wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Emily and Charlotte Bronte are some of the best known names in the world of classic literature, along with their younger sister Anne. But when they were teenagers with their brother Branwell, they created other characters in other worlds. Worlds of Ink and Shadow plays with the story of the younger Bronte siblings and slips in a thread of magic that makes their stories come to life. But soon things become dark, and the siblings have to work together to save themselves but may set their tragic fate in stone along the way.

Magic realism meets classic Bronte characters is the best way to describe this book. It's easy to see the basis of Heathcliff, Rochester and Jane Eyre in the early characters created by the siblings and I really loved being able to identify them.

I loved the idea in this book of story characters running away from their creators to make their own story. Anyone who is a writer knows the strange ability fictional characters have of suddenly writing their own lines and how a story can be intended to go one way and ends up the complete opposite. And what writer wouldn't like to physically step into the world they've created and converse with their own imaginings. I loved how Coakley played with this idea.

I didn't know much about the Bronte sibling's history so I think it's one of the big reasons the book worked so well for me. I'm sure, like all fictional books about real people, there are some flaws in it but I thought there was enough classic Bronte, magic and adventure for me.

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Barbara the Slut and Other People is a collection of short stories about various groups of people in their early twenties and different experiences in their life such as new jobs, relationship struggles, bullying, etc. It's very much a book that gives quick, brief glimpses into a 'slice' of different lives.


Add caption

I never pick up collections of short stories, they're just not something i read. However, after hearing about this book several times on YouTube and Goodreads, I decided to risk requesting it on NetGalley and I'm glad I did. Despite being out of my comfort zone, I really enjoyed the specific stories and I was able to deal with any disappointment and frustration I felt when I wanted to know more about what happened and didn't get it. Instead, I quickly became immersed into the next person's story instead.

I think my favourite stories were, I Will Crawl To Raleigh If I Have To, Desert Hearts, My Humans and Barbara the Slut with the latter two being the top two. I enjoyed the frankness about sexuality and sex in the stories and how all the women and men really owned their bodies and weren't ashamed. It was quite the opposite of 'slut-shaming' particularly in Barbara the Slut, in which she is being bullied for her sexual history. I felt like she really took advantage of her situation and admired how she stood up for herself.

I feel like most of the stories in this book would resonate well with anybody, but in particular with those in their twenties and early thirties. The characters are easy to connect to, and the stories easy to follow. The book left me both happy and sad that I didn't get the full story of each character's life but I guess that's just how these things go.

Aghh I loved this book and I managed to read it in just under two days.

I always loved the relationship between Tessa, Will and Jem and I found great that with this book, you can't help but love both male characters and you want to have something that will work for everyone.I do believe that Tessa's big love was Will as he was her heart right from the start but Jem definitely claimed a portion as well. And I love how she says that she couldn't have loved Will without loving Jem and vice versa as they were part of each other in heart and soul as it is so cute.

And the epilogue....that had me sitting in bed with tears in my eyes.It was so bittersweet. I just want Tessa to appear in The Mortal Instruments just for a bit...I mean, she must be a relation of Jace's? Cause Cecily's children would be Lightwoods.

Ugh just love!! <3

Faefever continues the adventures of MacKayla Lane in Dublin, Ireland, as she hunts the evil fae who killed her sister and are now stalking her. At the same time, Mac is also dealing with the strange and turbulent affections of two strange and powerful men.

Since starting to read this series, I've had time to reflect back on the other two and slightly lessen my opinion on them. I was so caught up in the hype of the books, that it took me several months to actually stop and really think about them - causing me to slightly drop my rating of the first two. I'm not 100% sure that this book series deserves all the hype anymore but they are still enjoyable reads, if not amazingly written.

I went into FaeFever with my critique cap on and boy, did i write notes, and I had fun writing them too! Mac does have great character development in this book. Following her experiences in the last book, she has grown more confident and lethal and isn't afraid to make tough choices anymore. There was, as always, insane secual tension between Mac and Barrons and Mac and V'Lane. It's starting to get a bit unbearable to be honest. While I love both male characters, their opinions on women are extremely derogatory. There are several remarks that women are basically made for sex and made to be controlled and they rubbed me the wrong way (though, they did Mac as well.)

Okay, so I need to point out some flaws in this series, coming from an Irish book. It's very obvious this book is written by an American, who may think they know Dublin and Ireland well, but doesn't really. Honestly, the amount of murder and dark streets in Dublin don't make sense to me anymore, it's simply too large now. Dublin is a pretty small county, despite being the Capital, in retrospect to the rest of Ireland. And the city is only a portion of it, with a larger portion being suburbs. The crime rate and 'disappearing locations' are simply too much for me to be completely logical. Also on the 'American tries to write about Ireland', the phrasing of certain language and placement of these words in sentences, not to mention some of the bogus pronunciation guides at the back of the book for Irish words (most of it is wrong).

Yes, in Ireland we refer to fun as 'craic' and often use 'feck' in sentences. However, we don't described places as 'craic-filled'. We say, "What's the craic?" instead of "What's up?" or "Sure it was grand craic" for "It was great/lots of fun". So you have no idea the frustration when these words are used wrong. It's also not right to put 'feck' and 'fecking' randomly into sentences. It doesn't work that way. The way Dani talks...yeah, noone talks like that.

ALSO WE DON'T SAY PATTY. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

IT'S ST PADDY'S DAY, NOT ST PATRICK'S DAY.

Sorry guys, that one's been bothering me for years!!!

The end scene was gruesome, and I didn't particularly enjoy it. It felt to me like the times that TV shows put in sexual assault or rape to boost viewings. It didn't feel right at all, and it made me angry. BUT, it made me want to pick up the next book asap.

I'm not a massive fan of Girls. I have watched several seasons but it's one of those shows that I'll watch for a couple of weeks and then it will be more than six months before I pick it back up again. But in saying that, I am a fan of Lena Dunham and her complete frankness about well, everything.

I wasn't expecting to connect or identify with Dunham so easily but I did. She is very different than me in a lot of ways and is a lot more honest about bodily functions, embarrassing stories and sex in general but I still felt like I knew her while reading the book.

There has definitely been a lot of controversy surrounding certain segments in this book, mainly the bits with her sister Grace, but honestly, I didn't find it that bad. Dunham's choice of words and phrasing could have been rethought but a lot of the time, it didn't really seem more than a young girl's fascination with the their body and how it may differ from others.

Dunham made me laugh at all her stories and then sigh in a 'Oh, it's not just me' at other times. This book had everything I never knew I wanted in a sort-of memoir and I'm so glad I picked it up.

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Cara Morris and her family are a little bit accident prone. In fact, so many bumps, bruises and other things happen to them (including deaths in the family) that they've dubbed a certain number of weeks in Autumn 'The Accident Season'. This year, things feel stranger and more dangerous than usual. It seems that this accident season, more things will break than hearts and secrets will be revealed.

This book is a perfect October read. Not only is it set in the last two weeks of October but the whole premise of the story is set in a very subtly mystery and spookiness. Who is Elsie and why does she appear in every photo? Why can't anyone remember her? What is Alice hiding? Is Bea actually a witch?

The creepiness, well, creeps up on you. It furls around your ankles like mist until before you know it, it has hold and grabs you under, bringing you in a world of mystical changeling siblings with a tin man with a metal smile as a stepfather.

The relationships in the book are all strong and weak at various times but it's very heartening how everyone sticks by each other, and no-one really lets off steam about someone else needing alone time, or sharing secrets with others when they're not ready to share with everyone. Everyone has their own personal problems and troubles to solve, and they know they have someone ready to catch them at the elbow if they fall.

I also loved that the book was set in Ireland. i didn't know it was at first and it was Irish in a beautiful subtle way. No silly over emphasis on Irish culture or language. Certain words (such as school classes and exams) weren't changed to American slang, but were kept, at least in the edition I read, the Irish system.

The Accident Season is full of friendship, family, mystery and spook all woven together with beautiful lyrical threads.

4.5 stars

Holy shit. This is a good book.

The book starts off with an accident and then Jenna is running away from all her heartbreak, wanting to make a fresh start where no-one knows her and knows what's she's lost. Ray, a detective, is trying to investigate all the pieces of that night but as the months go in, he starts losing a grip on his family...

This is an amazing, beautifully written and emotional read. I was completely hooked. I really felt for Jenna and loved all the mystery surrounding her life, even though it drove me crazy. I felt like I was pretty sure I knew what I was reading until about 50% through when suddenly it flipped and everything turned much darker and a lot more sinister. From that point, I couldn't put the book down until I had solved everything. This was definitely not one of those books where I guessed what would happen. It really did keep me on the edge of my seat until the very end!

The detective and police work described in this book by Ray and his colleagues felt very authentic to me, and it all made sense when I read the Author's Note and Clare Mackintosh wrote about her years as a police officer and dealing with a similar case as in the book.

The one thing I didn't like was the feelings Ray felt about Kate. They didn't seem entirely solved. I also felt frustrated at him believing his son to be bullied for almost two years, and not bothering to once get into a conversation with him. I also would have liked to have read about Ray's conversation with Tom when they found out the truth. Or something like Ray explaining Jenna's story to Tom and making him realise that he shoudn't want to grow up to be a bully of a man like Ian.