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

For Hunter Cady, his wife Kait was always going to be the rest of his life. She was his everything. So when she dies suddenly, hunter is at a loss. In the midst of his grief, Hunter takes off for a road trip with Kait’s ashes, determined to have one last trip with her before he says goodbye forever.

I really wanted to like this book as it sounded like it was going to be a bittersweet, emotional read but unfortunately I just really didn’t. By the time I was 60% through I just wanted it to be over and read it really fast just so I could be finished with it. From the get go there was a styling of chapters I really didn’t like, every few chapters the narrative would change to second person and i really hated it. It completely drew me out of the story.

Unfortunately I also couldn’t stand the main character Hunter. I felt for him and for his grief - not to mention his completely awful in laws - but god he was so…pretentious and annoying. He was one of these guys who wanted to be an intellectual so badly, he sucked at all other kinds of jobs and could’t even hold one for an inordinate amount of time. He likes to say he was a writer even though he didn’t actually write anything. i don’t know how Kait could stand him to be honest.

I though Hunter’s journey was going to be one that showed his connection with Kait and his healing and learning how to live without her but the whole thing was more like a very prolonged mental breakdown and was very scattered. It actually made me feel uncomfortable at times because Hunter was so obviously not coping with his grief and seemed be started to suffer from mental illness. Yet no-one seemed to care that much about him. His wife was only dead a little less than eight weeks but his family treated him like crap, except his mom. His dad literally made it out like his road trip was a ‘whim’ rather than a sign of help.

“I have a job, Hunter. I can’t just disappear whenever life becomes inconvenient for me.”

Yes, a father actually said this to his grieving son. WTF? i don’t think him helping with the house near the end absolved him of being an awful dad either.

I just didn’t connect with this book and didn’t like the main character. I don’t think he’s someone i could deal with in real life, so could not deal with him in the pages either. There were some nice things in this book such as the real descriptions of Kait. I liked how Hunter acknowledged her anxiety and her bouts of depression, and didn’t hide them away but let them add to the ways he thought she was perfect. I also like how some of the things he missed about her were some realistic things, not just ‘the way the sun made her eyes glow’ or something poetic like that but the way she always missed a spot when she was shaving, or always saved him a bit of food left in any package she was eating. I liked that.

While this book did’t connect with me, I’m pretty sure others will get on with it better.

Evie Snow has lived a long and relatively happy life but now she is dead, she's suddenly faced with a door that won't open. Evie realised that her three biggest secrets are holding her back from entering her own heaven and she now has to face them and share her biggest, and secret, love story with the people in her life.

This is a super sweet idea and really love the image of people being faced with their doors when they enter the afterlife. There were some lovely phrases and a beautiful hint of magical realism now and again that reminded me a little bit of Once Upon a Time/ Fairytale land - the bird that was the notebook, the opening doors of Evie's chest, the tree. I enjoyed the story for what it was which a sweet romance but there was nothing spectacular about the book that blew me out of the water.

I felt like a lot of Evie's personality was lying heavily on that she seemed to be pretty much a carbon copy of Carrie (blonde, curly hair, chocolate brown eyes, not fat but not thin either, loves to doodle and has a huge sweet tooth) and that Vincent had a lot of Pete in him too (scraggy dark hair, green eyes, musical, tall and a bit oafish). Now in saying that, I know that people who don't know Carrie or Pete wouldn't be able to see this obviously so to back up what I mean is that Evie felt that tiny bit flat. I feel like I was being told how great she was all the time by these other characters. How she was super kind, and a bit bonkers and all sorts of things yet I never actually saw Evie do anything to back these claims up. I kept being told about Evie without actually seeing anything. All I could see was an adult woman letting her mother control every bit of her life, and who in the end had zero backbone.

While a lot of story flew nicely, there were some bits that were a bit hard to take. Sometimes I felt like phrases ran away with themselves but I think this is just a thing of it being Carrie's first fiction book. I think stuff like this will be ironed out over the next couple of books she writes (I've no doubt she can, and will, write another book). For example, this line just didn't do it for. There was too much of it, I think:

"He was a giant who had caught a butterfly and knew he'd only kill it if he kept it but was so reluctant to let it go for its beauty made him something he wouldn't be without it: happy"

I also couldn't quite stomach this one:

"You're like...that single firework that makes everyone gasp in a display that would otherwise have been quite disappointing."

Vincent and Evie were a bit childish considering they were 27 years old. As was Jim. Because of the way Evie and Jim acted in particular, I just had no respect for them. I don't think you can for people who let other people bully them their entire lives and never break out of the box. I think Evie had good reasons in the end, but I still don't think she should have done what she had done. In the end, I felt sad about the whole story because, despite reaching the 'other side', Evie, Jim and Vincent led half-full lives in my opinion. How could Jim be with someone who could never truly love him? How could they have children together? I dunno.

Also, just a small thing but at the start it really annoyed me that no-one had regular Joe surnames - Winters, Summer, Snow, Frost and there was even a Pear at one point, Mr Pear?? I think by the end I could tie all that in with the magical realism theme and go with it, but it bugged me for a while. The time period was also very confusing - Evie's family acted like it was the 20s, or 30s, but Vincent wore skinny jeans and Eddie had a phone. But Evie worked in an office full of men where apparently it was okay to slap her on the ass all the time like Mad Men or something? It confused me a lot until eventually I had to forget it and move on with the story.

I received a copy of this book from O'Brien Press in exchange for an honest review.

Eoin Madden has a lot going trying to deal with schoolwork, being captain of the Junior Cup rugby team while also trying to get onto Ireland's Under-16 rugby team and also being followed around by ghosts. When a ghost who has a connection with the start of the game of rugby itself asks Eoin for help, he does so but it might mean forfeiting his chance of being a rugby star.

So, I'll be honest and admit I know very little about rugby. I like to watch it on TV now and again but when it comes to all the different names and terms within the game and the different rules, I have no idea what's going on. So I was a little bit nervous going into this book, thinking that I would be completely lost. Luckily, this wasn't the case and even the book was very rugby-focused, I still found myself enjoying it!

I really liked Eoin Madden as a character - he was sweet and tough, and really loved his friends and family. He also came across very honest and modest and always gave others support and encouragement. He was just an all-round nice guy! I really liked his relationships with his family and friends. It was very healthy to see in a YA book and proof that family can be central in a teenager's life and love and support him in doing what he loves most was just a great thing to see.

I liked the supernatural element of this book. I haven't read anything else in this series so it was funny to me that all of Eoin's friends acting so normally when he mentioned talking to ghosts and I kind of loved it. I liked the mystery thrown in around the robbery of the cup and Eoin's mission to find out who did it.

This is definitely the perfect book for any young person who enjoys books about sport, friendship or mystery! It's a bit of a 'boy's book' with no female characters except a brief mention of Eoin's sister but I think anyone could read it and enjoy it, no matter what gender. I think this would be a great book/book series to help younger teen readers get into reading and enjoy reading as well.

Audio narration: 2 stars
Story 3-3.5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Molly Murphy Mystery series by Rhys Bowen and in this book, Molly is actually employed by the NYPD (aka Daniel O'Sullivan - the man she's trying not to love) to go undercover in a senator's house where he is hosting a pair of sisters who claim thy are clairvoyant and can help the senator's wife talk to their son who died following a tragic kidnapping years ago. Naturally, Molly jumps head first, while also trying to figure out the blurry details around the boy's kidnapping and why he was never found.

To start off, I have to say how disappointed I was with the audio narration of this. The last three books were all narrated by Irish actress Lara Hutchinson. who did a great job with Molly's voice as well as all the other nationalities in the stories. However, for some reason the narrator was changed to Nicola Barber who is English and CANNOT do a steady Irish accent. She sounded completely different to past Molly, her dialect kept changing ao it seemed like Molly was from every part of Ireland at once and then suddenly the Northern Irish characters that were in the story no longer had their Northern Irish accent. One of the boys also had a weird New York accent after having an Irish one in the past books. Barber obviously did no research in how Lara Hutchinson had previously read out the characters, and I feel like this was poor and did a disservice to the previously good narration of the book and the reader. It made me feel discombobulated for a while as I felt like the characters were new people and they no longer felt familiar to me.

The story itself wasn't bad as always though like always everything came to luck and circumstance rather than any great skill on Molly's part. Most things tend to fall into her lap the moment she needs them and she has a tendency to do some silly things. I was sucked into the mystery of Brendan's disappearance and really had no idea who could have been the mastermind of the kidnapping. I liked that some of Molly's past came back to haunt her in this book as well, though it made me feel anxious for her so I hope it leaves it at that now! Molly and Daniel's relationship is dragging on a bit now and I wish he would get a move on dumping his fiancee.I though poor Jakob was disserviced in this book too as he had been so lovely in the third book - it was very much like Molly had forgotten he existed for most of the book.

As always, I did end up having an entertaining read and will continue on with the series.

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

Jubilee Jenkins can't touch another human being or she will die. Living with her rare allergy, a bad moment in high school caused Jubilee to stay in her house and never leave for nine years until she's forced out the door by the death of her mother and lack of money. Getting a job in a library, Jubilee meets Eric - a divorcee trying to understand his adopted son. Jubilee's growing friendship with Eric might prove that you don't need the power of touch to feel a connection and fall in love.

I really, really loved this book. From the get go, it was just very easy to read and the kind of story you could fall head over heels in love with and become absorbed in the pages. I didn't want to put it down. I loved the characters in this and how different everyone was while at the same time desperately needing each other. While I don't believe this book is Own Voices, it's definitely diverse with Jubilee dealing with severe allergies that effect her way of life as well as a touch of agoraphobia. Aja is also on the autistic spectrum and is a mixed-race child with a white adoptive father. Jubilee's allergy isn't real but Colleen Oakley put an interesting note in the back of the book about how she wanted Jubilee's allergies to be relatable to severe allergies people live with every day like peanut butter and eggs, as well as connecting with readers who also have suffered agoraphobia. I haven't suffered anything like this so I can't say how correct or relatable Jubilee's story was but I definitely enjoying reading her journey.

I loved Eric, he was just pretty adorable and I adored how he tried to connect with his daughter Ellie by reading all her favourite books and trying to figure out why she connected with The Virgin Suicides and The Bell Jar. This is a great story for book lovers too as Jubilee and Eric often discuss books together.

There were defintiely times I felt frustrated in this book by the behaviour of Aja and Ellie but I think it all eventually played out quite naturally. There was no overnight fix for everything, it all took time. The same with Jubilee's relationship with Eric. They had a friendship first that deepened into something very raw and real. It took time which I think was appropriate for Jubilee's situation and was realistic.

I was going to give this 5 stars but had to change it to a 4.5 stars as I couldn't help but feel disappointed by the ending. It was was't what I had been hoping for. It was still sweet and lovely but was just missing some kind of spark for me.

I do like the fact that Jubilee's life didn't just stop after Eric left and that she made some really great, strong connections. I just was disappointed that she might have ended up hurting Michael, or Eric, or both of them. I wasn't really sure where the epilogue was going, whether it would lead to heartbreak or not. I can't really pinpoint exactly why I felt a bit let down from the epilogue, I was just left feeling flat by it. It might have been the huge time gap between the end and the epilogue possibly.

4.5 stars

A.J Fikry is a bit of a grumpy-boots. He's a widower with a bookstore that he refuses to stock with YA literature and not many friends. A series of events ends up with Fikry having to get a bit of a kick up the bum and sorting his life out and also discovering a baby in no way related to him being left in his bookstore. Fikry's life changes for the better and the reader is brought along for the ride.

I did really enjoy this book but I'm not sure i loved it as much as everyone else which is why I gave it 4.5 stars as opposed to 5 stars. This book grew on me, at first I wasn't sure and by the time I was 50% through, i was really loving it. I thought everything about this book was subtle, the way the storyline was told, the narrative, the romance, the catastrophes. There was no crash, bang, wallop scenarios, it was very much 'slowly, slowly' like something unfurling itself.

I really enjoyed all the references to other books and Fikry's book snobbishness. It's definitely a book for book lovers, even if to identify with Fikry and Maya's love for books, the various book clubs, etc.

I'm torn between giving this a 2.8 star or a 3 star rating. I'm honestly torn!

Vets on Call tells the story of Shannon, a veterinary nurse living in the countryside town of Talyton St George. Shannon is pretty content with life until new vet Ross roars up on his motorbike, and ends up claiming her heart. Life is good until a disaster happens and soon Shannon is faced with an ordeal she never imagined.

This is actually the ninth book in the Talyton St George series but each book is written in a way that it could be read as a stand alone novel. I've never read any of the other books so this was my first Cathy Woodman tale. At first, the title was what made me pick it up in the library, vets yes, animals yes, love story yes! It had all the ingredients, however..I found it a little bit boring.

While the town is beautiful and some where I'd like to live, it is common in that it has all its odd assortment of various big and small characters. I felt like these characters were overly described sometimes, and I'm sure they appeared in other books so if they got the same kind of description in each book, I bet that can get very annoying. I also found most of the dialogue in the book a little bit...much? It's almost as if they just said too much and I felt that it seemed unnatural...I don't really know anyone who would really talk in such a way and it threw me off the book.

Also, the life-altering even happened in the last quarter of the book, so there was a really big build up of it happening and then I felt like the event itself and the recovery were slightly rushed. I would have preferred the relationship to have been deeper and progressed better earlier on in the book, there was too much fapping about nothing for a while, and then maybe more time could have been dedicated to the accident. If I come across another book in this series in my library, I'll pick it up but I don't think I'll actively seek it out.

On the island of Fennbirn there are three queens but only one of them can eventually be the true leader. Mirabella, Katherine and Arsinoe are triplets and were split up as children and taught to hate each other - because eventually they will have to kill each other until only one is left standing to rule. As their 16th year approaches, the girls have to start dealing with the reality they are about to face while also dealing with the powers they were born with and some untimely romances.

I was exivted to read this and I'm so glad I got around to it cause I really enjoyed it. First things first - the map in this book is INCREDIBLE. I think it might be one of my favourite maps to ever appear in a book, just absolutely gorgeous.

This book is pretty cool because we have three main protagonists, all of which we know are on limited time. We know with a certainty that all of them are going to become murders most likely, and two of them will definitely die. But all the girls are likable in their own way and they are all so different to one another. I did feel for Katherine the most

until the end until she started poisoning animals

as she definitely seemed to have had the worst childhood being a poisoner. Arsinoe and Mirabella definitely had a more idyllic childhood compared to hers and I think received a lot more love as well. So I found it interesting how the other started growing weaker in different ways as Katherine began to grow stronger within herself and her confidence soared.

I enjoyed the side characters in this, mainly Jules (I also really liked Luke even though he isn't in it a lot).I think Jules seems to be a great character and I love how strong a naturalist she is - however, I do think everything with Joseph lets her down a bit and I don't like her seeing her become all about him when she's a pretty cool badass woman by herself.

I did like Mirabella and as with all of the girls, I love that they all had some kind of female friendship around them. Katherine's main relationship was with Petyr (who was basically Draco Malfoy to me) but she did have a tentative friendship with her maid and her guardian.

The end of this book was just so crazy and thrilling and felt like everything happened at once. I loved it. I really enjoy the revelations and can't wait to see what happens next. The next book is going to be pretty epic!