Bookshops and Bonedust is the prequel to Legends & Lattes featuring Viv during her warrior career as she recovers from an injury.

Travis Baldree knows how to write cozy, comfy fantasy, and Bookshops and Bonedust is an excellent comfortable read.

I feel like I'm always saying the same thing but Travis Baldree is a cozy fantasy gem. Love love love this!

Thank you Pan Macmillan, Tor, Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

"Where shall we go next?".

Can't I Go Instead is a translated historical fiction by Lee Geum-yi, the author of The Picture Bride.

Can't I Go Instead takes place in the early twentieth century during World War Two II and the Korean War with a emphasis on the realities of class division. Our two protagonists are Chaeryeong the daughter of a Korean nobleman, who navigates the realities of being Japanese woman in America and Sunam, Chaeryeong's maidservant and follows Sunam's time as a 'comfort women' to the Japanese Imperial Army, as well as the their lives following World War Two II returning to an independent Korea.

Can't I Go Instead was very interesting in that it's one of the few novels I have seen that refers to the Korean War and Imperial Rule, and the horrible conditions that arose because of it (whilst Can't I Go Instead is a fictionalised account, the actual conditions were not at all decent). The novel explores racism in America, looking at the Japanese Internment Camps but also the Korean life under Japanese rule including the realties of 'comfort women'.

I've read both of Lee's translated works and I have to say Lee does not disappoint, historical fiction done well. I felt for the characters and the ending, gosh the ending. 

Thanks to Lee Geum-yi, and Scribe UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know I love a London boy.

Not bad but not good, is the overall vibe of Match Me If You Can. I feel like to be a successful rom-com book both of the main characters have to be somewhat likeable and have chemistry which just wasn't the case here. 

The premise was good though. Tristan needs to marry to get his inheritance and Poppy is the matchmaker assigned to his case. Think Terms and Conditions but with a matchmaker. And that's about it.

Thank you to Boldwood Books, netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So I should probably start this review by saying that I read but wanted to dnf Kingdom of the Wicked. However, Throne of the Fallen was marked as an adult fantasy standalone novel set within the Kingdom of the Wicked world. So I came into this with not high hopes but medium hopes that I would like TOTF more than KOTW.

I thought that because the book was an adult fantasy the writing would also have matured a bit also but that wasn't the case. TOTF felt like KOTW but with spice, The world building was a bit off, on one hand I get whilst TOTF is standalone it's part of KOTW so the world building doesn't really need to be fully fleshed out as readers who pick up TOTF most likely have read KOTW. But then again it's a standalone so shouldn't the book be able to stand on it's own? I didn't finish KOTW series so once the left the mortal world I was very dependent on the world building to figure out just where they were in the grand scheme of things and I felt that was lacking. There was a lot of will they won't they because of all the secrets that were being kept so the ending when they finally got together felt a tad rushed which shouldn't have been the case when TOTF is 400 Pages long (according to Waterstones), there were more that enough pages to evenly spread out the plot.

I'm giving the book three stars because I don't if it's just me that had this issue I felt like the book could have been really amazing and maybe I just don't click with the series/KOTW world in general.

*also to note the netgalley arc was just a few sample chapters so I had to wait till release to read the whole thing to write this!

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fake Dating? Check. Vampires? Check. Billionaire Romance? Check. Fated Mates? Check. Bridgeton Vibes? Check.

If you like the tropes above you'll love Filthy Rich Vampire. I do think you should read the description before you go into this book, because Julian is vampire and Thea is a human so there is obviously going to be a dramatic age difference. I wouldn't say that there's a lot of spice either (due to a plot point but also kind of confused about that because of a different plot point but anyway...) so don't expect this book to be overly explicit. This is also I believe book one in a series so it does end a cliff-hanger.

Now to the review. I thought it was quick, fun, easy read. There were some bits that admittedly made me roll my eyes and without giving too much away, I'm referring to the thrall stuff. I would say that it felt similar to My Roommate is a Vampire, with the whole crash course in modern living but that's to be excepted Julian was asleep for the last fifty-ish years (I cannot math). There was a lot of I hate you-I love you going on so my patience was tested there's only so much of 'I'm going to lie so she hates me because I can't have her' I can read and half a books' worth was not it.

Thank you to Dialogue Books, Renegade Books, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I don't remember enough of the previous books to make this worthwhile and I sure as hell will not re read them.

Why is this a series.... and why didn't I know before I started it.