When Zachery stumbles upon a book detailing his own life, right down to the very moment he is reading that very book, little does he know that it is his first step into a world of hidden histories, secret clubs and an ancient library hidden beneath the Earth that must be protected at all costs.

To review this book fairly and do the initial idea justice, I will have to separate it into two parts: the first three quarters and then the final quarter…

Circe is the divine daughter of the titan Helios and naiad Perse. Deemed unattractive and powerless from birth, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology. 

But there is danger for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love…

Karen is an Ivy League university student. Her boyfriend is part of the notorious GBC (Gang Bang Central – I’m not kidding ) fraternity, she regularly attends parties at the infamously raucous and dangerous frat house. Witnessing fellow female partygoers disappear into the basement and bedrooms she is acutely aware of the threat that beats throughout the house. Feeling somewhat protected from this danger by the status of ‘girlfriend’ to one of their members, Karen turns a blind eye to the known rapists preying on drunk women…

Susan Green is the cactus, she’s prickly, obtuse, and entirely herself whether you like it or not. If you don’t understand her or her ways… well that’s simply your problem. She has crafted the perfect life for herself, “perfect” being entirely defined by her of course. Her life is turned irrevocably upside down when she is told her mother has died and she’s pregnant. Faced with her mother’s will that favours her seemingly incapable brother, she embarks on a mission to prove that her brother schemed his way as beneficiary but as her due date draws ever closer, she discovers life is much more complicated than she ever thought and to get through it she might just have to shed some of her spikes.  

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo came out to what seemed like universal praise and as such, it was hard to get into the book with the right level of expectation. It was also marketed as the book on female sexuality, which is perhaps why it felt like such a disappointment. In reality, the book follows three women and their sex lives. And that’s it. There’s nothing wrong with that being the focus of the story, but if you come in expecting more, you will feel frustrated.

Queenie is the story of a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living and working in London. After a messy break up from her long-term boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places, including the company of several hazardous men who do nothing for her sense of self-worth. She does this whilst managing her ‘far from nuclear’ family, mental health, trauma, a job at a newspaper surrounded by white middle class microaggression-harbouring colleagues, friendships, singledom and sexuality.