I really tried to push through this book but ultimately I found the chapters so long winded and boring.

The characters are very pretentious which is clearly very intentional but made them very difficult to read about especially when all their mannerisms felt identical to one another. 

Whilst the writing does capture the dark academia atmosphere very well, I felt like for every 15 pages there was 1 tidbit which moved the plot along…which left me feeling bored. 

After 200 pages and still not being invested in the plot or characters - safe so say this is not the book for me.

Having read and enjoyed it Ends with Us at the start of the month I was interested to see how the Atlas/Lily romance would unfold following the aftermath of the first book. 

I really enjoyed the dual narrative given in this book with Atlas’ POV being my preferred of the two. I found his storyline more intriguing and multifaceted than Lily’s which felt more one note. 

The call backs to the journal and letter writing style in parts to give more emotional depth to the history shared between these characters. I also felt the way that element of fear and cautious towards Ryle with Lily was very well done without rehashing the first book!

Overall an enjoyable read with some great heartfelt moments and was a nice easy read to follow on from its predecessor.

What else can I say other than WOAH! This book was the twisted mystery that was so cleverly intertwined that I didn’t want to put it down!

Picked up as a book blind date with only the following prompt: 3 narratives intertwined in this suspenseful gothic drama, I was blown away! 

Where multiple narratives set in different time sets could otherwise be confusing - C.E Rose uses shorter snappy chapters to keep the plot gripping and see how the plot lines intertwined.

With the family tree at the start of the paperback, it helped with building this sense of foreshadowing and foreboding and you can already sense how things will lead and yet found myself continuously surprised by the unravel.

I frequently found myself pausing my read as pieces started to connect and click into place throughout the plot.

The characters themselves I found really enjoyable and whilst loveable is not the right word…Imogen was such a great character and adored her role in outside the main narrative!

I devoured this book and honestly would happily pick up and read all over again right now! Highly recommend!! 

Be aware content warnings will contain spoilers - though in my opinion none of the points I would flag as content warnings are graphic and are just mentioned. 

Finishing this book reminds me why I wanted to re-read the series all over again. 

I loved the level of detail you get in the books behind the connection between Harry and Lord Voldemort as well as the deeper intricacies of the Deathly Hallows which made it all feel far more clever and complex than captured in the films.

I also really enjoyed how the characters are better portrayed in the books; Tonks & Lupins relationship

made their death so much sader

, the redemption arc for Kreacher and of course the darker side of Dumbledoor which I appreciate.

The only reason this isn’t 5 star for me is that based on the narrative POV it was limited into the depth of interactions between other characters (e.g Ron & Hermione) - but still a great end to a magical series. 

A quick audio book which I did enjoy. Love him or hate him, Jeremy Clarkson knows how to tell a story. 

A lighthearted humorous easy read to listen to. Though only reason I can’t justify rating any higher is that it doesn’t add anything new or deeper than you would get from just watching the TV series. 

I enjoyed the series a lot so can’t say I didn’t enjoy the audio book but it is very much an abridged summary of everything I’ve watched on TV. 

An enjoyable little audio book but if you’ve seen the show then not much point to reading/listening in my opinion

Take this review with a pinch of salt as this style of erotica romance aren’t my usual reads, but as book club’s pick of the month figured it was worth a listen.

I think it’s fair to say this book is about 70% Smut and 30% plot but definitely more plot orientated towards the end and smut for the majority of the first 2 parts of the book. 

I didn’t mind the initial plot so much and thought it had an interesting premise though it did feel like it was being thrown haphazardly between sex scenes over anything else for the majority of the book.

That could be forgiven other than it then completely did a 360 with the plot twists /tropes!

The mental hospital /all a dream trope was NOT my favourite, and just as I was coming around to being okay with it - the author spins it AGAIN to another all a dream/manuscript twist - which was infuriating

Towards the very end it felt like the book was just going through twists for shock factor which didn’t really do anything other than annoy me as a reader and looking back at the story it was very clear that this was written with a sort-of “let’s just see where it goes” vibe rather than any methodical plot. 

Not a fan, partly cause I’m not huge on this genre of book - but the twists and tropes just left me feeling annoyed and frustrated in the end - certainly not one for me. 

Sadly this book was such a long slog for me and likely would have DNF’d had I not had access to an audio book alongside my physical copy to help push through it. I had hoped for a multifaceted Cluedo-style murder mystery and instead I was just left bored with a headache. 

There so many characters to keep track of as Aidan switches between “hosts” and the back and forth with timelines over lapping and happening out of sequence it was incredibly tricky to follow.  With it being so complex to wrap my head around character revelations and twists fell short and lead me to become very disengaged.

Whilst I can say I didn’t predict some of the twists that come along (outside of being so confused trying to follow the plot) - I just became so disengaged with it that I almost didn’t care about them either! 

I didn’t like any of the characters including the main POV (in various hosts) so again just couldn’t enjoy - also for a murder mystery, so many pages are used to not really move the plot along anywhere and unravel secrets which didn’t seem to add to the plot at all. 

Overall I prefer my murder mystery’s to feel more like a jigsaw puzzle where pieces slot together working from the edges in - this was the equivalent of building puzzle sections with the pieces in separate rooms whilst constantly moving between them other random pieces thrown in.

For a 500 page read murder mastery, it was too slow and confusing to genuinely rate higher and absolutely should have DNF’d. 

Truthfully I was a bit nervous picking this up as it seems to be a very marmite book but with the film soon to release figured now was a good a time as any.

Overall I was really surprised by how the themes of domestic abuse are portrayed in this book - not as simply black and white choice - but a complex and confusing situation which felt far more realistic. In doing so, it felt like a stronger read as I felt more invested in Lily’s development in her thinking around such a dark topic. 

I enjoyed the use of journal entries as a writing prose to get a dive into Lily’s backstory with Atlas and her parents. I enjoyed the light romance a lot between the two of them

I am also glad that whilst Atlas does play a part in the story, he’s not this knight in armour to just save the day - but instead it’s Lily herself who is strong enough to step away from the situation.

There is certainly an air of cheesy Rom-com at the start which I normally wouldn’t love but in this case created such a great contrast in how the plot switched up with Ryle and Lily throughout the book. 

I think my biggest issue with the book is

Alyssa’s role as the abusers sister. She is clearly a great friend and when she finds out what’s happened and supports Lily, which is great. We don’t get to see how the abusive situation impacts the people outside of the initial relationships which I feel would of added more depth to the story.

Overall I enjoyed Lily’s development as a character …

from compassionate child with abusive parents, to a strong ambitious business woman and single mother

.  I will be sure to check the film out and will likely pick up the next book later this month. 

My book club pick this month and what a read! I really enjoyed this book so much for so many reasons it’ll be hard to do it justice in a review.

I enjoyed the characters a lot in this book partially the strong MFC Elizabeth challenging the status quo of women in science.  I found all the characters  really well rounded and complex in their interactions which made for some really beautiful and emotional arcs. 

Plot wise, whilst there is an element (no pun intended) of romance, it doesn’t negate or minimise the main themes of the book. 

This was a completely unique read and loved how the plot unravels and intwines with eachother from the slight tangents the book takes so it all forms a very cohesive story.

This book made me laugh, snap my fingers as some of the pure “Girl boss” moves whilst also warming and breaking my heart at the same time. 

I can understand why the heavier science terminology could be confusing and put some readers off. I won’t pretend I understood all of the terminology… though honestly I don’t think you need to in order to love story and would highly recommend giving it a go!  

What an odd read this turned out to be!

The narrator is nothing short of unhinged as we see Abbie unravel and her intense mummy issues surface.

Listening as an audio book it definitely played on the light horror meets humour which I appreciated though a lot of the story isn’t told in a clear chronological order which made it a bit tricky to follow at times. 

I do wish we got interactions and detail on the toxic relationship and interactions between the MOL and Abbie - particularly as this is such a huge part of the plot - just felt a bit lacking.

Definitely some darker themes which could have been explored a bit more for a horror but an interesting plot to listen to.