Gemma

Wow. I think I'll need a minute to collect my thoughts here.

Firstly, you need to know that for the first two parts of this book I was 100% ready to dish out a five star review. I had been totally captivated by the premise and the terrible twisted nature of the main character. Amber doesn't hide who she is for a second on the page, although she conceals it from those around her. The second part of the book is from a different POV, whose I won't spoil, and that completely ramped up my love for the book. I was on the edge of me seat for the entire second portion of that book. The climax to the second portion was the most satisfying one I've read in a long time.

I wish the book had stopped there. The third section builds on the climax and pushes further to take a resolution that I had considered 90% tied up and had really enjoyed even further. I wasn't interested in this section of the book and it sounded like an overly braggy post of r/revengeporn. Over the top and spoilt the conclusion to a thrilling book for me. I think I love psychological thrillers now, and I need to read so many more.

I read the first book in this series and loved it. An Ember in the Ashes received a five star review from me. In that review I highlighted my love for Elias' difficulties reconsiling his upbringing and his nature, but I wasn't overly impressed with Laia and I found the way Elias spoke about his two female friends boring and repetative.

In this book, a lot of the high stakes action lost its edge due to the many leagues between the characters and those who inspired the fear. Over the course of this book Elias and Laia are pursued by the Commandant and Helene separately, and in that they never seem close enough for us to really worry about. It leaves a lot more of the character interactions as the star of the show in the second book, and I find them lacking in both the first and second book. I even found Elias a bit dreary in this book.

While I flew through the book, it wasn't doing anything special for me. I feel like the plot of this book could have been condensed into 300 pages and added to another book in the series. All in all, a disappointing read after how much I enjoyed the first book and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the third book now.

I never thought I would enjoy a Liane Moriarty novel, after I hated The Husband's Secret (?????? ?????????). In that a particular story, I found the reveal came too quickly and the writing wasn't strong enough to support the story. However, in this novel I really enjoyed the writing. The style of the book lends itself well to the writing, as it is all written through the speculation of 3 unreliable narrators. At the end of chapters there was a brief summary of the gossip going about.

The novel is a similar construction as to The Husband's Secret, where it follows 3 women who know each other because their children all attend the same school. Drama flies about the school after one child is accused of bullying; while the chapter titles count down to the school trivia night, where something horrible has occurred.

I feel like this was the novel The Husband's Secret was meant to be, but seeing as this came only a year after according to goodreads publication dates I'm surprised the quality improved so quickly. I highly recommend this one, and I'm delighted I've finished now and I can watch the tv show.

The Way of Shadows ???????????????Shadow's Edge ???????????????

Did that seriously only take me six days? It felt like an eternity.

Firstly, I finished The Way of Shadows and adored it. This whole series is a re-read for me: I originally read this series around 7-10 years ago. I tanned the whole trilogy quickly and I was far too young to properly understand and appreciate the plot. Upon re-reading, I gave the first book a five star rating and was really disappointed by this book. In fact, when speaking to my dad about the series (he had read it around the same time I originally I did), he remembered loving the first and being disappointed by the second. He told me he never bothered with the third.

The second book is so disappointing because of how much of a departure it is from the first. The first follows Kylar as he grows from young orphan boy to a master assassin. The plot is complex, the book is fast paced and the relationships are rich. I found the dynamic between Kylar and Durzo to be one of my favourite parts of the first book and I did miss it in the second. But more importantly, Kylar seems to regress from the first to the second book. In the first book he is focused and calculating, even outside of battle. For the first third of the second book he is completely adsorbed by his relationship with Elene. It makes him a completely unlikeable incel (involuntary celibate), and the majority of his thoughts about Elene complain about how they haven't had sex yet as she wants to wait for marriage.

It brings me on to another point that other reviewers have made, more eloquently than me. All of the women in this novel are piss poor caricatures of women. A whore who fell in unrequited love, a deadly assassin who uses her body for her work because she can feel no love, a prudish virgin, a woman forced to whoring and rejected by her family. It disappoints me because I enjoyed Momma K in the first book, and I was astounded at how boring and predictable Vi's plotline turned out to be in the second book.

For the first 90% of the book, the pacing is too slow and it felt like running through soup to get through the book. The last 10% flew by too fast, and held a large portion of the action. I have heard that Brent Weeks' second series shows a large improvement from this one, so my hope still remains strong. I am going to continue on and finish this trilogy to see how the bombs dropped at the end of this book detonate.

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.

The Raven Boys is a low fantasy young adult novel about four private schoolboys in Virginia and Blue, the psychic's daughter. I have heard about this series from probably everyone I know who reads and from half of the booktube community I follow. I decided to pick it up after being recommended it so many times over the years because I felt I needed to know finally if it was exactly as good as everyone said it was or if I'd find another over hyped YA novel.

And as with the trend this year, I immensely enjoyed the book. We begin focusing on Blue, the daughter of the local psychic in Henrietta, as she goes on the annual trip to the local churchyard to record the names of everyone in the town who will die in the next twelve months. The novel goes on to follow her as she meets the Aglionby boys and discovers their search for the Welsh king.

I found the plot of the book to be intriguing, however slow to start. For the first half of the book I didn't know when things would begin to happen. While this wasn't a negative experience as vital the backstory and characterisation was done in this half it did feel slow. In fact, at one point in my status updates I lamented that one of the male characters felt surplus to requirement as he had rarely been involved in the plot so far. This was quickly corrected as the second half of the novel ramped up the pace. The characters are actually where I think the book excels. The book is in the third person perspective, which I prefer, and it spends time in all of the main character's heads but focuses mainly on three. Of these three, Adam and Gansey were my favourite characters. The setting felt equally real, and I have no faults with the book there. My only complaint was that the author regularly used flowery writing to describe various things or feelings throughout the book that made absolutely no sense.

All in all, a pleasant surprise of a book.

I decided to re-read the Skulduggery series recently, and discovered that I've only read about half of the series. The first book is a fast paced introduction to the magical world of Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and his assistant.

The book was a great, quick read and I enjoyed it just as much as I did when I originally read it. A little more explanation of the world would be great, but I'm excited to get immediately into the next in the series.

A Game of Thrones ???????????????A Clash of Kings ???????????????

This is the furthest I have made it through the series so far, and I enjoyed this book so much. I genuinely don't have any complaints. We got deeper into the plot, and explored deeper into the world and it was all great to read. I flew through the book.

One small note, I finished the book using my library because I could login and read from work (it's dead in the evenings). I have been putting off finishing the book because I was at 93% which would have left around 60 pages to go and I wanted to read it all in one sitting. Turns out the appendix and acknowledgements start at 94% and I could have finished it in work a week ago....

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.

Truthwith ???????????????Windwitch ???????????????

I loved this book! Having read the first in the series and enjoying it, I quickly picked up the second. I'll admit I initially picked the series up thinking it would be a YA palate cleanser, but I'd already assumed I wouldn't enjoy it much.

My expectations were blown out of the water with this sequel. Having read the first 125 pages in early May and getting distracted, I had my boyfriend read me a short plot summary (so I couldn't spoil myself) and dove back in. I devoured the book in 2 evenings and I genuinely think the second book is better.

I still have the issue that not enough of the world is explained to the reader. However as it's becoming more and more evident that the characters don't know anything either, I don't mind as much.

Update: I re-read this book over the past two days, and I really really enjoyed it. I think this series is a top YA series for me. And I still stand by my reasoning behind not giving a full five stars in my original review. Onto the next few books so I can pick up Bloodwitch!!

If I was the type to give half stars, this would be 4.5 stars.

Truthwitch is a fantastic tale of friendship between two young women as they face to save their own lives. And I adored it. I don't really read YA because it doesn't keep me guessing enough, but this book had enough going on that I loved every second.

I have only two complaints. Firstly, there wasn't enough world building for the world to feel clear. I had absolutely no clue what a thread witch was for the longest time or why they needed to keep emotionless. I think the story would be vastly improved if the different aspects of the world and it's history had been introduced more carefully.

Another complaint would be regarding the dramatic use of language. It was not a common occurrence, and I'm quite sensitive to melodrama in my media, so it was a forgivable sin in my case. However, what on earth does “stasis in my fingers and toes” mean? Because stasis means inactivity and unless the character is hoping for paralysis I have no clue what she means.

Wow. I adored The Martian and read it within one day, raved about it to anyone who would listen and devoured that movie. I even considered listening to the audiobook after all that because I loved the book that much and I really don't enjoy audiobooks.

I wish I'd never picked Artemis up. Jazz wasn't written as a human being so much as the author's idea of a wisecracking protagonist. I could go on for a long rant about how your female characters should be noticeably female in a way that isn't the character or other characters talking about shagging her. Or how MCs who can do everything they need to do with ease isn't interesting or fun to read, especially if they over explain what they're doing while narrating. Or any other of the aspects to this book.

Basically I don't think there were any redeeming features to this book. 300 pages of absolute guff.

I picked up The Husband's Secret because I'd been recommended it by a friend at work. I quite like domestic thrillers (or simply thrillers in general) when I'm in a reading slump. And this book did just the trick!

I enjoyed the story, although the big reveal came altogether too early in the plot I think. The characters were enjoyable and felt real. The ending felt a bit like a cop-out with all the endings neatly tied away. And we're not going to talk about the epilogue, because as far as I'm concerned that ruined the book.

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 this book because I fancied a captivating read that I could get through quickly. I've been hovering around 50% of the way through It by Stephen King for 2 months now and I wanted a success story to motivate me.

Stranger in the House was a captivating, quick read. I was gratified by how quickly the percentage increased on my kindle, and motivated to keep reading. I found the story to be somewhat predictable but an enjoyable read.

Particularly where I felt this book fell short was the length and the lack of development. The writing style felt a lot more “show” rather than tell, and did not build up a emotional response to flat characters I felt were doing some bizzare actions to further the plot.

I do not fault the plot for being predictable for a predictable plot can still be a great book if written in an intelligent and exciting way. More that the book was lacklustre in a few ways.

I picked this up to give me a sense of achievement while reading It. I was particularly looking forward to the movie which is coming soon, so I thought this short novel would be a good choice. This is the first Agatha Christie I've ever read, and I found it enjoyable.

Firstly, I do not often read crime novels. Its just not something I reach for often. I enjoyed reading this book, particularly for how fast I was getting through it. It felt like a quick, intriguing read that kept me going. I enjoyed all the characters, and thought the interactions between this large cast was well written. In addition, I thought the book was a good length for the period of time that it considered.

One note, I felt the descriptions of the reasons behind the deductions were a bit overwhelming and unclear, but I think the movie will clear things up for me.

I am so disappointed with this book. On October 1st, I was on my way out the door to work and forgot to pick a book to bring with me. My boyfriend brought me this book and I thought it would be a quick, entertaining read that would make me think.

Boy, it did make me think. I thought a lot about the climate of tensions between Japan and Germany through the USA, I thought a lot about how the people in the book regarded others in different social classes. But mostly I thought about how interesting this book could have been. The premise of the book is exactly up my street and I was so excited about it. I found the writing style difficult and boring to parse, the characters had the potential to be really intriguing but never seemed to do anything particularly interesting.

This really should be a 3* read because I respect what the book was trying to do, but I had such high hopes I dropped it a star of pure disappointment.

This is a complicated review to write. I cannot, in any possible way - no matter how small, say that this is a bad book. It is written so well that at parts I had to stop and think about it. The characters feel real, fleshed out and like defined people.

It's really the type of book I'd expect from Jonathan Dee, whose list of achievements feels too long to list. I devoured this book in multiple, massive sessions. The prologue for me was boring and felt like a struggle to get through. I couldn't reconcile the nameless narrator with the descriptions of the two men on the blurb, and I certainly did not like him. While that last point turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the book, the prologue is a brief low point that with hindsight was a good opening chapter.

This is not a book about the growth of one person, or the journey people go on. It's a deep look at the ways different people can be selfish for all of the different reasons they can be selfish. In certain cases, a seemingly selfless act has selfish consequences. I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would and I think it was down to the outstanding portrayal of the characters. They had flaws that felt human and understandable - I even felt like I recognised characters from my own life in the novel.

I strongly recommend this book if it interests you. Even if its out of your usual reading selections (it was very far out of my usual choices).

I have remembered this series for years, and finally decided I wanted to re-read it this year.

The plot focuses on the war between the Guard and the Order of Chaos, as the Order try to create chaos by changing history. Our main character has been training with the Guard since he was a young boy and has finally graduated to become a trainer himself. To his dismay, his pupil is his ex-best friend's annoying younger sister.

This first book was a pleasant surprise, as it had more depth and detail than I expected. I also enjoyed the mixture of adult and teen heroes working together. Over the next few books, I expect the plot to develop further and become more complicated.

The last 100 pages blew me away, and I honestly didn't expect the ending (although I really should have). The Handmaid's Tale was completely different to anything I've read before.

Feast for Crows is the fourth installment in this series, and I found it to be a strong book. If I was the type to give half stars it would be four and a half stars, and if I had read it when it was published after such a long wait I would have thrown it across the room in disgust at the afterword.

This book focuses on Kings Landing, and A Dance with Dragons focuses on the north and all of the other characters missed out in the fourth book. If I had realised that I might not have read the entirety of the fourth book before the fifth and split my time between the two evenly. The writing was great as ever, and I really enjoyed continuing on with characters we had become close to over the series. Some of the new characters bored me, but others were really enjoyable for me.

In particular, while Adrienne as a character doesn't interest me much, the role Dorne played in this book and some of the history which is revealed was incredibly interesting to me. I can't wait to see more of them. Similarly the Greyjoys are always a delight for me in any of the books, and their increased focus was a real treat.

The ending was a bit lackluster personally. I think the book might have been served better if the last two chapters had been switched around for a more devastating note to end on. However, I think this was because so many characters had shared the same or similar names that I completely forgot the significance of Pate the pig boy until I googled it at the end of the book. The similar names is one of my biggest issues with this series as it gets broader. A lot of significant hints are snuck into short moments to be referenced later, and because I lose track of all of the minor characters I don't benefit from those moments.

Highly recommend any fantasy fan to read this series. I cannot wait to complete the series in time for the next season of the show to air.