On Bee's Bookshelf

Even if you haven’t read Pride & Prejudice, you know the story of Mr Darcy — of the tall, dark and handsome brooding heroes, the complicated and moody love interest, one of the original incarnations of the enemies-to-lovers story. It’s had a clear and lasting impact on storytelling, culture and media; but The Darcy Myth holds a mirror to the dear Mr Darcy and asks if he really is a hero, or if he’s the monster of the story? Feder offers a thoughtful and insightful look at the classic character from a different perspective: one of Darcy being a warning to be heeded instead of romanticised as it still is in so many modern stories. We look at the other examples of questionable male love interests throughout literary history and where we can see the influence today. The writing is very thoughtful and has great analysis but with an easily readable, casual tone along with great sectioning and plenty of references throughout. Although at times it felt a little repetitive, I’d still recomm...

This collection of short stories delves into the macabre, the startling and the strange; conjuring up visceral imagery and strikingly lasting emotional responses to the absurd and odd scenes that lay ahead. From cursed hotels, to gardens of poisons, to a custard factory after an explosion, Grudova takes us on a journey to the uncanny valley where things are uncomfortably similar to modern day Britain but something is always just not quite right. Underneath the disturbing visuals and gothic storytelling is a scathing and incisive exploration into contemporary life, the anxieties and fears of the modern person and the terrifying oppression that power can deliver from above. Every story has its own uniqueness, some with narrative structure, some feeling more like a string of thoughts or a moment in time - but all of them have that odd charm that makes this book to undeniably intriguing. It spans genres from fantasy, to gore, to social realism but they’re all tied together with that mesmer...

One day Celia wakes up in a house that isn’t hers with a husband she doesn’t recognise and a little girl she’s never seen before who claims to be her daughter. She tries to remember who she was before because she is certain that this life – the little family-run restaurant she owns in a gossipy small town, and a feud with a neighbour who ends up dead – is not hers. Allie and her friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods for the weekend. The cabin looks recently assembled and there are no animals or other life anywhere in the forest. Nothing about the place seems right and then in the middle of the night a stranger is banging on the cabin door… Maggie, along with twelve other women, wakes up in a shipping container with the number three stamped on the back of her T-shirt. If she wants to see her daughter Paige again, Maggie must complete The Maze – a deadly high-stakes obstacle course. "Maybe everything felt like a thriller when you were trapped inside it." Christina Henry...

Alexander Blix is a broken man. Convicted for avenging his daughter's death, he is now being held in one of Norway's high-security prisons.  Inside, the other prisoners take every opportunity to challenge and humiliate the former police investigator. On the outside, Blix's former colleagues have begun the hunt for a terrifying killer. Walter Kroos has escaped from prison in Germany and is making his way north. The only lead established by the police is that Kroos has a friend in Blix's prison ward. And now they need Blix's help.  Journalist Emma Ramm is one of Blix's few visitors, and she becomes his ally as he struggles to connect the link between past and present, between the world inside and outside the prison walls. And as he begins to piece things together, he identifies a woodland community in Norway where deeply scarred inhabitants foster deadly secrets …  secrets that may be the unraveling of everyone involved. The Blix and Ramm series is back! And if li...

I’m a huge fan of Kafka’s work, so I was very intrigued when I saw there was a manga interpretation of his most iconic short stories. Retelling something like this is always risky, but this daring duo absolutely perfected it. Retelling nine of his most impactful short stories, including the eternally memorable The Metamorphosis, each one captures the true, claustrophobic and alienating essence of the stories with illustrations that are both uncomfortable and beautiful at the same time, creating surreal and haunting imagery with clear storytelling. If you’re already a lover of his work, you’ll enjoy this striking reimagining and it's uniquely dark art style; and if you’re looking for a new way to experience a classic for the first time this is a perfect way to try these stories in a new and engaging format. At times the visuals may be slightly inaccessible but overall it’s very easy to read and the entire book is very clearly a masterful work of art.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kafka is available from 24...

C harlie Kenzie doesn't give a mince pie about Christmas. If she had her way, she'd have everyone in the office working on the next edition of Charm magazine. Instead, she'll be spending another Christmas Day alone. Which she's fine with. That is until she's caught up in an accident on Christmas Eve with an unusual taxi driver dressed as the the Ghost of Christmas Past, which springs this Manolo wearing Scrooge into a trip she'll never forget. A story about love, life, and being given a second chance This was originally pitched to me as “Devil Wears Prada meets A Christmas Carol” - and my first thought was — what? Surely that wouldn’t work! But that’s actually a pretty spot on description; this festive romcom was such a fun read, full of sparkle but also with so much heart and warmth. At first we get settled in with our favourite holiday tropes; but then as we get to know our characters we find Hollys own twists and flair as she takes a classic Christmassy story...

Rachel Brown plays Doctor Elouise Sparks in the popular TV series 'Emergency'. Though successful in her career, Rachel has just learned that her chance of conception is small, and she is devastated by the information. That’s when Mikey Bell takes Rachel from her home to a remote mountain cottage. But Mikey’s motive isn’t ‘normal’. He has a strange request. The good news is that if Rachel can deliver by Christmas Day, he’ll let her go. But someone else in the cottage is not on the same page as Mikey. This person has different designs for Rachel, and the bad news is that this No.1 Fan has no intention of ever letting her leave. "I couldn't help but wonder if I was being punished. I probably couldn't have children and now I was being held prisoner by a psychopath. Was my Dad right; was I selfish and spoiled - rotten to my core? Did I deserve these terrible turns of fate?"  Abby is the undisputed Queen of thrillers with feelings for a reason - and this is just mor...

  Kemi Adeyemi   has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias thinks she's the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to move to the US. Will Kemi be forced to stay if she wants to keep him? As things begin to sour, Kemi seeks comfort elsewhere... Desperately seeking divorce in Sweden,  Brittany-Rae  von Lundin is not living the life she once dreamed of. Brittany gave up her career and came with nothing into Jonny's kingdom. Now they have a child together and Brittany's greatest fear is having to give her baby up. With a man obsessed with a ghost, trying to get away isn't going to be easy. And the deeper she digs into his past, the darker the secrets she unravels. Muna Saheed  lies in a coma after an attempt on her own life, but she leaves a box of secrets behind in Gunhild's apartment.  Yasmiin Çelik , her unsuspecting next of kin, is contacted by the police. The more Yasmiin learns about Muna, the closer she feels to the troubled young woman...

This is a beautiful collection of ancient stories from all around the world, stories that have been passed down through generations by word of mouth, song, writing and still survive to this day. So if you love the folklore, myths and legends of days gone by you will love this collection of tales from that spans time, cultures and continents and curates some of the most historically significant stories that all attempt to answer very human questions; where did the world come from? What happens after we die? Are there Gods, trickers, and monsters? What drives us to go to war? Along with some beautiful illustrations and a very accessible layout and an understandable way of retelling the stories in a quick, campfire story style that might not have the detail you’re used to in fiction, but tells us all we need to know about legendary stories while staying as true as possible to original references and also providing some factual context around the story and it’s origin. This was so much fun...

Sasha is well and truly over it all: work (all-consuming), friendships (on the back burner), sex-life (non-existent). Sasha has hit a brick wall (literally). Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga and find solitude, she heads to the Devon resort she loved as a child. But it's off-season, the hotel is falling apart and now she has to share the beach with someone else: a grumpy, stressed-out guy called Finn. How can she commune with nature when he's sitting on a rock, watching her? Especially when they don't agree on burnout cures. (Sasha: manifesting, wild swimming, secret Mars bars; Finn: drinking whisky.) But when curious messages start appearing on the beach, Sasha and Finn are forced to begin talking - about everything. What's the mystery? Why are they both burned out? What exactly is 'manifesting', anyway? They might discover that they have more in common than they think... " I'm wondering almost detachedly how long a human can...

  Daníel and Áróra hunt a brutal killer when a shipping container with the bodies of five women is found outside Reykjavik, as Áróra continues the search for her missing sister. Book three in the addictive, chilling An Áróra Investigation series. On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive. As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel's former wife, and the connections don't stop there… Daníel and Áróra's cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.  As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become inc...

  In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles , seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa. Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever. A deeply moving, sweeping story about the unbreakable connections between people and ...

This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes.  In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn’t, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers – irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo.  Suddenly there’s a serpent in this paradise – and the consequences will be devastating. "   Everyone talks about falling in love like it’s the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know. You look into the eyes of your beloved and see not only the person you've always dreamed you'd meet, but the you you've always secretly believed in, the you that inspires longing and delight, the you that no one else really noticed before. That's what happened when I met Kit Godden." A lyrical, deeply vivid coming-of-age story set aga...

Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure-park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter... As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process... Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count. In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher... "I can't claim to be entirely at ease. I am an actuary, not a burglar ." Henri is back in the highly anticipated final episode of th...