly cartoony.

I love finding books that have no online review presence, like I’m the only person who read and reviewed this thing. It’s all over the buying websites though so someone else must know about this book besides me, but I have had to add it manually into Storygraph and it’s got no reviews on Goodreads so that’s always strange. Overall it was a nice read. I am a little let down because I thought it was going to be a bit better. It wasn’t bad, it was fun, not overly funny or anything but an interesting concept and execution. I enjoyed the rhyme choice and the illustrations so I’m taking that as a win.

You can purchase Henry the Flying Emu via the following

QBD | Blackwell’s

Dymocks | Wordery

Amazon | Amazon Aust

Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

15 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy Tags: Adjoa Andoh, Allan Corduner, clare corbett, Jane Collingwood, John Sessions, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Katherine Kingsley, Lara Pulver, Michael Maloney, moira quirk, Niamh Walsh, Peter Forbes, Sean Baker, three stars

Published: 23 October 2014 (print)/22 September 2015 (audio)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc/Harper Audio
Pages: 72/1 hrs and 5 mins
Narrator: Jane Collingwood, Clare Corbett, Allan Corduner, Katherine Kingsley, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lara Pulver, Niamh Walsh, Adjoa Andoh, Peter Forbes, John Sessions, Michael Maloney, Sean Baker
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fairytale
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

I love the style of fairytale retellings where they are still trying to be fairytales. They aren’t modern, they aren’t new genres. Instead we get retellings that are like an existing fairytale. There’s the rule of three as well as characters who are wise and profound but also people who are miscreants and tricksters. Gaiman keeps the dark creativity of Grimm’s original tales and there is a bold and deep fairytale tone throughout.

I wasn’t expecting this to be anything other than Gaiman’s take on Sleeping Beauty but there is a mix of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty references in this retelling as the characters are clearly from these stories. They are recognisable but not tired tropes and Gaiman has a great new approach to them that turns expectations on their head in a really clever way.

The Queen (Snow White) and her dwarfs are in a neighbouring kingdom to one that fell prey to a sleeping spell seventy years prior. I love the implication that the fairytales all exist in the same universe (why not given the overlapping themes and magic in many of them?). As the sleeping sickness starts to spread it’s up to the queen to seek out and stop it before it impacts others in the realm.

It is a relatively quick read but it has a lasting impact like all fairytales want to do. I did this as an audiobook which probably was part of the experience. Oral storytelling works so well with fairytales and the dark twist on how fairytales are meant to be adds another layer. I know the book has amazing illustrations by Chris Riddell but the audio isn’t lacking a bit of magic either. Having so many narrators makes it a little like a radio play but it doesn’t feel like a radio play either. It’s a compelling story with each character given their own voice which brings it to life.

You can purchase Sleeper and the Spindle via the following

QBD | | Blackwell’s

Dymocks | Wordery

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Long Lost Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

10 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Long Lost Reviews, Young Adult Tags: laurie halse anderson, long lost review, Long Lost Reviews, three stars, young adult

Published: 01 April 2001
Publisher: Puffin
Pages: 202
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

“Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say.”

From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her.

As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party.

This book is revered and I enjoyed it when read it in 2017. I never got around to writing a review though. Not for lack of want, but time got away from me and then I didn’t have many notes to be able to give it a proper analysis, only the memory of a few scenes and the feeling it was impactful and important. Looking at my rating I only gave it three stars which isn’t terrible, but I was surprised given how impactful I remember some scenes being. Though a few great scenes mean little when I can’t remember a lot of the rest of the book.

What I do know is I really resonated with Melinda. I understood her, I understood her silence, and art was a great form of expression for her. You understand as you read what has happened, you piece it together and even though you know, you’re compelled to keep reading.

It definitely doesn’t escape you that this is an important book, and Halse Anderson has done a fantastic job at telling it from Melinda’s experience. We are shown so much more than we are told but shown so beautifully it’s basically spelled out on the page. Certainly from 1999 it was groundbreaking book and even now it’s been released as a graphic novel so Melinda can share her experience with a new audience.

It’s only short but packs a punch. Ironically writing this Long Lost Review might make me reread it again and understand why I gave it a three star rating. I feel a lot of the rest of the book was the usual US American high school stuff that feels unnatural and unrealistic (whether that’s true or not it’s how I feel sometimes reading it). I might pick up the graphic novel and see, or revisit the book and give it another chance.