Rave Reads of the Year – 3
Rave Reads of the Year – 3
Welcome to Rave Reads of the Year – 3. This month I invite author friends to share one of their Rave Reads of 2025. Today’s choices come from Fergus Smith, A.S. Andrejevic and Anne Coates. #RaveReads2025
Fergus Smith’s Rave Read:
Monkey Grip by Helen Garner, originally published 1977, republished 2024 by W&N Essentials
A sharp portrayal of limerence in 1970s Australia. The writing is superbly light, flitty, but precise in its positioning and description. The characters have no fixed homes, no fixed relationships but the narrator is hopelessly caught in a vice-like love for Javo, who is himself caught in a vice-like love affair with heroin. Does one ever recover from unrequited love?
Fergus Smith is the author of Punching Out, published in 2025.
A.S. Andrejevic’s Rave Read:
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The book is, in my view, a clever metaphor about modern dating and the online dating apps, where we can endlessly scroll and look for more potential partners - it feels like the pool is endless. Gramazio's prose is accessible but intelligent, and highly entertaining, with an excellent narrative voice. Some readers have commented on the story arc not feeling complete, but for me I actually felt it was highly plausible and very satisfying.
A. S. Andrejevic writes literary thrillers about immigration, identity and the various ways in which our past always catches up with us. Her debut Under the Same Moon came out in Sept 2025 with APS Books.
Anne Coates’s Rave Read
The Key to the Island House by Amanda Lees
An amazing feat of weaving history, mystery and romance into an utterly compelling narrative. Edge of your seat scenes and dramatic incidents in 1942 and the present day combine to keep the reader totally gripped. Lees’ characters are brilliantly drawn, and the dual time-line is pitch perfect. Amanda Lees evokes the sights, sounds and smells of Cairo during WWII with masterful brushstrokes. Her research must have been meticulous and I have nothing but admiration for her diligence and creativity in this brilliant book. Read Anne’s longer review here.
Anne Coates is currently working on the seventh and last book in her Hannah Weybridge crime thriller series set in 1990s London.
Other Rave Reads of the Year Posts
Linda Huber, Georgia Hill and Maggie Christensen
Michael Wood, Penny Batchelor and Terri Nixon