Tag: fantasy books

Book Reviews

Book Review: Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

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Happy Monday bookish people! I promise this is the last book review for today. This book review is for Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco, the third book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. The cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous I can’t get over it.

As usual 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.

Escaping From Houdini Plot:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Okay I’ll say it now so that it’s out of the way – this was my least favourite book of the series. It was only because of personal preference. The book is mostly set on a ship and there is a circus type performance group there and I did enjoy this part and how the performers were entwined in the mystery of this book. Honestly I’ll pick up any book that has carnival/circus themes in it – they are very much my type of books. Mostly I did enjoy this plot however (*SLIGHT SPOILERS COMING*) there is a love triangle in this book that I felt impacted my enjoyment, simply because I don’t like love triangles in books, it’s not a trope I like reading. If you do enjoy love triangles then you will probably like this book more than I did.

Escaping From Houdini Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’m still giving the characters four stars because they are amazing characters that I would protect with my life. Audrey Rose Wadsworth I like a bit less in this book than I usually do just because she makes some decisions that I don’t think represented her character that well but these were only a few occasions and for the rest of the book she was her lovely sassy self.

And again, Thomas Cresswell shows me just how great he is. He is witty and intelligent – slightly annoying I’m sure Audrey rose would say but that is how he has been throughout the whole series, nice and consistent. I won’t go on too much I promise… seriously I could talk about him all day -ask anyone who knows me or get to know me and find out for yourself..

Escaping from Houdini Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Kerri Maniscalco is a master, even the scenes that I didn’t enjoy I could feel myself wanting to so badly just because of how good the writing is. If I was even half as good as her I’d be happy.

Escaping From Houdini Overall:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

As I said before on the Stalking Jack the Ripper book review, I rated all these books at the same time. I couldn’t give Escaping From Houdini four stars the same as Stalking Jack the Ripper when my enjoyment wasn’t on the same level. So unfortunately that means Escaping From Houdini only gets three stars.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea.

It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation as even more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?

That’s it for this book review, I hope everyone enjoyed it! Let me know in the comments.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

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Happy Monday bookish people! The second book review of today is for the second book in the series. Hunting Prince Dracula is the second book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco.

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.

Hunting Prince Dracula Plot:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I think you can tell from my star rating that I absolutely LOVED this book. Before reading it I was very intrigued by it being set at Dracula’s castle and how Kerri Maniscalco was going to weave in the mythology to this story – I won’t spoil anything but she did it so well! – and I have always been interested in vampire mythology. I thought that the way the story was told was such a unique take and kept the essence of the characters throughout it as well. I don’t have the words for how much i loved this book – at the beginning of the series if you’d asked me which I would have liked the most I would have said Stalking Jack the Ripper and I would have been wrong.

Hunting Prince Dracula Characters:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

As I said on my book review for Stalking Jack the Ripper Audrey Rose Wadsworth is the type of female protagonist I love to see in books. Strong willed, determined and always in the thick of trouble. She just gets even better in Hunting Prince Dracula, I didn’t think it was possible but she does. She’s out of her comfort zone, away from her family and making new friends who may or may not be people you should trust and it was enjoyable to see how she reacted to everything thrown at her in this book.

And Thomas Cresswell. What can I say, he is very dear to me. That’s probably weird because he’s fictional but never mind. In this book more secrets of his past are revealed and I was completely hooked on finding out what they were. There’s also another side to him that didn’t show very much in Stalking Jack the Ripper, his caring side. I love a character that has layers.

Hunting Prince Dracula Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Same as the first book in the series Kerri Maniscalco’s writing is excellent. I’d even go as far as saying it’s almost the perfect writing style for me. There’s not much more I can say here other than the dialogue really makes this book – it’s one of the many, many, many things I love about Thomas Cresswell!

Hunting Prince Dracula Overall:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I couldn’t give this book anything but five stars. It was amazing, I basically blocked out everyone trying to talk to me until I’d finished it and yeah – read this book! It’s so good.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine… and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

In this New York Times bestselling sequel to Kerri Maniscalco’s haunting #1 debut Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer…or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?

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

Monthly TBRs

April TBR 2021

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Happy Wednesday bookish people! It’s already April and the spring flowers are starting to bloom. I read a very good amount of books in March, twelve I think, and I’m hoping April will be just as successful. I’ve already read one of the books off my April TBR yesterday and I enjoyed it. Once again I’ve given myself a huge TBR, because of course. Outside of my TBR I have some books to read for some exciting book tours that I can’t say anything about just yet…

Onto my TBR!

  • Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles – I’ve realised pretty recently that anything to do with circus elements and I’m already excited for the story so this could end up being a new favourite!
  • The Cousins by Karen M McManus – I read this yesterday evening because I was drawn in by the blurb and I really enjoyed it, I ended up giving it four stars and if you’re interested in reading my thoughts on it I’ll be putting a book review up very soon.
  • The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter by Theodora Goss – I saw Meg With Books on YouTube talk about this series and I thought the premise sounded so interesting, I can’t wait to start reading this series!
  • Furyborn by Claire LeGrand – I’m not sure on this book, it’s a chunky book.. anyone else find big books intimidating?
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses earlier this year I’m so looking forward to reading the next book in the series – I need more Rhysand!
  • Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin – Oh I’ve been looking forward to this one! I’ve heard such good things about it and also from what I’ve heard the dialogue between Lou and Reid sound very cheeky, which I know I’ll love, and it’s enemies to lovers (one of my favourite tropes).
  • Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan – I must admit I don’t know much about this book, at all. I don’t know the plot or the character names… this is going to be an interesting read..
  • Blood Heir by Amilie Wen Zhao – Again I don’t know much about this book but I got it in one of my previous Illumicrate boxes and the cover caught my interest.
  • Save the Date by Morgan Matson – after how much I liked Fangirl I’ve decided that I obviously need to give contemporary books more of a chance so hopefully I’ll enjoy it.
  • The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – this book caught my attention because of the first line and I think the protagonist is going to be unusual and probably morally grey. I love morally grey characters.
  • Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett – I’m thinking this could be a five stars for me because Fae, and it gives me big Six of Crows vibes…
  • All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace – Pirates. That’s all I’m going to say about this one.
  • The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – I love a good mystery book and I’ve heard really good things about this one.

That’s it for my April TBR, let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought of them! At the end of April I will post a wrap up and we will see how well I did or not.

Monthly Wrap Ups

March Wrap-Up

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Happy Wednesday bookish people! It is the last day of March and today I’m bringing you my March wrap up! This was such a good reading month for me. February put me in a big reading slump and for the first half of March I was still feeling it a bit but I did manage to read some books and then there was the Becca and the Books 48 hour Bookopoly reading challenge where I read eight books in one weekend!

Also this month I had more appointments, I got a new teacher for my dramatic writing University module and he’s not much better than the previous one, I completed my first case study for my new job and I’ve started my second one so that’s going well and I still haven’t heard back about my PhD application so that’s a bit worrying but hopefully I’ll hear soon.

It was my birthday in March! I’m now 22 and I keep forgetting and telling people I’m 21… I got a couple of books as presents so I’m happy with that, my sister got me an art set and my boyfriend got me an Alice in Wonderland teapot which I love! I didn’t do any reading on my actual birthday but I’ve read one or two books since – I actually skipped ahead and read one of the books of my April tbr already…

Anyway, I didn’t finish my March tbr but it has been my best reading month so far this year so I’m still pretty happy with how I did. This was my tbr:

  • What A Way To Go by Julia Forster – I did read
  • Uprooted by Niami Novik – I did not read
  • The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige – I did read
  • The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – I did read
  • Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson – I did read
  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I did read
  • The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow – I did not read
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I did not read
  • Map of Days by Ransom Riggs – I did not read
  • Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo – I did read
  • The Library of the Unwritten by A J Hackwith – I did not read
  • Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu – I did read
  • Chain of gold by Cassandra Clare – I did not read
  • A Curse So Dark and Lonely – I did read

What I read: so from my TBR I managed to read eight books which is much better than February but I also read four books that were not from my March TBR which were: The Cousins by Karen M McManus, The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I have put up the book reviews for all the books I read this month except for the Cousins and Lives of Saints so check those out if you’re interested in what I thought of them.

There were also two five star reads this month! Those were Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell which I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did and A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. They were my favourite reads this month.

Most disappointing reads: It’s actually been a really great month, there’s only one book I didn’t enjoy which was What A Way to go by Julia Forster. It just wasn’t for me.

Current reads: well I read the Cousins off my April tbr last night so today I’ll be choosing a new book off my April tbr to start reading and I’m very excited about it.

That’s it for my March wrap up I hope you enjoyed it!