avatar

HayleyJDunlop

Rom-com author who loves speculative stories. My debut novel - a subversive festive rom-com called 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas' - publishes this August.

197 points

0% overlap
Level 2
My Taste
Station Eleven
The Bone Clocks
Fault Lines
Impossible
1984

HayleyJDunlop paused reading...

15w
I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy

I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy

Erin Carlson

0
0
Reply

HayleyJDunlop left a rating...

24w
  • The Other Valley
    HayleyJDunlop
    Mar 14, 2026
    The Other Valley
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • HayleyJDunlop finished a book

    45w
    The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Adrian Tomine

    0
    0
    Reply

    HayleyJDunlop started reading...

    45w
    The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Adrian Tomine

    0
    0
    Reply

    HayleyJDunlop started reading...

    52w
    I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy

    I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy

    Erin Carlson

    0
    0
    Reply

    HayleyJDunlop finished reading and wrote a review...

    56w
  • Send Flowers
    HayleyJDunlop
    Aug 01, 2025
    Send Flowers
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

    I strongly believe this book should be taught in schools.

    In it, we follow online influencer Fiona – a hugely relatable character who cares deeply about the world and what's happening to it as a result of the climate crisis, but hasn't yet discovered her role in creating change.

    When her activist boyfriend, Ed, dies while fighting for what he believes in, Fiona retreats even more deeply into herself during a stiflingly hot summer in London where water is rationed and those who can afford to do so have abandoned the city for cooler, greener climes.

    When a houseplant mysteriously arrives on Fiona's doorstep, she believes it to be the reincarnation of Ed. And thus begins a life changing journey in which Fiona – and the reader – learns all about the importance of softness in a hard world and the various ways people can contribute to community-driven activism.

    This book is wonderfully and accessibly written from start to finish, and feels extremely prescient in the current political and temperate climate.

    When I finished it, I felt a renewed sense of hope, power and energy to get involved in collective action in anyway I'm able to, mindful of my own limitations. I'll be thinking about this story for a long time, and pressing into the hands of as many readers as possible.

    1
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Post from the Send Flowers forum

    56w
  • Send Flowers
    Thoughts from 12% (page 35)

    I've been looking forward to reading this book from the moment I heard about its acquisition. The opening chapters are gut-kickingly good.

    1
    comments 0
    Reply
  • HayleyJDunlop finished reading and wrote a review...

    56w
  • Kakigori Summer
    HayleyJDunlop
    Jul 28, 2025
    Kakigori Summer
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.0

    I'm a huge fan of this author's writing and this book was no exception. Three sisters – half Japanese, half English – return to the tiny, Japanese seaside town where they grew up, initially to hide out after a tabloid scandal. They end up spending the whole summer there and stitching themselves back together after a decade of heartache.

    This book made me feel so much, the witty dialogue jumping off the page and the internal musings of each of the sisters so relatable in different ways.

    The descriptions of Japan are incredibly vivid and sensorial, and I was fully absorbed from start to finish.

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • HayleyJDunlop started reading...

    56w
    Send Flowers

    Send Flowers

    Emily Buchanan

    0
    0
    Reply

    HayleyJDunlop commented on a post

    58w
  • This is How You Lose the Time War
    Thoughts from 100% (page 209)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    16
    comments 5
    Reply
  • HayleyJDunlop commented on a post

    59w
  • This is How You Lose the Time War
    Thoughts from 44% (page 92)

    I love the concept of this book, I do struggle a bit with the language of this sometimes

    20
    comments 12
    Reply
  • Post from the Pagebound Club forum

    59w
  • Book added notification idea

    Wonder if there's a way we can be notified that Goodreads links we submitted for missing titles had been added so we remember to add them to our libraries? Loving this whole experience though!

    6
    comments 5
    Reply
  • HayleyJDunlop commented on a post

    59w
  • The Ministry of Time
    Thoughts from 31%

    a hundred or so pages in, I'm still not sure what to feel overall. I really, really wanted to read this book when I first heard of it and now that I am - I can't even decide what I feel about it so far. Maybe just whelmed

    13
    comments 3
    Reply