There's definitely a Game of Thrones-esque vibe to Price Without Sorrow, with our three siblings all making plays for the Obsidian Throne, which I loved. I think PWS did a great job setting up the opening gambit. Our three players end the book in position ready to make their moves, though it felt slightly predictable. Especially, the ending with Shakti, and I'm not sure how I feel about her. Shakti is one of the more interesting characters as she is behind the scenes manipulating everyone and so you really do gain the most political insight into her mind, and then Ashoka. I did think it was interesting that Aarya, did not have a POV and I'm very happy with that as it made her character unpredictable but from the get go you know that she is smarter that Arush, if not equally unstable. I liked the switching of traditional gender roles by making Ashoka a pacifist and Shakti a more decisive, prone to violence character, I think it went against the stereotypical sort of fantasy pairings that we commonly see.

I loved that the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India was the inspiration for this book. Being Indian myself, it's always a pleasure to be able to read books inspired by the culture, especially as it encourages more Indian inspired books to be published.

I'm excited to pick up my copy of Prince Without Sorrow and to see where the Obsidian Throne trilogy leads.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | HarperVoyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

Likened to the Secret History, An He Shall Appear follows an unnamed narrator as he arrives at Cambridge University to study Music. With a working class background, He finds it difficult to assimilate with his classmates until he meets Bryn Cavendish, an enigmatic magician.

It was an interesting read but the execution was not for me. We move from his days at Cambridge to the present where is has returned to the University. The lines blur between truth and imagination, as he becomes more and more unreliable. Overall, I thought it was going well until the end which I can't talk about without spoiling the book. But it didn't quite fit to what had been building from the previous chapters. I did like Tim as a character but everyone else was forgettable. 

Thank you to 4th Estate and William Collins | Fourth Estate for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

Three Days in June, much as it's title suggests takes place over three days in June and follows Gail a sixty-one year old Assistant Headteacher during the weekend of her daughters wedding.

I couldn't tear my eyes from the page, watching Gail's life unfold and uncovering her secrets Day one, Friday follows the day before Debbies' wedding, Day two, the wedding and Day three, Sunday is the day after the wedding. Day one starts with Gail basically being kicked out of her job, and right after Gail's ex-husband turns up at her door with a cat, expecting to stay with her despite planning to stay with her daughter and her daughter getting cold feet. All in all not the weekend Gail expected. Gail is socially awkward and lacks people skills, her ex-husband Max is more of a go with the flow type of person, and we see this as Tyler examines their failed marriage.

I loved Tyler's writing, though I didn't have much love for Gail, nor any of the characters really, though I liked that. Tyler in my opinion captured family dynamics perfectly, the flaws, quirks and love that flows through this dysfunctional family unit. 

Thank you to Random House UK, Vintage, Chatto & Windus and Anne Tyler for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I could probably write a page on this book. But I'm not going to, because as several voice notes to friends have said. I loved this book. I loved the plot, the world-building, the characters. Liyen and Zhangwei are perfect, I'm going to be thinking about this book for days. I loved the yearning, the tension, the will die for each other, like say less Sue Lynn Tan you write bangers and Immortal is no exception. I love this book, it's the perfect way to start 2025.

I will probably come back and write a more detailed review but there is simply no need, I loved this book.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, HarperVoyager and Sue Lynn Tan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ali Hazelwood men worship the ground the FMC walk on.

Isabel Agajanians writing in Modern Divination is just magical, there's something so wonderful about the prose and how immersive it feels and yet I find myself wanting more - it felt like something was missing.

The first maybe 60-70% nothing happened, it's mainly talking about something happening, like when you have a meeting about having a meeting. The sheer annoyance I felt as I waited for something. Like yes, I do get that it was meant to add more depth to the character as we get a 'slice of life' as the go from a to b etc. but when you're waiting for 100+ pages something has to give.

I enjoyed much time we got to spend with both Aurelia and Teddy, but my issue was the 'academic rivals-to-lovers romance', again I felt like the basis of this rivalry was miscommunication. Aurelia had built her hatred of Teddy on a snide remark from four years ago, while Teddy had spent four years genuinely trying to know her. It felt so stupid, which in turn only added to making the whole will the won't they over 512 pages a drag instead of tension filled fun. And because of that I couldn't stand Aurelia, there were times where she made sense but a lot and I mean a lot of her inner monologue for the first 50% was just her pretending to be amicable with Teddy to find a weakness. She hated him because he had money and didn't suffer like her etc etc. It was whiny and for someone who hadn't bothered to get to know they guy beyond that one comment four years ago (which yeah wasn't great) but it didn't deserve all this. Like move on how are building your entire personality around hating a guy who doesn't even know why?

Overall, the writing is great but I just did not connect with Modern Divination in the way I wanted to.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan | Tor for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.