Tag: five star

Book Reviews

Book Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day.

Okay, so it is time. If you’ve seen any of my blogs since the beginning of 2025 you’ll have seen that I finally read the Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros. I know I’m later to it than most people and I will explain. When this book first came out I thought it sounded okay but the idea of a war college kind of put me off, then there was all the hype around it so I swore I wouldn’t read it, it wasn’t for me blah blah blah. Then the more I saw about it I realised I actually did want to read it. Then Iron Flame came out so quickly afterwards and I put it off. Then finally, the paperbacks of the first two went on sale so I bought them and I wanted to make sure I read them before Onyx Storm came out so I could get the hardback of that. I ended up reading Fourth Wing a week before Onyx Storm came out.. and of course, I loved it. So, here is my review – and if you are wondering it will be as spoiler free as I can make it and my review of Iron Flame is coming on monday, and Onyx Storm review next friday so watch out for those if you are interested!

Let me know in the comments what you thought of Fourth Wing!

Blurb/Synopsis:

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

My Review:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I want to start by saying, yes finally to some representation of chronic pain. I hardly ever see that in a book and never have I seen it done this well, you can see Violet struggles with it but it doesn’t stop her, other characters making allowances – it’s just great. Now onto the actual substance of the book. It has dragons, it has deadly trials. It has a friendship group I’d sell my soul to be with. What else can I say?
Violet is the character you are in the perspective of. I like Violet, I think sometimes her thoughts and actions are a bit messy and perhaps a bit young for her age? But also I can give her grace because she’s a warrior and she was meant to be a scribe so suddenly having to train in a different quadrant with all its secrets will have upended her life and I can understand that would make a person a bit messy. In this first book my favourite character was a tie between Rhiannon, one of Violet’s friends, and Xaden the wingleader. (Actually I’m lying – it’s the dragons but I can’t choose between them so I’m keeping them as a seperate level of character). I loved the uniqueness of the magic system, not the actual magic abilities themselves they were some tried and true favourites so were great but the way characters accessed their magic and the limits it gave them I found very intriguing. This first novel didn’t feel like it was there just to set up the world and the characters, there was so much action I sat there and read the whole book in a day. I instantly moved onto the second book Iron Flame, review coming Monday.

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My 5* Predictions

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all good. Today I am bringing you a blog post about all the books I own and haven’t read yet that I think will be a five star rating. I believe there are nineteen books I think I will give five stars which in comparison to the 300+ books I own and haven’t read is not that many.

Up first is…

Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I am excited to get around to reading this book because I have seen so many people read it and love it recently which makes me really want to read it soon. Also, it is my first proper adult fantasy, as I am trying to branch out of YA. I will still be reading that genre just not as much.

Up next is…

Sabriel by Garth Nix

I bought the rest of this series after I read Lireal earlier this year. My partner persuaded me to read it, he even bought it for me that’s how much he wanted me to read it, and I ended up loving it so I think I will have the same reaction to the rest of the series including Sabriel and the book up next…

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

I also anticipate the next two books in a series will be a five star read…

The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale is a very dark fantasy read but I loved it! And I gave it five stars so I am excited to read the rest of the series and I have high hopes that I will enjoy them just as much as the first book.

Now the next group of books is also a series – this is a common theme for me, if I read the first book and give it five stars immediately I anticipate the rest of the series getting five stars too..

Queenslayer, Crownbreaker, Way of the Argosi and Fall of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

I absolutely love this series, I have read Spellslinger, Shadowblack, Charmcaster and Soulbinder so far and every single one of them has been so enjoyable. I haven’t actually given any of this series five stars so far but I really think the rest of these books are going to push me to giving that five star rating.

Finale by Stephanie Garber

This is the last book in the Caraval series, I love the first book. I gave Caraval five stars and it is one of my favourite books I have read. I didn’t like Legendary as much but I still liked it and I can’t wait to finish this series.

Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco

I loved reading Kingdom of the Wicked, the first book in the series, and the main characters are some of my favourites in all the books I’ve read. I can’t wait to be back in that world and see what happens next with Emilia and Wrath.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

I loved both her other books and something I really like is that they are all standalones and I get a full story all in one, it gives me a good feeling when I finish the book and so I am excited to read this one as well. I think it’s about nuns which sounds pretty interesting.

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

The Truly Devious series is a great mystery series with plenty of twists to keep you guessing and I am hoping this next segment of that series is going to be just like that.

Master of One by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett

I am highly anticipating this book because to me it has the same structure as six of crows, with a heist and a group of misfits being forced together. This is the type of fantasy adventure I really enjoy.

Blood and Honey and Gods and Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

I loved Serpent and Dove and the whole premise of the story so I definitely think that the next two in the series will also be five star reads just like the first one.

and finally…

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Tudors is my favourite period of history and I love any book that is about them and I have heard such good things about the Wolf Hall series so I am excited to try it.

That’s it for all of my five star predictions, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

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Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you the book review for one of my favorite books that I have read – Caraval by Stephanie Garber! I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you all.

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.

Caraval Plot:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I happened to pick this book up in a WhSmith in one of those service stations on the motorway while on a long car journey because I liked the sound of a circus-y themed competition story. I didn’t know then that this book would start an obsession with all things circus, particularly books with that setting. I love the plot of this book, it is filled to the brim with magic and escapism and one of the things I always love in books – not knowing who or what you can trust. This book completely messes with your head while at the same time being joyously beautiful and whimsical, dashed with danger. I could not put this book down.

Caraval Characters:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Scarlett Dragna is one of two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, and in Caraval we follow Scarlett after Tella goes missing and Scarlett must compete in Caraval to find her. She is headstrong and fierce, especially in her loyalty to her sister. Scarlett is the character that I wish I could be (and who I will be dressing up as for YALC next year). The other character who features heavily in this book is Julian de Santos, he’s a cheeky, charming, mysterious man often described as looking like a rogue/pirate. As soon as I read that I knew I was going to love him, he’s definitely in my top five male book characters.

Caraval Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Stephanie Garber is an exceptionally good writer who has such talent that she drew me in from the very first sentence of the book and has captured my interest ever since. I have read the first and second book in the series so far and I find myself thinking on it all the time.

Caraval Overall:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I had to give this book five stars because as I said, it is one of my favourite books I have ever read.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.

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

Book Reviews

Book Review: Crescent City by Sarah J Maas

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Happy Monday bookish people! It’s Monday which means it’s time for another book review post.

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.

Crescent City Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

To begin with I was undecided if I was going to buy this book or not because I owned the whole Throne of Glass series and the whole A Court of Thorns and Roses series but I hadn’t read any of them yet – plus this book is huge! It actually didn’t take me as long to get around to this book as I thought it would. I wanted some good fantasy and that is exactly what I got. One of the things that I loved about this book was how information and secrets was weaved throughout the book. The mystery it self had so many parts to it, and there was a lot of things that were a cause and effect. The tension in this book was so good, I didn’t know which characters were lying and telling the truth.

Crescent City Characters:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I loved the main characters in this book. Bryce is a very fiery female lead, I loved her wit and personality. I loved that she had flaws, and they were explored properly – they had consequences and this isn’t often shown in books. Then there’s Hunt who I think balanced out Bryce’s character well although he also got under her skin.

Crescent City Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This book convinced me to read some of Sarah J Maas’ other books because I enjoyed the writing style. I especially loved the dialogue between Bryce and Hunt, dialogue is one of my favourite parts of books usually.

Crescent City Overall:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I gave this book five stars overall because I loved my reading experience and I really enjoyed getting to know the characters.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Happy Monday bookish people! Today I’m bringing you two book reviews, of which this is the first, and I ended up reading both of these books in June.

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.

The Lost Apothecary Plot:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

One of my favourite things about this book was the worldbuilding, for both the past and the present tense. I felt like I was walking the streets with the characters. This book is told through the interwoven stories of two, technically three but I won’t spoil anything there, women – one from the past and one in the present discovering what happened in the past while dealing with all the things happening in her life. The way the stories are interwoven is incredible, it was smooth and clear where we were and when and I loved being able to see both sides of the apothecary. This plot was very different to anything I’ve read before, it’s a combination between mystery and historical fiction. It’s actually the book that made me realise I really love historical mystery books (then I bought up a few of them…).

The Lost Apothecary Characters:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Both of the women that you follow within this book have many layers that are constantly being explored and challenged throughout the novel. One of the things I liked the most about them was that they had flaws, and these flaws are part of the catalysts that set events in motion. The way the women led this story was a great thing to see, they are strong in different ways and it shows them taking control of their own lives. I won’t spoil anything about the ending but the characters never stray from their personalities and this is what leads eventually to the ending – which by the way ended perfectly for me.

The Lost Apothecary Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It did take me a few chapters to get comfortable with the writing style in this book however once I got past that I began to enjoy how it was written and how the writing style fit with both time periods and the characters within them.

The Lost Apothecary Overall:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I gave this book five stars overall because I just couldn’t give it anything less. The world building, the mystery, the strong female leads – everything about this book was amazing and I couldn’t put it down.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive. 

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

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!