Clare Riley
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clarer73.bsky.social
Clare Riley
@clarer73.bsky.social
540 followers 140 following 260 posts
Book/ music/ theatre -lover, dog-devotee!
I read and review books to share the love!
Books from my shelf, the library, and NetGalley.
Chester, UK 🇬🇧
Instagram: @clares_little_book_obsession
Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/clarer
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clarer73.bsky.social
My thoughts on Sycorax by @nydiawriter.bsky.social is over on instagram - a lyrical imagining of the formative years of Shakespeare’s character from The Tempest.
💙📚🔮🪐🖋️
#booksky

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Clare Riley on Instagram: "#bookreview I’ve seen The Tempest, and so I was interested to see an origin story for Sycorax - the most powerful witch of Algiers. Except she isn’t the evil monster that S...
0 likes, 0 comments - clares_little_book_obsession on November 16, 2025: "#bookreview I’ve seen The Tempest, and so I was interested to see an origin story for Sycorax - the most powerful witch of Al...
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November 16, 2025 at 9:48 AM
clarer73.bsky.social
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst is a coming of age story, a story of class, privilege, racism and the MC growing up in a time where homosexuality was illegal. It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down!
💙📚🌈🖋️ #booksky
November 2, 2025 at 7:48 PM
clarer73.bsky.social
Reading I can do, reviewing I can also do, but posting those reviews seems to be a step too far sometimes - so here’s a bit of a mega review-dump 🤷🏼‍♀️ I hope you enjoy them!
#booksky 💙📚

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A Bit of a Review-athon!
Here are reviews of six books I’ve read and enjoyed recently! The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride (NetGalley audiobook – Bolinda Audio) I felt that I was carried along on the voice of…
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October 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM
clarer73.bsky.social
I love a bit of myth and legend and North is the Night delivered really well on that. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series! My review is on instagram:
💙📚🪐🔮❤️🌈⏳ #booksky @quercusbooks.bsky.social

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October 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
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And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh is ideal autumnal/ spooky season reading, in my opinion:
💙📚🩸👻 #booksky
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Clare Riley on Instagram: "#bookreview And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh Fourth Estate/ William Collins 4⭐️ 🩸#horror 🪐#fantasy 🖋️#literaryfiction ⚡️#mystery #gothic And He Shall Appear is a dark, fascinating read. This is a story of obsession and an overwhelming need to belong at all costs. The unnamed main character is a northern, state-educated boy, who gets a place to study Music at Cambridge University - and he’s determined to reinvent himself. He falls in with the cool crowd, and becomes obsessed with the wealthy Bryn Cavendish. This is a really haunting novel. I was never quite sure if a ghost or someone from his university past was going to pop up when the narrator returns years later for a function. The narrator comes across as lost, completely out of his depth, living and acting on the periphery of his new group of ‘friends’. He’s so determined to fit in, that he pushes nicer people away. His new friends really are NOT nice - there’s even the suspicion that Bryns skills as a magician are something more sinister. This book really gave me the chills. Recommended. #bookstagram #booklove #bookaddict #instareads #bookishlove #bookworm #igbooks #bookaholic #bibliophile #lovebooks #booksbooksbooks #clares_little_book_obsession #andheshallappear #katevanderborgh #fourthestate #williamcollins"
0 likes, 0 comments - clares_little_book_obsession on October 1, 2025: "#bookreview And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh Fourth Estate/ William Collins 4⭐️ 🩸#horror 🪐#fantasy 🖋️#literaryfiction ⚡️#mystery #gothic And He Shall Appear is a dark, fascinating read. This is a story of obsession and an overwhelming need to belong at all costs. The unnamed main character is a northern, state-educated boy, who gets a place to study Music at Cambridge University - and he’s determined to reinvent himself. He falls in with the cool crowd, and becomes obsessed with the wealthy Bryn Cavendish. This is a really haunting novel. I was never quite sure if a ghost or someone from his university past was going to pop up when the narrator returns years later for a function. The narrator comes across as lost, completely out of his depth, living and acting on the periphery of his new group of ‘friends’. He’s so determined to fit in, that he pushes nicer people away. His new friends really are NOT nice - there’s even the suspicion that Bryns skills as a magician are something more sinister. This book really gave me the chills. Recommended. #bookstagram #booklove #bookaddict #instareads #bookishlove #bookworm #igbooks #bookaholic #bibliophile #lovebooks #booksbooksbooks #clares_little_book_obsession #andheshallappear #katevanderborgh #fourthestate #williamcollins".
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October 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
clarer73.bsky.social
September stats - you can tell I'm back at work, because I've read fewer books and the amount of audiobooks have gone up. Highlights: Blood Surge by Dianna Hardy and Appointment in Paris by Jane Thynne. Lows: Levitation for Beginners by Suzannah Dunn. 💙📚 #booksky
October 1, 2025 at 10:12 AM
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My thoughts on The Queen of Fives by @alexhaybooks.bsky.social is over on instagram now. I do believe I referred to it as “rip-roaring”. It is, and I loved it!
💙📚⏳⚡️ #Booksky

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September 30, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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I love these Will Trent and Sarah Linton books by Karin Slaughter - I’m a bit late to the party though. Just means I can enjoy catching up in a series pincer movement (the earliest and latest books)!
My thoughts on This Is Why We Lied:
#Booksky 💙📚⚡️🕵🏼

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September 24, 2025 at 8:04 PM
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If you like your Urban fantasy with a side of vampires, romance and a strong female lead, then Blood Surge by @diannahardy.bsky.social will be just what you need! My thoughts are over on instagram:
💙📚🪐🔮❤️

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September 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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I'm entering this competition and you can too! wn.nr/ErE5GsB
I have a bit of a soft spot for her books...
THE BEWITCHING giveaway
Win a hardcover copy of THE BEWITCHING Shipped anywhere in the world ​*** Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New Y...
wn.nr
September 20, 2025 at 6:36 AM
clarer73.bsky.social
I’m the 3rd stop on the blog tour for an Appointment in Paris by Jane Thynne. It’s an exciting, very enjoyable spy thriller, set in the weeks leading up to WW2. My thoughts are over on instagram.
@quercusbooks.bsky.social
💙📚🕵🏼 #booksky

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September 17, 2025 at 1:40 PM
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I keep meaning to pick the rest of this series up. The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi was so good - my thoughts are here:

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💙📚🪐🔮
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September 13, 2025 at 6:10 PM
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It wasn’t until after I posted my review of Catherine Airey’s Confessions, I realised it’s the anniversary of the Twin Towers tomorrow. That’s where this wonderful book begins, as the towers fall and a young girl is left alone. It’s a wonderful book:
💙📚🖋️
#booksky
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September 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
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Thank You For the Days by @danbrotzel is a gem of a book and was a pleasure to read! It’s all about making every day count - and what a way the main character decides to go about doing just that! My thoughts are on instagram:
💙📚 #booksky

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September 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
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The Party by Tessa Hadley is short (a novella), but rich in historical detail and characterisation. My brief thoughts are here:

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💙📚🖋️⏳
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September 7, 2025 at 7:46 PM
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My review of Jaded by Ela Lee is over on my instagram. It doesn’t paint a great picture of corporate life for women, but the writing is very good indeed.
💙📚🖋️ #Booksky

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September 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
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I’m often in awe at how authors come up with the ideas for their novels (I mean, I read fantasy and sci-fi as well, so 🤷🏼‍♀️), but the timeline in Tracy Chevaliers The Glassmaker was expansive!! I really enjoyed this book. My review is over on my instagram:

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💙📚🖋️⏳
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September 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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The summer is over and I’m back at work tomorrow. So this is all the reading I did over the summer. August was a particularly book-packed month - it was the summer holidays after all 🤷🏼‍♀️
I still have a way to go with the @thebookerprizes.com long list, so that’s a job for September!
💙📚
September 1, 2025 at 8:13 PM
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A book that follows the life of Mary Shelley AND her monster? Yes please! I loved Creature: A Novel of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein by Amy Weldon, but in my honest opinion, Shelley (the poet) doesn’t come out well - but that’s the feminist in me 🤷🏼‍♀️
💙📚⏳🖋️

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August 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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I’m working my way through the @thebookerprizes.com long list - as many as I can get my hands on from the library and what was already on my kindle, thanks to NetGalley! Although @xigxaguk.bsky.social might be supplying a few in the near future…
I’ve read 2 so far…
💙📚🖋️
August 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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I participated in & completed a reading challenge on Instagram. Probably not in the way that I was expected to, but I’ve come to realise in my 52 yrs that I’m not great at joining in. At least not in the way I’m supposed to 🤷🏼‍♀️ Here’s the 12 books I’ve read this summer. See any you like?
💙📚
August 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
clarer73.bsky.social
My thoughts on Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley are over on Instagram. I couldn’t put this one down: addictive, uncomfortable and a stark warning.
@johnmurrays.bsky.social
💙📚🩸🔮⏳🪐⚡️#Booksky

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August 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
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This was a competition well worth winning!
Muckle Flugga by @michaelpedersen.bsky.social was an absolute joy to listen to. My thoughts are on Instagram. Thanks to @faberbooks.bsky.social and @xigxaguk.bsky.social for picking my name out of the hat 😊
#Booksky 💙📚🖋️
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July 30, 2025 at 10:57 AM
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I love a reading list! I have 5 of these to read (Love Forms, The Rest of Our Lives, The Land in Winter, Flesh & Seascraper), just ordered Universality & Audition from the library - let's see how far I can get before the shortlist announcement!
#Booksky 💙📚🖋
July 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
clarer73.bsky.social
Just watched the last episode of The Sandman on Netflix. Wonderful TV, I suppose it had to come to an end & have mixed feelings about it. NG wasn't the only creator, & I loved the comics. I'm just mad that I had to be put in the position where I find myself unable to revisit them. #booksky 💙📚
July 27, 2025 at 4:49 PM