The Crimson Ribbon

The Crimson Ribbon
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of BookBridgr and the publisher!

It's 1646, the Civil War is raging on, there's unrest everywhere, and the hysteria of witchcraft is sweeping through the outer counties.

When Ruth and her mother attend the birth of a local woman, and that baby is born already dead, with the mother dying shortly after, the womans husband, Isaac Tuttle, accuses Ruth's mother of witchcraft, the villagers are quick to back him and Ruth barely escapes the horrifying scene with her life...her mother is not so lucky. Ruth has to flee from the Cromwell household, the only home she has ever known and make her way to London with the help of ex-army man Joseph Oakes.

When they reach London, Ruth finds her way to the Poole household, and fast becomes enchanted with Elizabeth "Lizzie" Poole. It's not long before Ruth becomes close with Lizzie, and Joseph takes an interest in Ruth. But when Isaac Tuttle shows up in London, a friend of Joseph's, and Lizzie is cast out and accused of being a with by her Pastor, the girls flee London to the safety of Abingdon. But things fast go downhill. Lizzie changes, and when they have to go to back to London, it isn't long before Lizzie's radical thinking gets them both in trouble, especially when Lizzie speaks out to the court about the execution of the King.

"I always thought that as I grey older I would not be so afraid of the world and the people in it" 

The Crimson Ribbon enthralls you from the first page with the very first line, and from that point on you're sucked in to the world painted so vividly by the author. It's truly gripping the entire way through. I was unable to put it down, finding myself thoroughly engrossed in the journey Ruth was on and the events of the London of the time.

The Crimson Ribbon was utterly heartbreaking and devastating from the beginning, right through until the end. Like Ruth says, her story starts with a hanging and ends with a hanging, and there's plenty of heartbreak in between. While it makes you feel sad for Ruth, it also opens your eyes to what it was like to live in the time, how hard things where for the people and how precarious. Death was always around the corner in those days, plague, common illnesses could end in death, an accusation from the right people could end in a hanging and so on.

The story, the characters both real and fictional, and the world where all written so realistically and so believably, more so than most historical novels I've read. It's obvious so much work and research has gone in to the book, and you can get a wealth of information from the book without having everything explained to you in the narrative in huge info-dumps. Characters will mention something, or something will be concisely explained, there's no pages and pages of "this happened because this and this and then that happened" and so on.

I'm a bit of a fail of a history geek in regards to the Civil War, it's not an area I know too much about, and to be honest I know more about the Salem Witch Trials than the ones that took place here. I came away from the book knowing a great deal more than I originally did. We see how witchcraft was an easy blame for people who wanted revenge for petty slights, wanted an excuse for cheating on their wife, or wanted someone to blame for an accident of nature. We learned what was going on with the Civil War, the King being tried for treason and being beheaded after much debate, the court, the army taking over, what the people thought of it and so on. Then we get a look at how people accused of witchcraft where treated and what a trial was like. We even get to have a look at the printing presses of the time, that was very interesting. You get all that within a couple of hundred pages, and to be honest, I grasped what was going on easily, and understood the politics of the time a lot better than if I'd been reading history textbook to be honest!

The authors note also has a couple of pages packed with a lot of interesting information about the real Elizabeth Poole, who she was, what we know about her from the records, it's quite sad that no-one knows what happened to her in the end. You also get to see the front of one of the pamphlets that Elizabeth Poole had printed regarding her vision, which ya know....is pretty cool!

The historical threads of fact where woven so seamlessly with the storyline and the lives of our characters, both real and fictional, that you weren't having facts shoved in your face. It was very subtle and very interesting to read about. You get a real feel for the atmosphere of the time.

Detail, is another thing there was plenty of, but without pages of text describing a tree or something. We get lots of detail, with just a few words. This detail extends to the more brutal moments as well as the more normal moments, the hangings, their time in the prison, all where described vividly with enough detail to make it seem like you where there, as well as the details of London at the time.

A lot of the time, historical novels romanticize the time, I've said this before, they try to make it seem like living in poverty, filth and so on was somehow glorious, when I imagine it was far from it. Clements, however, is refreshingly and brutally honest, for example when describing a London street, she mentions the "vile filth" in the street and later the "shit" in the gutter. It gives you an honest picture of the time and what the city and area was like.

The world building was so detailed, so honest and vivid, that I really felt like I was there, smelling the rather ripe (and that's being polite), streets of London, experiencing the filthy and dank cell with Ruth and so on. It was a truly fascinating world, and one of the things I loved about the book was the brutal honesty in the descriptions of the time and the places.

For every brutally honest descroption of the time there where beautifully written ones, almost lyrical.

"Houses stretching their eaves towards the thin streak of light, as if gasping for air"

"Lantern-hung wherries darting between them like fireflies"

 And those are just two out of a whole book full of them, I chose these two because you can still see some semblance of them today in modern day London. Well, at least with the houses/skyscrapers, stand on a bridge at London at night and I'd imagine, while there are boats, it's a lot lighter than it would have been back then.

The injustice of the book is so devastating it actually makes you feel both sad for the victims and angry on their behalf. It's heartrending and devastating and more than once it's absolutely mind boggling. I mean, we've all been pissed off before and wanted to get back at people, but I certainly wouldn't sentence someone to what Ruth went through with a lie, that will ultimately end up in a rather nasty death. It's horrifying when you think about how everyone killed for being a witch was actually innocent, and in the book you experience what would have happened to those women in real life, through Ruth, being strip searched by other women, questioned and repeatedly pushed to confess, they where all practically starved, and most of them would have confessed just to get it over with.

Evidence was made up and believed, lies where told and so on and you see in the book how someones account of something, with a bit of acting can be turned round to the poor woman accused, to help someone else get away with something. Clements paints a vivid and horrifying scene of the conditions they where kept in, but more importantly, what happened to the women. They where watched for 3days/nights, with no sleep, no food and no drink to see if the "devils imps" come to them, being in those conditions would have made them see things, and as soon as they spoke about them they'd have their "proof". As I said, the injustice and unfairness was truly mind boggling.

It really makes you think, about that kind of thing and what life was like then. Particularly, when at one point, Ruth ironically wonders "what harm words can do in the end" after the trial. You kind of think back over the book so far and the trial and you realize exactly what harm words and lies can do.

You really get a sense of how simple it was back then. Famine meant God was angry that the King wasn't on the throne. Cows dying, crops failing and sickness meant the village had been cursed by the spirit of a dead witch, in this case Annies mother's. You also see how much religion was taken seriously by everyone at the time, whereas now it's not as important to everyone. Back then everyone believed and worshiped and so on.

Ruth is an interesting character, I felt so much empathy for her, because after what happened to her mother she was vulnerable and she got snared in by Lizzie. That's the rather original thing about this book, we see Lizzie become lovers with Ruth as well as a woman called Thomasine, which is not a relationship that is portrayed in historical novels much if at all, and it was very well done. I loved the idea that she was the illegitimate daughter of Oliver Cromwell, as the author says, there's no proof he didn't have one, it was a source of intrigue throughout the book, why Oliver was so worried about a servant.

Lizzie was a harder character to work out. Instead of being given hints she was something other than she appeared, we see Lizzie how Ruth does, so in the beginning, like Ruth, you see her kindness and you feel sorry for her when she's thrown out of her congregation. It's not until a bit later that you realize she's got some very radical views that she's been printing. When Ruth realises Lizzie isn't all that innocent, you get an entirely different picture of her. She comes across as cruel to Ruth, controlling when she burns Ruth's letter from Cromwell without letting her read it, duplicitous, she constantly lies and hurts Ruth and stabs her in the back, I would go so far as to maybe say she emotionally blackmails her once or twice. I couldn't work out if she was very manipulative, or if she was very crazy at one point. At times Lizzie seemed to be quite ahead of her time, some of what she was saying about equality, almost matched feminist views in the present day.

Each of the characters where very colourful, full of life and very complex. They all have dark pasts, Joseph, Lizzie and Ruth that is, that you find out about along with Ruth. It's a source of intrigue, but your opinion of Joseph and Lizzie changes along with Ruth as she learns more information. I mean I disliked Lizzie a lot at one point, but in the end I just felt sorry for her.

The Crimson Ribbon is perfectly paced. We cover a lot of time in the book, but at points, the passing of a chunk of time is just marked and acknowledged, instead of lived through, if that makes sense. Like at one point it was summer and when the next chapter starts it mentions how "it rained all summer but now the leaves are turned". The flow was smooth, the narrative engaging and....like I said....gripping.

The Crimson Ribbon is a fascinating, gripping, original and truly fantastic novel, full of history and beautifully vivid details. It stands out from it's fellow historical novels, and I couldn't recommend it enough!

The Undertaker's Daughter

The Undertaker's Daughter
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the Publisher!

In The Undertaker's Daughter, Kate Mayfield shows us what it was like living in a small town, in a funeral home as a daughter of an undertaker. The setting is 1960's Jubilee in Kentucky, having moved there, her father became the second of two white morticians in a town where segregation was alive and well, a town that was God fearing, loved to gossip, and where vindictive men could gang up to play out their petty vengeances. We're introduced to some odd characters and their, at times, even odder families, family feuds, and victims of various accidents or suicides. Through the eyes of a young Kate we see her love for her father grow and then change when she hits her teens and realizes he's not the man she thought he was all her life. We also watch Kate's father quietly deteriorate thanks to alcoholism, watch a lonely old woman's final gift to her father be destroyed by a pathetic and petty man, and watch her sister become more abusive by the day.

I'm trying very hard to put what I'm feeling about this book in to words, I mean the vast majority of the time I forgot this was a memoir and that all what happens in the book happens in real life....I genuinely forgot. It reads like a novel, it's fast paced, it's slick, there's intrigue and mystery, there's hardships there's everything a novel requires, but it's ALL true and I can't be the only one who was sucked in to the world of the memoir and totally thought they where reading a novel.

I mean you can probably tell from the synopsis that I got pretty riled up while reading it. I mean that Fletcher bloke, I really wanted to punch him in the face, he was such a pathetic, vile little man out for vengeance, who took their inheritance, one that they didn't ask for, and kept pushing and pushing until it was taken away from them, he just bowled over a lonely old ladies last wishes because he felt he was entitled to the house and being inside it. I mean....seriously you can probably feel my disgust, rage and general loathing for him seeping out of the screen. He's kind of the perfect villain.....and he was a real person. Oh yes folks, this memoir shows us that not all villains reside in books and movies or on the news. What a despicable person. I applaud Mayfield for not throwing his ass out of the viewing.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when reading, I wasn't expecting it to be all happy, and sunshine and rainbows, but even I wasn't expecting her sister Evelyn's behaviour. I mean, I've never read anything like it and it was truly saddening to me, how she treated her siblings, how she got away with it with her manipulations and how they never got an apology. What was even sadder was that she wouldn't be diagnosed for years because at the time, mental illness wasn't really acknowledged.

I found the history tidbits fascinating. You get a first hand account of what living in a bible belt place was like during segregation, and subsequently, integration. It's so baffling to someone like me, at the time, that everyone was kept separate and there was all this taboo, it's sometimes hard to picture, so to read about a first hand account was fascinating. I was also fascinated by the WW2 elements her father's life brought, particularly the letter he sent that is included in the epilogue. Again, PTSD wasn't something that was known of? Acknowledged? I'm not entirely sure, back in the time Mayfield's father fought in the war, and he had no help to deal with it, while he may have seemed to be coping, it comes out that he wasn't really, and again, in this day and age, it's mind boggling that he received no help or treatment and was just left to muddle on through. I found the letter I just mentioned particularly fascinating, and I had such a moment when reading it, I had to remind myself that this was a real letter, about real events, and was from a real persons point of view. It sounds silly to keep reaffirming that I was apparently stupid enough to forget it's not fiction, but it genuinely seems like it's a novel. I mean, reading about an event in the war I had no previous knowledge of, and a heartbreaking one at that, really explains her father more, and brings such a sadness upon you when it really sinks in what he went through.

The prose was truly vivid, and I'm still not quite over the story. It was at times sad, at others funny, frequently witty and very insightful in to all manner of things, not just history wise. Being the history geek I am, naturally I pick those out. My father is fascinated with WW2 and his collection of books on the subject really helped me out in school with history projects, so when I get a chance, I think I might show him certain parts of the book pertaining to that, that he'd find fascinating.

The epilogue is a collection of all the mysteries answered. What happened to her siblings, what happened with the court case (which really really angered me, sorry but it did) and the mystery that was her fathers wound. For me, this really made me think. Mayfield's father keeps his wound and how it happened a secret, sure she finds out but she still doesn't know the cause of the altercation, and never will, and it made me wonder, somewhat morbidly I would imagine, just what secrets family members I thought I knew aaaalll about, took to the grave with them.

Mayfield's accounts of the people of the town and her struggle to leave it behind made for heart wrenching and gripping reading. Logically you know she did leave, but at the time of reading you're gripped, wondering is she will. It's a fantastic coming of age story, set against a unique and fascinating background that covers such historically wrought times, that just so happens to be true.

I'm at a loss to fully describe how incredible a read this book is, it's a struggle not to review this as if it where simply fiction. Mayfield expertly brings you in to the world of her childhood and teenage years. I have nothing but respect for Kate Mayfield for how she handled things such as the incident with her sister, how she managed to live with a person such as that, how she managed to survive living in a town that suffocating, to get out of said town and how she has managed to convey her life experiences in a novel such as this, laying bare her secrets, her families secrets and her fathers secrets. These secrets all unfold over the course of an exquisitely written book.

I have to also mention, a little detail I loved. At the end of most of the chapters, there would be a little "In Memoriam" section,  each mentioning a different death in the town, some more heart breaking than others, all described by Mayfield who knew each person, and all served to help the town come alive from the pages that little bit more.

I literally can't stop rambling and gushing about this richly told memoir (see I got another note of praise in there), so I'm going to leave it here before I can gush even more, I'm sure by now you get my point about what a fantastic read this is!

Wishing For Wednesday #8

This weeks Wishing For Wednesday has three right little gems!
I've been lucky enough to grab a review copy of the middle one as well!
As for the other two, one is a new book from a favourite author of mine!
And the other....well...you read the synopsis and you'll see why it's made the list!

Illusions Of Fate

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.

Illusions Of Fate is out October 9th, pre-order your copy here.

Whisper The Dead 

Cousins Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope are all dealing with what it means to be a Lovegrove. For Gretchen, it means she often feels like her head is going to explode. As a Whisperer, Gretchen constantly hears the whispers of other witches' spells. And while this does help her to know when one of her own spells is going wrong, the incessant buzzing and pain the whispers cause makes it difficult to use her gift.

But when something evil begins to menace Mayfair, Gretchen must find a way to master her power. Along with her cousins, a madcap named Moira, and the icy yet irresistible Tobias Lawless, Gretchen faces deadly threats and unimaginable loss in the hopes of preventing the terrible Greymalkin Sisters from rising again. 

The second book in The Lovegrove Legacy trilogy, Whisper the Dead will leave readers spellbound.

Whisper The Dead is out October 9th, pre-order your copy here.

The Accidental Highwayman 

The Accidental Highwayman is the first swashbuckling adventure for young adults by talented author and illustrator, Ben Tripp. This thrilling tale of dark magic and true love is the perfect story for fans of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride.

In eighteenth-century England, young Christopher “Kit” Bristol is the unwitting servant of notorious highwayman Whistling Jack. One dark night, Kit finds his master bleeding from a mortal wound, dons the man’s riding cloak to seek help, and changes the course of his life forever. Mistaken for Whistling Jack and on the run from redcoats, Kit is catapulted into a world of magic and wonders he thought the stuff of fairy tales.

Bound by magical law, Kit takes up his master’s quest to rescue a rebellious fairy princess from an arranged marriage to King George III of England. But his task is not an easy one, for Kit must contend with the feisty Princess Morgana, gobling attacks, and a magical map that portends his destiny: as a hanged man upon the gallows….

Fans of classic fairy-tale fantasies such as Stardust by Neil Gaiman and will find much to love in this irresistible YA debut by Ben Tripp, the son of one of America’s most beloved illustrators, Wallace Tripp (Amelia Bedelia). Following in his father’s footsteps, Ben has woven illustrations throughout the story.

The Accidental Highwayman is out October 14th, pre-order your copy here.

Books Are My Bag.....My Favourite Bookshop!

Books Are My Bag are bacckkk! It's launching on October 9th with Big Bookshop Parties on October 11th, and you guys reaaally should get involved, it's great fun!

Books Are My Bag is all about celebrating bookshops, all bookshops, including the lesser spotted Indie Bookshop. Now indie bookshops may not be lesser spotted to some of you guys, but to me it's practically extinct, I haven't been in one in agggesss, although I make a point to do a book crawl around all of the ones in London!

The Campaign even has special tote bags designed by Tracey Emin, I was aware of this as soon as it was announced, I have an art student friend who did a project based on her works so there was screaming and flailing from her, as well as ones similar to last year! But that's not all, October 2nd marks the release of the official book of the Campaign, The Bookshop Book, it's described as a "love letter to bookshops" and is sure to be a treat for all book lovers!

I've always read books, ever since I could actually read by myself, I was the only kid in my year at Primary school on a higher reading level than everyone else, and when I hit Secondary I was the only kid who actually enjoyed reading time, and voluntarily spent time in the library. Not to mention when you had to do that thing in class, where you read out of the book, and I was the only one who didn't stumble over words and ya know....actually enjoyed reading Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliet, Of Mice And Men and so on.

I'm much more likely to curl up with a blanket and a book on a Friday night when everyone else my age is out partying and my most likely cause of death is "crushed by toppling stacks of books" when my teetering piles eventually fall over. For me, someone who didn't have the best time at school, reading was an escape, I could forget everything for a few hours, and go on an adventure. I pretty much ploughed my way through my Library's kids and then YA section, then had to go to another library. When I feel crappy, a good book is my solution.

I've always felt most comfortable in a bookshop, whenever I go shopping, I always saved the bookshop for last and usually spend at least an hour in there browsing everything. I have never been able to pick just one book, I usually end up buying a stack, going on holiday provided me an excuse for it, but usually I had no excuse whatsoever I just couldn't choose!

For me going in to a bookshop, smelling the new book  smell and really spending time browsing, pulling books out, reading the back, and so on, will always be better than buying online. Whenever I buy books from an actual bookshop I always end up discovering a hidden gem, a book I'd never previously have stumbled across if it hadn't caught my eye. You can't get that online. Bookshops, just as much as books, are comforting to me.

When it comes to my local bookshop, I don't have any indie ones that I'm aware of, there's an oxfam bookshop, a Works, and then there's my favourite bookshop....Waterstones Walton. If there where any independent bookshops, they shut down, much like Borders, my old favourite bookshop, did.

Why am I telling you this? Because BookBridgr has teamed up with Books Are My Bag to get us book bloggers to talk about our favourite bookshop, and hopefully bring more awareness and hype about BAMB!

As I already said, Waterstones Walton is my favourite bookshop, it holds some fond memories of queuing up outside it until midnight to grab the final Harry Potter book, and I'm always reminded of it every time I go there, but that's not why it's my favourite, that's a bonus! While it's the smaller of the Waterstones branch I could feasibly get to, it also has a much...cosier, atmosphere. It's always quiet, there's plenty of natural light and it's such a calm space. It has a great kids section, a decent YA section and a reaaaalllyy good Sci-Fi/Fantasy section that I can't walk past without spotting something. The last time I was in there they had a really cool Lord Of The Rings/Terry Pratchett display with the special editions, that literally destroyed my bank card. Not to mention the Game of Thrones and Leatherbound Classics displays! I love slowly browsing through, and then curling up in the chair between two bookshelves to make my final book  decisions!

I've told you my favourite bookshop, now I want to know YOURS! Pop it in the comments below!

To keep up with all the latest details follow @booksaremybag
Books Are My Bag are currently hosting #bookadayuk

Because my rambling probably didn't explain it the best, head to http://www.booksaremybag.com/ for more info on the Campaign!

A Tithe Of Blood And Ashes

A Tithe Of Blood And Ashes
Rating: 5/5 (DUH)
Buy or Borrow: BUY
Source: Amazon UK

It's been 2 months since the events of Blood Moon, and it's exam time for Lucy over at the Helios-Ra academy. It's as she's studying on the way to school that she encounters a Hel-Blar....or 6. But that's not all...there's a mysterious woman in a grey cloak. Luckily for Lucy the really weird stuff waits for her to finish up her exams! How considerate! See the Hel-Blar have taken a shine to our Lucy, and they flock to her, which would probably be flattering if they weren't all blue and stinky. Lucy's about to find out just what exactly her parents have been keeping from her. Maybe it's not just luck that's helped her survive so far.....


.....okay it hasn't REALLY been 84 years since Blood Prophecy and being in the Drake's world but it feels like it okay. Seriously, I don't think anyone can quite understand my intense love for this series. A love that has had me constantly checking Alyxandra's website ever since she mentioned wanting to do a Lucy series. You can imagine my general freaking out-ness when I heard about thiiiiisss!

I love Lucy and Nick, I don't know why exactly, it's probably Lucy's snark and humour that makes her my favourite, I just connect to her so well, but her and Nick are my favourite. Lucy and Nick are at their best and at their most adorable in this next installment, Tithe is the perfect continuation to be honest.

The continuation in narrative is smooth, the story itself fast paced. Reading Tithe you step back in to a world, that for fans of the series has become like a home. It's just as you remember it and just as sucking-in-y. The story is engaging and I so wish it was longer because I honestly can't get enough.

The characters are like old friends you haven't seen in years, and you just slot back in like you've never been away. I really missed all the characters, not just Lucy and Nick but Helena and Hunter and Quinn and Logan and everyone. I really need more of Marcus, Duncan and Sebastian, I'm not going to lie! They where all just as I remembered them and ugh



Moving swiftly on from my many feels, I need to know more about Rosa and Samuel, like all Alyxandra's characters, they where well written and had plenty of depth, so much depth. I need to know what Samuel's deal with magic is, and why his sister is so desperate to protect him, like obviously it's because he's a hunter but like there must be a deeper reason. That and I need another book so I will just theorize accordingly.

I loved the storyline for this installment, I'd never really thought about Lucy and her luck before, and it just slotted in to the series perfectly. There's some interesting lore in this installment as well, that was very fleshed out! Tithe is just as full of humour, action and magic as the other books, and it's hard to figure out what will happen next, I was frantically wondering what the deal was with the stalkery Hel-Blar and totally didn't work it out, which I love!

Now, we all know I can't get enough of this world, this series and these characters, so I'm gonna tell it to you straight. I would really really love another book, a full length one, about Lucy and what she's up to, with the others in it as well obviously. There's so much more to explore, the way I see it. We now have a Lucy that goes invisible when she gets scared, which could be a potential problem! Lucy still hasn't finished training at Helios-Ra, and she hasn't smacked down Jody yet, and that reaaaaaally needs to happen! We need to see more of Sebastian, Marcus and Duncan! Then there's the whole what will Lucy and Nick do regarding making her like him? I can't be the only one not ready to let these characters go!

All in all, Tithe is a fantastically engaging continuation of a well loved series, that has made my day personally, and has left me wanting more!

Echo Queen

Echo Queen
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: ARC Courtesy of the author!
Check out my review of Echo Prophecy, Book One in the trilogy, here.

As we rejoin Lex, it's just not her day, Marcus's eyes do some funky colour change business, then he tries to drown her in the bath....awkward. Turns out Apep, the thing possessing Set can now hop a ride in to Marcus too. Which kind of makes Marcus in to a really big threat. Luckily for her that really lovely doctor from Prophecy, turns out to be Aset, Marcus's sister, and she shows up in the nick of time, with some very bizarre instructions, including fleeing the present time to stay alive.

The next thing Lex knows, she's 4000 years in the past, hanging in Egypt with Nuin who's introduced her as his wife, and ya know...the goddess Hathor. She must train with Nuin to learn how to wield the power he gave her, and she must use it often, if she doesn't, the power will rip out of her, and it's not pleasant. While she makes something to help Marcus with his withdrawals, Lex will have to rely on the very moody young Heru, and as Heru....let's say, warms up to her, are things about to get very, very complicated?

While Lex is away, trouble is brewing, a group called The Kin are working against Lex and co and it turns out that two of their own are willing to betray them. The question is....which two? Will Lex make it back in one piece? Who's out to get Nuin? And can they stop Apep?

So, everyone who read my review for Echo Prophecy knows how much I loved it, and ya know...the series, so you can imagine my reaction when an email with this new installment attached appeared in my inbox! This series is literally the kind I've been waiting for, these are my perfect books, the blend of history, particularly Egypt, romance, action, paranormal and mystery is the kind of thing I've always been looking for but never found....until now.

I'm a history geek, and to cut to the chase, Egypt is a part of history that really intrigues me, and because Lindsey is like a freaking mind reader or something, in this installment she's all ".....screw it let's go back to Old Kingdom Egypt and hang out". Seriously, I've gotta give props to Lindsey for the sheer amount of research that went in to this book. I have never been back to Ancient Egypt, shocking I know, but we don't all have super cool time travelling abilities or a Tardis, anyways, the world building combined with the research of the time blended together to give you a real feel for what it must have been like to live back then.You could practically smell the (slightly icky most of the time) smells and feel the sun and everything was painted so vividly it's like you where there.

I loved the world created in the first book, and this one was just as all encompassing, so engrossed in reading was I, that I pretty much tuned the outside world out and a bomb could have gone off and I probably wouldn't have noticed!

I love how tidbits of history where woven in to the narrative, just enough to intrigue you and interest you, but not an overload. I love how much history is subtly woven in to the book, alongside the rich lore we have for Lex's people. Don't get me started on the mind blowing new installment to the lore regarding Nuin and ya know....the freaking universe. It's astounding how detailed the lore is, and we get more and more throughout each book and it's so extensive and detailed without bogging down the narrative. It's a wonder.

The time travel trip, the whole Nuin/universe thing and a couple of other little things all combine to ensure this continues to be one hell of a unique book, that you really can't put down, I think it would have taken a crowbar to get my hands off my Kindle.

I can't praise Lindsey enough for the narrative/plot line in this book. Like always, I couldn't figure out anything, I had no idea what was going to happen next so this was a pretty big roller coaster of a story for me. I probably should have, but I just had no idea where it was going next.

We have two perspectives going on in this book, while Lex is back in time, we check in with the present thanks to Kat, and I have to see the way it was done was flawless. The change was smooth, it made sense, and it was timed just right. We'd leave Lex and then it'd be Kat's turn, in one instance we missed out on Lex pretty much packing, but in the other we left Lex, and then when we returned to present day, Kat was reading the walls of Lex's sanctuary where she wrote down everything that had happened. I just thought it was so smooth and so cool how we left Lex.....turned the page...and it was Kat...but then we got a little chunk of writing from Lex that Kat was copying down that let us know what was going on before we caught up with the present time people. I explained it really shittily, but you'll know what I mean when you read the book, and I promise that it's way cool, refreshing and intriguing. Not to mention it smoothly carries on the story in a unique way.

Lindsey has done an incredibly awesome job with a very complex plot. Lex travels back in time, and you really do have to pay attention because things have to happen for Lex to be where she needs to be to go back in time, then before Lex returns to present time, she has to set up those things, run a quick rescue mission and so on. There's young Marcus (like...4000 years younger Marcus) and there's memories that have to be changed until she can come back and unblock them, there's a bonding etc etc, I don't want to give too much away, but this could have got reaaally complicated and a total mind fuck, but Lindsey wrote the whole time travel thing very clearly so it was complex, but easy to understand.

It's just kind of mind blowing when you realize Lex was behind EVERYTHING and you realize the ins and outs and in the present time you see something and then in the past you see what really happened and literally I cannot rave enough.

So yes, complex plot, very well done, with smooth narrative that was engaging from both POV's.

I still love Lex, I mean I would have freaked out more than once, but she just carries on and gets shit done. I mean she meets Heru's wives and kids, and yes she's upset in the beginning but when you think about how much it must have hurt, but she still lived with them all. She's an extraordinary character.

And speaking of Heru's family...how could you leave us hanging regarding a certain frozen in time daughter?!

Every single character jumps off the page, and comes to life for you. The depth involved with these characters is incredible. We learn more about Set and before he was possessed when he was a really nice person, we learn more about Kat, and we learn waaay more about Nuin and Marcus. These already complex and detailed characters keep having more added to them that just makes you love them more and more!

The final book in the trilogy has been set up perfectly and very subtly. We have an inkling of where it's going and what's going to happen next, or at least one challenge, but to be honest we don't really know, I would theorize something but I will be so very, very wrong!

Echo Queen is a strong sequel to Echo Prophecy, exploring more of the time travel aspect of Lex's power, and let's just say...shit gets real. Filled with all the things you loved in the first book, and then some, it's engaging, atmospheric and 100% enjoyable. It really is a must read, the book is incredible and this is one of the best series I've read in a loooooong time! Echo Queen is action packed, so much is going on there's never a dull moment, it's a truly fantastic blend of genres/features and you would be silly to miss out on all the fun!

Seriously, fun, Lindsey is nice to us and doesn't cause us pain and suffering ;)