3.5 stars

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

Suzie Sarnio is the first female Death in a million years, and has to go to school in a whole other world to learn how to become one. Suzie faces hatred, misogny and a whole load of other travels as she attempts to learn how to become something she never wanted to be in the first place.

The premise of this is really good and I really enjoyed learning all about the college for Deaths, and the classes and how the students lived their lives. There was a small touch of Hogwarts about it which I enjoyed. I would have liked a bit more insight into the lessons rather than just the first day and then the scythe lessons. The story was well written and I enjoyed the writing, and I am intrigued enough to pick up the second book for sure.

I did have some problems with this book. The start of it was a tad repetitive at times, with Suzie constantly repeating how she was eating a lot and not anorexic when explaining her weight loss and that got a bit annoying. One of the main things that bothered me was the way Suzie was treated by her fellow students for being female. Suzie is only 13 years old in the book and the level of hatred directed at her by a group of angry men was troublesome. I understand the need to make Suzie be an outcast because she is different but I think it was very inappropriate and just not nice to have older guys constantly calling Suzie a bitch and slut.

I did love the fact this book included Suzie’s first period and her fear and problems being in a literal world full of men, and no access to sanitary pads or tampons. However, she had her period for one night and it was never spoken about again, and then several months passed so I would have liked an update to see how she was dealing with all that stuff.

Falcio Val Mond is the First Cantor of the Greatcoats, a band of magistrates/soldiers put together by the King to lay down the low and be for the people. But the Dukes weren;t happy with the King and when they got together to kill him, the Greatcoats were left without their leader and their reputation ruined. Now Falcio and his friends Kest and Brasti are on a last mission for the King but end up getting framed for murder. Now they need to clear their name and find out who is behind it.

I loved this! It reminded me of The Three Musketeers - specially-trained soldiers with a special set of honour and values, and extremely loyal to the King and people. Falcio was a great character to follow with a dark past of his own and I loved how the tale of the King and his formation of the Greatcoats came about, and his eventual demise. I liked that there was mention of female Greatcoats (though I would have loved for one of them to be a main character, such as if Kest or Brasti was female) but there were strong female characters such as the Duchess, the Tailor and Aline.

The second half of this book was stronger for me that the first half. I think it just took me a while to get into the story, though I'm not sure why, but once Falcio started protecting Aline the story got going for me and I didn't want to put it down. The ending was fantastic and I seriously can't wait for the next book!

Nemesis is a diabolic, meaning she was created for a specific purpose - to kill. Nemesis is the diabolic for Sidonia, a Senator's daughter and when the Senator annoys the Emperor, he sends for Sidonia to join him at the Grandiloquy. Knowing this means putting Sidona in mortal danger, her parents sent Nemesis instead, disguised as Sidonia. Now Nemesis has to be the opposite of what she was brought up to be, and is all alone on the other side of the universe.

I've seen this book floating around a bit and didn't really know what I was getting into when I decided to grab it from the library but i was pleasantly surprised. This was quite an elaborate sci-fi world and while it is confusing at first (and would be for people not used to sci-fi), it's easy to start getting along with after a while. It could probably have done with slightly more world-building but I was happy enough with what we got and what Nemesis explained.

Nemesis was fantastic as a character and goes through tremendous growth, while still staying 'true' to herself along the way. She is smart and strong while also being decent, kind and compassionate. The friendships she forms away from Sidonia are lovely to watch, and her friendship with Sidonia is also great.

The ending was really neat which was disappointing as I would love another book (or maybe even a standalone sequel based in the same world). I was happy with Nemesis's journey and where she ended up.

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

Danica is a young woman living in the Sonoman-Versailles Palace, which is a country of its own with its people living like the 18th Century French. Danica is soon to be Queen but it’s the last thing she wants and the engagement was made through an act of blackmail. She needs to raise desperate funds to escape her world, and her luck changed when she discovers the addictive drug Glitter and a way to sell it to her fellow nobles and royals.

This is absolutely brilliant! The world and the plot is something I’ve never encountered before and everything is laid out elaborately and cleverly and everything comes together really, really well. The world building for me was perfection and I loved how well Danica was able to explain how the people in the palace of Versailles lived and were governed while the rest of the world was more or less how we live today. But at the same time, the people in Versailles have their own modern technology to help them with the ay they live from Lens to bots and an overriding system called MARIE.

I really loved Danica's personal journey throughout this book from being a woman completely trapped to figuring out a way to help herself get out of the mess. She has been controlled her whole life and is finally figuring out a way to get her own life back. I loved Saber and the relationship that formed - it was genuine and sweet and did I mention I love Saber?

I can’t wait for more in this series as this was such a strong first book. I need more, more, more in this world. It was so great.

Emma O’ Donovan is Queen Bee of her small Irish town. She’s popular and pretty but she can also be mean and petty. One day, Emma goes to a party and she’s horrified to learn afterwards that terrible things were done to her at the hands of some of the well-known boys in town. Now Emma has to deal with what has happened to her, while protesting her innocence as the fingers of blame seem to point at her rather than the boys who raped her.

This was a really, really tough book to read but so very powerful and important. Emma is not a nice person. She’s pretty but no-one is allowed to be prettier, or skinnier or wear better clothes. She lies and steals and well, I just would not want to be her friend. However, this doesn’t mean that Emma deserved to be gang-raped by a group of men she knew, be vomited and urinated on and utterly, disgustingly violated and have those photos put online for everyone to see.

I found myself having some anxiety reading this book. I could feel it every time I went to the pick the book up but once i was reading, i got into the story and was okay. I’ve never been sexually assaulted, thank god, but I just feel so lucky that I am one of the lucky ones and how easy it would have been for something to happen to me walking from the bus at night, taking a taxi home or even, god forbid, at a house party like Emma, with a group of boys I went to school with. And if this book was triggering for me, I couldn’t even believe how hard it must be for those who have actually been through such an ordeal.

This book brings up so many great things about victim blaming. It seems, to me, that Emma had never been completely consensual with any of the sexual acts she had done in the past and this one was just the icing on the cake. But just because she’d had sex in the past and had drank and taken a pill doesn’t mean she deserved to be probed and prodded the way she was. Ugh. I hate this boys will be boys thing and it comes across so well in this book. The lads are more or less free to walk about town afterwards while Emma can’t even leave the house. She’s the Ballinatoom Girl but they’re not the Ballinatoom Boys.

Emma had pretty rotten luck with her family and friends - her friends who didn’t even stand by her really afterwards, her family who talk about her behind her back and seem to actually blame her in a way (except her brother). I really liked that the book didn’t just show Emma immediately after the rape occurred but one year on when things were even worse, the media had talked, the discussions had taken place on the radio and everyone had shared their opinion, while Emma had to continue and try and live her life.

Emma’s disconnection and repulsive of her body afterwards was done really well and the way she described her being ‘stamped’ by the boys who had committed the rape. She seemed to reject everything about herself when she has once been able to love and appreciate her beauty. She even found it hard to shower because she couldn’t stand the sight or touch of her naked body.

This is a powerful, must-read book that I think really needs to be read by everyone.

I received a copy of this book for Booktube Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Elsa is seven years old and is pretty different to other children. Her granny is her best friend and superhero and between the two of them they’ve created a magic world complete with six different kingdoms. When Elsa’s granny dies, she has to deal with grief for the first time and is also sent on a treasure hunt organised by her granny. Slowly, Elsa begins to find out the stories of each of the people living in her apartment building and begins to develop more friendships while she personally delivers her granny’s sorry to them.

“Every seven-year-old deserves a superhero. That’s just how it is. Anyone who doesn’t agree need their head examined.”

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! It had everything I wanted from it, a crazy granny who was laugh out loud funny, a brilliantly clever and observant little girl, kooky neighbours with hidden hearts of gold, Harry Potter references, a wurs and a magical faraway kingdom.

Elsa was a brilliant main character and I really loved her narration. I’ve seen some observations from people about her mature voice and mind and while I agree she seems a bit too grown up for her age at times, it didn’t surprise me because everyone talks to Elsa and around Elsa like an adult. She has mature conversations with people and she just cops on to things and the people around her and how she can act. She has her childish moments at times, which are needed, such as some of her crying fits and hiding in the wardrobe.

You have all these books and not a single Harry Potter? And they let you fix people whose heads are broken?

The mix-match of characters was brilliant and I really loved finding out more about everyone. They all lived in each other’s pockets and loved and hated each other in equal measure (even Britt-Marie) but really they were one giant family which was excellent. This book manages to tackle a whole load of things in a really lovely way from grief, PTSD, war, war refugees, alcoholism, domestic abuse, you name it. it has so much about life, and learning to live and learning to relive after a tragic loss. It made me laugh and cry all at the same time from both happiness and sadness and it was such a pleasure to read.

One tells the story of conjoined twins Grace and Tippi, told through the point of view of Grace. This is the first book written in verse that I've ever read and i really, really enjoyed it. I thought Grace's story was raw and poignant and I really fell in love with their twins, their life and their bravery and honest. Their bond together was beautiful. I really felt like I went on the journey with them, through school and bullies and finding real friendship for the first time and possibly even love. I wanted everything to go right for them and nothing to go wrong and my heart broke so many times for the both of them, for their little sister Dragon, their mom and dad and their grandmother. A beautiful story - I might just have to get this book in physical form!

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

Wavy doesn’t speak and she doesn’t eat. She’s living with a drug dealer father and a drug addicted mother and protecting her brother from the things that scarred her growing up. Wavy is only eight years old. One day, an employee of her father’s crashes his bike near Wavy and from that moment on Kellen is hers. And she is his. As Wavy grows older and their relationship blossoms, people begin to ask questions and they could be torn apart.

This book was powerful, emotional, well-written and beautiful while at the same time being uncomfortable and wrong. By any means, the connection between Wavy and Kellen should make anyone feel weird, considering the age difference but weirdly, I rooted for them throughout this entire book.

Their relationship was profound and real and as a reader, I could really see how they found each other in each other, if that makes sense. They both needed each other desperately, Wavy needed someone, anyone to look after her and to simply understand her silence while Kellen needed someone who didn’t judge him and someone who would just be there.Their connection was pretty amazing, while at the same time made me deeply uncomfortable.

Wavy was always a very grown-up child. At 13, she felt more like an 18-year-old, which isn’t surprising considering how and where she grew up and the parents she had. The way she began to respond to Kellen differently and he to her was really great to read about while at the same time, I wanted her to sit down and wait a little longer before growing up. (Note: there are some graphic sexual scenes in this book).

I enjoyed Wavy’s character development from a small child to a teenager discovering her sexuality and finally into a confident and proud young woman. She was really someone who didn’t let anyone beat her down in the end and I really became her cheerleader. I loved her. She stood up for the people she loved, whether it was Kellen, Donal or her cousin Amy. I really loved the end chapter, where some unexplained things were explained. I’d love a completely separate novella or book on Donal alone, and his growing up at the time we were following Wavy in school and college.

A profound and beautiful story that will definitely stay with me for a little while!