Category: books

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Book Review: The Island by C.L. Taylor

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Book Review: The Island by C.L. Taylor

I’m really starting to enjoy YA thrillers and knowing C.L. Taylor also writes adult thrillers, I was eager to check this one out. I was granted the audio book through NetGalley and I started listening to it pretty much straight away.

The Island follows six teenagers on a group holiday together. During the trip, they wind up on a survival trip on an island with a guide. But when that guide has a stroke, they find out they are stranded on the island and soon all their phobias are being thrown at them. The book is narrated by Jessie and Danny. Jessie lost her brother a while ago and this the first group holiday since and Danny is worried that his girlfriend, Honour wants to move on from him.

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Book Review: The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett

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Book Review: The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett

When I first saw about this book I thought it sounded amazing and my younger brother agreed. When Heather Fawcett did an international giveaway for bloggers to receive a copy both he and I were so excited. And when we won? Well, I wanted to get to it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, my brother wasn’t in the mood for a fantasy book when it arrived. He’s reading something about a wheelchair car instead, go figure. But I was happy to pick it up first and I enjoyed it so much. And he’s excited to get to it when he’s in the mood too.

The Language of Ghosts mostly follows Noa, a princess who lives on an enchanted island that travels the seas with her dark magician – in this world a dark magician is just one speaks more than one magical language- brother and their youngest sister Mite. As they travel the seas they find out King Xavier, the enemy who stole the throne, is looking for s mysterious magical language that could turn the tide of the war.

There’s bugs, magic, pirates and cake eating serpents. What more could you want? Other than cake to eat whilst reading this, of course.

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Book Review: Into the Real by Z Brewer

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Book Review: Into the Real by Z Brewer

As a non-binary person I love reading genre books with an enby main character. There’s something so fulfilling about seeing something about seeing some part of yourself represented in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I recieved this book in return for a review through the Harper360 YA newsletter and was super happy to get it.

Quinn is genderqueer. Sometimes they’re a girl, sometimes a boy, sometimes neither and sometimes both. But in the world they live in that doesn’t matter. The city of Brume is filled with monsters, gangs and is surrounded by fog. But this isn’t the only Brume and two other versions of Quinn exist too.

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Book Review: The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent
Book Review: The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent

It feels like I review a lot of chick-lit on here though I don’t feel like I read as much as I used to. Interesting. But I have, once again, found another chick-lit book that I just had to read of Netgalley and that was The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent.

In this book we follow Elizabeth ‘Birdy’ Finch as she takes a job as a sommelier up in Scotland pretending to be her best friend Heather. The problem is that she knows nothing about wine and in this up and coming hotel her lies could cost her everything.

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Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Oh, that joyous feeling when one of your most anticipated books of the year turns out to be one of your favourites. Yep, I’m getting it out of the way early that Kingdom of the Wicked was one of the best books I’ve read this year and one you guys should all pick up soon!

This is the first book in a new series following Emilia, a streghe – or witch – who after discovering the body of her twin sister, vows to find her sister’s killer and to get revenge. But doing so involves using the kinds of dark magic her Nonna warned her against and when she summons one of the Wicked, Wrath, a Prince of Hell she winds up discovering her sister was involved in a web that was a lot more dangerous and complicated then she’d ever have expected.

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Book Review: Thank You, Next by Sophie Ranald

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: Thank You, Next by Sophie Ranald
Book Review: Thank You, Next by Sophie Ranald

I love a good chick-lit novel and you know one with a name matching a recent song from a pop diva it’s definitely going to be a lot of fun. And this one really is. I barely put it down.

Thank You, Next follows Zoe who having only recently settled down in one place. She lives above a pub called The Ginger Cat with her pet cat, Frazzle and works down in the kitchen. She’s only just gotten over her ex Joe and with the help of her friend Robbie, she decides to give online dating a go. The difference being is that she is going to try to date a man of every sign in the zodiac to see if she can find a man compatible for her.

It’s a lot of fun and unsurprisingly Zoe goes on a lot of bad dates but there’s a lot more of that in this book.

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Book Review: Brambles by Intisar Khanani

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Book Review: Brambles by Intisar Khanani

I’ve not really talked about Thorn on here but it was a retelling of The Goose Girl that I read earlier this year and really enjoyed. I loved the way Intisar Khanani took the original fairytale and transformed it. It was such an enjoyable story to read that when I saw this short story on NetGalley I really wanted to get it. And I’m glad I did as it really took me no time at all but was a welcome burst of fantasy.

So this story tells us what happened when Alyrra revealed that Valka had stolen something rather than risk a servant getting hurt for her lies. It was something that was talked about in the original book but this prequel shows you the true extent to what happens and what Alyrra’s life was like before this.

Because this is a short story it is difficult to talk much about it as anything I say could be spoilers. And I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler free as much as I can so here goes!

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Book Review: Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

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Book Review: Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

If you’ve looked through my blog you’ve probably seen that I don’t read much contemporary and when I do it’s usually adult and more along the chick-lit and romance lines. But I love me a nerdy contemporary and because of that I’ve been picking up and devouring the Once Upon A Con books by Ashley Poston .

I had bought the first two but when I saw there was a giveaway for the third book on Twitter I entered and was so lucky to win! The book was being sent by the publisher Quirk Books through a book blogger so that’s probably worth adding. It did take a little while to get here but when it did I knew I had to read it pretty much straight away. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairytales ever so obviously Bookish and the Beast was going to be a win

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Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire
Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire

If you know me then you know I love queer genre books. Especially of the YA variety. And that I’m also fascinated by the fae. So when C.M McGuire reached out to me asking me to check out her book? Well, I obviously had to.

This book follows Bryn, a teenage girl who has been training to fight the fae in the hope of protecting her family. When she was younger her mum was taken by the fae and now years after she thought she’d escaped the Unseelie court they’re back. With new friends Dom and Jaskia in tow they have to try to stop the fae before it’s too late.

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Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

It’s that time of the week again and I have a book that’s coming out fairly soon that I really want to talk about. It’s a book I’m definitely hoping to get before the end of the year but one I haven’t really heard anyone talking about. Which seems weird to me as it looks queer and awesome and maybe I’ve just missed the chat or something

Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald.

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