“Magpie” by Elizabeth Day

Genre: Mystery/Thrillers
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub. Date: May 3, 2020

The themes of “Magpie” are infertility, surrogacy, and mental illness. Spoiler Alert—The reader must determine which of the two women in the tale is inventing stories in her mind as the plot centers on them and one male. One of the women is in a long-term relationship. Sorry if this sounds confusing but so is the story. Reading this one sent my mind into a tailspin as I pondered just what the heck is going on. The awful sorrow experienced by a young couple as they learn to live with the woman’s inability to conceive and the painful details of her IVF treatment is what saves this novel. I am sure there are other novels that deal with IVF that will not make you dizzy.

I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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“Sisters” by Daisy Johnson

Genre: Gothic fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group 
Pub. Date: August 13, 2020

Mini-Review

The cover suggests a story about mental illness, which it is.   However, it is also has a gothic plot, and I do love my gothic reads. Still, I think will I need a break from twisted plots for a while. One can suggest that the novel is part horror and part mystical. A mother and her two teenage daughters are fleeing their home because of an unspecified tragedy that happened while the girls were at school. They move from Oxford to a broken-down house on the Moors.  The sort of house that gothic reads are made of, “The empty house, owned by the girls’ aunt, is ramshackle, and not in a charming way: It sags and bulges, “squatting” in a mess of broken roof tiles, old scaffolding, thorn bushes, and sheep excrement.”  I found the writing style a nice surprise. Because this is a dark read, I was not expecting the writing to often be filled with stream-of-conciseness verses. “Sleep is heavy, without corners, dreamless…My throat is dry like sand. I swallow and swallow. Peel myself up.”  “Sisters” is a hard read filled with domestic abuse between the sisters. If you can get through that, you will be able to enjoy the ending’s “shocking” twist.  I did guess it when the girls lose their virginity, but I was never sure until I finished the book. If you do read this one, let me know if you too guessed correctly.

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“The Wife” by Shalini Boland

 

Itsy-Bitsy Review                                      

The story is told going back and forth in time (a style of writing that I usually like). This domestic thriller centers on a young woman who faints on her wedding day. She remembers nothing that happened before she fainted. The wedding goes on. Ten years later, on her wedding anniversary, she remembers. This is an easy, boring read that this reviewer found unbelievable. I probably would have enjoyed the novel a bit more if I read it on a beach.

I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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