Spun

by Catherine McKenzie

[Leah]

When Catherine McKenzie sent me an email asking if I would like to review her new novella Spun – a sorta-sequel to her smash-hit novel Spin (really, if you haven’t read it, I recommend you do ASAP because it is a very special novel) there was no answer but yes. Of course! The idea of being back in the Spin/Spun universe sounded fantastic! And I was quite intrigued to hear from Amber, who we met in Spin. It’s been a while since I read Spin, so my memories were a bit hazy, though I have since purchased myself the paperback for a well-needed re-read at some point, and I was super excited to read Amber’s story.

Amber is very much a spoilt brat. I didn’t remember much of her from Spin, but I imagine she was perhaps 100 times worse in Spin because she was in rehab, which probably wasn’t awesome for her. Sobriety also isn’t awesome for her. She’s screwed up so many times, that the studios aren’t interested any more and her film career is on the line. The only thing she has got going for her is a godawful perfume commercial and her friendship with her best friend, Olivia. But when she gets a text from her ex, Connor, using their own secret language, she heads off for a rendezvous on his plane, with fateful consequences and if Amber thought staying sober was tough before, it’s a whole new ball game now.

Spun surprised me. I really, really enjoyed it, but Amber is definitely a Marmite kind of heroine. You’ll either love her or hate her. I loved her, but I’m fickle like that and I appreciated her unfailing honesty. Let’s be honest, she’s basically a spoilt brat – that much is true from the off – she has everything you could possibly wish for, and went down the route so many starlets go down that ends in rehab. But she came out of the other end, and I enjoyed her struggle to stay sober. It must be tough, it’s easy to say she was only addicted because she chose it, but to then get clean and stay sober? I can appreciate that. Her life is like one big whirlwind and when the thing with Connor happens, it becomes even more of a whirlwind and I just wasn’t sure if Amber was strong enough to come out of it unscathed.

Spun was a very enjoyable novella. It had the frantic fast-paced narrative that made Spin so good, you almost got whiplash with Amber’s frantic narrative, but it was great. I want that when reading a novel or novella. I want to be hooked immediately and I want it to grab me and never let me go. I would have perhaps liked a better ending – it kinda just ends, and I would have liked to have seen Amber settled more, although the ending does bring much-needed closure, so I can’t complain too much. Catherine McKenzie is an immensely talented writer, and I can’t wait to see what she brings out next!