Tag Archives: Twisted Romance

Heathcliffs I Have Known by Louisa Young

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: Heathcliffs I Have Known
Author: Louisa Young
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Horror, Twisted romance
Dates read: 17th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: “Get off.”

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Synopsis

Who are the Heathcliffs have you known? Are your relationships about love? Or is it something far more sinister?

Thoughts

This made me so damn uncomfortable that I just wanted to put the whole book down. Multiple times. Possibly set it on fire. And the reason that it made me so uncomfortable? It wasn’t fantasy. It wasn’t some far off time. It wasn’t something that I couldn’t quite conceive of. It was about men who take a twisted view on romance and attack us. It is something that happens to everyone. At any time. And it is so damn uncomfortable that I honestly don’t have the words for it. Disgustingly uncomfortable is the closest I can come.

What I hated most about Wuthering Heights was the fact that it is often considered a romance. And some of Heathcliffs actions (if not all) are excused because he was “in love”. Which is bullshit. Complete, total and utter bullshit. And apparently Young agrees with this. After making you squirm more and more and more as you read about the different “Heathcliffs” that have been known, you come to her take on Wuthering Heights. And it is exactly how I felt, making this a not so uncomfortable ending to a story that I don’t think I necessarily want to read again.

 <- The Cord ReviewAmulet and Feathers Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

My Eye Is A Button On Your Dress by Hanan al-Shaykh

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: My Eye Is A Button On Your Dress
Author: Hanan al-Shaykh
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Twisted romance
Dates read: 1st April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

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Synopsis

She’s received a letter from a man she hasn’t seen for years. One that she thought was lost to her forever. But, when she returns to her home for a happily ever after, she realises that not everything is as it seems…

Thoughts

I actually thought that this story was going to have a happy ending. Completely expected it, and actually looked forward to it. And then all of my hopes came crashing down at the end. It was actually kind of a sinister ending and one that left the story open to many, many possibilities. It was just… uncomfortable and really quite dark.

I haven’t really read any stories that feature Arabic culture and are written by people from this part of the world. It’s something that just hasn’t shown up on my radar, and I haven’t really gone searching for it either. So it was kind of nice and interesting to read a story set in this reality. Especially when it is in a collection based upon an English classic. A great way to show how universal themes can be carried across a variety of cultural realities.

Although this story deals with a culture and worldly view that I don’t understand at all, it was still completely relatable. This short story took the same themes that I am familiar with and bought them into a different world, sweeping me along with them.

 <- Kit ReviewThe Cord Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Kit by Juno Dawson

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: Kit
Author: Juno Dawson
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Twisted romance
Dates read: 29th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: I went to speak to my hairdresser, and said I wanted a radical change, something a bit rock chick, but nothing needy.

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Synopsis

Catherine thinks she’s found the man of her dreams… but he just doesn’t seem to notice her. So she decides to become Kit.

Thoughts

I really wasn’t expecting to like this story so much. After all, I’ve found all of the stories in the I Am Heathcliff collection so far powerful and fascinating… but not what I would call enjoyable. They’re all pretty twisted and convoluted…but this one wasn’t really. Alright, it was still what I would consider twisted romance, because it wasn’t really anything romantic or healthy at all. But it didn’t leave me feeling both ill and confused. It just left me smiling in a slightly bemused sort of way.

This story might feature an adult woman, but for me, it was very reminiscent of some of my teenage friends. Those girls that developed a crush on a guy and then proceeded to change everything about themselves to make him like them. It never worked, just like in this short story, but it was such a recurrent theme throughout our lives that reading this story was almost nostalgic in a way. Especially considering the fact that this didn’t lead to horror and prolonged torture, in the last moments Kit herself realises her stupidity and starts to move on.

 <- Five Stages, Five Sites ReviewMy Eye is a Button On Your Dress Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Five Sites, Five Stages by Lisa McInerney

Book Review, , , ,
Overview

Title: Five Stages, Five Sites
Author: Lisa McInerney
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading,  LGBTQI, Twisted romance
Dates read: 23rd March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: Like it would be good for, say, convalescents.

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Synopsis

Heidi loves Cass with all of her heart. But there’s a number of obstacles in their way, and she’s just not sure that they can be overcome.

Thoughts

From the outset it is obvious that this was a story about a not so healthy love. I mean, the whole I Am Heathcliff collection is kind of about unhealthy love. But this seemed a little more obviously unhealthy than some of the other tales. And a little bit more relatable to be honest, it was far more contemporary and written in a way that you can almost, almost relate to Heidi.

This story kind of worked through the five stages of grief (which, when you find out the ending, you understand the grief), and worked it’s way across the city. It intertwined brilliantly with the idea of a love that had gone horribly wrong. And it reflected the ideas of grief and loss that are highlighted in Wuthering Heights.

I was far more comfortable with this short story than many of the preceding ones. It wasn’t as intensely twisted, and it made a little more sense to me. I just wouldn’t necessarily want to read it again anytime soon.

 <- The Howling Girl ReviewKit Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

The Howling Girl by Laurie Penny

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: The Howling Girl
Author: Laurie Penny
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Horror, Twisted romance
Dates read: 15th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: She could.

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Synopsis

She’s returned to an ex-lover to see if she can fix the mistakes of the past. But, is his haunting about to become hers?

Thoughts

This was a great play on the haunting of Heathcliff. It took the ideas and themes that highlight how badly Heathcliff treated Catherine, but twisted them into something a little more contemporary. Rather, it isn’t Catherine’s counterpart which is providing the haunting, but she does encourage it. And finds a way to twist it about so that he isn’t able to get away with his past and present actions.

This short story had a great intensity and beautiful symbolism throughout. It may not be one that I will read again and again, it just wasn’t that kind of happy, feel good tale that I like. But it was one that I thoroughly enjoyed. And one that I think I gained from experiencing.

 <- One Letter Different ReviewFive Sites, Five Stages Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Thicker Than Blood by Erin Kelly

Book Review, ,
Overview

Title: Thicker Than Blood
Author: Erin Kelly
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Twisted romance
Dates read: 5th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: The doctors did what they could, but it was too late.

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Synopsis

Heath has always loved Cat, but she decided to marry someone else. When she dies, will he correct the wrongs of the past?

Thoughts

This is disturbing.

Like necrophilia disturbing.

Couldn’t sleep very well disturbing.

Heebie jeebie disturbing.

And honestly, that is all I think I’m going to say about it.

But it was a really good read… just you know… disturbing.

 <- A Bird, Half-Eaten ReviewOne Letter Different Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Black Spring by Alison Croggon

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for book cover black spring

Title: Black Spring
Author: Alison Croggon
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Gothic, Retellings, Twisted romance
Dates read: 18th – 25th February 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Walker Books
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: But now I suspect that they might not have become so close if Lina hadn’t behaved so cruelly to begin with, and that part of his respect for her stemmed from his initial experience of her demonic temper.

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Synopsis

Lina is enchanting, vibrant by wilful. And her eyes betray her for what she truly is – a witch. With her childhood companion, Damek, she has grown up privileged and spoiled and the pair are devoted to each other to the point of obsession.
But times are changing.
Vendetta is coming.
And tragedy is stalking the halls of the Red House.

A stunning new novel by Alison Croggon, inspired by the Gothic classic Wuthering Heights.

Thoughts

The week before I read this I made an attempt at reading Wuthering Heights. I say attempt because I kind of hated it. Not the writing or the storyline, but the characterisation. So I wanted to tackle a retelling immediately after. After all, I like the idea of everything in the original, I just found Heathcliff so damn douchey that my rage couldn’t get past it to enjoy everything else that was going on. Black Spring helped to cure me of this.

Black Spring follows pretty much the same storyline as Wuthering Heights. It also makes Damek (Heathcliff) and Lina (Catherine) far more relatable. I still kind of thought that they were silly, and Damek was still the epitome of selfish, obsessive love. But, they were just on the wrong side of the line and so more approachable. It meant that I could appreciate the themes and ideas that were being shared, and actually enjoy the storyline while I was doing it.

My enjoyment of this story was probably helped along by the fact that there was a fantasy aspect to the storyline. The addition of magic and the emphasis on the disjoint between wizards and witches (gender) worked brilliantly to further highlight the unfairness and indignities which Lina was forced to face. It made her story a lot more tragic and sad than that of Catherine. I actually found myself liking Lina, although she had many of the same character flaws, it was much easier to see myself in her than in Catherine.

I absolutely adored everything about this book. But I think that the aspect I enjoyed the most was the ending. Damek’s haunting and horrible actions towards Lina’s daughter culminate in some kind of revenge. And the sway in which this was done was poetic justice at its finest.

 <- More Australian authors reviewsMore gothic reviews ->
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