Read the Poison Study trilogy AND the Glass trilogy before reading this book!

This is technically thr fourth book in the Yelena Zaltana series but the seventh book in the Chronicles of Ixia. Unfortunately i read this before picking up the Glass trilogy, which focus on Opal, so Shadow Study takes place six years after Fire Study and references a lot of things and characters that happened and appeared in the Glass trilogy. In saying that though, despite some initial confusion I was 100% okay with this story, and i was able to figure out a lot of what they were talking about when referencing things from Glass.

I loved seeing Yelena a little bit older, but obviously a magnet for trouble as always. I did like that Yelena and Valek are both dealing with different things now they're older. Yelena is getting questions about marriage and children from all sides but also thinking about it herself, while Valek is a little bit older and creakier now and possibly not the best fit anymore to be the Commander's Head of Assasins and is more vulnerable to younger, fitter and quicker upstarts than he was before.

Yelena loses her magic during this book for an unknown reason and it was very moving and interesting to read her feeling more vulnerable than ever before. It reminded me of the Yelena we met at the start of Poison Study, and it was great seeing her rely on her own intuition and physical skillset again instead of her magic. I did figure out the reason behind Yelena's magic loss about halfway through and I'm really glad I was right. I can't wait to see what happens!

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

In Me Before You, Louisa Clark became a companion and carer for Will who was paraplegic and he ended up changing her world. In After You, Lou recovers from the most passionate and intense love of her life and learning to live without him by her side, and finding ways to love again. Now in Still Me, Louisa is on a new adventure to New York but has to learn how to handle a long-distance relationship, and discover what she really wants to do with her life.

I adored Me Before You and I really enjoyed After You. But I feel we get the proper old Louisa we all fell in love with in Still Me. In After You, we grieved with her and had to learn what life was like after Will. It was a learning process, and we like Louisa had to learn how to handle her in a new relationship with Sam (who I am a big fan of).

Louisa really comes into her own in Still Me. I feel like she grew so much. She’s alone but content in her own company, she’s going out exploring and learning what she wants to do in her future and all the things she’s capable of (without Will having to tell her all the time). She’s really taking her lessons she learned from him and applying them to her life everyday.

I thought her relationship with Josh was an interesting turn. While he wasn’t my favourite, because obviously Sam is endgame, I do feel like it was something Louisa needed. It was probably one of the closest things she could have that would be like a relationship with Will - the Will she should have had. I think it was something she needed to experience because the truth is if Will and Louisa hadn’t met the way they had they may not have ever been together or fallen in love. He may have been a lot more like Joshua, who knows.

I loved Louisa’s relationship with Mrs De Witt. It was so heartwarming and I’m glad she ended up getting ownership of Dean Martin in the end.

I laughed so many times during this book at Louisa just being Louisa and was smiling more or less the entire time I was reading it. This book just feels so lovely and comfortable and Louisa is one of those characters that feels like home.

Also, I LOVE that Treena came out, and how the family reacted. It was so lovely and honestly, it felt really right for the character.

This book definitely won’t make anyone thinking of getting into a long-distance relationship hopeful. Louisa and Sam are only apart three months when everything falls apart but a lot of talk that happens at the end, the way they rushed into things and still had a lot to learn about one another made sense. I loved the end, and honestly I still want more from Louisa. I can’t get enough.

4.5 stars.

Video review about Daisy: http://bit.ly/2DB61vT

Full written review to come.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a detective crime thriller that is the first in a series about female investigator Rachel Prince. Prince and her partner are brought into help with the case of a missing child, who vanished from her home in the middle of the night. Prince ends up having to go back to the beginning of the crime to figure out what's really going on and who in the child's family is actually telling the truth.

So to get all the good things out of the way first (because there was more negative points in this story for me than good ones), I really liked the mystery and the police work in this novel. I liked that it wasn't all action, action, action, but demonstrated that sometimes with these investigations what is needed is hours of desk work and research before there's criminal showdowns and car chases. There did seem to be some gaping holes that hadn't been covered by the police before Rachel stepped in but I do think overall, this book seemed to portray a more realistic version of what solving crimes is actually like on a day-to-day basis. Not everything can be figured out in a few weeks - sometimes it takes months!

And now for the bad parts. Which to be honest is literally everything to do with the main character Rachel Prince. She was horrible, really horrible. I didn't like her at all, and she certainly wouldn't have liked me because I'm a woman. genuinely, this character appeared to hate women which really, really annoyed me. She has very few interactions with other female characters that aren't negative in some way.

On a side-note, in the first two pages we get the 'character looking at themselves in the mirror and describing what they see in a self-critical way' so we know what they look like which honestly I think i a lazy way to describe a character. She also 'clumsy' but trips up once.

From the get go, I didn't like how Rachel eyed up Lola Jade's mom. I honestly didn't see how noting what she looked like had anything to do with the crime. Who cares if she had bronzed skin, "collagen-pumped" lips and freshly blow-dried hair. It reminded me of how the mother in Little Deaths by Emma Flint was treated - with a lot of sexism and criticism of her looked-after appearance - but that book was set in the 1960s and all the detectives were misogynistic men, where in this one Prince is female so it's disappointing that she treated the mother in such a way.

Rachel also doesn't have any female friends, and in a conversation with her partner explains this being caused by her not being a "girly girl" growing up. She was bullied by other girls when young but I don't think this counts as an excuse for an almost 40-year-old woman to not have one female friend. You don't need to be a 'girly girl" to have a female friend. She shows disdain for almost every woman she meets in the book, except for those in her own profession. She immediately has a rivalry with her personal trainer's wife (who she lately sleeps with even though she knows he's married), and she doesn't have one good word to say about her sister and vice versa which honestly again is just disappointing for a book written about a female author about a female character in a male-driven workforce. She also shows huge contempt when she goes on a girls night with people she doesn't even like because they talk about their home lives and husbands which isn't something unusual considering they are a group of middle-aged women.

Many of the strapping men in the book all have flirtatious relationships with Rachel, which is such a huge contrast with the majority of female characters. She sleeps with her trainer, has a flirty but not handsy relationship with her partner (and also defends him when he's done for stalking, goes to the woman's work to tell her to pull the complaint and the women does so without one word of defiance, what?), a very flirty thing with the guy in charge of the children's cases in the police, and then obviously sleeps with her married trainer.

One thing as well which made zero sense to me was how fine her ex-husband was with her. She literally ran away from him 17 years previously without one word, never spoke to him again, runs away from him again when he comes to try and divorce her, and he speaks super jovially and happily with her when they actually meet. He doesn't show any frustration with her actions, which was totally unrealistic in my opinion as we never even got a reason to why she acted like that in the first place, and then he also helps her with something in the case AND invites her to his wedding at the end of the book? Seriously, wtf?

So the conclusion is, the crime itself was good, the main character was not and I'll most likely be avoiding the next book in this series.

If anyone watches Jane the Virgin, they know exactly what this book is - Jane and Michael's love story and how it should have ended. This is basically the entire first season of Jane the Virgin summed up into a 240 page novel set in the 1900s. The characters have been renamed and it's set a long time in the past (before accidental artificial insemination could happen) but it's the story we all know and love.

I didn't go into this expecting a mind-blowing story. I went in for those Michael and Jane feels, and that's exactly what I got. The story is a bit simple and cheesy at times, and far from historically accurate but I still enjoyed it.

#TeamMichael forever.

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

Derby horse is the third book following July Carter as she weaves her way through horse racing, dressage dreams and boyfriend drama. In this book, July is starting her dream college at last with her horse Kali and hopes to become a dressage superstar team. She also is cementing her relationship with Beck even further as the two work on getting his horse to where he needs to be in the racing world.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to me that I really loved this book once I allowed myself to settle down and dive into the story. There’s something about July and everything she is going through and dealing with that always feels really authentic and real.

This book wasn’t so much of an emotional rollercoaster as the previous book but July still has a lot to get used to like her new college classes as well as her work in the racing stables (which honestly I’m amazed she was able to do everything because wow!) She’s also dealing with mom back in her life in more normal circumstances, and we’re seeing July and Martina still figuring out how they want the relationship to work out.

As always, I adore Beck and I think I finally figured out one of the reasons why I love him so much in this book - he reminds me of Peter K in Jenny Hans To All the boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy. He’s popular and very good-looking but he’s always honest, earnest and kind, and basically just completely lovable.

I love how July tackled wanting to lose her virginity in this book. She knew that it was something she wanted to do, and that in the moment it felt right. It was made obvious they used protection from the mention of the condom wrapper on the floor the next day, which is so important in any kind of YA novel. I love that she didn’t feel ay guilt or ‘brand new woman’ revelations afterwards. She had sex, she enjoyed it and that was that. LOVE.

Also a short note that I love that these books are set in New York but a completely different New York we normally see in media. It’s not all traffic packed streets and the only time we’re in the city is when July is visiting Beck.

I loved seeing more of July’s dressage lessons too. I’m not big into dressage and I’m more of a jumper, if I had a horse and could choose one obviously, so it’s interesting for me to see more of the dressage world and what kind of work and commands go into it.

One of the things I would love to see in this book is the mention of menstruation which probably sounds weird but I feel like in July’s story so far, we have seen her deal with lots of normal teenage, coming into adulthood stuff, from family drama, new love, sex, college decisions, etc and now I’d love to see her deal with her period as well as having to be on a horse all day because if anyone who has periods know, it’s pretty uncomfortable ton the back of a horse and I’d love to see how July deals with it, as well as that PMS and cramping - I think it would be some great representation.

When Fliss has to move from London to the middle of Wales with her mother, she’s not too happy. It’s also not so great that there going to live with her strict grandma Margo for six months who is not the typical storybook granny. When Fliss finds Margo’s wartime journal, she’s immediately sucked in and ends up finding out Margo’s biggest secret.

This is definitely one of those books that got an extra star because of my enjoyment reading the audiobook. It was read by Eilidh L Beaton who did a fantastic job - her voice was Fliss was amazing, and genuinely sounded like a teenage girl. All he frustration, and emotion was there for the entire story and I loved, loved, loved it.

I loved everything that Fliss went through in this book with dealing with her mom’s illness and also being in a new town and new school. Her attitude was great, and I loved how she dealt with everything. Her crush on the librarian definitely made me cringe a bit and when it got to that moment I actually skipped a few seconds forward because I just couldn’t.

I loved Margo’s diary a lot. I feel like with the mix of the two stories this would make a great movie. Young Margo was just a fantastic character with such British heart and stoic. I dd definitely guess what was going to happen with Rick but I like how it played out at the end with Fliss.

Fliss’s voice was so authentic. She genuinely felt like such a teenager but not too young and immature or too old and mature. She was just there, a 15-year-old dealing with crushes, and bullies, and school as well as a ton of other emotions.

I actually teared up near the end at Fliss’s dance scene. It was wonderfully written and had so much emotion in it. Just wow.

Fantastic book, recommend to everyone who loves contemporary or historical fiction. Or someone who just loves a great cast of female characters.

3.5 stars

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

Folk is a beautiful collection of short stories all set on a slightly mystical island called Neverness.

I’m not a huge connoisseur of short stories so I did go into this one with some trepidation but I just knew it was something I had to give a chance to, and I’m so glad I did.

I really loved the slightly creepy feeling of the book - as if the land was about to come alive and devour everyone at any moment. The people on the island follow a set of traditions, and we see little bits and pieces with every story such as the gorse bush hunt and the girls wanting to get a red kiss because the boys’ faces should be full of blood from the hunt. That was a great story to start off the book. It immediately sucked me in with the combination of emotion, feeling and gore.

I also loved that the characters aged throughout the book. In the first story, we meet many characters who are teenagers and in the last story, they are middle-aged with children of their own.

There was some magical realism in parts of the book like a character who had a wing instead of one arm, and then one old man called Guller who had the ability to send people into the minds of kites so they could fly.

This was a wonderful mix of tragedy, lust, love and a sense home and belonging. I really enjoyed it.

3.5 stars

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

Leah Stevens had to leave Boston after an expose she wrote for her paper went horribly wrong. Now she is a teacher and living with an old friend when a girl is found in a coma near her home. The same day she realises her roommate is missing, and as she starts investigating the two realises they are connected, and somehow she may be involved as well.

This was pretty interesting, and definitely kept me gripped until the end. At first I felt like the story seemed to jump all over the place from Lena in Pennsylvania to Leah in Boston, and then Leah as a teacher to Leah as a young journalist living with Paige and Aaron. It made my head spin a bit but this jumping around definitely settled down after a while.

I liked how everything was revealed so there was definitely a part of me that could’t figure out what it was about Leah that seemed to attract trouble. I also would have liked more of an explanation as to why her (other)stalker decided to act like that, like what was it that made him decide to do those things - was he just being a creep or was he a bit obsessed with her in a sexual way? We never got answers about that.

Some of Leah’s actions around Emmy annoyed me, specifically that she just went barrelling into what could become crime scenes with little thought about fingerprints (Bethany’s apartment, the bit with the padlock under the house etc). I don’t know why she wouldn’t just tell Kyle and the police about everything, or give them full disclosure. It also became very apparent how little she knew about Emmy and it was just really weird that she would never wonder about these things before or become suspicious.

I did like the relationship with Kyle. I felt the chemistry between them from the get go but was surprised that Kyle was happy to go along with it in the middle of the investigation.

Overall, I did like this book and it kept me intrigued so I’ll definitely read mote of this author.

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

In this book, 14-year-old Mollie Carberry and her friend Nora are well on their way to becoming fully-fledged suffragettes, passionate for the Irish woman's cause. Sure, didn't they pretty much break the law in the past book to promote votes for women? Now, Mollie and Nora have even more to fight for when the British Prime Minister arranges a visit to Dublin, and the two want to help the older women convince him that Irish men AND women deserve the vote for Home Rule.

I loved this book so much, and I picked it up on a great day - the 100th anniversary of votes for women! It was fantastic seeing Irish women like Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington being mentioned in this novel, and then turning on the news to see her granddaughter reenacting some of her protests such as the breaking of the windows in Dublin Castle.

This book is infectious because of the passion, and love of life in Mollie and Nora. It definitely reminds you of just being young and wanting adventure but also finding a cause to believe in, and they definitely inspire you to their cause. It also makes you appreciate the freedom of today, when we wouldn't have to lie about where we're going in the fear that we will be sent off to the country to live with boring aunts!

Considering Mollie and Norah are both living in a British-controlled Ireland in 1912, and they have a lovely home, wealthy parents and education at their disposal, they are in a great place of privilige for the time, and this is something that did linger in my head when reading it. When I think of Irish people in 1912, I'm not really thinking of girls like Mollie, who whilst not extremely rich, is definitely very comfortable and has no need to worry but more of girls like Maggie who probably have large 'Catholic' families to help feed, and are pushed out the door at 13 to go and work instead of going to school. I did love that Mollie was made aware of her privilege by Maggie, and in several points in the book Mollie thought about how lucky she was. I also liked the fact that Phyllis vocalised her fear that in a split second her future could be ruined by her parents deciding not to send her to university because they had all the say in whether she went or not. I never really thought of that before.

I also liked that Grace was given some redemption in this book, especially considering she was so awful in the first one. It was nice to see Mollie and Nora make an effort with her, even if it wasn't returned and lessened the trope of 'girl hate.'

This was just a fun, feisty read from start to finish and it had me hooked. I definitely recommend people to pick this up - if not for a wonderful read on the centenary year of the suffragettes, then as a reminder of what it's like to be young and passionate for a great cause!

Best love, and votes for women!