‘Our Wives Under the Sea’ by Julia Armfield

Genre: Adult Fiction – Horror / Thriller

Published: 2022

Format: eBook

Rating: ★★

This was our book club read for September 2023. I wasn’t really looking forward to reading it, and as I went through it, I wasn’t enjoying it at all. I’m not very good with horror / thriller novels generally, to be honest. I tried to start with an open mind but as the story went on, I just couldn’t see it picking up and I was so close to DNF’ing it several times. Given how short it was, and that it was for a book club meeting, I thought I’d try and persevere, so I did get to the end.

I found the book over the top in terms of descriptions, and it was really creepy like with the creatures in her mouth, and the eye turning to water. But generally, I was just bored throughout, waiting for something to happen and it never really did. It isn’t a slow burn, but just nothing happens at all. I had seen some really positive reviews for this book, but I couldn’t see what they saw.

I also couldn’t relate to either of the main characters, Miri and Leah, and the dual perspective didn’t really add much to the story. Leah’s sections seemed to largely be comprised of facts about the sea which didn’t add anything to the story at all and seemed largely pointless being there. I’m not sure what the book was trying to achieve as it is billed as a horror/thriller but it’s more of an emotional novel with a few creepy moments put in.

I’m glad I only got the eBook for this because it is not worth having a physical book to display on my shelves. The ending was interesting, but I don’t think I’d read anything else by this author.

Yearly Reading Summary 2022

Books Read – 65

Fiction – 36 (55.38%)

Non-Fiction – 29 (44.62%)

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Books Per Month:

Books Read Per Month
January	8	12.31%
February	3	4.62%
March	5	7.69%
April	4	6.15%
May	6	9.23%
June	6	9.23%
July	4	6.15%
August	9	13.85%
September	6	9.23%
October	3	4.62%
November	5	7.69%
December	6	9.23%
Average / Month	5
Total	65

Pages Per Month:

Average – 1,440

Best Books of the Year:

• Anthony Horowitz – Magpie Murders
• John Matusiak – A History of the Tudors in 100 Objects
• Greg Jenner – Ask a Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
• Ben Aaronovitch – Rivers of London
• Nathen Amin – Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick
• Jennifer C. Wilson – Kindred Spirits: Regal Retribution
• Brian Lake – Librorum Ridiculorum: A Compendium of Bizarre Books
• Tom Moore – Captain Tom’s Life Lessons

DNFs:

• Jane Sanderson – Mix Tape
• Sarah Penner – The Lost Apothecary

Audiobooks:

• A.A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh
• Heather Morris – Three Sisters
• Derek Tremain & Pauline Tremain – How to Solve a Murder: True Stories from a Life in Forensic Medicine
• Tom Moore – Captain Tom’s Life Lessons
• Jane Sanderson – Mix Tape
• Julia Chapman – Date with Deceit

Formats:

Genres:

Fiction Genres
Chic Lit	9	25.00%
Classic	1	2.78%
Cosy Crime	1	2.78%
Crime / Mystery	6	16.67%
Drama	2	5.56%
Fantasy	3	8.33%
Historical	7	19.44%
Historical Mystery	1	2.78%
Horror	1	2.78%
Paranormal	4	11.11%
Thriller	1	2.78%
Total Books	36

Non Fiction Genres
Architecture & Buildings	1	3.45%
Autobiography / Memoir	1	3.45%
Film / TV / Theatre	1	3.45%
Historical Biography	4	13.79%
History	13	44.83%
Literature	6	20.69%
Psychology / Sociology	1	3.45%
True Crime	2	6.90%
Total Books	29

Monthly Reading Summary – November 2022

There has been a lot going on generally this year so it’s no surprise that once again I haven’t read as many books as I would have liked. Our book group read for November was ‘A Flicker in the Dark’ by Stacy Willingham.

Books Read This Month:

Mickey Mayhew – Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots: The Men Who Kept the Stuart Queen ★★★★

• Hardback, 2022, Pen and Sword
• Adult Non-Fiction, History

Grady Hendrix – The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires ★★

• Paperback, 2020, Quirk Books
• Adult Fiction, Horror

Julia Chapman – Date with Deceit ★★★

• Audiobook, 2021, Pan Macmillan
• Adult Fiction, Cosy Crime

Emily Henry – You and Me on Vacation ★★

• Paperback, 2021, Penguin Books
• Adult Fiction, Chic Lit

Nathen Amin – Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck, and Warwick ★★★★★

• Hardback, 2020, Amberley Publishing
• Adult Non-Fiction, History

Books Bought This Month:

• Stacy Willingham – A Flicker in the Dark
• Natalie Grueninger – The Final Year of Anne Boleyn
• Stephanie Garber – Once Upon a Broken Heart
• Kate Johnson – Hex Affair
• Rosie Blake – The Hygge Holiday

Statistics:

• Books Read – 5
• Currently Reading – 2
• TBR – 159

• Fiction – 3 (60%)
• Non-Fiction – 2 (40%)

• Male Author – 3 (60%)
• Female Author – 2 (40%)
• Multiple Authors – 0 (0%)

• Paperback – 2 (40%)
• Hardback – 2 (40%)
• eBook – 0 (0%)
• Audiobook – 1 (20%)

• Total Pages Read – 1,336
• Average Pages Per Book – 334
• Hours Listened – 11.25

• Average Star Rating – 3.2

‘The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires’ by Grady Hendrix

Genre: Adult Fiction – Horror

Published: 2020

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★

I really don’t tend to like horror books, or anything with gore in it. So, when my book club wanted to do something spooky and gory for Hallowe’en, I couldn’t offer much in the way of recommendations. This book by Grady Hendrix was the result. I was hoping for something more spoopy then spooky, but this is definitely in the latter category.

However, it wasn’t as gory as I was expecting; more eww creepy and weird than actual gory, though the scene at the end in the bathroom kind of made me want to throw up (if you’ve read it, you know!). I did skip over some of the precise lines in that scene. Friends at book club reading it said they laughed at points, and I can understand why because it seemed so unbelievable and weird, especially bits near the beginning.

Character-wise, the main characters of the southern book club are all women who meet to read books and get away from their husbands for a while. They all appear to be typical suburban housewives, cleaning, cooking, and looking after the children while their husbands go out to work and earn. Patricia is an interesting character who doesn’t seem to fit in and wants more from her life. When she meets James Harris, strange things start to happen, and things spiral on from there. The men in the story, in contrast to the women, are just jerks, and in my opinion get what they deserve in the end, especially Carter.

Not my usual kind of read, and I felt that the male characters really put me off from wanting to read it, though I think you were meant to dislike them and to route for the women. The gross moments also put me off because I didn’t want there to be another one, even though I knew there would be. However, if you like horror and vampires and thrillers, then this is probably right up your street!

Yearly Reading Summary 2021

To sum up this year, much like last year I didn’t read as much as I was hoping to, but I did read more than in 2020 – 94 books in 2021 compared with 83 in 2020. My TBR list has also increased from 126 to 144 books, so I obviously bought more in 2021 – oops! The big news in 2021 was that I signed a contract to write my own book, to be published by Pen and Sword, which I have just finished writing so that took up much of my time in 2021.

• Books Read – 94
• Currently Reading – 1
• TBR – 144

Books Read Per Month
January	10	10.64%
February	10	10.64%
March	8	8.51%
April	8	8.51%
May	9	9.57%
June	8	8.51%
July	11	11.70%
August	5	5.32%
September	6	6.38%
October	9	9.57%
November	6	6.38%
December	4	4.26%
Average / Month	8
Total	94

• Books Bought – 116
• Books Borrowed – 16

• Fiction – 63 (67.02%)
• Non-Fiction – 31 (32.98%)

• Male Author – 37 (39.36%)
• Female Author – 57 (60.64%)

Author Nationality
UK	69	73.40%
US	14	14.89%
Canada	2	2.13%
France	1	1.06%
Ireland	3	3.19%
Italy	1	1.06%
New Zealand	1	1.06%
South Africa	1	1.06%
Sweden	1	1.06%
Zimbabwe	1	1.06%
Total Books	94

• Paperback – 61 (64.89%)
• Hardback – 16 (17.02%)
• eBook – 9 (9.57%)
• Audiobook – 8 (8.51%)

• Total Pages Read – 25,189
• Average Pages Per Book – 292.9

• Total Hours Listened – 74.24
• Average Hours Per Audiobook – 9.28

Star Rating
*	2	2.13%
**	5	5.32%
***	30	31.91%
****	45	47.87%
*****	12	12.77%
Total	94

• Average Star Rating – 3.64

Below is the genre breakdown for my 2021 reading. Most of my books, as I expected, were historical. Most of the genres where I only read one were book club reads.

Fiction Genres
Chic Lit	10	15.87%
Classic	1	1.59%
Cosy Crime	12	19.05%
Crime / Mystery	3	4.76%
Drama	7	11.11%
Fantasy	8	12.70%
Historical	13	20.63%
Historical Mystery	3	4.76%
Historical Romance	3	4.76%
Horror	1	1.59%
Sci Fi	1	1.59%
Short Stories	1	1.59%
Total Books	63

Non Fiction Genres
Historical Biography	3	9.68%
History	20	64.52%
Literature	3	9.68%
Psychology / Sociology	5	16.13%
Total Books	31