Review: Tokyo Ever After

Tokyo Ever After

Rating: 5/5

Buy or Borrow: Definitely buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Izumi Tanaka has lived an uneventful seventeen years in her small town, keenly aware of all the ways in which her family is different from most of her classmates’. But then Izumi discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity . . . and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan.

Soon she’s traveling overseas to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she's only dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight. Izzy soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s "Japanese" enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairytale, happily ever after?

Hello everyone, I'm here to introduce you to one of my favourite books of the year! I can't begin to describe to you all how much I loved this book. I loved the sound of the synopsis and I was expecting it to be a fun read, which it was by the way, I just wasn't expecting to become quite so obsessed with this book! I grew up reading The Princess Diaries and I got such big Princess Diaries vibes from this book, but more than that...it was just so entertaining and really took me out of my own head for the entire time I was reading it. Every time I reluctantly had to put it down I couldn't wait to settle down and get back to it because yes, it had emotional moments, but it also just really made me happy when I was reading! Tokyo Ever After is a feel-good, mood lifting kind of read and ugh, it was brilliant! I'd also like to take a moment to thank this book for introducing me to the word 'mantrum'! 

I was smiling from the start of this book, I absolutely loved Izumi's narrative voice with the tone and the snark. Izumi was just a brilliant MC, like she had the snark, she was funny, she was easy to relate to, root for and empathise with. I really felt everything right there with her, both good and bad. I genuinely got so upset on her behalf whenever things would go wrong and it wasn't entirely her fault because that's the thing. Izumi finds out she's a Princess which is awesome, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. She's been raised in the US and as such, she's not familiar with the culture and customs in Japan or what the protocol and expectations are for a Royal. So she has to navigate and learn an entirely new culture and of course she makes mistakes and doesn't always get it right, especially with her twin cousins trying to sabotage her and I really felt for her more than once. I was angry and upset on her behalf, and as Izumi's learning all about this amazing new culture, you're learning it right there with her. It also makes for some emotional moments as she feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere but she's trying so hard to, and I loved her journey to discovering just where it is she belongs and who she is with this new identity she has. I'm going to be honest, Izumi has more balls than me because she sticks out for a lot longer than I would have and it takes a lot of courage for her return at the end! 

 

Another thing that made this book for me was the cast of supporting characters. I LOVED Izumi's friendship group and the dynamic between them all. It was a solid friendship, they all had each other's backs and they were fully there for Izumi, plus I loved the banter! There's so many great lines in this book from Izumi and her friends that had me snorting with laughter. I really liked Yoshi, I thought he was funny and it warmed my heart that he was the first to accept her and provided some much needed chill time for her to kind of let loose and relax. Reina...I'd love to see more of Reina because I loved what we did see and she made me giggle with some of her lines! I also really loved Mariko and watching the friendship slowly grow between the two of them with Mariko opening up a little and having her back when Izumi needed it! 

Then we have Akio. I loved Akio, I loved the dynamic between them from the start when Izumi was drawing little devil horns on his  picture and fully hating him to the way that slowly shifted and changed as she started to catch feelings. There was just so much angst because of his position, but he was actually really very sweet and I loved the romance. They wrote love poems to each other, what more can I say!? 

I just really loved reading this book, it brought a never-ending smile to my face and is the kind of feel-good read that's perfect for summer! There's angst, there's drama, there's heartwarming moments and more emotional moments. Izumi's just...she always remains generous and warm no matter what people do or say to her, she's courageous because I'd have run away if I was her and watching her slowly become closer to her father as they get to know each other was beautiful too. 

I spent so much of this book either laughing out loud, gasping out loud, yelling at the book and just generally being riveted to it because as I said...the drama. There was one particular twist at the end that I didn't see coming, maybe I should have but I was having too much fun to be honest! Or maybe I was just wilfully ignoring it because of how much I loved the character and I knew it was going to hurt not only Izumi, but also me! Either way, I thought I'd figured out where this was going and if there's another book I figured this character would get more of a focus...but this twist threw that completely out of the window! The ending though...that was utterly perfect, and I'm really hoping it's not over! 

Tokyo Ever After is a brilliant, wonderful book that will have you smiling throughout! It's impossible not to cheer for Izumi, commiserate with her, gasp out loud at the twists and the drama and get a little bit emotional at the angst. It's angst with a happy ending, mind you but still...there is angst! I was fully invested in this book, I never wanted it to end and I'm so stoked to find out that it seems to be a series! Izumi's narrative voice and the brilliant cast of entertaining support characters made this book for me, along with Izumi's slow growing relationship with her father, friendship with Mariko and the sweet romance blossoming with Akio! It's funny, but also kind of packed with feels and heart, not to mention the abundance of Japanese culture to discover right alongside her! 

I need for this series to be like ten books long or never end, basically! This is definitely a favourite of mine that will be revisited many a time when I'm in need of some sunshine and smiles! 

Review: From Little Tokyo With Love

From Little Tokyo With Love 

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.

If Rika's life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale--being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts' business--she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn't quite fit the princess mold. 

All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America's reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness--searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo's hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe...finally finding a sense of belonging.

But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn't so kind. Rika knows she's setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don't happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away? 

Okaaay I went through it reading this book! Yes it was fun, yes it had romance and a quest of sorts but wow did I see my younger self in Rika and her anger and how it felt to her, as well as how she felt that she didn't deserve a happy ending. Not to be brutally personal there, but Rika had me feeling quite emotional a time or two! 

As such, I immediately loved Rika, like I read the first chapter and fell in love with her narrative voice, then I got punched in the heart by how the chapter ended. I just really connected with her character, I was rooting for her, empathised with her and was just generally Team Rika throughout! I really loved her sisters Rory and Belle and the relationship between the three of them. Their interactions had me chuckling a time or two! There's so many great characters in this book, and I truly felt like Henry was the perfect match for Rika. Everyone else saw Rika as angry and problematic, always causing disruptions but Henry just see's her as passionate. They both encourage each other in their own individual missions and I actually thought it was really refreshing to have a movie star character like Henry struggling with panic attacks rather than painting him to be perfect. 

I easily binged through this, Rika and Henry go on a treasure hunt of sorts in the quest to find Rika's mother, following all the clues they come across. But while this has humour and some sweet, swoony romance moments, there's also these very emotional moments that tug at the heart. Rika struggles with fitting in and feeling like she belongs because of not only her anger and the trouble she thinks she causes, but because of her identity as biracial and when I tell you I want to climb inside the book and punch Craig repeatedly for making her life a misery and spewing hatred at her...I'm not kidding. If I could have done it I would have. Gladly. 

There's a lot of heart to this story, it's a quest to find Rika's mother, but it's also a journey of Rika's own self discovery. She learns that while she might struggle with her anger, which is an issue I haven't seen in a YA book before, she learns to stop equating that with her being difficult or disruptive. Rika also goes on a journey to realise that she does deserve a happy ending and it just has so much heart to it alongside a strong theme of not belonging. 

I should mention a quick content/trigger warning because there is distinct racism in this book and slurs are used by one character to another. There's also homophobia and panic attacks. In terms of rep, we've got some wlw side characters in the form of Rika's two mums and one of her sisters is pansexual! Rika is biracial as is Henry though Rika is Japanese American and Henry is Filipino Chinese and as a result different issues and struggles are touched upon by each of them relating to being biracial. 

All in all, this is a book full of heart, with some important issues addressed as well as some interesting ones such as Rika's anger issues. The romance is sweet and Rika's journey of self discovery is one that resonates!

Review: Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari and the Night Brothers 

Rating: 5/5 

Buy or Borrow: Buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Amari Peters knows three things.

Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.
No one will talk about it.
His mysterious job holds the secret . . .

So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton . . .

It's brutal honesty time when it comes to this book, I'm not going to hold back and I'm going to tell you straight up that this is not only one of my favourite books of the year...but one of my ultimate favourite books! I completely fell in love with this book and I didn't want it to end at all. I'm so, ridiculously excited for this series and to see what it's going to throw at us next because it blew away all my expectations and didn't even end how I thought it would and changed my assumption of how this series was going to go! 

I know I say this a lot, about books grabbing me from the start but this one truly does pull you in, grab you and keep a tight hold. I whizzed through the first few chapters because I couldn't put it down and that was a running theme throughout the book! I found it almost impossible to put down, I kept wanting to read just one more chapter and then one chapter turned into two. I had to know what was going on and I was so intrigued by the plot and the world being built. I was just as amazed by everything being shown to us as Amari was! I also think this is the fastest that I've ever been hit with the feeling of wanting to crawl into a book, both to experience the world and deliver a smackdown to a character that really deserved it! I was seriously only a few pages in! 

Honestly, this book is completely brilliant, I giggled so much, gasped in wonder and had so much fun reading this book. It's a little bit like Men in Black but for Supernaturals instead of aliens and there were so many awesome departments and imaginative elements to it. 

Amari I rooted for from the beginning, I can't speak as to accurate representation but I really loved having a black main character and I personally think the oppression she encountered because of her skin colour were wonderfully portrayed and will certainly make readers think about their own actions and prejudices.  I just wanted Amari to get a cool badge and be a hero and see that she is just as good and amazing as her brother. I loved her so much, she's already claimed a place in my heart as one of my favourite characters, she's got the snark and the courage that I love and find inspiring. I got a little emotional when she started to accept herself and discover for herself that she's holding herself to an impossible standard and that she's good enough just as she is. It's a whole journey that really hit me in the heart and made me do some thinking! I just feel like Amari is a really fun, fresh voice throughout the book. 

Speaking of her brother, I have to say I loved the relationship between Amari and Quinton. I've read so many books with the characters hating their siblings, or falling out with them constantly that I really enjoyed reading about a strong sibling bond. I just wish we could see more of him! I'd also love to see more of Elsie the weredragon and Amari's best friend! I felt like she was a really great support to Amari, willing to help her unquestioningly and Amari encouraged her to be courageous in her own way as a result of that. Dylan...I was fifty fifty on him for most of the book and there's a couple of great surprises with him that I wasn't expecting because Alston lured me into a false sense of security even though I had a little voice niggling at me. When it comes to his twin Lara...she's a nasty piece of work but after the end of the book I'm quite hoping she might be redeemable. My point is, the cast of characters are brilliant and each really stood out and made me feel various different things. 

Amari and the Night Brothers is so imaginative, there's all different kinds of magician including technology! We've got all kinds of creatures with intriguing history to them and I'm going to hold out some hope for a companion book about them all. It's wonderfully plotted, with a great pace to it and incredibly well thought out and entertaining. 

I read this book so easily, I never wanted to put it down and I had a burning desire to get back to it and read until stupidly late at night. If University and assignments weren't a thing, I 100% would have done an all nighter for the first time in years to read this all in one go. I'm going to be brutally honest once again and say that I found this book to be a great comfort to me. I'm sure I'm not alone with finding this new lockdown a little tougher than the others and combined with University I've been pretty miserable lately. But luckily, I picked this book to read at the right time and took so much comfort in being able to vanish into this world of magic and the supernatural. This wonderful world that exists alongside ours and hidden within it. 

Amari and the Night Brothers has some great humour, action, mystery and a whole lot of imagination and heart to it. It's a really, genuinely fun read and Amari's journey to accept herself really touched my heart. I could tell within 20 pages that this was going to be a new favourite of mine and I can't wait to go back to work and start pushing this into people's hands and recommending it because I need everyone to read this book now!

Review: The Dark Archive

 

The Dark Archive

Rating: 5/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Danger is part of the day job for a Librarian spy. So Irene's hoping for a relaxing weekend at last. However, her jaunt to Guernsey proves no such thing. Instead of retrieving a rare book, she's almost assassinated, Kai's poisoned and Vale barely escapes with his life. Then the attacks continue in London - targeting those connected with the Fae-dragon peace treaty. 

Irene knows she must stop the plot before the treaty fails...or someone dies. But when Irene and friends are trapped underground, in a secret archive, things don't look so good. Then an old enemy demands vengeance, and a shocking secret is revealed. Can Irene really seize victory from chaos?

I say this every single time I review this series, but it genuinely is one of my absolute favourite series and I always look forward to each new book in the series! They've never let me down yet and The Dark Archive is another brilliant trip into the world of The Library. 

The prologue certainly sets us up for a wild ride, reminding us of Irene's new Fae apprentice and informing us that there's been several kidnap attempts already so already we're feeling the intrigue! Then it's straight in with the action and the introduction of a criminal mastermind for Vale to contend with. That's the thing about Cogman's books, we dive straight in and there's plenty to hook you and keep your attention and you know it's going to be good. I really do love how quick they are to pull me into the world and the plot, and this one has a particularly nice balance of action and sleuthing. 

Irene continues to be one of my ultimate favourite characters, and Kai...well, I'd love to be as unbothered as Kai about being poisoned. It was almost hilarious how chilled he was about the whole thing! I love that even though he's been with us for the entire series, there's still more to learn about he and his family and this book delivers with that. We briefly meet Kai's cousin, and then his older brother Shan Yuan who quite frankly, I really wanted to smack more than once. I find Kai's family so interesting and I spent the whole book side-eyeing Shan Yuan because I couldn't figure out if he's really that bad or if there's some room for redemption for him. I still haven't quite decided even after finishing the book! Of course, while meeting more of Kai's family we get to delve a bit deeper into the dragon world again and meet the technological side of it with a tech whiz elder dragon! 

I can't speak about Kai without speaking about he and Irene's relationship, which I continue to love with every fibre of my being! They work so well together and they're strong for each other and ugh...I love them. 

I'm going to be honest, when it comes to Irene's new apprentice Catherine...I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about her at first. She bugged me a bit in the beginning because she didn't listen but at the same time, perhaps I just settled into a groove with Kai and Irene and her changing things up irritated me as a result! I did come to understand Catherine more as the book went on and she definitely proved herself capable of being Irene's apprentice despite some minor hiccups as we went along. I will say that I'm looking forward to seeing more of her and see what happens after the events of the end of the book! 

There's lots of tension as Irene and co are all targets of a mysterious figure called The Professor, and an old face comes back to wreak havoc. The screeches I let out at some of the reveals in this book! While there's plenty of tension, there's also a good amount of action to go along with it, which makes it quite a hard book to put down! 

I love the multi POV's, the switches are always nicely timed and each POV brings us something different. We don't rehash the same scene over and over from a different perspective instead they're used to push the story forward and add to it. We've got Irene following one path, Kai going down another route with the dragons and then Vale doing some good old traditional detective work/Sherlocking. I'm also always here for getting a look into the minds of other characters, particularly one's like Vale that we don't always see a lot of! 

Essentially, everyone's stuck in London while an evil genius tries to kill them in many different ways, and they try to figure out who it is with a building sense of foreboding towards the end. I did get a chuckle out of how blasé they were about the attempts on their life at this point! I feel like the storyline for this book helps to keep the series fresh, it's less about retrieving a book and returning it to the Library and it's a change of pace so the series doesn't get repetitive. Not that I don't love the book hunting and all the different worlds, but I loved exploring more of the world that Irene has chosen as her home and we even get to visit an invention exhibition where things get a little...wild. 

The plot builds up wonderfully and the pieces click together one by one. I really love that old villain's aren't just brought back for the sake of it, or the shock factor, there's a very good reason for it and it usually indicates that something bigger is going on. I have to say, the last few chapters were nail biting for me and for a minute there I truly thought that we'd lost Irene. I was sitting there, staring at the page trying to figure out what was going on, what was going to happen and how the series could continue without her! Then there's the reveals...like I said, there was a lot of screeching. Particularly over one, and lets just say I've had my suspicions about Irene and her background! I'm still curious about it, the mystery isn't entirely solved but we're given a tidbit of it to tide us over! 

But as if that all wasn't enough...there's the epilogue. As if the wait for the next book isn't going to be hard enough as it is! I was reading it trying to figure out who was who and what exactly's going on at this point!  It's ramped up my anticipation for the next book to a ridiculous degree, I'm already impatient for it! 

Honestly, these books are one of the highlight's of my year ever since I read an advanced copy of the very first book! I wait with baited breath for the new one, plan specifically when to read it because I know I'm going to procrastinate a little from reading it because even though I've had an entire year to prepare myself...I'm still not quite ready, and then I binge read the whole thing in a couple of days and don't know what to do with myself after! I'm being genuine when I say these books never let me down, ever. 

The Dark Archive is another strong instalment in the series, I whizzed my way through it and found it impossible to put it down as I enjoyed every single page! There's action, tension, intrigue and more depth continuously being added to the characters and their backgrounds with more new tidbits and reveals to ramp up the intrigue for the next book! 

Review: Spoiler Alert

 

Spoiler Alert 

Rating: 4/5 

Buy or Borrow: Buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster. Through his stories, Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character, especially the ones that feature the internet's favourite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he'd be fired. Immediately.

April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she's hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her 'real life' for years - but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realises life is really stranger than fanfiction.

Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realises that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she's actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.

With love and Marcus's career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?

Ah, that opening scene had me flashing back to the days I spent filming a certain movie and all of the blood, sweat and tears that I poured into it. Vividly. It was certainly an opening that hooked my attention and pulled me in and I genuinely think I'd probably watch that show if it existed! Or at least read the books! 

I knew I was going to love this book based on the opening alone. The narrative caught my attention and had me giggling within a couple of pages, and it made my geeky self happy because I was 100% sure that Dade was having a little bit of a GoT reference. All I'm saying is...it reeked of GoT and a certain pair of showrunners that we all love to hate for a certain season finale. I couldn't help but wonder if the actors in real life felt the same way as the actors in the book. 

I lived for all the mentions of the other movies and shows that Marcus has starred in, along with their descriptions AND the script extracts. I was howling at some of them, they were so brilliantly cringey I can't believe Dade came up with them! I can't begin to imagine how much fun Dade had coming up with all of these and then writing little extracts for them, I was snickering to myself so much while I was reading them! I also loved the fan fiction extracts, complete with AO3 tags! My nerdy self was so, incredibly happy reading this and I could more than relate to the fan fiction and fix it fics and so on. It kind of reminded me why I love fan fiction so much and how much fix it fic I read for a certain show at one point when it took an annoying turn! 

Spoiler Alert is a fluffy romance, it was cute and sweet and funny...but it also had a depth to it and the characters that I hadn't entirely been expecting. April and Marcus both had things to overcome and work through, and while the romance was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it, the emotional depth to the story really made it for me! Marcus puts up this false image to hide himself away so everyone thinks he's stupid but he actually has Dyslexia and his parents weren't too kind to him about it. They're super smart and they got very frustrated and lately they've been belittling his choice of roles and don't seem to realise what they're doing or that it's wrong. April has a mother that loves her dearly, and truly is just trying to look out for her...but is hurting April in the process because of her unhealthy views on weight and food that have been drilled into her. In short, they're both dealing with emotional abuse from their parents and I thought it was tackled really well. 

The way April went to  her mother and the conversation they had about it really hit me, and I thought it was a fantastically written scene. Not to mention the fact that there was no insistence that parents have to be forgiven and you have to remain in contact with family members that hurt you. I really loved how the entire situation was handled, and I loved watching April and Marcus have real conversations about this. I also liked that any misunderstanding was talked out pretty quickly and there's lots of admission of fault that I really respected from the characters. 

April I utterly loved! She's so confident and such a strong character throughout and she never doubts her self worth and never loses her self respect throughout the book. I rooted for her 100% and I completely got where Marcus was coming from too. I really enjoyed watching them come together and overcome things together, but I also loved the way they loved themselves and Marcus especially came to have and believe in his own self-worth. 

And finally...our support characters. I LOVED all the fights amongst the cast members in the group chat that they had! I had a note written to myself that I'd love a spin off book about Alex because I think he might be my favourite but then when I got to the end of the book and the note that was there...my wish was granted and I already can't wait for that! 

I had a really good time reading Spoiler Alert, I laughed, I got emotional and I looked forward to picking the book up every single time I had to put it down. I love a good dose of the nerdy and the inclusion of the fan fiction element had me feeling right at home and nodding along with certain aspects to it that were described! I also pretty much equated the show to GoT and it brought back a rush of feels along the lines of...'I dedicated how many hours of my life for THAT ending?! You've got to be kidding me'. But the thing that stays with me the most about this book are the characters and the struggles that they overcome throughout the book. 

Review: Set Fire To The Gods

 

Set Fire to the Gods

Rating: 3/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Ash is descended from a long line of gladiators, and she knows the brutal nature of war firsthand. But after her mother dies in an arena, she vows to avenge her by overthrowing her fire god, whose temper has stripped her country of its resources.

Madoc grew up fighting on the streets to pay his family's taxes. But he hides a dangerous secret: he doesn't have the earth god’s powers like his opponents. His elemental gift is something else—something that hasn't been seen in centuries.

When an attempted revenge plot goes dangerously wrong, Ash inadvertently throws the fire and earth gods into a conflict that can only be settled by deadly, lavish gladiator games. The fights put Madoc in Ash's path, and she realizes that his powers are the weapon her rebellion needs—but Madoc won’t jeopardize his family, regardless of how intrigued he is by the beautiful warrior. 

But when the gods force Madoc’s hand, he and Ash uncover an ancient war that will threaten more than one immortal—it will unravel the world. 

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I LOVE Sara Raasch's books. There's not been a book of hers that I haven't 100% loved and completely fallen into! As such, I was incredibly excited for this book. Brand New Raasch, plus Gods, plus a Gladiator aspect!? I NEEDED it, more than I needed anything else. However, my excitement dimmed a little as I started to read and this book ended up being a little bit of a mix for me and kind of hard for me to give a rating. 

I was immediately intrigued by the world of the book, how it worked and the magic aspect as well as the Gods and their history. The main characters were intriguing as they're both on opposite sides of this war and seemingly heading towards a big, final showdown despite their developing feelings for each other and I couldn't wait to see it play out! 

Ash is such a badass and I always love to see a female character that's more than capable of holding her own and is no damsel in distress. Ash ticked every box for me in that regard. Madoc I liked well enough, perhaps slightly less than Ash...sorry. The most interesting aspect to him was his magic and what exactly it was and how it worked. The two of them share a mutual hatred towards the Gods...or well, Madoc hates Ash's God but loves his own while Ash hates her God completely. The thing I found most interesting was Madoc's journey with his God and how he felt about him, he'd always prayed to him for everything and then he discovers he might not be as fantastic as he thought. For Ash, hers was kind of the opposite journey, she's come to hate her God but slowly discovers that maybe Ignitus isn't all bad and I actually kind of felt for him and would have liked to see more of him! 

The setting was created well enough although I'd have loved to delve into a bit more. I think we're getting to see more of Ash's land and the rest of the world in the next book which I'm excited for! There are a lot of twists and turns throughout, but I will admit that I did find myself not entirely riveted to the story and that makes me so incredibly sad. I'd been so excited for this book, but I didn't feel that burning need to pick it up and keep reading. I'd put it down, wake up the next day and I wouldn't be thinking about it and rushing to get back to reading it. In all honesty, I did briefly contemplate DNF-ing but because I love Raasch's books so much and her writing, I pushed on. 

Things do pick up towards the latter half of the book and I did find myself once again curious about what would happen next, and I am curious to see how things are going to play out in the next book! But I'm also on the fence about actually picking it up as I found it kind of hard to connect to Madoc and Ash and the plot was a little bland for a good chunk of this book. 

I think I might give the sequel a try to see if starts off stronger and is more consistent with the plot but I might be stricter at DNF-ing this time around. 

Review: Beast Boy

 

Teen Titans: Beast Boy 

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy! 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Garfield Logan has spent his entire life being overlooked. Even in a small town like Eden, Georgia, the 17-year-old with green streaks in his hair can’t find a way to stand out–and the clock is ticking. Senior year is almost over. If Gar doesn’t find a way to impress the Chosen Ones–the social elite at Bull Creek High School–he will never know what it’s like to matter. Gar’s best friends, Stella and Tank, don’t understand why he cares what other people think. They miss their funny, pizza-loving, video game-obsessed best friend.

Then Gar accepts a wild dare out of the blue. It impresses the Chosen Ones and his social status soars. But other things are changing, too. Gar grows six inches overnight. His voice drops and, suddenly, he’s stronger and faster. He’s finally getting everything he wanted, but his newfound popularity comes at a price. Gar has to work harder to impress his new friends. The dares keep getting bigger and the stakes keep getting higher.

When Gar realizes the extent of his physical changes, he has to dig deep and face the truth about himself–and the people who truly matter–before his life spirals out of control. 

So, Beast Boy is my absolute favourite in Teen Titans so I've been practically vibrating in excitement waiting for this to come out! I really enjoyed Garcia and Picolo's work on Raven and I couldn't wait to see what they'd do with Beast Boy! 

Once again, I loved how the colour scheme for the volume's art was all shades of green or cool tones to match Beast Boy much like for Raven's volume it was all purple and blue! I also liked the art once again, particularly how the scientific aspects/DNA/body diagram's were all drawn and time passing and so on.  

I feel like Gar is quite relatable with the whole 'everyone has a thing, you just haven't found yours yet' thing, I know I felt that deeply anyway! I also feel like he's incredibly relatable with his desire to fit in and be popular if only to see what it's like. He doesn't go too crazy with it or let it get to him that much though it does push him at one point. Overall Gar is basically just really relatable in this volume and there's some teen angst because of everything he's going through with being small and kind of weedy, I guess? There's an additional, subtle thread of something strange going on with him woven throughout that builds up and comes to a nice climax towards the end of the volume! 

I loved Gar's friends and how Stella and Tank always had his back! I'm sad that he had to leave them behind for the next phase of the story! Beast Boy is a nicely paced origin story showing how Gar comes into his power and where it came from. It builds throughout the volume until he finally realises something's wrong and what that is and has to go to Slade for help! He's not entirely in control of his power and we don't see too much of it, I'm sure we will in the next volume though! Slade is such an ominous presence, I can't lie! 

I liked how the story flowed up until the end and set things up for the next volume and the next phase as Beast Boy and Raven will no doubt meet! Gar still has a way to go with controlling and understanding his power, but he's well on his way! 

Review: Queen of Coin and Whispers

Queen of Coin and Whispers 

Rating: 2.5/5

Buy or Borrow: Borrow 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review 

When teenage queen Lia inherits her corrupt uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings a new spymaster into the fold ... Xania, who takes the job to avenge her murdered father.

Faced with dangerous plots and hidden enemies, can Lia and Xania learn to rely on each another, as they discover that all is not fair in love and treason?

In a world where the throne means both power and duty, they must decide what to sacrifice for their country – and for each other … 

I really wanted to rate this higher because I was so here for the f/f romance and all the LGBTQ+ representation the book provides but while I did enjoy myself somewhat reading this, it ultimately fell a little flat for me. 

It does jump straight in with the plot and things move forward quickly, the book is fast paced which I appreciated and there was a huge amount of political intrigue and plotting and so on. There are really smooth and seamless transitions through time throughout and as for our main character Lia, she was very determined. She has a lot to contend with and there's a lot of political treachery that she has to find a way around and she wants to be better than her Uncle and make things better but as she discovers it's not too easy to do so. 

Our other POV is Xania, she's quite the badass and she becomes more and more adept at her job as Whispers over time throughout the book. She and Lia are quite ruthless, or at least they're supposed to be which was quite refreshing I just didn't particularly feel any true danger or high stakes throughout the book. I also appreciate side character Matthias. I loved his entire attitude and I spent a good chunk of the book really hoping he wasn't going to turn out to be shady. 

Unfortunately, I can't do a review anywhere near the length that I usually would as that's really all the positives I can say about this book. It was just...okay. I read this book in two sittings although it took me a little while to work up to reading the other half, I put the book down and I didn't feel that burning need to pick it back up and finish it I'm afraid. 

On the negative side of things, I feel like while the pace is fast and we move through time quickly, it's at the cost of developing the characters. I don't feel like they were fleshed out enough and that also affects the romance as well. I personally felt the romance to be quite sudden, I was looking forward to watching it develop and having some slow burn to squeal over but it was just suddenly there. I feel like some time could have been taken to fully develop the characters and the romance, and it was a little unconvincing how adept Xania became at being Whispers with no previous training doing such things. You do see her get more adept at it over the course of the book but the time skips do allow for it to be glossed over. There were just a lot of things about Xania that didn't really make much sense, she could just suddenly do this, or she'd learned this and so on. 

The world building was okay, it could have had more depth to it and I didn't really have a true image in my mind of the setting. I found it difficult to be bothered about the characters when they weren't that fleshed out so while there's plenty of blood and action and politics I was kind of breezing through the book without feeling too invested. The writing style was also a bit bland and there wasn't really that much of a difference between Lia's narrative and Xania's. The writing didn't draw me in at all and I felt like when it came to Xania the author was trying too hard to make her seem dangerous and edgy with her inner monologue and some of the imagery used. 

Overall, Queen of Coin and Whispers is a quick, fast read and it's an okay book. It's not truly bad, but it could have been improved a little, like it could quite easily have been a duology and more time could have been taken to develop the characters, the romance and the world. There were too many things about this that were a little hard to believe, and Xania wasn't entirely convincing a lot of the time. The romance lacked chemistry and development, and the characters weren't fleshed out enough for me to truly care about them and what happened to them. The setting could have been any generic fantasy setting with one little original twist and the writing didn't work to draw you into the story. I found myself making myself finish this once I'd put it down and I was overall very disappointed because I'd been so excited for the f/f romance that's in this!

Review: The Obsidian Tower

 

The Obsidian Tower

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

The mage-marked granddaughter of a ruler of Vaskandar, Ryx was destined for power and prestige at the top of Vaskandran society. But her magic is broken; all she can do is uncontrollably drain the life from everything she touches, and Vaskandar has no place for a mage with unusable powers.

Then, one night, two terrible accidents befall her: Ryx accidentally kills a visiting dignitary in self-defense, activating a mysterious magical artifact sealed in an ancient tower in the heart of her family’s castle.

Ryx flees, seeking a solution to her deadly magic. She falls in with a group of unlikely magical experts investigating the disturbance in Vaskandar—and Ryx realizes that her family is in danger and her domain is at stake. She and her new colleagues must return to the family stronghold to take control of the artifact that everyone wants to claim—before it destroys the world. 

I'm going to be honest, The Obsidian Tower has been an anticipated read of mine for a little while now! I read and completely loved Caruso's Swords and Fire trilogy and I was really excited to see what she would come up with next. As it turns out, that would be a bisexual mage with magic that doesn't work quite right and prevents her from getting close to people in case she kills them...and then there's a minor incident with a shady door that may or may not lead to ruin for their entire Kingdom. No biggie. 

There's tension from the start with peace talks about to be underway between two neighbouring Kingdoms, and that's before someone goes snooping where they shouldn't and unleashes all manner of chaos into the world. The Obsidian Tower is set in the same world as her debut trilogy, though a different area of it and one that deals with magic quite differently. I was excited to see more of the magic system that Caruso established in her previous trilogy, as well as see an interesting perspective on certain magical technology that's used! That being said, if you haven't read the previous trilogy it's not a problem! You can quite easily read this without having read it, all it adds a little bit of extra understanding when it comes to the relationship between Vaskandar and the Serene Empire! 

I actually really liked Ryxander as a main character, I thought she was interesting. Her power is dangerous and she's constantly having to keep herself under control to ensure she doesn't hurt anyone and she can't touch any living thing without consequences. I felt so much empathy for her and I was right there with her when she got to relax when it came to controlling her power and she got to hug her friends....and actually have friends! I was so happy for her, and then equally as heartbroken as she was when that was all potentially taken away. I feel like we see her very isolated and closed off, and then slowly bloom as the book goes on and she finds her people. 

As for the other characters I loved every single member of the Rookery and I can't wait to get to see more of them! Particularly Ashe....just let her stab something Foxglove, one little thing! Ashe made me laugh so many times throughout this book and I loved the banter between all of them. Whisper was an intriguing addition, he's the castle's resident chimera but there's clearly more to him than meets the eye! Ardith was a fantastic addition and so relatable, they kept saying 'I just wanted to drink your beer and eat your food' or words to that effect and I was reading like...understandable. I was waiting to see whether there was going to be more to their relationship with Ryx, and I'm quite hoping we get to see more of them in the future! They were just such a great comic addition to proceedings and kept the mood up! Then there's Severin. As soon as he was introduced I was like 'hello, you're going to be added to my collection of favourites aren't you?' and then it turned out he was the love interest. I thought he might be, but the way he was introduced and who he was had me thinking otherwise and a little sad about that fact only to be surprised again later. He also wasn't at all what I was expecting, I was expecting him to take charge more but he's very much under the control of his brother and struggles to go against him. I'm hoping he'll come in to his own more in the next book although I'm very much here for their relationship!  

The thing I loved the most about this book was all of the representation! Our main character is bisexual, we've got a non-binary side character and two other side character's are lesbian's so we get a nice f/f romance that had me cheerfully wanting to bang their oblivious heads together at one point! 

The thing I love the most about Caruso's writing is that she weaves these intricate, rich worlds with plots involving magic and politics and explains it all without dumping a lot of information on you or making the book dry in the process. Her writing is riveting and has you eager to know more and keep on reading to see what happens next. I particularly liked the inclusion of a good old murder mystery element this time around and had quite a lot of fun lining up my suspects and trying to figure out who it was! There's also some original twists on some other things too! 

The Obsidian Tower is wonderfully paced and weaves in brilliantly crafted characters some of which you love and some of which you can hate, with political intrigue, impending potential war, a murder mystery, a mysterious and definitely shady door leading to who knows what and uh...I don't think anyone really wants to find out, and a fun magic system! I quite easily binge read this in two sittings and I'm already impatient for the sequel to get back to the characters and see what fresh hell will be unleashed next! 

Review: All The Stars and Teeth

All The Stars and Teeth 

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer - the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it's never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy's dangerous soul magic.

When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he'll help her prove she's fit to rule, if she'll help him reclaim his stolen magic.

But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder - and more peril - than Amora anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she'll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected... or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever. 

There are so few pirate books out there and as we all know, I'm weak for anything pirate related so you can imagine how excited I was for this book! Pirates, magic, mermaids, sea monsters and adventure, this book pretty much has it all! 

Hooking you in from the start, there's a quick pace to this book and the story progresses nicely with barely any time to catch your breath. The magic system is intriguing, there's multiple different kinds and depending on the type you have...you live on the corresponding island. Amora's magic, however, is different and I was so curious about it and the beast it allegedly was holding back. There's a nice element of mystery to her magic and the history of it that provided some nice surprises! 

I quite liked Amora, she was very confident and determined in whatever it was that she was doing. She never really gave up and kept fighting forward and when she did waver it was honestly very understandable and relatable and I appreciated the fact she didn't wallow in that feeling for too long. She's also not afraid to spill some blood to get things sorted and does quite well at protecting herself! Bastion is predictably my favourite character because hello pirate captain! But there's more to his backstory than just that and again...he provides a few nice surprises and there's one twist that I can't wait to see play out in the book. He also has some excellent lines. Along with our Princess and our Pirate we have the healer that Amora is betrothed to, and our mermaid who I loved and I can't wait to see more of her! I just loved the fact that she was a tiny, little bit vicious and I kind of felt like mermaids and sirens had been combined in to one for her! 

The romance isn't the main focus of the book though it does take over here and there at certain points. I do feel a little bit like the 'love triangle', or whatever you want to call it, wasn't all that strong and didn't have much to it. I partially felt like more could be done with it, but at the same time at least things are pretty straightforward though there are still some things that will need to be worked out. 

What I did enjoy were some of the topics that were broached within the book. Menstruation which I haven't actually seen mentioned in a YA book before, abuse and sexual assault. I wasn't actually expecting any of it in this book and I very rarely come across the latter two so it was a bit of a surprise and I was intrigued that the author wanted to include them, though I feel like there was room to go a bit more in depth if that was the direction Grace wanted to go in. Just be aware that those things are talked about within the book at various different points if that's something that you would want to avoid. 

All The Stars and Teeth has some great world-building, an interesting magic system and plenty of action and adventuring to keep you intrigued. The characters are likeable and they all share an interesting dynamic and there's a few great twists that will be fun to see play out in the next book. I read this fairly quickly, I did enjoy reading it and I will pick up the sequel to see what happens next but I felt like there was a little something missing for me personally that could have made this really stand out all the more! 

 

Review: The Court of Miracles

The Court of Miracles

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

In the dark days following a failed French Revolution, in the violent jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, young cat-burglar Eponine (Nina) Thenardier goes head to head with merciless royalty, and the lords of the city's criminal underworld to save the life of her adopted sister Cosette (Ettie).

Her vow will take her from the city’s dark underbelly, through a dawning revolution, to the very heart of the glittering court of Louis XVII, where she must make an impossible choice between guild, blood, betrayal and war. 

I was sold on this from the words 'diverse fantasy reimagining of Les Miserables' and I was so eager to dive into this. I was immediately thrown into a rich world that's built up more and more over the course of the first part. Our setting is Paris in the wake of a failed revolution, and now there are Guilds that operate under their own law. Our main character Nina is in the Thieves Guild, and she's basically out to save her sister from a not as pleasant Guild. Alongside Nina and her own personal mission, there's another revolution brewing in the streets of Paris. 

As I read this, I eagerly drank in all the world building, the atmosphere and the history along with the tension and emotional first few chapters. The setting is quickly established, as are our main characters as we smoothly and quickly set up for the main part of the story. Honestly, I was hooked from the first page, eager to know more and eager for Nina's plan to unfold. I loved being in the world of this book, and I loved the storytelling. 

I loved, loved, loved the Les Miserables threads woven in. We've got all of the characters we know and love from the book and musical and I screeched a little bit at each reveal. The more you read, the more you can see the book intertwining with it, coming together and slowly building up to the events of Les Miserables, specifically a certain heartbreaking scene! I'm going to be honest, at one point I had 'Do You Hear the People Sing' stuck in my head! 

I enjoyed the little slices of history at the beginning of each part that tells us the story of how the Guilds came to be, as I was incredibly curious about that aspect and eager to know more. There's some brilliantly smooth transitions through time as the story builds up and gets us to where we need to be. I just loved how things got a little bit more familiar towards the end and the sense of dread that started to build up! 

As for the characters, I loved Nina! She was a badass and would do anything to protect Ettie. I also lowkey ship Nina and Montparnasse, as soon as I read them together I was like...that's it. That's my ship. Shove off St. Juste and Prince! I'm going to be honest, Ettie annoyed me at points, but I did love the sisterhood between she and Nina and I feel like Ettie has some excellent character development over the course of the book until she's more than capable of holding her own. I loved to see it, and I thought it was nicely done alongside all the events of the book! 

Genuinely, The Court of Miracles builds up so wonderfully! The revolution creeping through the streets and building up with the plot and Nina's scheming until it reaches a crescendo. There are some excellent twists and I was on the edge of my seat for the last part! I was just as tense as the characters were as I waited to see what would happen. 

With vividly described settings with rich detail, The Court of Miracles was atmospheric until the end and you can get completely lost in the world of the book and the story being told. It's excellently written and more than kept my attention on the page and my mind from wandering! I was eager to know what would happen next and reluctant to have to put the book down to do anything real world related. 

I will say that The Court of Miracles wraps up really nicely, and could quite easily serve as a standalone so I'm curious to see where the sequel is going to go! 

Review: The Ship of Shadows

The Ship of Shadows
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy! 
Source: Bought it myself as soon as my hot little hands could get hold of it! 

Aleja whiles away her days in her family's dusty tavern in Seville, dreaming of distant lands and believing in the kind of magic that she's only ever read about in books. After all, she's always being told that girls can't be explorers.

But her life is changed forever when adventure comes for her in the form of a fabled vessel called the Ship of Shadows. Crewed by a band of ruthless women, with cabin walls dripping with secrets, the ship has sailed right out of a legend. And it wants Aleja.

Once on board its shadowy deck, she begins to realize that the sea holds more secrets than she ever could have imagined. The crew are desperately seeking something, and their path will take them through treacherous waters and force them to confront nightmare creatures and pitch-dark magic. It will take all of Aleja's strength and courage to gain the trust of her fellow pirates - and discover what they are risking everything to find. 

It's a truth universally acknowledged that if a book has pirates in it...I'm going to read it. Not only does The Ship of Shadows have pirates...it has badass female pirates, what more could you want? 

I've followed Maria on Instagram for forever, so I've seen every single post she's made about writing this book and I've been so excited to get my hands on it! When I saw it on the trolley to be put out at work I snatched it so fast it's probably a world record! Unfortunately, I had to wait until I was done with first year exams to finally settle down to read this but...it was worth the wait! 

As soon as I started reading I was instantly enveloped in the world of the book, I could picture everything as clearly as if I was there. There's so much detail throw in to the world building and the characters, with slick writing so that the narrative isn't too bogged down. I instantly settled down and easily read over 100 pages in one sitting...then the next day read the entirety of the rest of the book! I just instantly fell in love with the setting, the frankly awesome kinda Tardis-esque magical ship and our strong female lead. 

I loved Aleja, she was relatable and easy to root for and every single time she mentioned going home I was sitting there like, oh no sweetie. You're not going home, you CAN'T! How could she leave not only the ship and adventure, but the crew that I came to love as much as Aleja did?! Speaking of the crew, they were such an interesting bunch who'd all come together to create their own family and there wasn't a single one of them that I didn't like. I was curious about all of them and how they'd come to be on the ship, and each of them had a different set of skills to contribute. 

I need to talk about the magic of the book quickly as well! I was intrigued as to what it would be after seeing other readers comment on it, and honestly? It was so cool! The ship has shadow magic to it so all these rooms appear randomly, or you'll be minding your own business exploring one of the ship's passages and BOOM, there's a waterfall out of nowhere! It was so inventive and imaginative and I had a lot of fun reading about it and thinking over the possibilities! 

The Ship of Shadows is fast-paced and utterly riveting. There's so much packed in to it and we smoothly sail from point to point in the story! This isn't just a pirate adventure about sailing the high seas. Yes we have krakens to face and treasure to steal, but we also have a heist and a quest into the desert in search of a treasure map with some riddles and puzzles to solve along the way! If you like your piracy with a side of puzzle-solving, questing and adventure, then this is the book for you! 

Review: Bookish and The Beast

Bookish and The Beast 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts. 

"Who's going to tell her this is Stockholm Syndrome?" 

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I absolutely adore this series! Geekerella was such a fun read and I instantly fell in love with it, and while I had an issue or two with the sequel it was still just as nerdy and fun to read! I've been eagerly awaiting this third book, but after meeting Vance during the previous book I thought it was going to take a lot for Poston to make me like him. 

As it turns out, I'm a weak, weak woman because during the first chapter from Vance's POV I was kind of just like....oh. Okay Vance, okay. I get you, I see where you're coming from and it was hard not to chuckle at some of the things he came out with. It was so easy to see things from his point of view once you become familiar with his background and what he's been going through and it really wasn't long before I had a little bit of a soft spot for him. I just settled in to wait for him to open up a little and relax. 

As for our other POV Rosie, I knew I was going to instantly gel with her as a character because hello fellow book nerd! I related to her on so many levels and I really enjoyed her character. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself no matter who it was to, whether it was Vance or Garrett, aka the Gaston of this book, who just could not take no for an answer. Damn. She also brought with her some really fun supporting characters in the form of her hilarious Dad, and her awesome BFF's Annie and Quinn! I particularly loved the rep for Quinn and I really commend this series for all the rep that it gives us whether it's LGBTQ+ or POC. 

Of course we have some cameo's from some of our favourite characters from the previous books. I was ridiculously pleased to see that Vance had kept a connection with Imogen and I liked their friendship, it was also nice to see Ethan again too! Darien pops up as well, as does Elle in a manner but...EXCUSE ME ASHLEY!? I was SHOOK to my core at the news about them. I kinda, sorta want a little novella to see what that was all about! I was just minding my own business and then BOOM, the OG ship of the series left me a little bit stunned! 

As you would expect with this being called Bookish and the Beast, there are some excellent, modern nods to Beauty and the Beast in here. Rosie and her birthmark, the library, a couple of scenes that are a little bit reminiscent of the Disney movie, Garrett as Gaston and then instead of an angry baying mob we had...reporters and paparazzi. OH and the castle house, I think Poston described my dream house and I'm kinda sad it doesn't actually exist! I just really enjoyed that it wasn't too excessive and in your face and was the odd nod here or there, much like with Geekerella and The Princess and the Fangirl! 

I'm going to be really honest here, as excited for the book as I was I was also a little bit wary of reading it. I thought that with everything going on and conventions being cancelled that this book would be a little bit bittersweet for me and that it might make me a little sad. While I did get that kind of sad longing for a convention at the beginning of the book, this one isn't actually set entirely at a convention like the previous books. I think this was a great move, because it kept the series fresh and stopped it from becoming too repetitive. Don't worry though, this book is still brimming with glorious nerdy-ness. 

We've got the story told through a brilliant use of book extracts, texts, articles and so on as usual to keep things fun and interesting, and to deliver information without bogging down the narrative too much with information. There's plenty of nerdy references that had me squealing every single time I spotted them and I just love that about this series. It's so unashamedly nerdy and not even limited to one fandom, there's a tonne of them in there to spot! 

Bookish and the Beast is nicely paced, I breezed through this in a couple of sittings and basically binge read it because I had no self control. Well, that and I found this book so...comforting? It's been a hard year so far for a lot of us that have left us feeling kind of low and in need of a pick me up and the relatable characters, fun story and the doses of nerdiness just gave me such a sense of comfort as I was reading. I'm sure that makes no sense, but it's kinda like Ashley brought the con to us? In a sense? I was just reading like 'ah, these are my people' and it all felt so familiar and ugh. I'm bad at describing it but this is definitely a comfort book to me and it really recharged my mood a little and picked me right up when I needed it! 

My only teeny, tiny issue with this book is that little bit with Darien and Elle like...I'm sorry Ashley, please elaborate!? I need the tea! 

Much as I loved Geekerella, I think this book just might slightly surpass it and is now my favourite book in the entire series! Plus it swiftly made its way on to my favourites list! I'm already planning a big series re-read, and I feel like this is one series that you can just read again and again and never get tired of the fun and the mayhem. 

Oh, and if the nerdy references don't get you smiling and all cheered up, then the humour definitely will. Poston's humour is my kind of brand of humour and the way I howled laughing at the line, "who's going to tell her this is Stockholm Syndrome?" it was such a beautifully placed line! 

I'm not sure if this is the final book in the series, I think it is although part of me is really hoping that it's not because I'm going to miss having a new book in this series to look forward to each year, but I feel like this is a timeless series that's going to be great to come back and revisit as many times as you need!