I was given a free coy of this book by Penguin Random House Ireland in exchange for an honest review.

2-2.5 Stars

Anna and her father live in Krakow, Poland, and one day in 1939, Anna's father doesn't come home from the university where he works. After waiting for him and realising he isn't going to return, Anna wanders aimlessly until she ends up finding the 'Swallow Man'. They become companions and Anna follows him for the duration of the war.

I feel like I know what the author was trying to do here, but for me it just didn't work and fell completely flat. I thought this was a middle grade/YA book at first but after reading it I would say it's adult, as I found some of the wording/context confusing and there was very little plot. The plot was rather aimless and seemed to go in circles and not know where it was suppose to go. It could have been a very beautiful story but unfortunately it wasn't. It probably border-lined on a little bit pretentious. The ending was also just really confusing and maybe I just missed some sort of message in the rest of the book, because I didn't get it all.

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

In an isolated and exclusive boarding school on a Welsh island, the Assassin's Guild is the club everyone wants to join. Once a year new initiates join and the whole club play a game called 'Killer' where members are killed off using tricks such as smoke bombs and red paint - nothing too dangerous and nothing illegal. This year, things take a weird twist when there's another Killer and the game takes a dangerous turn.

The premise of this was exciting, it was like Pretty Little Liars mixed with Scream and then some boarding school action thrown in. I liked the Guild's history and how they went about some things like the sorority pledge-like initiation and then the cave with the statue, the bracelets and the ritual goblet. The game itself seemed pretty clever though I wondered at times if it was a bit far-fetched and if teachers and other students would be so okay with everything that was going on.

Cate, as a character, didn't totally do it for me. She seemed a bit of an enigma - she wasn't very popular, was described as mediocre at best in the looks department and was a bit of a drab queen yet she had a bit of a rap sheet with the guys. And can I just say that all the guys, even Vaughn - the main love interest, were really creepy. I felt like everything they all did just had a mega creep vibe to them and I didn't feel any likability coming off them at all and wouldn't like to meet any of them on a road in the dark!

This didn't have quite the thrill I was expecting from it and not everything turned out very surprising for me. But I think people who are fans of the Pretty Little Liars and Scream TV shows will like this one.

WOW OH WOW!!!

Okay, so let's get it out of the way. Am I giving this book 5 stars because it's Harry Potter? No, I'm actually not and I'll be honest, there was a part of me ready to give 5 stars just for that reason. I'm actually surprised that I ended up liking it so much because I was afraid I'd find the screenplay hard to read and to get into, as I don't have a lot of experience with them. But I loved it. I surprised myself by falling into the story exactly like I did with the other Harry Potter books and had no problem imagining any of the scenes. I think it was paced really well, and it had so much shock value. I really loved where the story went and what it did and how it built up the relationships between families.

There's definitely a part of me that missed the magic of Hogwarts in the description of classes, and learning different spells and just the joys and adventures of being a Hogwarts student - as it's what I loved about the original - and Cursed Child is very much focused on Albus and Scorpius and there's very little Hogwarts time. Albus took a while to like, he was troubled and misunderstood, and behaved like a sulky brat most of the time but I did warm to him by the end. I loved Scorpius, which is something I never thought I would say. I absolutely loved Al and Scorpius's Harry/Ron moment on the train.

And our original trio - I did feel a bit let down by Harry not being the best father ever and being so focused on his past when trying to connect with the kids but I guess he's not perfect and it is probably something, realistically, that would affect other relationships. Harry never had a constant dad figure in his life so it's okay that he would struggle figuring out how to be the kind of dad each of his kids need. I loved Hermione, I thought she was a really strong character in this one when she was Minister, and top Rebel. I loved seeing her take charge as usual and how Ron supported her, and loved her.

I ended up devouring this book in a great way. There's definitely some adult bits in it that kind of break my Harry Potter kid heart a bit as the childish magic is gone a bit and they are 100% adults, flaws and all. But it didn't take away my enjoyment of the story and now I can't wait to see the show, some time next year. It sounds like it's a fabulous reproduction.

3.5-4 stars

The Lubetkin Legacy follows Berthold Sidebottom and a young woman called Violet who are both residents in a council flat in London. Their lives become somewhat connected as they mingle with the different types of people found in the apartment block and they both struggle to figure out what they want to do in life - all the while Bert pretends an elderly Ukrainian woman living with him is his recently deceased mother so he won't be kicked out of the spacious flat he's lived in his whole life.

This was a bit of a weird one. It didn't follow a particular plot per se and seemed to go in a different direction every time I felt like I knew where it was heading. But while I saying that, I did enjoy the book. I definitely got what Lewcyka was trying to show us - the absolute diversity that is living in a city like London. The flat had English, Ukranian, Romanaian, African and all sorts of other people, cultures, traditions within it, yet while everyone seemed a bit different on the outside, they were all more or less the same on the inside.

I think I warmed to Bert more than Violet, I felt while Violet grew as a character, there was a bit more life and humor to Bert's story. I did like him but there were times he would think certain things that made him turn into a complete creep and I'd inwardly groan (like calling his penis 'the beast'). He also had a mild obsession with George Clooney. I felt like I didn't quite get enough out of Violet's story, I think I would have liked another chapter or two with her at the end.

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

The Muse follows two different women in two different time periods. In London, 1967, Odelle Bastion gets a typewriting job in an art gallery that brings into the lives of a woman called Marjorie Quick and a mysterious painting. In Spain, 1937, Olive Schloss is settling in with her family and falling in love with a man called Isacc Robles who becomes her muse, and his sister Theresa her best friend. The lives of all these women become entwined and slowly Odelle figures it all out.

This was really enjoyable. Once again Burton has managed to write a sensual and moving story that seems to open up slowly, blossoms even like a flower, and it sucks you in and you just can't put it down. The book was slow-paced for me, but I enjoyed it, there wasn't a load of action but I was definitely intrigued in both Odelle's story as a black woman from Trinidad living in London and dating a white man and Olive, a young woman with an immense talent and choosing to show it to the world in an unconventional way. There some beautiful phrases and imagery in this book and the magic that I felt in The Miniaturist was definitely there.

"Something shivered over me, and my skin turned to gooseflesh, the way it does when someone tells you the truth and you hear it with your whole body."

"She had never felt so invisible, and yet so seen."

I thought Isaac's reaction to being Olive's muse was pretty amusing. Throughout history and within other novels, fiction and non-fiction, women have been the perpetual object of 'the muse' for other artists. And despite Isaac getting a whole load of benefits form Olive's talent, he couldn't quite get over not having all the power and I liked how Burton explored this.

I really loved, as I said, Odelle's own experiences as a black woman and some of the things she experienced when dating a white man. There wasn't an emphasis on the racism she experienced, but Burton placed it in now and again in a way that reminded the reader it would have been present for Odelle as a black woman in London in the 60s. It was done in a neat and impactful way, I also loved how Odelle was very much Ebglish, and talked about how she was more or less raised with English values and ideals in mind on a colonized island but then when she talked with Cynth, her accent would change to a Trinidadian accent and I loved it. It was so subtle, I only picked up on it halfway through but I loved it.

I think anyone who enjoyed the pacing and atmosphere of The Miniaturist would enjoy The Muse as well.

I was sent a copy of this book by Penguin Random House Ireland in exchange for an honest review.

Wolf Hollow is set sometime around the World War Two era and follows the life of Annabelle whose life in a rural town in America is pretty quiet and peaceful until the arrival of another girl called Betty. Betty immediately begins bullying Annabelle and then accuses a local wanderer/war veteran Toby of a terrible crime. Annabelle knows Toby is innocent but then Betty goes missing and Annabelle must find her, and save Toby.

This was quite a gentle read for me. I really liked the way we were introduced to all the characters through the eyes of Annabelle and I found her a really nice character to follow along with and connect with. She was kind and gentle but at the same time, she was sharp and clever. She was able to stick up for herself and do what needed to be done. I like how through Annabelle we were intriduced to the townspeople, the school, the teachers and the other farmers and given some lessons here and there on to how things were run. I really loved Annabelle's family - with the exception of her Aunt Lily who was a bit of a wagon - and her relationship with her mom and dad was refreshing. Her quiet and protective love for her brothers was also great and something I could identify with.

Annabelle's connection and relationship with Toby was quite profound and I really loved their scenes together and how she seemed to be a source of comfort for him where he could talk about the demons from the war that haunted him. There was nothing odd or uncomfortable about their relationship - more like an older uncle and his niece, or as Toby said a man with a daughter he wished was his.

Betty was something else. She was really horrible and I'm kind of glad she got her comeuppance in the end. There was nothing redeeming about her, and in the end she didn't even seem to learn her lesson. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

The ending was bittersweet but I enjoyed Annabelle's acceptance of events and how everything was laid to rest. I really enjoyed this story - it gave me the same kind of small American town feelings that books like Shiloh did.

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

Stone Seeds is based in a grim setting called Bavarnica which is ruled by someone called the General. The ruling people are called the OneFolk, and everyone who isn't part of the OneFolk basically live horrible lives. There are the farmers on the edge of the desert, who live in a perpetual state of hunger and thirst, given seeds by the form of 'government' that don't actually seem to grow anything. Then there's the "Egg Boys" - a form of test tubes humanoids. The novel focuses on Antek, an Egg Boy who seems to be a bit different to the others, Zorry, a young woman who has the job of finding a plant that could hold the key to everything and Zingi, the last living member of the Digger tribe and one of the leaders of the Rebellion.

Okay, so going into this book I was just confused for a huge majority of the start of it. Everything seemed a bit jumbled and disjointed, I was getting information about Bavarnica and its history but in a way that it was hard for me to really understand. I didn't stat settling down into the story (and I use that loosely) until a good 35% in and I wonder how many people would even give the book that much of a chance before DNFing it. I think the start of this book needs to be rewritten, or tidied up or something as there's something about it that just doesn't work.

I thought we were getting places around 50% in but then again it let me down. There was very little plot in this book, nothing actually happened. We knew about the state people were living in and we knew about the group of people in the rebellion - women called mother cupboards. But that was it! There was nothing else done in entire book. I actually wish I had DNF'd this book because it was a complete waste of time. I got nothing out of it.