Book Tags

Valentine’s Day Book Tag

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well! It is almost Valentine’s Day and I am sure many people will be celebrating. Personally, I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. This year I wouldn’t anyway as the relationship I was in, ended in December but even if we were still together it’s not an event I usually celebrate, I think if you want to show you care for someone you should do it any day of the year not just a socially sanctioned day.

Anyway, today I am answering a Valentine’s Day Book Tag that I found on Booksare42.com, just for a bit of fun. Let me know some of your answers too!

  1. Name a stand alone book that you love

Honestly, I don’t read that many standalone books. Most of what I read are series. As with many of these questions I am going to go with the first book that came to my head and that is Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, it was one of my favourite books of last year and I still find myself thinking about it at random times throughout the day. It definitely captured a piece of my soul.

  1. Name a dystopian book that you love

For this question, I’m quite predictable. I was there for all the Hunger Games and the Divergent era. I loved both of them. In terms of more recently what I have been reading, I only recently started reading the Shatter Me series by Taherah Mafi which I think counts as dystopian and I am really enjoying that, I am currently reading book four Restore Me.

  1. A book that you love that no one else talks about

Lets see, I really enjoyed The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner and I never see anyone talking about that book. It was short but pulled me in from the very first page.

  1. Your favourite book couple

This is probably the hardest question here. I love a lot of book couples: Feyre and Rhysand, Xaden and Violet, Thomas Cresswell and Audrey-Rose Wadsworth. The list could go on forever. I think my top choice though, has to be Julian and Scarlet from Caraval by Stephanie Garber, I adore this couple. They’re not perfect but I love them to pieces.

  1. Name a book that other love but you haven’t read yet

Ah, there are a lot of these. I’ll go with an obvious one, Alchemised. I own it, thanks to my friend who bought it for me for Christmas. Fun Fact: I only had to pick it up in its wrapping paper and I knew what book it was from the weight of it. I am put off by it being fanfiction originally and being said to be so dark but I do want to give it a fair chance.

  1. A book with red on the cover

It probably came to my mind first because it is on my February TBR but Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo has some red on the cover. I am excited to finally be finishing the series this month, I didn’t love the first book but I did love Six of Crows so I decided to continue with it and I did enjoy the second book, so now I will finish the series.

  1. A book with pink on the cover

Probably not the best choice for a romantic, loving day but I suppose it is technically a romance? But Butcher and Blackbird was the book that came to mind first with pink on the cover. Honestly, I don’t have very any pink books so I’ll have to stick with this one. I haven’t read it yet, I’m a bit scared about the serial killer element but I have heard good things so I will eventually read it.

  1. If you had a box of chocolates which fictional boy/girl would you give them to?

Ooh, tough question. Same as choosing a fictional couple, there are so many choices for me. I think I am always going to have to go with my favourite man though, Thomas Cresswell from the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco. He wouldn’t appreciate the chocolates, he’d probably pull a face and walk away but I’d still try.

  1. If you are single on Valentine’s Day which book will you read and which TV show/Film will you watch?

I will be reading one of my February TBR books, most likely A Death in Diamonds by S J Bennett, the fourth book in her Majesty the Queen investigates series. I am currently rewatching old Merlin episodes so that’s probably what I will be watching that day too.

  1. Finally, if you were in a bookshop and shot by Cupid’s arrow, what new release will you love?

I already know the answer to this one! As I am writing this I am waiting for my pre-order of this book to arrive. I will read absolutely anything this author puts out. It is of course, Throne of Nightmares by Kerri Maniscalco. This is the third book in the Princes of Sin series, the spin off to the Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy. Each book in this series follows a different prince of sin, we have had envy and gluttony so far I think, but this one is Sloth! He has a castle full of libraries and books, I have been waiting not at all patiently for this book. I am literally going into hospital for a big operation two days after it releases so I will be taking that one with me to take my mind off everything.

Monthly TBRs

February TBR

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. It is February and that means it is time to think about my TBR for this month.

February is only a short month so I have made my TBR a bit shorter too, if I finish it then I get the fun of choosing any books I like from my shelves.

One thing I wanted to achieve this year was to continue (and finish!) the series’ that I have already started so this month I am making some progress with this plan.

Murder on Platform Four by Irina Shapiro

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

Throne of Nightmares by Kerri Mansicalco

A Death In Diamonds by S J Bennett

The Midnight Carousel

What are you excited to read in February?

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review: Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo

Happy Easter Monday bookish people! I hope everyone is having a great day. Today I’m bringing you another book review. I think by now I have every book by Leigh Bardugo because I very much enjoy her writing and her characters, so of course when Lives of Saints came out I had to buy it.

In this book review I will give star ratings for 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.

Plot:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

This book being a collection of short stories about each of the different saints in the world of the Grisha there isn’t a particular plot to give a star rating to. So for this category I’ve given it an average three stars because some of the stories I enjoyed more than others, as is normal with short story collections.

Characters:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The same with this category, each story has different characters so I couldn’t give it more than three stars because some of them I liked better than others. However, every story had clearly defined and interesting characters that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about.

Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I can’t comment much on the dialogue other than it fit the stories it was included in very well. The writing style was excellent, and I expected it to be because of how much I always enjoy Leigh Bardugo’s writing.

Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because of the enjoyment I had reading it. As a collection of short stories that are a companion to the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology it is well written and gives useful background to the stories. I was glad that it lived up to my expectations that I have for anything Leigh Bardugo. It is not essential reading for the series but if you enjoy the world Leigh Bardugo has created then this may be a great read for you.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Enter the world of the Grishaverse and Shadow and Bone, soon to be a Netflix original series!

Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse.

These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.

This beautiful collection includes stunning full-color illustrations of each story.

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