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

Shelby Richmond was only 17 years old when she skidded her car on ice and her best friend was left in a coma. Now Shelby is trying to deal with her guilt and shutting herself away from the world. Little by little, this story follows Shelby as she overcomes her remorse and learns to live again through moving to New York, getting a job, rescuing dogs and finding love.

I really loved this story. For most of the book I thought this would be a solid 4 stars for me but the more I read, the more the story and Shelby burrowed their way into my heart. Alice Hoffman has an amazing way of weaving a story that it takes a while for it to grab you, it’s really subtle and weaves its way around you until before you know it you’re hooked. This is the second book of Hoffman’s I’ve read and the second time her writing has done this to me. She is a magical writer.

I thought Shelby’s journey throughout this book was terrific. She is in such a dark place when we meet her and we really get to follow along with the ups and downs of her life as she begins to embrace life and finds the joys of living again. This story touches a lot on the concept of survivor’s guilt and Shelby believing she needed to be punished for driving the car and surviving the accident even though it was just an accident on a cold, icy night. Shelby really begins to find herself and goes through a lot of transitional periods both with herself and her appearance, studies and jobs as well as with her boyfriends and the people she surrounds herself with.

It wasn’t very difficult for me to love Shelby, especially when she began to rescue her dogs and what’s not to love about that.I love that rather than having a coming of age story about a 16 year old to a 21/22 year old. We’re getting someone at the age of about 18 and following her until she’s in her 30s or almost there. We see her mature into a grown woman and it’s really great and heartwarming to watch.

This book starts off really dark and there are triggers for self harm and sexual assault very early on in the book but little by little as Shelby’s heart lightens, the book gets nicer and nicer.

I really, really enjoyed my time reading this. Alice Hoffman did it again!

3.5 stars

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

It's the late 1800s and the Eiffel Tower is still plans on paper. Cait is 30-something chaeprone to a young girl and her brother visiting Paris when they meet engineer Emile on a hot air balloon ride. Cait and Emile immediately have an undeniable spark but circumstances push them apart while faith pushes them together. Their story plays out as the backdrop shows the famous Eiffel Tower being built and takes us through the winding, romantic streets of Paris, France.

This book was a really lovely read. I don't think it's one for someone who likes action-packed stories, this was a quieter, slow-moving read and one that didn't have any amazing action. It was just about two people going about their life and realising their attraction towards each other. I really enjoyed both Cait and Emile and I felt like I got a feel for who they were as characters very quickly at the start of the book. I enjoyed learning more about them and their life and really loved seeing how they kept ending up together. I thought Cait was a quietly courageous character, she had to be herself while being constrained by the time in which a widowed woman had very little options. Emile was a character that earned a lot of respect, he was kind but firm and clever.

I loved the little tidbits about the Eiffel Tower and there was a part of me that wanted to reach into the story and show he characters the tower lit up in Paris the way it is today to show them what it would mean. It was interesting to find out how it was built and the complexity of the structure - a lot of research had to go into that and it was obviously really well done.

The ending was a bit meh for me - it was simple and cute but I would have liked a bit more I think. Overall though, I really enjoyed my read and the writing was really great!

4,5 stars

2.5 stars

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

Cameron Cripps-Hayman lives in a small town in Indiana called Metamora. Separated from her husband with no proper job, Cam feels like she's at a standstill and she's two days away from forty. Then suddenly she finds a body, ends up becoming a suspect of murder and also adopts the five dogs belonging to the deceased. Cam's life just got much more interesting.

I liked and didn't like this book at the same time. I found Cam and the vast array of characters kooky and fun, and there was definitely a whole load of excitement with them. The town of Metamora reminded me of the small towns we normally see in TV shows such as Gilmore Girls and Hart of Dixie. There's the old quacks, the reigning ladies whose ancestors founded the town, the young wild ones etc. I liked Cam's own story of being a relatively 'new' person to the town and still finding her feet, and this time away from her husband. The storyline of adopting the dogs was cute and i did like that it didn't overpower Cam's own investigations into the murder. I did think some of the stuff she did was unrealistic and over the top but it was one of those quirky, crazy kind of stories.

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

The Silver Witch follows Tilda and Seren, two silver-haired women living in a remote section of Wales hundreds and hundreds of years apart. Tilda is living in the 21st century, dealing with the death of her husband and learning to enjoy life, and art, again. Seren is a shaman for a community living on a crannog, dealing with her affections for a Prince and trying to interpret her visions that show a terrible future. In some way, the women are connected, and Seren might be able to save Tilda's life when an ancient evil is forced awake.

It definitely took me a while to really get into the flow of the writing style of this book. It's written in present tense so instead of, "She stepped outside of the house and looked around", it was "She steps outside the house and looks around." It definitely threw me off at first, especially the way Tilda kind of spoke to herself in third person when she was running. However, after a while I began to connect with Tilda and I enjoyed her character a lot more.

For the first half of the book, I enjoyed Seren's chapters more. At the start, she was a much stronger character than Tilda, who was dealing with grief and anxiety. Seren was very self-confident and she definitely had an air of ancient magic around her (something that by the end of the book Tilda has as well.) But as Tilda's began to develop as a stronger character, I really enjoyed reading her as well. i really felt she had some great character development, and i really appreciated that she dealt with the grief over her husband's death but didn't let her really hold herself back when it came to starting a new relationship and being happy.

I would have liked to have seen Tilda harness her powers a little bit more, the way we see Seren use hers. I still felt like Tilda wasn't 100% in control after the events of the book but in a way it makes sense as well as the magic in this book isn't all for show. There's no sparks or flashes, it's very subtle and understated and very ancient.

I enjoyed the difference in Tilda and Seren's appearance. Not only were they silver-haired but they both had the albino pale skin and pink eyes, and Tilda discussed the problems she had with living with it often, and wondered how Seren had dealt with it as well.

This book just had a beautiful feel to it, and it really thrummed with magic by the time i finished it. It's definitely turned me on to Paula Brackston's writing, and I'm definitely picking up her other books as well - especially as they all revolve around witches, my favourite!

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

Split the Sun is the second book in Tessa Elwood's Inherit the Stars series but it follows a completely different character than those in Inherit the Stars, on a completely different planet. Kit Franks is the daughter of a terrorist - her mother blew up a lab, killing people and unleashing a virus on the power source for the district. Now Kit needs to deal with the hatred directed at her because of her mother's actions, while also figuring out if her mom left some clues behind for her to follow.

I really enjoyed this one and it's a book I've been anticipating reading because I really fell in love with Inherit the Stars. While I was a bit disappointed Asa and Eagle weren't in this one at all, I did highly enjoy Kit's individual story. And just like Inherit the Stars, Split the Sun was an extremely fast-paced, dramatic read. There were times I felt for Kit a lot as it seemed like she never had a break to even rest, it was always one thing or another.

I really liked the story around Kit and her mother and their history. I think I would have liked a bit more world building, though we got it to some extent with The Prime and how Kit explained who he was. I think people could read Split the Sun before Inherit the Stars and not be too spoiled for the first book as there it very little links between the two - though I hope if there's another book, all the character meet up. I wasn't sure about Kit and Niles relationship at first - it seemed to good to be true and Niles kind of just appeared out of nowhere. I wasn't quite as invested in the relationship as I was with Asa and Eagle's, and I would have been okay if Niles backed away as Kit is a character who can stand on her own two feet.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book though I don't think I was quite as in love with it as Inherit the Stars. I really hope there is a third book!