February 2023 wrap-up!

Hey, everyone! After a rubbish start to the year, I managed to turn it around this month and ended up reading eight books! I am very pleased with the amount I’ve read and I actually enjoyed most of them! Here’s what I read:

This Woven Kingdom and These Infinite Threads by Tahereh Mafi: First up, I read these two beautiful books and ended up rating them both five stars! I was completely captivated by the story and the characters. Both books end on massive cliffhangers and I’m gutted I’ll have to wait another year for the third book! Tahereh is an incredible writer and I would highly recommend her books to young adult and fantasy lovers.

January 2023 wrap-up!

Hey, everyone! I’m sharing my January wrap-up with you today and I wish I could say that I’ve had a great start to the year but that is sadly not the case. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life that’s prevented me from reading as much, so I only read three books in January and I’ve already had my first DNF. The positive side is that I mostly liked the books I read so I guess it was successful in terms of enjoyment. Here’s what I read:

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman: I’ve had a copy of this since the paperback was released and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read it. I thought it was a really fun read and the characters were still just as loveable. The mystery was even better than the first book and I loved that we got to find out more about Elizabeth and her mysterious past. The only thing that annoyed me was Joyce’s diary entries. I noticed that when a particular scene happened, for example, all the characters are gathered together discussing their theories, Joyce’s diary would then repeat everything that happened in that scene. It really annoyed me. When I eventually get round to reading the third book, I think I’ll take a break before reading her diary entries and treat them as a recap of what’s just happened. Hopefully that will avoid me getting annoyed with Joyce because I do really like her quirky personality.

November and December 2022 wrap-up!

Hi everyone! Apologies for my lack of positing but I’ve been in a horrible reading and blogging slump. I’m hoping I can get back into it this year and I’m starting with sharing my November and December wrap-up. My reading was pretty rubbish in November but I managed to pick it up again in December. Here’s what I read:

November wrap-up

The Child Left in the Dark by J.M. Briscoe: This is such a great sequel and really builds on the characters. You find out a lot more about Bella and her past when she fled the ARC. It also delves deeper into Ariana, her emotional state and how she’s coping with everything that has happened. It’s a very thrilling read and I can’t wait to find out how this trilogy ends!

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber: I did enjoy this and thought it was a magical read, however, it’s not captured my attention as much as the Caraval trilogy did. I expect Jacks and Evangeline will end up together by the end of the series but I just can’t root for them. Jacks treats Evangeline so horribly and it felt abusive at times. Evangeline deserves so much better. I’ll still read the third book but, sadly, this is not one of my favourites.

Books I’ve Read Recently!

Hey, everyone! Sorry for disappearing for a couple of months. I felt like I needed a break from blogging and reviewing because I was feeling a bit burnt out from it all. I have actually been reading though, so I’ll just go through everything I’ve read over the past few months. Hope you enjoy!

July wrap-up

The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson: What an incredible sequel! The murders in this story were even more chilling than the ones in The Jigsaw Man and made for a very disturbing read. The urgency of the case and the race against the clock to catch the killer had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Matheson is a fantastic writer and I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series.

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber: I’m sad to say that I didn’t love this as much as the Caraval trilogy but I still fell in love with the world and the characters. Garber writes beautifully and I was completely swept away by the magic. Also, I was actually surprised by how much I liked Jacks because I wasn’t a fan of his in Caraval. It kind of ends on a cliffhanger, so I’ll definitely be picking up the second book as I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

June 2022 wrap-up!

Hey guys! Today I’m sharing my June wrap-up. I’ve been in a fantasy mood recently so I read a lot of fantasy books this month. Also, if you weren’t aware, one of my reading goals this year is to read all of my Illumicrate books so you’ll see a couple of those on the list. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg: I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book ever since Sasha first announced she was working on it. I was a bit hesitant going into it after how much I disliked Zenith, but I was curious to see how she’d do on her own and it did sound interesting. I needn’t have worried because I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m glad Sasha took her time with it. It was easy to see how much research she had done and it didn’t feel rushed at all. It ends on a jaw-dropping cliffhanger and now I’m going to be impatiently waiting for the second book!

May 2022 wrap-up!

Hey guys! Today I’m bringing you a very late May wrap-up. I read ten books and the majority of them were review copies so I was trying to focus on getting the reviews published. Here’s what I read:

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister: First up was this very interesting crime thriller mixed with time travel. It’s the first book I’ve read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the time travel would be a bit confusing but it’s actually brilliant and the timeline is easy to follow.

His Other Woman by Sarah Edghill: Next up I read this domestic thriller. I did enjoy the suspense and the toxic relationships between certain characters but the main character was quite irritating in the way she behaved and acted. I don’t want to spoil the plot but I thought she was responsible for a lot of what went wrong. Also, I wasn’t very satisfied with the ending and thought it was abrupt. I would have preferred a different ending.

April 2022 wrap-up!

Hey guys! It’s time for another reading wrap-up. I read six books in April and it was a pretty good month for me as I enjoyed them all apart from one. Here’s what I read:

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse: I went into this with high hopes because I’ve seen so many people raving about it and saying that they were hooked almost immediately. Imagine my disappointment when I found myself not liking it all that much. The plot was okay and the writing was very good but the characters were just awful. I’m one of those people who can’t enjoy a book if I don’t like the characters. Elin is a terrible detective and I honestly felt like she worked stuff out mostly through sheer luck and not because she was good at her job. Also, she’s treated so horribly by her boyfriend and brother and she just puts to with it. I didn’t get it. I will read more books by this author, just not anymore about Elin.

March 2022 wrap-up!

Hey guys! Today I’ll be sharing the books I read in March. This has been my best reading month so far as I read 9 books and two of them were five stars. Here’s what I read:

Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson: I was so excited to get an ARC of this as it was one of my most anticipated reads and it did not disappoint. It’s my first five star read this year and one I’ll be recommending to everyone. It’s a thriller but it mainly focuses on the music industry. The main character is a rising star but she’s also running from her past, which is quickly catching up to her. It’s a really fun read and I fell in love with the characters. I would love to read another book from Dolly and James in the future.

February 2022 Wrap-Up!

Hey guys! Today I’ll be talking about the books I read in February. I read a great mix of books this month and I managed to read another two Illumicrate books from my 2021 stack! Here’s what I read:

The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino: I was so looking forward to this one as it’s dark academia but I found it really disappointing. It took so long for anything to happen and then when it did, it seemed to be more of a subplot than the actual main plot. It follows Tessa and Eliot who accidentally release a demon from his book-bound prison and they have to work together to re-trap him. I had a lot of issues with this book, the main one being Eliot’s magic. Eliot supposedly has magic but it’s never explored and it felt completely pointless for it to have been included in the story. All we’re told is that Eliot got his magic from his mother; we’re never told if anyone else knows about the magic or has it, or if there’s a magical society. He doesn’t even use the magic to take the demon down so, again, I’m not even sure why it was included because it seemed pretty pointless to me. The only thing I enjoyed about this story was what the demon does when it’s free. There was some really creepy scenes and I definitely think there’s potential for the author to write a proper horror story. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me but maybe I’ll see what Bovalino writes next.