Not quite my cup of tea.

Whiteley is now very much in the league of my favourite authors. I love the way stories start as one thing and morph into something else and at the same time explore being human. This a a delightful puzzle made of stories about stories and is damn hard to review when all I want to do is just say read this Full review (ish) https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

I am sure I will do a horrendous job of explaining why I gave this five stars, so there is that to know. I will likely go on about things that I thought while reading this book, and things I am thinking now, and probably things I have thought about for a long time before I even heard of this book. Honestly, this book was hard to read. Hard to read for its prose styling, for one. I love Whiteley's writing, but this jumped around a lot and threw in a lot of dialogue for the thinking bits, and I te...

Skein Island is a fricking masterpiece.Right now I’ve got that out of the way we can continue; so, Skein Island is the next novel from Aliya Whiteley, and it’s an old novel, which has been repurposed and republished by Titan Books and I for one am so very thankful that this has happened – I had no idea the novel had previously existed. It was originally published in 2015 by a small press called Dog Horn Press – I’m unsure of how successful Skein Island was at its original release, as I’d never h...

2.5 stars.Interesting concept but I did not enjoy the execution. I would not consider this a horror novel as I thought it might be going in. It’s a bit of a feminist manifesto involving goddesses which is just not my jam unfortunately.

Ooooh 4 or 5 stars? I can't decide!

The concept of this one is fascinating: an island off the British coast that forms a women-only retreat from the world. SKEIN ISLAND is an easy read, a British Gothic mystery-esque novel with speculative elements that I flew through (also, it's super short and I read it over a sitting of about 2-ish hours). A great sense of atmosphere pervades these pages, provoking images of grey mist and looming cliffs and dark seas. The book itself was actually a little different to what I expected, but I did...

‘Skein Island’ has a fantastic premise - an isolated island retreat, only open to woman for a single stay of one week, with a single requirement: leave behind a ‘declaration’, a story of who you were or are. Marianne receives an invitation to stay on the island, despite not applying, and leaves everything behind in the hope of discovering more information about the mother who left for Skein years before, and never came back home.Unfortunately, I found the execution of this promising premise clum...

Another really excellent novella by Aliya Whitely. I think this would make a great pairing with Wilder Girls as both are fantastical explorations of female friendship. The novella takes place on Skein Island, a mysterious island that hosts retreats for seven women for seven days at a time. The main character receives an invitation to the island for a retreat that she never applied for and retraces the footsteps of her mother who vanished from her life after going on a retreat there herself. Whit...

SKEIN ISLAND was fascinating!!The story follows Marianne who goes to the private, women's refuge known as Skein Island to try to understand why years ago her mother left her to go there and never returned. Only she finds much more than she bargained for; an old lady, a statue (that may be an ancient and powerful Greek Goddess) and a scary story!She heads off the island retreat after being assaulted at her library job, leaving behind her confused husband. She doesn't understand that "when things

First, I should point out that I loved The Beauty by Whiteley, and so went into this with very high expectations. Whilst this didn't enthral me as the former did, I still found it rich and fascinating, particularly from a thematic point of view.Though they are very different in terms of plot, the two novels do in fact explore the same major themes, both of which I adore when handled well: gender roles and storytelling. In this case, the eponymous Skein Island has long served as a safe space and

“They are all born with the seed within them to become one of four things. And now those seeds are growing.”Skein Island by Aliya Whiteley is about a private refuge twelve miles off the coast of Decon. Few receive the invitation to stay for one week, free of charge. If you are chosen, you must pay for your stay with a story from your past: a Declaration for the Island’s vast library. What happens to your Declaration after you leave the island is not your concern. Powerful and disturbing, it is a...

'Every woman deserves at least a few chapters of her own in the story of her life.'.Skein Island is a women's retreat located just off the coast of Devon. Each woman must pay for her stay with a story from her past. Marianne gets an invitation from a woman who is long dead and feels the need to investigate. She is unaware what the stories are used for until it is too late😯.It's really hard to put this book into words, I'll start off by saying, it wasn't what I was expecting at all. It is weird a...

Definitely a book for fans of girlie mythological-fantasy, though due to some scenes of graphic violence and adult situations, this is a book for 18+ readers only.I must admit, I was expecting a bit more of the Greek mythological influence on this from having read the back cover, but Skein Island was well written, well paced with believable characters and a decent, if slightly predictable, plot.There were two or three minor editing errors, but otherwise the story was neatly presented in sections...

3.25⭐Got to think on about this one. I enjoyed elements of this book but the characters are not really very likeable but maybe they aren't meant to be. Hmmmm.

*I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion.From the synopsis alone, I knew that this was going to be a very unique story. It had elements that intrigued me, such as the mention of mythology and the fact that the Island was a sanctuary for women only. There were quite a few aspects mentioned in the synopsis though and I wanted to see how everything came together. Unfortunately, I don't think that I really got that moment of harmony, which was a sh...

I'm grateful to Titan Books for a free copy of Skein Island to consider for review.As a blogger it's easy to get a bit formulaic in your reviews. Plot précis. What the book meant to you. Some pithy quotes. A bit about the author's previous work and perhaps wider context. Summing up.In the case of Skein Island, I can't do that and not just because - bad David! - I hadn't read any Whiteley before (that's something I'll have to fix). No. There's something about this book that is different. It's not...

NOTE: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.(I took WAY too long to post it, though, and for that I am sorry)Why did I read this book? Because if you’ve written one of my favorite books (and Aliya Whiteley’s The Beauty IS one of my favorite books), you’re stuck with me for life. I will follow your career and read every single one of your books. Maybe not right away, but I will eventually. I won’t even ask what they’re about, I’ll just go for it. Whatever. I trust

One thing Aliya Whiteley is not is boring! Each book or novelette is completely unique and entertaining. She is a voice for women. Her books have underlying messages through her unique story telling. This one was no different. I would say so far Skein Island is my favorite book of her work. I will say I was waiting for a big piece in the end but that didn't happen. However, I think the way it ended was how it was meant to end. Skein Island focuses on a woman's individuality and not terms like mo...

Skein Island, an island retreat just for women, to spend a week there and leave behind a declaration of who you are. When Marianne goes after she’s assaulted, leaving behind her husband, she goes with the intention of learning her mysterious invitation to the island, and the declaration left behind there by her mother who left years ago and never returned. What Marianne finds is a statue that affects women and men everywhere. The premise for Skein Island sounded so fascinating. Anything with eve...