Sylvia is as prickly as the hedgehogs in the sanctuary at which she volunteers. Her relationships with her work colleagues and family are problematic. When her work-life and the relationship with her sister are destroyed, how will she cope? Really well written, the reader cannot help but sympathise with Sylvia. A really enjoyable book where, for once, the heroine is not always sweetness and light. And i learned a lot about hedgehogs!!

This book has been compared to Eleanor Oliphant and the like and I can totally see why! The main character is 'quirky'! She doesn't conform to the norm and seems happy enough living life the way she wants to, but you just know that if you scratch away there's something hidden underneath the surface that makes you want to give them a big hug and let them know that life will be ok!

For 15 years she has devoted herself to her work, and her boss! Thinking he is just waiting for the right moment to dump his wife and live the 'happily ever after' life with Sylvia. BUT he doesn't see the world the way she does and the more you witness his behaviour, the more you get the impression that he has just used her over the years and taken advantage of her devotion.

It's only when she sees him in a whole new light that the reality hits her that he's not her knight in shining armour and all she has pinned her hopes on crumbles away. So what does she do with her life now?

As well as her work she has devoted her time helping to helping out at a hedgehog sanctuary with Jonas. He's a wonderful soul who takes great delight in living life simply and just wants to help the hedgehogs! The more time Sylvia spends with him and the sanctuary, the more her eyes are opened as to what she wants out of life and when an old school friend reappears in her life, maybe her life starts to look up again and she sees things a little differently.

I loved the simplicity of this story - it's more about the personalities and life choices that each character makes. Sylvia isn't the most likeable character to begin with - she's quite abrupt in her viewpoints but she has a big dilemma to face when she sees her boss for what he really is and not what she thought he was for all those years. There's a reason for why she is the way she is, and the more she gets stripped back then the more you understand her and things fall into place.

I really enjoyed this story and the journey that you see Sylvia take is a very realistic and poignant one.

I thought this book was a true reflection of life for a lady who never married and gave herself to making her boss’ life as easy as possible. I say this as I have worked with a lady like Sylvia who also dedicated her life to her boss with no reward other than hierarchy at work. I liked the dynamic between Sylvia and Millie and after reading more of the book realised the issue she had with her niece. Millie’s husband was a character I could not take to but he was fed into the book in the right sort of mischief for want of a better word to make the story more credible – families are families and come in all shapes sizes and dramas. Jonas was a lovely character and I loved the idea of what he did with his wife’s wedding ring and the hedgehogs need someone like him to survive. I would like to have know what happens with Sylvia and Neil if anything – a sequel maybe. I would read this author again without question

My thanks to the Publishers via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. I was also sent an uncorrected proof as I am taking part in a Blog tour organised by Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers.

I was more than happy to give this a 5 stars or 10/10.

This gentle tale was demolished in two days. It is an easy read that tells the story of Sylvia a 52 year old University employee, who was besotted and in love with her boss, Professor Lomax also referred to by her as 'Prof'. At the weekends, she loved nothing more than to help out at a local Hedgehog sanctuary.

But, life has a funny way of not working out quite the way we expect it. When a new filly (PhD candidate) on the block appears, it's not long before Sylvia feels her nose being pushed out of joint.

Will Sylvia win her man, the love of her life the Prof or will fate have other plans for her?

I enjoyed this story, at times I felt like banging Sylvia's head against a brick wall as it was quite apparent to the reader that the Prof wasn't that receptive towards Sylvia's feelings. However, you did keep hoping that he would change his ways and his feelings towards her.

The story is told almost in two parts without it being spit as such into parts, the majority of the first 200 pages or so are focused on the here and now, with the latter 140 pages or so being told with more info as to what had happened in the past, this does help in some ways to realise why Sylvia is the way she is.

I felt sorry for Sylvia, who was quite a prickly character and mirrored the 'needlemice' that she helped to look after. I felt that other people had helped to make her the way she was and that if she'd had a different past that she would have been a different person.

I felt that I had already met Sylvia, I think everyone has, the lady who was going to settle down maybe next year, get married one day and have a family one day but all of a sudden the one days have all become yesterday and time has gone by. Well, Sylvia had waited for years for her boss to make that final move after he had clearly made his feelings known at one of the office Xmas parties. She had pride in his achievements and protected him every day from the riff-raff who tried to make it into his office.
Sylvia was all about what people thought of her even if it wasn't the real her. When a new lady arrives on the scene Sylvia decides to take drastic action and well the story becomes pretty entertaining. I must admit that at times I did have to read just with one eye as I cringed so much. This was pure gold, a super debut.
This is one good feel read that is perfect entertainment at home or on holiday. I didn't much care for this spiteful spinster, to begin with, but well she did make me laugh. It was just the determination and blinkered serious approach that I giggled at. The lengths she went to but with each page, I thawed and mellowed to this lady and loved her to bits by the end.
There are some brilliant characters, all readable, predictable and very entertaining, a super uplifting read, beautifully written and perfect title.
I wish to thank NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Needlemouse by Jane O’Connor is about a prickly 52-year-old woman named Sylvia Penton. She is admin support for a professor at a university, but she has been harbouring a secret crush on him for years.

Little does Sylvia realise that ‘her prof’ is interested in someone else. On discovery of this knowledge Sylvia becomes increasingly desperate.

I don’t think anyone would disagree with my statement that Sylvia is not a likeable character. She is mean, insensitive and self-serving. However, the more we learn about her the easier it is to understand the reasons behind her behaviour and whilst it is still not acceptable it is understandable.

It is obvious to the reader that ‘her prof’ is clearly not interested in her.

Sylvia is quite a lonely character. She has nobody she is close to at work because she is too busy trying to prevent people from disturbing the professor. Sylvia has a sister called Millie who she is as close to as she can be to anyone, but she really does not get on with her brother-in-law or her niece Crystal.

“It’s not Crystal’s fault that I don’t like her. I have tried over the years not to let the past effect my relationship with her the last thing I want is Millie picking up on it, but I know she knows there is a problem there I can’t quite hide my lack of genuine enthusiasm about Crystal’s many and varied achievements over the years. Her first steps, first words, writing her name, passing her ballet exams – the list goes on – and with each occasion the news has been delivered to me like a special present that I am invited to share in the joy of opening. And no matter how hard I have tried, and still try, to look pleased and say the right things, there’s a note of discord in my voice and in my reactions that chills and often kills the mood."

Sylvia volunteers at a hedgehog sanctuary because she thinks it makes her seem like a nicer person than she is. The parts of the book talking about hedgehogs and facts surrounding them were fascinating for me because I knew relatively little about them prior to this.

Needlemouse begins with the prof taking her out for lunch for her birthday and this is when we see how truly pitiable her situation is.

“It occurred to me, as we were having coffee, that he hadn’t even asked me one question during the meal or even said ‘happy birthday’ and I felt a surge of annoyance that I immediately squashed down, reminding myself that he was in the midst of an intensely difficult time. Having repositioned myself emotionally towards his well-being, rather than mine, I was able to watch him drink his coffee with renewed affection."

Needlemouse is a lovely little book and very easy to read.

This was a highly anticipated read and I am so pleased to report that I was not disappointed. This brilliant book was quirky, side splittingly funny and a total joy to read.

Sylvia is many things; she is ascerbic, self assured and utterly deluded. She is spiteful and mean-spirited; prickly and unfriendly, critical and pompous. And yet, Sylvia is also something else; she is devastatingly lonely and just wants to be loved.

Sylvia has fashioned her entire existence around her obscenely unhealthy obsession with her boss, Prof. She is protective, both personally and professionally, of Prof and guards him jealously; always watching from the sidelines. In her mind she has conjured him up as an ethereal being, an impossibly flawless person and her infatuation turns her into a becrazed stalker; following him across the continent and surreptitiously spying on him whilst meticulously meddling in his affairs.

Without giving too much away, there is a point in the book where all things come to a head and Sylvia’s life comes crashing down around her ears. At this point, I was so invested in her evil plans and so swept along by her designs, that I had to put the book down. I couldn’t bear to see her life in such disarray. After an epiphany and the realisation that she has become a product of her own making, Sylvia attempts to pick up the pieces of her life, using her work at the hedgehog sanctuary as a coping mechanism. Sadly the path to happiness is still not a smooth one.

Needlemouse is an uplifting feel-good novel which is both melancholy and heartwarming. The absurdity with which Sylvia rationalises some of her outrageous decisions made me laugh out loud several times, as did her determined dedication to Prof and what she deemed best for him. She goes to surprisingly great lengths to sabotage Prof’s plans, at times it was rather unsettling and edge-of-the seat stuff! I really enjoyed Needlemouse and shall sadly miss Sylvia’s caustic tones.

This book is definitely one for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (by Gail Honeyman) and The Cactus (by Sarah Haywood).

Every so often I like to mix it up a bit and read something outside my usual comfort zone. Something a bit slower paced and more character driven than the usual high octane thrillers which I devour constantly. This was that book for me. We meet Sylvia who lives alone, works for a university professor who she loves unrequitedly, and volunteers at a hedgehog sanctuary. She also looks down her nose at most people, is too overprotective of aforementioned professor and, to be honest, isn't really a nice person. But what has happened to make her like this, was there something? I mean, she has a good relationship with her sister so it isn't all doom and gloom. But then the apple cart is upset. She has a rival for her boss, her relationship with her sister goes off the rails, and even her precious sanctuary's existence is threatened. Like the creatures she adores, she definitely has a prickly side but is it time she stopped rolling herself up in a ball and started to live a little? Even if that means exposing her soft-side...
This was a delightfully quirky read. Yes, it's uncomfortable at times, especially given how unlikable the main character is when we first meet her. I gave up counting the number of times I wanted to give her a good slap. But face value is all we ever see of everyone we meet and, as we all know, often that's just a mask, a defence mechanism, hiding an inner vulnerability, a soft centre, a person who just wants to be loved. A bit childlike and definitely naive. But, by the end of the book, when a lot of water has passed under the bridge, when certain truths have come to light and the whole Sylvia has been exposed. Well, I guess I started to understood her a whole lot more. I still don't think we'll be best friends any time soon but there's definitely a newfound respect. Basically, in a nutshell, it's pretty much Sylvia's coming of age book.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

*I received a ebook copy of this novel for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was a perfect example of why it sometimes pays to keep reading even when you're not sure you like the novel. I began this not knowing what to think but as the plot progressed I was captivated, and come the ending full of hope.

I grew to like Sylvia as I learned more and more about her past, her fears and her hopes. There were times I found her frustrating, but that was also part of what makes her unique. This novel offers you the chance to watch a character flourish and grow, offering the reader a chance to feel inspired by the chances she faces.

I loved the little bits of hedgehog information spread thought this novel, for me they helped this novel stand out.

The plot was well paced, I found myself woundering what could happen next at many parts and I was pleasently surprised at what did.

Overall I would recommend this novel to fans of fiction with heartwarming moments but also serious ones too. This novel does a good job of balancing life's difficulties with life's triumphs, reminding us all to hold on for the things to come.

Oh what a Lovely Book! I discovered this from reading a review in my feed written by my GR friend Paromjit, who has great taste as well as being one of the most eloquent reviewers on GoodReads. Not my usual cup of tea, but the premise appealed to me, and I have very much enjoyed some of the similarly themed books featuring unconventional protagonists that have appeared in recent years, like Eleanor Oliphant & Ove.

I also do happen to like hedgehogs, which is faintly frowned upon here in NZ where they are an introduced species, and while not demonised like possums, rats and stoats, they do compete with native birds for food and eat their eggs. Unfortunately we mostly only see them dead on the road, but I have twice rescued sick hogs and was thankful to discover there is a network of people across the country who will take them in and restore them to health then freedom. I wish we could send them back to England where they belong, and would be appreciated, but reading here that the population has dropped from 35 to about one million tells me they probably have a better chance of surviving here. Anyway, I’m digressing, it’s late at night but I just had to finish this wonderful moving debut novel.

Sylvia is a 52 year old spinster, who has been in love with her boss, Carl, a professor of Educational Psychology at a London university for 15 years, patiently waiting for him to leave his wife so they can finally be together. Unfortunately her feelings are completely unrequited, bordering on delusional, and when he starts showing too much interest in a glamorous new PhD student, Sylvia is determined to protect him, as she sees it, by fair means or foul. She has few friends, and has always lived in the shadow of her vivacious extroverted younger sister Millie, and domineering 80 year old mother.
When the sisters fall out over the reveal of an old secret, Sylvia has only Jonas, a kindly old man who runs a hedgehog sanctuary that she volunteers at, mainly to make herself seem nicer than she is, to turn to. As the year turns, will Sylvia learn to uncurl from her protective ball and open herself up to friendship?

For most of the first half of this book at least, Sylvia is pretty unlikeable, as she writes her diary entries, detailing her bitchy commentary about everyone except her beloved Prof, gleefully plotting to keep her rival away from him. She and her brother-in-law, Kamal, can’t stand each other and she’s even distant from her teenage niece, the mopy Crystal. As we learn more about her past, however, you can’t help but feel a growing sympathy for her desperate loneliness, so that when she finally opens her eyes and reaches out, I found myself cheering her on. I loved the ending, which was both realistic and optimistic without being schmaltzy or too predictable.

The snippets of information about hedgehogs added to my enjoyment of this heartwarming story, except for hearing that they used to be cooked in clay and considered a delicacy in some countries or killed by witch-hunters in the Middle Ages. There are helpful hints on how to help them survive, and what to do if you find one - if they’re out during the day it means they’re sick and need help. Keep them warm, feed them cat or dog food and contact a rescue centre.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc, which allowed me to give an honest review. Needle Mouse is published on 27.06.19.

This is a delightful tale of a spiky woman learning to soften her attitude towards the world, while the reader also learns slowly why she became spiky in the first place. The main character is set in her ways, in a way which is very reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant - this novel is highly recommended for fans of that book!

My only complaint would be that the resolutions came too easily - things happen TO this character instead of her making them happen herself. But all in all it was very entertaining, engrossing and heart warming.

When I first started to read this book I really started to have a few reservations about it. As I felt that the main character (Sylvia) was living in her own delusional world. Where she is so infatuated with her boss that she was reading far more in to their work relationship than what was really going on. It made me feel as though I wanted to go up to her and shake some scene in to her.

The more I got into the book the more I started to understand Sylvia and her situation and why she was this way. Like it says on the cover of the book she needed to come out of hibernation.

I also enjoyed “The Hedgehog Year” by Jonas Entwistle, which will become clearer as to why there so many references to Hedgehogs the more you read the book.

Sylvia is living in her own delusional world. She is a PA for Professor Carl Lomax at the University (Prof as she likes to call him). She takes pride in thinking she knows everything about him and how he likes everything, as well as shielding him from students or anyone one else who just happens to turn up in his office without an appointment. Sylvia comes across as a battle axe where her prof is concerned thinking that she knows whats best for him.

Sylvia spends most of her time out of the work place fantasising about her Prof leaving his wife for her and for them to walk off in to the sunset together. However after Sylvia is dismissed from her job, due to misconduct she is at a huge loss, and maybe she doesn’t know Prof like she thought she did.

Also her relationship with her sister and husband has gone from being strained to Sylvia not existing. But Sylvia ends up with an allies in her niece Crystal and the more time they spend together the more she realises Crystal is more like her than her loud and flamboyant mother.

So this just leaves Sylvia with her volunteering at the hedgehog sanctuary helping Jonas Entwistle to carrying on with the hedgehog sanctuary that his wife started years ago and it’s Jonas’ way of keeping his wife alive.

With Sylvia loosing her job is this is the turning point in her life where she slowly starts to finally live her life instead of hibernating. She is very much like a hedgehog prickly on the outside but soft and vulnerable in the middle.

I really enjoyed this book it’s not like most books out there, and it about a lonely woman in her 50’s who really isn’t living a full life.

A very good book with an unlikely heroine that grows slowly on you. Sylvia grated on my nerves at the beginning but as the plot evolved I started to find her likable and ended rooting for her.
It was great to meet a 5o something women instead of the usual 20 something. I loved the empathy of the author toward her character and I loved how the plot resonated with me.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

When I started this book, I was put off by what appeared to be a fairly cliche-ridden scenario - a middle-aged woman secretly in love with her boss, who apparently didn't notice the fact. I put it aside, but then re-started it when the hedgehogs in our garden reappeared and reminded me about it!

I'm glad that I persevered with this story. It turns out that there is far more to Sylvia than meets the eye, and that her life - far from having been totally boring - has included a huge loss that affected everything from then on. Once we learn what happened, we can understand why Sylvia emulated her spiky hedgehog friends. After another disaster or two, she begins to cast off her spiny shell and become a warmer, nicer person for whom life takes on a more hopeful aspect.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

In Needlemouse we meet Sylvia, 52, single, intolerant, judgemental, bad tempered and deceitful - you won’t like her, I certainly didn’t. But just like the hedgehogs she cares for while volunteering at the local hedgehog sanctuary she has shown nothing but her prickles to the world for many years, as she slowly unfurls throughout the book and her soft underbelly is exposed we see there is much here to love.

A great book about living past your mistakes and forgiving yourself in the process. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sylvia is PA to University professor Carl Lomax and she is obsessed with him. She reads far more into little things than are actually there and fantasises about a time when he will leave his wife for her. She is single with no children and a strained relationship with her family. Her only hobby is volunteering at a hedgehog sanctuary. When Carl becomes involved with a mature student Sylvia does everything she can to split them up.
While I understand the inference that Sylvia is like a hedgehog, hiding behind prickly spines to protect herself, I felt she came across as selfish, unlikable and stalkerish so even discovering more about her past didn’t make her a character I could feel any sympathy for. I’m afraid this just wasn’t for me.

This is an inspired debut novel. Having an introvert as the main protagonist is risky, especially one that is not very likeable given her obsessive nature and the consequences of her actions. A hedgehog sanctuary is also out of the usual but it equates fantastically with Sylvia's persona. The cycle of the hedgehog mirrors perfectly with Sylvia's changing circumstances and change of heart. Just as the hedgehog comes out of hibernation, so does she wakes to reality of the Pro's true nature and begins to live her life ,free from the chains she willingly submitted to.
A great quirky read. I eagerly awaiting the author's second novel.

This is Jane O'Connor's debut, a wonderful story about 52 year old Sylvia Penton, the PA and admin support to the Psychology Education Professor Carl Lomax, a man she guards and protects like a rottweiler. Chances are when you first meet her, you are not going to like her, and why should you? She is spiteful, underhand, going on to display all the signs of being a stalker. For 15 years she has been in love with her boss, coveting and treasuring all signs and gestures from Lomax that she thinks prove that he is in love with her, although any evidence to the contrary, she finds excuses for. The only problem is that he is married to Martha, an immovable obstacle to them getting it together. He provides her with an interior life, an emotional defence to counter those who might find her a pitiable woman. Sylvia volunteers at a local hedgehog sanctuary run by old Jonas, giving her something to do at weekends and make herself appear nicer than she actually is to others.

Interspersed in the narrative are facts and information about hedgehogs, such as the Japanese word for hedgehog translates as needlemouse. Much like a hedgehog, Sylvia has been hibernating for years, she has lost the knack for life. Her social life revolves around her kooky free spirited sister, Millie, who insists on including in her social and family life, even though others are not so keen on Sylvia. Millie is married to the love of her life, Kamal, who runs a local deli, and they have a teenage daughter, Crystal. Lomax is going to get divorced and Sylvia is convinced that her chance has come, but he is having his head turned by 33 year old Irish single mom, the glamorous Lola, the newest PhD student. There is no way that Sylvia is going to let Lola stand in the way of her achieving her dream, and she doesn't care what she has to do to split them apart. Only has Sylvia been deluding herself by seeing only what she wants to see in Lomax? As Sylvia's life crumbles on every front, is she going to be able to put away her prickly exterior, come out of hibernation, handle devastating past traumas and begin to truly live again?

I imagine we have all encountered people who are eminently dislikeable and whom people generally swerve to avoid. Sylvia is definitely one of those characters, but O'Connor in her stellar characterisation, tenderly and compassionately reveals that beneath the prickles, the lonely inner Sylvia and the traumas she has suffered in her life have made her the woman she is today, one who becames so unhinged that her life disintegrates. She has no options but to rediscover who she is and tentatively begin to engage with others, finding the wise Jonas being so supportive, and we discovering just how much our needlemouse has misread Crystal through the years, and that the two have such similar personalities. Before I knew it, I found myself beginning to understand and adore Sylvia. An entertaining and emotionally intense read that I grew to love the more I read of it. Many thanks to Random House Ebury for an ARC.

A lovely story that unfolds gradually but had some poignant lessons. It took some getting in to initially.

I'm a little bit conflicted by this, the whole premise works quite well but I just found Sylvia to be so unlikeable. She was so bitter and twisted, and so thoroughly unpleasant to other people. It didn't ring true that Neil would just be able to bypass all of that, it had a hollow feel. It'd have been better if the other positives hasn't been overshadowed by the feeling that finding love fixed everything. The fact that she found purpose and started to make friendships should have been enough. On the plus side I did enjoy the hedgehog references throughout, and the story was well told.