Happy Friday bookish people! My goodness the end of the year has arrived very quickly and it is time to do my yearly wrap up. For this year I am going to show a picture of the book cover of every book I have read this year all broken down into categories determined by the star rating I gave the book.
overall, this year I have only managed to read 49 books, compared to over 100 last year.
2 star
This year I read no books that I disliked so much that I gave them one star, it was close but I eventually decided the books in the two star category are:
In my 3 star category are:
4 star ratings
and finally… my two books I read this year that I rated five stars are…..
Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you a book review for Lily by Rose Tremain. This is a mystery/historical fiction book with a beautiful cover that sounded so good to me, I read the blurb and I was desperate to read it and I have to say I was disappointed.
In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each of them. Now, usually I say here I will try not to include spoilers but that’s not easy for this book so I will be giving spoilers to this book in this book review. If you don’t want to be spoiled I would recommend reading the book before you read this review.
*SPOILERS*
Lily Plot:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
The blurb of this book sold it to me as a story of a young woman who gets into a romance with a policeman, after having murdered someone in her troubled past. I thought it would be an exciting cat and mouse style chase while she tries to not be discovered. Instead what I got was 150 pages before I even found out what the murder was and where it happened and soon after the reader learns that although the policeman believes it was murder, he wasn’t even investigating it. It took all the (already very limited) suspense out of the novel. For me there was too much description in this book, it details almost every aspect of Lily’s life, all throughout her childhood at the children’s orphanage and the treatment she suffered there and then her employment at the wig emporium. As a reader I didn’t need most of this, some of the chapters about Bridget her friend and her fate, and the abuse she suffered were relevant especially because it shows the reader why the murder happened. But the rest was too much unnecessary information. There was also a plot point about her trying to find out who her mother was and why she was left in the park in the snow, this is never completed. It seems to just get forgotten about in the book.
Lily Character:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Lily is the main character, and I didn’t feel anything for her. I understood that you were meant to have an emotional connection to her because of her backstory but I didn’t get that from the story. I wanted to see more of the policeman, Sam Trench, he barely featured and definitely not in the ways the synopsis suggested he would be.
Lily Writing and Dialogue:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
This book did manage to get the feel of a Victorian novel, dark and sensory and this was put across in the writing, which was good but the dialogue wasn’t as good as I expected.
Lily Overall:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
I gave this book two stars because, as I am sure my review shows, this book wasn’t what I thought it would be and I was very disappointed.
Blurb/Synopsis:
Nobody knows yet that she is a murderer…
Abandoned at the gates of a London park one winter’s night in 1850, baby Lily Mortimer is saved by a young police constable and taken to the London Foundling Hospital. Lily is fostered by an affectionate farming family in rural Suffolk, enjoying a brief childhood idyll before she is returned to the Hospital, where she is punished for her rebellious spirit. Released into the harsh world of Victorian London, Lily becomes a favoured employee at Belle Prettywood’s Wig Emporium, but all the while she is hiding a dreadful secret…
Across the years, policeman Sam Trench keeps watch over the young woman he once saved. When Sam meets Lily again, there is an instant attraction between them and Lily is convinced that Sam holds the key to her happiness – but might he also be the one to uncover her crime and so condemn her to death?
Happy Sunday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day. Today I am bringing you my April wrap up and I’m so glad to say that my reading has been a little bit better this month, not amazing to the extent that I was at this time last year but so much better than March and February. So I’m going to get straight into which books I did and didn’t read in April!
Small Favours by Erin A Craig – I did not read this book – I just wasn’t in the mood for this style of plot this month
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – I finally managed to read this book, my review for it will be up soon but I really enjoyed it
Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard-Robinson – I have started this book but I haven’t finished it yet, it’s a pretty big book so it might take me some time
Rose by Holly Webb – I did read this book
there was a non-bookish prompt and for this I had a nice warm bath and I watched some videos
Lily by Rose Tremain – I did read this book too so a review of this book will also be up soon
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros – I did not read this book
The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant – I read this book too!
Down Comes the Night by Alison Saft – I did not read this book
Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – I did not read this book and I’m sad about that because I am really excited for it
Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – I am currently 3/4 of the way through this book and it is also on my May tbr so I will be finishing it in the next few days
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – I did not read this book
The Five – I did not read this book
A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske – I did not read this book but it is on my May tbr
Cecily by Annie Garthwaite – Again I didn’t read this book but it is on my May tbr
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len – I didn’t read this book
Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb – I did not read this book
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore – I did read this book!
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson – I did not read this book
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – I did not read this book – I did take it all the way to London with me and then still didn’t read it
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas – I did not read this
So that was what I did and didn’t read in April. I ended up reading 5 books and started two others, one of which I will finish in a few days so I am really happy with that.
Happy Friday bookish people! Today I am bringing you my April TBR which includes what books I will be reading for the prompts of the Easter readathon I am co-hosting this month.
Once again, my TBR game gave me a lot of rolls so there are quite a few books to read this month, I am hoping that my reading will improve this month.
So, onto my TBR!
Flower – first book you look at: Small Favours by Erin A Craig – I read her first book, House of Salt and Sorrows and really enjoyed it so I am looking forward to this one
Chocolate – Plot twist: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – this is a book that I have been putting off but I am looking forward to reading it
Cake – Multiple POV: Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard-Robinson – I think this book has multiple points of view but also, it is a haunting, dark victorian mystery so it sounds right up my alley
Bunny – a short read: Rose by Holly Webb – I read this book when I was younger but I love this story
The sun – a non-book, self care prompt: I am not sure what I will do for this, probably watch some bookish videos and have a warm bath
Moon – a mystery: Lily by Rose Tremain – I am so excited to read this book
Carrot – a title starts with a c: The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
The Mapmakers by Tamzen Merchant – I loved the hatmakers so I am very excited to continue this series
Down comes the night by Alison Saft – I love Victorian, gothic themed novels
Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – I love his books and the premise of this book sounds really good
Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – I am two books away from finishing this series so I would love to read this one soon
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – this is another book that has been on my TBR for a long time
The Five: the untold story of the victims of Jack the ripper – I love anything about the jack the ripper mystery and I think it is great to see the women he killed as women
A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske – I got this in my Illumicrate box and it sounds very interesting
Cecily by Anne Garthwaite – I am looking forward to reading historical fiction again
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len – this sounds very dark and fantastical
Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb – I am excited to start reading the Hobb books
Bringing down the duke by Evie Dunmore – this will be interesting to try and read another genre outside of my comfort zone
An enchantment of ravens by Margaret Rogerson – the cover is beautiful and I love this author’s writing
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – this book looks like it has a morally grey male lead that I think i will like
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas – carrying on over from March TBR
Happy Friday bookish people! I can’t believe it is March already! I thought it might be fun to share with you all some of the books I own that I think have beautiful covers.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow
Shadow and Bone Collectors Edition by Leigh Bardugo
Where Dreams Descend and When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Traitors Ruin by Erin Beaty
The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
Lily by Rose Tremain
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Hatmakers and The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
That’s it for this post, I hope you enjoyed it. What are some of your most beautiful books?
Home | The Blind Scribe 