What I've Been Reading Recently- Christmas 2021 Edition| CarenzaOnBooks

I know this post is a bit late, but I wanted to share the books I read in the final months of 2021. I didn't read as much as I wanted and that was because I started my first graduate job as a Christmas Bookseller at my local Waterstones. I'm still working there, which is why I haven't been as active on here and why I wasn't able to read as much as I like. I read 6 books in November and in December, making my total read for 2021 84 books. Let's get into the books I read over Christmas last year! 

November

no one is talking about this by Patricia Lockwood

The reason I read this book is because everyone seems to be talking about it. It was nominated for the Booker and Women's Fiction prize in 2021. I can see what this book was trying to do, it just didn't quite do it for me. I do think it highlighted how we view the internet and online culture. It's been a couple of months since I read it and it didn't really leave an impact on me. I gave it 3/5 stars.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

I enjoyed Detransition, Baby much more than no one it talking about this. The themes of what it means to be a woman today and how they are so varied were very powerful. The characters felt real, they were all over the place and were the type of characters I like to read about. I personally felt the ending was a bit rushed, which is why I ended up giving it 3.5/5 stars. I also have a full, spoiler filled review, which you can read here. 

Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing

I had dabbled with comics before this, but after receiving this as a birthday present, I am very interested in reading more comics. I really enjoyed the Loki TV show and I really enjoyed the source material. It was funny, and had a great story. There are so many comics that I'd love to read after reading this. I gave it 4/5 stars.  

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This was my audiobook listen for November and I would really recommend the audiobook version of this available through Apple Books for free. It's narrated by Karen Gillan, who does an amazing job of narrating this story. For the actual story, I didn't care for it that much. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more as a child as it's a children's classic, but as an adult, I didn't connect with it as much. For the audiobook alone, I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Once Upon a Winter by H.L Macfarlane and others

Taken from Twitter

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an eARC to read before publication and to review. I enjoyed some stories a lot more than others in this collection. I think the idea was strong, but the execution didn't quite work for me. I found the collection a bit too all over the place. I have a full spoiler filled review, which you can read here. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

A reread for my book club. I read this book back in 2017 and adored it. However, I've changed a lot as a reader in the last four years. I did enjoy it this time, but nowhere near as much as I did in 2017. I can see why it's problematic. I think the saving grace is the relationship between Lou and Will as they have such strong chemistry. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

December

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

Historical, feminist fiction is very popular at the moment and with books like The Wolf Den out there, rightly so. I had been wanting to read this for a while and so I finally got around to it in December. This book is brutal, it does not shy away from how awful these women's lives were. But it also shows them coming together and supporting each other in difficult times. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out later this year. I have a full, spoiler filled review, which you can check out here. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R Tolkien

I wish I was as talented as J.R.R Tolkien as this collection was beautiful. The stories in the letters, the artwork that went alongside them. Just everything about these letters was amazing. Even if you aren't a Lord of the Rings fan, I would recommend reading this book. You get to see the letters alongside a typed out version of what was in them. I gave it 4/5 stars

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed it. It was fin and escapist. It was an easy read. On the other hand, it was very poorly written and crafted. There were good and bad things about it. It did hit the spot of a Christmas murder mystery I have a full, spoiler filled review of my thoughts on this book, which you can read here. I gave it 3/5 stars.  

Sex Education: The Road Trip by Katy Birchall

If you are a long time reader of my blog, then you will know I adore Sex Education on Netflix and was very happy when they announced a book to go alongside it. I finally read it in December and sadly I was disappointed. I think the story would have worked better as a one off, longer episode. I also found the writing style very inconsistent, with it randomly switching POVs for one paragraph, before returning to our main POV, which was Maeve. It was a fun and easy read, but I was expecting a bit more from this. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

This was exactly what it said on the tin. It had a cat saving books. And I loved it. It highlighted what it meant to be a reader and the joy we get from books. It's a translated fiction that's been so popular at work. I adored every second of reading this book. The cat was a great character and I would love to read more from this author. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

My final book of 2021 ended up being a bit of a let down. I bought this for my birthday because it looked cool and I had seen a BookTuber I like recommend it. However, I was so confused about what was happening. There was just a bit too much world building and it went over my head a lot of the time. It might be that I picked this up at the wrong time as I wanted something easy to read to finish off my reading for the year. I might give this another chance in the future. But for now, it gets 3/5 stars from me.

What books did you read in November and December??  

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Title- The Wolf Den

Author- Elodie Harper

Series- The Wolf Den trilogy

Published- 2021

Page Count- 451

Publishing House- Head of Zeus 

Genre- historical fiction, feminist

Rating- 4/5 stars 

Trigger warnings- sexual assault, violence and offensive language 

About the Author

Elodie Harper is a journalist and prize-winning short story writer. Her story 'Wild Swimming' won the 2016 Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition, which was judged by Stephen King.

She is currently a reporter at ITV News Anglia, and before that worked as a producer for Channel 4 News. Her job as a journalist has seen her join one of the most secretive wings of the Church of Scientology and cover the far right hip hop scene in Berlin, as well as crime reporting in Norfolk where her first two novels were set – The Binding Song and The Death Knock.

Elodie studied Latin poetry both in the original and in translation as part of her English Literature degree at Oxford, instilling a lifelong interest in the ancient world. The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels about the lives of women in ancient Pompeii.

Taken from Elodie's website.

Plot

Sold by her mother. Enslaved in Pompeii's brothel. Determined to survive. Her name is Amara. Welcome to the Wolf Den...

Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For as a she-wolf, her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara's spirit is far from broken.

By day, she walks the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learnt that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions  

I think this came out at the beginning of the year just as we went into Lockdown because I remember seeing it in the windows of bookshops and thinking it looked interesting. I was quite surprised by how quickly this came out in paperback as it can usually take 9-12 months for a book to come out in paperback. I bought a copy in Oxford during my birthday bookshop crawl in August. I am a big fan of historical fiction, I'd say it's one of my favourite genres. I tend to read a lot of Greek inspired historical fiction, so I was excited to read a Roman inspired one. 

At first, I struggled with the cast of characters. I did read this book while I had a bad head cold, so I found concentrating on all the names and remembering who was who a bit challenging. However, these characters grew on me. No one was good or bad. They were just people, trying to survive in the brutal world they found themselves in. The protagonist, Amara, did some questionable things at times, including hurting the people she loved, but it was so she could live to see another day. Felix, the manager of the brothel, was set up to be this horrible person, but when you learnt of his backstory, it was clear that he was just filling the role that had been given to them. Everyone had layers and I enjoyed how realistic they felt. They were a very strong set of characters, wonderfully crafted by Elodie Harper.

One of the things I wasn't the biggest fan of was how Amara seemed to bounce from man to man. It felt like by the end of things, she had too many love interests (which is completely the wrong word, but I can't find the one I'm looking for). It seemed that nearly important man she met fell in love with her. It's a trope that gets used a lot and is personally not a favourite. This was one of the few qualms I had with this book.

I felt that this book captured the brutality of the situation the characters found themselves in. Elodie Harper really didn't shy away from throwing everything she possibly could at her characters. They went through so much. The two character deaths of Cressa and Dido were gut wrenching. Especially as Dido's came so soon after Cressa's. I think saying I liked how brutal this book was is the wrong way of phrasing it, but the honesty and brutality throughout this book kept you hooked. I had to know if the characters were okay. Yes, it did take me ten days to read this book because of how busy I was, but I made time to read it because I cared about these characters.

This is the first book in a trilogy and I am now impatiently waiting for the other two books to come out in paperback so I can inhale them. I love historical fiction with strong female characters, so this ticked all my boxes.  

What did you think of the Wolf Den??