Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a wonderful day today.
October was quite the month for me, I had a stall at Cardiff Comic Con and I got some really good progress done on my PhD, I am exhausted but it is going to be worth it – I think!
Anyway, so my reading went down this month because all my free time is taken up with work but I still enjoyed a couple of books this month.
Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – starting off good, I managed to read this one and I enjoyed it, if there isn’t a book review up by now there will be one soon.
Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco – I did not manage to read this one.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout – I didn’t manage to read this one either.
Assistant to the Villain – I am currently reading this one so I have started it in October and I should, should, be able to finish it before the end of the month.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid – I didn’t own this one at the time and so I couldn’t read it because I didn’t get it and I can’t get it on my library app at the moment.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – I did not read
Mrs Death Misses Death – I did read this one!
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I did not read
Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovilano – I did not read this
Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – I did not read this
So, off my TBR I managed to read three books: Once Upon A Broken Heart, Mrs Death Misses Death and Assistant to the Villain. Outside of my TBR I have also read an ARC this month – Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens which I will be posting a review for on the 6th November.
What did you guys read in October? And what did you think of them?
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well today. Seeing as it is spooky season I thought it may be fun to share with you all my top 15 murder mystery books and this is one of my favourite genres to read so this was a difficult choice. Let me know if any of your favourites are on this list or if there are any you would have put on here instead.
The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Dangerous Women by Hope Adams
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.
Today I am bringing you my book review for Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens. A big thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an ARC copy of this book.
As usual 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 any spoilers but there may be parts that come across that way, if you prefer to read a book with no idea before going I would highly recommend reading this review after you have read the book instead.
Last Girl Breathing Plot: 4 stars
In Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens you follow the people of a small town who are still reeling from a tragedy that happened eight years prior to the novel beginning. When a murder is committed Lucy Michaels starts investigating.
my first thought when I started reading this book was “wow, this is darker and more intense than I thought it would be” and usually that type of book doesn’t appeal to me, I prefer the cosier mystery. However, I was surprised by this book. Yes, it is dark and yes it’s got incredible twists and a very fast pace but also it felt real and I felt completely immersed in the story. It sounds cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down but I honestly couldn’t, I read it on a car trip to wales and when I had to stop reading I couldn’t stop thinking about the book and what was happening in it. I also have to say, I did not guess the identity of the killer.
Last Girl Breathing Characters: 4 stars
The main character in this novel is Lucy Michaels, she is a young girl still struggling with the grief of losing her brother during a dam break 8 years ago. She us at the centre of this book, she knows everyone in the town and has deep connections with many of the people connected with both events. Sweat I liked most about her character was the rawness and realness behind her. She wasn’t perfect, and she didn’t pretend to be. Court Stevens wrote her as a believably flawed character and I liked that. There are many other characters in this book but I don’t want to go into discussing them here because it would definitely reveal some spoilers.
Last Girl Breathing Writing and Dialogue: 4 stars
As I said before this book fully immersed me in its story and I believe that is a testament to an excellent writer. This is the first Court Stevens book I have read but I enjoyed her balance between tension and mystery combined with building strong community connections and separating their good features from the mystery.
Last Girl Breathing Overall: 4 stars
I gave this book four stars overall because I really enjoyed this novel and it surprised me how much I enjoyed it.
Blurb/Synopsis:
When the answers to a present-day murder lie in the past, one teen girl must examine a tragic event to prevent more lives from being lost. No one expected it to rain that much. But the rain kept coming, the dam broke, and lives were lost. One was Lucy Michaels’s little brother. She was there and while she saved the lives of many young boy scouts, despite being a child herself, she couldn’t save him.
Now eight years later, Lucy is preparing to graduate from high school and compete in the air rifle competition at the Olympics when her stepbrother goes missing right before his most important football game. The search is focused on the same plot of land where her younger brother died, and she can’t help but draw parallels.
When the search for a missing person becomes a murder investigation, Lucy knows the secrets she holds about what her stepbrother was up to that day could help find the murderer. The clues quickly connect Lucy’s ex-boyfriend to the murders, but he couldn’t be guilty… could he?
Everyone involved has their own secrets and revealing hers to the wrong person could put her life—and her whole town—at risk. Last Girl Breathing is a page-turning hunt for the truth as Court Stevens once again creates nonstop suspense with characters who will break your heart.
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. Today I am sharing with you the five new releases I am most looking forward to getting my hands on in October! I hope you all enjoy. Let me know if you are excited for any of these releases too.
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a wonderful day today.
I am bringing you my book review for Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett, the third in the Queen Investigates series.
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 keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
I hope you all enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you have read this book and what you thought of it.
Murder Most Royal Plot:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Murder Most Royal is the third book in the Queen Investigates series of murder mystery books. In this one Queen Elizabeth II gets involved in a murder investigation after the hand of a wealthy man, known to the Queen, is found washed up on a beach.
I have read all of the books in this series so far, and I absolutely plan to continue with it, but this was probably my least favourite of them so far. The second one, A Three Dog Problem, is my favourite. I enjoy the series because of it’s unique premise but for me this one, although it threw you straight into the action with the discovery of the hand, was the most complicated and confusing. This was good in the fact that it was fun trying to work out all the threads and I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t manage to guess what happened before it was revealed.
I liked that this book took a different route than the first two, in the first two of the series it is revealed very early on who was murdered and how but this book was more complicated because you had the who but there was no actual body.
Murder Most Royal Characters:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
There are two main characters in this series, the first being Queen Elizabeth II and the other being her assistant Rozie.
In the first and second books Rozie is the one who the narration focuses on, she is the main investigator with some input from the Queen. However, what I liked about this third book in the series was that Rozie took a backseat on the investigation while the Queen was more actively investigating. It made the book stand out and feel fresh while still keeping the overall cosy feel of the series.
Murder Most Royal Writing and Dialogue
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Murder Most Royal Overall:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I gave this book four stars overall because it was a very enjoyable read in a very quirky series that fits very well in the cosy crime genre.
Blurb/Synopsis:
December 2016 – A severed hand is found washed up on a beach next to the Queen’s estate at Sandringham. Elizabeth has become quite accustomed to solving even the most complex of murders. And though she quickly identifies the 70-year-old victim, Edward St Cyr, from his signet ring, the search for his killer is not so straightforward. St Cyr led an unconventional, often controversial life, making many enemies along the way in the quiet, rural world of North Norfolk, where everyone knows each other’s business.
But when a second man is found dead, and a prominent local woman is nearly killed in a hit-and-run, the mystery takes an even darker turn. With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Or the next victim may be found even closer to home.
Agatha Christie meets The Crown in MURDER MOST ROYAL, the much-anticipated third book in the ‘Her Majesty The Queen Investigates’ mystery series by SJ Bennett – for fans of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Agatha Christie and M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin.
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. Today I am bringing you my TBR for October, I am hoping that this month I will be able to find time to read and enjoy them as much as I did in September.
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I am bringing you my wrap up for September. I will tell you all now, my reading has taken a backseat because I have now started my final year of my PhD and that is what is taking precedence over everything else at the moment. I was still happy with everything that I got read this month, it wasn’t much but the books I did read I enjoyed more than I have been recently.
Wrap up!
Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood – I did not read, I have to say I was really feeling big fantasy reads this month and as this book is definitely not one of those I wasn’t at all interested in reading it right now.
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson – I did not read – I really want to finish this series but I didn’t get enough time this month!
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace – I did not read, I have seen mixed reviews for this book. I am still very interested in reading it thought.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout – I did not read this. I hoped I would get to this one, I am drawn to it at the moment (spoiler for my October TBR) hence why I am keeping it on my TBR and I will hopefully read it next month instead
Well Met by Jen De Luca – I did not read, another romance and I was not feeling this genre this month
Finale by Stephanie Garber – I did read this! I have finally finished this series and I LOVED it. My review of this book is coming in October so look out for that.
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman – I did not read
The Luminaries by Susan Dennard – I did not read this either
The It Girl by Ruth Ware – I did not read this, actually I did a huge unhaul where I got rid of 107 books and this was one of them.
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft – I did not read
Book Lovers by Emily Henry – I did not read
Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett – I did read this book, another series I am now up to date with
I hope you enjoyed my wrap up, what was your favourite read in September?
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a lovely day today. I found this book tag on hannahsbookshelf.wordpress.com and I thought it would be fun to have a go.
Name a book that makes you cry
I don’t have an answer for this one because books don’t really make me cry, I can find them sad and upsetting but not enough for full tears, not yet at least maybe there is a book out there that will. Any reccommendations?
Name a book that makes you smile
Name a book that makes you feel cosy
Name a book that transports you to a magical place
Name a book that scared you
Name a book with an inspiring female character
I find her inspiring because of her determination, she knows she wants to be an investigator no matter the pressure put on her by society and the limitations they thought a woman should have.
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.
Today I am bringing you my book review for A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson.
I will be giving star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include any spoilers.
I hope you enjoy my book review!
A Very Lively Murder Plot:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
A Very Lively Murder is the second book in the Three Dahlias series by Katy Watson. This book follows Posy Starling, Caro Hooper and Rosalind King as they once again must team up to solve a murder mystery. In this book they are on the set of the new Dahlia Lively film, of which Posy is playing the leading lady, when it becomes clear that Rosalind is receiving death threats and then someone gets murdered.
I loved this book. I enjoyed the first one, The Three Dahlias, but I liked the second one more because I already felt as though I knew the characters and also their relationships with each other were already established too. We, as readers, were able to get stuck straight in to the murder itself. It is hard to say a lot about this book’s plot without revealing any spoilers but what I can say is that there are so many twists even I didn’t solve the mystery before the end, and that is unusual.
A Very Lively Murder Characters:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
As in the first book, the main character we follow is Posy Starling. She is an actress who wants to get the press back on her side after a difficult time as a child star. I like Posy, she is young and vibrant and it is fun to follow a character as they are finding out who they are themselves and we get to go on that journey with them. In this first book Posy felt like a leader but for me, in this second book Rosalind felt like a stronger character. More of the plot was focused around her and her backstory and I loved that we got to see more of her life.
A Very Lively Murder Writing and Dialogue:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
A Very Lively Murder Overall:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
This book was definitely a five star read for me, I am already excited for any future books from this author.
Blurb/Synopsis:
One murder mystery movie. Three Dahlias. And a whole cast of suspects…
Ex-child star Posy Starling is finally filming her dream role – Dahlia Lively in The Lady Detective movie. But things take a nightmare turn when a prop weapon is replaced with the real thing – with almost fatal consequences for her fellow Dahlia, Rosalind King. There’s something very wrong on the set of The Lady Detective – which means it’s time to call in Caro Hooper, so the three Dahlias can investigate.
In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots in London, talk show appearances and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best – surrupticiously sleuth. And very soon the evidence starts to point towards one particular co-star…
But before they can prove it, another murder rocks the production. And this time, with a storm raging, the river flooded and the bridge washed out, there are no police to rely on so it’s up to the three Dahlias to stop a murderer in their tracks… before another victim is claimed.
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’ve all had a good September. I thought it would be fun today to do the Superlatives Book Tag that I found on brigiddowney.com
Best Dressed: A book with a beautiful cover
Class Clown: A book that made you laugh
Cutest couple: A book that features your favourite OTP
Nicest Car: The most expensive book you own
Most Likely to be late: a book that is under hyped and you are still waiting for the fandom to arrive
Most likely to succeed: a first book in a series that is going places
Most athletic: The biggest book you own
Most Intellectual: The most thought provoking book you’ve read
Best All Around: a book or series that you will always recommend to anyone
