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The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes as told by the journalist who first broke the story about Theranos back in 2015.

After listening to the “The Dropout” podcast, and then watching the TV series of the same name, both of which were based on “Bad Blood”, I thought it was time to read the source material. It's well-written and ultimately led to Holmes being stopped. Though I found myself enjoying the material more as a TV series, this is still a fascinating read.

A fascinating account of the myriad ways to die in an accident in Tudor England. From falling off a cart, to drowning while doing laundry, the dangers of everyday life revealed.

The research done on inquests and coroner’s reports reveals a vast amount of information, and the authors make sense of it in engagingly and with compassion. If you have more than a passing interest in history or Tudor England, it’s well worth a read.

Set in Ferrieres, Kay’s alt-version of medieval France, in the city of Orane, Thierry Villar, tavern poet, is about to become in embroiled in affairs much more complicated than a rivalry for Jo­lis de Charette’s affections.

As usual, I found Kay’s prose beautiful, filled with sentences I love reading. The way he ruminates upon fate, feelings, and fortunes, and the inevitable bittersweet of his characters lives is once again extremely rewarding. Written in the Dark is yet another tile in the Sarantine mosaic, and I really enjoyed it.

Five-year-old Jack and Ma, live happily together in Room, or so Jack thinks.

I hesitate to say I like this book, but I found it believable as a story told from the perspective of a child. I’m not sure that I could have stomached this written from Ma’s POV. The POV chosen allows the horrors visited upon Ma and Jack to unfurl obliquely throughout. Though Jack is the protagonist, it was Ma who occupied my thoughts. I can’t help but think about all the real Ma’s out there. This, for me, is true horror. The stuff that can and does happen, not the things that go bump in the night.

Ann the scullery maid becomes obsessed with the Lady upstairs.

I didn't like this at all. A fire-hose of verbiage is splattered on every page. Everything is overly described, often luridly. It wasn't scary, horrific, or uncomfortable to read, just very, very tedious. I quickly became bored as all characters are two-dimensional cardboard cutouts, and a story barely exists. Once done, it just felt like I'd wasted my time. No real story, no real characters, middling writing, no real horror, no sapphic romance, a stretch to call it historical fiction, not for me.