I absolutely loved this. It was funny and relatable for many reasons, it felt as if it could have been the diary of every young girl. I couldn’t wait to keep on reading and enjoyed the dark and twisted turn that it took. I look forward to seeing what this Christine Anne Foley comes up with next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oooo well wasn't this the gift that kept on giving! We start with a young girl, Charlotte, who lives in Dublin and who goes on to tell her story... At 17 she was lusting after Johnny who was everything a girl could want. But he had an older brother who was similar but also held the added advantage of being a bad boy! When she went to college, she met Dave and they had a bit of a toxic relationship. Then there was Kyle, the "best friend" who probably wanted more. And Adam who was a bit cute. And all amongst her retelling of these relationships, she also references "you"...
Now you might think this is just a woman talking about her past lovers. You'd be right, but also so so wrong. It's hard to expand on what I mean here as it would probably spoil things for you but suffice to say that there is way more to this that just being unlucky in love!
Charlotte was a cracking character. Not sure I liked her but that really doesn't matter. She's wild and shocking and naive and, well loads of other complex layers that all surround her and hide the inner "her". She's a bit of an enigma at times. But so much fun if that's the right word.
It's a bit chicken and egg too. Is she a product of what happened to her, or is what happened to her part of who she is? But again, I'll leave you to work that one out yourself. Suffice to say that I am hanging for the Audiobook to be released so that I can go back and revisit her and all her suitors...
As far as I can tell, Bodies is her debut book... Colour me even more impressed! So much so that I am really looking forward to seeing what she serves up for next time! My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book made me laugh lots. The poetry aspect was unique but enjoyable. I liked how the story was easy to follow and it flowed well. The characters seem unforgettable even now for me.

Bodies is a dark twisted read, and it is not until we get close to the end that we fully realise what’s going on. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this before publication, and I’m fairly certain this will be a big hit upon its release.
Our main character is Charlotte, a young woman seemingly seeking validation through her sexual encounters.
Johnny is her first. Then there’s his brother, Lars. We have her first serious boyfriend, Dave, and university roommate Kyle. And then there’s married man, Con. However, it’s not until the end of the book that we realise the significance of Charlotte’s recounts.
I’m not sure what to make of Charlotte. This felt, at times, like an extended version of the video for Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy. Unsettling, but definitely memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-Arc.

This was an excellent dark and twisted fiction piece. I loved the style in which this read - like a diary entry or a friend talking directly to you. It felt intimate and honest, but there was an undercurrent throughout the book that things were not quite as they seemed.

I absolutely loved this book, thought it was well written and would definitely recommend to others. Feminine rage at its finest.

🚹 REVIEW 🚹

Bodies by Christine Anne Foley
Publishing Date: 4th July

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

📝 - You were everything I ever wanted. Johnny was my first. I was seventeen and I was only brave enough to talk to him after I’d had three vodkas. He was only brave enough to kiss me when no-one else was around. Dave was different. We didn’t go out or see friends. We were each other’s world. Dave was all I needed. We were toxic before it became fashionable. Kyle was my best friend. And that was the problem. Or at least that’s what he said was the problem. Because friends can hook up but they can’t date. Adam was meant to be some harmless fun. I met him in a hotel and he was wearing an Adidas tracksuit. Casual but cute. He was anything but harmless. And then I met You. And things went from bad to worse. 

💭 - Bodies was an intriguing read. The life of a woman told through her relationships with men, with dysfunction running through each of them. Very fast-paced and written almost in the style of diary entries, our narrator, Charlotte, pours everything onto a page about these relationships, but still seems to maintain a distance, as if the relationships and their endings aren’t affecting her. However, even as she tries to maintain her distance her spiral as a young woman in a world of men taking what they want with no regard for those around them is evident. I did like the writing style, as I felt myself getting pulled into the story, especially with short chapters. However, I felt perhaps some aspects could have been delved into even further - I don’t want to give anything away but perhaps anyone who’s read it has a similar perspective…
Overall an enjoyable read but perhaps missing something. Perfect for a fast-paced dark read to break up longer, heavier books.

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I tend to lean far more towards YA and children's fiction than I do novels catered to adults, but I am so glad I made an exception for Christine Anne Foley's 'Bodies'.

At only around 200 pages long, and written in perfect prose that is almost impossible to put down, it's a quick, fast-paced read that provides insight into what it's like growing up as a woman. (As a 25 year old woman myself, I was able to relate far more than I liked)

I'm hesitant to include too much detail in this feedback, since I was able to correctly predict exactly where the story was going whilst I read it thanks to the few pieces of feedback I saw before choosing the title, but I would recommend reading it if the description appeals to you even slightly. Foley is a skilled author, and her characters are every bit as intriguing as her storyline is heart wrenching, so you won't regret it. Just be carefu; reading reviews before you pick it up!

As for me, I do think I will stick to the lighter, gentler novels I'm used to, but I did very much enjoy this dip into general adult fiction and this story will stick with me for a long time.

Such a great read! This has had lots of hype already on social media and it's easy to see why. Absolutely loved the narrators take on sex, love, relationships and grief.

A dark and at times deeply disturbing read narrated by Charlotte. I wasn't too sure of it at first but by the time I got to 40% in I knew I had to finish it. No spoilers from me but as it's a short book I think it's worth a read. Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for an early copy.

I’m having a bad run of books this month and really hoped Bodies, the debut novel from Irish writer Christine Anne Foley, would break the cycle. While I got through it quickly, it didn’t really work for me though I did appreciate elements of it.

Our narrator Charlotte is a young, troubled woman leaning heavily on the self-destruct button. She’s getting wasted on drink and drugs, attempting to straddle life back in her hometown in Kilkenny with her new life in Trinity. The story takes us through the men in her life, all of whom have treated Charlotte badly, as she unravels.

The book is unflinching in its portrayal of male violence and drink and drug culture, and deals with triggering themes like coercive control, suicide, narcissism and self esteem issues. It’s a lot. Think of it as being like Rosemary McCabe’s memoir (which I loved) but without the humour, the reflection, the empathy. This is provocative stuff but it’s a sledgehammer approach, it lacks subtlety. It was probably also too similar in themes to Exile by Aimee Walsh which I read earlier in this month, so I had some genre fatigue.

While it’s pretty compelling and there’s a clever plot device used, there were many sentences at which I winced. “I felt like I kept the paranoia to myself, kept the questions burning like acid in my throat, like the heartburn of a pregnant woman”, and “There was a hole there for sure, a hole that was massive and gaping. A gaping, holey soul; what a thing.”

There were also a few errors that should have been picked up at editing stage, notably the age difference between Charlotte and her sister Saoirse, mentioned as four years and later six years.

I think will appeal to a younger readership (under 25s). Many thanks to @johnmurrays and @hachetteireland the advance gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars overall!

I found this book so absorbing, it was so easy to get lost in and really powerful. This is definitely one for those who love an unreliable female narrator, something I’m fond of myself!

I loved seeing Charlotte’s journey through life through her different experiences with men, and although I found some parts predictable (I won’t spoil), it was written in a way that still provided a shock factor.

I did feel slightly confused by the ending, but it felt matching with the style of the book and I think it worked!

This book is a difficult one to review as it’s starts out as one thing and flips by the end to something else. We meet a very young Charlotte through her first person narration of her first encounters with boys/young men. The writing is vivid but Charlotte seems to be less than she should be - she is most revealing in the chapters concerning her sister. As Charlotte gets older she seems to define herself through the relationships and sex so the reader doesn’t get her full character. The writing in places is so good but in others is repetitive - actually just like the book overall. I really don’t know what to make of this one, but think it would make a good book club discussion.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you John Murray Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this upcoming debut novel!

Set in Dublin, Bodies is a unique and dark debut, which I would be inclined to label a thriller, or a hate manifesto against men who hurt women. This book has an interesting concept and important message, with the protagonist, Charlotte, recounting all of her past relationships with (often toxic and abusive) men. Starting at the beginning of the book as a teenager whose life is dictated by the attention of men, Charlotte gradually understands how to take control, sometimes in very destructive and cruel ways. I also have to agree with other reviews mentioning that the writing is much better in the second half, but I wondered whether this was part of the character development of Charlotte: as she takes control of her narrative, the writing becomes more refined and precise. Sadly, Bodies loses some stars because I wasn't really able to connect with Charlotte, potentially because she only existed as a character when her men were "in the room." I didn't feel like I truly knew her. Despite this, I recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the blurb and I am looking forward to reading more by the author.

You'll like this if you liked: Boy Parts by Eliza Clark; Exile by Aimeé Walsh.

I'm still in a slight state of confusion over this book. I was expecting a kind of memoir/thriller in a domestic noir vein, but it;s not that at all. I would definitely like to have it as a book group read as I feel that there is a lot to discuss and many different views that people could have that would be good to explore. I'm left feeling unsettled by it and I think I'll be mulling it over for some time to come.

Interesting and different. This was a quick read. The almost dreamlike quality of the writing pulled me through so it was hard to stop reading. It was pretty dark which I love and had covered some difficult topics in a clever way.

Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

Bodies tells the story of Charlotte, a young Irish woman, and her relationships with men, which do not go well. It touches on things outside of the men in her life now and then, but 95% of the focus is on men and the sex she has with them.

I came very, very close to DNFing it at 40% of the way in because of this. I remember being young and totally focussed on boys who treated me badly, but it makes me feel queasy when I do, and I'm very glad I've grown beyond that stage. Reading about a young woman who doesn't seem to have anything else in her life was difficult. I didn't meld well with the writing style, which is very self-consciously poetic to the extent that it became distracting to me. I wanted story, and there was very little.

At the point I'd decided to give up, I scanned some reviews and read enough to convince me to keep going. The structure and point of the book started to become apparent, and while I didn't end up loving Bodies, I'm glad I went ahead and finished it. What I'd thought was a somewhat insipid story of a girl obsessed with boys with scatterings of tragedy thrown in to force some depth turned out to be a different sort of novel entirely. Very dark, very upsetting, but eventually engrossing (although I never warmed to the prose style).

It's a story about female rage at the horrific ways men treat women. And fair enough. It's quite nihilistic in its conclusions, which I don't think it needs to be. There's a whole world out there for women outside of men, sex and relationships. The traumatic experience at the centre, which is drip fed throughout until we learn the truth in the end, did work well to ground Charlotte's rage, but the novel ultimately felt narrow. It felt very much like an imitation of Boy Parts, which covered similar territory much more effectively, imo.

It was short, so I don't feel like I wasted my time. I think it might have worked better as a short story. The points made could have fit within one.

I read this book in two sittings and really enjoyed getting into the narrator charlottes head. Based in Ireland as she grows up and reaches adulthood. The book was raw and unashamed. It focused mainly on the men and sex she has with them whilst growing up from losing her virginity, to two brothers, to affairs and everything in between. There was lust, not much love and a lot of lust involved and the book was quite dark and unhinged in parts which I loved. The book focuses on women and sex and how they are manipulated as well as able to manipulate the opposite sex. Power and respect are often involved and there is also a twist I didn't see coming. I liked this book and will be recommending to others.

I definitely liked the idea of this more than I liked the execution. There's some really interesting passages on sex and desire, and you can literally see the development in Foley's writing as it goes on, the final third blowing the first third out of the water. But despite the interesting concepts, there is so much here that just comes across slightly cliched or hackneyed. I can see this doing really well, regardless, but I can't help bemoan what could have been with such a promising initial pitch.

Bodies follows Charlotte through her early twenties as she explores and experiences relationships with several men, transitions through friendships and changes as a result.
Told unflinchingly through first person, this is one of those strange books where I can’t decide if I liked it or not... It hadn’t been at all what I’d expected, but instead gave me a raw and honest character examination full of her flaws and pain.

Both easy yet difficult to read, I still found it gripping despite the apparent lack of plot.
There were aspects of Charlotte’s story that I found far more intriguing to me far more than others. My favourite parts were the memories she shared of her sister, rather than those of the men in her life.

Though this book wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and it wasn’t something I loved, it’s easy to see why others do and will. Despite my feelings about this story, it’ll be one I think about often,

I wasn't 100% sure of the narrative style for this when I started (no speech marks really does send my brain into a spin), but eventually I got used to it. For such a short book, this packs a lot in, and the ending really saved it for me. I could see where it was going but to get there made it more satisfying, and still had me a little bit shocked.

after all, men are trash.

cw// rape, sexual assault, death, sexual content, suicide