Category: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. Today I am bringing you my review for Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands, the second in the Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies series by Heather Fawcett.

Blurb:

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.

My Review:

When I read the first book in this series, I remember thinking it was pretty good, I enjoyed it and I wanted to continue the series, but I didn’t absolutely love it. This second book, I loved. We got a new adventure with Emily and Wendell and their growing relationship is definitely one of my favourite parts of this series. We got to see more of them being vulnerable in this book than we did in the first novel and I really enjoyed getting to see that, in book one Emily especially was very emotionally distant as a character and it was nice to see her soften slightly.
You also get two new, I’d say background characters, but they aren’t really background as they are a huge part of the plot. I liked both of the new characters, they were very complex and helped to drive points of the plot in interesting ways. Overall, I really loved this book and I consider it a new favourite. I am looking forward to getting to the final book in this series.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a lovely day. Today I am sharing my review for the Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller.

If you have read this book, let me know what you thought of it!

Blurb:

In this irresistible and thrilling debut novel, a former antique hunter investigates a suspicious death at an isolated English manor, embroiling her back in the dangerous world of tracking stolen artifacts.

What antique would you kill for?

Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate—sent just days before his death—Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?

My review:

This was an interesting book, it combined a lot of the traditional mystery elements that I and many other readers, enjoy, but took them in a new direction that I sort of liked. I liked this book enough to continue the series, my issue with it is that a month after reading it while writing this, I can’t remember much about it.
I had a real dislike while reading this book, of Aunt Carole. Anytime Freya had a problem or a boundary Carole treated it as insignificant and that gave me a bit of an ick to her character. I am hoping, with the way this book wrapped up, that she will be better in the rest of the series.
I enjoyed the mystery plot of this book, which I think is why I want to continue the series, this part was well developed and had a few unpredictable twists that I liked. One thing I did not like was that Freya constantly is described as being known for antiques and knowledgeable in that area but the proof of this is not consistent throughout the book, there are moments where the details are vague or brushed over so that they aren’t explained the way a character like that would. It’s just a small, but noticeable, problem.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf

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Happy Monday Bookish people! I hope you are all well today.

Today I am bringing you my review of a recently published novel, Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf. I am not sure what genre this can fit into, I found it in the general fiction section but it has mystery elements, fantasy-ish elements. It’s a combination of genres.

Let me know your thoughts if you have read this book!

Blurb/Synopsis:

Within the walls of Winterbourne dwells a secret room, with an unspeakable collection of books.

Librarian Anne Adams has found the perfect a job cataloguing the library of Winterbourne, an architectural masterpiece on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Surrounded by an awe-inspiring landscape, the library is magnificent, with priceless first editions, a librarian’s dream.

However, Anne’s early weeks in her new job are beset by obstacles – no internet, a house plunged into darkness every night and unexplained mysteries on the island. After weeks of isolation, upon meeting the mysterious owner Lucien Broussard, Anne is puzzled. Eloquent and well-travelled, his reclusive nature seems uncharacteristic. But after finding a cryptic clue within the pages of a book, Anne discovers that Broussard’s collection includes everything from the mundane to the books no one should ever open . . .

Get swept up in Elisabeth Wolf’s chilling and unpredictable mystery.

My review:

I was very excited to start this book because it had all the elements I enjoy. A grand house setting, a librarian protagonist to root for and a dark mystery that had a slightly gothic feeling to it. Honestly though, I am still confused about how I feel about this book. It started off well, you begin with a bit of background into Annie and what happened to her to send her to a job at Winterbourne and as a reader you do start to feel for her, you want her to take the job, to get away from everything in her personal life. You think Winterbourne will be her easy, fresh start. Then all these suspicious things start happening and you have to piece the mystery together. I think the blurb is a little misleading in how it describes this story, I can’t say why because it would be a big spoiler but I felt misled by it. The blurb also has the main plot twist written in it so it fell a bit flat when it was finally revealed, and it was revealed much too late in the book also. overall, it is a book that I am glad that I read and I did like, I think? But, I don’t think it is a book I would read again.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: A Grave Inheritance by Felicity Epps

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. I am bringing you my book review for the book A Grave Inheritance by Felicity Epps. Have any of you read this book? If you have, let me know what you thought of it.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A Waterstones YA Book of the Month! Perfect for fans of Bridgerton and Laura Wood.

Mysterious deaths in the family. A young woman left to inherit a fortune. Was it ghostly intervention… or murder? The Society of Free Spirits invites you to investigate, in this YA crime series with a supernatural twist.

After her father and older sister both die suddenly, Dolores is left with the family’s inheritance, and a large house she’s sure is haunted. Teaming up with her occult-obsessed neighbour, Ada, and the mysterious spiritual medium, Violet, the three girls plan to dispel the bad spirits from Dolores’ home.

But when Dolores uncovers a clue that suggests her sister Edith’s death wasn’t due to natural causes, what starts as an investigation into ghostly apparitions develops into the unravelling of something far more sinister. . .

Ghosts. Murder. The patriarchy. One should never underestimate what a trio of free-spirited young women can handle.

My Review: 4.5 stars

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Now, this book. This book was brilliant. It is listed as YA, which I guess fits with the age of the characters within the book – the main group of girls anyway – but it does not feel like YA. The writing is mature and gripping.
I was hooked as soon as I saw the description for this book, murder, possible ghosts, seances. Yes, that is just the type of thing I like. I have developed a great love for books that have a gothic tone to them and this book provides that from the very first line.
In this book you follow Delilah. As a main character she is interesting. At the beginning, as in the first few chapters, you wonder why she is the focus of the novel as she seems to be struggling and it is hard to see how she gets herself into a position to lead the story, but that was the great thing about this book. As a reader we get to watch as Dolores takes back her life and the strength she musters. You also get to see her developing relationships outside her natural set up – a little bit of a found family element which I loved.
This was my favourite book that I read in March and I would honestly recommend it to everyone.

Book Reviews

Book Review: A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a wonderful day today. I am bringing you my review of the first in the Gabriel Ward mystery series, the first book being called A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith.

Blurb/Synopsis:

The first in a delightful new mystery series set in the hidden heart of London’s legal world, introducing a wonderfully unwilling sleuth, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Nita Prose.

When barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms at exactly two minutes to seven on a sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is so full of his latest case—the disputed authorship of bestselling children’s book Millie the Temple Church Mouse—that he scarcely registers the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep.

But even he cannot fail to notice the judge’s dusty bare feet, in shocking contrast to his flawless evening dress, nor the silver carving knife sticking out of his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the hidden heart of London’s legal world, murder has spent centuries confined firmly to the casebooks. Until now . . .

The police can enter the Temple only by consent, so who better to investigate this tragic breach of law and order than a man who prizes both above all things? But murder doesn’t answer to logic or reasoned argument, and Gabriel soon discovers that the Temple’s heavy oak doors are hiding more surprising secrets than he’d ever imagined . . .

My Review: 4.5 stars

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I was not sure about this book to begin with. I was intrigued by the blurb but in general books that featured lawyers heavily haven’t been my favourites although those have all been thrillers, except for the series by Rob Rinder which I do love. So I was worried that the main character in this novel would be off-putting and a bit info-dumpy. However, I was proven wrong. I like Gabriel Ward, he is very logical and organised both in his character and his mindset and therefore, the way the crime and the subsequent investigation is presented is also very logical and organised. I don’t think that will work for everyone but it did work for me and it was his personality that drew me in very quickly. I thought the murder itself was very unique and intriguing. Each lead took me in a different direction and I couldn’t predict where the story was going to go next which was something I loved about this book.

Have any of you read this book? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

Book Review: Gallant by V E Scwaab

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my book review for the short novel Gallant by V E Schwaab. If you’ve read this book, let me know your thoughts down below. I’m interested because I saw lots of people’s opinons on this book ranging from the negative to the meh side of things before I read it and I think seeing these opinions are part of the reason I put this book off for so long despite loving most books by this author. Then I read it and I was annoyed at putting it off for so long because I really enjoyed it.

A darkly magical and thrilling tale of a young woman caught between the world and its shadows, who must embrace her legacy to stop the approaching darkness. The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black and Susan Cooper.

Fourteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with. She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to remain, but must follow two rules: don’t go out after dusk, and always stay on the right side of a wall that runs along the estate’s western edge. Beyond it is another realm, ancient and magical, which calls to Olivia through her blood…

My Review:

As I said, I put this book off for ages and I regret that now because I sat down and didn’t move again until I had finished the book. I really enjoyed it. It has this secluded, tense, gothic atmosphere surrounding it and everything is a bit confusing and mysterious – maybe there’s something wrong with me because I love that feeling where you are confused alongside your main character.
I especially loved that aspects that perhaps shouldn’t feel alive, very much did. For example, the house Olivia arrives at – Gallant – it’s just a house but it seems to be full of its own life and its own ideas that makes it feel like a living, breathing thing. In such a short book it is very clever to be able to give that feeling. This books gave me the feeling of a lighter version of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, which I also love.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a lovely day. Today, I am bringing you my review for the fifth book in the Marlow Murder Club series by Robert Thorogood – The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A killer is on the loose. The bodies are piling up. And Judith is hiding a deadly secret …

Someone from Judith’s past has turned up in Marlow and is stirring up trouble. With all the murders that the Marlow Murder Club have had to solve and her work setting crosswords, Judith’s been too busy to give her old life much thought. But now it’s knocking on her door and won’t go away.

On top of that, Marlow’s celebrities are getting murdered! When a footballer and a thriller writer are found dead, Judith, Suzie, and Becks must untangle a web of scandal to find the killer. But with Judith keeping secrets, the Marlow Murder Club find themselves drifting apart.

The pressure is on in more ways than one …

Can they find the killer and help Judith in time, or could this be the end of the Marlow Murder Club?

My Review:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts is the fifth book in the series following Judith, Suzie and Becks. Throughout the books we have seen the trio build an unlikely friendship and that base becomes slightly threatened within this book, adding higher stakes than ever. Of course, as I am keeping this spoiler free it will be difficult to talk about any specifics but as usual this series provides great twists and turns and in this one in particular, I liked how there was a pivotal link back to something that is hinted at in the first book in the series. I like following the characters but in this one Judith is preoccupied from the main investigation and I personally felt that this took away some of the magic that the rest of the books had, there was also less of the relationship between our three protagonists and their friends in the Police this time which again, took something away from the book for my taste. I still loved this book, it was a solid four star read for me but not as good as others in the series I think but I would be intrigued to see where the series goes next.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

Book Review: A Season for Scandal by Laura Wood

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. I am bringing you a review of one of the books that I read in January: A Season for Scandal by Laura Wood.

An all-female detective agency righting wrongs at the end of the nineteenth century; infiltrating a scandalous upper class world straight out of Bridgerton and using their wit and bravery to unmask a villain.

When Marigold Bloom finds her family business in trouble a chance encounter with the devastatingly handsome and extremely bad-tempered Oliver Lockhart leads her to the Aviary – a secret agency of women who specialise in blackmailing troublesome men. Soon, Mari is the agency’s newest recruit, sent to investigate the mysterious return of Oliver’s long lost sister. Forced to masquerade as a newly engaged couple, it is up to Mari and Oliver to determine if there is an imposter in their midst. But what happens when the line between truth and fiction starts to blur? And what do you do when a pretend romance starts to feel all too real?

My Review:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

My first, and only so far, five star read of 2026. This book is the second in the Agency for Scandal series by Laura Wood, each book in the series follows a separate character within the world – all female characters that somehow interconnect with each other and with the agency. This second book follows Marigold, she and her family live in and own a florist shop. She very quickly becomes involved with the agency who help her sort her own personal matters before recruiting her to their cause, you follow her as she embarks on this journey and the struggles she faces. Alongside this you revisit a character that you meet in the first in the series, Agency for Scandal, Oliver Lockhart and their paths become intertwined. I loved seeing a different side to Oliver’s character in this second book, you only have a fleeting image of him from Agency of Scandal but even then I knew I would love his book and getting to flesh out his character.
I enjoyed seeing Marigold’s strength of character and her eternal optimism, definitely a grumpy x sunshine partnership. At the beginning you see a cluster of bad things befall Marigold and the rest of the novel is spent rebuilding her in layers and I think this was done expertly by Laura Wood. It might be a book over 500 pages but I raced through it in what felt like moments.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well today.

Today, I am sharing with you my book review for the first novel in the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Enter the world of the hidden folk – and discover the most whimsical, enchanting and heart-warming tale you’ll read this year, featuring the intrepid Emily Wilde. . .

Emily Wilde is good at many things: she is the foremost expert on the study of faeries; she is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encylopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby

But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all – her own heart.

My Review:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I was unsure what I would think of this book going into it. I bought it because I love everything fairies and whimsical, I just love it. However, I then read some other cosy fantasy books and I think I have decided that cosy fantasy is not something I will usually enjoy. This book is an exception, perhaps because I read it in the car on the way to Scotland for a funeral and the light heartedness of this book was exactly what I needed at the time.

I loved the rival academics thread that underly this story, it gave their relationship an enjoyable tension which I am looking forward to seeing where it goes from here with Emily and Wendell – as you can probably guess I will definitely be continuing this series, I actually got the second book for christmas.
The isolated, wintry feeling landscape gave me the same feelings I had while reading the Bear and the Nightingale and I loved that book too.
It is hard to talk about this book without giving any spoilers but I loved its whimsical writing style and the way the plot is presented as ‘cosy’ but actually surrounds darker, higher stakes.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

Book Review: Traitors Legacy by S J Parris

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today, I am sharing with you my thoughts on the most recent S J Parris novel – Traitors Legacy. Funny enough, my Dad wanted to read this book also and he put it on his Christmas list for my Sister and I to choose his presents from, and he had no clue I already owned it – so, after I finished reading it I gave this book over to my Dad to read also.

Blurb/Synopsis:

England, 1598. Queen Elizabeth’s successor remains unnamed. The country teeters on a knife edge.

When a young heiress is found murdered at the theatre, the Queen’s spymaster Robert Cecil calls upon former agent Sophia de Wolfe to investigate.

A cryptic note found on the dead girl’s body connects to Sophia’s previous life as a spy, and her quest soon takes her into dangerous waters. Powerful enemies emerge, among them the Earl of Essex: the Queen’s favourite courtier and a man of ruthless ambition.

This is a murder that reaches directly into the heart of the court. And Sophia is concealing a deep-buried secret of her own. She must uncover the truth before her past threatens to destroy her.

My Review:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I often enjoy historical mysteries, and I adore anything from the period of Edward IV to the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, so I thought this book would be a good one no matter what, it had all the makings of a new favourite. However, that is not what happened.
First, the good things: I did enjoy the mystery elements – working out who could be suspects, all the normal good parts of a mystery plot. Parris did well to keep your mind always turning in new directions, honestly the ending could have said anyone was the killer – they all had their suspicious activities. This, I liked. I liked not being able to guess where the mystery would go next and, though the beginning half is slow, the mystery picks up in the second half and this is what earned this book a three star rating.

Now, the not so good bits. I found this book to be boring – as I have just said, not because of the mystery, because of the characters and the writing.
Let us talk the writing first: there was too much information given in large chunks for a start, there was no space for the reader to try and work things out themselves, it was all spelled out to them in backstory and it took a lot of the tension away which I did not enjoy. Also, there was a lot of repetition – this overlaps with character – the main character we follow, Sophia, has only one driving force it seems and this is what forms her entire personality and all her choices, but the reason was repeated so often I had to keep physically putting the book down and read something else before going back to it. So, character. I like that the lead character is female, and the novel touches on how that would have been viewed in this time period and it did not skirt around the topic. However, I needed more substance to her character to be invested and actually want her to succeed. Alongside this, there were many characters introduced in this novel but they also often lacked the page space to give them substance and to actually feel any connection to any of them.

Overall, I am glad I read this book and I did keep reading until the end to find out the answers to the mystery but I do not think I will continue the series or read any other books by this author.