Astonishing. An absolute powerhouse of a novel.

Just a lovely historical romance. Full of warmth and humour with great characters. An easy comforting read.

A really brilliant book. It‘s a history book with a difference; full of facts but more importantly full of discussion and insights into what can be gained from the achievements of the ancient world and what can be learnt from their mistakes, their brutalities.

A cute and fun romcom

Loved this book. A fascinating historical fiction where the gender change of Zhu really ups the stakes. Frequently the author takes big risks, having Zhu do objectively monstrous or unlikeable things. Yet this is the novels biggest strength, allowing Zhu to be Zhu in all her unrelenting glory makes her all the more compelling. Zhu is the star of this book but all the other characters are also deeply developed and utterly fascinating.

Took me a little while to get into this and I don‘t think it as good as some of the authors other books but this is still a real solid, dark and original thriller.

It‘s kind of ‘Narcos‘ plus vampires and I enjoyed it overall. The second half of the book is particularly good.

Kind of ‘You‘ve Got Mail‘ but with zombies and demi-gods.

An utter delight

Just perfect.

Beautifully written and full of depth and richness in terms of both character and plot.

At times it is heartbreaking and rage inducing and at other times it is funny and touching.

Incredible

Brilliant.

Just as good as Graceling with an equally wonderful and engaging heroine in Fire.

Not a sequel but a companion book, an expansion of the world.

Wonderful. Katsa is immediately in my list of favourite heroines.

The world is fascinating and while the story in this book is complete with a very satisfying ending I do want more of the world. I want to explore the other kingdoms and meet more Graces. On to book 2!

Original and perfect

A truly fantastic fantasy with a rich and compelling world.

Clear structure with a defined plot; book is gearing up to a certain event and that event occurs. Delivers on the promise of the premise.

Deeply brutal but also deeply touching

Delightful! Full of adventure and big romance.

This author does a fantastic job at making all of her characters fully dimensional; ‘good guys‘ aren‘t always likeable and some do questionable things and ‘bad guys‘ are sympathetic. In fact often, it is not completely clear who the good guys are. Both sisters are difficult to warm to but that feels deliberate and makes for an interesting read. While the plot is a little predictable it is very well executed and the world is rich and fascinating.

This book, mostly focuses on Simon Fear, and is a bit more campy and over the top than the other two books. Simon is at times an almost cartoony villain and a twist in the first third does seem a little silly. Once past Simon and Angelica‘s courtship though the book settles back into the familiar tone and style of the other two and is overall a strong teen horror. The ending pages are excellent and set up the Fear Street world perfectly.

The first book really sets up the horrors that the Fear Family commit and the Goode‘s revenge while gruesome and violent does make sense and seems almost justified. This book moves the story forward past the initial generations and the Fear family seem more like tragic victims of things rather than perpetrators.

As strong and interesting as book 1.

Read this and the rest of the trilogy as a teen and absolutely loved it. Many years later I am trying to collect all the series I loved as a teen, the books that made me the reader I am.

Rereading this book I am surprised at how good it is and how well it holds up. Genuinely creepy and affecting at times, Stine does a fantastic job at telling the history of the Fear family - the family and horrors that underpin the Fear Street series.

Fantastic book. Really come to love Frances Hardinge; her world building is fantastic and her characters always rich and fully imagined. This book is fun, a true adventure fantasy.

It includes:
- criminals and cons
- Gods that may be monsters
- monsters that may be gods
- old and possibly mad priests
- crazy inventions
- complex friendships
- excellent deaf representation
- a hero who really shouldn‘t be allowed to pick his own friends

DNF at 100 pages

100 pages of the torture and degradation of a young girl by a monstrous older brother is enough. It‘s explicit and brutal and partly told from the perspective of the brother and I can‘t stand to be in his head any longer. I am sure that eventually the torture of the young girl will stop and that she will overcome and her brother will be defeated but I just can‘t get there. Heard great things about this book but it‘s not for me.

Stunning. A satisfying and well written conclusion to the duology. A new favourite series for me. I loved For the Wolf and loved this one as much. Each book is a complete story in its one right, telling one sister‘s journey. Together they tell the wider story of their world.

If you like the Scream Movies you‘d probably like this book. Very meta. Clever and fun.

July was apparently my month for reading massive books. First Great Circle and then this.

This was at times a slog and I didn‘t care for the detective that much. That being said the plotting was phenomenal on this book, everything stitches together so well and the villain is astonishing; fascinating and relatable.

I really didn‘t like this at first. I didn‘t feel connected to the main characters and was irritated by the tangents and very long description and background for everyone and everything. But as the book progressed I did start to really invest in the two leads, I cared for and worried about them. By the end i loved these characters and the book. I accidentally adored it.

This was ok. Easy reading and an interesting concept. BUT really felt like a part 1, didn‘t quite feel like a fully developed story in its own right but more like just the first part of a big story. It is obviously part of a series but in the first book especially I still want a fully developed story in its own right, a finished arc that sets up later arcs.

Completely worth the hype. Gripped from the very first line and couldn‘t put it down. Twisty and eerie and with an ending that just stuns you and makes you question everything you thought you knew about the book.

Really original concept and overall I really enjoyed it. It is a debut and occasionally aspects felt a little clunky but still a really solid horror-thriller.

Read this on my recent holiday and loved it. A brilliant and funny romcom.

Absolutely brilliant.

All three women, Elektra, Clytemnestra and Cassandra, are fully realised and developed. Obviously incredibly well researched, honours the myths whilst giving fresh perspective.

I am totally Team Clytemnestra. Agamemnon had it coming.

Read ‘This Poison Heart‘ and loved it but it is a longer and more drawn out book as it is providing back ground, scene-setting and also telling the first half of a story. With all the world building done already this book can just get on with the story and action. It picks up exactly where the first left off and zips along at a pace. Fun and compelling with great further character development. A satisfying conclusion that feels neat but not easy.

A weird and eerie little book! Basically no plot at all, it‘s all character based - we are in the mind of a sad and hungry female vampire and the book is basically just a continual stream of consciousness.

Fascinating and odd. The last chapter is particularly good but I can‘t say I LOVED it.

Brilliant. An inspired retelling of old British murder ballad ‘The Twa Sisters‘. The ballad dates back to the 17th century but the author decides to set it in the 6th century at a fascinating time; Romans have left England, paganism is being pushed out by Christianity and the Saxons are coming. Beautifully written and blending historical fiction with fantasy and magical realism. Each siblings voice is clear and fully developed.

Action packed adventure-romance with lots of great myth and historical references.

Light, fun and easy reading adventure romance.

Really enjoyed this. Not read a horror graphic novel before and the black and white illustrations really emphasised and amped up the creepy factor.

Atmospheric, weird and creepy. Lots of twists and a great ending.

Sweet and funny. Easy reading romcom.

Sexy, easy-to-read romcom. Heroine is a mess but likeable, hero is grumpy but not an asshole.

Lovely and adorable. A gorgeous quick read.

I read this book in one sitting. It is a fictional book but sheds light on an aspect of WW2 rarely talked about, the Women‘s Auxiliary Service, stationed in Burma. The book deals with some very tough subjects - including the treatment of POW‘s by the Japanese - but does so sensitively and touchingly. A sad book at times for certain but also joyful and inspiring.

Spent this afternoon relaxing and reading this book. its gorgeous, epic, clever and heartbreaking.
100% worth the hype.
Loved every word

Finally got round to reading this fairly recently and loved it!
Can definitely see why so many people love it so much.
A brilliant, character driven epic that has clearly inspired many other authors.

Absolute delight of a romcom. Devoured it!

A fairly solid thriller that was definitely compelling and made me want to know all the secrets.
BUT I didn‘t connect with the characters and didn‘t really care about any of them that much.

Beautiful, eerie and gothic. A super compelling and dark quick read.
It definitely gave me Secret Garden vibes; orphan, mysterious house, a cousin who is not the friendliest, huge grounds with secrets and gothic atmosphere.
Loved it

Loved this book! It‘s incredibly funny and dark. The author does not hold back or soften her protagonist who is absolutely a serial killer - and proud of it!

It is definitely a bit bonkers but I really enjoyed it overall and found the ending satisfying. Although there was one aspect that I would have liked to have played out differently it didn‘t ruin the book for me.

100% worth the hype

Powerful and beautifully written. Made me cry multiple times and I can‘t stop thinking about it

Intense and extremely clever hard sci-fi.

Some good twists and the connection to Chinese history - in particular the cultural revolution - is fascinating.

Character development was a bit lacking.

Enjoyed this. A solid murder mystery that was more twisty than the others in the series. Lily‘s personal life was more of a focus here but that worked as the last book in the series needed to round off Lily‘s journey.

After a slightly disappointing third book this one is back to the standard of the first two.

Lily is a little a less likeable in this book than she has been previously but it‘s a solid interesting murder mystery.

This is definitely a step down from the previous two - it suffers from moving outside of the town of Shakespeare.

Not bad at all but not as enjoyable as the first two.