Sofia Khan is young English woman, trying to make her way through the tough world that is dating. Add to the fact that Khan is a devout, hijab-wearing Muslim with a family that keeps asking her when she will marry and a boyfriend who wants her to live with his family, and things become more complicated. When Khan is commissioned to write a book about Muslim dating, she begins exploring the intricacies of the dating world again and might even fall in love.

I really enjoyed this and it was definitely a pleasure to listen to. Sofia's voice is fresh and funny and I just loved all her interactions with everyone, from her family to her neighbour and even her co-workers. I enjoyed her own personal struggles from the racism she encountered (a guy calling her a terrorist because she bumped into him) and the roadblocks she faced because of her hijab both from non-Muslims and even her own family.I thought it interesting that Sofia was the only one to wear a hijab but I liked how she explained her choice to wear one and why religion was so important to her. A lot of her conversations and remarks about God and religion, I feel, would connect with anyone who believes in something whether it's Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc. I also liked her goal of finding someone she could share her religion with and why it was important to her to find someone Muslim and how they could develop their faith together.

Her family was just great, as well as her group of friends. It was great to see a main, female character with such a big group of supportive friends and not only in her family and Muslim community but best friends in work as well. She was definitely someone who could make friends easily, and books are often full of characters who are shy and find it hard to talk to strangers - it was refreshing to see a character who was the opposite.

I loved that this book was going in one direction and I was pretty confident how it would end up but then halfway through it COMPLETELY changed course and went another way but when I realised that, I was all for it. I LOVED IT. Sofia definitely annoyed me at times with some decisions she made, and how it took her to realise they were bad decisions. But overall, I really enjoyed this and thought it was a great look at what it's like to be a modern Muslim woman, as well as focusing on good friends, self belief and self worth and the importance of family.

The book was narrated by rita Sharma who did London and Pakistani accents really, really well, However her American accent probably needs a bit of work. But I did, for the most part, enjoy all the narration. It could get a bit annoying when it was text messages and it was "Naim:... Me:.... Naim:..." but that's just cause that sort of thing always looks better in print rather than audio.

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

Charlie Garett dreams of running her own kitchen as a pastry chef but is stuck under the control of a crazy top chef in a high class New York restaurant. When her ex-boyfriend offers her her dream job, Charlie quits New York for Seattle but soon discovers there's a catch - Avery wants her to star in a reality TV show with him, showing the behind the scenes work of a top kitchen. As Charlie's new glamorous life is underway she begins to wonder what it is she really wants and what she's willing to give up to get it.

This book would probably be great for foodies or those who love watching shows like Masterchef, Chef's Table or GBBO. It gives a great behind the scenes look at how kitchen work and just how intense and crazy the life can get - not to mention the exhausting hours the people in the kitchen work to create some amazing food.

However, despite the great kitchen scenes, I just could not get into this book. I just really did not connect with the main character Charlie Garrett. She is played off as being a bit of a clean and organisational freak but obviously insanely talented with sugar and, of course, beautiful but I found her to be pretty obnoxious most of the time and really, really stuck up. I did not like her..at all from start to finish. She made some weird comments throughout the book that I found annoying and unnecessary that also made me raise my eyebrows a bit from needing to describe every bot of her exercise routine at the start of the book (did we really need to know she completed 100 sit ups?) to commenting on how her friend's body was back to almost normal after being "distorted" by three pregnancies. There's also a lot of commentry around her friend and her kids - the kids are always dirty and screaming and there's definitely disdain there in Charlie's voice. Not to mention this friend never appears in the story without her kids which was a bit annoying as well. It's like she didn't serve a purpose than being the messy mom/shoulder to cry on while also holding an infant. The kids were also written in all the ways I hate kids being written - whiny, too cutesy and not talking properly. Gah.

I also didn't like the relationship.I found it weird and too fast considering they never saw each other. After one date, they were doing double dates and after two dates, they were going on road trips to meet his entire family on which she was questioned about her plans on marriage and kids (like who does that?). There was also a 'cute old man' they met that her boyfriend Kai knew who made a comment about all the women he normally meets are "tomboys" who don't shave or wash properly and it was nice to see a city girl who knew what a shower was show up. Yeah, I didn't know how to take that comment. I hated Kai's weird possessiveness over Charlie, especially considering they were hardly daring or seeing each other. He went into the relationship knowing what she was and her dreams yet he punished her for staying late in her job and made a big deal out of everything. Back. Off. Man.

Most of this book just had me rolling my eyes and i just kept hoping for it to get better and it didn't. I feel like Charlie completely folded and gave up on her dreams by the end and I just didn't really care for the happy ever after at the farmer's market she seemed content with. Okay then.

I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing that exciting ever happens in Temple Regis so when a film star is found dead on a train and then a local man found dead at the bottom of a cliff, local reporter Miss Judy Dimont feels like something is up. What follows is a comedic investigation involving some starlets more interested in crying for the cameras, a bumbling policeman and a missing briefcase.

This story took me a while to really get into it, but once I did I found it a speedy read. It was quite funny at times and I loved all the quirky characters - definitely all the types you expect to find in a sleepy little town. I liked how a lot of hints were dropped about Miss Dimont's past, particularly during the war. It's clear she played some important, secret role but never bragged about it which is why she's always underestimated when it comes to her intuition as a reporter. I also liked how it's clear the town is still living in the shadow of the war from the reactions after the deaths and how people's fears are described when they see the boy with the telegrams.

However, unfortunately while I found the characters funny, I just didn't quite connect with them and so felt slightly disconnected from the story. I found I didn't overly care too much about the investigations into the deaths, which I did find seemed to go in circles at times and became a bit boring for me. I normally like to speculate about who did what in these kind of books and I didn't do it as much in this book as I don't think the reader was given enough information at times, rather than suspects who just seemed to obvious - we just had to follow along with Miss Dimont while she figured it out.

While this was mildly entertaining, I'm not sure if I would pick up more in this series.

4-4.5 stars

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

When Tea’s beloved brother Fox dies, killed by a demon like creature called a daeva, she discovers she’s a bone witch when she literally raises him from the dead. Now Tea has to learn how to be a proper asha (witch) and learn about her new skills which involve singing, dancing, runes and even necromancy.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It’s really unique and I don’t think I have read anything much like it before. I really love that Tea was so young when we meet her and start following her journey. She’s only thirteen so as a reader, we really get to see her develop into a scared young girl into a confident young woman. Saying that, she is still only 15 when the book ends so there’s still a long way to go which is exciting.

I loved the world and the world building. There was a lot of kingdoms, eight to be exact, and we do learn gradually about most of them and the rulers, as well as the Faceless - rebels who can use dark magic, much like the magic Tea has, to do terrible things. I found the world itself to be very multi-cultrured in how its described and the different people and where they all come from.

I thought the back and forth between each chapter was very interesting as we are seeing Tea starting out and then an older Tea who has done something wrong, been cast out but is obviously still extremely strong. So even though we see her struggle, we know she gets there in the to become one of the best asha’s ever.

I loved her relationship between her brother Fox. i had a total crush on him - I loved that he was able to take part in some of her lessons and the link they had. There was a lovely closeness between them that was also a nice teasing relationship the way you’d expect a brother to be with his little sister.

Tea’s constant references to her ‘dead love; got a bit annoying in the future parts of the book. While I understood her fury, I felt like we as readers didn’t need the constant reminder and learning more about Tea she would be doing what she was doing for more than just revenge. I also wasn’t surprised at the little twist when it came to that love - I was actually expecting it.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series, as it left off at a point where a lot of stuff was about to go down and i can’t wait to read all about it. This definitely has a lot of potential for a strong, unique YA fantasy series with a cast of great characters. Definitely worth a read!

I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

Robbie is 14 years old and just moved to his dad's old hometown with his dad and his new stepmother. Still dealing with his mom's death and his dad's quick remarriage,, Robbie tends to act out in anger but soon meets Mags who takes him on countryside adventures. When they spot a white hare, Robbie soon realises there is a mystery in the town connected to sightings of white hares and it might have something to do with a girl who died before he arrived. As Robbie delves deeper into the mystery, his life might be in danger.

This book was quite beautifully written and I really loved all the wonderful descriptions of Robbie's surroundings and the countryside. Everything was very vivid and real in my mind because of it. Despite being quite rebellious and misunderstood, I really liked Robbie and i really felt for what he was going through, trying to deal with new family. I also liked the fact that Robbie had a number of close female friends but nothing turned romantic as the story wasn't about it and Michael Fishwick made sure that a romance didn't take away from the story abut the hare.

There was a big element of magical realism in this story, connected to the old tales of the people who had lived in the village for generations. I loved the fact that everything was stemmed down from these old folk tales but people still believed in them, even Robbie's dad who hadn't lived there for years.

The end was interesting as once i felt there had been a conclusion, there was another chapter and another but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The eventually conclusion was very satisfactory and heartwarming. Overall, I really enjoyed this book for a sweet but quite action-packed short read.

Story: 4 stars
Narration: 3 stars

Narration by Nicole Barber

3.5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House Ireland in exchange for an honest review.

Louise McSharry is an Irish radio personality and is known for her documentary which showed her fight against cancer. She has since recovered, married and now has written a bok about what it's like to have cancer, grow up with a dysfunctional family and being fat when everyone else is skinny.

I quite enjoyed this book. McSharry's writing was really relatable and she didn't have any airs or 'notions' as we would say in Ireland. She was just an ordinary woman, who sometimes appears on The Late Late Show, talking about her life. I didn't know a whole lot about McSharry going into the book except about her cancer and that she was on the radio so learning about her tough childhood and dealing with an alcoholic mother was interesting. The tough parts in this book are interrupted now and again with laugh out loud humour which is simple but really enjoyable - such as McSharry being hospitalised during her cancer treatment for severe constipation and her friends telling her she was "full of shit." I also enjoyed McSharry's battle for body acceptance and learning to love the body she is in and as a young woman myself I definitely understand those struggles. I also really loved reading about McSharry's views on IVF and fertilization as knowing that she is pregnant now, her words ring really lovely and sweet.

Overall I enjoyed this book for a quick, relatable read.

I received a free copy of this graphic novel from Amulet/Abrams & Chronicle in exchange for an honest review.

This a fun, entertaining graphic novel about a dystopian world where strange alien creatures have ravaged the earth of its technology. Humans are now struggling to survive and one girl called Strata lives in a community that tries to salvage tech before it can be found by aliens. When Strata finds an amazing robotic horse called Kleidi she ends up being chased by the aliens and fighting for her life.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was fun and entertaining and it was also humorous as well. I definitely found myself laughing a lot of times during it and i really enjoyed that aspect of it. The drawings in the graphic novel were also a lot of fun and really nicely detailed - I haven't read a lot of graphic novels but I definitely liked the style of the finished pictures. The proof copy I had was in black and white but the finished copy will have grey and gold shading and I think this will look wonderful.

I enjoyed the world a lot and the idea of these weird aliens taking all the human tech. It made the world and the story a big adventure and gave a great intensity to the story. I enjoyed where it went in the end as well and how it all wrapped up.

I would have liked Kleidi to be somewhat restored at the end but I guess not

This graphic novel tells the true story of Ethel and Ernest - a couple who met in the 1920/30s and raised a family during the war. Unfortunately I didn't really get on with this graphic novel. I just didn't care about the story or the characters and I think it could just be a cultural thing. I'm not British so I don't connect with the political jokes that were brought up in this or the experience of living during the war. I'm not sure why,I just didn't connect with the story at all.