Review: Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

 

Publication Date: February 2025

Publisher: Crown

Source: Borrowed from Library (Goodreads)

Blurb: 

Look, the song whispered to me, that day in my living room. Life can be so big.

It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy—who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it—can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit. But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night.

Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs—and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice?

I picked up this book solely because I heard it was being made into a movie at some point with a stacked cast.. not sure if that is still going ahead as I haven't seen any updates but this was definitely a book that disappointed me. 

I had seen people comparing this book to Normal People and One Day - both of which I loved, so I had some high expectations going in which were ultimately not met by the book. 

To start on a positive note, I thought the characters were really realistic and while they were completely self-pitying and pretentious I did feel they were true reflections of the type of people you meet in college who believe they know everything about one topic (music) and think all other opinions are invalid. I think I enjoyed reading about some of the side characters more than the main characters at times as the constant music chat going on for paragraph after paragraph did begin to grate on me and I found myself skimming over those parts to get back to wondering more about the "will they won't they" aspect of the story. 

I didn't find myself bored at any point reading the book, though it was definitely not a gripping read I was looking forward to picking up each evening. It turned out to be just an okay read for me with a very disappointing anti-climactic ending. Kinda like a digestive biscuit, plain and okay but there are other biscuits out there that are tastier. 

A reviewer said that they thought book would have been 90% more enjoyable if it was 10% gayer and I completely agree. There was a hint towards something in the storyline that then felt rushed and shoved off to the side. 

An okay read that was enjoyable at times, the music monologuing for me was too much, but I won't be rushing out to buy Brickley's next book. 

Review: When Love Comes To Town by Tom Lennon

 

Publication Date:  1993

Publisher: O'Brien Press

Source: Borrowed from library (Goodreads)

Blurb: 

Meet Neil Byrne - try-scorer on the rugby field, prizewinning student, one of the in-crowd at the disco, regular guy, gay. Presenting one face to the world and burying his true feelings in fantasy, Neil manages to keep his secret. But when fantasy isn't enough and he becomes caught up in the bizarre subculture of Dublin's gay nightlife, the pretence must end. It is the time for truth. The consequences are both hilarious and painful. Told with honesty, humour and originality, WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN brings a new type of hero to modern Irish fiction.

Stumbled across this book at work and thought I'd give it a go. I was glad I did. 

This book was a quick but memorable read for me. I read it over the course of a weekend and enjoyed the characters, the storyline and how while it was definitely "of its time" it still felt relatable to today. 

The book centers around our main character who is hiding his sexuality while finishing secondary school in Ireland. Pressures are building on him from hiding his feelings for men, doing his leaving cert, pressures from his parents and the casual homophobia he is exposed to in his friend group. 

Review: Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken

 

Publication Date: April 2023

Publisher: Penguin Books

Source: Borrowed from library (eAudiobook) (Goodreads)

Blurb: 

It's not you, it's the food.

We have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?

Join Chris in his travels through the world of food science and a UPF diet to discover what's really going on. Find out why exercise and willpower can't save us, and what UPF is really doing to our bodies, our health, our weight, and the planet (hint: nothing good).

For too long we've been told we just need to make different choices, when really we're living in a food environment that makes it nigh-on impossible. So this is a book about our rights. The right to know what we eat and what it does to our bodies and the right to good, affordable food.

This is a book I have seen so many people buying, borrowing and raving about online. As someone who is very health conscious when it comes to food, although I do believe in non-restrictive diets and treating yourself when needed without guilt, I was very looking forward to reading this book. 

Review: My Husband by Maud Ventura

 

Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann

Publication Date: January 2021

Source: Borrowed from library  [ goodreads ]

Blurb: 

From the outside, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated.

Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, charting every mistake and punishing him accordingly to help him improve. And she tests him -- setting traps to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met. Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . .

I read this as part of my book club and had heard it described as "unhinged woman" meets "unreliable narrator" two of my favourites? Count me in!

I was immediately gripped by this book from the very first page. We are introduced to our main character whose one desire is to be perfect for her husband. Her entire day, life and world revolves around her husband - pleasing him, being noticed by him, watching him. Being inside this main characters mind as she spends her day observing, testing and punishing her husband for failing her mental tests was a wild ride. Because we spend so much time in her head, I did find myself thinking "oh well that wasn't too bad of a punishment" or "yeah that deserves a punishment" before being like WTF she is brainwashing me too! 

Review: Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

 

Publisher: Rise Press

Publication Date: Sept 2017

Source: Borrowed from library   [ goodreads]

Blurb: 

We forgive murderers, not pedophiles. Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now. Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center. His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son? 

My 2nd Lucinda Berry books and guys, I think I am going to have to read everything she writes because her books are mind blowingly twisted and insane. The topic of this book was at times so difficult to read, major trigger warning for sexual abuse, child abuse, suicide, mental health and a lot more. 

Adrianne is our main character, the mother of Noah, who is trying to keep everyone's lives together after Noah confesses to being a pedophile. This unimaginable situation destroys her life, her sense of family and leaves her clinging onto the son she raised with detrimental effects. 

Review: The Surrogate Mother by Frieda McFadden

 

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: October 2025 (originally October 2018)

Source: Borrowed from library

Blurb: 

Abby wants a baby more than anything.

But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant Monica, makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.
Or all of her nightmares.
Because it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby's child has dark, twisted secrets.
And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

With the craziness building as my first year in my masters comes to a close, I have not been reading as much as I would like to at all. I decided I needed to take a break from the assignments and screens, and read a book that would be fast paced and take my mind off of the impending deadlines. 

The Surrogate Mother was the perfect choice for this as I was pretty much invested into the story from the first 30 pages. A short - ish thriller at only 290-something pages, I was able to fly through this while reading in bed in the morning or night before beginning / finishing my assignment writing for the day.

Review: Real Girl by Mutya Buena

 

Publication Date: November 2025

Publisher: Bantam Press

Source: Borrowed from library  [ Goodreads ]

Blurb: 

Mutya Buena was only thirteen when she became one third of the original line up of the iconic girlband, Sugababes.

Launching into fame, her life became unrecognisable overnight. Suddenly she was going straight from the studio to school in the early hours, rubbing shoulders with music royalty, and hearing fans scream her name.

This is the story of the girl the tabloids never saw.

In Real Girl Mutya takes us through the highs of her spectacular career and the lows that came with a life in the limelight and shares for the first time the struggles she’d kept hidden from the public eye.

Now the Sugababes are back and shining brighter than ever, Mutya is ready to share her story on her own terms.

Growing up, I was a big Sugababes fan. Especially the original line up as there was an Irish girl in it, Siobhan, that made me so happy. Nothing will beat the original trio for me and after seeing them perform last year it really cemented that fact that Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan are born entertainers. When I found out that Mutya had written this book, I got onto my library website and ordered it as soon as I could! 

Mutya was always portrayed as the quiet one, and I am so glad she is sharing her voice with everyone now and letting us readers in on the highs and lows of her life. 

Mutya candidly talks about her childhood, being half-Filipino, and living in London. Her time spent at school and how she hung around with the naughty kids. Her parents really fostered a love of music in her and her siblings and encouraged her to reach for the stars. This led to her meeting Keisha and Siobhan and signing a record deal for the girl band Sugababes at only 13 years old. I was shocked when I read that, as I had no idea they were so young when they first became a band. 

The autobiography delves into Mutya's struggles with fame, trying to juggle a normal life while at the same time trying to appear grateful for everything they received, even though sometimes 14-year-old Mutya would have rathered gone to the park with her friends than fly on a plane to the other side of the world to do an interview. 

Mutya also bravely talks about falling pregnant with her daughter at just 20, and how struggles with addiction, self harm, body image and abusive relationships all had an impact on her life. Her leaving the band due to the dark place she was in caused her to spiral further and eventually seek treatment at a facility. I really was amazed at how much she had been through in her life and how she had come out the other end stronger and swinging. Mutya is definitely a fighter and a shining star.