Book Reviews

Book Review: Dangerous Women by Hope Adams

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. I am bringing you the book review for Dangerous Women by Hope Adams.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Dangerous Women Plot

Rating: 4 out of 5.

In this book the reader is transported into the world of a Women’s convict ship on it’s many weeks travelling across the sea to Australia for a new life. Then one of the women gets murdered. Not only is this book highly atmospheric, it has layers of tension, imagery and mystery and it is one of my favourite books of 2022 so far. I have recently been loving the historical mysteries and this novel fits in that genre perfectly. There’s not a lot I can say about this plot without spoiling anything because it is full of twists but I can say that if you like mystery books I would definitely recommend this book to you.

Dangerous Women Characters

Rating: 4 out of 5.

In this book you are mainly focused on the women as the main characters, and there are quite a few of them with their own important link to the plot, you also see the captain often. By following these characters I got very attached to a few of them, in particular the group of ladies who are part of the sewing group. This book, although it has a strong plot, is very character driven which I think works very well.

Dangerous Women Writing and Dialogue

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This book is told from multiple perspectives which adds a very interesting layer to the mystery because you as the reader are learning things that the other characters might not know. I’m not usually the biggest fan of multiple perspectives but for this book it works.

Dangerous Women Overall

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because it was a fast-paced, high stakes historical mystery and I enjoyed it.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Nearly two hundred condemned women on board a sailing ship bound for Australia. One of them is a murderer. From debut author Hope Adams comes a thrilling novel based on the 1841 voyage of the convict ship Rajah, about confinement, hope, and the terrible things we do to survive.

London, 1841. One hundred eighty Englishwomen file aboard the Rajah, embarking on a three-month voyage to the other side of the world.

They’re daughters, sisters, mothers–and convicts.

Transported for petty crimes.

Except one of them has a deadly secret, and will do anything to flee justice.

As the Rajah sails farther from land, the women forge a tenuous kinship. Until, in the middle of the cold and unforgiving sea, a young mother is mortally wounded, and the hunt is on for the assailant before he or she strikes again.

Each woman called in for question has something to fear: Will she be attacked next? Will she be believed? Because far from land, there is nowhere to flee, and how can you prove innocence when you’ve already been found guilty?

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

guide dogs

Guide Dogs: First meeting in person

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am back talking about what happened next in the process of getting a guide dog.

Last week I talked about how after first getting in touch with guide dogs I went through two telephone conversations to discuss if this would be the right thing for my needs. Then came the fist meeting. I had a woman from the Guide Dog team visit me at home to see how I moved around in my local area. I felt a bit like a dog myself, going out for walks with someone watching everything I did. It also felt like a test which put me on edge, I guess it is like a test actually because they are seeing if you have the need for a dog, well whether one would actually benefit you and it is a process that needs a lot of boxes to be ticked. You have to be able to walk at least 40 minutes a day to prove you could work the dog because it would still need to be walked and it would still need to play and go on free runs and things like that.

When the woman arrived we went straight into the walking portion of the meeting where I had to walk a route that I would often walk and show how I would use my cane and how I would avoid obstacles. It felt really intense but that’s just because I don’t like being watched or bringing any attention to the things I’m not able to do so it was a difficult meeting for me, but the woman was really lovely and it is very clear that they only want what is best for you.

After the walking there were more questions to answer and there was this questionnaire where you had to give yourself marks for how much you struggle with different activities and that was probably the worst part for me, it feels like you’re reminding yourself of how hard your life is when on average you spend most days ignoring it because that is your life, you don’t usually break it down into categories, you just get on with it because you don’t have a choice.

Something I learned from this first meeting was not to force yourself to try and see the obstacles, you just have to be completely honest about what you can and can’t do because they need to know what areas you need the help in. One of the biggest areas for me was confidence, and being independent.

After this meeting it was decided that I had enough of a need for the services and my case went to it’s first panel. I got a phone call the afternoon of the panel day where they let me know that it was decided I should continue in the process and I would receive a phone call anytime within the next month to book in a date to have a meeting and a walk with an actual dog. It was a strange experience to let an unknown panel of people decide if I really needed the help I was looking for, it’s like putting your whole future in the hands of these people. I don’t think I would have been upset exactly if they had said I shouldn’t continue but it would have been a bit awkward.

In next Friday’s post I will be talking about what happened in my first meeting with a guide dog.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. Today I am bringing you a book review for my last June read which was Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Hot Dog Girl Plot:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I was really excited to first get into this book. It had been on my wishlist for a long time until a friend sent me it and I was excited because, although it was a romance novel which isn’t my usual genre, it was set at a fun fair type location in a small town and I mean the cover showed a girl dressed up as a hot dog. I thought there would be some great comedy elements to it. There were a few of these and I was surprised how there were also serious topics running through the story too which balanced it out nicely. Honestly I wanted to see more of the setting, it was mentioned in passing but it never seemed to be as big a feature as it felt like it should have been. That is something I felt the book was overall, the story was okay but each of the elements could have been explored more. For me, if I read romance I like a good build up, this book didn’t allow for that.

Hot Dog Girl Characters:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The two main characters in this book were Elouise and Seeley who are best friends. For the first half of this book I loved the characters, they had well thought out distinct personalities but by the time it got to the second half of the book I couldn’t understand their motivations anymore and for me personally there seemed to be a lot of actions that came out of nowhere and I lost any connection I had to the characters.

Hot Dog Girl Writing and Dialogue

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This was definitely a high point for this novel. The writing style changed depending on the tone it was creating and that really helped me as a reader sense the emotions that would be felt.

Hot Dog Girl Overall

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I gave this book three stars overall because it was an okay story but I wasn’t as invested in it as I think I could have been.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:

* She’s landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou’s never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who’s always been up for anything, suddenly isn’t when it comes to Lou’s quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou’s scheme to get close to Nick.
* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland–ever–unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Jennifer Dugan’s sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love–and themselves–in unexpected people and unforgettable places.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

guide dogs

Getting Started With The Guide Dogs

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. Okay, so I know I usually post bookish related posts on Fridays, but I thought it might be interesting for other people, especially people who are visually impaired and who might be thinking about getting started with guide dogs to know what has happened so far in my process.

For today I am going to talk about what happened when I first got in touch with the guide dogs team.

So, I began this process back in November 2021. It had been on my mind a lot for the past year or so and I’d often had family members and friends say to me ‘why haven’t you applied yet?’ especially as my sight started to get worse and I lost the sight in my left eye. For me it was one of those things where I hadn’t accepted it, I didn’t want to accept that this was how I was always going to be now. I’d never had good sight but each time I lost a bit more it was like everything had to change and it got pointed out more often how much help I needed. I often felt like I was just another job on everyone’s list because it wasn’t just I’m going out to see my friends anymore, it was always I’m going out but I have to be with at least one person and they have to look after me and it was talked about all the time like ‘look how much I have to do to look after you’, that’s the way it always felt with people. So I didn’t want to accept it, I’m not happy about it accepting it now but it came to a point where I just said to myself, look at yourself and admit that you need to see what other types of help could be out there for you. That’s when I got in touch with Guide Dogs.

The way I did it was through an online form on http://www.guidedogs.org.uk on the getting support page. From there I had to wait for someone to get back in touch with me by email. I have to admit, I forgot a little bit that I had put in the form until the email came, even though it was only a few days. When I did get the email is when all my anxiety started to kick in, I had to book in a telephone conversation – the first of two official telephone conversations as it turned out – and I absolutely hate talking on the phone. I can’t hear properly and I get really flustered so I didn’t really want to do it. But deep down I knew that I had to.

The day of the first phone call I was very nervous and it ended up taking about 50 minutes. There were questions about my medical history, what my eyesight is like and also what I was actually looking for from this service. I originally didn’t know that there were other services they would offer other than the guide dog but I wanted to go into the whole process with a completely open mind and that’s what I told them, I only wanted to go through with the whole process if it was definitely the right thing for me.

So, the first phone call happened and it felt good to discuss why I was starting the process with someone who had no bias on the outcome. The next step was having the second phone call which was with a member of the closest team to me which happened to be Exeter. This phone call was pretty much the same questions but more in depth if that makes sense. The phone calls were basically making sure they had all the information about me they needed to be sure that I had a visual impairment and that they would have services that could help me.

After the second phone call came the first in person meeting, which I will be posting about next Friday!

Monthly TBRs

July TBR!

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am so excited to be bringing you my July TBR today, not only because I have a good feeling about this month but also because it is time for the July Summer edition of the Chopped Readathon! Hosted by myself @oliviatempleto6 on Twitter/@the_blind_scribe on instagram and @Plaid_Reader_is_writing on Twitter. It is a month long readathon with prompts attached to a food item based on the theme so obviously the July theme is summer. If you are interested in joining the fun all the information can be found on the Chopped Readathon Twitter account @choppedread

Also this month I have tried to put a mystery/crime book to each prompt because… I have a PhD to write which means I need to read all the mystery books and I have a lot to get through.

Onto my TBR for July!

  • for the prompt Cotton Candy – a light or easy book I chose The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, I have heard there’s a new book in this series coming soon so I need to get around to this one
  • Salt water taffy – a salty protagonist – I chose A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn, the second in the Veronica Speedwell series
  • Corn dog – a book with something hidden – I chose Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
  • Soda – a book you are excited about – The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson, the fourth book in the truly devious series
  • BBQ – book with a battle – I have gone very metaphorical for this one as most mysteries don’t have epic battles like the fantasy genre does so I have chosen Finlay Donovan Knocks Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
  • Lobster – Centred around the ocean – Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
  • Lemonade – a yellow book – Nine Lives by Peter Swanson
  • Burgers – a meaty book over 400 pages – Daughters of Night by Laura Shephard Robinson
  • Ice cream – a fancy book – the Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett
  • watermelon – a childhood favourite – The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah
  • Funnel Cakes – a sweet book – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
  • Milkshakes – a book with a location you would go in the summer – I chose The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen

That’s it for my July TBR! What are you all planning on reading in July? Leave me a comment below.

Uncategorized

Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty Book Tour!

Happy Friday bookish people! I am so happy today that I am bringing you my post as part of the Blood and Moonlight Book Tour with TBR and Beyond Tours. I will be revealing my top five reasons to read Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty and I will be including a photo of my book look inspired by the cover. But first here is the cover and synopsis:

Blurb/Synopsis:

In this medieval YA fantasy thriller, an orphan with a secret, magical sight gets caught between a mysterious genius and the serial killer he’s hunting.

Rising above the city of Collis is the holy Sanctum. And watching over its spires is Catrin, an orphan girl with unique skills—for she alone can spot the building’s flaws in construction before they turn deadly.

But when Catrin witnesses a murderer escaping the scene of his crime, she’s pulled into the web of a dangerous man who will definitely strike again. Assigned to capture the culprit is the mysterious, brilliant, and enigmatic Simon, whose insights into the mind of a killer are frighteningly accurate.

As the grisly crimes continue, Catrin finds herself caught between murderer and detective while hiding her own secret—a supernatural sight granted by the moon, destined to make her an outcast, and the only thing that might save her and those she loves from becoming the next victims…

If you’re interested in checking out the posts from the other bloggers on the tour, here si the tour schedule: https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2022/05/14/tour-schedule-blood-and-moonlight-by-erin-beaty/

Top 5 reasons to read Blood and Moonlight!

  1. If you can’t decide between the Fantasy and Murder Mystery genres, choose this book! It is a great balance between both with its mix of magic and old school investigating of a serial killer.
  2. Exciting and unique magic that you get to discover alongside the main character. I personally had never read a fantasy book before with this type of magic in it.
  3. If you like small town settings full of secrets I would definitely say this book could be for you! For me, it made me think of one of the small towns in France.
  4. An intriguing main character who makes it easy for you to root for her.
  5. Maybe a little dash of romance…

book purchase links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Moonlight-Erin-Beaty/dp/1250755816
Forbidden Planet: https://forbiddenplanet.com/353260-blood-moonlight-hardcover/

Here is my book look!

I tried to imitate the cover of the book for this photo, it’s not perfect but I don’t think it turned out too badly. I was also wearing a pale grey top to imitate the colour of the cover background, you just can’t see it in this photo.

Author Information: Erin Beaty

Erin Beaty was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, which means she can’t drive a tractor but won’t eat veggies that come from a can.

She graduated from the U.S Naval Academy in 2000 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics) and German, then served in the fleet as a Weapons Officer on a combat destroyer and later as an instructor for the center for Naval Leadership.

After a few years as a stay at home mum and navy wife with a casual blog. Erin upped her game and started writing her first novel in the Spring of 2014. She is now the author of the Traitor’s Circle Trilogy published by Imprint, Macmillan and in several foreign languages.

She and her husband have five children, two cats, a vegetable garden and live wherever the navy tells them to go.

Erin has taught classes at the Muse Writers Centre in Norfolk and has also served on the advisory board of Hampton Roads Writers.

I hope you enjoyed my post for this book tour!

Monthly Wrap Ups, Uncategorized

June Wrap up!

Happy Friday bookish people! It is the first of July, we are starting the summer with an okay month of reading. I didn’t read as much in June as I thought I would, other things just kept getting on top of me and I was struggling a little bit with how much there was that had to get done immediately. Anyway, June was still good. I managed to read a few books, I went to Belgium and back in a weekend, and I had my first meeting with a potential guide dog and if you want to read about this I will be posting on Friday’s throughout July about what it has been like going through the guide dog process. But we are here today to see what I read in June so let’s get into the wrap up.

  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik – I did not read. I wasn’t really feeling much fantasy this month.
  • Mad Woman by Louisa Treger – I did read this! I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the author and I have posted my review of this book already, probably my favourite read of June
  • The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake – I did not read this
  • Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan – I am currently reading this book, a few pages before I go to bed each night
  • Ariadne by Jennifer Saint – I did not read this
  • Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – I did not read this
  • Lockwood and Co by Jonathan Stroud – Another book I am currently in the middle of reading
  • A Darker Shade of Magic graphic novel 1 – I did read this
  • Finlay Donovan Knocks Em Dead by Elle cosimano – I did not read this
  • A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee – I did not read this
  • A Darker Shade of Magic graphic novel 2 – I did read this
  • The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex – I did not read this
  • Book Lovers by Emily Henry – I did not read this
  • Beggars Abbey by V L Valentine – I did not read this
  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I did not read this
  • Lore by Alexandra Bracken – I did not read this
  • Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian – I did not read this

So from my TBR I read 3 books and I am in the middle of two, which I should finish before the end of June. Outside of my TBR I also read the third A Darker Shade of magic graphic novel so altogether I read 6 books which isn’t too bad.

That’s it for this month’s wrap up, I hope you all enjoyed it! What did you all read in June?

Book Reviews

Book Review: Cecily by Annie Garthwaite

Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you my book review for Cecily by Annie Garthwaite.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include spoilers. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Cecily Plot:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I am a huge fan of history from the 1300s to the 1600s and this book was the perfect read for historical fiction of this period. I originally didn’t know much about Cecily Neville, but now I feel like I know every heartache and every victory that she experienced. This book is about a powerful, ambitious and intelligent woman who broke tradition in so many ways, she took risks to protect and advance her family and I was absolutely sucked into this book from the very first page.

Cecily Characters:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This book obviously is characters that were real people and this relied on extensive research by the author. What I liked is that these characters felt real, they didn’t feel like the author took the shell of the person from the research and turned them into what they needed for the book, it felt like you had fallen into a history book and you were watching every moment of the court take place.

Cecily Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

With the way this book is written, the way it had to be written because of the historical timeline, it could have felt more like non-fiction or like a letter in some cases but it didn’t, it was engaging and fluid.

Cecily Overall:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This is my first five star book of this year and I can’t recommend it enough, I thought it was fantastic, a book I can read over and over again.

Blurb/Synopsis:

“Rebellion?”
The word is a spark. They can start a fire with it, or smother it in their fingertips.
She chooses to start a fire.

You are born high, but marry a traitor’s son. You bear him twelve children, carry his cause and bury his past.

You play the game, against enemies who wish you ashes. Slowly, you rise.

You are Cecily.

But when the King who governs you proves unfit, what then?

Loyalty or treason – death may follow both. The board is set. Time to make your first move.

Told through the eyes of its greatest unseen protagonist, this astonishing debut plunges you into the blood and exhilaration of the first days of the Wars of the Roses, a war as women fight it.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it! Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it?

Book Tags

The LGBTQ+ Book Tag!

Happy Friday bookish people! Today I am very excited to be bringing you this book tag today, in the UK June is Pride month so I thought this would be a great book tag to do. I especially felt like doing this tag because my own sexuality has been on my mind a lot recently, after being in a serious relationship I have started to realise that I may actually be on the ace/asexual spectrum. I’ve done a lot of reading on the topic since I started to think more about it and it’s strange because the more I read the more I feel so sure that this is me. Anyway, I read that this may be part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum (please correct me if I am wrong about this) and so I thought this tag would be fitting.

I found this tag on Annas Book Knook blog on wordpress. I will try and answer with books that I own and that I have read but I will admit I don’t have that many books with LGBTQ+ Rep in them.

Female Strength: A book with a lesbian heroine

Right after I’ve said that I will only choose books I have read… I am choosing one I haven’t read but I have heard that it has a focus on a lesbian relationship – Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth

Cinnamon Roll: A book with an adorable gay character

For this I chose the character of Robin Blythe from A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

Boys and Girls: A book with bi rep done right

I can’t really speak so much about this because I don’t identify as bi, but for this one I chose Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Basherdoust

The Body and the Soul: A book with a trans character

For this one, again I had to choose a book that I haven’t read because I don’t own any but I chose Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

We’re all queer: queer rep you’d love to see more of

After realising I might be ace, I’d love to see more books with ace rep in them

All about pronouns: A book with a non-binary character

I didn’t pick a book for this question because I didn’t already own any and I didn’t want to choose too many more books that I haven’t read so if you have any reccomendations let me know!

Aromantic Ace: A book that belongs to the aro/ace spectrum

I have heard that there are characters in Vicious by V E Schwab that are aro/aceand I enjoy that book a lot so that’s the one I chose.

One Big Family: A book that features lots of different LGBTQ+ reps

Again I didn’t choose one for this because I could not find one on my shelf or through a search of recommendations so again if you know of any good ones, let me know.

Sapphic Love: Your favourite F/F couple

For this one I chose Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn

Boys Love: Your M/M OTP

For this one I chose one of my favourite books, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Sidekick: Your favourite LGBTQ+ side character

Stealing the show: An LGBTQ+ side character couple

I chose the sister (I can’t think of the names right now!) and her girlfriend in Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

Strong Beliefs: An LGBTQ+ book that deals with religion

Again, I could not find a book for this question.

Rainbows Everywhere: A book with an unapologetic cover

For this one I chose the cover of Especially Earnest by Molly Horan

Future Generations: Your most anticipated LGBTQ+ release

I am really excited for A Little Bit Country by Brian D Kennedy

That’s it for this book tag, I hope you all enjoyed it! How would you answer these?

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you my book review of The Final Girl Support group by Grady Hendrix.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include spoilers. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Final Girl Support Group Plot:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I picked this book up after seeing Gavin from How to train your gavin on youtube read it and then I finally got to read it for the 48 hour readathon I took part in during May. The prompt was a spooky book so I chose this one thinking it sounded like it would scare me quite a bit, and although I was hoping it wouldn’t scare me much I did hope it had that tense atmosphere that good mystery/thriller books have, and it did for the most part. Although I think the tension was lacking at the end, instead of building as the plot builds the tension seemed to be much less at the end than at the beginning.

I did enjoy the mystery aspect of the book although at times I struggled to connect the mystery to the girls and their events that caused them to be final girls.

The Final Girl Support Group Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’ll be honest, I have to give characters four stars because while I was reading the book I felt the character aspect was the strongest part, there were some characters I was rooting for, some I wanted to die in satisfying ways and some that were complete surprises. However, writing up this review now I don’t remember much about them or my thoughts of them so perhaps they aren’t as memorable as I thought they were.

The Final Girl Support Group Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I thought the writing was good because it felt like it kept up with the pace of the story mostly and also it did keep me quite engaged. Sometimes I felt that the writing was a bit younger than the story but it didn’t detract from it too much.

The Final Girl Support Group Overall:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I gave this book three stars overall because I felt that it was okay but maybe it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A fast-paced, thrilling horror novel that follows a group of heroines to die for, from the brilliant New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized–someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. 

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it! Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it?