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

It’s the early 90s in a post-Soviet Union Russia and two men are soon faced with dealing with their childhood memories. Gor is being plagued by some strange goings on in his home while practicing for a magic show and making new friends and Tolya wakes in a sanatorium with no memory of how he got their. He soon meets a student doctor who is happy to listen to him talk about his childhood.

This book was a nice, heart-warming read that eventually makes you appreciate having the people in your life and all the oddballs as well. A majority of the characters are a little bit eccentric and have their own little quirks that are shown throughout the story and it gave the book a nice, whimsical feel. The ‘villain' in this book was also great, and really had me infuriated at them throughout and eager for their comeuppance.

The writing flowed really well and I definitely got easily sucked into the story. I read big chunks of it without even realising i had read so much in a short space of time. This is a book, story and characters you can lose yourself in. This is a character-driven story in my opinion, so people who like those quiet stories that bury their way into your heart will love this. Also anyone who loves a story set in Russian or full of Russian people. All the people in this book for the most part grew up in the Soviet Union and under Stalin’s rule so that was interesting when they talked about their childhoods.

Weird side note: All of the names in this book are just beautiful and I loved reading them all in full. One of those weird things that just made me happy.

This is good book for people who like quiet, heart-warming stories about loneliness and companionship and what the simple act of listening and being there for someone can do for people who are in desperate need of it. I recommend to people who liked A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

I think any stories that have any kind of link to Tessa and Will are just going to do it for me. I love them, and anything to do with them, their family or Jem. I did have a hard time matching up the James Herondale we see in this novella to the downright arsehole James Herondale we saw in The Bane Chronicles (I really didn't like that story or James) and I'm wondering how things could get so bad for him that he become all the worst kinds of traits in Will and Jace put together. I loved Matthew and his jokes. I'd happily read more stories about James and Matthew.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Nora gets engaged to her childhood friend turned love of her life, it’s only natural that she gets some of her best friends together to be her bridesmaid. The only problem is, while all the girls love Nora, they don’t always get on with each other. This book follows the bridal group from engagement to wedding day and involves a lot of wedding dress shopping strops, secrets revealed and problems shared.

This book was just a great big heap of light-hearted refreshment and I really, really enjoyed reading it. It didn’t take me too long into the book to be able to separate out all of the girls from Nora, the bride-to-be, Bea, the childhood bestie, Cleo, the college bestie, Daisy, the back packer friend and Sarah, the one who married into it all. All the girls soon had their own unique voices and I was able to fall into each part of the story with not much difficulty in knowing straight away who I was following. The only few stumbles i had was between Cleo and Bea and only because for some reason, my mind sometimes felt like their names were the same.

I will say that as a 25-year-old, I’m not yet in the friends getting married years of my life so I have never been part of a wedding party, so I have never had to deal with the woes of being a bridesmaid, organising hen dos and potentially dealing with wedding day disasters. This book did sometimes make me hope I would never have to be a bridesmaid because it was slightly overwhelming how much they were doing, even though it all seemed like great fun.

I loved the chemistry the group had together, especially near the end of the book and the night before the wedding. Even though they started out a bit so-so with each other, the girls really ended up becoming a solid unit and being there for each other and I absolutely loved it. By the end of it, I wanted to be their friend. I didn’t really want the book to end to be honest, and just wanted to follow their lives forever.

While the main relationships in this book are the girls’ friendship, there are obviously some romantic debacles in this book too and I totally was a sucker for them. My favourite character was Cleo and I really loved her romantic storyline, and Bea’s made me very happy by the end too.

I’m also calling out for a Nora and Harry getting together for the first time novella, because that would be the cutest. Or just more novels about all of the girls because yes please!

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF - 25%

Noa is bereft when her twin sister Isla dies, leaving her alone to cope with grieving parents and a hyperactive toddler sibling. Noa hopes life will go back to almost-normal when she returns to school but is struck by new guy Callum, who has something special about him. Soon Noa and Callum’s connection bring them together and Noa finds out about a world of fae she never knew existed.

This isn’t a bad book, and the writing in it was perfectly fine. I liked the introduction to the characters and the mysterious surroundings (at first) around Isla’s death. I did really feel for Noa at times in this story, and for the most part I enjoyed reading about her. The nonly problem with this book, for me, was how much like Twilight it felt - the guy meeting her gaze, not wanting to touch her and then almost pursuing her then to talk to him. If I wanted to read Twilight, I would read Twilight (and don’t get me wrong, for all its faults I love a bit of Twilight now and again!). I DNF’d this when it came to Callum’s part and I realised I was not invested in the story, nor did I care about the characters. I know there’s an evil brother that’s due to come in at some point (a la Vampire Diaries?) but I just didn’t want to read on. A few years ago this book would be right up my alley and I probably would have devoured it but right now, it’s not what I want to be reading or investing time in.

3.5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Oliver Ryan beats his wife into a coma, everyone who knows him is at first shocked but then begin to think about how well they really know him. Unravelling Oliver is all about the life of Oliver, and follows him from abandoned childhood to successful adult with dark secrets uncovered along the way.

This book was creepy in all the right ways. It was a bit of reverse of normal psychologic thrillers. In this one, we know who the perpetrator is and what he’s done, we just don’t know the essence of who he is. The story is a really slow but satisfying reveal of an ugly man hiding behind a manipulative, handsome exterior.

There were just so many parts of the book that left me with the shivers - one being Oliver being clearly an awful human being but also a children’s author which was just all sorts of wrong to me. I definitly felt sorry for him sometimes because of his sad childhood but some of the things he does are awful.

Parts of this book might not read as well for a non-Irish audience, particularly Barney’s chapters as a lot of his phrasing is very stereotypical Irish (and correct). I personally liked it because I know a lot of people who do talk like that but i wonder how such language and phrasing would be to non-Irish people.

3.5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gaby is recovering from an awful accident that claimed the life of her twin brother, and dealing with awful nightmares involving demons and a hot demon slayer when she suddenly sees the dream guy in real life, and he seems to know her. Soon Gaby realises that there was a lot more to the accident than she knows, and her whole life might be a lie.

This was a really great surprise for me. I definitely wasn’t expecting to be so gripped by this book but i really did love it. I liked that this had a slightly more mature feel than other nephilim books I have read. Gaby is 18/19 (or at least thinks she is) but she, and the people in her life, all read older. I had her between 23-25 in my head and she’s mature and a great character to follow.

I loved the take on angels, demons and nephilim in this book. It reminded me a tiny bit of the TV show Dominion (but to be honest all fallen angel books tend to remind me of this show - it’s great, and Daniel definitely fit the same character in the show). The book had lots of action in it and gave loads of the answers the reader wants but still keeps us in the dark enough for us to be begging for more in the next book.

I like the chemistry between Rafa and Gaby, though personally I’m all about Maggie and Jason!

3.5 stars

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

This book is a quiet, character-driven story about a woman called Alice and her time married to an Irish man and the affair she has that subsequently destroys the union. I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into this book but it ended up being a rather lovely-told story about a woman who loved her husband but just didn’t quite seem to fit in to married life as well as she thought. One of the things I liked about this book was that there was nothing particularly nasty about it even though the main plot was about the breakdown of the marriage between Alice and Eddie. They both obviously love each other, they just couldn’t make it work and it was a quiet ‘uncoupling’ I guess even though Alice had done a bad thing.

I liked her examination of her marriage and her actions years later following the death of her mother which appears to make her think a lot about the past. I also liked the inclusion of her new friend and confidant Harry, who to me appeared to be a mix between Eddie and Cauley and therefore a perfect romantic partner for her. There is some examination of her relationship with her mother and i liked this as well.

This book isn’t some action-packed crazy tale. It actually reflects its cover a lot - it’s quiet, calm and oddly serene and beautiful.