ARC, books, new adult, Review

Book Review: Out of Character by Annabeth Albert

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Out of Character by Annabeth Albert
Book Review: Out of Character by Annabeth Albert

I read and reviewed the first book in the True Colours series last year. Conventionally Yours was pretty fun. But in some ways, Out of Character appealed to me a little more. I’m glad I picked this up to read but in some ways… It wasn’t quite what I expected.

Jasper Quigley wants to be the hero in someone’s life. He cosplays as his favorite Odyssey character to visit sick kids in the hospital and works part-time in a game shop. When his ex-best friend Milo Lionetti comes to him to ask for help? Jasper doesn’t want to say yes, but he’s never been able to resist Milo. So they make a deal, Milo will help Jasper at the hospital, and Jasper will track down the rare Odyssey cards that Milo lost.

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books, Indie Spotlight, Young Adult

Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy
Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy

I don’t know about you guys, but I really need to start picking up more indie books. There are plenty I’m interested in, and I do have a few I need to read. I want to make more of an effort to go out of my way to read some so, I thought I’d start by doing a series of indie book spotlights. To start with, a lot of these books may be books that I was asked to review. But in a few months, I’d like to do the second parts with more books that I’ve actually bought.

We’re starting on with fantasy, as let’s face it, that’s mostly what I read.

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Adult, books, tbr, Young Adult

Mini TBR – July 2021

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Mini TBR – July 2021
Mini TBR – July 2021

Where has the time gone?! Seriously. I can’t believe we’re in July already. It’s my brother’s birthday this month, so I’ll have an opportunity to get out into the bookshops. I also seem to have gotten out of my reading slump. But to be safe, I’m going to keep this TBR short and sweet. Well, kind of.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
Book Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren books are usually a hit or miss for me. Either I absolutely adore them, or I really don’t care, and I stop after a few pages. The Soulmate Equation was an ohmygod I completely fell in love with it and didn’t want to put it down book. Yeah, that’s much I adored it. This is a sciencey romance book, and it was so much fun.

Jess is a statistician, a single mother and on the verge of giving up on love. It’s hard to date when you have a seven-year-old to look after, and after a bad date, she decides she didn’t have the time. Best friend Fizzy is not happy with that, and after a gorgeous regular in the coffee shop they frequent turns out to be one of the head scientists on a project where they hope to study your DNA and find your true love? Fizzy drags her along with her. But when Jess matches up with the scientist himself, River, she can’t believe it as this guy can’t be her soulmate.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker
Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Self-Harm, Abortion, Disordered Eating, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Homophobia, Paedophilia, Child Sexual Abuse, Fatphobia, Slut Shaming and references to Rape

Yeah, those are a lot of trigger warnings, but before we get into this review, we had to start with them. This is a hard book to read. Not only is it about the world ending, but these characters all have hard lives on top of that. This book is short, so though it’s difficult, it is quick to get through. I was lucky enough to be sent a physical copy of this book thanks to the folks of Hot Key Books, and I’m very glad I read it. I think it’s going to be one that will stick with me for a long while.

What would you do if you could get away with anything? Mae and her friends know they only have 30 days left to live. After coming across the body of her childhood friend, her ghost seems to haunt them all, and Mae wants to find out what happened. But people are more willing to do the deadly things they’d never dreamed of doing before, and chaos will take over the school and town.

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Update

I Need to Stop – The Book Buying Ban

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on I Need to Stop – The Book Buying Ban
I Need to Stop – The Book Buying Ban

It wasn’t that long ago that I announced I had a new way to limit my book buying but still allowing me to buy books. And it’s not working. I’m still just buying books whenever. I said I could buy two books last Monday through my chart. I bought five. The next day I bought another two. Yesterday I bought another two on top of that. I also have preorders and had a book box coming in today on top of that.

And it’s too much.

I’m supposed to be getting my TBR down. While I have started to pick up and actually read my e-books to get my digital TBR down… the physical TBR just keeps growing. And it’s a problem. I seriously need to stop buying books, at least for a little while. So this is me saying that from now – 15th June as I write this – I am on a ban.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

I absolutely adored Cinderella is Dead last year, so I’ve been excited about This Poison Heart since I first heard about it. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be, this was definitely one of my most anticipated books. I was actually debating buying the Fairyloot special edition, but I didn’t have the money. So I guess I’ll be grabbing a normal paperback edition at some point.

Where I usually try to keep my reviews spoiler-free – this one will have some spoilers. There’s something I want to talk about, so be warned. I was lucky enough to receive this as an e-ARC through Netgalley.

This Poison Heart is being promoted as a sapphic retelling of The Secret Garden. To me, it didn’t really scream The Secret Garden apart from the whole walled garden and family secrets. Briseis has power over plants, a power that she’s tried to keep hidden. One day her family gets a call saying that she has inherited a home from her birth mother’s family. As they move into the house, she discovers; hidden alters, a lineage of witches and a garden filled with poisons. Briseis doesn’t know what to do, but her ancestors won’t leave her alone until she accepts her fate.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: He’s Cancelled by Sophie Ranald

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 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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