Review - "Winterglass"

Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew rating: ☆☆ published: 5th December 2017 spoilers? hints Goodreads Galley provided by publisher I am angry at this book. Angry because that's not an ending. Angry because there's throwing you straight into a world, but then there's lazy worldbuilding. Angry because...

Review - "Love, Hate & Other Filters"

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2 published: 16th January 2018 spoilers? some Goodreads Galley provided by publisher This is a classic case of it's not you [the book], it's me. I've been on a mystery kick of late, and I don't think I'm quite past it. A YA contemporary...

Review - "Off The Ice"

Off The Ice, Hat Trick #1 by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn rating: ☆☆☆ published: 30th October 2017 spoilers? nope Goodreads Galley provided by publisher This has been on my "need to read urgently" shelf since just about when it got announced. I love hockey fiction, and I really like Avon Gale's hockey...

Review - "The Uncrossing"

The Uncrossing by Melissa Eastlake rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 2nd October 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher I had never heard of this book before requesting it, and what made me request it was the blurb. It's an urban fantasy set in New York, about these mob-like families who control...

Review - "Shadowblack"

Shadowblack, Spellslinger #2 by Sebastien de Castell rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 5th October 2017 spoilers? yeah Goodreads Galley provided by publisher I feel like Sebastien de Castell will never write a book I won't enjoy. There's something about the worlds he creates and how he writes that just has...

Review - "Eyes Like Those"

Eyes Like Those, Seven Shores #1 by Melissa Brayden rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2 published: 1st October 2017 spoilers? vague ones Goodreads Galley provided by publisher More like 3.5 If there's one thing I struggle to find, it's good wlw lit. Melissa Brayden may well be the solution to all of my problems. This...

Review - "Invictus"

Invictus by Ryan Graudin rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 26th September 2017 spoilers? nope Goodreads He was a hero spurned. No, it felt worse than that. He'd become a bystander in someone else's story. Galley provided by publisher Invictus tells the story of Farway McCarthy, a cadet kicked out of the time...

Review - "Circe"

Circe by Madeline Miller rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 10th April 2018 spoilers? some Goodreads "How do you bear it?" he said[...]"We bear it as best we can," I said. Galley provided by publisher Circe is perhaps one of my most anticipated books for the next year and, while I have been wavering on how...

Review - "Strange The Dreamer"

Strange the Dreamer, Strange the Dreamer #1 by Laini Taylor rating: ☆☆☆ published: 28th March 2017 spoilers? some pretty major ones Goodreads "You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable," she pleaded. "Something beautiful and full of monsters." "Beautiful and full of monsters?" "All...

Review - "Battle Royale"

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami rating: ☆ published: April 1999 spoilers? no Goodreads How to I explain how much I despised this book? Let's just say that if I could rate a book zero stars on this site, this book would be one I would give that honour to. I started this book way back in June. I picked...

Review - "Pride and Prejudice"

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 28th January 1813 spoilers? some Goodreads It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. I first read Pride and Prejudice in Year 9, aged 13, as one of that year's set...

Review - "Permanent Ink"

Permanent Ink, Art & Soul #1 by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn rating: ☆☆☆ published: 7th August 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher You know those books which you liked, but you don't really have any clear-cut opinions on them? This is one of those for me. It was good, and I...

Review - "The Goblins of Bellwater"

The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle rating: ☆ published: 1st October 2017 spoilers? yes Goodreads Galley provided by publisher Not gonna lie, I was probably turned off this book from about 20 pages in, when I had to read the line She fell and never hit the ground. The goblins carried her crowd-surf...

Review - "Heat Wave"

Heat Wave Seasons of Love #3 by Elyse Springer rating: ☆☆☆ published: 31st July 2017 spoilers? a few Goodreads Galley provided by publisher It's hard to find good mlm NA lit. It's harder still to find good wlw NA lit. This book is definitely in the category of good wlw NA lit, while never actually...

Review - "Daughter of the Burning City"

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody rating: ☆☆ published: 7th September 2017 spoilers? yes, big ones Goodreads Galley provided by publisher Quite honestly, this book was a letdown. It was one of those ones that has an amazing idea, and an intriguing synopsis, but when you get down to it,...

Review - "Shattered Minds"

Shattered Minds, Pacifica #2 by Laura Lam rating: ☆☆ published: 15th June 2017 spoilers? nope Goodreads Galley provided by publisher I think it's safe to say that me and present tense narratives do not get along. That's not to say that's the sole reason for my low rating of this book, but it's a big...

Review - "City of Saints and Thieves"

City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson rating: ☆☆ published: 6th July 2017 spoilers? nope Goodreads Galley provided by publisher City of Saints and Thieves was one of my anticipated reads for this year. From the synopsis, the book sounded as though it had a lot of potential to be amazing....

Review - "Raven Stratagem"

Raven Stratagem, The Machineries of Empire #2 by Yoon Ha Lee rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 13th June 2017 spoilers? small ones Goodreads “No,” Cheris said. “The war never ends.” Galley provided by publisher I'll be the first to admit that for most of the first book, I wasn't enjoying this series. Then...

Review - "Heels Over Head"

Heels Over Head by Elyse Springer rating: ☆☆☆ published: 29th May 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher This book was full of tropes that I love. There's the hate-to-love (or at least partial hate-to-love) trope, and the found family trope. And it's very cute to top it all off. Heels...

Review - "Flame in the Mist"

Flame in the Mist, Flame in the Mist #1 by Renee Ahdieh rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 18th May 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads There is such strength in being a woman. But it is a strength you must choose for yourself. No one can choose it for you. We can bend the wind to our ear if we would only try. Galley...

Review - "When Dimple Met Rishi"

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 13th July 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher When Dimple Met Rishi may just be the cutest book I'll read this year. And it's also so good. I read it in about 4 hours (2 of which were actually spent watching hockey,...

Review - "Spellslinger"

Spellslinger, Spellslinger #1 by Sebastien de Castell rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 4th May 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher First thing you learn wandering the long roads, kid. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story. Sebastien de Castell's adult series, Greatcoats,...

Review - "Goodbye Days"

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 6th April 2017 spoilers? not really Goodreads For the most part, you don't hold the people you love in your heart because they rescued you from drowning or pulled you from a burning house. Mostly you hold them in your heart because they save you,...

Review - "The Girl with the Red Balloon"

The Girl with the Red Balloon, The Balloonmakers #1 by Katherine Locke rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 1st September 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher I loved this book. Everything about it was so so good, and it was really enjoyable, even if I did take longer to finish it than I might...

Review - "Future Leaders of Nowhere"

Future Leaders of Nowhere by Emily O'Beirne rating: ☆☆☆ published: 15th March 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher This book was so cute. Unfortunately, it often felt to me like there's not much more to it than that. Instead of having the camp with its political games as the central...

Review - "The Broken Bridge"

The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman rating: ☆ published: 2nd May 2017 spoilers? yes Goodreads Galley provided by publisher DNF @ 45% To be honest, I was disappointed by this one. I don't know if it's me misremembering how good Philip Pullman's writing is, or it's because this is an earlier one of...

Review - "Ninefox Gambit"

Ninefox Gambit, The Machineries of Empire #1 by Yoon Ha Lee rating: ☆☆☆ published: 6th April 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads tw for implied rape in a flashback scene, implied suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts Around 270 pages into this book, having skimread a few I'll admit, I was fully prepared to rate...

Review - "Penance"

Penance by Kanae Minato rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2 published: 6th April 2017 spoilers? some Goodreads Galley provided by publisher Actual rating 3.5 Honestly, this is one of those books which I neither hated nor loved particularly much. It was a compelling mystery story, but it lacked something that meant I...

Review - "Letters to the Lost"

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 6th April 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads "You can't make your own path with your eyes closed." Galley provided by publisher How do I put into words how much I loved this book? It wrecked me. I genuinely cannot remember the last time I cried...

Review - "A Crown of Wishes"

A Crown of Wishes, The Star-Touched Queen #2 by Roshani Chokshi rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ published: 28th March 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads And the truth was that he was not afraid of being seen for what he was. He was afraid of being seen as someone who could never be more. Galley provided by publisher You...

Review - "The Heartbeat Hypothesis"

The Heartbeat Hypothesis by Lindsey Frydman rating: ☆☆ published: 20th March 2017 spoilers? yes Goodreads Galley provided by publisher Honestly, 3 stars is probably not indicative of how much I enjoyed most of this book. I say most because, for a good three quarters of it, I was really liking it....

Review - "Making Faces"

Making Faces by Amy Harmon rating: ☆ published: 21st February 2017 spoilers? some Goodreads Galley provided by publisher DNF at 15% I may be a masochist when it comes to finishing awful books, but I am not so much of one that I will finish a book that makes me almost cry with how bad it is. I don't...

Review - "Off The Ice"

Off the Ice, Juniper Falls #1 by Julie Cross rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2 published: 28th February 2017 spoilers? some Goodreads Galley provided by publisher Actual rating 3.5 This was a really cute read and, as a plus, had plenty of hockey being played in it. Off the Ice tells the story of Claire, a music student...

Review - "Another Brooklyn"

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson rating: ☆☆☆☆ published: 2nd February 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads I know now that what is tragic isn’t the moment. It is the memory. Galley provided by publisher Another Brooklyn is about August, an anthropologist, who, in Brooklyn for her father's funeral, sees...

Review - "An Extraordinary Union"

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole rating: ☆☆☆ published: 28th March 2017 spoilers? no Goodreads Galley provided by publisher You know those books where you just don't have a clear-cut opinion on them, you're kind of apathetic about them? This was one of those for me. I loved the idea of this...

Review - "Ensnared"

Ensnared by Rita Stradling rating: ☆ published: 18th December 2017 spoilers? a few Goodreads Galley provided by publisher To be blunt, if I could rate this book zero stars, I would. I wouldn't even give it half a star - it does not merit it. Let's start with the premise. It's a good one, a futuristic...