Challenge prompt: A book with a great first line.
Disclaimer: I read this book as part of a blog tour run by the publisher, Penguin Ireland. This has in no way impacted my opinion of the book, nor the outcome of this review.
Three brothers are at the funeral. One lies in the coffin.
Will, Brian and Luke grow up competing for their mother’s unequal love. As men, the competition continues – for status, money, fame, women …
Challenge prompt: A book written by an author in their 20s.
A contemporary and gorgeous memoir of adoption from Vietnam to Kerry, the love of her small family and the power of the Irish language to overcome loss, racism and online trolls.
In 2013, Úna-Minh Kavanagh was spat upon and racially abused in Dublin’s city centre, an incident that was widely shared in the media and online. In the days that followed, Úna-Minh had only one niggling regret: that she had not responded in her first language, Irish.
Challenge prompt: A book by/about a woman in STEM.
A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
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Challenge prompt: A book published in the month of your birthday
When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.
Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle. Continue reading
Challenge prompt: A book with a main character in their 20s.
Two best friends. Eight pub quizzes. One shot at love…
There are some people who seem like they have all the answers in life. Clarrie Midwinter isn’t one of them.
At the age of 26, tomboy Clarrie is still struggling to become a ‘proper’ grown-up. She’s eternally strapped for cash, she hasn’t had a date in nearly a year and her attempts to quit smoking tend to take a nosedive after the second pint. Most annoyingly of all, her ladykiller best friend Simon just won’t stop asking her out. The only thing keeping her sane is her pub quiz team, the Mighty Morphin Flower Arrangers.
