YVONNE’S SHORTIES #404 – Cold As Hell // Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow

Time for another round of Yvonne’s Shorties! This time around a Nordic noir title I loved and a very popular contemporary that ended up being way overhyped in my opinion.

Title: Cold As Hell
(An Áróra Investigation #1)
Author: Lilja Sigurðardóttir
Translator: Quentin Bates
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Nordic Noir
First published: October 17th 2019
Publisher: Orenda Books
Finished reading: January 26th 2024
Pages: 276
(Originally written in Icelandic: ‘Helköld sól’)

“She could live with Scotland’s hard winters, as long as there were some warm days in summer. But the chill of the Icelandic summer was somehow a symbol of hopelessness.”

REVIEW

I’ve become a fan of Nordic noir over the years, and Lilja Sigurðardóttir is probably one of my favorite Icelandic authors. I tend to love her writing, so I’m still not sure why it took me this long to finally pick up Cold As Hell… But what I can promise is that I won’t be waiting this long to read both sequels. Why? I absolutely loved my time with this first An Áróra Investigation book. This book had everything I tend to search for in Nordic noir: an atmospheric setting, well developed/flawed characters, excellent writing, on point use of tension and an intriguing plot. While at first glance Cold As Hell might be about the main character looking for her estranged missing sister, turns out to be so much more as the intricate plot shows more aspects of itself. Domestic abuse, immigration issues/deportation, mental health, drugs, financial crime, romance… There are a lot of different topics incorporated into the plot, but all woven together in a way that only enriches the plot. The main character Arora made for such an interesting character study, and I enjoyed getting to know her better. I especially loved what her job added to the mix, and I hope there will be more of that in the sequels… Cold As Hell uses a multiple POV structure, and it was interesting to see how everything slowly started to connect over time. The way certain twists were incorporated was ingenious; I thought I had it all panned out, only to discover that the plot did have some surprises in store after all. Cold As Hell is without doubt an excellent start of this Icelandic noir series, and I already can’t wait to pick up the sequel.

Title: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
First published: July 5th 2022
Publisher: Knopf
Finished reading: January 28th 2024
Pages: 418

“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.”

REVIEW

WARNING: it’s unpopular opinion time again!!

Right. I confess that I was already a bit hesitant to pick up Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, because hyped books and me don’t usually tend to get along… But since I consider one of her other books an all time favorite, I ended up giving in when I saw I needed a book about gaming for one of the challenges this year. Sadly, I didn’t get along AT ALL with this book. I’m starting to believe The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry was the outlier, and her writing just isn’t the right fit for me… Because to say that I struggled with Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow is an understatement. Initially I was cautiously hopeful even though the pace was a lot slower than expected, but things soon started to go downhill. There is something almost pretentious about the writing, ‘woke’ characters/topics and the plot, and it kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I can’t say that I was a fan of Sam and Sadie’s friendship at all, and they never felt like ‘real’ characters to me. It was almost like they were shouting: ‘Look how different I am! Look how special I am! Look how I’m better than you!’… And it was a huge turn off for me. Add Sadie’s relationship with Dov (cringeworthy and only made me like her character even less), and other topics introduced seemingly just to show how ‘woke’ the author is, and I confess that I started to skimread long before the halfway mark. In fact, I should have just DNFed it instead… Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow most definitely wasn’t the book for me, and I think I’ll just leave her books alone in the future. Sure, A.J. Fikry did receive a 5 star rating, but this has been the third time her other titles have failed to hit the mark for me… And sometimes you just have to know when to throw in the towel.