Tag: reviews

Hi everyone,

It would appear that this is the last scheduled one of these posts that I have, so YAY! I got there in the end. I’m still way behind on my reviews, but this is the last of the 2018 reviews that I have!

The Furies was one of those books I had seen getting lots of early hype on social media so I was delighted to be able to nab a copy to read. It is a dark read for sure, with divisive characters and an interesting plot. I don’t want to say more about it because its the kind of book you need to judge for yourself when you read it. If you liked The Craft (movie) and The Secret History, then definitely add The Furies to your list.

The Book of Love is the first book I’ve read from Fionnula Kearney and I really liked it. It is emotive, sad, uplifting and honest. I found myself getting a bit teary a couple of times. It follows Erin and Dan’s relationship as they use a notebook to say all the things they can’t get the courage to say to eachother, but its so much more as well. I’m not sentimental, or romantic (my husband can attest to this!) but The Book of Love really got to me. I was in tears after I finished it. I think if you like David Nicholl’s One Day, you’ll enjoy this one.

When I’m not reading books, I am reading magazines. I love them. So i was dying to read Alex Shulman’s book as it focused on Vogue’s centenary year. I’ve watched the documentary, but you don’t get a huge insight into Alexandra’s thoughts in it, but here you get to go a little deeper. I don’t pretend to be knowledgeable about fashion, but I do love books like this where you get to see the machinations as well as the finished product. It was definitely an interesting read.

I was dying to read Otherworld once I found out it was THE Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother etc) that co-wrote it. I like him as an actor, so I was looking forward to seeing what his book was like. I went into it thinking it would be a bit like Ready Player One, which I loved, but it didn’t come off like that at all. Its a decent dystopian YA book, no doubt about it, but it doesn’t stand up to the bigger ones out there. It has a good premise, but I found it hard to connect with the characters.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! How I loved this one. This book had been languishing on my kindle for a while so I picked it up a while ago to read and I ended up absolutely loving it. It is billed as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I AM HERE FOR THAT! It was such a great read. I loved the characters, the whole idea, the premise, everything! I love anything to do with BATB so this book was everything for me. I can’t wait to get myself a hardcover for my shelves because I plan on reading it again in 2019. Can’t recommend it highly enough!

I read the first one of these last year and really enjoyed it so I was delighted to see this one on Borrowbox (library app). This is another YA dystopian book with dinosaurs! Its billed as The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park and they’re not wrong. It is a fast-paced read, with a really great story. I enjoyed Exile and I’m looking forward to reading the third book as soon as I get a chance!

This is a short book but it definitely packs an emotional punch. Set during the war, beside a concentration camp, that will give you an idea of what its about. It is brutal and harrowing, but also at times it is gentle. It is a heartbreaker though, and definitely an emotional read.

I got this from a book swap at a Rick O’Shea Book Club event but I never got around to it until last year. Monsieur Linh is fleeing his home country and his story is emotional and very sad. The narrative is almost child-like at times, but its a very good story. It definitely made me well up a little.

Adding this in because its a classic, and I NEVER read them. It is a very quick read. The language, as you would expect from a period piece, is very eloquent at times. I knew what it was about, hard not to when its been around for so long. To be honest though, not my thing. I just can’t get to grips with the classic authors.

ACOFAS is the fourth book in the series by Sarah J. Maas and I had been really eager to read it since I finished the third one. This one seems to be more of a filler than anything else though. I mean, its grand, but it has none of the stories that the first three had. It seems like more of a stop gap than anything else, but it was still nice to get back into their world. I would have rathered an actual full book, but this was fine for what it was!

Aaaaand I’m done! 🙂 Unless I get way behind again!!!

Hi all,

I had to do a bit of a name change on these blog posts, because I am months out from reading these books!

Better late than never though, right?! 😊

If you know me, you’ll know that Azkaban is my absolute favorite Harry Potter book, so this re-read was pretty much a confirmation of this. It’s so strange coming at these books as an adult as I read them so long ago, but I find I’m enjoying them just as much, if not more than I did years ago. For me, Azkaban is the start of JKR introducing darkness into the series. In both character and writing style, and that’s why I like this one so much. Plus, SIRIUS! He is one of my favorite characters, so The Prisoner of Azkaban will always have a special place in my heart.

I read Last Ones Left Alive pretty much in one day. It was so compelling that I just had to keep reading. It’s got a great plot and some seriously kick-ass female characters, I couldn’t put it down. It is dark, brutally raw and bleak at times, but it’s a really great read. If you liked The Road, you’ll love this!

My lovely friend Sara (of Not Another Book Blogger) gave me this as she knew I was in need of a lighthearted read! She’s the best 😊 I hadn’t read anything by Giovanna Fletcher but I really enjoyed Some Kind of Wonderful. Not least because it’s title reminds me of the movie of the same name from the 80’s! Lizzie was expecting her long-term boyfriend to propose on their dream holiday, but it turns out that he couldn’t do it. What follows is Lizzie’s journey to find out who she is, without a partner, without a relationship. It’s an honest, light read that kept me turning the pages.

I’m a huge fan of Scandinavian crime, and I had read one prior to this that I didn’t enjoy at all. So I went into For The Missing with a hint of trepidation, but thankfully it was unfounded. I got hooked into this one really quickly. It’s got the usual formula, but the story kept my interest and I ended up flying through it. Not as intricate as some Scandi crime novels, but definitely another great addition to the genre!

Longstone is another gripping installment in the DCI Ryan series. I flew through this one, as with them all! Longstone concerns Ryan’s wife Anna as she’s called out to a Viking treasure discovery, but she’s not expecting to have to call Ryan with news of a murder. This is another twisty whodunnit with the usual characters from previous books and I really enjoyed it!

Until next time… ☺️

Hey guys,

I’m back with another of these because if I don’t post them now I’ll never do it! 😂

I love the Jake Boulder series. It’s got everything I look for in thrillers. Pace, action, great characters and just all round good fun! Die Cold is another brilliant installment in the JB series. I was hooked pretty much from the off. For the full effect, I would recommend reading the previous books in the series in order to know the backstory, but you could probably jump in with this one and still enjoy it! Graham Smith has a knack for writing US-based thrillers. You really get a feel for the locations plus he has a real cinematic quality to his writing. There is a definite nod to Die Hard in this one, and you’ll notice plenty of bookish easter eggs/homages to that action stalwart in Die Cold. Thoroughly enjoyed Die Cold and can’t wait for the next one!

I had been saving The Cross for when the Eddie Flynn-shaped hole in my reading life got too big to ignore, so I had to pick it up because I’m really missing Eddie. This is a novella, but it feels like you’re reading a full book, such is the depth of the story that Cavanagh has in this book. I love this series, and The Cross was perfect to get me through my withdrawals. I really enjoyed it, and actually took my time reading it. If you’ve not read this one yet, I would definitely recommend picking it up. And if you’ve not read the Eddie Flynn series then add that too because they’re great fun!

I haven’t read Tom’s Victor series (YET) but Gone By Dawn was the perfect intro to him as a character. Think Eastern European Jack Reacher kind of style. This is only a quick read, but it fairly packs a punch. It’s made me want to read the series to find out more about Victor. There is an excellent amount of action and just the right amount of humanity to make Victor a character you would happily keep reading again!

Orphan Monster Spy was one of the book club choices for Rick O’Shea’s Book Club on Facebook (at some point in the past few months) so I was eager to read it because Rick had been raving about it. I have to say, it wouldn’t have been a book I would have picked up of my own volition normally, but I absolutely loved it. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it, and wishing the time away so I could get back to reading. Compelling, emotive and gripping, I would definitely recommend checking it out!

The obsession with mermaids (shoutout to Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant and To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo for starting it!) continued with Our Bloody Pearl. It popped up randomly on a Bookbub email so I downloaded it because I saw mermaids in the description 😂 It’s actually not a bad book. It’s got an interesting story, and I did feel for the characters as the plot developed. It kept me reading, and that’s always a good thing. I would happily continue reading if the author brings out more books!

I’m continuing my re-read of the HP books, although I appear to have stalled because Goblet is a TOME, my Azkaban one is in another batch of these reviews! I love these books, and it’s really weird reading them as 30-something because I’m seeing a lot more now than I was when I read them many years ago. While Chamber isn’t my favorite of the series, it’s still a good one. It introduces one of my fave characters, Dobby, so it was always going to be a positive thing! I genuinely don’t know how to review these books now, because I never envisioned reviewing them then! So I’ll just say I love them 🤣

Not my favorite of the Invisible Library series, but it was still really good. There seemed to be a lot more going on in this one than in the previous books, but it’s still really enjoyable. I really like the characters, especially Kai and Irene, and the world building is so complicated that I have the utmost of respect for Genevieve Cogman and her ability to weave these worlds together so seamlessly. Highly recommend this series if you enjoy fantasy books!

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So that’s it for another R4 (yep, I’m too lazy to type the words 😂) post. I’m hoping to get through these a bit more in the next week or so if I get the time so keep an eye out!

I’ll have fantasy, YA, crime and thriller reviews coming soo, along with blog tour posts too 😊

Until next time…

Happy reading 📚😊

Hi guys,

I’m back with more reviews. It honestly feels like I will never get to clear this backlog, but I’m going to do what I can! 🙂

I’m a huge fan of the Bosch series, and I was lucky enough to be approved for this on Netgalley. I really enjoyed it, especially as I got to read about Renée Ballard. I haven’t gotten around to reading the first book featuring her. I loved the story, and it kept my attention the whole way through. I really like the relationship between Ballard and Bosch and I can’t wait to see what’s next for them!

The Midnight Line was another super fun Reacher read. I loved the idea of seeing the West Point ring in the pawn shop and the way everything spiralled once Reacher decided to find out why it was there. Interesting characters in TML too, and I flew through it.

I had a BEAUTIFUL hardback bound proof of this since Harrogate, but I had been saving it until closer to publication. I loved Past Tense. I found the story to be a bit of a departure from the usual Reacher story, in the sense of character motivations and actions, but I enjoyed it. I will now be impatiently waiting for the next one 🙂

I’ve never read any Tamora Pierce so this was a new author and style for me, and I definitely got into it. The main character, Daine, is a young mage and she can communicate with animals and nature. I found myself thinking about it often when I wasn’t reading it, and I had to get the next books in the series to find out what happens! Highly recommended!

This one delves deeper into Daine’s world and it was as compelling as the first book. These are gentler than the usual magical/fantasy reads, but just as captivating.

Lots more happened in this book than the previous two. Questions were answered, more questions were asked. I found myself getting lost in the world, and I really liked seeing the characters journeys throughout the series. Definitely recommend this series, and I’m dying to read the fourth book in the series!

I’m the first to admit I am not a big fan of Irish fiction, not for any particular reason, I just prefer books set in a different country. But then I met Aisling, and I have never read a more relatable book in terms of being able to see traits in people I know woven through the story. It made me laugh, it had some sombre moments, but it was just a genuine and fun read. It really surprised me!

Absolutely love Michael’s DCI Matilda Darke series and The Hangman’s Hold was another excellent installment. Dark, gripping and unsettling, I would highly recommend this series if you’ve not read any!

I love this series, and I really liked The Hermitage. I enjoyed the dual locations and I found the story to be quite engaging. I kept reading and before I knew it I had it finished. The camaraderie and friendships between the characters are what make this series for me. It feels like catching up with friends when I pick up LJ Ross’s books !

Another awesome installment in the FBI K-9 series. Hawk is such a cool dog, and I love reading these books because they are always so insightful from a technical aspect while being completely absorbing in terms of the story. I couldn’t put it down when I started it! Highly recommend this as another series to add to your TBR!

Hi guys,

So, I’m 44 (yes, FORTY-FOUR!!!!) reviews behind. Which sucks. But, I am adamant that I will get through them and this is once again, the ONLY way I can play catch up! These are all books I read towards the end of 2018 and I feel terrible that I haven’t gotten around to doing this until now, but hey, better late than never, right? 🙂

I will hold my hand up and say until last year, I had never read an Agatha Christie novel. I rectified that by buddy reading Murder with some lovely twitter folk and I really enjoyed it. It is definitely a cosy crime novel, and it was exactly what I needed to read. So much so, that I’m now reading another AC novel, And Then There Were None and enjoying it just as much.

Very much a character-driven book, Do You Dream of Terra-Two is one for fans of Becky Chambers. It’s got a really good premise, and I enjoyed the journey that the characters take the reader on.

I’m a sucker for anything that uses books/libraries as a selling point. Ink and Bone is a promising opening for the Great Library series. Good world-building, intriguing characters and plenty of action. It took me a while to get into, but I would happily continue on with the series!

This one was on my Netgalley shelf for far too long so I picked it up late last year. It reminds me of the Jason Bourne movies, it reads quite cinematic in that sense. Its a good thriller, with a lot to keep the reader turning the pages. Read this if you enjoyed I Am Pilgrim!

I am deep into my YA fantasy phase at the moment, and this one was top of my want list last year. I was lucky enough to get a Netgalley copy so I dove right in. Epic world-building, some seriously good characters and beautiful imagery in this one!

Zero Hour is a tense and emotive book. It is short, but packs a proper punch. It will leave you thinking about it long after finishing it. If you like Hugh Howey you will love Zero Hour!

I’m really enjoying this series. I found The Masked City to be hard going at the star though. There was a lot going on, and I couldn’t follow it initially, but once I figured it out I couldn’t put it down. I love the characters in this series, and I can’t wait to read the next ones!

Rosewater is one of the more different books I’ve read lately. Speculative, graphic and immersive, it is an intriguing read. I thought it was a bit confusing at times as it jumps around a bit, but it was the premise that kept me reading!

An absolutely beautiful book. Emotive, beautifully-written and with a truly captivating story, this is a book with real heart. I can’t do it justice with my words, but I would highly recommend picking it up.

Another stellar YA fantasy series. I loved The Last Namsara. It is stunningly immersive, characters that will have you rooting for them from the start, and DRAGONS! Super fun read.

I read this one before Namsara (I obviously went and bought Namsara as soon as I had finished this one!!!) and I was hooked. It was such an engaging read, and it had enough tie backs to the first book that it made the reader question a few things, but it didn’t give everything away. Loved it!