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May Book Releases!

Happy Friday bookish people! It is the beginning of a new month and you know what that means, plenty of new book releases.

I am going to share a few of the ones that have caught my eye. That’s not to say I want to read all of these books but for some reason, be that the blurb or the cover, I have noticed these books as I looked for May releases.

The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy

Diana Dixon has a lot going on this summer. She’s rehearsing for a ballroom dance competition, juggling two jobs, and dealing with an ex-boyfriend who can’t take the hint it’s over. Yet despite all that, she still has plenty of time and energy to tell Shane Lindley to screw off.

Shane just moved into her apartment building and seems dedicated to sleeping his way through her entire cheerleading squad. Sure, he’s a tall, gorgeous hockey player, but he’s messing with her turf. This calls for some ground rules: no parties in her apartment, leave her teammates alone, and—most importantly—leave her alone.

What Diana doesn’t realize is that Shane’s sick of hookups and tired of being on the rebound after his long-term girlfriend called it quits. He wants a relationship. And when his ex comes back into the picture, he pretends he has one to make her jealous…and who better to play the girlfriend role than his sassy new neighbor?

Despite Diana’s reluctance to break her rule, a fake relationship is the perfect solution for her own ex issues, and soon she can’t deny something is sizzling between her and Shane. Something hot and completely unexpected.

And it might just be getting a little too real.

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

Honey Witch by Sydney J Sheilds

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.
 
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
 
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton

om the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.

Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don’t even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

It’s the season
for treason…

The king of Yusan must die.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.

He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.

And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.

They can agree on murder.

They can agree on treachery.

But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.

Let the best liar win.

Love at First Book by Jenn Mckinley

When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author’s prickly son… until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading .

Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan’s novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence.

Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series—after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer’s block—is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan’s bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn’t want Em around.

When Siobhan’s health takes a bad turn, she’s more determined than ever to finish her novel, while Kieran tries every trick in the book to get his mother to rest. Thrown into the role of peacemaker, Emily begins to see that Kieran’s heart is in the right place. Torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her own growing feelings for the mercurial Irishman, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter.

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them—from Ruth Ware, the New York Times bestselling author who “is turning out to be as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post).

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

Do you have any anticipated releases in May?

Monthly TBRs

May TBR!

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a great day.

It is now May, this year is going by so quickly, and of course, that means it is time to share what I will be reading in May!

The Trial by Rob Rinder

Helle and Death by Oskar Jenson

What Would Jane Austen Do by Linda Corbett

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan

Murder at the Dolphin Hotel by Helena Dixon

Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

What are you all reading in May? What are you most looking forward to reading soon?

Monthly Wrap Ups

April Wrap Up!

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. What a month April was, I realised during the month that I needed to take some time off from working to relax and try to not be so stressed. I think that worked a bit but not as much as I had hoped, generally I feel very tired at the moment but anyway, life goes on. As far as reading goes, April wasn’t a bad month. I was happy with me reading not only because I got quite a bit in but the books I was reading I really enjoyed.

So, let us see what books I did read!

From my April TBR:

  • The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrews: I did not read, I was looking forward to this one but I decided to prioritize series for the moment so I didn’t have time to read this one.
  • Way of the Argosi by Sebastien de Castell: I did not read this one either which is a shame because I really wanted to, I love Sebastien’s writing and I can’t wait to get back into this series.
  • The Stolen Heir by Holly Black: I did not read this one
  • Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi: I DID read this one, finally, after so many years of it being on my TBR and wondering if I’d like it or if I should unhaul it. Spoilers for the book review: I loved this book.
  • Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco: As of a few days before the end of the month I am currently reading this and I plan on finishing it before May – again, loving this book and I can’t wait to see how this series ends.

From outside of my TBR I finished From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout which I started from my March TBR but I didn’t quite finish before the end of March. Another book I loved so, all together I read three books this month and loved all of them.

What did you read in April? Any books that you loved?

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Book Haul February/March

Happy Friday bookish people! Today, I thought it would be fun to share what books I have acquired throughout the past two months. There may have been a few purchases, one thing about me is that when I am struggling medically I buy myself books because it makes me feel better. Yes, I know how bad that is. I shouldn’t do it but I do and I can’t see myself breaking this anytime soon.

So! Here are the books I have gotten recently:

Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
The Tw*t Files by Dawn French
The Pheonix Keeper by Alistair Maclean
The Vanished Throne by Holly Black
The Fragile Threads of Fate by V E Schwab
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
A Death in Diamonds by S J Bennett
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry
Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen
Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin
Dead and Scone by Suk Fanhu
The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer
Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin
The Trial by Rob Rinder
Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
You’d Look Better as A Ghost by Joanna Wallace
Death on the Lusitania by R L Graham
The Troublemakers by Tamzyn Merchant
Foxglove by Adalyn Grace
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adriene Young
The Dog Sitter Detective by Anthony Johnston

That’s it. I know, I told you it was a lot. I have no regrets.

What books have you bought recently that you are excited to get to?

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Books with Disability Rep!

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

As you may know if you have been following my blogs for a while I am registered as severely sight impaired which means I have a disability and I was thinking the other day that there aren’t many books that I know of with visually impaired characters (if you know of any, please let me know!) so, I thought I would share a few of the books that I have read and enjoyed which have disability representation.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Kaz brekker, one of the main characters in the Six of Crows duology has a leg injury and uses a cane to walk.

Get A Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

This book *technically* has representation in it of visually impaired people, I won’t tell you anything more here because, well spoilers, but it’s not definitely disability rep.

Okay, so when I started this I thought there would be at least five books on this list but – there’s not. Out of the books I have read that have disability rep, this is it. Well, I think that makes my point about not having enough rep in books. Again, let me know if you know of any because I would love to read more!

Book Reviews

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Book Review

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well and today I am back with a new book review. Today’s book review is for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. As a huge fan of anything Tudor period this book had been calling to me for a long time so I’m happy that I finally read it.

Before we get into the actual review, I wanted to say there will almost definitely be some spoilers in this review so if you haven’t read the book yet and you don’t want to be spoiled I would suggest reading my review after you’ve read the book.

Okay, onto the review!

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

My Review:

Wolf Hall is the first book in a trilogy of novels set in the Tudor court at the time of Henry VIII, they are told from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view. This was one of the things that drew me to this book, most of the Tudor historical fiction I have read previously has been told from the point of view of women so I was interested to see a different perspective.

It surprised me because in the books I have read before and all the adaptations of TV, Cromwell is an interesting figure, not many of them paint him in the best light – he is cunning and ambitious etc but this book is very sympathetic to wards him and I learned a lot about the things he did for the kingdom and for his family, which may have been exaggerated for the book but I think were still things he did. It changed my perception of him.

I found this book hard to get into to begin with, it is a huge book for one thing so quite intimidating, the writing felt a bit like an essay rather than the historical fiction I usually read however once we get into the story properly I loved it. This book follows Thomas Cromwell during his childhood, with his Father who didn’t treat him very well, all the way into his service of Henry VIII, how he worked alongside Wolsey and then gained Henry’s trust and this book ends as Henry marries Anne Boleyn and they have had baby Elizabeth. I am definitely looking forward to getting stuck into the second book soon!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read Wolf Hall? What did you think of it?

Monthly TBRs

April TBR!

Happy Friday bookish People! So, it is April already and with that it comes time to share my TBR for the month with you.

Recently, I have been focusing on reading mysteries and crime fiction and they’re all blending into one now so I read some historical fiction and some non-fiction in March and then I went to Gollanczfest and now I am completely in the fantasy mood. To read it and to write it. So, as you can probably tell my April TBR is full of fantasy!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

Way of the Argosi by Sebastien de Castell

Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco

What are you all hoping to read during April?

Monthly Wrap Ups

March Wrap Up!

Happy Monday bookish people!
March went by fast didn’t it! A lot happened this month and I didn’t get much chance to read, just in general I was feeling very mentally tired for a bunch of different reasons and that didn’t help motivate me to read.

So, on with the wrap up!

My March TBR:

  • Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen – I did not read this book, now the thing about this book is that I have seen a lot of people talking about it and it does sound good but I am putting off reading it because it feels like an obligation, it will be useful for my PhD as it has some of the same aspects I am writing but I’m not drawn to it at the moment. Hopefully I will get to it soon.
  • You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace – I did not read this book but I am very excited to get around to reading this book.
  • Knife Skills For Beginners by Orlando Murrin – I did not read this either.
  • From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout – I am currently reading this and seeing as it’s only the 21st of the month when I am writing this I should definitely be able to finish this book by the end of the month.
  • Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – I also read this book, it took most of the month because this book is huge but I enjoyed it and a review will be coming soon.

That’s it for my TBR but outside of it I also read Dawn French’s new memoir ‘The Tw*t Files’.

So this month I read three books, not many but pretty good considering the month I have had. What did you all read in March?

Book Reviews

The Tw*t Files by Dawn French Book Review

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’ll all enjoy my review of the Tw*t Files by Dawn French.

Blurb/Synopsis:
IF YOU LOVE DAWN, YOU’LL LOVE HEARING ABOUT ALL THE TIMES SHE’S BEEN A COMPLETE TWAT . . .

When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person.

BUT.

That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat.

In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I’ve been a total and utter twat. The moments where I’ve misunderstood stuff and messed up. In my life these have been key because:

Mistakes tell us about ourselves.
Mistakes tell us about others.
Mistakes are hilarious.
Mistakes expose our flaws.
Mistakes show us ourselves honestly.
Mistakes are gloriously human.

My hope is that these stories might fire up yer engines to remind you of just what a massive twat you also are.

Let’s celebrate and revel in this most delightful of traits together.

That would be perfectly twatty.

Review:

The Tw*t Files is a fun collection of stories of all the times that Dawn French has embarrassed herself in social situations. It was particularly fun because Dawn French comes from the same area as me so a lot of the places she mentioned from when she was younger I also recognise (and a few of the scenarios she mentioned I either also have done or could definitely see myself doing).

I particularly enjoyed her story of how she was asked to take up a position at Falmouth University in Cornwall and the thing that sold it to her was she asked for a crown – and they gave her one! That is absolutely me in a nutshell.

I enjoyed my reading of this book overall, although honestly I felt that it was a few stories too long for me and I was getting a bit bored with it but the book was still good and I would still recommend it to people who enjoy non-fiction.

Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks for reading!

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GollanczFest 2024 Review:

Happy Friday bookish people! It’s a different kind of post today, I hope you’ll all enjoy my review of GollanczFest 2024.

On Friday 15th March my Mum and I travelled to London for this event, the train journey was an absolute nightmare but we eventually made it to our hotel. The great thing was that the hotel we were staying in was only a ten minute walk from the Leonardo Royal hotel that Gollanczfest was being held in.

I think the best thing for me to do here is to be completely honest, I paid for a VIP ticket to this event and I do think the description of the things we were meant to get was not at all like what we got. For example the VIP tickets gave you a goody bag worth £60, well there’s no way that goody bag was worth anywhere close to £60. There was a proof of un upcoming book, a pen, a pin badge, a schedule for the day, a piece of card to get authors signatures on and some bookmarks etc. It also said that we would get £40 to spend in the Gollancz shop and this was not true either – we got a ‘£40 off when you spend £80’ voucher. So, before I get into anything else about the day I will say I don’t think the VIP ticket was worth the price of it.

Okay, so moving on to the panels of the day, I went to three of the panels. I went to the Romantasy panel, ‘I would do anything for love but I won’t stay at an inn with two beds’ with Dhonielle Clayton, Lauren Dedroog, Sarah Hawley and Jennifer Delaney. Which was a very entertaining start to the day. Four very string women talking about the struggles they face working in the fantasy genre.

The second panel I went to was ‘we built this city on airtight magic systems’ with Joanne Harris, Garth Nix, Ben Aaronovitch and Oraine Johnson. This was my favourite panel of the day. I loved hearing these authors talk about how and where they can write and how the process goes from idea to novel.

The final panel event was the headliner event which was Victoria Aveyard, author of the Red Queen series and the Realm Breaker series. This was a nice gentle event to close the day with.

I didn’t go to any of the signings in between the panels because they got very busy and I struggle to manage crowds like that so I stayed away but because I had the VIP ticket I got to meet two authors of my choice at two separate times during the day. I met Garth Nix first, he was so lovely and he signed my copy of Newt’s Emerald. I got to spend 15 minutes with him and then take a polaroid with him which is now on my bookshelf. Then in the afternoon I got to meet and chat with Ben Aaronovitch for 15 minutes and I showed him my braille copy of Rivers of London which he got very excited about.

Throughout the day there were also interactive events like have a go at audiobook narration and panels about the blogging industry and getting a novel published. They also had a waterstones shop and a raffle and a few other games. Overall I feel the experience was a good one, although it was a long and tiring day.

Have you ever been to Gollanczfest? How did you find it?