Tamara

A firm favourite! Some pages of dialogue did get boring, but a good read otherwise.

A quick read. A gorgeous little book for whenever you need a bit of grounding and a mental refresh of why we’re truly here.

I really wanted to give this more than two stars, but I simply can’t.

I haven’t read the Girls series before, so these characters were entirely new to me. Even so, the familiar nostalgia of a Jacqueline Wilson novel was very much present, which made me hopeful going in.

Think Again starts off slowly, and for a while, it's difficult to see where the story is actually heading. Once it settles, the pacing improves, and the different threads begin to come together into a clearer narrative. Unfortunately, that’s also where my enjoyment began to fade.

The storyline itself often felt uncomfortable and oddly “off.” Questionable choices are made by both the main character, Ellie, and by Jacqueline Wilson as the author, to the point where the book just felt icky.

While queer representation is always welcome, the way Ellie’s journey is written here feels unbalanced and somewhat forced. The other woman in the relationship isn’t as fully developed as she could be, and their connection reads more like companionship than the passion that’s repeatedly described with another partner. As a result, Ellie’s queer awakening feels muted rather than affirming or triumphant. At the same time, nearly every heterosexual man Ellie encounters is portrayed as a red flag—most notably her cousin, who attempts to pressure her into dating through creepy gifts and non-consensual kissing, and her former art teacher, who is arguably the biggest red flag of all. Whilst it's already uncomfortable that they're in a relationship in the first place, the dynamic with this man becomes repetitive: he behaves badly, Ellie feels uneasy but says nothing, and everything is glossed over with great sex over and over again. The real awakening Ellie needed was right there: understanding that good sex is not a reason to tolerate disrespect or boundary violations. Instead, the book sidesteps this entirely. This messaging becomes especially uncomfortable when Magda and Nadine explicitly tell Ellie that “that’s just how all men are” and that she should simply put up with it and enjoy the sex. Jacqueline Wilson used to be so, so good at driving home those important messages, but in Think Again, this is really not the case.

Overall, Think Again had potential and moments of familiarity, but the execution left me disappointed. It didn’t feel like a comforting, nostalgic Jacqueline Wilson novel, and I finished it feeling more uneasy than moved.

HOLY SHIT

The Little Board Game Café is a beautifully written and gently paced story with several unexpected moments and little twists. The narrative is written from Emily’s point of view, and the characters are all nicely developed and realistic. Emily is relatable and likeable, so readers will want her dreams to come true and for her to get her own happy ever after ending. I really loved this book - it was such a fun read and super hard to put down! It’s the kind of story you want to curl up on the sofa with a hot drink. I will definitely be reading more titles by Jennifer Page!

Some nice recipes, athough a lot of what we tried seemed to end up being a bit dry. It's also worth doing some of these in the oven rather than an airfyer, especially some of the puddings and pasta bakes.

I initially picked up this book hoping it would be similar to the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I hadn’t realised it wasn’t the first book in the series, but I don’t think reading The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels beforehand is necessary - this book provides a brief introduction to the Society and some of its characters for new readers.

That said, I found it a bit hard to get into. It makes frequent and sometimes seemingly random references to classic literature and authors like Jane Austen, and the Wicken League (as the group is called) struck me as uncomfortably and, in my view, unnecessarily anti-men. The writing style is quite wordy and overly descriptive, which makes the reading experience feel more complicated than it needs to be.

I might return to it at some point, but for now, it's not really my cup of tea.

I think this is one of the only moments that I’ll say that the film is better than the book. It was a good read, with some chapters I found myself flying through the pages with wonder and interest, but I couldn’t help but end up bored with some passages and even chapters, especially the first chapter. It’s definitely a book everyone should read in their lifetime, but I can’t help but feel like I was forcing myself to read it sometimes.

This is a great beginner-friendly baking book, especially ideal for younger bakers or those just starting out! It starts with a helpful ingredients guide that explains things like which type of butter works best for different techniques, and the different kinds of food colouring and what they’re best used for. There's even a handy conversion table at the back to help with Imperial, Metric, and cup measurements, which makes it accessible for bakers from anywhere.

The recipes are easy to follow, with most including 'top tips' on the page and a photo to go along with trickier steps or designs. Best of all, every recipe we’ve tried so far has turned out delicious!

I am not normally a romance reader, but decided to give this book a chance purely based on my love of dragons as a concept. I kept seeing this book everywhere, so I ended up buying it. It felt like quite a cosy read, quite predictable but I liked the idea of essentially a cat cafe, but dragons. However, it felt very repetitive, both in the story line but in the fact that the same words and phrases were repeated throughout. It sometimes felt as though I were reading the same sections over and over again! The writing style does leave a lot to be desired and is quite poor, and doesn't actually seem to have been proofread. I love the ideas that the story introduces, but it could have been written so, so much better!

Despite this, I am looking forward to the two upcoming books teased at the end of the story - The Baby Dragon Bakery and The Baby Dragon Bookshop. I'll keep my fingers crossed for them.

I started this book shortly after finishing the first one. It’s a decent read, especially if you enjoy the Dungeons & Dragons universe, and it’s nice to see Viv return as the main character. However, if you're hoping for the same cosy, feel-good vibes as the first book, you might be disappointed.

While it's clear that Travis Baldree put a lot of love into this story, it didn’t resonate with me in the same way. I found myself more passively following along than being truly engaged. Perhaps a new main character might have brought a fresh spark.

I'm glad I read it, but it's not one I see myself returning to.

Absolutely bawled my eyes out, but I loved it. It beautifully connected past and present characters together, introduced new names to old faces and rather than tied up loose ends, fabricated a beautifully crafted knot to connect everything together. I cannot wait for the film!

I'm a big fan of Stephen King, and I understand that this is nothing like what he normally writes — especially as this is meant to be a short book — but I can't help but feel that it just seems to be the equivalent of listening to an elderly neighbour gossip about the locals for about two or three hours. It's not really my cup of tea.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and whilst the narrator - who was also the author - gave depth to the story with their expressive reading, I do feel like it's better to indulge in the book by physically reading it as sometimes the gruff reading voice was distracting and sometimes unclear.

The story itself was quite easy-going and light-hearted, based on the main character, Viv, building and opening the town of Thune's first Coffee Shop. Viv is likable, an orc barbarian who seeks something different after a 'retirement' as such, and the other characters are also quite quirky and lovable.

I would recommend this as a good, easy-going read to anyone who enjoys the Dungeons and Dragons universe and wants a cosy read. I'd be keen to read - or listen to - more of Travis Baldree's works.

This is definitely a "slow burner" book, and it feels like it takes at least a good 400 pages before everything starts to really take off and have a good snowball effect. There are a lot of characters in this book, which is sometimes hard to keep track of and remember who is who, but I do feel like this is imperative to the story itself as it makes the devastation of Salem's Lot feel more personal and more catastrophic. I do feel like the ending could have been so much better, as I feel like once they had that final 'lightbulb' moment, I thought "Oh, that's it?"

You can tell this is an older book, especially when it comes to any female characters and an unnecessary description of her breasts at that current moment, but it's still a cracking Vampire story nonetheless.