The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Bellies
Author: Nicola Dinan
Published: June 2023
Genre: Literary
Themes: Transitioning, grief, relationships and friendships.

One sentence summary: Tom and Ming meet during their university years but post university reality sets in for them and hits hard as their relationship is put to the test.

One sentence review: This is such beautiful and delicate story telling and I’m blown away.

Review:

Tom and Ming meet during their university years. While everything feels rosy at the start of their relationship, as many often can, post university reality sets in for them and hits hard. And then Ming confides in Tom that she plans to transition.

Oh wow did this hit HARD. This is such beautiful and delicate story telling and I’m a little bit blown away really.

Tom and Ming are have deep and complex characters, and even their friends around them that are big parts of their live have depth. I felt so caught up in their lives, I wasn’t ready to leave them.

The route of the story is not one I guessed but was brilliant nonetheless. It was one of those books I didn’t want to end so took my time with it and I’m glad I did.

Some of my favourite quotes were these:

“.. the kind of smile that came from his heart”

“I’d spent years feeling happy to be nourished by Ming’s light, so much so that I’d never asked what I could be for myself, only what I could be for her.”

If you love complex characters that aren’t always doing the right thing but have their lives entwined anyway, this is the one for you.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

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And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 14/03/2025