Tag: reading

Review: Witches Steeped in Gold (#1) by Ciannon Smart

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Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom – and vengeance.
Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.
Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain – except the lengths they will go to win this game.

I don’t even know what to say about this book, because I remember nothing. I had a strange inkling that I might not enjoy this book, and honestly I should have listened to that inkling. I finally decided to pick this book up because the author is going to be at YALC this year, and I also decided to listen to the audiobook.

Often, when I read a book on audio, I make every excuse to why I might not have enjoyed it. Maybe I was distracted? Maybe the format didn’t work for me? Maybe I had the speed too fast? But with this book, I am going with my gut and saying I don’t think the reason I disliked this one is because of me. It’s not me, it’s Witches Steeped in Gold.

Though the night is flush with stars, 

This book is just so long and I also don’t feel like anything happened. If you asked me to describe this book, I could still only tell you what is covered in the synopsis. I feel like there is so much attempted to pack into this series that it just all went completely over my head.

The only thing I do remember about this book is that they spoke in Jamaican Patois, which I found interesting to read and I liked that it was discussed in the book itself too.

the sky still seems like a lid of earth closing atop a grave.

Honestly, I would have most likely DNF’d this book if I hadn’t have already purchased the audiobook. I don’t think I’d have gotten through the physical copy, and I won’t be continuing with the series.

★★
2 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

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Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family—and from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?
Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.
The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitating toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

It was very odd going into this one straight after reading The Love Hypothesis, because this one actually had a little bit of a reflection of the plot, in a way. Dimple and Rishi meet at a summer program before college, and the romance mixed with academia did remind me of a younger The Love Hypothesis.

When Dimple Met Rishi is actually one of the books that had been on my TBR for the longest, and I’ve probably had it sitting on my shelves for almost 5 years. Because of that, I have been quite hesitant to pick it up, as I just felt like this one would be too young for me. Although it does come across as quite young, I did still enjoy it more than I expected.

This is our life. We get to decide the rules.

I quickly found myself jumping into the story, and I really liked the summer program setting, which I could picture well and made it super easy to read – just what I needed. Delving into this one on long summer days was just perfect! The fact this one discusses arranged marriages and Indian traditions gave it an extra element too, and I liked having different sides from both Dimple and Rishi.

However, I did find this book quite predictable, and it also felt quite a lot older than it actually was. If I’d have guessed, I’d have imagined this book was released around 2010. I can’t pinpoint the reasons why, but I’ve seen more detailed reviews (like this one) calling out some issues such as sexism, which although I didn’t notice at the time per se, I can see on reflection and may be why it felt so dated to me.

We get to say what goes and what stays, what matters and what doesn’t.

Overall, I did enjoy this one but it wasn’t amazing. I can see why this book has a lot of fans, and it was a nice easy read when I needed something to dive into, but I don’t think I’ll be carrying on with the series.

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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ARC Review: Better the Blood by Michael Bennett

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A DETECTIVE IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH
Hana Westerman is a tenacious Ma¯ori detective juggling single motherhood and the pressures of her career in Auckland’s Central Investigation Branch. When she’s led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man hanging in a secret room. As Hana and her team work to track down the killer, other deaths lead her to think that they are searching for New Zealand’s first serial killer.
A KILLER IN SEARCH OF RETRIBUTION
With little to go on, Hana must use all her experience as a police officer to try and find a motive to these
apparently unrelated murders. What she eventually discovers is a link to an historic crime that leads back to the brutal bloody colonisation of New Zealand.
A CLASH BETWEEN CULTURE AND DUTY
When the pursuit becomes frighteningly personal, Hana realises that her heritage and knowledge are their only keys to finding the killer.
THE PAST NEVER TRULY STAYS BURIED
But as the murders continue, it seems that the killer’s agenda of revenge may include Hana – and her family . . .
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF PARADISE. 

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such an interesting combination of thriller and historical. I was initially quite hesitant to dive into this one as I don’t really read historical fiction at all – but this one is actually set in contemporary New Zealand with a historical influence.

I liked the main character, Hana, who gave us a modern voice for this story. She also had a lot of depth and her own secrets, which are revealed throughout the book alongside the historical background. Hana’s story also included a lot of discussions of family and relationships that added another layer to the story.

The pacing of this book did feel quite slow, however, and I didn’t feel like I wanted to go back to reading it and honestly haven’t retained a lot of information about the book since. The atmosphere was quite good, and I could picture the story well, which I imagine would translate well to screen.

The best part of this book was definitely the historical connection and the way it was reflected in a modern setting without feeling too heavy or literary. However, it didn’t find it as compelling as I would hope from a thriller, which did disappoint me.

★★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: That Green Eyed Girl by Julie Owen Moylan

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1955: In a cramped apartment on the Lower East Side, school teachers Dovie and Gillian live as lodgers, unable to reveal the truth about their relationship. They guard their private lives fiercely – until someone guesses their secret.
1975: Twenty years on, in the same apartment, Ava Winters is desperately trying to conceal her mother’s fragile mental state from the critical eyes of their neighbours. But, one sweltering July morning, Ava’s mother escapes.
Alone after her mother’s departure, Ava takes delivery of a parcel. The box is addressed only to ‘Apartment 3B’, and contains a photograph of a woman with the word ‘LIAR’ scrawled across her face.
Seeking refuge from her own crisis, Ava determines to track the owner of the photograph down. And, in so doing, discovers a shocking chain of kindnesses, lies and betrayals – with one woman at the centre of it all…

Thank you to the publishers, Penguin, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I wanted to read it. I was so drawn in by the idea of this parcel turning up on a doorstep, and a journey of finding out was in the photograph…

And this book definitely didn’t let me down. I picked up the audiobook, which I really enjoyed and would definitely recommend if this one appeals to you. I really liked the multiple points of view in this book and the way it flicked between time periods in the same apartment. I find sometimes with multiple POV, I end up being more invested in one character than another, and although I did prefer reading about Dovie and Gillian more, I still found myself invested in Ava’s story. Ava was the only part of the story that let it down slightly though, and I did find her voice to be a tad immature in comparison to the rest of the book.

It’s difficult to define the exact genre of this book – thriller seems too harsh, but is probably the closest. It’s more like a historical thriller with an edge of tragedy which courses through the story and feels inevitable from the very beginning, but also had a great New York atmosphere that I loved. The characters are such a big focus of this book but don’t take away from the plot or the pacing, instead making it easy to sympathise with and follow their stories. I was left feeling emotional as I learned more about their backgrounds and lives.

This is more gentle than a thriller, more atmospheric than a historical, and more character-driven than a mystery. It is many things rolled into one, but I enjoyed it all the same.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

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This novel is about a woman called Martha. She knows there is something wrong with her but she doesn’t know what it is. Her husband Patrick thinks she is fine. He says everyone has something, the thing is just to keep going.
Martha told Patrick before they got married that she didn’t want to have children. He said he didn’t mind either way because he has loved her since he was fourteen and making her happy is all that matters, although he does not seem able to do it.
By the time Martha finds out what is wrong, it doesn’t really matter anymore. It is too late to get the only thing she has ever wanted. Or maybe it will turn out that you can stop loving someone and start again from nothing – if you can find something else to want. 

This book isn’t one I’d necessarily pick up, but after hearing it has tones of Dolly Alderton’s Ghosts (which I adored!), I really wanted to give it a go. I picked up the audiobook for this one and I really enjoyed it, and the narrator really engaged me.

This book focuses massively on mental health and an undiagnosed mental illness that is never named in the book. This mental illness has a massive impact on the main characters life, but it doesn’t detract from the rest of the story either. I still found it super interesting to read about Martha’s family, friendships and relationship with her husband Patrick.

Everything is broken and messed up and completely fine.

I also want to point out that this book is really funny. It’s deeply, darkly, richly funny, but funny all the same. There are lines that have stayed with me since I read it almost a month ago, that stood out and I still chuckle at and repeat to people. Not only does this remind me how much I enjoyed this book, but it gives me so many chances to recommend this book to others because I do still recommend this one a lot.

Although I didn’t have many issues with this book, one of my major issues was the diagnosis itself. I didn’t, and still don’t quite, know how to feel about it. It is very natural to want to know what the diagnosis is, and I felt the same while reading it. I think it’s really important that this book does contain elements of a lot of mental illnesses because readers can see themselves in Martha, but I also feel like this book walked a fine line between building on a stigma that already exists.

There is a big element of this diagnosis that talks about the stigma surrounding Martha’s mental illness. And I feel like the best way to combat stigma is to talk about the mental illness. So there is a big part of my brain that feels like this book could potentially add to the stigma rather than detract from it.

That is what life is. It’s only the ratios that change. usually on their own.

I really enjoyed this book overall and I definitely will continue to recommend it. There is a part of me that still feels quite torn over the mental health aspect, but it made for a very interesting read.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: What Time is Love? by Holly Williams

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1947. 1967. 1987. When Violet and Albert first meet, they are always twenty.
Three decades.
Over the years, Violet and Albert’s lives collide again and again: beneath Oxford’s spires, on the rolling hills around Abergavenny, in stately homes and in feminist squats. And as each decade ends, a new love story begins…
Two people.
Together, they are electric and the world is glittering with possibility. But against the shifting times of each era, Violet and Albert must overcome differences in class, gender, privilege and ambition. Each time their lives entwine, it will change everything.
One moment is all it takes…
As their eyes first meet, for a split-second it’s as if the clocks have stopped. Nothing else matters. Yet whichever decade brings them together, Violet and Albert are soon forced to question: what if they met the right person at the wrong time?

Thank you to the publisher, Orion, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the concept of this book from the moment I picked it up. The concept of two people meeting in alternate universes every twenty years and seeing if this time is the right time really called out to me. Although this one isn’t necessarily a book I’d usually pick up, I found myself really intrigued about where this one might go.

However this did let me down a bit. I didn’t quite feel as immersed in the story as I wanted to be, and it took me much longer to read than I wanted it to. The writing was the best thing about this book and I must say I felt quite an affinity to the characters, even getting emotional and having tears in my eyes in places.

I think where this one started to let me down was after the first story. I enjoyed the first story a lot, but I then realised that I was just in for another two stories very much the same. As this book follows three different timelines, I started to find the other two stories quite predictable.

The fact this book takes place every twenty years made for a great concept, and so much of the story was involved around the time period and then politics throughout the years. Although I found this really interesting and I liked the concept, I’m just not sure it completely paid off all of the time. I did like it, and it did make me emotional at times, but I also felt a bit let down by the end of it.

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: Piranesi by Suzanna Clarke

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect of Piranesi. But it wasn’t quite this.

Thank you to Jo for recommending the audiobook of this one to me, which was such a captivating way to absorb this beautiful tale. Although I do feel like I would have enjoyed this in physical format too, the audio was wonderful and the narrator felt perfect for the story.

The House is valuable because it is the House. 

I quickly found myself being engaged with Piranesi’s world. This story is one of mystery, and I felt like I had to absorb myself fully within the book to really enjoy it. I felt so focused on Piranesi as a character and curious about the world around him. I feel like if you try and relate this book to the real world and understand it as a real thing, it will lose you. But if you lose yourself within this book, you just might win. And become curiouser and curiouser.

It is enough in and of Itself. It is not the means to an end.

The writing itself was definitely one of my favourite aspects of this book. It was so beautiful and the descriptions of the house made it really easy to picture and still visualise in my mind. The writing was very lyrical, beautifully descriptive and engaging. I felt so involved in the story.

I would really recommend not just this book, but the audiobook version. It was such a wonderful mystery and I would recommend sticking with it until you become curious about where it’s going, because then you won’t be able to put it down!

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: Noah’s Gold by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

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Being the smallest doesn’t stop you having the biggest ideas.
Eleven-year old Noah sneaks along on his big sister’s geography field trip. Everything goes wrong! Six kids are marooned on an uninhabited island. Their teacher has vanished. They’re hungry. Their phones don’t work and Noah has broken the internet. There’s no way of contacting home . . . Disaster!
Until Noah discovers a treasure map and the gang goes in search of gold.

This book was so much fun. I can’t even tell you how many times this book made me chuckle and fully laugh out loud, which I always find rare with books.

This one follows Noah, who has snuck in the back of the minibus on his sister’s geography field trip. The unlikely gang end up on a deserted island, and now they have to band together to try and survive on the island and maybe also fix the internet too (I still don’t quite understand what that bit was all about!).

I loved this unlikely group, who were so much fun to read about and had some great interactions. Noah made such a funny narrator with a lot of honesty that I think so many kids will relate to. The illustrations were so good and complemented the story so well too. This one is definitely an adventure story at it’s heart, and I really enjoyed blasting through it and seeing where it was going to go.

The friendship group were so heartwarming to read about and there was also some interesting discussions of living without technology too. It’s great to see these kinds of stories being so popular with children.

Although there was a lot of fun plot, I didn’t quite understand where the ‘internet’ aspect fit, which did let it down a little bit for me. I just feel like this book was strong without this extra seemingly quite random aspect to the story that also didn’t feel fully fleshed out.

Overall, this one was so much fun and I’ll definitely be recommending it to a lot of kids at work!

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.

Thank you to Hot Key Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m glad I grabbed the opportunity to pick up this book when I was offered the chance, because I honestly don’t think I’d have picked it up otherwise. Reading We Were Liars and Family of Liars back to back was such a great experience, I really felt the atmosphere and got so tangled up in the writing.

I really like the unique writing style of the Liars books. I’ve read quite a few of E. Lockhart’s books over the years and We Were Liars was always the most memorable one for me. The atmosphere is also impeccable and may well be my favourite thing about this series as a whole. It made me feel like I really want to go on holiday and gave me all of the summer vibes, despite the dark undertones to these thrillers.

I felt quite a lot of disconnect between the characters from Family of Liars and We Were Liars, and I also found them harder to like and relate to in this book. I have mixed feelings for all of the Liars, but this one just felt a little more forgettable to me.

Overall, I did enjoy a lot of aspects of this book and it definitely kept me reading! Thank you Hot Key for the opportunity to read-along this one!

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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We are the Liars.
We are beautiful, privileged and live a life of carefree luxury.
We are cracked and broken.
A story of love and romance.
A tale of tragedy.
Which are lies?
Which is truth?
You decide.

I have actually read this one before, but it’s now been 6 years since I first picked it up. I didn’t expect to enjoy this book half as much as when I first read it, honestly, but I did still enjoy it a lot. This one is definitely aimed at a much younger audience than me, and I did love it as a teen, but it’s still enjoyable now. I wasn’t necessarily aiming to re-read this one, but when I was offered a copy alongside Family of Liars, I decided to go for it.

I’m glad I picked it up, and it was exactly what I needed at the moment. The chapters are only a couple of pages, which means it was super quick to read and easy to get through. It’s also only just over 200 pages, meaning I read it in a couple of days.

We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged.

I’m glad it’s been so long since I read it, because I had honestly forgotten completely what happened at the end and I was shocked and surprised all over again. The writing was also brilliant, and once you get used to the prose, it’s unique but really enjoyable to read. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d get back into it, and I’m glad I read Family of Liars directly afterwards while I was still in the same mood.

I do have mixed feelings about the family themselves and the characters, but I did still enjoy reading their story. Even if I didn’t like the Liars themselves, the way they were written about was so clever, powerful and emotional.

We are cracked and broken.

Overall, this might not have been quite as enjoyable on a 6 years later re-read, but I did still really like it and I’m glad I picked it up again!

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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