Review: Heir of Fire - Book #3 Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas - September 2014 Every year, I try and make it my goal to read at least one author's complete booklist, and this year as I stood staring at my bookshelf and seeing that I had almost all of Sarah J Maas's books, I picked her. This is also an author that I had been meaning to read for at least 10+ years as well, I just never got around to her books as when she first came out. I had been in a bit of a fantasy burnout stage as it was the end of the vampire era for me. So far I have read the first three ACOTAR books and now the first three TOG books and I am saying I am more Team ACOTAR than TOG, though this series could grow on me. Heir of Fire was a chunky read and has left me this week with a book slump as I haven't started a book since Tuesday night when I finished this one. I think it was because of the size, it took a lot out of me energy-wise. In Heir of Fire we read as Celaena headed to see Queen Maeve...

Review: Pearl - Sherri L Smith and Christine Norrie - August 2024 In "Pearl," Sherri L. Smith and Christine Norrie weave a poignant tale set against the backdrop of World War II, focusing on Amy, a young Japanese-American girl caught between two nations at war. This graphic novel, gifted to me by Scholastic Publishers US, exceeded my expectations with its emotional depth and powerful storytelling, earning it a well-deserved 5Ps rating on The Phantom Paragrapher. The story unfolds in 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, as thirteen-year-old Amy travels from Hawaii to Hiroshima to visit her family. However, the devastating events of Pearl Harbor trap her in Japan, where she finds herself conscripted into translating English radio transmissions for the Japanese army. Amy grapples with conflicting loyalties and the fear of internment camps in America, all while forging new friendships and slowly feeling a sense of belonging in a country now at war with her homeland. Smit...

Review: The Ruthless Fae King - Book #3 Kings of Avalier Series - Leia Stone - April 2023 I would say personally that I am not a huge fantasy or romantasy fan but lately, I have gotten into it as some of the books being published these days are very easy to read and have the perfect mix of fantasy, romance, and suspense to them. It also helps that the characters are easy to like and connect to as well. This is one series that I have been enjoying and I have enjoyed the first three books and can't wait to read book #4 - though I am partial to say as each book features a paranormal group - I am Team #Dragons. We have had Dragons in Book #1, Elves in Book #2, and now in Book #3, we have Fae. The book starts with the Fall Court princess being promised to the Winter King Lucien. The Winter King has a bad reputation and the Fall Princess Madelynn is angry at her father for organising this marriage without telling her. However, Madelynn is about to get the surprise of a lifetime as she di...

      Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin - Book #3 ACOTAR Series - Sarah J. Maas - May 2017 This series and author is one of my reading goals for 2024, I am aiming to complete all of her titles and I have been given from a fellow bookstagrammer, a reading order that combines all three of her series as some of them interweave and have crossovers of characters. In ACOWAR, I didn't go into this one with high expectations as unfortunately book #2 felt a bit of a slog reading for me. I got there but it wasn't a favourite, especially after reading the first book which was a 5-star read. This one, however, was a good read and more action-packed as the war with Hybern was coming up quickly and we read as some of the high courts of Prythian banded together to fight against Hybern - the evil human King.  Tamlin can go suck it as he's just a petulant fae who throws tantrums as Feyre wanted Rhysand and not him. I did love the fact that Lucian followed Feyre instead of staying wit...

Review: Divine Rivals - Book #1 Letters of Enchantment - Rebecca Ross - April 2023 When this series popped onto Instagram, it caught my attention as everyone was reading it. I then added the book to my wishlist and it was brought for me as an Instagram book gift. In this last part of 2023 and into 2024, I have started to get back into reading a bit of fantasy though of course it now has its terminology of "romantasy". Divine Rivals is historical meets fantasy but in a way could be set in a modern world but for me, it still held a strong historical feel to the book. The book starts with Iris's brother Forrest heading off to serve in the war to fight for Eden - one of the gods and goddesses who have just awoken after being in slumber for hundreds of years. The war is on between Eden and Dacre and is a War of the Gods but it's the humans who are suffering and fighting for their lives. Iris is working as a journalist alongside Roman and when tragedy strikes Iris's fa...

Review: Snowflakes - Book #1 Hush Collection - Ruth Ware - July 2020 Some days I get in these indecisive moods where I know I want to read something, but nothing grabs me. When I feel like this, I have a few quick reads on my Kindle that I know will just scratch that reading itch and hit the right spot. Snowflakes by Ruth Ware was one of those books. It starts with the War happening in what sounded like the UK and police/guards coming to the family's door. We hear gunshots as some of the family manage to escape and others are killed or so we believe. As I read this book, I imagined it being set in the 1940s at the time of World War 2, however, as we move along with the book we discover all is not what it seems. Laura and her siblings were raised on an island and were told that they were safe there from the War happening on the mainland, one that killed their mother. However, Laura is about to learn when her brother Cain disappears one night that all is not what it appears and that ...

Review: Silence For The Dead - Simone St. James - April 2014 One of my reading goals for 2024 is to get through the author Simone St. James booklists, so far I have read one of her books and the other was a DNF. Silence for the Dead is the 3rd book by this author I have read and the second one I have enjoyed. I was surprised though that when I started this book I was transported back to the year 1919-1920 - just after The Great War  had ended and during the second wind of the influenza plague. As we know the first one started ravaging families in 1918. The book starts with a young female called Kitty off to work at a Mental Institution, the institution is housed in an old family home that once belonged to a wealthy family who one day vanished without a trace. Strange things are happening inside the walls though as at night, the patients are hearing voices and hallucinating. They are convinced it's part of their PTSD and illnesses but the truth is that bad terrible things happened...