charliemaryann's reviews
223 reviews

TW: Rape, Murder, pet death, suicide


One school project changes everything for ambitious, homework-obsessed Pip as she compiles a case study of evidence for the disappearance and alleged murder of Andie Bell. Five years prior, school girl Andie Bell disappeared and is speculated to have been murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh who had commited suicide after sending an incriminating confession to his father. With no body found, Pip sets out to uncover the truth of what happened to Andie and to prove Sal’s innocence once and for all with the help of his younger brother Ravi. Can good girl Pip remain morally correct and herself or can a murder investigation turn a good girl.. bad?




There are so many questions throughout this book. Who killed Andie? Was Sal’s cause of death suicide or murder? If Sal really did kill Andie, why was someone trying to stop Andie digging for information?




I absorbed myself in the mind of Pipa Fitz-Amobi for an entire day and I am proud of this decision. This book is for anyone who loves true crime or dreamed of being Nancy Drew as Holly Jackson allows us to play detective along side Pip with additional content: Murder maps!


My theory was that Andrea had enough of the family expectations bestowed upon her, hit a rough patch with her mental health and needed to fake her death to escape her reality. Sal caught her in the act and she used it as an opportunity. If she could stay away and make it look like he did something bad to her, she could get away with it. So she kills him.


I LOVE Ravi. His personality was just super upbeat and he was really good to Pip despite the heavy circumstances. They’re bond was refreshing and adorable. I really loved the friendship dynamic between them.


Max is literally TRASH. Never have I known a more trash character.


Completely riveting, toe curling, sitting on the edge of my seat, can’t put this book down, keep thinking about this book worthy.

Rent A Boyfriend, Gloria Chao

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Themes: toxic masculinity, toxic family dynamics, emotional abuse & sheep’s in pjammas

★★★ ★★


5 delicious mooncakes for Gloria Chao, you go Gloria Chao.

This book is lovingly baked with a strained family dynamic, the power of choosing yourself and of course mooncakes. Rent A Boyfriend had me riding emotional tidal waves, especially with Chloe’s relationship with her parents. No child should ever have to feel like they need to lie to their parents about who they are or who they’re with to appease them. I felt heartbroken for Chloe in every instance her mother tore her down for who she is, for projecting her own fears onto her. Although, I am white, the emotional abuse hit home for me and reminded me of my own relationship with my mother. I found myself rooting for Jing Jing/ Chloe and for the blossoming romance between herself and Drew. Somehow, their love and connection felt authentic and true despite the element of the lies it was built upon in the beginning.

Chloe is such a human character. Her two worlds are split between her fake self to appease her parents and her true self as Chloe who studies economics and desperately wants her parents to accept her. It felt extremely real for Chloe to be torn between these parts of herself and not being able to really know who she is without the parental drama. Over all, I loved her character and I was able to sympathise and relate to her.


I believe that Drew spends his time helping young Asian women appease their families in the midst of their complex drama because he has a family shaped wound that he doesn’t believe can be healed. I really loved how dorky and awkward Drew is and I absolutely loved his connection with Chloe.

I am unable to speak on the Asian rep as I am not part of the community but I genuinely feel for anyone has ever felt the way Chloe did and were treated in such a horrific way. I found the way Chloe’s parents valued their reputation and money over their daughters happiness to be completely appalling.




To All the Boys I've Loved Before meets The Farewell in this incisive romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.

Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn't met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your 'Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.

Drew Chan's passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your 'Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like "Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures" comes naturally to him.

When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they'll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.

But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew--who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not 'rent-worthy--her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?

Genre: Women’s fiction, Adult Romance, Contemporary

Themes: Grief, death, infidelity, writers romance.

★★★★★

Don’t be fooled by the colourful, exotic beach-y cover because this book is entirely more in-depth and darker than that. You may look at this and think you’re in for some kind of fun, sweep-you-off your feet romance whilst you sip pina coladas in Cancun but it’s more like cuddling up in a blanket whilst it rains. We follow our once fairy princess, January, a published author who relocates to her fathers beach house, a year after his death to write a book. In true romantic comedy style who could be her next door neighbour other than her rival - crush from college? Gus and January decide to swap genres, Gus has to write romance and January literary fiction in a contest of who will be published first.

ALL THINGS... SPOILERS AHEAD


I saw myself in January, I had that same light and flair for life and was dimmed by the soul crushing affects of reality. My ex partners spoke about me the way Gus spoke about January in the beginning, a fairy princess living in a illusion bubble. However, Gus of course was our misunderstood male who had been In love with January for years whom couldn’t express it because he was under the impression she hated him. This is played out a ton in Contemporary and Romance books, but much like Christina Lauren, Emily Henry was able to stop me rolling my eyes. January is described as soft, someone who can’t find her feelings, and think you will find that I am the inspiration for this character ;).

- [ ] My heart just broke for January having to create a version of herself who is always bubbly and light in the wake of her mother’s diagnoses and of course her perfect picture of love and family being destroyed by her fathers affair. Emily really showed just how complex and non-linear grief is in Beach Read with January missing her father and loving him deeply but simultaneously hating him for the pain he caused. She really described that feeling of being so close to someone but never truly knowing them, only seeing those parts of a person that they will let you see and in the end, do you ever really know someone?

At first, I saw Gus as just another Scorpio man who pretends that emotions are an illusion but as the book progressed and along with January we got to witness the abandoned child within, I felt so much compassion for Gus. He never had anyone to be there for him, his marriage was in shambles and he found it hard to be open to January, despite desiring her. At times, January was quite entitled and didn’t understand the way Gus worked. She wears her heart on her sleeve, you know what January is feeling because she’s open emotionally and she was never taught otherwise, whereas Gus never had someone to tell him that his feelings are valid. So, I wasn’t at all surprised that when January found out that Gus was married and going through a divorce, information he never shared with her, she took it personally. In that moment, I believe January was projecting her feelings from her fathers affair onto Gus. Despite all this. January and Gus grew as people through the course of this book. January was able to come to terms with her fathers affair and notice that in life there are good and bad moments but the moments don’t amount to a bad life or take away the love. Gus was able to finally open himself up and let himself be loved and of course he learned to dance in the rain.

One of my favourite parts was Gus explaining to January how he sees her and the admiration he has for how she sees the world. As a spiritual person, I love the conversation of how different people see and experience the world.

The letters, one for every year January lived, handwritten by her father filled me with such intense emotions. He truly loved his daughter unconditionally and saw her as his greatest achievement. Although, after reading the letters I had to put the book down and reflect on the fact that I never had a relationship with my Dad and all I ever wanted was for him to love me and choose me. I suppose I relate to both January and Gus.

I would love for Emily to write January’s book about the family-circus, I would so read that.