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My June TBR and Thoughts:

Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell – I read the first chapter.. I’m not going to count this as reading because the first chapter is only about ten pages.

Deadly Curious by Cindy Astley – I did read this one! You can find my book review of it here:https://theblindscribe.com/2021/06/14/book-review-deadly-curious-by-cindy-astley/

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater – I did not read this book.

Fable by Adrienne Young – I did not get around to this book.

The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant – I did read this book! My review of it is here: https://theblindscribe.com/2021/06/07/book-review-the-hatmakers-by-tamzin-merchant/

I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan – I started this book while travelling to Bristol and back during this month but I wasn’t in the right mood for how dark this book is so I stopped reading at the halfway point.

Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova – I did not read this.

Master of One by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett – I did not read this either.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I didn’t read this.

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake – I didn’t read.

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard – I did not read.

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin – I read this! and LOVED it, I can’t believe it took me so long to get around to reading this.

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri maniscalco – This was a reread but yes I did reread this! You can find my review here:https://theblindscribe.com/2021/04/26/book-review-stalking-jack-the-ripper-by-kerri-maniscalco/

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner – I read this one also!

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M McManus – I did not read.

I read 12 books and started another two so June was a pretty good reading month, hopefully July will be just as successful. That’s it for my June wrap up, I hope you enjoyed it!

Happy Sunday everyone! Today is my stop on the book tour for Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone. Thank you to The Write Reads and Scribner Books for giving me a NetGalley copy of this book to read and review.

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

Mirrorland Plot:

This book is a dark psychological thriller. I’ll admit that personally this book was a bit too dark for me, but I still very much enjoyed the novel. It was fast paced and filled with tension, enough tension that I could feel my hands tightening on my ipad more than once. This book brilliantly shows what is happening both in the present with the disappearance of El and what has happened in the past between the sisters and some of the other characters. I liked the contrast of this, it gave the mystery another, in my opinion creepier, level that made the book even more interesting.

This book had the wonderful quality of the setting becoming that of not only a dark house in an isolated place perfect for mysteries, but also a child’s make believe world. This resonated with me as I’ve always been, and still am, someone who has imaginary worlds and stories in their head all the time. And then there was the ending. The ending was masterful. A complete twist that I never would have expected.

Mirrorland Characters:

The characters in this book are very cleverly plotted and written. I did not know who could be trusted and who couldn’t throughout the whole of the book, that includes the main character Cat. Each character felt like they had their own background and their own secrets, I’m a very curious person and what I wanted most was to find out everything, to find out who was lying and what really happened. This is a testament to the author’s writing that I wanted to know these things so badly.

Mirrorland Writing and Dialogue:

As I said above, Carole Johnstone’s writing in this book is brilliant. It completely immersed me in the world and in the story.

Mirrorland Overall:

I gave this book four stars overall because I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was well written and cleverly plotted. Its one of my top books so far this year.

Blurb/synopsis:

Publisher: Penguin

Length: 320 Pages

Age/Genre: Adult Thriller

Publishing: 20th April 2021

ISBN: 9781982136352

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BZXHFR2/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304146

Blurb

Twelve years ago my life began again.

But it was a lie.

With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is the story of twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind.

Cat lives in Los Angeles, about as far away as she can get from her estranged twin sister El and No. 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where they grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.

But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to the grand old house, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. No. 36 Westeryk Road is still full of shadowy, hidden corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues all over the house: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting…

A sharply crafted mystery about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Ruth Ware, and Daphne du Maurier.

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

Tag: carole johnstone

June Wrap Up!