I bought this book after seeing it on Fearne Cotton's Instagram. Not the usual way to I go about buying my books but my goodness am I glad I did. After reading various reviews saying 'you can easily get through this in an evening' I thought, let's give it a go. A book following the rise and fall of a rock band set in the seventies... loosely based on my favourite band Fleetwood Mac? SOLD. 

I could not put this book down. I fell in love with Daisy Jones, I fell in love with Billy Dunne and I fell in love with the 1970s Californian Rock n' Roll scene and the Sunset Strip. It's as if Jenkins Reid read my mind and constructed this novel from my desire to look inside the lives of the 70s rock scene. The characters in this book are just how I had lustfully dreamt this time in music history to be. Daisy's bohemian upbringing, her lack of responsibility, her flippant drug use and her inevitable demise, wrenched on my heart strings. The forbidden love between Daisy and Billy put a lump in my throat but the relationship between him and Camilla made me yearn for their fairytale love story however littered with struggles, addiction and separation it seemed. It also made me want to hear this fictional album. Those songs, the words, UH MY HEART.

9.5/10

With the recent release of Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the story of the Manson Murders are very much in the public psyche. The Girls by Emma Cline is based upon the horrific acts committed by the Manson Family cult, and it enthralled me. The way in which the characters are so encompassed with contradictions. Their passion for each other, which is always undercut with a darkness. The idea that the Charles Manson-type character has such a hold over the girls, he quite literally owns - contrary to his beliefs in freedom and the breakdown of the "system". Frequently, this novel made me feel deeply uncomfortable, and I think this is exactly how I should have felt. Each chapter of the book was rooted in a macabre plot line, one in which girls seek solace in Russell. A clearly possessive and abusive character, exploiting the vulnerability of the young female characters and even cementing his dominance over the less influential male characters. Every time Russell was mentioned, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Cline's characterisation of him made me feel uneasy and evoked a strong sense of foreboding. This is all credit to the way in which Cline crafts three dimensional characters. 

The idea these women were coerced into such deeply disturbing sexual and violent acts makes you question why. Cline explores the ideas of how closely glamour, crime and the temptation of something greater connect with one another and hypnotise those who want it most: those who are lost and those who are searching. Not everything is always as it seems, and even the most strong-minded of people can be swept up in the illusion of a new way of living and a promise of the unknown. 

Cline is brilliant in her description of the hippie commune and how the members see it as such a sanctuary, specifically the protagonist Evie. But, in reality, it's a swamp of a place, smelling of burning flesh and the stench of their unsanitary surroundings. Evie is so desperate for acceptance, and you can sense the desperation in her point of view storytelling. The novel is steeped in discomfort, but it's honest, raw and immerses you in the world of the hippie cult and the disjointed communal living. 

8/10

Two fantastic novels of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I specifically recommend both of these texts if you are into edgy, explorative writing which covers taboo subjects unapologetically and unashamedly.