A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Rating: B

This was exactly the cosy thriller I needed to spend time with in October. The story centres around Pip who decides to look into the closed case of schoolgirl Andie Bell. The novel is cleverly plotted with twists and turns, so that it is only until the bitter end that all is revealed.

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

Rating: B-

Colleen Hoover’s sequel to her phenomenally successful novel It Ends With Us tells the love story between Lily and Atlas. The book is no literary sensation but it was everything I needed it to be as the winter months draw in.

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Rating: A-

For anyone who’s a fan of the TV show – The Summer I Turned Pretty – this novel embodies all the emotions that that series brought up. A delight of a novel, the story centres around Percy’s return to the coastal town where she grew up, where she reunites with the love of her life – Sam. It’s heartwarming, tender and joyful.

dear dolly by Dolly Alderton

Rating: A

Dolly Alderton’s collection of her Sunday Times columns feels like a warm hug from a big sister, though there are no big revelations in her advice, what Alderton brings is love, tenderness and charm delivered with a steady wit and humour throughout.

The Christie Affair by Nina De Gramont

Rating: A-

This is a fictional account of the real Agatha Christie disappearance on Friday 3 December 1926 at around 9:30 p.m. The novel is told from the perspective of Nan O’Dea, the mistress of Agatha’s husband, Archie. It is an immensely creative, fascinating and shocking account of what she imagines could have happened on those days that Christie was missing.

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

Rating: B-

The Bounty Hunter meets a Hallmark movie in this novel from Christina Lauren. Though by no means the smartest of their novels, this is still an immensely quick and readable novel.

The Devil You Know by Dr Gwen Adshead

Rating: A+

An absolutely fascinating examination of Dr Adshead’s therapy sessions with various figures in the criminal system – from serial killers to mothers on the brink of losing their children. What this novel will give you is an empathy for the human side of these figures that are the topic of so much vitriol and it is fascinating.

The post Everything We Read in October 2022 appeared first on off the record.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is one of the most popular books on TikTok. Teased on Instagram, the novel now has a movie adaptation in the works. It Ends With Us is about Lily, a woman who grew up in small town in Maine and who now lives in Boston. She sparks with the stunning neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid, but can’t stop thinking about her first love, Atlas Corrigan. Atlas suddenly reappears in her life, leaving her to question the relationship she’s built with Ryle and just how healthy it may be. Colleen Hoover has described the book as “hardest book I’ve ever written,” given that the abusive relationship it displays between Ryle and Lily is based on her own parents’ relationship.

The novel is planned as a movie adaptation and will be developed by Justin Baldoni’s company Wayfarer Entertainment. The project is currently in development and the first draft screenplay was finished around September 2021, as Baldoni announced on Instagram.

Casting

In 2023, it was announced that Blake Lively will star in the leading role as Lily Bloom, alongside Justin Baldoni as Ryle.

The post Everything We Know So Far About the ‘It Ends With Us’ Movie Adaptation appeared first on off the record.

Colleen Hoover has announced that she will release a sequel to her novel that took TikTok by storm – It Ends With Us – on 18th October 2022 through Atria Books. The novel, named It Starts with Us will tell fan favourite Atlas’ side of the story and share the next part of the story.

It Ends with Us was a deeply emotional novel that told the story of the relationship between Ryle and Lily that is a deeply honest account of an abusive relationship. The novel ended with Lily making the decision to leave her husband and the father of her child, reuniting with her childhood friend Atlas, promising a happy, stable ending between the two tortured souls. Now, this sequel will tell Atlas side of the story and fans hope will lead to a closer examination of the relationship between Atlas and Lily.

Although Hoover has not finished writing the novel, It Starts With Us is already available for pre-order and fans have shared the excitement for the book’s release over TikTok and Instagram.

The post Colleen Hoover Announces ‘It Starts With Us’ appeared first on off the record.

1. Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Honestly, I’ve put this down and picked it up more times than we can count, but finally I persevered and it was well worth it. This is a propulsive noir thriller set in Mexico – the novel flits back and forth between the perspectives of El Elvis, an eccentric criminal and member of the Hawks who wants to escape his life and Maite, a daydreaming secretary in 1970s Mexico City. Their lives become intertwined when Maite’s neighbour Leonora goes missing, leading Maite into the kind of romantic and thrilling life that she had always wanted. This was as readable for its atmospheric evocation of 1970s Mexico as for the plot itself – worth persevering.

Pick up a copy here.

Read our full review here.

2. Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

This may be one of my favourite thrillers from the past few years, Katherine Faulkner’s handling of suspense and way that she builds the plot is addictive and compelling. Though many books claim to be in the ilk of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, this one actually stands up to that hype and I couldn’t put it down.

Pick up a copy here.

Read our full review here.

3. How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury

Published in 2021, How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury is a compilation of her research on what mistakes people make when looking for love and how to shift perspectives when navigating the modern dating terrain. It’s one of the most readable ‘dating’ books I’ve laid my hands on and is a great read to kick off 2022 if one of your goals was to put yourself out there this year.

Pick up a copy here.

Read our full review here.

4. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

I challenge anyone not to bawl their eyes out to this read. Colleen Hoover is a prolific writer but It Ends With Us stands apart as an incredibly delicate, painful and raw novel – it is clear perhaps that this book more than any other meant something very important to Hoover. The delicate and tender care she takes with her prose is testament to that. Whilst the novel is propulsive and immensely readable, it is heart wrenchingly raw and an important read for understanding the perspective of victims of domestic abuse.

Pick up a copy here.

Read our full review here.

5. Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Out in March, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s new novel ‘Yinka Where is Your Huzband?’ is a hilarious, witty and addictive new comedy about the modern experience of dating. The novel centres around Yinka, her mum and aunties think they are better qualified to find her a ‘huzband’ than Yinka, herself. It’s a joyful, hilarious celebration of family, the trials of friendship, love and self-love and is addictive from start to finish. This novel is owed smash hit status.

Pre-order a copy here.

The post Everything I Read in December 2021 appeared first on off the record.

As the lockdowns hit in 2020 and 2021, reports highlighted the increased risk of harm for those affected by domestic abuse. For one of the first times, people began to fully understand how trapped people in these situations feel. Many have questioned why those who are the victims of domestic abuse do not leave, and perhaps the answer can be found in Colleen Hoover’s devastating novel It Ends With Us. The novel – based on her parents’ relationship – is a blistering and painfully honest look at the ways in which a seemingly perfect relationship (that between Ryle and Lily) can twist and turn into one of abuse. It explores the ways that victims can explain away and make deals with themselves to forgive abusive behaviour, but also explores how love and hatred toward their abuser can become intermingled and unable to delineate between the two.

In a sea of Colleen Hoover novels, It Ends With Us stands aside as an incredibly delicate, painful and raw novel – it is clear perhaps that this book more than any other meant something very important to Hoover. The delicate and tender care she takes with her prose is testament to that. Whilst the novel is propulsive and immensely readable, it is heart wrenchingly raw – a novel that shatters the heart with every turn of the page.

Pick up a copy here.

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