Watermelon (Walsh Family #1), by Marian Keyes

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with a surprise review- from a book I finished a month ago, no less. 

Don't worry, it's still fresh in my mind, and I have a lot of thoughts on it! 

So much so, that I had to share them with you! 

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Watermelon, by Marian Keyes! 

Title: Watermelon 

Author: Marian Keyes

Genre: Contemporary 

Status: Book 1 in a 7 book series

Release date: 01/09/1995

Pages: 520

Blurb: "Meet Claire Walsh. 

On the day she gives birth to her first child, 

Claire's husband James tells her he's been having an 

affair, and that now's the right time to leave her. 

Right for who exactly?

Exhausted, tearful and a little bit furious, Claire

doesn't know what to do. So she decides to go back to 

basics... and runs home to Mum and Dad. 

But it's not the sanctuary she'd been hoping for. 

Juggling her sister's drama, her parents' pity and the 

demands of a baby, Claire desperately misses the way 

things were. So when James gets back in touch, eager 

to put things right, Claire faces a choice. 

Will she forgive and forget? Or can she find the courage 

to take a chance on herself, and start a life of her own?"

My Thoughts

Even if I hadn't read Rachel's Holiday before this, I still think I would have fallen in love with this series from this. 

There are a number of reasons why I loved this book as much as I did. 

1. Marian Keyes knows how to write a story that is engaging, realistic, empowering, gripping and overall, emotional. 

I laughed, I cried, I blushed,  I clenched my teeth in frustration at some points in this story- sometimes in the same chapter. 

2. Watermelon is a situation that could happen to anyone- which made it easier to relate to Claire. 

3. The story is spun together perfectly. There was always something going on, something that made it hard to put the book down. 

The whole dynamic of Watermelon, truly, is amazing. The series is called Walsh Family, and that's exactly what you get with this. Her whole world turned upside down, Claire escapes her desperate situation, returning home- to Dublin. Once there, she realises that her family home isn't the secluded place she thought it would be. She has to deal with crazy sister energy, pitying parents, whilst figuring out her next move. You get an insight into the younger Walsh sisters' characters, Helen and Anna, at this point in the series. 

Honestly, I quite liked getting to meet some other characters. In Rachel's Holiday, it's just her, the odd friend at the start, and then everyone else in the rehab centre. There wasn't a huge cast of characters in Watermelon, but everyone played their part, and I knew the majority of them I'd be meeting again at some other point in the series. 

The best part by far was Claire's character arc. Desperate, alone, and completely heartbroken, she has no clue what to do at the start of the book. I mean, what are you meant to do, when the love of your life, husband, and father of newborn daughter, up and walks out, saying he has been having an affair, and no longer loves you? Get through it in any way you can. 

I'll tell you, my heart really wept for Claire at that point, about 100 pages in, when she's at her family home in Dublin, and she's completely lost. She's drinking more and more, missing James, despite his betrayal, and she doesn't know what way's up. 

But somehow, little by little, she picks herself up, she begins to meet more people (hint hint), she begins to see that there's more to live for than her crappy ex, and looks towards the future. Then what happens? Her stupid ex-husband shows up! 

I don't want to spoil what happens next, because I want you all to read the book yourself, honestly, the range of emotions I felt from that point onwards was so varied, from one chapter to the next, it's a wonder I didn't pass out exhausted. 

Now, what would you do if the love of your life comes back, tries to cancel divorse, tells you about the problems they had, were mostly because of you, but wants to try again? If you truly loved them before all of this happened? If it was for the sake of the daughter you shared? Would it still be easy to stick to your morals? 

Anyway, you can understand why I was clenching my teeth in frustration at some points in this book. 

But anyway, after that, you can't help but feel genuine pride for the character that had her head lower than her heels, but in the end, picked herself up, and took her life in her own hands. Truly empowering. 

Just read the book, then you'll know what I'm talking about, if you haven't figured it out already. 

Overall, an absolute gem. I know I'm not alone in loving this series, because they recently released a tv series based off of these books. (I really want to read them, but I think I'm going to read the books first- best get a move on.) But honestly, Watermelon is a serious contendor for my Favourite Books of 2026 at the moment. 

The third book, Angels, gives us a new protagonist- Margaret, or 'Maggie'. I haven't met her yet, but I know that she leaves everything behind for sunny LA, so I'm intrigued to see what she's like. I'm thinking I'll look for a second-hand copy on Ebay at some point- don't want to wait for too long before continuing on with this series. 

Okay! Those are all of my thoughts on Watermelon! I know it's a lot, but please comment down below if you've read the book, enjoyed it, hated it, and why! 

Also, should I watch the show now, instead of reading the books first? Let me know in the comments! 

I hope you have a wonderful afternoon, or morning, wherever you are, and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

March TBR (2026)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

Back with my March TBR. Except, it's not really a TBR. It's more of a head's up. 

So, I've mentioned this a couple of times on here, briefly, about where my reading is headed, in anticipation for a release at the end of the month. 

But I wanted to take the time to let you all know how I'm going to do it. 

If you didn't know, I'm talking about the release of the final Skulduggery Pleasant book- which is out 26th March. 

~The epic Skulduggery Pleasant re-read~

Since it is the final release for the Skulduggery Pleasant series (I seriously doubt they'll be any more main stories after a nine book series, then a six book series, and now finally the trilogy), I have mentioned that I will, from now, be re-reading the entire series, and then get to the final book afterwards. 

Obviously, I'm not going to finish 17 books in March, (some of these novels are in the 700 page count) which means that this re-read will be longer than a month. 

However, I won't just be going radio silent on my progress with this series. I plan to document, monthly, perhaps fortnightly, if I'm able to, what my progress is. Maybe I'll do individual posts, dating through the calender, or maybe it'll just be a paragraph at the end of my other blog posts. I haven't really decided yet. 

I have an idea of how far I'd like to be by the end of this month, but we'll see. I'd like to at least start Death Bringer, which means I'll be finishing:

1. Skulduggery Pleasant

2. Playing with Fire

3. The Faceless Ones 

4. Dark Days

5. Mortal Coil 

Skulduggery Pleasant has always been a constant in my life. It doesn't matter what was happening, where I was at, the Skulduggery Pleasant series has always been something to go back to, a new book to look forward to, or a re-read I knew I could always pick up when in danger of falling into a reading slump. 

I don't want to say that I took it for granted, that it would always be continuing, but it was always nice to know it was there. A home in reading. 

I have been following this series since I was twelve years old. I have loved each and every book, getting to see Valkyrie Cain grow as I did, and now, as an adult, having suffered loss of friends, and being faced with the final battle, I'm nowhere near ready for it all to end. Which is why I thought this was a good idea. A send off, for an old friend, if you will. 

It feels right. 

Okay! I hope you enjoyed reading about that little reveal (though not really, if you've read some of my other posts). Oops. 

So, that is all I have for you guys tonight. This was always going to be a short post, I just wanted to let you all know what I was planning on reading for the next couple of months. 

With that, I'm going to leave it there. I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeeee!

Abi xxxxxxx

February Wrap Up (2026)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm here with my Febraury Wrap Up (trying to salvage a horrendous posting month by ending it on a high note). 

As it was the month of love, I planned a romance/ love TBR specifically. That all went tits up when I didn't bring enough reading material for my holiday in Blackpool- ended up reading a very Halloween-ish vampire story that I still haven't finished! 

Regardless, I did manage to finish some books, but it was definitely a struggle! 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy reading about what I did manage to finish. 

1. Watermelon (The Walsh Family #1), by Marian Keyes

It was hard to believe, after enjoying Rachel's Holiday so immensely, that this would come close to being as good. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was because I felt more similar to Claire than to Rachel, and therefore more able to sympathise, (mainly because her situation is more likely to happen than Rachel's). But all the same, Marian Keyes' ability to spin a story is what kept me engaged from start to finish. 

As anyone would be, Claire is absolutely devastated when, on the day of her daughter's birth, is told by her husband, that he no longer loves her, and is leaving her for another woman. That's the starting point for Claire, when she decides that she's going to pack up, and move back home to her parents' house, to Dublin, with her newborn daughter. 

As any new mother does, she gets by- in any means necessary. 

And as time passes, she finds herself again. 

Until her ex-husband comes knocking. 

Watermelon is poignant and honest, a story about a woman who has no choice but to be strong, and pick up the pieces after her life comes apart at the seams. 

It's a story that shows you what it means to build yourself up from nothing, to stand up for yourself when the past comes back to haunt you. 

I genuinely think I enjoyed this more, because I read this after Rachel's Holiday, by the way, because I was able to see the reason behind her behaviour in the second book. Trust me, you'll get it if you read the series. 

2. The No-Show, by Beth O' Leary 

I reached for this because I wanted a light, maybe funny, romcom, and because this starts on Valentine's Day, this seemed like the perfect choice. Trying to ignore the many negative reviews I had seen on Goodreads, I started it on the train journey to Blackpool (two and a half hours is definitely enough time to get started at least). 

If you didn't know, The No-Show is a story about three different women that all get stood up on Valentine's Day- by the same guy. From there, I thought the book would be the three women tracking him down, teaming up, etc. Instead, the book pans out over the next year, following each women on their own timelines, and how their relationship developes with the ditcher. It starts off slow at first, I was very aware of the negative comments, and how true they were at the start. 

And then, all of a sudden, I finished the novel- three days before I was meant to. 

I basically got swept up into the story. We had a lot of train journeys, to Preston, Liverpool and Kendal, which made up for a lot of reading time. 

I'm not going to say it's my favourite Beth O' Leary novel, but it holds it's own against some of my most loved. 

3. Monstress, Volume 1: The Awakening (Monstress #1), by Marjorie M. Liu (Writer), Sana Takeda (Illustrator)

I read this graphic novel at the end of 2024, and hadn't thought about it since, other than a series that I knew I would get back to eventually, just wasn't sure when. Lord knows why I started thinking about it, but after failing to come across it in any Waterstones over the past year, I took to Ebay to find out the price, and before I knew it, Volume 2 was on it's way to me. 

Coupled with the want to finish more novels before the month was out, I decided to pick both Volume 1 (as a refresher) and Volume 2 straight away. 

My God, was this a ball ache to get through. It never seemed to end. 

I was expecting to fly through it, like I do with the Saga series. 

It couldn't have been more different. I was losing concentration every couple of pages. I had to really persist, and keep trying, throughout most of it. 

Don't get me wrong, it's a dark, twisted, violent and gripping story, with a detailed history of the world, of the war that's raged for years between every breed in existence, but I definitely struggled with the re-read a lot. 

4. Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood (Monstress #2), by Marjorie M. Liu (Writer), Sana Takeda (Illustrator)

This was much better. Less long, less info dumpy, and the plot started to take place a bit more. After finishing Volume 1, I was questioning whether I actually wanted to continue on with the story, after struggling so much with re-reading Volume 1. Thankfully, Volume 2 restored my faith in the series, and I started to wonder where the story was going to go as we're led onto a boat with Maika, Master Ren and Kippa, to an island of lost souls, in the hope of answers. 

I really hope I don't leave much time before picking up Volume 3. I don't think I have the bottle to re-read that first volume again. 

Okay! Those are all the books I read in the month of February! Four books in four weeks, right on par for my 52 book target.

I'm right on target. 

Now, for the next couple of months at least, I'll be re-reading one of my all time favourite series'- because the 18th book is being released at the end of the month. Somehow I don't think I'll be reading 17 books in one month. Most of you will know what it is, but I won't spoil it now, for those of you that don't. 

Okay! That is all I have for you all today! I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx