Gemma

Circe has given me the taste for retellings of ancient myths, because this was a beautiful story. It follows the life of a young daughter of Helios and all of the men who enter and leave her life.

The writing is simple yet powerful and I really appreciated how it let the story stand on it's own. I felt deeply connected to Circe throughout the plot, which particularly impressed me as I read this book with almost a months gap between the first two thirds and reading the last third. When I picked the story back up only a small reminder of the plot was required and I quickly fell back into the world and sensation of reading this book.

I definitely recommend this book if you are interested, and will investigate Miller's other novels to tide me by until her next release.

3.5 stars

When I picked up The Roanoke Girls, I was in a rut with many aspects of like. Particularly reading, as I was completely failing my reading challenge and couldn't seem to finish any book I picked up.

The Roanoke Girls is a compelling, creepy read that is different to the thrillers I've read before. In a refreshingly new take on a mystery novel, I both knew the creepy twists that were coming and simultaneously was desperate to find out more.

If that doesn't intrigue you, I finished the book in under 2 hours.

I picked up The Essex Serpent in an effort to start reading more literary works. That effort paid off, and the habit persisted even if the original book did not. I began this novel in early January and am finally calling it quits in July at 70%.

There is nothing to fault with the novel itself. The characters, setting and relationships are all interesting and I genuinely enjoyed reading the book every time I picked it up. The brush of the unknown, magical elements within the story really improved the concept. I'm giving the book a solid four stars due to how much I enjoyed the book when I originally started it. However, after having left it for so long the plot was hard to remember and my interest in the book have faded, so it remains an unfinished four stars. I have every belief that a reread will be a successful four or five stars.

The Graces was an unusual book. It's probably the best way I have to describe it, as I'm not sure I have a clue what I just read.

The book follows a teenage girl as she moves to a new school and becomes obsessed with a family called Grace, who she suspects to be witches. She is determined to become part of their inner circle, desperate for the brother to fall in love with her. In fact, I didn't feel like the main character and narrator of this book had any strong personality or direction. There didn't feel like there was any insight into her past (except brief mentions of her parents behavior which was never explained or examined). The character even remained nameless for the first portion of the book!

The Graces were interesting, but majority of them were not really given much depth. I think this book would have been a strong candidate if the characters had been fleshed out and given more aspects to make them feel 3D.

I was not expecting this book. It???s had a lot of hype in the past few months so it has been on my radar and I jumped at the chance to request an arc, but I had forgotten the blurb by the time it came to read my copy. I got to try and figure out the world and magic as it unfolded in the book and it made the experience all the better.

I appreciated how different all our point of view characters were in status; personality and political views. I found myself quickly attached to two characters but by the end of the book I was enjoying all of them equally. I can???t wait to know more about their plotlines.

The plot was fairly busy, with five points of view to balance and a lot of action throughout the book. It kept me glued to the pages. I struggled to keep the points of view separate initially, especially the names, but I had a clear idea by the end of the book. There was a surprise towards the end of the book that has me eagerly awaiting the sequel.

The magic and worldbuilding in this first book was something different. The magic uses bones to draw power from and can power constructs. I???d like to see more of the world built up in the sequel but I???m looking forward to picking it as it releases.

I really love when an author writes in the more detached way that myths and fairy tales are written in, so I knew Ariadne was going to be a good selection for me. I don???t know anything about the relevant myths so it was great to discover them for this first time in this way.

I liked Ariadne immediately and it wasn???t hard to feel invested in her story. Her story takes off quickly as the first few chapters progress. On the other hand her sister was less interesting to me except where you get the comparison between their lives. I thought that was a bit of a weakness because I was dying the whole time to get back to Ariadne???s chapters.

One thing I would have liked more of is character development. I think if the story had focused more on each sister individually and developed them further it would have blown me away.

I thought this was a good myth retelling, and I???m interested to follow Jennifer Saint???s next book and see where she takes it.

The first thing that jumped out to me as I started Anna is how creepy and visceral the book was. The book was excellent at building terror as we moved through the story and I thought it was remarkably well done. This was probably one of the strongest aspects of the book. It really elevated the first and third part of the book but during the middle where the character was in a relatively stable environment it meant that the novel dragged a little. As the book is written from Anna???a point of view, it???s her emotions that really help to build the tension and atmosphere so when she gets any form of safety it means the atmosphere falls flat.

Unfortunately, the plot didn???t add to the reading experience. I don???t think it was a negative aspect but it was fairly predictable and a plot line I think I???ve seen before in similar settings. The characters did exactly what I thought they would, so as the plot wore on I enjoyed it less. I think if there???d been a bit more to the plot, maybe subverting some of my expectations it could have been a really solid read.

I thought Anna was a good read, a definite page turner as the first part hooks you in deep. I enjoyed soaking in the suspense and atmosphere the author built and I really think it stands apart from other books in how well the tension was built.

I loved this.

The author drops you straight into the plot when you wake up with one sister, who has amnesia on a deserted island and all she can remember is her desperate need to get back to her sister. Her sister lives in one of the eco cities their parents helped build due to Earth being ravaged by the consequences of climate change. This book is a dystopia, a mystery, and a bit of a thriller all rolled into one.

I loved reading about both sisters, especially Kay. She was so dear to me, from the start, and following along with her journey was one of my favourite parts of the book.

I was so focused on aspects of the story that I missed others unfolding until they were right in front of me. That???s something I think most straight thrillers don???t manage that often. There were so many moments where a twist happened, and I was gripped by the intense urge to keep on reading despite struggling to keep my eyes open.

I really loved this book. I believe I have recently picked up a copy of the author's first book and I can???t wait to get to it now.

Ok, I don't think I understood what I was getting into when I requested Skyward Inn for early review. I've seen someone refer to it as ‘new weird', a little in the vein of Vandermeer and I think that gives a little bit of an insight into the style. I preferred this over the Vandermeer I've read for a few reasons.

I found it much easier to follow and get invested in the narrative as the reader is given a clear idea of the initial ideas. The characters were distinct and easy to get a good idea of and I liked reading about them. I thought they seemed like people I could have met in real life and that lent them a richness that helped carry me through any of the confusing new weird moments.

The ‘weird' part of science fiction isn't one I have liked in the past, but I'd definitely make an exception for Skyward Inn. I thought the characters were engaging, the world exciting to read about and the twist towards the end makes me want to re-read it already, only a few months later.