Category: books

Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: He’s Cancelled by Sophie Ranald

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: He’s Cancelled by Sophie Ranald
Book Review: He’s Cancelled by Sophie Ranald

Don’t you love when a new book by one of your favourite authors comes out? He’s Cancelled is the latest book by Sophie Ranald, who is a recent favourite author of mine. I’ve read two of her books through NetGalley – you can find my review of Thank You, Next here – and since the last one, I’ve basically gone back and read all the connected books to those first two. Sophie Ranald always writes such fun books that also tend to contain at least a little emotional turmoil.

He’s Cancelled is connected to Just Saying and Thank You, Next. This book follows Natalie, a physiotherapist who has been dating shop owner Archie for a while. Yeah, that Archie and Natalie for those of you who’ve read Just Saying. The past is in the past, and in this book, Archie proposes to Natalie. Obviously, things are smooth sailing from there, right? Nope. Natalie is stressing out like hell over the wedding, over family stuff, and the fact her future Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law seem to be trying to take over the wedding. She doesn’t know what to do, and you know that’s going to impact her life.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

Oh man, you guys do not know how HYPED I was when I received my copy of this in the post. Thanks so much to Jamie-Lee Nardone at Black Crow PR for my copy. I feel so lucky. I’ve been reading the Witchlands books for a few years, and I’d been eagerly awaiting this one. The last book – Bloodwitch – was one I actually managed to get an e-arc of on Netgalley. You can actually find a short review of it here. I read that back at the end of 2018, and after that ending, I’ve been desperately awaiting the next instalment. And it’s coming out this month now?!!! You all cannot wait, trust me.

Witchshadow is the fourth, and I believe penultimate, book in the Witchlands series. This is supposed to be Iseult’s book, and as such, it mostly follows her story. After having been reunited with Safi, they quickly have to part as Iseult tries to find a way to save them and learn about her magic. She plans to return, but the journey is hard, and as figures of legend reawaken across the Witchlands… Safi, Iseult and the world may be in more danger than they realised.

Before I dive properly into this review, I’m just going to warn for spoilers. I’ll try not to give any for this book, but if you haven’t read the previous books in this series, including the novella, this may not be the review for you.

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Adult, books, tbr, Young Adult

Mini TBR – June 2021

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on Mini TBR – June 2021
Mini TBR – June 2021

After a terrible reading month, personally last month, I plan to make this month a lot better. It is also Pride month – celebrate! – but you won’t find any queer books on this list. Why? Because I’m a servant to my TBR jar, and only one of the books on my current TBR pile is queer. I’ll probably try to listen to at least one queer audiobook, but I don’t know what one yet.

I’m generally reading queer books all year round, so I’m not that bothered.

This TBR post may be a little different. I’m only going to focus on the details of the books from my unread TBR that I want to read. I’ll be listing a few other books. But as I’m trying to focus on getting through my owned books, I’m trying it this way this month.

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Adult, ARC, blog tour, books, Review

Blog Tour: Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky + Giveaway

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Blog Tour: Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky + Giveaway
Blog Tour: Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky + Giveaway

Hi all! I’m here today with my stop of the giveaway blog tour for Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I don’t seem to read and review much adult sci-fi. But it’s something I’d ideally like to read more of. As soon as I saw the plot of Shards of Earth, it intrigued me. So I thought, why not give some adult sci-fi a go now?

This is a thick book, and it follows a cast of a few different characters. Eighty years ago, earth and many other planets were destroyed by an alien species known as Architects. A group of humans were altered to fight these Architects until one day, they just disappeared. Idris was one of those heroes, but now he spends his life on a salvage ship. Until one day, the ship makes a big discovery. And suddenly, gangsters and politicians alike are interested in this ship and the proof they have that the Architects are back.

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Adult, ARC, blog tour, books, Review

Blog Tour: The Couple by Helly Acton

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Blog Tour: The Couple by Helly Acton
Blog Tour: The Couple by Helly Acton

I’m back today with another blog tour stop: this time for The Couple by Helly Acton. Thanks very much to Tracy over at Compulsive Readers for allowing me to take part in this tour. This wasn’t a book I’d heard of before, but the premise intrigued me. Even so, I was on and off as to whether I actually wanted to read it after all. That being said, I’d made a commitment, and I needed to give the book a chance.

And I did enjoy it!

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I felt like it was chick-lit with speculative fiction vibes. And I feel like that probably is the best way to describe it.

Millie works at Slide, a hook-up app in a world where being a couple is seen as weird and being single is encouraged. When a new position opens up, Millie needs to find a way to promote a new pill. One that will stop people from falling in love. A new guy at work makes her wonder if she should take the pill; or whether she would be missing out.

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Adult, books, Young Adult

Faerie Book Recommendations

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books8 Comments on Faerie Book Recommendations
Faerie Book Recommendations

Who here loves reading and hearing about the fae? I do! Though, I’m sure this seems weird to many of you, as I don’t seem to read many books with the fae in. And there is a reason for that. If you saw my post on what I want to see in fae books from a while ago, you’ll have an idea why. I’m incredibly picky, but I really do love reading about the fae. So I wanted to give you all some recommendations of fae books that I have read and loved.

I won’t lie. In many aspects, these may not be what you’re looking for in a fae book. The adult series recommended on here may be up your street if you’re big on faerie romance. As it does have a lot of what seems to be popular. But there are specific reasons why I also personally enjoy it. The other two are just YA books featuring the fae, but they’re really good reads. I promise.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on Book Review: Threadneedle by Cari Thomas
Book Review: Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

You ever have those books that you’re determined to wait for the release to read? Yeah, that’s what this one was supposed to be. I’ll probably still wind up buying a physical copy. But I was lucky to have the opportunity to listen to this audiobook before release. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for that.

This is supposed to be an adult book, but it follows a teenager and feels very YA in places. Anna is in her first year of sixth form. Her first year of being in school with boys. Her Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of love and of magic. And as an old friend of her Mother moves into town. She may have to learn to deal with both.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
Book Review: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

This is a book that a year ago, even with the cover being as adorable as it is, I probably wouldn’t have picked up. Let alone asked for it from Harper360 – so thanks for the book guys! But the idea of a trans teen running a Tumblr all about trans meet-cutes? I needed that. I needed something cute and adorable. And like his readers, I kinda needed to see some trans love. And you get that with this book. You’ve got two love interests – a cis boy and a non-binary co-worker. And sometimes, you need to see someone like yourself experiencing love.

Noah runs Meet Cute Diary, but all the meet-cutes he posts are false. When a troll comes online and starts calling him out on it, Noah decides to fake-date Drew in the hope of distracting his readers. And showing a meet-cute can be real. It doesn’t go as expected, and when he meets Devin, he starts to fall for em too.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Yearbook by Holly Bourne

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Yearbook by Holly Bourne
Book Review: The Yearbook by Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne is one of those authors that I know of, but I’ve never read anything from before. Nor had I ever planned to. Her books didn’t look like my sort of thing. Until The Yearbook. The premise of a girl getting back at her bullies using the lies they wanted her to put in the yearbook? Genius. I’ll be honest, this book was nowhere near what I was expecting. But it was still an easy and enjoyable read. Just…a much more emotional one.

Paige is a quiet girl in school. The way anyone would ever know her is through the school paper. She planned to keep out of it all until Grace and her friends bring the yearbook to the newspaper. Now as well as spreading lies in the paper? Paige has to bring up all these false or cruel memories in the yearbook too, and she hates it. The only person who could understand her is Elijah, and it’s him she turns to as she figures out what to do.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books4 Comments on Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck
Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck

I don’t get emails with authors asking me to review their books very often. And when I do, I tend to be super picky. But when Janina Franck contacted me about her YA sci-fi with space witches and an ace/aro protagonist. I was intrigued. I’m so glad I said yes to A Spark In Space, as otherwise, I’d have never heard of it. Instead, I get to shout about it to you guys and the world. And you’re gonna want to read this book!

Space witches are a powerful type of person who can control energy and technology. There are supposedly no human space witches… Until Tabea. After she saves a boy from a destroyed ship, Tabea has to work to hide her powers more than ever. But something happens, and she winds up in the custody of the penyales, an alien species known for hating humans. But for not being able to lie. They ask for her help and promise to help her find her friends. But can anything that’s happened recently be trusted?

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