blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: You’ll Be The Death Of Me by Karen M McManus

Happy Saturday bookish people! Today I am so excited to be posting my book review for You’ll Be The Death of Me by Karen M McManus as part of the book tour hosted by TheWriteReads.

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.

You’ll Be The Death of Me Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is another fantastic YA thriller/mystery by Karen M McManus. It is full of perfectly crafter twists that will throw you off for the entire book. I found myself trying to work out the mystery and every time I thought I was getting close some new theory or information was thrown out so I let my intuition guide me and just enjoyed the fast paced novel. I was drawn into the story from the very first chapter until the last page. The only part I didn’t enjoy a much was the ending, there were certain parts of it that I felt were tied up a little too neatly for the characters and the plot of this book.

You’ll Be The Death Of Me Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

There are three main characters in this book, Ivy, Cal and Mateo. They used to be best friends in Middle School but in the beginning of this book they aren’t friends anymore – you find out the reason as the book goes on. Each one of them have their own personal problems and each of them have their own secrets which adds a brilliant tension to the novel. Ivy is a very headstrong female character and I liked how she grew throughout although some of her progression was lost at the end of the novel because of parts of the ending. Cal was a character I disliked from the beginning, to me he was selfish and naïve and caused some of the problems that the characters later had to overcome. Mateo felt like a leader to me, he had this mature, older nature to him that Ivy and Cal didn’t have but again, his secrets led to problems that shouldn’t have been there – which was part of the tension of the novel. One thing I didn’t like was that the characters didn’t always receive realistic repercussions for their actions.

You’ll Be The Death of Me Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I love Karen M McManus’ writing, I own all her books and I have read two of them, The Cousins and One Of Us Is Lying. The mysteries are consistently intriguing and well structured.

You’ll Be The Death of Me Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because it was an enjoyable and pulse-raising read.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up…. again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say…

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.

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

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone

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:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Things To Do At The End Of The World by Emily Barr

Happy Saturday bookish people! I don’t usually post on a Saturday but today there’s a special reason – I am part of the blog tour for Things To Do At The End Of The World by Emily Barr! Thank you to The Write Reads and Penguin for sending me a copy of this book to read and review for the tour.

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!

Things To Do At The End Of The World Plot:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

From the outset I found this plot very interesting – it is full of adventure, travelling and getting the confidence to do things that perhaps you might not have done otherwise. I think this book has a very important message, that you don’t know what is going to happen in life and that you should grab opportunities with both hands. This is something that really resonated with me while reading, life is to be enjoyed.

I did feel that this book was more like two separate books shoved into one and for me it didn’t quite work. I thought on their own, the end of the world part and the discovering you have a cousin part, would be very interesting stories however, they didn’t work together – in my opinion.

Things To Do Before The End Of The World Characters:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I loved seeing the growth of Libby (Olivia) throughout this book. The way she changed and gained confidence doing different things was fascinating to read about. I’m also slightly biased because I’m also called Olivia and I love reading books with characters that have my name.

The character of Natasha was written very well, as soon as she was introduced there was an unnerving presence surrounding her and that continued well throughout, giving the book an element of mystery which stopped the plot from becoming slow.

Things To Do Before The End Of The World Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Emily Barr’s writing was a pleasure to read. Recently I’ve been reading books where the writing style is hit or miss but Emily’s is smooth and consistent. I really enjoyed it. This book doesn’t have a big focus on dialogue so I thought it was okay but there wasn’t that much in the story.

Things To Do Before The End Of The World Overall:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I gave this book three stars because I did enjoy my reading of it, however, I don’t think I’m likely to pick up this book again.

Ultimate Tour Penguin UK

Things To Do Before The End of  The World

by

Emily Barr

Blurb

A timely and powerful coming-of-age thriller from the bestselling author of The One Memory of Flora Banks.

***

What would you do when you hear the news that humans have done such damage to the earth that there might only be a limited amount of safe air left – a year’s worth at most?
You’d work through your bucket list, heal rifts, do everything you’ve never been brave enough to do before?

Olivia is struggling to do any of this. What it is she truly wants to do? Who do she wants to be?

Then out of the blue comes contact from a long-lost cousin Olivia didn’t even know existed. Natasha is everything Olivia wants to be and more. And as the girls meet up for a long, hot last summer, Olivia finds Natasha’s ease and self-confidence having an effect on her.

But Natasha definitely isn’t everything she first appears to be . . .

Length: 368  Pages

Emily Barr

I started out working as a journalist in London, but always hankered after a quiet room and a book to write. I managed, somehow, to get commissioned to go travelling for a year, and came home with the beginnings of a novel set in the world of backpackers in Asia. This became Backpack, a thriller which won the WH Smith New Talent Award, and I have since written eleven more novels for adults, one novella, and three book for Young Adults, published in the UK and around the world. I live in Cornwall with my husband Craig and our children.

Website: https://www.emilybarr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emily_barr

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