3.5 stars

Narrated by Suzy Fincham-Gray

2.5 stars

Fun look into an average human's life on Mars, and an environment where everything isn't life and death all the time but this was mostly just a story about a sullen teenager who had a crush on someone he couldn't have.

When Tristan meets Zoe, she becomes a splash of colour in a world that’s become very dark. Tristan is suffering from crippling depression following the death of his father but Zoe is determined to make him her friend and help him back onto a path with a hopeful future.

This is a charming book with characters that definitely spill off the page and into your heart. First off I’d like to write about the great representation in this book, not only for mental illness but MI in men as well as women, and how things like depression can surface in other ways such as over drinking. Zoe has two dads as well, and her family unit is a strong, stable and supportive one that’s honestly lovely. There’s also side characters who are queer, and a lot of open, honest conversations about different topics from illness to things like boys wearing make-up that all just felt really refreshing and, dare I say it, ‘woke.’

Zoe is definitely a little bit of a manic pixie dream girl BUT she makes herself one rather than a male character protecting that onto his love interest such as books like Looking for Alaska. There were definitely times in the book when Zoe annoyed me (mostly because I know if I knew someone so damn happy and chirpy like that they’d drive me mad) but at the same time I cared a lot about her because there was something in her I recognised. I’ve definitely created characters in my own writing really similar to Zoe, and there was something about her that really touched me because of this.

I also liked how this story really loved how unknowingly selfish someone suffering from mental illness can sometimes be. People are so stuck in their dark thoughts and world, they often fail to notice the hurt in others or just smaller things - like Tristan always forgetting that Zoe didn’t drink or forgetting her dad Paul’s name. It doesn’t show it in a mean way or in a way that makes Tristan evil but in a very human way and showed how much he was suffering within himself. This story also didn’t do the ‘quick fix’ where two people fall in love and suddenly they’re all better. It really emphasized that it takes more than that such as will power, support, the right medication and the acceptance of taking it.

I honestly flew through this book and couldn’t put it down. I wasn’t shocked at the ending as I did guess something like that was going to happen pretty early on. The round-up at the end felt slightly rushed as well and I would have liked maybe some bits that dragged in the middle to be shaved off and then the end be given more time to. But all in all a great book.

I think people who liked All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven would really like this book!

Days of Blood and Starlight is the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone in which we were introduced to the fraught world of chimaera and angels, the war between them and the love between an angel and a human that may be the key to solving everything.

I loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone from the lush descriptions that Laini Taylor used, to the Prague setting, the love between Akiva and Karou. Everything just sucked me and then the ending chewed me up and spat me out, a broken person. I am stitched up now but Days of Blood and Starlight pulled on those wounds something fierce. I didn't think it was possible to love the story even more but I do.

I feel like Karou and Akiva both had very solid singular storylines in this book that built them up as strong characters individually, as well as strong ones together. I really liked the lack of the human world in this book and how much we got to learn about the chimaera, resurrection and the world of angels and the Misbegotten.

This book both introduces new characters and lets us know a little bit more about ones we met in passing in DOSAB like Hazael and Liraz, and I really didn't think I'd get attached to new characters so fast, especially with ones like Ziri. I just love the world of the chimaera and the descriptions of them - I can't help but picture it as a more adult version of Where the Wild Things Are.

Zuzanna and Mik were some of the stars in this for me. They wrapped a spll around me the same way they did the chimaera and I love how in a world of magical creatures and monsters, Laini Taylor ended up making Zuze and Mik seem like the fairytale characters that appeared from the wilderness and entranced everyone.

There were parts of this book that got so tense and I became so afraid for everyone I loved, I honestly had to put it down and look away for a bit before I pulled myself together to continue. Laini's writing is just like constant poetry and I feel like it's becoming my oxygen. It should be illegal for someone to write so beautifully.

I love how this ended, and the twists at the end and I can't wait for the third book.

3.5 stars

Narrated by Katy Sobey

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

Elle has the life many writers dream of - a bestselling debut novel in international languages, a deal for a second book and a wonderful clifftop house in Cornwall with a beautiful writer's room. But not all is idyllic as it seems, and when Elle comes back from a summer in France, she starts feeling like she's not alone as she thinks in her empty house, and old fears and memories come back to haunt her.

I found You Let Me In an extremely atmospheric, creepy read and felt really sucked in after a few chapters. Elle isn't a particularly likable character and does come across quite cold, and almost uppity at times but I liked that she was also an author and I did wonder if some of her thoughts and frustrations with her writing was an exaggerated reflection of Lucy Clarke's - particularly when it came to the pressures of follow-up novels after such a successful debut.

There seemed to be a lot to uncover with this story, and Elle was definitely a character with a lot of secrets, all of which were revealed one by one. If I could describe this book with a colour, it would definitely be a misty gray - I don't know if it was just the subtle creepiness of potentially Elle not being alone in her house, the description of her home or the cliffside/beach setting.

I definitely guessed some things that happened in this book but not all, and I did find the twist and reveal pretty entertaining.