This book was equal parts heartbreaking and sweet. Abandoned children, left to run a farm for themselves, making the most out of the untamed west of America. Magic is still wild and unpredictable and all of this comes together in the beautiful story. 4/5 stars

Wow this was a long book! And consequently, it was a possible 5/5 star book right up until the last 1/4th or 1/5 where I found that it seemed to run off the rails and be more of a recounted summary than a cohesive story. Just a little disappointing. 3/5 Stars.

Nice light read. 3/5 stars

Giving this #24B4Monday #readathon a go with Veins of Gold and The book Jumper.
Starting my first hour now.

A Gothic tale set in an old country manor in rural England with a cast of characters from a dying age. The lord of the manor is a dominating, colonialist, misogynist who rules the lives of all the women in his employ and his daughter with belittlement and scorn. When the mammal collection is sent to be housed in the manor with a woman to manage it, Hetty Cartwright, sparks will fly. Then she falls for the daughter Lucy.
3/5 Stars.

This book was mudlin from start to finish. Much more in the vein of the original fairy tale than the Disney version. Lots of feminist overtones and really needs a trigger warning for basically all types of abuse to women. The main character may have a tail but this was a little too real for me.
2.5/5 Stars

I was not keen on Felicity's character development (which was nil) in the first Montague Siblings book but this one really impressed me. Gone was the “I'm right and you need to just realise that“ undercurrent that turned me off her in the first book. She is abrupt because she is awkward and has no idea how to act in polite female company and the inside line to her thoughts and psyche made her hard exterior all the more appealing.
4/5 Stars

The constant nemesis Ronan is back and that is after encountering Jack the Ripper, witnessing the assassination of Thomas Becket, Max and Leon being sent to a spa for the rich and famous and then having to travel into the future which is always problematic.
Not quite as irreverent as Jasper Fford but pretty damn close.
3.5/5 Stars.

This was a surprisingly well fleshed out and interesting story that really gives an insight into some of the aspects of Coriolanus Snow's nasty character.
He was a traumatised youth who found solace in traumatising others and, surprise, surprise was really only out for himself.
Well written and good on Collins for not rushing this to cash in.
4/5 Stars

Ok so I am not seeing the Buffy comparisons but I am certainly enjoying the supernatural Sherlock aspects of this book.
I am especially liking the fact that our main protagonist; Abigail Rook, seems to bed growing as a person as she experiences life on the mean streets. The pluck is great but I would also like to see her transition back into her “practical“ clothes and not find a new appreciation for pomp.
4/5 Stars.

I have only really just my dipped my toe into the Space Opera genre but as a long time Sci fi reader this was an excellent experience. I wasn't even finished the first book and I was already confident to start recommending the series to others.
This first story broke my heart and also made it soar. I love all the characters and am invested fully in their lives.
Enough gushing, 5/5 Stars.

Assuming this is the final installment in the FTRS series this was a delightful series as a whole.
Gilly is a fantastic main character with a really compelling redemption arc perfect for early and middle school readers.
I recommend this series for anyone who is a fan of fairy tale re-tellings and fantasy middle school books.
3.5/5 Stars

I had originally DNF'ed this series but when the audio book became available to borrow on my library app I decided to try to finish the series.
I found this whole series insipid but I really should have known what I was in for as this is published by Harlequin Teen.
1.5/5 Stars

Wow, another book that just blew me away.
The magic system is further developed with more explanations for the existing Maji and the newly made royal descendants of Maji.
The journey they all go on, facing the truth of their actions and emotions that bind them to one another across belief and society are epic and enthralling.
With the ending I can not wait for book 3.
4.5/5 Stars

This book was such a major disappointment.
I have read and enjoyed Patrick Ness books in the past and was expecting something of that calibre but was most disappointed. I felt that this was a very thin story and I didn't feel like the tales from the monster help pad it out. I think this book is specifically for kids dealing with lose and I am not the target audience at all.
2/5 Stars

This book was such a major disappointment.
I have read and enjoyed Patrick Ness books in the past and was expecting something of that calibre but was most disappointed. I felt that this was a very thin story and I didn't feel like the tales from the monster help pad it out. I think this book is specifically for kids dealing with lose and I am not the target audience at all.
2/5 Stars

This was one of the sweetest, most delightful graphic novels I have read in a long time.
I would like a tea dragon more than anything but I have a sneaking suspicion that my dog is one (the complete lack of survival instinct was the clincher.)
The only problem was it was too short.
4/5 Stars

This was a departure from the “normal“ Murderbot Diary, not just in length but in story.
That did not detract however from how amazing and heart felt this continuing story was. Murderbot is still in love with media, annoyed by humans who think they know better and of course saving their stupid arses when thing ineveitably go wrong. But now ART is in trouble and needs their help.
An exceptional 5/5 Stars.

I don't know why but I avoided this series for the longest time and I have no idea why! I loved Monty and Percy and it such a good story (bad time in history but that is a given.) What I am slightly annoyed by is the fact that Felicity has absolutely zero personal growth in this book and everyone just needs to realise how wonderful she is... at 15!
Nope sorry I don't believe it. Hopefully her growth happens in the next book.
Still 4.5/5 Stars.

Wow, what a book! What a series! What an author! (Must be because her name is Sarah but now I'm getting off track.)
It had been a while since I had finished the previous book and I took me a hot minute to get back into it but my lord the feels in this book and the redemption was grand.
I have no idea how there are going to be more in the series but I will be there with bells on.
5/5 Stars

Firstly I would like to say “God damn I am trash for these books!“
This was a re-read and I loved it just as much the third time as I did the first. I still think it was a crying shame they left the Man from Memphis out of the TV series.
We are introduced the world and all the main characters in such a efficient way and I just can't get enough. Not to mention that Bill hasn't turned into a giant dick yet.
3.5/5 Stars.

The gripping conclusion to this novella trilogy (although I would be most pleased if we got more... please.)
I adored the aspect of interspecies connections that was explored in this book. I felt it was an allegory for not just our link with the animals of this world and how with sometimes mistreat them but how we mistreat the environment/ world as well.
Can not recommend this series enough!
5/5 Stars

Having spent a year at Oomza Uni, Binti is feeling more out of sorts than ever, she asks for leave for herself and Okwu, her Meduse friend as an ambassador for their people to earth and her home.
Another excellent instalment in the Binti Trilogy that truly wowed me.
Full of far distant sci fi elements and the same prejudices we are dealing with today.
5/5 Stars

This was a Steampunk styled world where mechanicals are some how imbued with sentience via glyphs etched on the metal of their bodies and real humans are considered “proper.“
I really enjoyed the story I got in an alternate Britain with a bunch of misfit mechanicals setting out on an adventure to find the greatest maker of the age but I was frustrated with the lack of a coherent “magic system“ explanation.
3/5

This is one of those rare books that I love just as much as the movie! Just like other hard science fiction books, the movie lost a lot of the detail and having seen that first (several times) the book came as an awesome extension to the detail. I listen to the audible version which is narrated by Wil Wheaton who gets the tone for Mark Watney just right and added to my enjoyment of the book.
5/5 Stars

Yet another book set in the dirty streets of London in the aftermath of the Ripper Murders. Our protagonist, Fiona Mahoney has taken up a very unlady like trade, crime scene cleaner. Following the death of her best friend Mary, the supposed last victim of Jack the ripper, Fiona believes that her work will help her find the Ripper and bring him to justice. With ties to the police and organised crime, Fiona needs to tread carefully.
4/5 Stars.

What an amazingly different perspective for science fiction to take. This book has set me on the hunt for sci fi and fantasy written by people of colour as they are writting stories from such amazingly rich cultural backgrounds that are such a delight to this reader. Bring it on world!
5/5 stars.

The further adventures of Alice Wonder continue in this book with our intrepid heroine being dragged off to South America in search of another possible Wonderland monster who has infected the world with a truly deadly illness. Meanwhile the Queen of hearts is still up to her usual nonsense.
The countdown is on.
3/5 stars.

I am afraid to say it but book number one did not live up to book number 3. That is to say I did not hate this book. It brought the threads of the story to a nice and convenient conclusion but I was not surprised by any of it and I picked it about 200 pages out and frankly that does not for a good read make! I will have to hear some fantastic things about the next trilogy for me to continue with it. 3/5 stars.

The only great thing about this was imagining Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham and Pip from South Park as Pip. My first and probably only Dickens novel. I will stick with Austen and the Brontes from now one.
2.5/5 Stars.

This is the hard, speculative science fiction that really does it for me. Terraformed planets seeded just for evolutionary genetic experiments gone horribly wrong and yet in such an interesting way. Generational arks sent out from a dying earth and an insane god like scientist trying to pull some very interesting strings. Can't wait for the 2nd one.
5/5 Stars

Wow this book was a test. On the one hand I love the concept. Ancient alien tech that we have finally evolved far enough to sort of understand and stumble around with. But the format just killed me. I was reading this as an e-book and what worked really well in the Illuminea files, did not work for me here. Half the time I had to work out who was talking and I took ages to read this. Think I will try the audio book for the rest. 3/5 Stars

This was where I felt the need to say goodby to Araminta and the Spook house as this book was the last one that I owned and I didn't have anywhere near as much fun reading this one as I have the last four.
The story of Araminta and co being baby sat by the resident ghosts of Spook house with two invading poltergeists who just want to stay and cause a ruckus just didn't work for me.
2/5 Stars.

Thursday Next is back out in the real world, working on getting her husband back from having been erased in the past, as she has to deal with the social faux pas of his flicking in and out of existence.
Jumping into bed with your father in law who has never actually met you can be difficult to explain.
This and more time paradoxes to come.
5/5 Stars.

I really enjoyed this next installment from S W Perry in the historical fiction that give a different insight (not royalty) to the 1500's. 4/5 stars.

I really enjoyed the first volume of this book but by the time we got to the third volume I found that, for me, the cutting satire that was so enjoying and humourous was now lacking. 2.5/5 stars.

Murderbot is on its way back to Dr Mensah but problems arise as it becomes evident though various news feeds, has been kidnapped by GrayCris and will need rescuing before the reunion can begin. Not to mention the question Murderbot keeps asking themself “Do I really want to see these people again?“ A great exploration of what it is to be human. 4.5/5 Stars.
Art by: DarkestElemental616

WOW, what an amazingly colourful and saturated world Hardinge has created! Some writer cannot achieve this sort of world building and yet realism over a trilogy of books but in just these 400 odd pages she has managed it!
A world of vengeful gods of the sea that demand sacrifice and breath fear suddenly came to an end 30 years before and now their rotting carcuses are used to build a new industrial age. 4.5/5 Stars

Murderbot is on a mission to help the people who helped them. Off to a supposedly abandoned terraforming site to discover information that may help and of course, having to protect the stupid humans along the way.
Loving this series. 4.5/5 Stars.
Artwork: AndisReinbergs

The continuation of the story 11 year on from Isle of Blood and Stone hasus traveling with near 18 yr/o Reyna who was the plucky girl from the first book.
She has not been held back by past events and has continued on against the odds to become a geographer even if she is having a hard time of it due to her gender.
A great story on its own with further world building is this fascinating island landscape. 4.5/5 Stars
Art: Sergey Avtushenko

Is Carter Piller really her friend? Is this life even the real one? Can Alice ever escape the horrors of Wonderland and why doesn't her family ever visit her? All these questions are raised and not many answers returned. 3/5 Stars

This does seem to be the point where they realised that this could be an ongoing series and all of a sudden the drawing of Sara and Jackie seemed to change from issue to issue. A little annoying but I will overcome! 3.5/5 Stars

Yet another Pratchett book that on the surface is hilarious, as always, yet has so many layers it's a hyper onion. Vimmes and the Watch are thrown into the middle of a diplomatic disaster that could explode in war between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch. All due to an island rising from the depths of the circle sea exactly halfway between the two.
In his usual blood minded way, Vimmes with weedle and bluff his way to a bloodless conclusion. 5/5 Stars

I was not expecting this to be so close to the current situation. A pandemic has swept the globe and decimated the population and it all starts with a cough... Red is going cross country, dodging the army, would-be kidnappers and general crazies to get to her granma's cabin in the woods. With lots of twists and turns on the way this is either the perfect book for the current world or the worst thing to read. 4.5/5 Stars

1 For number of books read would be the the late great Sir Terry Pratchett. Nothing is better than a good laugh when reading and he rarely failed to deliver.
2. Perfect night out is with my husband to a high end Japanese restaurant and retiring to a hotel suite.
3. My favorite book setting is anywhere fantastical.
#wonderouswednesday @eggs

So the plot is really starting to ramp up in this second volume and I am lovinging the tie ins with The Darkness comics. As always I enjoy the ridiculous muscle drawing style.
I am using the Top Cow reading order as a guide. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/kaljenko/lists/top-cow-universe-chronolog...
4/5 Stars.

So I have a tendency not to reading the blurb when picking books from from my library audio books, especially when I'm familar with the author.
Wow I was not ready for this and how close to what is currently happening in the world today. I am so glad I'm not in a hot spot.

Children of Blood and Bone is visceral, spin chilling yet amazing window into the a world where magic has not just disappears but was ripped away and all the magic users destroyed because of one man's pain and fear. This is an oddly beautiful result of one women's feelings of despair at the violence of everyday life. Honestly gave me the feels and goose bumps. 4.5/5 Stars.
Artwork by Freiheit.

Isle of Blood and Stone is a really pleasant twist on the secret royalty story. The character and world building is excellent and the writing is sophisticated without excluding the younger reader. There is a romance but it is not central or explicit in anyway. 4/5 Stars
Artwork by Emily B. Martin

This was one of the most refreshing, new stories I have read in a long time. The writing is top notch and the world building is vivid and evocative. I especially appreciated the way in which the history of the country was conveyed to the reader as the Rin is studying it rather than the usual data dump or exposition character that I can not stand in a lot of fantasy stories. I will be recommending it to everyone. 5/5 stars.