Drew Davies

3.5⭐

Esther, a reclusive octogenarian, lives alone in her home on the hill, having shut herself away from the world after a sordid scandal wrecked her reputation and her life decades ago. Enter Bruno, an eighteen-year-old boy who Esther hires to help her figure out how to navigate “The On-Line”. Bruno, a closeted gay, is dealing with some issues of his own. Unable to come to terms with his sexual orientation, fearing rejection and ostracism, he feels that coming out would disappoint his loving family. He is happy with the extra income, as he is secretly saving to enroll in conversion therapy.

What follows is a heartwarming friendship between two unlikely people, both of whom are trying to make sense of the changes in and around their own lives. While Bruno helps Esther to reconcile with her past, Esther encourages Bruno to embrace his present, each of them helping the other to overcome what is holding them back from living their best lives.

The story is shared through alternating perspectives of the two main characters. The pacing of the story is on the slower side. The author beautifully portrays the friendship between a lonely octogenarian and a teenage boy struggling with self-acceptance. The depiction of delicate issues such as sexual identity, aging, mental health and parent-child relationships is sensitive and thoughtful. Bruno’s confusion, his inner struggle and his inability to accept himself as he is were heartbreaking as were the stories of his fellow participants of the conversion camp he decides to attend.

I enjoyed Esther’s present-day storyline, her feistiness, fierce independence and her dynamic with Bruno, Bruno’s father Filip and Dominic, a local boy who went to school with Bruno. Her efforts to familiarize herself with new technology lead to some some really funny moments. However, Esther’s backstory was not very well developed and is revealed to us in disjoint bits and pieces. Even though her past is of consequence to the present storyline, we never really get to know the full story, though much detail is repeated, which left me with a lot of questions. I also felt the author rushed through events in the aftermath of Bruno's experience at the camp. Though I loved the premise and the characters, the execution of the story, as a whole, left me a tad unsatisfied.

Overall, The Locked Away Life by Drew Davies is a sweet story with an interesting premise and an endearing cast of characters (minus those running the conversion camp). While the prologues (one for each of the two main characters) introduce the characters in tension-filled moments swiftly moving to an easy flowing (a bit long-drawn) narrative, the epilogues (once again, we get one for each character) wrap up both of their stories perfectly. Who doesn’t like happy endings for lovable characters?

Many thanks to Drew Davies, Bookouture and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this beautiful story. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.… (meer)

Oh what a touching story. The way it begins is that Joy is writing to her younger sister Lily. The book consists of thirty-three letters from Joy to Lily. As each letter is composed, Joy relates her life's experiences to Lily.

Joy has left her home in the UK and has moved to Denmark to take on a new job. She has completely uprooted her life, and in so doing, hopes to find happiness again and might even see if she can find a someone to share her life with.

As we read the letters, it is sad to see some of the experiences that Joy has lived through. It is also sad because she misses Lily, and her mother, so very much. But, Joy needed this break. She needed this change. Will she find something different in her life? Will she find the way to heal her broken heart?

I loved this story so very much. As each chapter was an individual letter, it was very engaging, often quite sad, albeit some humorous moments that struck a fine balance, and eventually became quite inspiring. I rooted for Joy the entire way through. There were times when her thoughts and decisions were a bit daunting. This was especially the case when she traveled back to the UK and felt there was something she needed to share with her mother. I was so moved by that entire exchange.

Drew Davies delivered a wonderful book to his readers. I love this style of book and cannot remember reading anything written in this format. I look forward to reading much more by this talented author.

Many thanks to #booksontour, Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to exchange for my honest opinion.… (meer)

Dear Lily: An absolutely charming, emotional novel about learning to love and taking chances by [Davies, Drew]I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher for the purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Joy, in her mid 30s is looking for a new life. She is tired of her boyfriend, her anxiety and depression, many of the things that used to comfort her (cigarettes, food and drink) and she is greatly tired of her job. She has asked to go to the Copenhagen office. As is her nature, Joy is overthinking each step of her life and she is sharing these details in letters to her sister, Lily. Through these letters the reader comes to care for Joy and the changes she is facing.

At first, she does not want to quit her bad habits thinking these changes are to difficult especially when everything else is changing. I found this book so funny as I followed Joy's changes. Joy was very well-written and the author was able to give her a voice and presence.

I do not usually enjoy books about women that are written by a man, but in this case, Drew Davies' writing was smooth and he created a character that feels real an I didn't feel the usually feeling of disappointment when the male perspective is very different from what I think it should be.

Be prepared to be engaged and to laugh when beginning this book… (meer)

As soon as I heard about this book I knew it was one I would have to read. There are inevitable comparisons to be made with Love Actually. We have a number of characters, who don't seem to be linked to the other characters, until all of a sudden Drew Davies dropped a little nugget into the story that made me think, "oh!". It has that kind of clever plot that I enjoy.

Then there's the fact that it's set almost entirely in London. The author himself says it's a love letter to London and it's certainly that.

I really enjoyed the characterisations in this book. I particularly liked Daisy and Chris, two people who seem destined to be together but have quite a few hurdles to overcome before that. And I loved JoJo, a woman whose husband is playing away. She doesn't want to lose him and her way of dealing with that is brilliant. She's also incredibly straight-talking which I thought was great.

Dylan is a lovely lad, a teenager dealing with a debilitating illness. And then there's Adam, whose motivations I didn't quite understand but whom I couldn't help but like just the same.

I really enjoyed the story, the interconnecting threads worked so well and I liked zipping back and forth between them, slowly bringing all those threads together.

I found this book to be amusing and I smiled quite a lot when I was reading it. But it's also got its serious side, after all, this is a book about relationships, family, love, loss and other such important life issues.

The Shape of Us is a lovely, heartfelt look at everyday life in London, reminding us that there's so much strength in each of us. It's a story that is funny and moving in equal measures and I really enjoyed reading it. I shall look forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.… (meer)