You Don’t Know Me

Book Review: You Don’t Know Me by Sara Foster

You Don’t Know Me is the story of Alice and Noah who meet and instantly fall in love. But, as the title suggests, they both have secrets they’re hiding which may place the other in peril.

I’d read Foster’s Beneath the Shadows and had a few issues with it. I was kind of surprised, however, that a lot of my issues with You Don’t Know Me were pretty similar, considering how many books Foster had written in between the two (as in, rookie errors should be behind her).

For a start, there’s plot holes. I won’t point any out (spoilers!) but after reading I could probably give Foster a list so it poses the question as to why couldn’t her editor?

The mystery plot was pretty light on. There were only a couple of possibilities as to the identity of the killer, so the reveal near the did not come as much of a shock. The book was more of a romance than a mystery though. And alas I was not particularly invested in the romance (as I said, it was instant love and this meant there was no real buildup).

I did like the Thai setting and Foster had obviously visited the area as it all seemed very authentic. The Australian Blue Mountains setting, I thought, was pretty wasted. Alice was a climber but Foster didn’t take advantage of her character’s hobby once she arrived in this popular Aussie climbing location.

The book wasn’t the worst I’ve read this year but I did expect more. Maybe 3 out of 5

The Guest List

Book Review: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List is Lucy Foley’s most popular book but is it worth all the hype? Well…

I liked the setting – an almost uninhabited island off Ireland where Jules and Will decide to hold their wedding, guaranteeing exclusiveness and a unique experience for their guests. Foley takes advantage of this classic locked room trope and includes perils such as peat bogs, tidal caves, sheer cliffs, freezing water, high winds and stormy weather, a crumbling folly, lack of phone service and power outages.

The plot and twists were, unfortunately, very predictable. The book pretty much reads like a million others in the genre (and very very like Foley’s other two books). There’s nothing new or unique.

The characters were all awful. None of them were likeable at all. From memory, Foley’s other two books I’ve read had similar obnoxious characters. Some of the supporting characters were the worst. I would have to question if grown men in their 30s would really carry on as they did.

But my biggest issue was the editing. Or lack thereof. There were multiple errors which made me blink. I won’t go into them all, but if you want to check, most people have talked about them on the book’s questions on Goodreads.

Maybe 3 out of 5

Sweet Jimmy

Book Review: Sweet Jimmy by Bryan Brown

I think I have the same issue with Sweet Jimmy that I had with Tom Hanks’s Uncommon Type. Am I judging Sweet Jimmy too harshly because Bryan Brown is a well-known actor? Or am I not judging it harshly enough because it was written by him… Mmm…

I didn’t realise until I started reading this that it is actually a collection of short stories. If I was Brown’s editor, I would have quickly advised him to ditch this idea and just go with a full length novel. He could have, I’d say, easily spliced some of the stories together to fit in with the longer format. In fact, I think this might be my biggest beef with Sweet Jimmy – all the stories seemed the same.

Each story featured a gritty crime and fit into the same [thriller] genre. Actually, I feel like I need to almost give some sort of warning if you’re thinking of reading – a lot of the stories are quite graphic.

All the lead characters were very similar too. Mostly they were the quintessential 70s or 80s (see below re the time setting) Australian male, I suppose we’d call them larrikins back in the day. And, kind of creepily, if the stories were to be translated to the screen, it was easy to imagine the leads could almost all be played by Bryan Brown.

I had to wonder when Brown wrote these stories. I don’t think any of the plots, characters’ behaviour or dialogue seemed to fit into a present day 2023 time setting. Through the editing process it would have been nice for someone to have helped Brown out by modernising a few things maybe.

His second offering is a full length novel. Maybe that will work better for me. This one, 2 ½ out of 5

Home to Echidna Lane

Book Review: Home to Echidna Lane by Eva Scott

Lacey is one of those tele-marketer types on a tv mid morning show where her husband, Carter, is the main male co-host. One morning, her marriage becomes fodder for the grocery store magazines when Carter is outed as having an affair with his much younger female co-host. Lacey, who was clueless, is distraught and quickly escapes to her parents’ home in Tasmania to lick her wounds and contemplate her future. In Tassie, she is reunited with Shane, a widower, who she vaguely knew as a teenager. Shane owns the neighbouring farm and he, obviously, makes sorting out her marriage even more complicated.

Being a rural romance, I guess we all know the outcome but the book remained readable throughout. My only complaint would be that maybe Lacey should have had a bit more time between men.

I loved the Tasmanian setting. I desperately want to go to the area now, browse the antique stores before indulging at the coffee shop. Shane’s farm being a walnut farm was nicely unique. Scattered amongst the pages were some lovely recipes featuring walnuts even (but alas, I could not make them as my daughter has a severe nut allergy!).

4 out of 5

The Other Side of Beautiful

Book Review: The Other Side of Beautiful by Kim Lock

Although this book is extremely popular, I started reading it without the slightest idea of its plotline. And I’m okay with that, it was a lovely surprise.

The general gist is that Mercy (yeah, I’m not completely sold on that name) has a no good terrible very bad day and, on impulse, buys a run down van and takes off on a road trip from Adelaide to Darwin. For those non-Aussies, this is straight up through the centre of Australia, a lot of heat, a lot of flies, a lot of dust, and a lot of kilometres (about 3000). One would usually prepare for such a trip, so Mercy stumbles from one mishap to another. Along the way though, she also finds a lot of beautiful.

This is another book which portrays mental health issues in a respectful manner. Lock’s timing for gradually revealing the events of why Mercy has had a breakdown was impeccable. Although Mercy’s triggers were shocking, they were also very realistic.

I’ve never been particularly tempted to tackle the Adelaide to Darwin trip (mainly due to the aforementioned heat, flies and dust) but, I will admit, Lock almost made me want to fuel up and head off tomorrow myself. It’s pretty obvious Lock has travelled along the road herself, maybe even in a little Daihatsu Hijet.

As the title suggests, this is a beautiful book. 5 out of 5