Tag: book review

ARC, blog tour, books, middlegrade, Review

Blog Tour: Fireborn by Aisling Fowler

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Blog Tour: Fireborn by Aisling Fowler
Blog Tour: Fireborn by Aisling Fowler

You might not see much middle-grade on the blog, but I certainly read some. Fireborn Twelve and the Frozen Forest by Aisling Fowler is a book that I have been incredibly excited about. I’ve been lucky enough to get on the blog tour for it with Write Reads Tours.

Fireborn follows a young girl called Twelve who has been training within the Hunting Lodge to become a Hunter. She doesn’t get along with her fellow huntlings, but she knows she’s one of the best. So when the lodge’s walls are breached and one of the girls is taken, she knows she has to go track her down herself.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

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Book Review: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

You guys don’t know the noise I made when I received the email saying that I was lucky enough to get a physical ARC of this book. When my copy arrived, I couldn’t stop jumping around. I loved Margaret Owen’s The Merciful Crow duology; I adore retellings, and The Goose Girl was a fairytale I read a lot as a kid. I think I still have my little copy somewhere. So a very big thank you to Kate Keehan at Hodder and Stoughton for this book. I’m still so very, very happy.

Little Thieves is a retelling of The Goose Girl with a difference. Rather than following the princess, we follow her maid after she’s taken the princess’s place. A lady by day and a thief by night. Vanja has been trying to get her revenge on the rich and get away from there. But when she accidentally steals from a god, she is cursed, and she has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall
Book Review: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

This is the second book I’ve read by Alexis Hall, and it’s safe to say that I was very excited about it. There was part of me that was a little nervous. I loved Boyfriend Material because it read like lad-lit. And this book definitely has chick-lit vibes about it. But I was unsure that it was going to work this time.

I wasn’t disappointed. I read this book in a single night. It wasn’t as much of a favourite as Boyfriend Material. But I still adored it.

Rosaline Palmer is a single mum, who deciding she needed to do something with her life. Entered a baking competition. There she meets two attractive guys, deals with her own family and has to work hard to win it all.

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Adult, ARC, books, new adult, Review

Book Review: If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books7 Comments on Book Review: If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy
Book Review: If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

If the Shoe Fits is the first book in Disney’s new Meant to Be series. Advertised as Disney’s first foray into contemporary romance, this book is a Cinderella retelling set during a dating show. It felt more like New Adult Chick-Lit to me than your typical adult romance, but I actually adored it for that.

Cindy has just come home from a difficult final year at college. She’s in a creative rut, and she doesn’t know what to do. Her step-mother is the creator of the popular reality show Before Midnight, a show similar to The Bachelor featuring plenty of balls. Cindy goes on the show as an opportunity to show off her shoes and what she can do. But what if she meets Prince Charming whilst she’s there?

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance by Nisha Sharma

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance by Nisha Sharma
Book Review: Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance by Nisha Sharma

It’s been a while since Nisha Sharma’s last YA novel, but she’s back with another contemporary. I was lucky enough to get an early copy of this book from Little Tiger Books. So thanks so much for this! This is loosely connected to My So-Called Bollywood life, with the main couple making a cameo. But this is a different story and one that feels a lot more emotional and serious.

Radha was on the verge of becoming one of the best Kathak dancers in the world until a family betrayal puts her off dancing. Moving to a new school, she meets Jai, captain of the Bollywood Beats dance team. His dream has always been to go to medical school, now he doesn’t want to go to college and leave his family. Together they learn a lot about each other and help to reach their dreams.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

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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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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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