Review: Dark Asylum

Dark Asylum
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The lips had been darned closed with six long, black, stitches. Clumsily executed, they gave the face a crude deaths-head appearance, like a child's drawing scrawled upon a wall . . .

1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow's inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness. 

To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city - from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London's brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities. 

I liiiiiiive for this series you guys! I wasn't sure when I read the first book, if it was just a one off, so I was so excited when I saw there was a sequel, and now it's a series and aaaahhh I'm so pleased! I'm sure you can tell that I loved the first book. 

Thomson puts so much work in to her books. She does an amazing amount of research and manages to work it all in to the plot and the settings and the characters subtly. So you end up with an authentic and believable read that pulls you back in time, and you pick up all these little interesting facts as you read. I'm so genuinely fascinated by Jems job! 

Now, in this book Jem and Will are at it again with their sleuthing and this time the backdrop is an asylum. In the first book, I didn't really know all that much about the medicine and doctors and so on. For this book, I had a bit more knowledge. Back when I was doing my acting classes, we did a piece set in a Victorian asylum and so I had to do a lot of research. I knew this was going to be a dark and grim read. Asylums weren't a great place to end up. But I still picked up so much information from reading that I didn't know. I feel like the asylum was a very creepy and mildly terrifying setting, considering how they treated patients and what they did to them....and the kind of rubbish you could be admitted for. They're genuinely mildly terrifying. 

I'm going to straight up say that the main victim of this book, so the first one, totally had it coming and totally deserved it. Rutherford was an a-hole like...personally I feel like he was evil. I know it was the time and he was trying to work things out but....evil. *makes sign of the cross* I was sad to see a couple of characters go though! 

I continue to love Jem as our main character, and I still find Jem very interesting. Jem's dealing with some feelings this book, and I'm intrigued to see how it will end up. I lowkey ship Jem and Will I'm not going to lie. I can't help it. I see ships everywhere. Plus I love how well Jem and Will work together and get on with each other. I love how Will always gets drawn in to the crime solving! 

I love the different POV's, and the extracts from the journal. Those extracts provide information and intrigue, and they're a huge source of clues as you try to work out who the killer is, but I was fairly sure that the journal writer wasn't the actual killer...but I did change my mind about fifty times as I was reading! Like...it's totally the killer...okay no it's not the killer...okay yes it is....no it's not...and so on. 

The thing I love most about this book, and the previous one, is that they keep you guessing right up until the end. There are so many clues that you're trying to put together, and make sense of, and you have so many suspects that you slowly narrow down and you change your mind so many times. Or at least I did! I just love how well Thomson writes her mysteries! I usually end up groaning like "noooo what did I miss?!" and then I go back and re-read little bits and I'm like "aaaahhh I'm so stupid!". It's brilliant. There's also a heartbreaking story in this book, and I'd like to think it wasn't a common story but I doubt it. I just enjoy how Thomson gives the characters both main and secondary, brilliantly crafted backgrounds and life stories. 

Dark Asylum is a fantastic sequel, every bit as atmospheric and dark as the first. There's twists, and turns and surprises, and it's such a richly authentic read it's easy to get sucked in to the book. I love how Thomsons research is woven throughout the entire book, present in everything, even the littlest detail. I always find out so much that I didn't previously know. Dark Asylum once again keeps you guessing right up until the end, and I'm so excited for the third book as there's a rather interesting tidbit in the authors Q & A at the back of the book so check it out! 

Havana Sleeping

Havana Sleeping

Rating: 3/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Havana in the 1850s is a city as dangerous as it is exotic. The murder of a humble night watchman at the British Consulate seems to worry neither the Consul nor the police.

But one person cared for the old man. The enigmatic courtesan Leonarda will not rest until she understands the mystery of his death.

In wintry England, George Backhouse is plucked from obscurity in the Foreign Office and given an unexpected promotion. His task: to travel to Cuba and take a stand against the illegal slave trade still flourishing there.

But Havana is a tinderbox of intrigue. As the great powers of the region conspire against each other with increasing ruthlessness for control of the island, Backhouse comes to see that the most innocent of actions could spark a devastating war.

To protect their interests, the powers-that-be in Whitehall are prepared to turn a blind eye to many things. Leonarda will not.

But what of George Backhouse? 

I've gotta say, this was fascinating and intriguing, and I found the authors notes at the end a welcome addition! They were concise, but told you a fair bit, and where a nice addition at the end of the book after you've read the entire story. 

I found this book quite atmospheric to be honest, I went on holiday to Cuba when I was younger, we didn't stay in Havana but we did visit it and it was a colourful and fascinating place, and this was evident in the book, albeit a Havana from a different time period. I did get a real feel for Havana in the 1850's, and you could practically feel yourself there. 

However, I did find the book hard to get in to, I did find the place and the politics and everything fascinating and intriguing, but I did struggle to keep reading at points, especially in the first half as there where lots of different plot threads and some of them I couldn't work out the significance of. 

While I did want to know what happened next, I wasn't glued to the page, I was interested, but I wasn't totally engrossed. A few of the scenes fell a bit flat for me, and a few of the reveals didn't have the shock element for me. 

I initially found George hard to get on with when I was reading, but as the book went on, I got a better idea of him and he turned out to be quite courageous and I did end up liking him by the end, so the end of the book made me all kinds of sad! 

I hate unsolved mysteries, fiction or fact, they annoy me because I always have to know what happened, who did it and so on. You wouldn't believe the amount of times I've watched documentaries about various historical mysteries and gotten annoyed because I couldn't work out who'd done it or even come up with something, and I'm fascinated by all the theories. 

So this book drove me mad, because it's not the actual answer, and then the notes with what happened, and it was so obviously dodgy because nothing was stolen so yeah. I WANNA KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED DAMMIT! 

But yes, while the book was a struggle to get in to and didn't have me engrossed 100% of the time, it was intriguing and it was fascinating to learn about the politics of the time, as well as being an atmospheric read, it really gave you a feel for Havana at the time. 

Code & Exposure

Code
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher

The gang is back and things are quite quiet over on Loggerhead, no-ones shooting at them and trying to kill them, but we all know that won't last for long and it doesn't. See Hi has got a new hobby, it's called geocaching, and Hi and the gang find the only geocache located on Loggerhead. The cache contains a mystery box, and inside the mystery box is the start of a game, a very dangerous game.

The gang have to follow the clues to the next locations and it soon becomes apparent that this isn't an innocent  hunt, soon the gang are being put in one impossible position. Follow the rules of the game, win the tasks, find The Danger, or innocents are going to get hurt. They have no choice but to play the game, a game that's trying to kill them and those they love.

Tory and the gang have to solve the puzzles while working against the clock and keeping everything a secret, while trying to hunt down the Gamemaster. But that's not all they have to worry about, Chance is out and free, and he's on to Tory's little secret...the question is...will he work it out?

Okay, so again, this book is different to the first two books, this one was almost like a treasure hunt, but it was more intense, and more serious. The creepy "I'm watching you vibe" was very PLL and the overall vibe was quite junior NCIS or something similar. This book had a whole different levity to it with the consequences if they fail and so on, the stakes where way higher!

We got more of Jason in this book, which was interesting, as we didn't see him much in the first two books, you got loads of him and got to know him a bit better in this book, I'm still curious about him though, he still seems a bit mysterious.

This book gave us what we've all been waiting for as well.....the confirmation that Ben has a thing for Tory which was obvious at one previous point in the book, and it's all like screeching and wooing and omging, because like....FINALLY. It's now a case of what happens next....where will it go? If we do get some romance, I'm certain it's going to be secondary to the main plot, and very subtle, like it has been so far.

We got more of Chance this book as well, I like Chance, I really do, and I spent the whole book praying he wouldn't be a dick, then there was a point when I thought he was and I was like omg no but he wasn't, but he was totally shady for most of the book, and then right at the end of the book I was like dammit Chance, you're gonna be a dick aren't you?! I can't even. I want to know more about Chance, I really do like him, and I slightly ship him with Tory, not gonna lie.
His mole at LIRI is going to be interesting to watch play out as well. I hope he gets found out soon.

Like with the other books, our characters developed more, their bond strengthened...sort of, we saw more locations in the books world, and got a nice vivid image of them, the book was fast paced, just as slick and full of action, and it was incredibly hard to predict what was going to happen next. I always think I've pegged my suspect, or pin pointed what's going to happen next and I'm always wrong, and I love it.

Which is why the plot twist with Ben hit me like a truck. I did not see that coming. I thought the thing he was hiding was his thing for Tory, but no. I'm constantly shocked and surprised by every single plot twist in these books, and this was the worst so far. Like I can't even. I'm wondering how much it's going to change with his relationship with Tory, and how much it'll change the dynamics of the pack. Not to mention what will happen next with Ben himself.

I love how each book has a prologue that draws you in, and this was the creepiest one so far! I also love the little chapters in between the main narrative that are from a different POV, of someone who's a suspect, or from the bad guy, that all add huge amounts of intrigue and a nice dose of creepy.

It was interesting to see how things played out from the second book, everyone is closer, Kit now has an enemy within his own workplace, what things have changed in LIRI, douchey security for example. I quite liked Anders, I hope we see more of him! This book has taught me to be a bit suspicious of new characters, so I was mildly suspicious about him while hoping he was just a normal person haha

Now the suspense and the tension oozed off the page in this book multiple times, half the time it was like a physical thing, and it totally engulfs you. I was on the edge of my seat, nail biting, and generally freaking out when they where doing the challenges, and don't get me started on the scene under the ballroom! Couldn't put it down even if I tried. 

This series gets better and better, each book brings a different element, keeping the series fresh, there was still science in this one but there was a lot of cool puzzles as well. I love how there's still more to learn about their powers, especially with the new source of info they found, and I'm always excited to see where their powers are going to take them, what new ability they'll develop, I mean Tory is all mind reader, mind speak right now and it's so awesome!

I'm very excited to see what happens in the next book, especially after the last chapter!

Exposure
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher

It's been 5 months since the events of code, and we join the gang in the midst of the Gamemaster's trial as it's coming to it's conclusion. While the Gamemaster pretty much seals his fate, two of the gang's classmates go missing, twins to be precise. So of course Tory and the gang decide to investigate, I mean....weird, creepy card left as a clue? How could they not. But when they stumble across blood, and lots of it, things get a whole lot more serious...and then when Tory's friend Ella goes missing? Tory becomes hell bent on finding the missing students before anything bad happens. Well...worse than being kidnapped. 

However, they have a bit of a problem. While investigating they have to deal with Ben, who's flaring all the time, in public, and the fact that their flares are becoming are more unstable, to the extent they can't flare without pain at some points or flare without realising. It's getting harder and harder to keep their secret. Which is crappy timing, considering Change is not just suspicious of them...he's on to them. He has a theory and he thinks he's worked out what's going on with them....he's also commissioned some secret project at his new place of work....Candela Pharmaceuticals. 

As the threat of exposure gets higher and higher, the evidence surrounding the students disappearance gets more and more confusing, and when Tory herself is dropped straight in to danger...the Virals are going to have to risk themselves and their secret to save the missing students. 

So in this installment, we jump in 5 months after the little game the psycho master had them playing, and I loved getting to see how it all played out, what happened to the Gamemaster and how the events effected everyone involved, we got to see the previous storyline conclude pretty much perfectly. 

We also got to see how the plot twist from the third book played out, and the answer is, not well for Ben, the gang's kinda fractured when we join them in the book, they aren't a pack and they aren't working well together, Tory and Ben haven't spoken in months and Ben has this weird addiction to the flare almost. I will admit, for the majority of the book, Ben was being kind of a douche, and at points I really wanted to punch him in the face and didn't particularly like him much. I am Team Tory and always on her side, so yeah. But then eventually the gang got back to working well together and fixed themselves and Ben actually came across as quite sweet at one or more points, rather than his usual stoic self, so it was all good. But for a moment I was worried I was about to have issues with one of them! 

I'm beginning to have vibes about Tory, there's a lot unresolved, with her mother's death, and I'm slowly convincing myself it wasn't an accident, and I know it's probably because I watch too many crime shows but still. Also with each new book, Whitney annoys me more and more. As someone who doesn't like being forced to do things, or told what to do, Whitney really grates, as does Tory just taking it and go along with whatever she wants, I'm hoping it'll eventually come to a head and Tory will finally get Whitney to back off and stop trying to make her in to her, because to me, Tory is a strong character, and she seems quite independent at times, and her just going along with Whitney for the rest of her life doesn't mesh with the sense of her that i have as a character. Or ya know....Kit could finally dump her. Whichever. 

An intersting point of this book was that, we didn't have a creepy bad guy POV until we knew who the bad guy was, I was sad, because they're my favourite, but at the same time, it really added more intensity and foreboding and danger to the book as well as intrigue, we did have the creepy first chapter though! More importantly we got the POV of Ben, Shelton and Hi, briefly towards the end, which I liked because it gave you a sense of each character a bit better, and made the whole disappearance thing even more heart pounding, as they raced to put everything together and find her and so on. I don't know, I love Tory and her narrative, but it made it more interesting than just being from Tory's POV and then finding out what the boys did.

I gotta say, I love Hi and Shelton more with each book! They really do crack me up and stop the books from being all dark all the time. I particularly enjoyed how they where all heroes after the events of the third book and even the Tripod decided to creepily be nice to Tory! 

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the boys, really I do, but I LOVE ELLA SO MUCH. Seriously. She's a fantastic addition to the cast, she's the friend Tory needs, and it's so great to see her interact with a female friend who can make the fancy events she's forced to go to less boring. It's great to see Tory finally have someone other than the guys to talk to about stuff, and with the whole Ben thing, I think she's gonna need her. I was so devastated when she was kidnapped, not to mention also slightly gutted cos I started to think she had something to do with it all! These books have taught me to be suspicious of all new characters added to the mix! 

There's less of Jason, but there's more of Chance, and even a little Chance POV to give us an insight in to what he's doing and why, which was interesting, because at one point I really thought he was going to be a huge, "I'll kill you all" crazy person problem, but I can see where he's coming from and his determination to find out what the hell was going on, as can Tory, I think. He's clearly up to something dangerous that he then realised was dangerous and then the ending? Man I'm excited for the next book to see how this plays out, I had my suspicions about the "weird feeling" Tory was getting and it is the ONLY thing in these books I've ever worked out right! But yeah....interesting to see what changes. 

So I always say how I like seeing their powers change and develop rather than being a stagnant thing that they just have, and this book shows how potentially unstable their powers are. Either they where out of whack because of Chance, or Ben's theory was right, or they genuinely are dangerous and could kill them, but it was interesting to see them take a sinister turn. The Flare snapping off randomly, not being able to Flare, intense pain trying to Flare, it's going to be interesting to see what's behind it in the next book and what's going to happen with it next. 

This book, again, had a different vibe to the other books, they where looking for their classmates, while the noose tightened on them from Chance's investigations. It was kinda like a junior Criminal Minds or something, I don't know, but it was cool and a different take to the other books.

The creepy calling cards where suitably creepy, and I will admit, I found all the stuff about the Zodiac really interesting, so interesting I looked it up to check on my star sign, but I'm still narrowly a Pisces! Not sure whether I'm pleased or not to be honest! Speaking of the Zodiac, we see another corner of the world in this book, from the fairy shop to the huge estate with plenty of interesting history to it, I'm always interested to hear what historical tidbit about the area will be revealed!

The ending though...holy wow. It's like a punch in the freaking face. I was literally sitting, totally stunned for a good few minutes. Then I was freaking out and then I was thanking my lucky stars I can move on to the next book straight away. Props to the fans who've had to wait however long after that bombshell. I can't even. So many interesting paths have opened up, I can't wait to see what's going to happen next! 

Made For You

Made For You
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!

Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital to discover an attempt has been made on her life. But who in her sleepy town could have hit her with their car? And why? Before she can consider the question, she finds that she's awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people's deaths when they touch her.

While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old friend, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva's power to keep her friends - and themselves – alive. But the killer is obsessed and will stop at nothing to get to Eva…

So, GoodReads synopsis instead of my own because there is no way in hell I can do my own synopsis without rambling on and giving something away that I shouldn't, and that would be disastrous with this book! The second thing I need to do in this review, is thank the publisher profusely for sending me this! It's been on my TBR list for AGES, and it was SUCH a good book and I'm just like....I could hug the publishers right now. Like seriously. Hug them to death.

This book draws you in and is very compellingly written right from the start, I was glued to the book the entire time and read it in mere hours, it was too intriguing to put down, I had to know what happened next, and I had to know who the killer was and who was going to die next, and I was trying to juggle eating dinner while reading, which was interesting.

The book has you on the edge of your seat the entire time, and the tension oozes off of the page and engulfs you as you read. The setting was vivid and sucks you in, you can get a feel for the place and the customs as you read, and it was quite fascinating to me to be honest.

Every single one of the characters was intriguing and interesting and well written with plenty of depth. A lot of them you where wondering about, wondering about their background and past, and it was revealed seamlessly with the narrative, and the characters kept you as interested in the story as the plot. I loved Eva, I thought she was such a strong character, and Grace just made me laugh, she really doesn't care! I liked Nate as well, and the thing with he and Eva was cute, and developed quite naturally, with very natural obstacles rather than drama for the sake of drama.

Eva doesn't remember anything about her accident, so you're in the dark along with her, at times, at least for me, pieces fell in to place for me at the same time as they did for her. At other times, while Eva is still in the dark, we get little clues from the worlds creepiest and ickiest point of view ever. Seriously, it made my skin crawl.

We have Eva's point of view mostly, and a few chapters from Grace's point of view, which always fit in at the right moment to further the story, and to add to it, and just made sense. Each change was seamless and you could tell it was a different character by the writing without having to be told it was a different point of view.

Then we had the third point of view. It was so, SO creepy. It was the killer's point of view and it was so well done, and so fantastically horrifying. Like I said, it made my skin crawl and I shuddered more than once. The killer's point of view is always timed well, it always fits in at the right moment, and it was very well done because it added to the story without giving too much away. It gave you little clues, and helped you to understand what was going on, you where in the killer's head, learning his motivation and why he was doing it, but it gave nothing away about who the killer was until after the reveal. THEN it was even more of an "oh shit" moment. So, so well done. It really added to the story because it helped you try to workout who it was, and instead of being all like "wtf why is he after her though? Why is he doing that? What?" the entire way through, you understand why and it makes the entire story even creepier.

The plot was very well done, there's lots of different threads, lots of different information revealed to you at different times that makes you change your mind about your own suspect and it kept you guessing. I had an inkling of who it was early on, not long after we first met the character I thought it was him, for no particular reason than a semi educated guess with what little we had to go on, and I thought he was creepy anyway. But that was okay, it didn't make the book any less shocking or surprising and didn't stop the book from keeping me guessing.

Why? Because the author knows what she's doing, and she writes so that you keep having your mind changed. Little things, little comments, little notes about characters, how surprisingly strong one is, for example, little things like that kept making me change my mind, so I thought "shit no...it's not X character, it's Y character" and then I'd change my mind again, and again, and then the big reveal happened and I was still shocked and surprised because I'd had my mind changed so many times, this character was still my main suspect, but I wasn't entirely sure, and I was like omg it really was. It took nothing away from the book, it made it even more intriguing to me to be honest because I had to know who it was, amid all of these changing opinions.

Made For You is a book that has you on the edge of your seat, and infects you with it's tension, you can't help but be engrossed in it and the compelling writing. Made For You is honestly like an episode of Criminal Minds, you have information about the killer from the killer's point of view that the other characters don't have, and you're trying to work it out along with them. Unlike Criminal Minds, this has a cool edge to it with the visions Eva has, and I thought it was a nice touch to keep the book unique and add a fresh twist to it to make it different. It wasn't overdone, it was interesting to see her trying to work out how it worked while eliminating future victims, and it slotted in perfectly. Thinking about it, it didn't seem all that out there while I was reading, I wasn't thinking "ooh supernatural" I was thinking, "man this is better than Criminal Minds". Truth.


This has been a surprisingly less rambling review than usual and I'm quite proud haha! But yes, for fans of Criminal Minds, this is perfect, with a nice twist, and the same I'll say for crime fans. I kinda want more of Eva to be honest!

The Widow's Confession

The Widow's Confession
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!

Delphine and her cousin Julia are running from a past in New York, something to do with Delphine and who she really is. After spending time in London, they decided to head to Broadstairs in Kent for the summer of 1850, a nice little fishing village. Or so they thought. The town has secrets, and a darkness all of it's own, that's coming back from the past to haunt the present, not everyone had a nice childhood. When a girl is found dead on the beach, with a mysterious word written in the sand next to her, the authorities (of a sort) try to pass it off as an accidental drowning, but when another girl dies, and another attempt is made, it quickly becomes clear there's a killer in their midst. Secrets are everywhere and not everyone is as they seem....

Okay so I read The Silversmith's Wife from the library, because ya know...history geek and all that, and I can't resist a historical book of any description, anyway, I totally loved it, and so when I was asked if I'd like to review this, I pretty much couldn't say yes fast enough. I wasn't disappointed.

The thing I loved about this book was how dark and compelling it was, with the atmosphere rolling over you as you enter an incredibly vivid world, created so fantastically while being historically accurate. There are secrets everywhere, people have issues, serious issues that are written about with all the respect and seriousness they deserve, I won't say much as to not spoil the story.

I pretty much started reading this, sat back, and went along for the ride, I went wherever the author took me. I had no idea what was going to happen next, I had no idea who the killer was, and I had no idea any of the twists and turns where coming up, I was surprised at every turn and I loved the not knowing. I mean I tried to work out who the killer was, but I'm kind of useless at this detective malarky, so I was waaaaay wrong, like I'm sure the author intended, I was thrown off by the whole writing thing...and the boat....and yeah. But who wants a mystery you can work out? No-one.

I loved how the killer was one mystery, but so was Delphine, and who she was and what happened, I liked that there where kind of multiple storylines going on, the killer and the search for him or her and then Delphine and her life and what she was running from and I LOVED the way the book started with the letter, I mean it builds intrigue and anticipation like nothing else, as do the little bits go the letter at the beginning of each chapter, that then smoothly intersect in to the narrative in time for the ending, so you can see what happens next, after the letter has been sent.

I'm probably not making much sense, but damn I love Sophia Tobin books! Tobin really gives you one hell of a feel for and insight in to the time and how women where treated, and how society acted, better than any other book I've read recently. The narrative is smooth and isn't broken up by endless pages of description to create the world she has weaved, she's done it with a couple of sentences. She's that good. Not to mention the fantastic cast of characters, that intrigue you, and help to keep you engaged with the story....well...them and the killer plot.

Sophia Tobin has given us another gripping book, full of history and mystery (one day I'll stop rhyming today is not that day), you won't be able to put the book down and the atmosphere will envelop you and at times chill you. Word of warning....I'd set aside time to read this in one go! I can't wait to see what the author brings us next! I'm pretty much a fangirl of hers after only two books!

The Chase

The Chase
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

There's an artifact the Chinese would like returned to them in the Smithsonian. Except the US can't give it back because it happens to be a reaaaally good fake, due to the fact the original was stolen. Fox and O'Hare are teaming up once again, once they obtain the identity of the thief of the Rooster, things become....slightly more difficult. It turns out that he's the former White House chief of Staff, Carter Grove, who's the leader of BlackRhino security, a private security firm made up of ruthless killers. Getting the Rooster back is going to require a mid-air heist, but that's not the hard part. When Grove discovers he's been robbed, he wants his Rooster back. And revenge. Then there's the fact Fox can't let it go that Grove just so happens to have a large collection of stolen goods from some of the biggest thefts in history. You know what that means? Fox and O'Hare are going to take him down....

I appear to be in a small minority of people who did actually rather enjoy this book, I thought it was quite good fun, and an easy read! Unfortunately I haven't read the first book, but I found it easy enough to understand what was going on, what had gone and so on, you could quite probably read this as a stand alone, because previous events are mentioned.

The Chase is action packed from beginning through to end, there's never a dull moment. The plot keeps steaming on, they pull of the heist and their mission, but then something else happens, and it's a big, rolling adventure. Fast paced, we go on an adventure along with Nick and Kate, and you're never quite sure what's going to happen next.

I'm fully shipping Nick and Kate and waiting for them to get together. I mean....they have to, right?! They go so well together, and the banter had me chuckling, and it really reminded me of Castle and Beckett, not to mention the show White Collar in general. Not to mention the Oceans Eleven of it all with the team! Admittedly it's a team of oldies, an actor and a tech genius, but still! I loved Boyd, as an actor, I really enjoyed him and found myself chuckling along and agreeing with him!

The setting is vivid, the characters have depth and the narrative is entertaining and engaging. Not to mention the work gone in to how to pull off the heists! The book takes you all over the world, with our rag tag group, there's bad guys, dodgy assassins, and sinister threats over frozen yogurt. There's danger and suspense everywhere, and this book won't fail to make you laugh.

Roll on the third book in the series! Excited to see what's going to happen to my ship! ;)

The Royalist

The Royalist
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr!

William Falkland is a dead man. Due to be hanged for fighting against Parliament in a Royalist Dragoon, which means he's been getting well acquainted with Newgate Prison. One day, a day he's assuming is his execution date, he's led out with a sack over his head, but instead of taking a short walk to the hangman's noose, he finds himself face to face with Oliver Cromwell.

Cromwell has heard of Falkland's investigative skills, but more importantly, that he stood up to the King and hung a guilty man in the name of justice when ordered to let it go, in short, he knows that he's a man of conscience, which is exactly what he needs. You see, his New Model army has a problem, it's a nest of vipers, full of untrustworthy people, and there just so happens to have been a slew of deaths sweeping the camp in Devon. All Falkland has to do is discover the truth, and he's a free man.

Falkland soon discovers that there's more to these deaths than meets the eye. There's a grander scheme at work and it goes high up the totem of power. Will he be able to stop what's happening? Will he be able to save himself?

The Royalist sucks you straight in to the world, the time and the setting. It's very vivid and atmospheric and you can easily get a feel for England at the time. The politics of the time and the circumstances are very well explained without giving you too much information so you're bogged down, you're concisely told everything you need to know, to have a picture of the current war, the politics, the religion and so on. I actually have a better understanding of that period of time than I did before, I knew the basic details and have read a couple of books set around the time, but none with this level of detail that gave me this much understanding. It's clearly very well researched and all this research is relayed perfectly, giving you only the bits and pieces you need.

I found the setting to be, like I said, vivid, and very colourful. I thought the setting was quite unique, I mean the books I've read around this time period where either from the Royalist side of things, or where focused in London, I've not read a book that is set in the camp of the New Model army, nor read one that reveals just how flawed the army was with the press ganging Royalists, and the clashing religions and so on. You got a strong sense of the uncertainty of the time, and the fear and superstition.

I know I keep going on about the politics and how well explained it is, but seriously, usually when I read books like this, I get so confused and have no idea what they're talking about. It's so well explained, the politics and religion etc, that when the big reveal was made or the plan or whatever you want to call it, I immediately understood the implications without having to wait for the proper explanation and that is a really rare occurrence for me!

The characters where well written and had plenty of depth, it'll be interesting to see more of Falkland. I was very suspicious of Warbeck in the beginning, and he turned out to be way different than I thought he was and had way more going on than first appeared! Miss Cain was very brave and strong, and Falkland was well....he was a deserving hero, he earned the title. I was impressed with how he wasn't swayed by people and his intelligence, usually I'm shouting at the book because it's SO OBVIOUS AND YOU'RE NOT GETTING IT, but with this I was like "oh thank God he has a brain!", I was following his same thought process, so I didn't have an advantage on him or anything like that. The plot twists and turns where shocking to me, I couldn't predict them, I had theories sure, but all where wrong.

The plot was complex, there where layers as all was not as it seemed and there was a lot going on. The Royalist was a very enjoyable and refreshing read that gave you a new understanding of the time and the New Model army and how it was anything but united, there was one niggling little thing though. I felt like the ending was a smidge rushed, it wasn't as strong as it could have been, it just fell a bit flat.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of the Publisher!
File Under: Pleasantly creepy, Criminal Minds for teens.

Still dealing with the events from The Naturals, when Cassie faced her serial killer aunt, Cassie is also trying to avoid feeling anything for either Dean or Michael, torn between the two, and she's going to have to make a decision. Luckily for Cassie, a distraction from said decision soon makes itself apparent.

A new agent, Agent Sterling, one with an interesting connection to both Briggs and Dean has moved in to the house. She's there to evaluate the programme after what happened in the Summer, and she's a stickler for following the rules. The consequences when you don't follow them? Ankle trackers. Seriously. But it's kind of hard to follow the rules when a new case for Briggs and Sterling hits very close to home.

Victims start turning up, killed by a murderer with the exact same MO as Dean's father, Daniel Redding, and there is far more to this case than meets the eye. The Naturals just can't help but break some rules to investigate for Dean's sake, but it's not long before our favourite teens are officially pulled in to help on the case. Dean finds it hard to not only be thinking about his father again, but actually having to see him. The team are going to have to sift through a serial killers mind games, half truths and dressed up lies to solve the case and put the copycat behind bars. Cassie will come face to face with Dean's father. Decisions will be made. Truths will come out and one member of the team will be put in immediate danger. But......is the killer really who it appears to be?

I totally went all voice-over "Next Week on The Naturals" but whatever. You guys can feel from my words just how full of tension and action this book is. I mean woah. I hate to say this but....I think I'm loving the series more than the Raised By Wolves series, which I thought was impossible but apparently not so!

I'm a huge Criminal Minds fan, in the sense that I'll watch each episode as it airs each week ONCE, because if I try to marathon it and watch a season in a day, I get majorly freaked out, and I'm sure some people know exactly what I'm talking about, a friend of mine certainly did! So I watched up to season 4 then just cut to the new season! This series, for me, is like a teen Criminal Minds, and I love it. It's the right level of creepy with how Cassie and Dean get in to the killers head, and the little view points from the killer, which I love I mean way to add mystery and intrigue while giving nothing away! I like to search them for clues and then still be totally wrong. It really sets such a perfect, creepy vibe!

I re-read The Naturals before reading this, just to get in the zone and back up to speed, but also so I can say that Killer Instinct carries on perfectly from The Naturals. Time has passed, but you're straight back in with Cassie and her dealing with things and then other things start happening ASAP. I love how there's no faffing for x amount of chapters, it's straight in and action from the go. The pace for this is fantastically fast, with the right atmosphere to the book and the right amount of tension that gets ratcheted up at the exact right moment until you're turning pages so fast you're in danger of genuinely injuring yourself!

I really enjoy the characters. All of them are so genuine, all have different backstories, and all are written so incredibly well that they truly come to life, I love how they all fit together to create a team. I especially love how a little nugget of information about each character is given away in each book, we don't have a full picture for Sloane, and Lia's background yet, but we have a pretty much complete one for Dean and I'm not sure if we've got everything about Michael yet. But I love how you get it bit by bit, so your opinion of the character and perspective of them grows and changes. Lia is a great example, and how she changes and her whole thing with Dean. Love me some Lia! I really love Sloane too and I'm hoping for more of her next book! She's so adorably awkward with her facts and SHE'S TOO CUTE AND I JUST WANT TO HUG HER.

Cassie, is a character I connected with and empathized from the beginning, and in this book that is still true. In Killer Instinct, every decision she made, was a decision that in my opinion, any regular person would have made (mostly). Most of her reactions are realistic and so on, and she's an excellent narrator, engaging and at times humorous. Every character has a flaw, and is damaged in some way and it makes every single one of them more believable and realistic than if they'd been perfect, and you can empathize with every single character and most of the time it's not hard to work out certain characters motivations in their actions. All of them are a truly unique cast of characters to go with this unique series.

The love triangle is perfectly written. I mean, usually when you have a love triangle you just KNOW who the girl is going to choose and who the obvious choice is, in this series, I have never been sure, and quite frankly, I am torn between the two, a decision is made in this installment between the two, and I'm excited to see where the relationship is going to go, to see if her choice is going to keep this new, better behaviour *frantically tries to word this correctly without spoilers* or if he'll revert back and it'll be all "Ugh I will punch you if you don't sort it out". Both boys where damaged in their own way and their individual reactions to the decision will be interesting. I mean there's no guarantee it's over, things might change. We shall see, but I have to give props to Jennifer for doing an incredibly well written love triangle that kept me guessing! It's a very rare occurrence!

The plot was complex. I thought I had worked out who the killer was by picking up on the little clues scattered throughout the book, and trying to be Cassie and fitting the person to the profile. But then I got one hell of a plot twist and I was wrong....but then there was another plot twist and I was right. This book is incredible. I say this because it's not often I have no idea what's going to happen next, and it's not often that I haven't clocked where the book is going by the first quarter. I literally, just kept getting hit with shocking plot twist after shocking plot twist, and I was just sat there like.....nooooooooooooooo! I loved how Jennifer messed with me, when I thought I had it figured out and then I thought I was wrong but then it was revealed I was right, after I thought I was wrong I was frantically trying to decide which of my other suspects it was and lets just say I won't be changing my career to detective any time soon! I just really love being kept guessing and the plot for Killer Instinct will certainly do that.
Complex, with many threads woven in to it, it's incredibly well thought out and written, especially with how it connects to the first book and with the threads from Deans past. Astounding. Such an incredible amount of research has so clearly gone in to this book!

The setting is another unique thing, I mean a house with casual pictures of serial killers on the wall! I was pleased to see the house get shaken up with Sterlings arrival and I'm loving the new dynamic! Regarding world and the rest of the setting, I've actually been to Virginia, my Uncle is in the marines and they where stationed there for a while so I've been to Quantico, I've been around Virginia and we did the whole touristy drive around DC when my Uncle was in a marathon. It was, however, back in 2009, but the world building for the book brought the memories flooding back and added to my mental image map of the area!

Killer Instinct is a fascinating and strong second installment to a series with an incredibly unique (At least to me) premise. Fast paced, full of tension and mystery, with plenty of action, it really is  near impossible to put this book down, especially when the tension really ramps up and you KNOW the big reveal is coming! Try your hand at being detective and using the killer's POV and Cassie's profile to work out who it is, or don't, either way this book is going to get your brain working as you try to figure out just what is going to happen next, and I can guarantee whatever you think you know, is going to be wrong because there are some incredibly huge plot twists that are going to bitch slap you.

Killer Instinct has raised the stakes and changed the rules, and I'm excited to see where it goes next, and who where going to learn more about next! Bring on round three!

(This review has made me realize how much I use exclamation points instead of full stops because I think if I use a full stop I'll sound really blah and not totally psyched by the book!) (<<<<There I go again)