It’s the 1920s and as England recovers from the effects of the Great War, its young people are busy bringing back the glamour and fun they knew before. Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Lane is running from her own past when she becomes a maid at the lavish Savoy Hotel that caters to the rich and famous. Through lucky circumstance, Dolly ends up coming friendly with Perry and Virginia Clement - Virginia actually being famous star Loretta May - who take Dolly under their wing and introduce her to the type of life she’s always wished for.

This book is a pretty wonderful, lovely read and managed to bring the vibrancy of London in the roaring twenties to life, while still keeping the memories and dark echoes of the war a real reminder on the sidelines. I loved Dolly’s introduction to the Savoy and just imagining how such a great hotel was run at the time and all the different things the maids, bar staff and porters must have witnessed all the time.

Dolly, Loretta, Perry and Teddy are all trying to forget the horrors they endured and the heartbreaks they suffered during the war and the bright lights of the stage seem to be a perfect recipe for that. I loved Dolly’s transition from Savoy maid to theatre chorus girl and rising star. One of my only complaints about the book is that I would have liked more time on Dolly’s time on stage. I felt the end was a bit squished and it didn’t get the time it deserved. Dolly talked for the entire book about her wishes to be on stage yet when she got there, we only got a couple of rushed chapters about her time.

I just loved the vibrancy of this book and how the characters, city and atmosphere came alive for me. All the characters had a lot of depth to them, and they were just so real for me. I think this book with its mix of upper and lower class, the blurred lines there after the war, the glamour of the stage as well as the downfalls of it would make a great mini series. I need Loretta May and Dolly Lane to come alive on screen for me please.

3-3.5 stars

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

It’s London 1894 and while Sherlock Holmes’ cases fill the headlines, another private investigator called Arrowood helps the people who can’t pay for the likes of Holmes. When Arrowood and his assistant Mr Barnett are put o the case of a missing Frenchman, they end up embroiled in something a lot more dangerous than it seems.

This is a fun, historic mystery novel set in the grimy streets of London and the world inhabited by the famous Sherlock Holmes. There’s lots of mentions of Holmes and Watson, and of their many solved cases which Arrowood likes to discredit, so I think people who loved Holmes will loves this book. I am not a fan of Sherlock Holmes and don’t know the stories so I’m sure there’s lots of little easter eggs in this novel that I missed but Holmes fans will find and enjoy.

While I enjoyed the mystery and the historic London setting, I was disappointed that the book was not in Arrowood’s POV but in Mr Barett - it threw me off at first for a bit and not only that but Arrowood himself was not really what I expected either. He didn’t seem, to me, that amazing of a detective at first though I gradually saw how he put to use his study of Darwin and human body language and reactions and I did enjoy that. I didn’t find any character in this book I overly liked (with the exception of Neddy) and I did find myself frustrated at times, particularly with the men’s continuous belief of everything the French woman told them even though they kept realising she was lying to them.

I did like how everything came about eventually and i did enjoy the book on a whole. I’m not surfier i would pick up the next one, if there is going to be more books focusing on Arrowood in the shops, but I would probably picket up in the library if i saw it.

I received a free copy of this book from Inkitt Press in exchange for an honest review.

Eric Olafson is about to graduate from space academy when he is abducted and almost killed. What follows is a sci-fi space adventure where Olafson has to don a number of different disguises, battle slave traders, man his own crew and just try and keep himself alive.

This book was pitched to me as a stand alone novel but it's actually the fifth book in the Eric Olafson series. Despite this, I did find myself almost able to keep up with everything though tehre were definite things mentioned such as past events and characters that the reader was evidently suppose to already know about and I didn't.

I have to be honest here, and it's a shame I feel this way because this book was kindly sent to me for review. This book is not good. It's badly edited and even more badly written. The book, in my opinion, needs several more rounds of editing before it's even fit to be read by a wider audience and while I expect some mistakes in proof copies (I'm not even sure if the copy I have is a proof as it doesn't state on it) but this was jam-packed full of grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors that had me cringing. But not even all the editing in the world could fix what is, in the end, a badly written story - most sentence structure was off, the conversations didn't seem realistic and neither did a lot of character reaction.

However, DESPITE ALL THE BAD, kept reading this book until the end and that says something. This is a book I would normally DNF after a few chapters given the state of the writing and the more than a little confusing world and I probably would have DNF'd if it was a Kindle book but there was something about the story that kept my interest peaked and I wasn't ready to let go of it yet. So I read it all. Even though the writing in this book is terrible, I think the bones of the story are actually full of potential. It just needs a lot, a lot , of work.

Eric Olafson is one of these characters I hate and love at the same time. He's brave, loyal and kind and I have to love that but he's one these characters that always has something happen to them but always miracuously gets out of it and is the best at everything while doing it. And that gets a bit boring after a while. There was also a lot of mentions of Eric's dual sexuality. He seems to struggle a bit in the book and keeps mentioning this female side that comes to the forefront when, in several points during the book, he has to disguise himself in a female body. I'm not sure if this was a play on transgender issues, or gender fluidity and while I like that it was touched on, I don't think it was developed enough and just left me feeling a bit confused about the whole thing. There was also something a bit misogynistic said at one point in the book - I think by a female character - that had me feeling all sorts of wrong. "Sadly, ninety-nine percent of all women can't separate their emotion from their rational thoughts and that's why women still struggle for equality in terms of perception even in the 51st Century." What?

At the end of the day, unfortunately this is a book I cannot recommend to anyone. The only reason this is a two-star instead of a one-star is the fact that I actually wanted to finish the book rather than just DNF-ing it.

I received a free copy of this book from Amulet/Abrams and Chronicle in exchange for an honest review.

Tourmaline Harris is the perfect princess of the Wardens - a motorcycle club where her dad is the president. But as Tourmaline struggles to deal with the guilt of her imprisoned mom, she begins to wonder how much she’s actually respected and what her father and his gang actually do. Tourmaline becomes friends with Virginia Campbell, a former pageant queen working for a crooked lawyer who wants her to spy on the Wardens.

I really enjoyed this book and all the characters involved. Both Tourmaline and Virginia were complex characters with deep feeling and emotions and secrets and how they connected was wonderful. I loved seeing how they stood up for each other and believed in each other, and were willing to fight for each other. They had different upbringings but underneath it all there was thread of similarity that bonded them together.

I loved the way the Wardens were so involved in the story and were a central point. I enjoyed Tourmaline exploring her role within the club and learning at what point she was the ‘princess’ and at what point she was a girl who was invisible. Her scattered emotions around the Wardens, her dad and what they really did and didn’t tell her was wonderful to watch.

The best thing about this book for me was the raw edge of attraction that blurred all the lines in the story for me. While both girls had their own missions, they both had a raw need to love and be loved and found it in Cash and Jason. I loved the description of their physical and emotional need from how Jason could flip strong, proud Virginia inside out to Tourmaline’s acceptance of Cash on the back of the bike and scooting closer to wrap her legs around him. There was so many great descriptions associated with these relationships and I loved, loved, loved them.

This book is gritty, edgy and full of feeling and emotion and not to mention great female friendship. 100% recommend.

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

Red Ben Garston lives in a world similar to our own but one where magic is a real thing and something called The Pact keeps the peace. In the Middle Ages, the Pact was created leaving only one of each mythical creature alive and sending the others into a deep sleep. Ben is the only one left of his kind until something else awakens and he is left fighting for his life, and saving the world while at it.

This is a great and unique urban fantasy that really captured me. At first I felt a bit disconnected to the story and wasn't totally sure what was going on but after about 50-70 pages, everything kind of just clicked for me, things really got going and I enjoyed where the story went from there. I thought Ben was a great character - smart, lonely and kind all at once while also being a bit hot-tempered at the same time. I loved the other creatures at the same time from the witches or 'CROWS' to the last Fae in the world as well.

I really enjoyed Atiya - she was a character who was quite inflicting. At first she seems like the villain but then we find out more of her story and there's so much more behind her, which I loved. I found her way more interesting than Rose, who was a bit of a snooze if I'm honest, and I found myself wanting Ben to forget Rose and be with Atiya (or at least have some proper chemistry-laden dragon lovin') .

Rose. Rose, Rose, Rose. I don't know how to feel about her. On one hand, I felt like the relationship was there to just be there and I didn't like how Ben did seem to treat her as a possession and something to be 'kept'. He basically bought her attention and then bought a modern-day Rapunzel tower to keep her in. BUT I think that was the point. And I did like that Rose battled against the 'possession' thing and basically stuck her finger up at it. That being said, she still just bothered me a bit and I would have liked a bit more time on her and Ben's relationship seeing as it was a plot point of the story.

I did love the introduction to this urban fantasy world and i think this is a series I will enjoy following! Also totally fan-cast Michael Fassbender as Red Ben!

These books just want to make me rip my heart out of chest. It's so up and down and as soon as you really start rooting for one character they are just killed, normally quite violently.
I was putting off reading this book because I wanted to wait to as close a time as possible to the next book release, but my brother started reading the series and well, he couldn't have them all read before me so here we are.

I refuse to believe Jon is dead, he is one of the characters that has proven the audience relates the most to and likes the most (as well as Tyrion and Daenerys). I just can't live with it if he is dead. And the same with Daario though I fear he really is dead and being flown into Meereen as I write this :(

meeeehhhhhhhh... this girl needs The Winds of Winter!

Seraphina lives in a world where dragons can take human forms and mix in among human folk. After years of terrible war, a fragile treaty now exists between the dragons and humankind but that doesn't mean that Seraphina is free to broadcast the fact she is half human/half dragon. Seraphina is now 16 years old and working in the palace as an assistant to the music master. Suddenly Seraphina is pulled into an investigation of the death of the Prince, alongside Prince Kiggs.As the treaty becomes close to snapping, can Seraphina try and save both the humans and the dragons she has come to love?

I really wanted to give this book more stars as the premise itself was very interesting. I think the problem I had was that it seemed to take a long time for me to really get into the story and get into the characters. None of the characters really stood out for me, even Searaphina. I didn't get much of a glimpse of who Kiggs was, despite him being nosy and quick to anger, I didn't see anything else there. I would have liked to see a more colourful Seraphina instead which I hope will happen in the next book when she's not so scared of what she is.

The world itself, hmm...while I am impressed at the imagination it took to create such a story and land, I felt very discombobulated for a lot of it. There was no quick explanation or summary about the relationship between humans nad dragons at the start of the book, and the reader is quickly immersed in the life of Seraphina and she lets us know what's going on. However, all the strange words and lands etc dropped into conversation and description threw me off a little bit. I think a map at the start of the book would have been a big help.

Despite my initial reservations, I do think I'll continue on with the series.

This is a pretty good fantasy book. It contains a lot of great world building but not too much so that it takes over the pages.

Wydrin and Sebastian are two mercenaries employed by the crippled Lord Frith to enter the Citadel. Not surprisingly, things don't go to plan and Wydrin, Seb and Frith are soon facing a dragon goddess that basically, is the embodiment of evil.

I really enjoyed all the characters development in this book, inparticular Sebastian and the particular troubles he was going through. This would be a great book for fans of The Name of the Wind and The Lies of Locke Lamora.

This series is such a great high fantasy series. I loved returning to Sir Sebastian, Wydrin and Lord Frith. They are so much fun with a great chemistry between them all not to mention that each character has a real depth to them (though I'd love to find out more about Wydrin's past). The Iron Ghost brought us into different lands than The Copper Promise. The first book was very much set in a part of the world that was highly populated and a warmer, more forestry environment and climate.. The Iron Ghost was definitely colder. Snow and ice and more mountains with hidden spirits inside of them. I thought the exploration and world building was excellent and I loved finding out more about the Skalds and the Narhls (I found the Narhls particularly interesting - they were like white walkers but like, not the walking undead and mostly nice ).

I took away a star because it just dragged a little bit for me in the middle though by the end I was completely hooked. And I can't wait to see what the Black Feathered Three get up to next! I'm predicting the jungle of Onwai as it was mentioned on three different occasions during The Iron Ghost and my interest is peaked! I definitely recommend this series for fantasy lovers looking for a new adventure!