Laura

When Dimple Met Rishi was one of the breakout Young Adult contemporary books of this summer. Everyone who is anyone has been reading and raving about this novel over the past few months. I felt it only proper to read it before the summer drew to a close.

This is a novel about family values and culture versus the need to break out and find yourself and your own voice. Dimple is about to go off to college to study her love of coding but her family are keen for her to make an arranged marriage and become a good wife who will be there to support her husband and family. Dimple is independent and strong-willed and while she loves her family she loves coding more and she is not ready to give up her dreams just yet. She is surprised when her parents agree to her attending a summer coding programme at San Francisco University and she heads off determined to give it her all and win the coveted prize at the end of the programme, hence showing everyone that she is as good as she thinks she is and has a bright future.

On her first day Dimple is thrown when a young man comes up to her and tells her he is her future husband. You see Rishi has already been told all about Dimple, he's going to the summer programme at SFU for the sole purpose of meeting the girl his parents have told him he is going to marry at the agreement of all their parents. The only problem is that no one told Dimple!!

This story was really funny, from the time when Dimple meets Rishi we fall in love with Rishi immediately. He is in a really difficult position as he likes Dimple, a lot, and he has been told that she is aware of their marriage and so when he finds she has no idea he has to backtrack and pretend that it doesn't matter to him and he enters that dreaded ‘friend zone'. He's such an endearing character, he's instantly likeable and you feel for him as he is trying to be the devoted Indian son, making a marriage and going off to study a subject he doesn't necessarily love in order to provide for his family in the future.

The way in which Dimple and Rishi impact each other's lives is lovely, from a misunderstanding they grow into friends and from friends into a relationship which will change their lives for the better. They are each other's biggest cheer squad, they learn about what it means to see life through the other's eyes. Dimple to learn that complying with her cultural values needn't mean giving up her dreams and Rishi in living his own dreams doesn't mean he cannot be a good son and make his family proud.

This was such a quick book to read, the chapters are all quite short and snappy and we flick from Dimple to Rishi's perspective every page or so to ensure we are aware of both points of view throughout. It's nice to see how they each view their blossoming relationship and how they help each other to grow throughout the narrative.

It's a great contemporary summer read, funny and emotional and with great characters leading the story.

I've been struggling with reading this past month or so, every time I seem to pick up a book my mind would wander and I'd lose momentum. This wonderful book captured my attention from the very outset.

The story is built around two different young women, Kate who has run away to a new job in an equestrian centre and Annie, somewhat of a free spirit who works as a masseuse in London. Both women have a secret that we are made aware of early in the book but not told specifically what they are.

The stories of both women are told in alternate chapters and as they both find themselves drawn to mysterious men and changes in their circumstances. Kate is attracted to her new boss Mark, an elite rider and married man whilst Annie is swept of her feet by entrepreneur Stephen.

The writing in this book was so very engaging. the weaving of both stories is so elegant that it leads it's readers down a path that we as readers fall into a sense of curiosity as to what is going to unfold and a false belief that we might be able to guess and then suddenly comes a twist do unexpected it changes the book so suddenly and skilfully I actually had to go back and re-read a page or so before I fully understood the full magnitude of the twist.

This book was precisely what I needed to salvage me from my reading slump (I'd thought an Outlander novel would do it but I had to stop half way). It was brilliant written. Well worth reading. I haven't read anything from this author before but I certainly will be again.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I am truly awe inspired by this wonderful book that I've just read. I had heard wonderful things about Laini Taylor's Strange The Dreamer but they hadn't quite prepared me for what I was about to read. From the opening chapters, it was clear that this was going to be something very special.

Firstly, there is the beautiful writing. This book is sizeable at nearly 500 pages and it's not just that but the fact that you don't want to rush reading this book. The whimsical writing is so descriptive and colourful and beautiful that you want to take every last bit in. From the opening chapters we become swept away in the world of Lazlo Strange, the young foundling who leaves his monastery life to become a librarian in the city of Zosma. Destined to forever be a lowly librarian, helper of the scholars he hides a mind that is special because Lazlo is a dreamer and from his very early years he has been fascinated by the magical city known only as Weep. It did have a different name but years ago the name just disappeared from everyone's minds and now no one knows what it used to be called or why no one remembers it. Lazlo believes in Weep though and is desperate to know what happened, it's his dream to go and to understand more about the city.

One day a delegation of warriors from the lost city arrive in Zosma and offer the chance for a select few to travel with them to Weep to see for themselves what has gone wrong with the city and to help them put it right. Lazlo volunteers to go and suddenly he goes from being just a lowly librarian to someone with an expert knowledge in the city they are going to study and his opinions are valued, he's no longer a lowly orphan but a scholar in his own right.

As we reach Weep we begin to understand a little of what has happened there. Our characters expand and we meet Sarai, a young girl trapped in a palace above the city of Weep. We learn about why she is there and why she cannot leave and the people whom she lives with. Over the course of the book her world will collide with that of our dreamer Lazlo with some beautiful results that may just save the people of Weep, but at what cost.

This book was absolutely beautiful, I loved Lazlo so much. He was such a wonderful character to read, he was noble and good and his imagination flew off the page and into your mind as a reader and it was a joy to share his story. The world Taylor builds of Weep and its inhabitants is both rich and exciting and is unwound so well throughout the story when we begin to understand the story in full we still have delicious mysterious to unfold and an ending which is both awe-inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. The link at the end of the book back to the start took my breath away, it left me in pieces, it has been a long time since a book had quite that same effect on me.

I'd say I took about 5 days to read this book, I just couldn't rush it. I wanted to savour every bit in case I missed something. I swapped between the audio and physical books and found the audiobook just as enjoyable and it was narrated really well and so I could highly recommend this to those who prefer this format. Although I knew I had a huge TBR pile and had lots I wanted to read I still felt bereft when I finished this book, I wanted more of this world and its characters. I cannot wait for book 2 in this duology to be released as if it promises anything like as much pleasure as I gained from this book I'll be one happy reader.

This book drew my attention when I saw it in my local Waterstones branch, I picked it up and was immediately perplexed by the way the print copy of this book had matching covers front and back yet one had the name Lyra on the front and the other the name Gemma. If you turned the book over and upside down you seemed to get a different book and the text when you reached half way would flip over and you'd need to flip the book the other way to read the other half.

Written by Lauren Oliver this book is a different concept, it is two stories in one. Each a story of a young girl that when read separately make sense but when read together give you the full picture and detail of their stories when they merge as one. You have the choice, you can either read Lyra's story first then Gemma's or vice versa or you can do what I chose to do and read a chapter of each girls stories and keep jumping between them both throughout.

In Lyra's story we meet a young girl, living in a facility on an island off the coast of Florida she has been bred, she is a clone or as they are called in the facility a replica. The facility is full of replicas, bred from human DNA they are classed as less than human, born and herded into batches and branded by colours they live in dormitories and get little human contact and no love or stimulation. Replica's are segregated by sex and often whole batches of them will become sick and die. Lyra is known as number 24. One day she meets number 74, a male replica who has tried to escape the island and suddenly a cataclysmic event will force them off the island together and into the real world. How will they cope in a world they don't understand and with people chasing them down before the world learns about what they are.

In Gemma's story, we meet a teen living with her strict parents, her father is head of a pharmaceutical company and her mom suffers from issues with her nerves. Gemma has been sick for parts of her life and has vague memories of a hospital facility somewhere but she doesn't think about it too much as she struggles with the normal high school issues of low self-confidence and popularity issues. A few days before she's due to go to Florida on Spring Break a man approaches her in a gas station car park and demands to learn what she knows about ‘Haven', driven by memories from her past she begins to investigate this strange place and eventually to try and visit the facility itself. It will take her on a road trip to Florida where she will learn about the conspiracy theories that exist about an island off the coast.

This book started really well, it was immediately engaging and I liked both main characters equally. Lyra had the innocence of someone who has never experienced human love and interaction and the wonder of a child who knows there is much about her world she doesn't understand. Gemma is the quintessential child who wants to please, she tows the family line and never questions until she is forced out of her comfort zone and forced to face the truth about her father's job.

This book is going to be part of an ongoing series so this book does answer some questions that we seek from the start of the story but it does clearly leave us lots of blanks that will form the basis of subsequent stories of the two girls. This isn't a nice fluffy read, it's got some dark moments and the story is full of action in the second half. It is a really quick read too, I think because I read chapter around and was flipping back and forth through the pages I didn't really realise just how far I'd gotten until it was done, it's deceptive that way. We really only get around 18 chapters from each girls perspective and they fly by very quickly so that added to the aspect of not feeling the story had completed.

It was a combination of the movie The Island and Humans the TV show but perhaps not quite so sophisticated in its storytelling. It was a good read but it wasn't one that I'd say blew me away, it was engaging and interesting but I'm not sure it would be one I'd immediately recommend to friends.

With the recent release of the second book in this series I decided that I really needed to get myself organised and delve into Three Dark Crowns before I started hearing too many spoilers about the series online. I haven't read any books by Kendare Blake before but reviews about Three Dark Crowns seem to be generally good and the plot sounded really intriguing so I was happy to give it a go.

This is a dark, fairytale in atmosphere story about 3 sisters, triplets, who are born Queens then separated and fostered to different homes based on their special talent. When they turn 16 they will each have the chance to fight for the throne, whoever wins will reign until their own triplets are born. The two losers will be killed at the hand of the victor.

The first chapters of the book are quite lengthy as we are introduced to each of the triplets in turn. Firstly we meet Queen Katherine, a poisoner, who is able to withstand any venom and can create deadly potions of her own. We meet the people raising her after 3 generations of poisoner Queens they have grown powerful and will do anything to put a 4th poisoner Queen on the throne. Katherine is not as strong as she looks though and is struggling to survive the demands placed upon her.

We then meet naturalist Queen Arisone, wild and carefree she has grown up surrounded by friends who have protected her and now she turns 16 she needs to face up to the fact that her gifts have not arrived as yet, she should be able to make flowers grow and fields bloom and animals do her bidding but she cannot and soon everyone will learn the truth.

Finally, we meet Queen Mirabella, the Elementalist who can command the elements, the wind, fire, water and the earth. Mirabella is strong and word has spread of her strength. The priestesses of the temples have led her tuition and they will stop at nothing to oust the poisoners from the throne and see the true Queen ascend to her rightful place, even if they need to rig the outcome.

This book was wonderful, it is full of really great characters in the lives of each of the Queens who we come to love. Particularly wonderful is the world of Arisone and her best friend Jules, the strongest naturalist in the community who will do anything to protect her friend and help her to become the new Queen. The characters in the story are really well crafted and it is so easy to become invested in them all and they are all quite distinct so although there are lots of them across each of the three queens courts you don't get confused.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the book, the question of whether the sisters will come to fulfil the prophecy and kill each other or who is the rightful queen. The book asks you to question which one is your favourite but as the book goes on you find each girl has her own attributes that would make her a good Queen but if I had to say which one I was rooting for secretly I'd have to say Arisone but then the cliff-hanger at the end of this book was wonderful and left me quite shocked and desperate to see how this will progress as we move into book 2. It helped to make sense of some of the story in Three Dark Crowns but sets up wonderfully for us to continue the story.

I loved my first experience of Kendare Blake's writing, I really enjoyed the style in which the book was written. The narrative was exicting and the plot moved along nicely with plenty of action without skimping on the relationships within. I would highly recommend this book and I know I won't be able to hold off long before picking up the sequel, One Dark Throne.

Oh Sarah J. Maas what are you doing to me. I am exhausted, emotionally exhauseted after reading this fifth book in the Throne of Glass series. It has taken me a week to get through it, devoting many many hours to losing myself in its pages and at last I am able to try and and pull together my thoughts on this latest installment of the adventures of Aelin/Celena.

I am being very honest that for the first twenty to thirty chapters of this book I really struggled. There is so much movement going on as we follow Aelin and her group around the continent and encounter so many new places and people that I began to lose the plot a little. We have new characters and places flitting in and out as our group split up and go separate ways for a little bit. I especially was confused because I haven't as yet read The Assassin's Blade, the book of novellas about Celeana's time training as an assassin. These haven't been that important up until now but in Empire of Storms they are vital to understanding the back story to some of the favours that are pulled in to help our heroes in this story.

There are lots of intricate plot points going on that seem quite disjointed and don't seem to mean that much on their own but we have to place our faith in Sarah J. Maas that she knows what she is doing and somehow, someway it will all make sense. This means commitment as a reader. It is not a quick read, you have to want to devote yourself wholly to this book. To take the time it needs to fall into the world with Aelin and to have the blind belief that her followers have in her that she will triumph.

And boy oh boy does it pay off in those final twenty chapters. It is so much action, so many big reveals of what has been going on. So many punching the air moments when you suddenly see the light and it all makes sense. It's heart stopping. We are left in no doubt what is going to be our path in Book 6, due for release later this year and I cannot wait to get started. I have heard mixed reviews about Empire of Storms as some people feel we've left behind where we started in this series and moved too far from it but I am a lover of world building and whilst yes this one has been a building on such a mammoth scale it is scary I am right there for it. I love the characters we've followed throughout and am absolutely invested in staying with this series to the end.

And can we just take a minute to talk about how girls totally run this world. Manon is just an incredible character. She has burst into this series and breathed such life into it. I love this fiesty, straight talking witch with a heart of gold. I root for her so much. I love Abraxos her Wyvern and companion and every time I read from her point of view I feel she adds such colour to this story. Lysandra has grown from such a confined character in Book 4 into this ass kicking legend in Empire of Storms. And now with Elide on the scene as well and the way she just totally puts Lorcan in his place at the end of his book we just know these girls are absolutely out for blood. And that's not even counting the biggest badass of them all Aelin, who whilst not always front and centre still holds the whole thing together and whom I think has grown so much from her character in Throne of Glass.

I missed Chaol in this book but reading this has heightened my excitement about Tower of Dawn because I now know I can fill my time between this and the release of Kingdom of Ash in following what has been happening with him whilst Empire of Storms has been taking place. I trust in Chaol, he's never given me any reason not to and I am confident Tower of Dawn will not let me down.

Cannot quite believe that in just under a year I've managed to lose myself in both A Court of Thorns and Roses series and Throne of Glass and join the masses of fans waiting for the new books in both series this year. This is testament though to the ongoing incredible writing of Sarah J. Maas and the worlds she weaves for her readers. I am absolutely a fan of her work and cannot recommend her highly enough.

Ruth Ware is a new author for me, I'd heard really good things about her first novel ‘In A Dark Dark Wood' but haven't as yet got around to that because when I heard the title of her newest novel ‘The Woman In Cabin 10' I have to be honest and say I really couldn't wait to dive into this one first.

Ware is joining the raft of female writers who are all turning their attentions to the thriller genre following the success of novels such as Gone Girl and The Girl on The Train. Having spent the last week getting through a sizeable novel I wanted a quick read that would grab my attention and have enough suspense to keep me hooked and pull me through the slump you often get after you finish a really great book. I had high hopes for The Woman In Cabin 10.

This book is the story of Lo, a magazine journalist for a travel publication who is set to join an exclusive set of guests on the maiden voyage of the boat the Aurora Borealis. The boat is owned by millionaire Richard Bullmer and Lo is attending so she can publicise the boat and hopefully gain Bullmer's advertising input towards her magazine. Things begin to go wrong though before Lo even leaves home after her flat is broken into a few days before her departure for the cruise, this shakes her confidence and leaves her fearful and tense.

The first thing I found about this book was the exclusiveness of the boat that Lo was sent on. Only containing around 20 passengers it means we have a small cast of people to get to know. It also is described really well by Ware as she seeks to outline the luxury of the vessel and the lengths to which the staff and owners will go to please their guests. Lo, however, is woken one night by the sound of a woman's scream from the cabin next to hers, Cabin 10, and things get more mysterious when she hears what sounds like someone being thrown overboard. She immediately informs security only to be told that everyone onboard is accounted for and the cabin next to hers is completely unoccupied and has been since the boat left port after a guest cancelled at the last minute. Lo is suddenly doubting what she heard and everyone is questioning her reliability and sanity.

Firstly with this book I have to be honest and say that I found Lo a really difficult main character to read. Whether this was a conscious decision by Ware having now read the whole book I am a little unsure. I found Lo to be quite unstable, she is often reliant upon alcohol and says early on in the book she is on medication which means that you doubt her versions of events as a reader. Also, she is meant to be on the boat as part of her job as a journalist yet she came across as enormously uninterested to me and like she wasn't very good at her job. I wanted to give her a shake and tell her to pull herself together. I struggled with the early chapters of the book purely because she was grating on my nerves. I almost at one point was debating whether I could read a whole book from her perspective.

Secondly, I have to reflect upon the hints of similarity to Agatha Christie, the set up of this book reminded me a little of the Queen of Murder. The small exclusive set of guests, many wealthy and them all being stranded offshore on a floating luxury hotel whilst someone witnesses a murder really did initially have tones of Christies writing about them. Whilst this wasn't fully explored and only lasted through the first chapters of the book it did make me think that Ware was possibly more skilled than I gave her credit for and was one of the reasons I began to wonder if instead of writing an annoying main character on purpose she did so to add to the suspense of the novel.

The second half of this novel is much more engaging than the first, the tension ramps up quite quickly and I read pretty solidly the last 100 pages in a few hours without wanting to tear myself away. There are snippets of emails and communications from Lo's family and friends at home between sections of the book which add to the questions surrounding the mystery onboard and help to raise the tension. I also worried as we neared the end that the conclusion was going to be a little uninspiring but the last few pages of the book manage to redeem it and add an additional twist that you aren't quite expecting and give a sense of fulfillment and conclusion to the story.

I liked the book, I wouldn't say it's the best thriller I've read and I found it a good enough read to now try another of the authors novels but I'm still to be convinced as to her calibre of writing in comparisson to others in this genre at the moment hence my rating of only 3 stars.

Yes, it's true, please don't throw anything at me....I know. I cannot believe I have gotten this far in my book reading life without having read a Rick Riordan novel, not even one of his most famous hero one's Percy Jackson. It is such a confession and having heard so many people raving about his writing and how all of her series are so eminently enjoyable and such fun I decided that at the grand old age of 40 I really did need to try reading one.

So, in true Sound of Music style, I decided I'd start at the very beginning with the first in The Percy Jackson series, The Lightning Thief. And yes, I am well aware that this book is absolutely not aimed at people of my mature years however if everyone had said that about the Harry Potter novels then I am sure there would be a number of very disappointed adults out there who would feel they'd missed a wonderful experience and why can that not be true of other authors novels too. Yes this is a children's book but it doesn't mean that it can't be read and loved and enjoyed by anyone.

From the very outset, this book is pretty action packed. We meet Percy Jackson, who is on a school field trip with the other kids from his school, they are a school of delinquents and they are visiting the museum of natural history when Percy has a strange run in with his maths teacher Mrs Dodds. He could swear she turned into a monster and tried to kill him but he somehow ended up killing her but when he comes round no one knows who Mrs Dodds is, their maths teacher is someone totally different and she's been teaching them for months. From there stranger and stranger things begin happening to Percy.

This book is a really fun adventure from start to finish, we quickly learn that Percy is a son of one of the Gods, yes that's right in Riordan's world the Greek Gods are very much real and living right here in the Western World. Percy has a target on his back on account of the fact he may be the son of one of the big 3, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon but which one? He finds himself at Camp Half-Blood, a special summer camp for children of the gods where he learns more about his special powers and just what it means to be a demi-god.

He, just like Harry Potter, has his trusty sidekicks, Annabeth and Grover and in the vein of Ron and Hermione, they are there to help our hero on his adventures. This book has a fair bit of back story building in it but not so much that Riordan hasn't managed to pack in lots of enemies for our trusty trio to face and lots of colourful places for them to visit. I mean who would have imagined that Mount Olympus could be accessed from floor 600th floor of The Empire State Building? Who even knew it had a 600th floor?

I loved this book, it was fun and full of wonderful escapism and great characters. I cannot believe I waited this long to read it. It definitely won't be so long till I pick up the second in the series and spend more time finding out what adventures await Percy and his friends next summer at Camp Half-Blood as this book is left with somewhat of a cliff hanger with gives us plenty anticipation for the story ahead.

I've been dwelling over this review for a few days now, I have literally read 2 and a half more books since I finished this one and have reviewed those on the site before coming to review this one. I had read the first Percy Jackson novel in the series earlier in the year and liked it but I hadn't felt an instant draw to pick up the second and so when I did I hoped it would offer me a huge incentive to keep coming back for more from the half-boy half-god son of Poseidon.

This was quite a quick, light read. I flew through it in just over a day but if I'm honest I could happily have seen this book have another hundred or so pages added to it because at times I felt that it lacked some of the expansive world of the first book. I wanted lots of Camp Half-Blood and instead we spend very little time there. No sooner have we arrived than we are off again on a Quest and so we skim the surface of one of the most enjoyable aspects of the world I liked in Book 1. We also have a very brief glimpse of Percy's mom but she is mentioned only in passing and we don't really return to this aspect of Percy's world again in the book.

All the characters we fell in love with in Book 1 are back, Percy, Annabeth and Grover are the fantastic trio but here we find that one of the three isn't present having still gone off on his own journey so Grover is absent for much of the book which is a shame. This is offset somewhat by the arrival of a new character, Tyson, a cylops who is another child of Poseidon and therefore Percy's half-brother. Tyson is almost the saving grace of this book, he is sweet and childlike and innocent and it's clear he is thrilled at finding not just a friend but family but Percy isn't always so thrilled and their story is the high point of this book.

As for the adventure our hero goes on, in this book he is in search of The Golden Fleece because the tree that protects Camp Half-Blood is dying and evil seeks to destroy everything they hold dear, so they need to retrieve the Golden Fleece to restore the order and save everyone before it's too late. To do this they need to cross The Sea of Monsters. This in itself was a good quest but throughout this book I just wanted Riordan to slow everything down just a little, take his time and build the tension a bit more slowly.

Everything seemed to be flying off so quickly, our hero would lurch from one disaster to another and unlike book one there wasn't so much time to pause and expand the story emotionally as we went along. Instead we are so focused on the action that by the end I wasn't sure I had invested my heart into the quest as much as I should have. I didn't feel I'd had enough Annabeth and Percy and Grover moving forward together as friends as I'd expected. I wanted them to grow together and I'm not sure they did.

I liked the book, I'm not sure if this had been the first book in the series I'd have been keen or felt invested enough to return for a second round. The only thing keeping me coming back for more is the glimpses of brilliance I saw in book one. I know Riordan can write great drama and emotion as well as the action and I'm sure that this series would not be so acclaimed unless we could expect more of that as the series goes on. I will be giving book 3 a try but I could only give this one 3 out of 5 stars.

This is a debut novel and the first book in what is rumoured to be a new series of novels. Written by Stephanie Garber, Caraval is a magical novel with a mysterious and fantastical setting which has set the Young Adult world alight this year. I had to, therefore, give it a try and see if all the hype around this book lived up to the reality.

SSet on the fantasy Isle of Trisda, we meet sisters Scarlett and Donatella. Brought up by their father the governor of the Isle of Trisda we become aware that is is a calculating and cruel man who controls his daughters by punishing them physically when they disobey him, but adds his own twist to this by punishing Donatella when Scarlett steps out of line and vice versa, meaning the sisters know that if they disobey their father their sibling will feel the physical pain of his displeasure. Scarlett has had a marriage arranged by her father to a mysterious Count whom she has never met and her marriage is due to take place within a few weeks but she has never met her future husband.

Scarlett has been writing her whole life to a magical and mysterious figure called Master Legend who runs a magical game called Caraval. Caraval is a festival to which you have to be invited and if invited you are allowed to participate or simply watch the game in progress. The game takes place over 5 nights and you follow a series of clues, almost like a scavenger hunt, which will lead you to a prize beyond your wildest dreams. Scarlet and Donatella have been dreaming of going to Caraval since they were children and suddenly a few weeks before her wedding, they receive invitations from Master Legend himself to attend as his special guests.

With the help of a young sailor called Julian, Scarlett and Donatella run away to Caraval which is being held on Master Legend's private island. When they get there, however, Tella is kidnapped and Scarlett quickly learns that the item everyone participating in the game needs to find that year is her sister. All the clues will lead them to Tella. The prize at the end will the granting of one wish by Master Legend. Scarlett and Julian must, therefore, work together to try and reach Tella first but the mystery of Caraval is that whilst you must take it seriously you must never be so swept away that you forget it is just a game.

Garber has created a really fantastical world in Caraval, it is magical but has a certain darkness to it. Things are mysterious but you never know whether you can quite trust them to be real. The characters themselves are often hiding secrets and you are never sure which of the people are actors within the show and which are genuine participants. Behind it all, we learn that whilst Caraval is just a game a young girl died there a few years before when she became too swept away and people warn that Caraval can drive you mad. Master Legend himself is said to wear a different face each game and finds it fun to make girls fall madly in love with him.

I loved the writing within this book, Garber uses really good descriptions to set her world of Caraval, using lots of food related descriptions of the world around her such as the sand looking like spun sugar or the sky appearing a buttery texture. She makes it feel full of mystique and her characters are described really well and she focuses a great deal on the elaborate costumes and places that Scarlett visits. You lose yourself in the wonderful world you are reading about.

I found the first half of the book to be a little slow as it took a time to build up the actual setting for the book and therefore most of the action was packed into the second half. I also found myself getting frustrated with the lead character as she became too bogged down in the romantic entanglements she found herself in and lost focus on the game of Caraval itself and the actual goal she had, which was to find her sister. I would have preferred less romantic focus and more action and twists and turns in the game of Caraval instead.

The ending of the book frustrated me a little as well as we build up lots and lots of tension and emotion in events at the end of the book which are then negated a few chapters later as just being “part of the game”. It felt like the toils and turmoil Scarlett endured were suddenly worth less than we had invested in them as a reader. It was nice to have resolution but a little of it felt too easy.

The ending is clearly setting up for the next book in the series but it's unclear as yet whether this will be one book, making this a Duology or whether we can expect several more books to take this to a full blown series. I will absolutely read the second book as we have too many unanswered questions and relationships that I would like to spend more time immersed within and we still have much to learn about Master Legend himself which I feel is going to be an ongoing theme to a climax later in the writers story. In fact on reflection this book appeared to be a great deal about creating the setting and the stage for the books that will follow and it has certainly done that and created many many fans along the way.

Fantasy is quickly becoming my favourite genre to read and I've had the opportunity to read some really amazing books this year in this genre. As soon as I saw the cover for Frostblood I was intrigued, the UK cover of the frozen rose is beautiful and drew me in immediately.

This book kicks off with an emotional chapter where we meet Ruby, a fireblood. Ruby can control heat and fire, she can make and manipulate fire. Ruby, however, lives in a world where she is an outlaw, in the kingdom where she resides Frostbloods rule and the most dangerous of all sits on the throne. In this opening chapter, Ruby's village is ambushed by the king's soldiers who are searching for her and her mother is killed by them whilst trying to protect her daughter. Ruby is captured and taken to prison where she is taunted and abused by the guards.

Ruby is helped to break out of prison by an unusual monk called Brother Thistle and a mysterious man named Arcus, who agree to help her in return for her help in killing the Frost King and destroying his throne. Ruby, who is still seeking revenge for the death of her mother agrees to help them and so begins her journey to learn more about how to use her Fireblood powers in preparation for her task to kill the king. Along the way she makes friends and finds a place she can feel safe and call home.

This book was all about the characters for me, I really liked Ruby but the people she meets along the way were brilliant. Brother Thistle and Brother Gamut and Sister Pastel were amazing. The way they cared for Ruby and helped her to find peace after the death of her mother was great. Arcus was wonderfully mysterious throughout the book and although my suspicions were proven correct in the big reveal later in the book he was strong and supportive to Ruby and a wonderful hero.

The book is split into two sections, the first is based fully on Ruby's preparation for her task to kill the Frost King whereas the second takes place in the court of the King where she must fight to the death to gain the respect and admiration of the ruler in order to get close enough to him to carry out her task to destroy his ice throne and remove the darkness which hangs over the kingdom.

I have heard some criticisms of this series that is offers nothing new in contrast to other books in this genre, however, this wasn't something I had an issue with. I liked the premise of the frostblood versus firebloods, it had a little reminiscence of Frozen with the Frostbloods having similar skills to Elsa. The really outstanding thing for me about this book is the warmth of the characters and the interactions of them together.

I really enjoyed Frostblood, the first part of a trilogy it has set up the storyline for the second book nicely and has left us characters we want to spend more time with. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

When I read the cover synopsis for An Ember In The Ashes I have to be honest and say that I was a little cautious about this book. Set in a Romanesque setting where a group known as Martials rule over all the other people, especially stamping down on those known as the Scholars. I have never really read any novels set in this type of setting and wasn't sure how I would get on engaging with it.

From the very first chapter, this story is fast-paced and full of great characters. There is no holds barred as Laia, a young Scholar girl, has to stand by as her grandparents are butchered by a Mask, one of the Martials most fearsome kinds of warrior. Her brother is taken away to prison and she is left truly alone in the world with no one to turn to. She decides to approach the underground movement of resistance fighters where she makes a deal that will see them attempt to rescue her brother from prison in exchange for her going undercover at Blackcliff the training school for Martial soldiers and spying on its Commandant, the cruel woman in charge of the school.

Wrapped alongside Laia's story we have that of Elias, a young warrior, and son of Blackcliff's Commandant who is preparing to graduate from the school and take on a new role as one of the Masks who killed Laia's grandparents. Elia's is an amazing character as he is struggling with the regime under which he has been raised, he hates the cruelty he sees all around him and wants nothing more than to run as far as he can from his future. When he meets Laia their story's are destined to intertwine as they both fight against the brutality of the world in which they have been raised.

This book was incredible, the two lead characters were some of the most engaging I have had the joy of reading. Elias especially was amazing, the way in which we join him on his journey to try and escape the world in which he is destined to live. The internal struggles he goes through and how he is unable to share this with anyone around him as each an every person is indoctrinated by the brutality of the school that has shaped their every view. You root for him at every turn and become so invested in his story that you are left distraught when the book ends.

This book itself is full of a full range of incredible characters. There is the dark and cruel Commandant whose actions are reprehensible and wicked. The Helene the best friend of Elias who is fiercely loyal to her best friend and yet is unwilling to betray her empire even though she has fallen in love with Elias. The wonderful Kitchen Girl and the Cook whose friendship will help Laia to survive. Each and every one you care deeply about, when things get dark in the second half of this book and Sabaa Tahir starts to sacrifice characters you are distraught and it hurts.

I loved the Augur's and the concept that they have a long-term vision about the future of the world in which this book is set and they are manipulating everyone into position so the future can play out. The trials in this book which are held to find the next Emperor made it really exciting and gave this book lots of action which felt like they had really high stakes. We hope that their vision is one that will last beyond this book and into the next two in the series as the ending of this one leaves lots of questions unanswered and lots of room for things to grow in A Torch In The Night.

There have been few books that have had me so excited as this one, none that have had me shouting at the pages and cheering the characters on so much as this one. I could not put this one down. I read over 200 pages very quickly in one day. I cannot wait to read book 2, and with Book 3 due for release in early summer it is a series I will be finishing this year for sure.

I've written several reviews since starting my blog on the work of author Jane Green because of the sheer joy reading her books brings me. Her most recent book, Saving Grace, has been calling to me for the past few months since its release and it was nice to curl up with a book by my favourite author again.

This book from its description seemed to take a slightly darker tone than her normal books. Green has become a bit of a master at writing about affluent couples in small town Connecticut as they approach middle age. This book started out very similar in that respect as we are introduced to Grace, a woman nearing menopause who lives with her very successful husband, author Ted Chapman. She spends her days helping out by cooking at a local women's shelter and attending social events that are required of the wife of a successful author. Grace however struggles to manage the ever changing moods of her husband which have been made worse by the departure of his assistant Ellen. She finds herself tiptoeing around the man she loves, trying to appease him and keep the peace.

At a literary event their daughter introduces them to Beth, a newcomer to the area, who is looking for a new job and who fits the vacancy as Ted's assistant perfectly. She is literally perfect and Grace hires her a few days later. Very slowly though Grace begins to feel uneasy and small things begin to happen in her home which cause her to question her own mental health. Linked to her past are reasons why she believes she may be becoming unwell. Things begin to spiral out of control and Grace begins to fear her past is returning to haunt her.

As I stated earlier this book did have a darker tone from the outset than Green's normal writing, we are strong in our belief in Grace as a reader and so know something more sinister is at play. It wasn't a groundbreaking story by any stretch of the imagination, it didn't bring anything new to the formula these types of stories tend to follow. What redeemed the book was the likeability of Grace's character, she is someone you want to root for. You want to read on just to ensure things work out for her.

I wanted to love this but I felt it was a little less strong than the previous 2 books by Green and also I know this is probably a minor niggle but I found her over use of the work discombobulate a little annoying. This is not an everyday word by any stretch of the imagination, it stands out and it seemed to keep popping up in this book. It was like she'd been challenged by an author friend to see how many times she could use it and it may be my endearing memory of this book.

I am very much looking forward to Jane Green's next book, which I know may be delayed due to recent illness but I would like to see a return to terra firma and a subject matter more akin to her normal fare.

I know I'm well behind the times with my reading of the Clifton Chronicles, being only on book 4 when already we are awaiting installment 7 coming soon, however I've been really good and not read anything about the books still to be released so I've avoided any ‘spoilers' for want of a better term.

As we enter book four in the series it's clear Archer is making the assupmtion the reader is familiar with the first 3 books in the series and therefore doesn't waste any time in revisiting old ground or recapping on characters or their back stories, only ocassionally filling in odd bits of information. We are immediately thrown into the cliff hanger left at the end of book 3, where Sebastian Clifton has been involved in a serious car accident and we are unsure if he is alive or not. His friend, and son of dodgy Argentine businessman Don Pedro Martinez is in the car with him and we know one has died but aren't sure which.

Resolution of this cliff hanger takes but a mere few chapters before the story moves back to the boardroom of Barrington's shipping company, the family empire where Sebastian's mother hopes to become chairman of the board, and indeed much of this book is dedicated to the world of Barrington's and it's fortunes moving forward, it all revolves around the decision by the firm to build a cruise liner in order to secure it's financial future and move it in a different direction. Archer builds a story which is familiar to his readers of previous books of corporate dodgy dealing and politics designed to unseat the hero or heroine of his tale.

There is actually nothing groundbreaking in the story for this fourth installment, I found the characters on the board to have changed a little with focus moving away from the man who till now has been the central character, Harry Clifton, and instead we are focused on his son, Sebastian. In fact I could safely say Harry seemed to have been consigned to the'served his purpose' bin and therefore appeared in way less of the book than I would have liked. Fortunately for Emma Clifton, Harry's wife, she seems still to merit Archer's time and attention if only on account of the fact she as a female character can portray for him the changing attitudes and views towards women in business.

I also anticipated certain characters within the book to have potential to fulfil a bigger role in the story than they eventually did have. In fact one of the biggest Clifton family secrets, and a storyline that should have provided much more writing material was dealt with very swiftly in this book in the course of less than 2 chapters and was for me a strange way to manage a story which seemed to have been waiting to explode in previous books. Made me feel the author had started down a path then changed his mind and had to apply a sledgehammer to the area to ensure it wasn't explored again.

I can't say I loved this installment in the series,whereas others have had me gripped and page turning till I was done, with this one I kept picking it up and reading a bit then going ‘meh' with a feeling that it wasn't pulling me in because it was all just a little predictable.

There are few authors so renowned for writing big blockbuster family sagas as Jeffrey Archer and for the past few days I have been engrossed in the second instalment of his Clifton Chronicles, The Sins of the Father.

Initially it took me a few chapters to reacquaint myself with the lead characters in this story, Harry Clifton the lead character begins this book charged with a murder committed by another man whose identity he has assumed. He has left England and his love Emma Barrington, a woman who could well be his half sister and whom he has fathered a child with that he is unaware of.

When you write it like this it it sounds like a story from Jeremy Kyle, truly there seems to be very little concern in the book about the potential inscestual issues this brings up for the poor child. If however you can put this aside the bones of this book are truly outstanding.

It is an amazing tale, told in turn from the perspective of many of the main characters and covering the period through the Second World War. Set equally across America and England we follow Harry as he serves a prison sentence as Tom Bradshaw and begins writing a prison diary (reflection on real life there Mr Archer?), we follow Emma as she seeks to establish whether her love did actually die aboard the Kansas Star ship and her brother Giles as he heads off to war.

The reading of this book flew past, I felt I had barely begun and it was over, the short and snappy chapters along with the switching of narrators is highly engaging and a wonderfully enjoyable writing style. With two books still to read in the series and with a clear cliffhanger to spur us into the next instalment we are promised much more intrigue and exploration of the world of Harry Clifton. I personally am looking forward to instalment number 3 and sharing more of the saga Archer has to unfold.

I've not read the debut novel by Anna Hope but had seen The Ballroom, her second novel, was to be included in the Richard & Judy Autumn Book Club and thought that the story sounded fascinating. Always happy to find exciting new authors and stories that are engaging I thought I'd give this one a try.

This is a story that from the reading on the back of the book sounds like it could be quite bleak. It is set in 1911 in a remote asylum on the Yorkshire moors where those who are not of “sound mind” are sent to be treated. Segregated into men and women's quarters they meet only once a week in the grand ballroom of the asylum where they are allowed to dance and socialise.

The book opens initially with the arrival of a new female patient at the asylum, mill girl Ella has been sent there for breaking a window in her room at the mill in order to try and be able to glimpse the sky and breathe fresh air. She is suffering from conjunctivitis as a result of her working conditions and is determined not to be confined in an asylum. Whilst she is railing against her captivity it becomes clear that what Ella has suffered is kin to a panic attack and she is not suffering mental health issues that would see her confined to an establishment like the asylum.

As we meet many of the patients within the novel we begin to realise that whilst there are some genuine cases within the wards there are equal numbers of patients who captivity is not required. One of these is Irishman John who we realise that whilst very quiet and introverted he is certainly not mentally unsound. He has suffered grief in his life but nothing more. He is set to work doing menial work around the asylum including grave digging for those patients who die within the walls.

At one Friday night dance Ella and John meet and a tentative friendship and courtship begins. John feeling upset that the women in the asylum are never allowed outdoors begins writing of the things he sees when he is out working and puts them in letters to Ella. Their love blossoms slowly and it's a lovely story how they have little physical contact with each other but manage to overcome almost impossible odds to keep getting letters to one another.

There are some really interesting relationships and characters in this book. The one I found most fascinating was that of Charles Fuller, a young doctor at the asylum. At the outset of this book we find him to be engaged in the provision of small things that will make the patients of the asylum more comfortable. He plays piano in the day-rooms for an hour each week to help provide musical therapy for patients and he is the organiser of the Friday night dances in the ballroom. We can tell he is of a progressive mind and disagrees with government plans to introduce compulsory sterilisation for those suffering from mental illness among the lower classes. He is keen to write about the work he is doing with music therapy and to use this a way of increasing his standing within the medical community.

What I found intriguing about his character is that potentially of all the characters in the book he himself is the one who suffers the biggest mental breakdown of all. It is clear he has a difficult relationship with his parents, who disagree with his progressive thoughts and tastes. We also become aware through guarded slips from the author that he is struggling with this own sexuality and he finds himself drawn to various male characters within the book in ways he struggles to understand and instead of accepting this is begins to poison his mind and make him ashamed and to question everything he believes. By the end of the book he has suffered a mental break and is almost entirely changed.

I loved this book, I liked that it explored the progress that we have made in understanding mental illness in the last 100 years. The asylum in the book is based on a real place and therefore we are left with no illusions that whilst the characters are fictional the realities of the stories being told are a real reflection of how things were in Great Britain in 1911.

It's a wonderful blend of so many stories, there are some really strong friendships built within the book including that of Ella and Clem, a fellow private patient whose family have placed her there as she is suffering from a habit of self harming and refusal to eat. With Clem's help to read John's letters and to write replies on her behalf Ella begins to find herself recovering well but meanwhile Clem, who lives in a fantasy world of books and romance begins to feel jealous of her friend and when her attentions towards Dr Fuller aren't returned begins to turn on Ella.

It's setting would suggest a beak story and while there are dark moments within the book it's also a story of great hope and romance and of futures yet to be experienced. The ending was really lovely and I am glad to say not cliched in any way. The book opens with a flash forward and I thought I had figured out where the ending was going but instead I was pleasantly surprised that it had a lovely twist that led to the forming of a wonderful new relationship within the closing pages, one that would endure outwith the asylum.

I have a mixed relationship with Liane Moriarty, I've read 4 of her books now (including this one) and I find that it's a bit of a love/hate situation, to be honest. I had recently read Big Little Lies, in order to ensure that I'd read the book before I viewed the TV series, and I loved it. I had high hopes, therefore, going into Truly Madly Guilty and was keen for more of the same.

This book is centered around a family barbeque which is attended by 3 couples and their families and the event that takes place at that barbeque will change everyone's lives forever. The book narrative is written from the perspective of events following the barbeque and also on the fateful day itself. We also are given perspectives from each of the different people who attended the barbeque that day and each of their recollections help to build up to the revelation of what went on that day.

Liane Moriarty books have become synonymous with this type of storytelling, they always have a mystery at their heart and focus on the relationships between the characters and how the events of the book have impacted their lives and Truly Madly Guilty falls into this format nicely. In the case of this book, we follow best friends Clementine and Erika and their husbands and the neighbours of Erika, who hosted the fateful barbeque that day.

This was where my main issue with this book arose and that is that none of the characters in this book had particularly redeeming qualities about them, aside from Erika's husband Oliver who was a stand out good guy throughout and a thoroughly decent human being. Everyone else seemed to be thoroughly self-involved and harboured terrible communication issues. Erika, for example, is somewhat of a control freak. Having grown up the daughter of an extreme hoarder she has latched onto Clementine and her family as a safe haven from her manic home life. From childhood she has longed for stability and as a result, she is a somewhat inflexible and judgmental character.

Clementine, on the other hand, didn't fare any better as a character from my perspective. A musician with 2 young children she is focused wholeheartedly upon an upcoming audition with a prestigious Sydney orchestra. She seems unhappy with her role as a mother and often hands over care for the children to her husband, Sam, whilst she focuses upon preparing for her big audition. Her parenting style is relaxed and she is instead driven by her art. She has been friends with Erika from childhood but we learn in the book that she has always felt Erika was forced upon her by her mother, who felt sorry for Erika, and therefore she feels resentful that she has missed out on other friendships she could have formed and instead had to spare the feelings of her poor friend with the crazy mother.

The mystery, or events at the barbeque, that form the central plot of this book are revealed approximately half way through the book although all of the clues and if, like me, you are good at second guessing it will probably not entirely shock you. I knew from probably 3 or 4 chapters before where it was going and therefore I felt a little let down that there wasn't more to it. I also began to wonder that if we were only 50% of the way through then where on earth was the other 50% going to take us.

This meant that once I reached the big reveal I found the second half of the book a little slower. It became very much about the feeling and impact the events of the barbeque had upon each of the characters, the guilt that they all carried and how it began to eat up their lives and become something they couldn't move past, hence the book's title Truly Madly Guilty.

I liked this book but was disappointed after the amazing Big Little Lies, Moriarty had raised the bar with that novel and on this occasion, she failed to live up to that expectation. This wasn't a bad book it just failed to evoke as much sympathy for its characters as it's predecessor and nor did it make me want to spend any further time with them, such as was the case with Madeleine, Celeste and Jane from Big Little Lies.

This book series has been a very firm favourite with fantasy readers and reviewers for some time and having spotted the first book, Nevernight, sitting on my library shelves I decided that I'd be prepared to give it a try. I've read Jay Kristoff before but in a very different setting through his joint writing in the Illuminae Files with Amie Kaufman. I loved the Illuminae files but they are a very different proposition being sci-fi as opposed to Nevernight which is pure fantasy writing so I was not quite sure what to expect.

The very first chapter of this book was enchanting. I immediately fell in love with the setting of the city of Godsgrave. It felt a little Venetian, absolutely rich with fantastical elements and historic feeling and the writing was so clever. By the end of the first chapter I knew that the potential for me to love this book was strong as even in those first few pages Kristoff twists his story and delivers the unexpected. Having said that, I struggled with the following few chapters a little.

In his world-building efforts Kristoff uses footnotes to his narrative to expand upon elements he is discussing. So if his main character Mia comes across something in her journey around Godsgrave he feels we need to know more about there will be an asterisk and we have to jump to the bottom of the page where he expands for us with information about the historical significance or myths about this part of the world. The footnotes, however, were not just one-liners, some were massive paragraphs, some even several paragraphs that meant in the written book the page of narrative text would only take up around half the printed page, the footnotes took up the other half and this would go on for page after page. This jumping up and down and up and down the page meant the first few chapters read quite slowly as you had to really focus to take in the 2 side by side storytelling styles. Was it worth persevering through, hell yes!! Absolutely! It was intense for a few chapters but this is because Kristoff is building Mia's world for us and has lots to say but as the chapters progressed slowly the footnotes slipped away and would become fewer and as a reader I lost myself in the narrative and when footnotes came I knew it was because Kristoff had something witty or important to impart and I enjoyed them more and really liked them.

The story itself was really immersive, the story of Mia Corvere, a 17-year-old girl whose father was hung as a traitor when she was only 10 years old, her mother and baby brother imprisoned and she taken to be drowned by the soldiers responsible for her father's execution. Mia was taken in by a man by the name of Mercutio who has taught her all the skills she needs to join a church for assassins where she will learn even more about how to get revenge upon the 3 men she holds responsible for her father's death and the destruction of her family.

Nevernight is about Mia's journey to the church where she will have to prove and hone her skills as a fearful killer. It's about the people she meets on her journey, the skills she must learn and the magical elements that will help her prepare for the revenge she must seek. The world Kristoff builds is so rich and well fleshed out that you absolutely fall in love with it. It's no quick read, there is so much going on you really don't want to miss a thing so I found myself lingering longer over chapters, taking my time to really enjoy the time spent with each character.

And the characters are absolutely the most incredible thing about this book. There are so many I fell in love with, Tric and Mia are just beautiful together. The journey they go on in this book together is so emotional and we root for them both. Kristoff's characters are so good to read because they are so complex, no one is written as straightforward bad or good. Each has different intentions for their actions and this means that we can be cheering them on one minute and then he turns around and twists it around and suddenly you are unsure if you really should be cheering them on. This led to me caring really deeply about them all so that even when disaster looks set to befall those we haven't perhaps felt empathy for throughout the narrative we want them to be okay. We cheer when they pull together and use their collective skills. It's a character based narrative and whilst there are fantastical elements and magic at work it's the people who ultimately pull us through.

One element I was not expecting was the sexual element to be quite so strong. In a few chapters, Kristoff lets things get pretty hot and heavy for a while. It's explicit and it's full on and absolutely in fitting with the parts of the narrative he is telling but just be aware in case you aren't expecting it.

I am itching to read Godsgrave, the second in this series, because the ending of this book has left plenty of questions we have not answered, Mia has lots still to achieve and there are so many stories still to be told. I am also thrilled to see that the third book in the Chronicles will be out later this year so I'm not going to be waiting too long for even more wonderful writing from Kristoff.

I've had a good reading year so far in 2018, I've read lots of wonderful books but this one is something really special. It is worth every bit of hype it has received and I am an absolute fan. I read many reviews which slated Kristoff's writing style as too convoluted and intense but for me this was why I loved his writing so much. It was deliciously rich and immersive and if you allow yourself to just slow down for a bit, forget your Good Reads challenge for the year and take the time to go on Mia's journey with her however long that takes you it pays you back in dividends. I would give this more than 5 stars if I could.

I first heard about this book in the autumn of 2017 when a trusted BookTuber talked about how much she'd loved it when she read an Advanced Readers Copy of the novel prior to its release. Since then I've had a hold on it at my local library waiting for its launch day and to the credit of my local library service, I was lucky enough to be first on the list and get it within a week of it being released.

This is the first story I've read from author Holly Black, I have plans to read her Magisterium series which she writes with another of my favourite authors Cassandra Clare but The Cruel Prince is the first I have launched into with her name on the cover. I was intrigued by this book immediately because it is a story set in Faire. It is, therefore, a book that it was going to be full of magic, fantasy and intrigue. As a huge fan of Sarah J Maas' series, A Court of Thorns And Roses, it seemed the perfect book to tide me over until the new release in that series later this year.

This is the story of Jude Duarte, a mortal girl whose parents are killed by a bloodthirsty Fae and she and her sisters are taken to live in the land of Faire. There she is persecuted for being a mortal and her biggest enemy is one of the sons of the High King of Fae, Prince Cardan. He is cruel and taunts Jude for her mortality and weakness and this drives Jude to try and find ways to fight back and prove herself worthy of a life in the magical land.

Alongside Jude's struggles, we learn that in Faire it is time for the High King to abdicate his throne and move aside for one of his children, Prince Daine. This transition is not going to be an easy one however as the children of the High King scheme and plot their way to ensure that they usurp the favourite and place themselves on the throne instead. Jude, a lowly mortal, finds herself drawn into the scheming and into the very centre of court life where she will find that she holds more power than she ever thought possible.

This book was wonderful, Holly Black paints a world that is both alluring and decadent yet behind the glamour lurks darkness, deceit and scheming that means no one ever truly knows who to trust. The setting of the novel is really rich and full of a wonderful cast of characters who we never truly know their true intentions until things happen on the page. Holly Black uses this to twist and turn her story in directions we aren't expecting, just when I thought I had an idea where the story was going she'd twist it again and I'd be blown away and then having to recalculate my thoughts.

This book is going to form the first in a series built around these characters and the ending leaves us very open to moving forward into more adventures with the characters. Clearly, there is still high political stakes to be settled in the world and Holly Black leaves us desperate to know what's going to happen next. There is some romantic tension that still seems to be simmering, there's family dynamics that have now been thrown to the wind and residual political figures who are going to be very displeased with the outcome at the end of this book and it's going to be difficult waiting to find out how everything will move forward.

This book has been hugely popular this month and I can fully understand why, it is the first really big Young Adult release of this year and on all counts it is magnificent. If the rest of the releases in 2018 are as good as this one it could turn out to be a magical reading year.

In 2015 I didn't get a chance to enjoy any of Karen Swan's books at Christmas time so this year I feel really really lucky that I get to indulge in two this year and it was with great anticipation that I delved into Christmas on Primrose Hill. I was fully expecting lots of warmth, emotion all wrapped up in Christmas wrapping.

Christmas on Primrose Hill is Nettie's story, working for a marketing firm she finds herself catapulted into the public eye as an accident at work goes viral on the internet. Suddenly nobody can get enough of her Big Blue Bunny character and in order to capitalise on the publicity she finds herself doing all kinds of internet stunts for charity. Nettie's new found fame attracts the attentions of singer Jamie Westlake who begins following her on Twitter and his interest in the Blue Bunny girl it would appear that his interest isn't strictly platonic. Nettie however has a secret she's not willing to share that will threaten to come between her and her ideal man.

This book is full of some really warm and great characters, Nettie's friends and their relationships are brilliant to read about and I especially found myself warming to her long term Dan who it would appear has more than a brotherly love for Nettie. I also loved the closeness between Nettie and her dad, although we are left in doubt from the outset of the book that there is a secret tragedy in their family which is hiding just beneath the surface. It underlies the whole book and isn't explored until the last 30%.

The one part of this book I was a little cautious about was the relationship between Nettie and her megastar boyfriend, Jamie. Often author's have tried to take on this story-line where a normal girl is catapulted into the limelight as she meets a star and is thrust into their star-filled life of luxury. Sometimes we find that the hero of the hour turns out to be a bit of a jackass and I was cautious that in this case we would find that Jamie would be an elaborate romance that never reached fruition, secretly I was voting for her buddy Dan and that made me a little sceptical throughout and therefore I was surprised to find that Karen Swan actually wrote a wonderful ending for this book that broke the mould.

This book isn't so Christmas focused that you feel it being thrust at you in a cheesy way, there is just the right amount of festive moments mixed amongst the story-line and when you strip all of it away there is a really nice story at it's heart, a story of a family torn apart by the disappearance of one of it's loved ones and their search for answers as to why they left.

Karen Swan has once again delivered a perfectly pitched Christmas novel, which is no less than I have come to expect. To know that I have one more book, her newest Christmas read for 2016 still to devour this festive season leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside and I can't wait to curl up in the dark nights ahead and fall in love with it as much as I did Christmas on Primrose Hill.

Amanda Prowse novels have been arriving on our bookshop shelves thick and fast over the past 3 years, with a higher than average number of releases per year for an author. Whilst I've enjoyed a couple of her novels so far I have always been a little sceptical about whether they can all be quality when balanced against the quantity being released. In some ways you want to be able to say that no one can possibly have that many amazing stories within them in such a short space of time.

It is therefore always a thought in the back of my mind when beginning one of her books that this one might just be the one where her story has slipped in order to meet a deadline. When I started Three & A Half Heartbeats I truly hoped this one wouldn't be the one to fit that trend and on balance I am pleased to say that again I was very happy with the journey this author took me on. When beginning this book we are immediately made aware that the book is not just about telling a story but about raising the awareness of Sepsis and the diseases terrible consequences on lives around the country.

This is the story of Grace and her husband Tom who live an idyllic life with their 4 year old daughter Chloe. Grace is a high flying business woman and Tom her stay at home husband raises their daughter whilst Grace travels to and from the city to maintain their lifestyle and finances. After Chloe contracts Sepsis following a routine operation and dies their lives are literally ripped apart. Suddenly they are thrown into a world that they don't understand and this book charts their journey through the months following their daughters death and allows you to make that journey with Grace as she seeks to make sense of why this awful disease took her daughter.

As with all Amanda Prowse novels the emphasis of the story is based on the emotional state of the main characters, as an author she is an expert at writing novels which pull on the readers heartstrings and are often very relatable to our own life experiences. In the case of this novel she explores the consequences of grief on a family of all generations and how people around us approach those who are grieving and why there is never a right or wrong way to deal with this time in anyone's life.

This was a wonderful story, some of the chapters in which Grace spent time with mysterious Huw were some of the most touching in the book. As they each shared their experiences of the loss of important people in their lives we watch the beginnings of a friendship that will transcend grief and allow them both to move forward in their lives.

Another wonderful story from Prowse, again she's proven me wrong by providing another quality story with strong, well rounded characters and offers a lesson that we can all learn from by reading and understanding the disease at the heart of this book. If it saves even one life through the raising of awareness then it will have been a major achievement, however this aside it is a wonderful, touching and eminently enjoyable book.

I've always been a real supporter of J.K. Rowling's foray into the world of crime writing through the Robert Galbraith series of books. After all, publishing of The Casual Vacancy wasn't a huge success under her own name purely because people couldn't separate the author from her most famous character, Harry Potter.

Book 3 in the series, Career of Evil was one that got out of the starting gate very quickly. Within a few pages we've had our first introduction to the murderer and his plans and have had him deliver an amputated leg to Robin, the partner and Secretary of our hero Cormoran Strike.

From there we are led into a story where someone is trying to destroy Cormoran Strike by targeting his reputation and plotting to abduct and hurt his partner Robin. Strike and Robin are unaware of his precise plans but simply know he is attacking young women, stealing body parts from his victims and is following Robin. There are several suspects from Strike's past, some from cases he investigated from his Special Branch of the army career and one who is connected to his mother's suspicious death.

It was at this point I felt the story could have used a little clarity. Strike and Robin spend much of the book tracking down these 3 individuals, recounting their back stories with Strike and following up on where they were when certain crimes took place. Unfortunately their back stories were at times quite similar and sometimes I had to stop and remind myself of which one linked to which tale we'd had recounted. Just as we seemed to be gaining clarity on one we would be off on another's trail and you had to be alert to keep track of each story and possible Villain we were tailing now.

In this book we spend a lot more time with Robin, learning more about her life before she met Strike, her desires to become a detective and her relationship with her fiance Matthew. Rowling takes time to really round out the character giving us a real modern day Watson to Strikes at sometimes bumbling Holmes.

It is a book that goes through some high points, I found the interviews conducted to establish back stories and information about their suspects to be the high points of the book. The dialogue in these chapters is inspired, it was at these points I truly wanted to keep reading and perhaps contributes to my dissapointment when we'd leave that behind and go chasing down another lead, leaving the suspense and real character based detective work behind. There are also some great characters in this story who added much to the story and who I'd love to see in future books, Shanker is a stand out for me. This shady thug from Strike's early life comes bursting to life in this book and leaves you rooting for him, he is clearly a thug with a heart of gold and was a high point for me.

Low points were that the book kept building towards a storyline that didn't actually materialise. Instead we got a few pages of it potentially happening then nothing. All that tension as a reader was left a little unfulfilled. Also our dynamic duo ended this case pretty fractured and with their own agendas. They didn't catch their guy together but instead kind of caught him separately and didn't share that success, which was a shame.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than book 2, The Silkworm. This was based on the chapters that were dedicated to Strike and Robin really outlining and defining who their potential suspects were and the lives they had already affected. For me this was a real return to the brilliance of The Cuckoos Calling.

Strike remains one of my favourite series characters and I always look forward to reading the next installment and this time is no different. I'll be excited to see his next adventure and how his relationship with Robin continues to grow, very much in the way I wait patiently to see what modern day Holmes and Watson will do next.

This book has been an interesting read at an interesting time for me, I'm reading it alongside watching the drama series The Fall starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan and it really has made me stop and question whether it is possible to be married to someone who is carrying out vicious sexual crimes yet have no knowledge of their true nature or actions.

Fiona Barton raises just this question in her book ‘The Widow' where Jean Taylor is mourning the death of her husband Glen in a tragic accident. We learn that Jean was a devoted wife to Glen but that their marriage had been troubled after her husband was accused of the abduction and killing of a 2 year old girl, Bella, from her front garden.

This story is told from several viewpoints, some chapters tell Jean's story whilst others are viewed through the eyes of the investigating detective in the case of Bella's disappearance and others through the eyes of a journalist who has followed the case for years.

The book doesn't leave us any allusions about the true nature of Glen Taylor, he is a man addicted to child pornography, he is difficult to live with and gently controlling his wife through subtle use of language and ongoing reassurances that he is the wronged party and he is being hounded by police.

Jean is a frustrating character to read about, she lacks any real grit, she is the quintessential subjugated wife, she is over eager to please, trusting to a fault and also struggling with a life where she cannot have the one thing she truly craves, a baby of her own. She has no social circle and is isolated in her marriage, she had no one to talk to and this allows her husband to manipulate her to his way of thinking, even persuading her to lie to detectives about his whereabouts when Bella disappeared. I'm afraid Jean isn't a nice character to spend time with, at first her innocence is endearing but by the end of the book I just wanted her to at least be held a little culpable for her husband's actions. Her lies to police allowed him to remain a free man, to not be made to face consequences and ultimately to continue to control her. She is hard work as a reader because you want to sympathise bit her character traits are not admirable and she herself comes across as unstable and with a warped sense of right and wrong.

For all the frustration Jean put me through I feel it testament to the author that she did so, I would hope this was exactly the results she was hoping for, moral conflict alongside human compassion. It isn't the next Gone Girl or Girl on the Train although I imagine it will be a popular read this year.

I am absolutely not your average reader of Science Fiction novels. In fact, I can safely say that besides about one other book in the past few years it is a genre I've avoided pretty much consistently. It is though significant that the other Science Fiction book I read, back in 2017, was one that has many similarities to Sleeping Giants and that was Illumina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman and I absolutely loved it just as much as I've fallen in love with this first novel in the Themis Files series.

Reading any new author can be daunting but reading one who is also a writer of an unusual genre for you is a bit like going on holiday to a new destination, you can have heard great things about it before you go but you never really know till you get there if it's going to be a holiday of a lifetime or you are going to be begging to go home. Sylvain Neuvel has impressed me no end with this novel which is written entirely in transcripts of interviews and meetings with the key characters and players within the narrative. There is no traditional storytelling, instead, we are given first-hand accounts from different perspectives of the action that is taking place. This does the wonderful thing of giving this book incredible pace. You cut right to the heart of what is going on and the result is that you literally cannot put it down. You want to devour it, you tell yourself just one more interview, one more file to read and before you know it you are another 20 pages through.

The story itself is unusual, it begins when a young girl falls down into a crater whilst riding her new bike and finds herself being cupped in the palm of a giant metal robotic hand. There is a huge cover-up and not until many years later when the same girl is a qualified scientist do we find she has been recruited to help find the other pieces of what will eventually be a 20 storey high walking metal person with potential weapons capability.

There are a number of aspects to this story, firstly we have the political elements that we follow as countries around the world scramble to be the one to claim ownership of this new technology. Those who don't have it are terrified and want to see it safely contained whilst others will spend billions to develop it and find out as much as possible about how they could use it.

As well as the political element of the story we have the one that questions where the technology came from initially, tests show it is around 6,000 years old and contains elements that suggest it is not of this planet. This means that every evolutionary scientific finding is called into question and mankind must question everything we know about our origins and whether we are in fact alone in the world.

The first in a trilogy of books this is an incredible novel that I fell for absolutely within the first 30 pages. It isn't an overly long novel, coming in at 303 pages it is modest and it's format makes it feel much less dense than may other books you may pick up. I adored the characters, even though they are narrating through a mysterious central figure that connects all the players we learn a lot about their individual quirks and personalities and we really root for them. We don't miss the normal writer's techniques to tell us as a reader about every intricate detail they see and touch in order for us to understand their emotional journey.

We are also left with an interesting twist in the end of this book that will definitely bring readers back for more with novel number 2, Walking Gods and the third and final book in the trilogy, Only Human, which was only released this month. I had heard a fair bit of praise about this book before going in but this was absolutely worthy of every good review I've read. It challenged me by making me read something new but it won me as a reader by making it relevant to the world around me. It never failed to make it accessible and real world whilst still opening my mind to new ideas. An absolute triumph.

I have recently read this book for a second time, several years after I initially read it and following a very enjoyable journey through their companion series, The Infernal Devices over the past month. At the time I first read it the movie had just been released and it's fair to say that things have moved on quite a bit since then, with Clare having completed the series and gone on to release several companion books and another companion series and with Freeform having produced a television show focused on Clare's world of the Shadowhunters and based on this series.

When I first read this book I didn't have any background really on the Shadowhunter world and I was relying on this book to set it all out for me and draw me in and whilst it did that what it didn't do was stay with me in a way that drove me to the other books. It has taken reading the Infernal Devices trilogy to bring me to a stage where I feel I'm now ready to delve into this book again and follow it on further into The Mortal Instruments series. It might be my preferred time setting of Victorian London in which The Infernal Devices was based that drew me in more and which I found more atmospheric which helped me do this. I think that having read City of Bones again I found that the New York contemporary setting made it all seem a bit too Twilight meets Anne Rice and I can understand why some readers have found this put them off.

I also believe that the book doesn't deliver as much of an adventurous ride as some readers may have expected but this could again be because in publication order this is the very first time Clare wrote about her magical world of Shadowhunters and therefore this book has to lay out all the facets of the Nephilim and their world and introduce all the characters of Downworld and how the two interact as well as setting up the story arc that will follow through the series. This means much of the book is focused on this and so whilst we introduce lots of characters we don't get much time to have them develop in this book but I am assured this is something that moves on immensely as the series progresses.

Having returned to the book now with a much wider awareness of the Victorian Shadowhunters, the prominent families in the Clave and a love of Warlock Magnus Bane I did gain more from this book. There were moments where I would give a little nod of understanding, for example understanding that Hodge was part of the Starkweather family and relation to Aloysius. I'm sure when I read City of Bones first time round there were moments I was thinking “What the heck is going on?” and didn't really understand significant moments.

I am now feeling more a part of Clare's world and have more enthusiasm for the world as a whole and feel I will now move on with the series, unlike last time where unfortunately I gave up.