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1/1/2019 0 Comments

Best in Books 2018

Thanks to Jamie at www.perpetualpageturner.com I have been inspired to post my own end of year highlights for 2018. I haven't answered all of Jamie's questions but have left the original question numbers in.
Note from Jamie: The survey is for books you read throughout the year, no matter when they were published, and is not limited to just books that came out in 2018!!
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2018 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 52
Number of Re-Reads: 2 (Both Audiobooks)

Genre You Read The Most From: Crime & Thrillers

Best in Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2018?
The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh
Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
I really can't name and shame.
 
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2018?
23. Best 2018 debut you read?

There were so many good debuts, I'm looking forward to reading more from:
Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott (Swan Song)
Lesley Kara (The Rumour)
Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister, The Serial Killer)
Lizzy Barber
(My Name is Anna)


7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
I bought Ronnie O'Sullivan's gangster thriller - Framed - for my boyfriend and after his rave review gave it read. I was surprised by the story and the tension of the plot. I really enjoyed it.

9. Book You Read In 2018 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I've already bought and listened to the audiobooks for Swan Song and The Man Who Didn't Call. 

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2018?
Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

Blog Life

3. Favourite bookish related photo you took in 2018?
 
I read most of my books on a Kindle, as such I miss actual books. But with travelling it's impossible to carry around all the physical books I want to read. So it's a treat to read a book by the pool!
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Nothing better than a book by the pool! #RonnieOSullivan #Framed #Paperback #Thriller #SwimmingPool #Entebbe #Uganda #Holiday #Travelling #LakeVictoria

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2018?
Actually starting the blog! I've wanted to start one for ages.


10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I set my reading goal on Goodreads for 25 books and read double!

Looking Forward

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2018 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2019?
The Six Loves of Billy Binns by Richard Lumsden
 
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2019 (non-debut)?
I can't wait for Amy Lloyd's One More Lie.

 
3. 2019 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
I'm really looking forward to both:
Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins


5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2019?
Read more, blog more, instagram more!

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31/12/2018 0 Comments

Review: Codename Villanelle

 Codename Villanell by Luke Jennings
Genre: Crime Thriller  
Length: 224 pages
Publication Date: 27 October 2017
Publisher: John Murray
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

ABOUT KILLING EVE
 
She is the perfect assassin.
 
A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.
 
Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.
 
Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her and the one she answers to.
 
She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness. Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.
 Then stopping a ruthless assassin becomes more than her job. It becomes personal.

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My Review:

As I've been travelling I must be the only person left in the UK yet to see Killing Eve! But before I watch the acclaimed television programme, I had to read the book that inspired the series.
 
The book had an interesting inception having originally published as ebook singles: Codename Villanelle, Hollowpoint, Shanghai and Odessa.
 
It was just what I wanted from a crime thriller. It's hard to imagine such fun in the murky world of criminality and murder for hire, but it delivered on entertainment. It's a short, quick read, that races on. The icing on the cake is the strong female leads – bravo!
 
I can't wait to watch the television programme.
 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
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19/12/2018 0 Comments

Review: Don't You Forget About Me

Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Genre: Romance/Romantic Comedy
Length: 368 pages
Publication Date: 1 January 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5

 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME
 
You always remember your first love. Don’t you…?
 
It began with four words.
 
‘I love your laugh. x’
 
But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (© Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (© Georgina’s best friends) in bed with someone else.
 
So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something.
 
The only problem?
He doesn’t seem to remember Georgina – at all…

My Review:

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The first chapter is Georgina, aged 15, trying to comprehend Wuthering Heights and navigate her feelings for the quiet and unpopular Lucas McCarthy. Fast-forward to modern day and Georgina (and her life) could be described as a 'hot mess' - bad job, worse boyfriend, and then neither! It took me a few chapters to get into the story but once I was hooked, I was truly reeled in, and finished the rest of the book in a day. The story was heart-breaking, funny, sentimental and left me in tears.  
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
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12/12/2018 0 Comments

Review: Dear Evan Hansen

 Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich with Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Steven Levenson
Genre: Young Adult/Theatre  
Length: 368 pages
Publication Date: 9 October 2018
Publisher: Penguin
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)


ABOUT DEAR EVAN HANSEN
 
Dear Evan Hansen,
Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why...
 
When a letter that was never meant to be seen draws high school senior Evan Hansen into the Murphy family's grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong.
 
He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell.
That the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.
 
Suddenly, Evan isn't invisible anymore. And Connor's wealthy parents have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his 'closest friend'.
 
As Evan gets pulled deeper into their family, he knows that what he's doing may not be right, but if he's helping people, how wrong can it be?
 
No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose.
 
He's confident. He's a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. But when everything is in danger of unravelling, he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.
 
A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation.
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My Review:

Even though Dear Evan Hansen is aimed at the young adult market, it deals with serious and heavy themes. Evan has an anxiety disorder. The first page talks about celebrity suicides, it gives a clear idea the direction of the story. It's an important time for such a novel, and to complement the popular musical. All people, young and old, could benefit from the storyline. And when a letter is misconstrued as a suicide letter, to Evan. Evan finds himself transported from a school nobody to a somebody, with not the expected consequences. It really encapsulated the trouble when trying to tell people what you think they want to hear as Evan balances the lies that help and the truth that hurts.

A very enjoyable read. I'm looking forward to seeing the musical when it comes to London.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
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3/12/2018 0 Comments

Review: The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Page length: 400 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction/Thriller
Publication Date: 3 December 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT THE HUNTING PARTY
 
EVERYONE’S INVITED.
EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT.
 
In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.
 
The beautiful one
The golden couple
The volatile one
The new parents
The quiet one
The city boy
The outsider
 
The victim.
 
Not an accident – a murder among friends.
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My Review:

A modern day Agatha Christie.   

As the front covers says everyone’s invited, everyone’s a suspect. Halfway through the book you’re so acquainted with the characters they’re practically friends. And yet you still you have no idea who the killer is OR the victim. The level of suspense is precariously high, but it stands strong. There are clues on every page, from the party of friends, the staff, and the surprise Icelandic visitors. Even as the book was coming to a close, all the secrets and lies kept tumbling, keeping the true killer out of sight until the very end. Bravo Ms Foley!

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review.


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