Books exist and they are magic. But what if there were others, containing actual spells to allow for your transportation or the conjuring of any imageBooks exist and they are magic. But what if there were others, containing actual spells to allow for your transportation or the conjuring of any image from your imagination or any number of other phenomena? Cassie is about to discover this for herself but it won't be all magical outings and fairy tales as a deadly pursuit starts that will take place both through time and space as enemies untold seek to gain these books for their own immoral gains.
This book in one word: phenomenal! Everything about the concept enraptured me and there existed as much action as it did plot progression throughout to ensure no part felt too stodgy or too rushed. I hadn't any idea of where the book would go and did have to go back and reread the latter sections in order to process the path the book actually took. When I realised I had, in fact, read what I thought I had, I became astounded all over again with Gareth Brown's brilliance. This was utter perfection!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Garteh Brown, and the publisher, Transworld, for this opportunity....more
First Read: September 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: April 2025, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is the first instalment in The Magnolia Parks Universe serFirst Read: September 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: April 2025, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is the first instalment in The Magnolia Parks Universe series.
"How's the weather over there, Parks?"
I understand that judging a book by its cover or only picking up a book because of the hype, when it is outside of your usual genre, aren't necessarily good ideas. But it definitely worked for me here! This book's original and self-published covers were so beautifully ornate and unique that I thought they had fantasy stories contained inside of them. The huge amount of online hype had me eager to attempt the story, despite this not being the case. I caved and bought the (in my opinion) unappealing traditionally published covers and was swept away by what was inside them.
I am not really a romance girly but this book has me rethinking everything I thought I knew about myself!
Magnolia Parks is a socialite residing in London. BJ Ballentine is her on-again-off-again boyfriend/best friend. The pair are at the centre of every gossip magazine and both fans and trolls online are eager to decipher the confusing history between the pair.
Both of these characters, as well as those of their wider friendship groups, were likable and unlikable in equal measure. They were self-absorbed, made bad choices, cared little for those outside of their immediate worlds, and were very far removed from the issues plaguing most who resided in modern-day Britain. So tell me why I absolutely adored them all and could not stop rooting for what was very clearly a toxic and doomed relationship??
This read very much like a British Gossip Girl and, asides from the relationship drama that dominated, the reader was provided with an insight to how the other half lived. Whilst I could have done without a description of what brands and trends every single character was wearing on every other page, I did find this very interesting to read about.
The romance was where my heart lay and also what the book truly focused on, however. This was tragic and heart-breaking - a true literary car-crash I could not tear my eyes away from. Any fleeting moment of happiness had me swooning, perhaps all the harder because I knew it would be ripped away from these characters moments later.
This book dominated my thoughts every waking moment whilst I was reading it and I am still obsessed with it a month after completing the book. Once my heart has recovered I will continue on with the series but for now the weather is a little too stormy over here!...more
This layout made the already tense and dramatic reveals appear all the more emotional and it is now the only format I want to ingest my thriller fictiThis layout made the already tense and dramatic reveals appear all the more emotional and it is now the only format I want to ingest my thriller fiction in....more
"The morning after Orlando, we hang our heads half-staff.
My love shrugs my arm off their shoulderand reminds me where we are: We’re at a rest stop, we’r"The morning after Orlando, we hang our heads half-staff.
My love shrugs my arm off their shoulderand reminds me where we are: We’re at a rest stop, we’re somewhere in the Midwest.
The shooter’s father said his son opened up the chest of that nightclub and undid its pulse because he saw two men kissing in the street. I try to kiss my love in the street. Even after, I have a hard time believing anyone would want me to die for this...
It’s like killing someone for dancing, or for praying, or for being a child—which I guess this world also does now—while a love note in a locker turns death threat. While a boy leaves the closet only to lock himself in the river.
And now, even pride feels like a casket. And now, the rainbow bleeds out.
And now, I see a man buy a rifle in a Walmart and I don’t know whether to hold my love’s hand tighter or to let it go.
I watch my love from the crack of the rest stop stall. I know what a haircut like theirs can launch in a town with this much belief in god.
So we walk back to the car like siblings where nothing can kill us but the news on the radio."
I've read many poetry anthologies that I have enjoyed or that have moved me in some way and if even one single line resonates with me, from throughout the collection, then I feel it was my worth my time in having read it. Rarely do I find such a connection with every word, every line, and every poem in the way that I did here. Flawless is the one word I would use to describe this! Also, devastating!
Megan Falley tackles many topics here, such as queerness, toxic masculinity, female fear, gun crime, religion and so, so much more. Some topics were based upon her personal experiences but all managed to convey universal emotions throughout them. I spent an afternoon with tears in my eyes and a heart both full and breaking due to these impressive contents. I definitely have a new favourite poet!
"a brave woman stood up in an ocean of alone and said, me
and
as if she summoned sisters from the sea, they raised their hands like an army of answers, an echo that would change the tide, quiet at first, then amplified by the bittersweet gift of not only one back to carry the burden, and, like a trust fall
long overdue, she was caught by the sound of thousands of opening arms, voices of the voiceless, speaking me too."...more
First Read: May 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: Deecember 2024, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is the first instalment in The Library Trilogy.
"He waved an First Read: May 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: Deecember 2024, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is the first instalment in The Library Trilogy.
"He waved an arm at the aisle stretching away from them. ‘This is power. This is where the histories are. This is where the great philosophers are. This is where the secrets that arm our soldiers with arrow-sticks are written. This is where the next secrets will be found. You think our people would have even a fraction of what they have now without the library? It wasn’t many generations ago we were fighting each other with bones and rocks, and we thought fire was a great magic …�"
Any book lover could not fail to find great joy inside these pages. The library at the centre of the story is a prison to some, a magical portal to others. It is both an escape and a home, or a means to creating both. It allows the central characters to find both themselves and each other inside of it.
Time shifts or creeps and the lines of reality are often blurred, meaning everything is to be questioned in this world. Lawrence has crafted something mind-blowingly brilliant and, because of that, it can take the reader a little time to assimilate themselves within this vast and magical world. It is definitely worth it though - for the library that both replicates the magic to be found within all libraries as well as the magic that is uniquely all its own; for the courageous, loveable, and big-hearted protagonists, Livira and Evar, who centre in this story; for the incredible storytelling and poetic writing that speaks to the soul of any reader; and for the rich world that has been created, complete with corruption, revenge plots, political intrigue, and monsters, both human and otherwise.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Mark Lawrence, and the publisher, Harper Voyager, for this opportunity....more
Lest we forget, a morgue is also a community center."
I can name few individuals who paint images and emotions with words, who do so "Time is a mother.
Lest we forget, a morgue is also a community center."
I can name few individuals who paint images and emotions with words, who do so as exquisitely as Ocean Vuong. Each page reads like a scream that tears the throat apart, so raw is the grief experienced here. Healing is hard fought for but beautiful in its eventual delivery. I could read this endlessly and still find a new awe-inspiring discovery, so packed with hidden meanings and bountiful imagery, is each and every page. An undoubted personal favourite and masterful wordsmith!
"Oh, to live like a bullet, to touch people with such purpose. To be born going one way, toward everything alive. To walk into the world you never asked for but then choose the room where your hunger ends—which part of war do we owe such knowledge? It’s warm in this house where we will die, you and I. Let the stanza be one room, then. Let it be big enough for everyone, even the ghosts rising now from this bread we tear open to see what we’ve made of each other."...more
"there is not a single moment when change is not present. the constant of the universe, the motion of impermanence, is observably evident in the world"there is not a single moment when change is not present. the constant of the universe, the motion of impermanence, is observably evident in the world around us and the world within us.
if we examine nature, it is clear that everything is in a constant state of dynamic change. trees are a great example: in cycles they alternate from experiences of growth to experiences of releasing, all the while alive, all the while growing. if we are refusing to grow, then we are moving against the flow of nature; the flow of change is so powerful that resisting it can only cause difficulty.
sometimes growth hurts, but it is the type of pain that is easier to endure because it is helping us come forward as a better version of ourselves."
It is the nature of an anthology to find peaks and furrows inside of it. This is even more so, in my experience, found in poetry. Here, however, I found consistent beauty, understanding, rawness, and an image of myself on every single page.
I can appreciate poetry for its many different elements and do like the understanding to other experiences they can provide, but often find I have to relate to truly adore them. Here, I saw myself both as I am and as I want to be. This was heart-breaking and hopeful in equal proportions and I can see myself returning to it many, many times over.
"as she was swimming in the ocean of wisdom that dwells in her heart, she understood deeply that all was a part of her, that no one was separate from her. she whispered lightly with newfound peace, “i am everything.� that was when she realized that her greatest power is, and always was, her ability to love herself."...more
Robin Swift becomes the ward of the mysterious Professor Lovell and is ripped from the only world he has ever known, in Canton, for the fog and chill Robin Swift becomes the ward of the mysterious Professor Lovell and is ripped from the only world he has ever known, in Canton, for the fog and chill of London. He is rigorously schooled in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese to prepare him for his eventual enrolment into Oxford University. There he becomes a student of translation at the infamous Babel Institute., translating other languages into English and also manifesting their lost meanings into enchanted silver bars using the magical silver-working method.
I have absolutely no words to describe the epic nature of everything contained inside this book. I can't begin to fathom the immense enormity of undertaking Kuang begun in taking on the mammoth task of this book. For me, she succeeded in crafting something beautifully fantastical, historically illuminating, deeply well-researched and heavily layered. That Kuang is a master storyteller was never a doubt for me, after adoring the entire The Poppy War series, but this book transcends story crafting and enters into another realm entirely.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, R.F. Kuang, and the publisher, Harper Voyager, for this opportunity....more
A girl leaves her mother and the safety of their cave home before she has even learned her own name. She ventures far, learning about her own magical A girl leaves her mother and the safety of their cave home before she has even learned her own name. She ventures far, learning about her own magical strength and all she needs to fear in the world as she does so.
This was such an enchanting and exhilarating read, as full of as much mythology as it was whimsy. The characters remain unforgettable and I was charmed by them the entire time I was reading this. My main source of adoration stemmed from the rawness and authenticity that was infused into every page of this: the story felt like a bleeding, beating heart, alive for the reader to devour.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Nicola Griffith, and the publisher, Tor, for this opportunity....more
I can acknowledge that this is not a perfect book, but I read it at the perfect time for me. I couldn't rest due to the oppressive heat and so was looI can acknowledge that this is not a perfect book, but I read it at the perfect time for me. I couldn't rest due to the oppressive heat and so was looking for something heady and evocative to immerse my sleep-deprived self into. This definitely delivered everything I sought it out for and I flew through the brief volume, completing it as the sun rose to scorch another day.
This is an autobiographical piece covering Lee's ventures around Andalusia, an agricultural region in Spain. It gave some information about the author during this time, but it mostly read like an ode to the places he visited. They were fully depicted and vividly brought to life through attention to the most minute of details, rather than a full image of the scene as a whole ever being delivered. Every sense was used and I felt the grit between my toes and sniffed at the thick, salt-laden air as the author conjured them.
This does, however, prove a product of its time with some culturally inappropriate and sexist comments made. I also skipped over the few brief scenes involving animal torture. It was the beauty surrounding these distasteful, but mercifully scant and brief, inclusions that had me so wholly enamoured and I will close this review with a few of my favourite quotes:
"Most Spanish towns were lapped with noise, with wagons and motor-horns, donkeys and tinkers, and the ceaseless clamour of cafe conversation. But here there was an almost unearthly silence, cool and becalmed, a silence of no time. We threaded around the narrow cobbled streets, and small dogs slept in shadows as though bred only for sleep... I felt we had stepped aside from all the activity of the earth and entered a charmed and voiceless world, a world where people lived as hushed as plants, taking their life from the sun without a sound."
"It is all part of the special femininity of Seville, a mixture of gaiety and langour. For among so much that is harsh and puritan in this country, Seville is set apart like a mistress, pampered and adored... men turn to Seville as a symbol; it is the psyche of their genius, the coil that regenerates their sharpest pleasures and instinct. The miner from the Asturias and the fisherman from Cartagena, though never having set foot in it, will speak of the city with jealousy and love. So Seville remains, favoured and sensual, exuding from the banks of its golden river a miasma of perpetual excitement, compounded of those appetites that are most particularly Spanish"
"this is the city where, more than in any other, one may bite on the air and taste the multitudinous flavours of Spain - acid, sugary, intoxicating, sickening but flavours which, above all in a synthetic world, are real as nowhere else."
"As the sun sank, the bright paper landscape crumpled and contorted with savage shadows. The bare furrowed foothills of the Sierras writhed and dimpled like brains. And the snows, from the vivid incandescence of daylight, turned pink, mauve, purple, cold as slate, like the face of a dying man slowly drained of his blood."
"At first there was nothing - a profound blue darkness running running deep, laced by skeins of starlight and pale phosphorescent flashes. This four o-clock hour was a moment of utter silence, the indrawn breath of dark, the absolute, trance-like balance between night and day. Then, when it seemed that nothing would ever move or live or know the light again, a hot wind would run over the invisible water. It was like a fore-blast of the turning world, an intimation that its rocks and seas and surfaces still stirred against the sun. One strained one's eyes, scarce breathing, searching for a sign. Presently it came. Far in the east at last the horizon hardened, an imperceptible line dividing sky and sea, sharp as a diamond cut on glass. A dark bubble of cloud revealed itself, warmed slowly, flushing from within like a seed growing, a kernel ripening, a clinker hot with locked-in fire. Gradually the cloud throbbed red with light, then suddenly caught the still unrisen sun and burst like an expanding bomb. Flares and streamers began to fall into the sea, setting all things on fire. After the long unthinking darkness everything now began to happen at once. The stars snapped shut, the sky bled green, vermillion tides ran over the water, the hills around took on the colour of firebrick, and the great sun drew himself at last raw and dripping from the waves. Scarlet, purple, and clinker-blue, the morning, smelling of thyme and goats, of charcoal, splintered rock and man's long sojourn around this lake"...more
The focus on mental health and ED made this volume of my favourite graphic novel series an especially hard one to read. There were still the sweetest The focus on mental health and ED made this volume of my favourite graphic novel series an especially hard one to read. There were still the sweetest interactions depicted and hilarious dialogue inserted but, for the most part, this was a far heavier read with a variety of hard-hitting subject matters explored. I felt Oseman handled them all sensitively and expertly.
I was also glad that Nick and Charlie's friendship group were provided with more page space and that their own personal struggles were also featured. They were all the sweetest and purest of souls and I am willing to do anything to become part of the Paris Squad!...more
The Sea God once protected the islands nestled in between his watery abode but now he plagues them with deadly storms instead, only ever appeased and The Sea God once protected the islands nestled in between his watery abode but now he plagues them with deadly storms instead, only ever appeased and only ever momentarily by a bride sacrificed to him. Shim Cheong is this year's sacrifice and, as the most beautiful girl of the island, its inhabitants are hopeful she may be the last. For her true love, Joon, it is an unbearable sacrifice and so his little sister, Mina, plunges herself into the waves and takes Shim Cheong's place.
Mina finds her way to the ocean floor and the sleeping god who resided in silence inside his palace there. She also makes her way to discovering the inhabitants of the teeming city beyond its hallowed walls too. Where does the answer for how to save her people lie? With this petulant god, able but unwilling to aid her? Or is it contained with souls of the Spirit Realm, so bright and seemingly full of life?
I adored every aspect of this enchanting story. It was as full of whimsy and wonder as it was action and adventure, heart and humour as it was grief and gravity. The reader was spared no emotion and many a tear, of both the happy and sad variety, were shed.
Mina was a strong protagonist whose flaws only served to make her both more authentic and more lovable. She introduced the reader to her new underwater world and invited us to explore its streets together. All that was found there was fantastical in nature and intriguing in design. I loved gaining an understanding for all that the author conjured and seeing how everything had its perfect placement inside the story.
The underwater cultures and religion were perhaps the most inventive and intriguing aspects for me, only shared with my love for the blossoming romances that featured alongside them. This romantic focus was as searingly painful in some instances as it was sweet and promising in others. As in every other area, the dualities served to bond me with all that was occurring on the page and the author's exquisite prose made each scene dance vividly inside my imagination. A faultless creation!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Axie Oh, and the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for this opportunity. ...more
Grant McAllister is a professor of mathematics who used his expertise to plot the trajectory of events in quite a different field - crime fiction. He Grant McAllister is a professor of mathematics who used his expertise to plot the trajectory of events in quite a different field - crime fiction. He penned a series of short tales with thrilling and murderous twists that each divulged and depicted the secrets of this genre. And then he disappeared. Decades later and he has been tracked down by Julia Hart, an editor seeking to anthologise and publish his previous work.
I did not anticipate quite how extraordinary this was going to be. The plot sounded intriguing but I was thrilled to find that every short story this fictional author wrote was also included here, on each altering chapter. Those in-between focused on the present-day fictional author and his new editor, as they battled for wits, truth, and dominance. I'm unsure which was more clever - the myriad of collected tales with their disparate and unguessable endings, or the story arc that combined them all and had me equally as floored by the grand reveals and concluding twists.
This is definitely a story with much to impart to the reader during each reading. I am already anticipating returning to this one to find the multitude of dropped clues and interwoven imagery this cleverly incorporated into every single scene and were all entirely missed by me, until the characters nudged me in the correct and offending direction....more
Hey, Ms Schwab. Thank you for breaking my heart. Thank you for making me enjoy it.
Addie LaRue did what she was always taught not to. First, she alloweHey, Ms Schwab. Thank you for breaking my heart. Thank you for making me enjoy it.
Addie LaRue did what she was always taught not to. First, she allowed herself to dream and in these dreams she was free and belonged to no man. Second, she made a deal with the things that haunt the moonlit hours. The one led from the other and now Addie is a free thing but also a cursed one. She enjoys immortality and is tethered to no other human, but is doomed to be forgotten by all at the very moment she is removed from sight.
This gloomy, atmospheric, slow-burn, and intensely sorrowful storyline spoke to my whole heart. There were few glimmers of happiness presented, and each that was capable of glowing through the surrounding despondency were still dulled with the promise of future heartache. But whilst little cause for celebration occurred, the good and the kind and the hopeful, that resided in each of these central characters, continued to shine strongly through. These elements were what became the guiding lights when the ever-present sorrow threatening to descend and cover all....more
Autumn is by far my favourite season and every single element about this novel exuded exactly what I so adore about it. The colour scheme and natural Autumn is by far my favourite season and every single element about this novel exuded exactly what I so adore about it. The colour scheme and natural imagery adorning the cover, the wild and free-spirited protagonist, and the forest setting all immediately spoke to me and, mere pages into the story, I knew it was going to be a new favourite. I was not wrong.
This was the wildest, most whimsical, and wondrous of middle grade stories. I found the prose lyrical and evocative, the setting dazzling and magical, and the story-line both heart-wrenching and hopeful. Absolute perfection!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Katya Balen, and the publisher, Bloomsbury, for this opportunity,...more
First Read: July 2020, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: May 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars
This book deserves a moment of silence to appreciate how beautiful it First Read: July 2020, Rating: 5/5 stars Second Read: May 2023, Rating: 5/5 stars
This book deserves a moment of silence to appreciate how beautiful it is!
Mythopedia is exactly what it sounds like: a small encyclopedia of different mythical beasts and beings. The book is split according to world setting and I appreciated both the abundance of stories included as well as the diversity of their cultural and geographical origins.
Despite it's slim size, every single page was adorned with an abundance of vivid illustrations, which aided the descriptions and folk tales that accompanied them. Every single mythological being was afforded a helpful description and a full page illustration, as well as an extra delightful little story for some.
I found this to be both informative and interesting, but it was also the most singularly beautiful book I have ever seen. I first read this in e-arc form, but already have my physical copy pre-ordered and a space ready to display it upon my shelves. EDIT: Reread in 2023 with the stunning finished hardback!
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the authors and illustrators, the duo behind Good Wives and Warriors, and the publisher, Laurence King Publishing, for this opportunity....more
This was the most pure and wholesome thing I have ever read and my heart can't cope with how much I loved it! Nick and Charlie are my new favourite soThis was the most pure and wholesome thing I have ever read and my heart can't cope with how much I loved it! Nick and Charlie are my new favourite soft boys and deserve all the love and happiness in the world. The rave reviews for this had me almost hesitant to pick it up, so heavy was the adoration it received, but I need not have feared as it was heart-aching perfection!...more
This is the third instalment in The Poppy War series.
Rin has battled against foreign soldiers and now has enemies far closer to home to contend with. This is the third instalment in The Poppy War series.
Rin has battled against foreign soldiers and now has enemies far closer to home to contend with. Allegiances shift, new battle plans are made, and old players return to the stage, which is set for the final showdown to begin.
What I have so previously adored about this series so far, and what could be further witnessed here, was how unafraid Kuang was in the face of the chaos she created. At no juncture did she back away from the brutality, the bloodshed, or the barbarism. War was painted as atrocious, merciless, and riotous. There was no clear line between right or wrong, this side or that, justice or revenge. She allowed her characters, and the reader, to witness, feel, and take part in every new and emerging horror without flinching. Whether the pain was emitted or received did not matter, but she brought home the authenticity of these horrors by establishing us as complicit in it, as we read from the perspective of one so immersed in the bloodshed.
This made this both a very hard read to digest and one with many moral implications. My favourite books usually centre around characters I wholeheartedly root for. With Rin this wasn't the case. And yet, I definitely class this series as a new yet firm favourite.
Rin was not wholly good and her actions, or reactions, did not always come from the best place. She was a nuanced character still reeling from the many hurts inflicted upon her and struggling with powers, in many forms, that she was too inexperienced and headstrong to properly control. She was savage and merciless and I might have loved her for it but I did not always agree with all her actions or relish in the dark places they took her and this story. I can only bow down in admiration before an author who is accomplished enough to craft such a difficult but wholly authentic character like this.
My heart was with Rin throughout this book and it was not ready for that final scene or the epilogue that followed it! This did not feel like a final book in a series, even once I had turned to the acknowledgements. The pacing remained at break-neck speed and new realisations were discovered even when only paragraphs remained before the end. I thought this a clever and fitting closure to what has been a blood-soaked and brilliant series. I hope Kuang allows us to revisit this world again, soon.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, R.F. Kuang, and the publisher, Harper Voyager, for this opportunity....more
"I forgive them their unhappiness, I forgive them for walking out of the world.
But I don’t forgive them for turning their faces away, for taking off "I forgive them their unhappiness, I forgive them for walking out of the world.
But I don’t forgive them for turning their faces away, for taking off their veils and dancing for death �
for hurtling toward oblivion on the sharp blades of their exquisite poems, saying: this is the way.
I was, of course, all that time coming along behind them, and listening for advice.
And the man who merely washed Michelangelo’s brushes, kneeling on the damp bricks, staring every day at the colors pouring out of them, lived to be a hundred years old."
I think I just found perfection.
Oliver's collection of poems deal with disparate topics and yet every single one impressed me with their beauty of imagery, honesty of thought, and depth of emotion. The snippet above was ripped from my favourite but I could have posted stanzas at random and they would still be some of the most eloquent and emotional I had ever had the pleasure of reading.
This is the type of poetry that promotes the pure and unadulterated soaring of the heart. This entire anthology is visceral; rawness and grace combining in a fever dream of feeling, with poised perfection and lyrical beauty in abundance....more
Loading...
