I really can’t fault this interesting take on the darker fairytale of Sleeping beauty captured in this novella.

There really isn’t anything I can fault with this story! The pacing was great, the main POV (Toadling) was really loveable, the plot was unique and gripping with some fantastic fantasy thriller depictions.

I loved the darkness portrayed in such a short book and can 100% see myself reading again and recommending for quick reads! 

An incredibly trippy book that started off really strong. The first 50% of this book caught me off guard with some of the absolute insane scenes which really encompass the twisted horror themes well.

I thought it was very clever the way the writing moves form “I” to “we” between parts 1 and 2 as Samatha starts to lose her individual identity to fall under the “bunnies” group.

 

Sadly though from then on the plot just became tricky to follow with the writing style and there wasn’t really a clear path to follow. I can honestly say I didn’t expect a lot of what happened.

I can see why people love it - the absurdity of various parts of it did have me shocked and laughing but overall just don’t think this book was for me. 

A quick audio book and was well paced with multiple POVs in which you could see some interesting character development.

Personally for a thriller I felt it could have been a lot darker with the characters written and felt the plot held back a bit. For a thriller, the narrative of Owen as well as the plot around Rowan were really strong -

I really enjoyed Sapphire’s revenge plot within this sp

/. My biggest bug bear with the plot though is  I just wished we got more out of them in influencing the plot direction overall because ultimately by the end (whilst dark characters) they didn’t really sway the final outcome either way. 

I appreciated the twisted mindset Lisa has used in this writing style and the darker themes in the plot but similar to her other work this just felt like it could have been pushed so much further. 

I am officially obsessed with the empyrean series and Iron Flame was absolutely incredible. Never have I been more grateful to be emotionally destroyed by a book before!

Rebecca Yaris has done an absolutely incredibly job in the depiction of betrayal, mystery and challenge throughout this storyline.  Exploring the next stage of development within both the war college storyline, political strategies and characters dynamics. 

Even when I tried to guess the plot twist or turn I was always wrong which just made me fall in love even more with this book.

With over 600 pages to explore there is simply too much to process for a review! I can think of countless moments that it is too hard to pick a favourite. Absolutely loved this story and an incredibly end to February’s reading wrap up for me! 

This book will plague my thoughts until I can  get my hands on next instalment. 

This was my first Lisa Jewell’s book which I listened to as an audio book which I enjoyed.  The plot was really interesting and unique to other books I’ve read.

At first it was a little tricky finding my footing with the shifts in POVs as an audio book but loved how they intertwined and helped create a lot of interesting twists in the story once I became more familiar with the names. 

For a thriller it was very well paced and did have me guessing where the plot would lead us which I enjoyed. That being said, I did find the ending a tad lacklustre and had hoped for a final punch to the story to push a little bit further to warrant a five stars but had certainly left me curious to explore some other books by this author.

An interesting YA read. Not quite what I expected but really enjoy the way the story is staged. 

A balance of the surrealism of magic to the very difficult topics of racism and high school bullying. There are some really sad moments where I truly felt for Maddie and her development throughout. The contrast of how characters interact and their motivations made it feel very well rounded also.

Overall, a fantastic audio book with the use of different voice actors and sound effects for the crime podcast and other key parts which really set the atmosphere.

Fourth wing was a simply amazing fantasy book. I enjoyed the world building which didn’t feel too heavy but was very intriguing. The plot is rich in adventure, betrayal as well as a

delicious enemies-to-lovers romance between Xaden and Violet. Xaden Riorson has me in an absolute chokehold.

I enjoyed the variation in characters and the relationship dynamics between them as they develop throughout the story.  I found myself loving so many of the characters (dragon & rider alike).

My heart broke at the death of Liams dragon and then him - along with the promise Vi has made to try and protect his sister!

The fantasy plot premise certainly nods to that of divergent which I really didn’t mind as there was enough difference to have me hooked. Filled with action, light political intrigue and fantastic plots twists I did not expect. I almost threw my book across the room at the last few pages - never saw it coming. 

I can’t wait to jump into the next in the series and certainly feel this may be one of my top reads of the month if not the year! 

Finished this audio book in 2 days and found myself constantly intrigued! With a strong start, sprinkles of cheeky humour and whit, emotional and insightful stories - it is the perfect medical memoir.

This book was incredibly inspiring and even found myself questioning if I could be a widwife!  I honestly didn’t realise how extensive the role of a midwife is and have the upmost respect for them! 

Throughout I was in awe of Leah’s compassionate view into the world of midwifery covering the highs (Labour delivery joys, finding passion in career changes) and lows of the profession (child death and nurse burnout). 

The only drawback to the audio book, is you don’t have the glossary to hand whilst reading which may otherwise have been useful for some stories but the book is written a way that is friendly to those outside of the profession to understand. 

I Will certainly be looking to get my hands on a physical copy as I can definitely see myself reading this again and recommending to friends. 

An incredibly cheesy queer romance embracing confidence of sexual identity and light political themes.

Personally I did find both main MMCs a tad stereotypical for the first part of the book in terms of their personalities; the bold self-centred American and Stuck-up recluse British prince. That being said it was cute to read as they start to show them develop as they begin to fall for each other and become more vulnerable. 

Alex coming to terms with his sexual identity was interesting though did feel at times a bit odd given some of his history.

He even calls up a past male friend who he used to “mess around with” - who is confirmed gay. Whether he thinks he is bi … like how can he then be shocked that he might be bi?

I did however really appreciate the way the romance was written as it started to heat up and became quite cheeky.

I think a big sticking point I have with these types of books is the insta-love. Very quickly going from this supposed enemies to saying I love yous just made it a little hard to believe at times but I suppose that tends to be the nature of these lighthearted romances - just not my normal cup of tea.

Overall a very cutesy romance with political themes but the concept just didn’t really hit home for me against other romances I’ve read. 

 

This was an incredibly frustrating read and I should have DNF’d it rather than forcing through it.

 I was really looking forward to this read as it had been on my TBR for a while and was so disappointing. Apart from the pacing of the book which was steady throughout there really isn't much I can praise in this book. 

The 3 main characters which provide the main POVs felt so one note and bored me. None of the characters were enjoyable for so many reasons - a big one being that both the FMC and MMC were both cheaters, though it was never explained why they moved to cheating in the first place. 

The MFC is also seems incredible naive despite spending 5 years in prison as she proceeds to tell almost any friend willing to listen about the various petty crimes she is committing while on parole!

The plot line and writing just relied so heavily on this sense of coincidence beyond the point of belief! One or two coincidences I could understand but with so many the book felt unbelievable and just an overall lazy plot. Not to mention just the lack of sense in some of the decisions made by the characters. 

Overall, I found this book to be too predictable and unrealistic to enjoy ...would not recommend. 

These are just some of the MANY issues I had with the plot:

• Dom has filed a restraining order against his Ex wife, knows she has been released from prison and has changed the lock to the front door...but somehow keep the security alarm code exactly the same as before?

• Olivia just so happens to get employed as a cleaner - and it just so happens this cleaning business also cleans the office in which her Ex-husband works in? Even if you could get over that ... There is no way realistically they would allow her to work there (even if covering a shift last minute) considering she was charged with conspiring to commit the murder of said Ex-husband AND he has a restraining order!

• How are we as readers suppose to believe that a woman who was out of breath running from a house after a break in - can run down 5 floors of stairs, run into someone’s office, search for a safe and then run back up 5 floors in less than 5 minutes. 

• The plan the MFC outlines to get into the safe was awful - to bluff that she has gotten into the safe so that the ex-husband will come to the safe to check it and then try and get him to leave in such a rush that he keeps it unlocked. If that wasn't ridiculous enough - it actually worked even though it makes no logical sense that someone would not close the safe door before leaving a building even in a fire drill if you knew what it contained could send you to prison for murder!

• This book is meant to be set in the UK and is written by a british author, and yet a key part of this book is that one FC needs £30k to pay for rehab for her sister? I had to look into it myself and with free NHS services and even private residentials that just seemed like a nonsense number. Especially when you also factor in that the drug addict in question had committed theft crimes and her sister is a police officer...you'd have thought just arresting her sister would of been on her mind to help keep her away from drugs?

• When providing a question to verify an ex-lovers call who hasn’t spoken to you in 5 years with a question that some of your other friends would know the answer to. That entirely negates the point!

• Nancy leaving the crowbar in the locked unit after smacking Liv around the head with it - and then Liv magically finding a hole in the roof she can prise open with the crowbar that seemed to appear out of no where. If that wasn't lucky enough, within minutes of breaking out she happens upon a stranger immediately. 

• With only 20 minutes till check in closes and Olivia is turned away from security in a busy Heathrow airport - she just happens to then bump into her daughter and ex/husband - I mean what are the realistic chance of bumping into people you're looking for in a busy Heathrow airport - especially when one of those individuals are trying very hard not to get caught out or raise suspicions.