The Radleys: Entertaining Book Review {for even the non-reader}

Hi Friends!! I have something special for you!  A brilliant, beautiful and overall amazing very good friend of mine will be providing some great book reviews (& commentary) for you all!  Great  timing, too, as summer time is more of a book reading time for me.  Is that for you all?  I love reading outside in the sun - whether at the pool, on vacation, in my backyard or even after a long day in the sun, back in the a/c of my house!  Enjoy the first review!

Dear Meggy,

Hi lady! How’s the fabulous KC treating you? I know you’ve been traveling a lot so I thought I’d drop you a line about a perfect book for your next voyage….

I know you <3 teenage vampires as much as the next ten-to-twentysomething-year-old-girl, but I think we all agree that a) half vampire/half human babies are fuh-ree-key and b) sometimes less yearning is more…hence I bring you The Radleys by Matt Haig.

Yeah yeah, I know…since Bram Stoker the whole blood sucking motif has been a bit overplayed…but there is something undeniably seductive about relinquishing control to have the life drained out of you by a dreamy (sometimes sparkly) vamp. Throw in a pinch of bildungsroman and a dash of secrets-your-parents-never-told-you, and you have The Radleys.

Here is an excerpt from the cover:

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have – for seventeen years – been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could leave normal lives.

Haig, through simple yet devastating prose, tells his story from the perspective of each family member – plus a few of the characters they meet along the way. This device is a great tool for grasping the implications of history on the immediate future, and creates a book that has a wide appeal to many readers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this modern, fresh take on the vampire genre, and I think you will too. And because I know you of all people will appreciate this, here is my suggestion for a “Reading a Book About Vampires” outfit:

And a Radley look for less:

Next Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - yay!

Your Friend, Fflow

OMG, I love her.  Can't you just see me laying around my house reading The Radley's in one of these outfits?  I can. :) I hope you all LOVE this review, book reading outfit (hee hee) and just Fflow's great writing as much as I do!