What a life David Attenborough has led. This book follows parts of his career and ever popular documentaries. Sharing how he has witness the worlds change and shining a light on climate change and it’s impact on the world around us.

This was an insightful audio book and though it talks about some of his concerns for the wider world as it continues to exploit the earths resources it is not all doom and gloom. 

It is very cleverly staged and paced and touched upon themes I was surprised to have appear but seemed to fit seamlessly: Colour TV, Population Control, Female empowerment and consumerism. 

Would recommend :) 

Read this in a day with the help of an audio book which I think really added to capturing the language it was written in.

The story is very moving and I liked the writing style with the use of letters throughout to create a very intimate narrative.

This was clearly a novel written ahead of its time and was just a very harrowing tale. At times it felt a little disjointed but think that did add to the narrative of it all but overall enjoyed it. 

I think this would have been much slower to read had I not had the audio book as the language writing style did take some getting used to. 

This audio book had me gripped every second! I frequently found myself audibly gasping and heart racing listening and not wanting to pull away from the story.

The characters felt fully formed and enjoyed the rounded view of the story from the cabin, cockpit, hostage situation and ground support. It helped to fully emerse into the story.

For a fast-paced story at no point did it feel rushed or lazy. The plot twists kept me hanging on every chapter and couldn’t predict what would happen next.

Will be looking at getting my hands on a physical book to add to my shelf as I will 100% be re reading this in future. 

This is one of my favourite plots of the Harry Potter series. The tasks of the triwizard tournament are so very clever.

I have enjoyed re-reading and picking up again all the parts missing from the movie - Winky & Bagman. The relationships between Harry and the Weasley family in this book also warm my heart. 

Though truthfully, this may be one of the rare occasions where I prefer the movie to the book as I feel the foreshadowing is so much clearer in the movie. 

Having enjoyed various medical memoirs in the past, I was really looking forward to listening to tales from within the prison system. 

Part 3 of this book was the only one which really held my interest as the stories felt they had more depth and development. Whilst there were some strong stories depicting the struggles of healthcare in prisons; challenges with advocating for prisoners health, rampant self-harming and drug useage, the majority felt very surface level. 

The stories started to feel a tad repetative, there just didn't feel like any development to follow with most or the stories until part 3 of the book.  

Whilst I can recogonise the emotional strength and compassion to perform in a role like this, it did come across very self-praising which became very grating in the audio book. Instead of being centered around the story of prisoners, it felt more centered about her being such a non-jugdmental and empathetic doctor. Perhaps this felt more problematic in the audio book, the narrator was very monotone and with that the story almost came across patronising. 

Overall, I didn't hate this book but wasn't the insight into prison healthcare I had hoped it to be.

This was a fun little story with a playful take on the “one bed” trope. The slow growing romance founded on little notes made for a cute Bridget-jones style rom-com.

Listening to this as an audiobook was very enjoyable with the dual POVs from 2 different narrators and telephone call effects. 

There were a handful of storylines to follow - some which were far more interesting than others.

Richie’s court case, Holly’s palliative care and the Justin ex abuse were interesting story lines. However I was a bit confused as I thought Justin got engaged but still pursued Tiffy?

The overall romance between Leon and Tiffy was very sweet and wholesome - though I did find the ending classic “miscommunication” trope a bit of a let down.

Just seemed like a lazy ending in a way and how immature the characters were to not give each other the benefit of the doubt just seemed out of character.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would listen to again as a light hearted romance but nothing overly ground breaking. 

Not sure this is one I’d go out of my way to buy a physical copy of but if I saw one in a book swap or charity shop I’d pick up for the bookshelf.

This book was really amazing! I was keen to read this book before checking out th new Netflix series and thought the plot lines were very clever.

The way the stories intwined made it feel complex and had me second guessing myself the entire time! 

I enjoyed the fast paced nature of the story and the multiples mysteries which wove their way through the plot. 

the nanny cam had me questioning my own sanity! The fact the whole family was in on it… loved it. 

The twists and turns this book took I really enjoyed and felt really believable and the end was chef kiss!  

This book is a beautiful depiction of the journey of gender indentity for a family of a young child.

I couldn’t help but love Claude/Poppy and his/her relationship with family and friends.

It covers the topic of trans-identity in a way that was inspiring, celebrated without negating the harsh reality around it. 

I regularly found myself falling in love with the heartwarming moments and having such empathy for the pure heartbreaking moments.

I loved the depiction of Claude running around in a pink swimsuit to the public pool. So full of joy and family acceptance.

 My heart absolutely broke for Poppy when the kids at her new school found out and even went as far as to climb under the table!

You can tell the author has put alot of thought and energy into this book and has lots of creative metaphors and subtle changes to help capture development. 

That being said the writing style felt like it could have done with a bit more editing to make it feel a tad less dense and clunky.

Overall a very powerful, beautiful read that I’d recommend anyone to read for the storyline alone.

I read this book following a lot of hype it received online and was also picked by the book club I’m in. 

Overall this book was thought provoking in the themes it challenges on racism and cultural appropriation. The main character was very unlikeable but I do feel as though that was very much the intention of the author and added to the story.

It is a clever book about how the story of ‘Yellowface’ came to be - very much a book-inception

A story of a book, within a book about how said story came to be … bit of a mind mess

That being said I don’t see myself rereading - I felt like it was very style over substance as it felt very heavy in the logistics of publishing rather than really pushing the plot along until about 75% of the way through and even then I could semi-predict the ending.

I mean of course Candace the begrudged employee would be the internet vigilante … the only interactions she’d had in the book prior to the end where all negative? 

I also felt the exodus steps could have been more impactful had it been foreshadowed in the many “flashbacks” Junes had about Athena and her time together rather than after the fact.

Overall the book just fell a little flat in terms of plot for me though I did really appreciate the writing style - perhaps just not for me.

Read in a day, I did enjoy this novella. Set around the winter solstice, this book certainly gave a cosy Christmas vibe ... such as shame i didn't get round to reading till January. 

This book was certainly less plot heavy, which was a nice reprieve from the previous book in this series and really honed on giving the other characters of the inner circle a voice.  It gave a view into the playfulness of Cassian as well as  Rhys' bond with his Illyrian brothers. 

My favorite moment has to be seeing the 'illyrian babies' taking part in their winter solstice snowball fight and later sauna scene. This whole chapter left me in giggles of laughter and warmed my heart.

 

Unlike the other stories this didn't hold any major plot shifts or dramatic twists making it a nice easy read but nothing overly special to warrant 5 stars ... though perfect what I believe the book was trying to achieve in helping the reader fall in love with the characters out of the main plot lines.