The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama

This is a short, gentle little book that is effectively a collection of short stories all linked by the hippo in the park.  I really like the premise for the story, and the interweaving of the different stories works well.  The hippo itself isn't magical, and I liked that the various different characters change their mindsets themselves really, the hippo just provides a focus for that impetus for change.  I felt some of the stories worked better than others - or I liked and understood their characters more in some perhaps.  

This would have been a higher rating for me except I felt that it was written in quite a juvenile style.  It isn't a children's story, but at the start especially that was how it felt, and it was just a little too simplistic in style and slightly jolted - perhaps because of the translation.  But it was enjoyable and sweet, and I will be on the lookout for any hippo rides in parks next time I visit Japan!

With thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for my review copy.

The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves

Very readable, but the killer was who?!

This is my first Jimmy Perez book, so perhaps I would have liked him more if I'd met him earlier in the book series. He didn't seem to be very effective, and I much preferred his partner, Willow, who is basically storming the policing whilst very heavily pregnant.
There's a good sense of place and community, and the things I enjoyed most were the bits of island life and the multitude of characters. I knew who everyone was, despite there being so many of them to try to keep track of.
The plot winds along slowly, and I felt that Perez wasn't really detecting, but more stumbling over clues accidentally. The suspense did build, and I did enjoy the book, but I felt that the reveal was a curve-ball, and that left me nudging this down from a 4 star to a 3 star. It felt like a sudden leap towards social commentary (and it's something we should all be thinking about and talking about) but for me, it came out of nowhere.
I would read another in the series, but I would be secretly hoping for Willow to take the lead!

With thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for my review copy.

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Read for book group.

I wasn't sure which way to land on how I felt about this book, so I plumped for an in the middle rating in the end, though it sometimes veered both above and below this as I read.  I found it slow to get going.  Altha's story dragged initially, I didn't like wet Kate, and so it was only really Violet I was interested in until quite far into the book.  It's a dark read, full of abuse, and blood, and rape, and miscarriage and abortion and whilst I think the long line of Weyward women was supposed to feel like a positive thing, it just felt very sad.  All those women, all abused in some way.  I did begin to care more about Altha as her story progressed, and even Kate.  But it remained, for me, mostly Violet's story and so I found myself disappointed by her ending 

**Warning - spoilers to follow**

Why did she drive all that way, watch a car crash, and then go home?  Why did she see Kate's bad husband and not dig more into what was happening?  Why didn't she do more for her whilst she was still alive?  That whole section made me cross.  This isn't how Violet would behave, was what I kept thinking to myself as I read!

I also struggle a bit with magical realism, though with all the suggested witchy-ness I was prepared for it, but still, for magical relations with animals, bugs and birds to be the way someone can escape domestic abuse was a bit...I don't know...I wanted them to be rejuvenated by nature, sure, but then I hoped it would be their own strength of will that would succeed, not a bunch of birds.  And what's with Simon's eye getting pecked out - do the police not question what the hell happened in that cottage before they got there?  I mean, I wanted him to get his eye pecked out but still.  It left me feeling all loose-endish.

But for all my complaints, I did enjoy reading the last half/third of the book, though I was always racing to get to Violet's story.

Smartphone Nation: Why We're All Addicted to Our Screens and What You and Your Family Can Do About It by Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr

This is an accessible, thought-provoking read.  Looking at smartphone usage for both children and adults, it highlights the ways in which we are all effectively giving away our likes, dislikes, interests and personal information and offering it up to advertisers who then target us with ever more specific ads.  It also looks at the darker side of smartphone use, the content that children are exposed to from a very young age, as well as discussing screen time as a potential issue, and ways to address these things with your children.

I really liked that the book felt balanced, in that it isn't a diatribe against technological advances.  And the suggestions and ideas for ways to check you're not stuck in a you-loop, and how you can moderate your own usage, as well as your children's, were all useful.  I've already implemented some of the ideas within my own feed, and discussed the book with my children.  Although it does make reference to children throughout, I found it relevant to my own smartphone usage, and so I think it isn't just for parents and would be a useful reminder of monitoring what information you are giving away, and thinking about your active and passive phone usage.
With thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for my ARC.

All the colours of the dark by Chris Whitaker

I wasn't sure at the start, and good golly it's long, but I sat reading the final third of the book barely breathing until the end I was so completely caught up in these characters...even when they didn't make sense (Tooms?) I was so fully committed to them that I just wanted to see what else would unravel.

It's dark and difficult subject-wise, and wordy, but I thought it was great.