wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

Evie Wilder is a normal teenager, or so she thinks until one day she discovers that she is a werewolf, and her sister is a monster slayer. Now the Wilder sisters have to go on the run to look for their missing mother and end up in a small town called Brightside that appears to have a bit of a vampire problem.

This book is fun and quirky, full of teenagers doing what they do best without adult supervision - drinking a lot of hot chocolate, eating pizza and oh yeah, killing some monsters. I couldn't help but enjoy some of the antics going on this book and obviously appreciate the sisterly relationship in this as well which is one of the strongest relationships in the book. I can imagine that there are many moments in this book that would appeal to fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the whole story is a little bit campy in a way old school horror and supernatural media used to be.

I do wish the book took some time to slow down in parts and give some proper build up to everything that happened. It felt like everything was happening at a rapid pace from the moment the book starts and the girls run away from Stalker Rom, to arriving in Brightside and immediately learning about Asher from Kevin and Chris. It felt like relationships and characters appeared out of nowhere from Kevin hating Evie to flipping and wanting to help her in the space of a couple of pages, as well as Kate befriending Felix and Cass, and then the latter being dead and Felix needing to be saved all in one go. There were times this book and the writing style reminded me a lot of original supernatural fan fiction I used to read back in the day as everything focused on the characters and all this action going on instead of actually building up a scene and creating atmosphere and build up.

I do think this book would appeal to many readers though particularly anyone who loves Buffy, The Vampire Diaries, Riverdale aka any CW show with teen or supernatural influences. It's not a book to be taken too seriously, it's one you just need to hop onto and enjoy the ride it takes you on. 

I received this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie is an adult woman numbly going through life day by day, forever asking the same questions 'did her actions lock up an innocent man?'. Sophie's stepfather Matty Melgren has served over 20 years in jail following the brutal killings of women in North London, and it was ultimately Sophie's actions that led the police to Matty. But Matty was always the perfect father figure in Sophie's life, and he loved her and her mother. As Sophie finally arranges to see Matty in prison, the events from her childhood come back to haunt her.

This was an interesting take on a normal thriller/murder mystery - the story from the POV of a loved one connected to the serial killer but the question of Matty's innocence remains large throughout the novel and as a reader, it's fun to try and figure out if Matty is guilty.

I do think I expected a bit more from this book - it does feel like a lot of Matty's flaws and all the ways he could be a serial killer are so obvious, albeit we are getting the story from a woman who had decided he was guilty. But I never felt particularly surprised by anything that happened in this book or the direction the story took - and I would have loved a twist that wasn't extremely obvious the entire time.

It's the middle of WW2 and creating tasty, filling homecooked meals in the kitchens of Britain is becoming harder as food rationing increases. In a small town outside of London, four very different women enter a BBC cooking contest called The Kitchen Front - aimed at showing those in the kitchen a creative and resourceful way to use their rations, and also find a new co-presenter for a food-focused radio show.

This was a sweet and sentimental book that really hammers home its message of Britain's 'we shall never surrender' during the turbulent years of fighting, and the scare food years that came after it. I enjoyed this for exactly what it was which was a slightly simple book with a message of hope and friendship shining bright within it. I think this is the perfect book to recommend to many relatives or friends who aren't big readers but like certain types of historical fiction or women-focused stories (granny, auntie, mam etc) and I do think it's interesting seeing the creative way people had to think about food and how to make the most of what they had, as well as what the land around the would provide.

The characters themselves were a varied bunch from widowed, overworked Audrey, her awful snooty sister Gwendoline, conniving, pregnant Zelda and sweet and shy Nell. I wasn't sure what to think about Gwen or Zelda as they were both pretty awful to begin with, and there were times Audrey showed flashes of selfishness as well whereas Nell was just slightly on the wet blanket side of things. While I always like and appreciate a story that shows female friendships, and I liked that in this one we also get a huge improvement on a sisterly relationship too, there was no real character progression and all the characters (particularly Gwen and Zelda) seemed to flip a switch and become completely different overnight. So yeah, a story definitely on the simpler side of things but I do think this a perfect book for a certain type of reader! 

In the town of Burrowhead, something dark is brewing as the body of a local man is found stabbed to death in the playground and policewoman Georgie 's investigation into the crime begin to uncover a whole lot of ugliness hiding not so deep within the town inhabitants from homophobia to racism. On top of that, the long ago memories of the town seem to be haunting the ground and a sinister feeling is strong and ready to devour.

I listened to this book on audiobook and as a creepy, dark read it certainly hit the spot.

This book starts off with a bang with the discovery of the body of local psychiatrist Alexis by his policeman boyfriend Simon, and we are introduced to the small Burrowhead police team quickly from head honch Georgie, petite but fierce Trish, heartbroken Simon and forensics man Cal. As is typical of most crime books, we learn that there's many a thing going on in everyone's lives to make the case feel personal as Georgie battles with childhood memories, and struggled in her marriage and Trish cares for an elderly uncle battling dementia.

There's a lot going on this book in terms of town history, and it feels like a starter book that we are only on the tip of the iceberg so to speak. I definitely feel intrigued by what will happen in the final two books and how everything will come about - though I think I will pair them with a lighter read as I found this one just quite bleak and depressing as it was just dark in atmosphere and the ill feeling from the villages such as the racist attacks was just heavy at times as well. 

In 7th century Ireland, three monks leave a monastery to take on a journey unlike any other they have done. Eventually, following days on the river Shannon, the discover an isolated island perfect to found a new monastery - that on Skellig Michael. The three men, one old, two young, begin their new lives trying to exist on a bare scrap of land with only puffins for company. Will they survive the wilderness, and each other?

I'm so disappointed to say this book just didn't really do it for me at all - I found this one a tough read to connect to, and feel engaged with. I normally love Emma Donoghue's writing and I really loved how she used this story to not only travel way back into Irish history but explore religious fervor and idolatry, isolation and survival. But I think the story itself, and some of the characters just really left me wanting - I'm not a religious person but grew up going to church like many an Irish child, and I have religious family members but the religious sacraments and rituals in this left me feeling a bit bored, and while I enjoyed the different characters in the three monks, I also feel like we never really got to know them either.

My favourite character was probably Cormac, a quiet, older man who came to the religious life very late having lost a wife and children, and almost dying in various Clan battles. From his stories that all linked into Irish mythology to the tender way he looked after Trian, and eventually standing up to Artt's ridiculous ways, he was my stand up guy in this.

I found Artt very hard to read at times as he went from okay, to bad to worse. There's nothing I hate more than men heavy with religious pride using the 'god will provide' and 'look what god gave us' when it's actually just hard work that results in progress. It's kind of like the 7th century version of manifesting. I ended up becoming really angry and frustrated at Artt for all the other men, and religious people, who have acted in similar ways and think they are always right.

Trian was a lovely character and while I was convinced he may have been a woman in disguise for a large portion of the book, I'm not sure what we were suppose to do with the (view spoiler). It was really just used as a catalyst for Artt's nastiness to come out and Cormac finally standing up to him and that was it. I would have liked more exploration and discussion around the topic and possibly have it more clear but I'm not really sure what to think to be honest.

Also on a side note, for some reason I found the slaughter of the birds and chicks really hard to stomach in this one. I think because they had been left in peace for so long and suddenly these horrible men come and literally rob the babies from the nests, it was a tough one for me.

The writing in this was good like I would expect from this author. It just wasn't one for me unfortunately.