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My My! ABBA Through the Ages By Giles Smith
It wouldn’t really matter whether you are a die-hard ABBA fan or not, you are likely to enjoy this book purely for its enthusiasm, musical knowledge and wonderful use of language. Smith is a UK journalist, music reviewer, musician and writer. Now aged in his sixties, he was a preteen fan of ABBA from the time he saw Waterloo preformed at the Brighton Eurovision contest in 1974.
Many years later he, like many others, became almost embarrassed by their style of pop, until his love of their music was rekindled in later life. In this meticulously researched book, he follows the band’s musical journey over half a century. For someone who has never spoken to any ABBA member, or publicist, he has done an incredible job.
From the classy golden embossed cover (think ABBA the album), Smith sneaks in little snippets of their songs as part of the story. At the very least, the reader will almost certainly feel compelled to dust off their ABBA CDs, revisit spin-off movies, shows, tributes and YouTube videos, and remind themselves of why you should ‘take a chance’ on Smith.
Reviewed by Barbara Leslie
Funny Story By Emily Henry
Daphne’s life hits a major detour when her fiancé Peter decides his lifelong best friend Petra is actually the true love of his life. So Daphne decides to move in with Miles, Petra’s ex-fiancé, until she can leave town – two polar opposites only linked by their heartbreak. When a wedding invitation arrives, pretending to be a couple to prove a point to those mutual exes, also seems to make perfect sense. At least the bottles of wine said so. It’s purely an act until Daphne can make her escape though, right?
It’s been a long time since I have laughed so much with one book. This is the first work I have read by this author and I am now obsessed with hunting out the rest. A romantic comedy in book form, filled with imperfect yet relatable characters, realistic family and friend dynamics, plus enough heat between our leads to warm a person up this winter.
A feel-good and simply fun book to escape with.
Reviewed by Abby Soffe
