Category: books

Adult, books, Review

Book Review: Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts

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Book Review: Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts

February is the perfect month for reading romance and chick-lit, even if you aren’t big on Valentine’s Day. Looking Out For Love is the newest book by Sophia Money-Coutts, and it’s definitely one that you’ll want to pick up this month. I was lucky enough to be sent a free copy from the publisher in return for a review. So thank you, HQ!

Stella has spent her life looking for love, but after recently being dumped, she found herself single without her Dad’s money. But she thinks her life will improve when she stumbles upon a new job and a handsome guy in a pub in a single day. Finally, she has a chance at all-encompassing love, but working with the Affair Hunter means she doesn’t know whether she can truly trust others.

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ARC, books, middlegrade, Review

Book Review: The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton
Book Review: The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

You might not see many middle-grade reviews on my blog, but this year I’ve decided to finally start picking up some of the kids’ books I’m interested in. Having read some of Dhonielle Clayton’s YA books, I’ve been interested in this one since I first heard about it last year. It’s a fun magical school book filled with adorable friendships, fascinating world-building and plenty of black girl magic.

Ella Durand is the first conjurer to attend the Arcanum training institute. The magic school in the clouds had been closed to her people up until now. The other students think she’s weird and fitting in isn’t easy, but she makes friends with fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. But when the Ace of Anarchy breaks out of prison, the conjurers are blamed. Suddenly, school becomes even harder for Ella. Especially when her favourite teacher disappears shortly after. If Ella is going to clear her family’s name, she needs to start by exploring her powers.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill
Book Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

You know when you start a book, and you’re not sure if it’s for you, but you can’t put it down within a few chapters? That was me with The Black Queen. This was a book that I was lucky enough to be sent an early finished copy of by Scholastic. The summary sounded fascinating, but the murder doesn’t happen for a few chapters. Once Nova is found dead, you’re stuck in the web that Emill has created, but you won’t want to be free until the final page.

Lovett High is a school where segregation is key, and the white students rule all. They’ve never had a black homecoming queen until Nova Albright. But Tinsley McArthur wants her to step down. When Nova refuses, Tinsley is caught threatening to kill her the night she’s murdered. All fingers point to the killer being Tinsley, including that of Nova’s best friend, Duchess. The only way for Duchess to find out what really happened to Nova is to work with Tinsley to find proof. As they do, they reveal secrets about their town that they never expected.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer
Book Review: City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer

I love good sci-fi and fantasy novels, especially those that blend those aspects into something new and exciting. And superhero stories can be a great example of that. But what if we have a superhero-like story and world without actual heroes? That’s what we’ve got here with City of Nightmares. I was lucky to be sent a proof copy of this book to review, thanks to Kate at Hodderscape. So thank you so much!

In City of Nightmares, we follow 19-year-old Ness, a young woman terrified of nightmares since her big sister transformed into a giant spider and ate their father. Now she lives in Newham with a charity or cult that helps protect people from those Nightmares. But Ness can’t do much to help, so when she takes on a new job hoping to find a reason that she should be able to stay, it blows up in her face? It’s a big problem. The only person around to help her is a nightmare boy she’s terrified of eating her. But as they find their way back to the city, Ness begins to learn that maybe not all Nightmares are what she thought they were.

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Adult, book tag, books

Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books5 Comments on Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition
Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition

Doing a Try a Chapter challenge every now and then is a great way to narrow down your TBR. You’ll either get excited about the books you have to read, or at least you’ll realise they aren’t for you. I wanted to do another one but needed to figure out what theme to follow.

Then I noticed that I’ve been buying more romance books.

So, why not try the first chapters of a few popular ones I own?

The results of this challenge surprised me. So let’s get into the books!

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anticipated releases, books, Manga, Young Adult

My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February
My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February

Ahh, preorders, what a great way to start the year. There are so many anticipated releases coming out this year. And though I can’t afford to preorder all of them, I have preordered a few in January and February.

So, I thought, why not share them with you guys? Add to your TBRs, haha. I won’t be posting regular lists of books I’m anticipating this year, as these posts take way too long. But I do want to take this opportunity to share some of the books and manga I’m excited about.

Starting with…

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood
Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood

I took a bit of a break from my blog with the end of the year being so busy, but now we’re into January and have a new year of books ahead! I’m happy to start the year off with a post on a book I was so excited to read. I requested an ARC of this from Scholastic, but I didn’t think I’d be getting a copy. However, I was lucky enough to be sent an early finished copy after all, and this book is stunning. The cover art is pretty, and the spine?! I love it so much. It looks so cute sitting on my shelves.

I should probably stop gushing about the design now and actually tell you about the book! But wait until you see it~

This is actually my second time talking about this book on my blog. This was the first book I did a mini review on in my series Will I Like This Book? I was intrigued by the small sample, and I just knew I had to read on. We all know I’m not the biggest fan of historical fiction, but this is one that sparked my curiosity.

The Agency for Scandal follows eighteen-year-old Isobel, a young woman trying hard to hide from society that her family is penniless. She works with a women’s detective agency to right wrongs and digs up scandals about the powerful men who deserve to be bought down. What she doesn’t expect is that one day a case will tangle her up with the Duke she’s been nursing a crush on, who doesn’t seem to know she exists. 

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

As someone forever in search of those rare amazing faerie novels and who has enjoyed Heather Fawcett’s YA and middle grade, I knew I had to pick this one up. I was lucky enough to get an early copy thanks to Orbit books and I know that I’ll be getting as many copies as possible. Yeah, I loved this book that much.

This book follows Emily Wilde, a scholar in a version of early 20th century Cambridge who spends her life travelling and studying the fae. Her plan is to put together an encyclopedia of faeries and to finish it off she needs to meet the hidden ones living in the cold North. But her plans to keep to herself are thrown aside as she winds up having to befriend the locals and help them with their problems and go even further awry after her rival and co-worker Wendell Bambleby turns up.

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Adult, book tag, books, Young Adult

Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books7 Comments on Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!
Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!

2022 is almost over and we’ve had our Spotify Wrapped playlists! This is always a lot of fun, even when you do have a good idea of what you’re gonna get, ha! My playlists have started to change this year so it certainly has made this tag a little more difficult for me.

The idea of this challenge is to put your 2022 playlist on shuffle, and for the first five songs, you need to pick a book you read in 2022 that fits that song. It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit. You just have to explain why you chose that book for that song. Obviously, you will not have a book match for every song, so you can skip if you need to. But the idea is that you at least need to try, even if it is embarrassing. This was a lot of fun last year, and I’m excited to be doing it again. I hope you all will too!

If you want more examples or are just curious, you can find the original post here and the 2021 one too. And if you do this yourself, make sure you tag me somewhere so I can see!

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

Earlier this year I did a Will I Like This Book post on This Book Kills. It was a book that I was curious about, though I wasn’t hugely excited. But when I saw it available to review on NetGalley… Well, I just had to, didn’t I? I knew I wanted to read it for certain, and I wanted to see whether I was right about my opinions.

Jess Choudhary is a scholarship student at a well-esteemed boarding school and is under strict rules to behave herself. Jess always has, but one day when Hugh Henry Van Boren winds up dead, she receives a text message thanking her for the inspiration for how he was murdered. Jess knows she didn’t do it, but she also knows that if she wants to live, she needs to solve this mystery herself.

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