Say It Out Loud by Ashley Schumacher Book Review

 

Say It Out Loud by Ashley Schumacher. Cover Photo: NetGalley

A fantastic debut full of laughter, relatability and heartfelt moments that is sure to strike a chord in every reader (especially us older fangirls)!

This book is for all the fangirls out there....and it's AMAZING! As a teen, I too was obsessed with a certain love story between a vampire and a human (and then the love triangle that included a werewolf) and it honestly held such an important place in my heart, it's the reason why I still love the paranormal romance genre to this day. This author did an incredible job of demonstrating what it means to be a fangirl and how important it is for young girls to have these things in their lives (and not to be mocked for it). 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Book Review

 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. Book Cover: Goodreads

The dark side of the publishing industry. A tale of jealousy, narcissism and negative mental health.

As someone who has worked in publishing it’s quite interesting to read such a detailed story from the author’s perspective. While obviously this story is fiction - I think some parts of it could ring true to authors around the world. This story was an engaging read that I found hard to put down.

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling Book Review

 

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling. Book Cover: Amazon UK

An easy and enjoyable read - perfect for the holiday season, however it doesn't hold a candle to the first in the series.

A seriously festive and atmospheric read! Perfect for the holiday season and for cuddling up next to the fire while reading a book. This time Sterling takes readers to the countryside in Wales where a time-hop might just be in order. 

Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4) by J.R. Ward Book Review

Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward. Photo: Goodreads

A slow start to the book but then Ward ramped up the drama to warp-speed. A sweet ending to another pair of well-mated lovers.

The fourth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series - this one is focused on the story between Butch and Marissa. Their story has been present throughout all the books from the first in the series Dark Lover. Their love story has been a complicated one - one with a lot of ups and downs. The main thing I have to say right off the bat is WOW - that ending! It was slow to start up for sure and even about 50% of the way through the book I felt as if it wasn't anywhere near the quality of the the previous two in the series. But the ending chapters just took the story to a whole new level! 

Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) by J.R. Ward Book Review

 Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward. Photo: Goodreads

Dark, dangerous and sexy! A rough past does not mean you're broken beyond repair because love can crack just about any shell!

Can I start off by saying this series went from good to great to the best of the series yet - and for me I think that peak has been reached. J.R. Ward started the storyline for Lover Awakened in Lover Eternal quite honestly and while she does give some background at the beginning of the story if you haven't read the others - I think you'd be doing yourself a great disservice if you didn't read the second book in the series before starting the third. In fact - Lover Eternal included the meet scene for Zsadist and Bella and even their first 'sexual encounter' if you can even really call it that (if you know, you know). 

But I need to start off by saying once this storyline was introduced in the second book I couldn't put it down because I just HAD to know more. I finished Lover Eternal and then started on Lover Awakened within a matter of seconds - the damn thing interrupted my sleep schedule as I went to bed late at night and woke up early in the morning because I was so eager to keep reading. All in all - I finished Lover Eternal and Lover Awakened in less than four full days. The story of Zsadist and Bella is one that hooked my attention from the moment they appeared on the page. Zsadist seemed to have the same enthralling effect on me as a reader as he did with Bella. Basically, this book was unputdownable for me and I'd like to tell you all the reasons why.

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1) by J. R. Ward Book Review

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward. Photo: Goodreads

This book isn't for the light-hearted and I think you just need to give it a chance - These aren't no Dracula boys or even Anne Rice vamps - they don't listen to opera and wear puffy shirts. They are mean-mugging, jacked, tattooed warriors who dress in all leather.

Dark Lover is the first book by JR Ward in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. The Brotherhood is a band of warrior vampires who protect regular or 'civilian' vampires from a group called the Lessening Society (who are their sworn enemies as the Lessers hunt them and are trying to exterminate the vampire race). The Brotherhood consists of seven warriors Wrath, Darius, Tohrment, Rhage, Vishous, Phury, and Zsadist. There is a whole lot of world building in this book which is needed to understand Ward's world. Just a sidenote: this is one of my favorite things about vampire books - I love when authors take the classic vampire lore and make it their own. Certain tropes and lore is used but if they're a great author then they will always put their own stamp on it - a creative twist if you will. 

Both Feet in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost Book Review

Both Feet in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost. Photo: Goodreads

Frost proves time and time again that she is a master storyteller - one who is able to breathe fresh life into a story we've heard before but yet enthralls us as if it is the first time.

This book is a retelling of Frost's One Foot in the Grave but told from Bones' point of view (POV). The story follows Bones' hunt to find Cat after she's disappeared leaving nothing but a note and what happens once he does find her after all those years apart. The reader is granted a deeper look inside Bones' mind and gets to experience the story from a different perspective lined with the thoughts and emotions of a 200+ year old vampire.

Well Played by Jen DeLuca Book Review

Well Played by Jen DeLuca. Photo: Amazon UK

Cute and easy read, but it could have done with a less irritating female lead and more realistic character interactions

This is the second title in Jen DeLuca's new series, I've previously reviewed Well Met and I rated it 5 stars because it was utterly adorable and I loved both the idea of the story and the main love interest (Simon) was just delicious as a pirate. So when I saw that DeLuca had a new follow up title based in the same world, I jumped at the chance to read it! Overall, Well Played had cute parts and I enjoyed being back at the Renaissance Faire in Willow Creek, but it just didn't live up to my expectations that were set high from the first novel.

Well Played focuses on Stacey, Emily's best friend from Well Met. Stacey has had a summer fling with Dex, a sexy musician in one of live acts who play every year at the faire. This summer she gets a tad wine drunk and sends a mushy/cringe message to Dex, but it turns out she messaged the general band's account (mortifying). But she received a message back from Dex that sets them off on a whirlwind electronic romance comprised of emails and texts. Little does Stacey know, she's not messaging the person she thinks she is. This may be a bit of a spoiler, but it's extremely obvious and alluded to in the book's synopsis on Amazon soooo, it's Daniel - Dex's cousin and the man who manages the band. After a year of getting to know each other electronically - they soon meet face-to-face and Stacey is in for a major shock when she finds out who she's been digitally falling for. 

Pine by Francine Toon Book Review

 

Pine by Francine Toon. Photo: Amazon UK

Undelivered promises of thrills and gothic chills - is this really the future of 'horror' novels? 

I asked for this book as one of my birthday presents this year - my birthday is in October and I thought Pine by Francine Toon seemed like a great bit of horror literature to read in the spookiest month of them all! However, I was sorely disappointed. As a book publicist by day - I should recognize the power of good review quotes from media publications and the sway it sometimes has on readers. I also should have realized how us publicists cherry-pick quotes to put on the cover. All those quotes calling it 'spine-tingling' and a modern 'gothic horror story' were extremely misleading as that's the kind of book I hoped to pick up - but all those promises went completely undelivered. 

Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost Book Review

Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost. Photo: Amazon UK

Fiery action-filled plot, but not enough love making

This is the forth book in the Night Prince series and surprisingly I didn't know that Vlad and Leila's story didn't end on the third book - I thought it was a trilogy. I was really excited to pick up the final book in the series and see how their story ends - Vlad has always been a favorite of mine (I love a fiery man). 

However, I found that this good didn't grab me as much as Frost's other titles. This time around I found that Vlad's overprotectiveness was a tad too much. Instead of it coming off as protective and the usual Vlad sexiness - he came off as overbearing and insanely aggressive. I didn't find it an attractive quality this time around. 

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell Book Review

 

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Photo: Amazon UK

A heart-breaking, yet beautiful tale of love, family and unimaginable loss

From the moment I heard about this book I knew it had a top spot on my TBR list and this was all from just the pre-buzz within the publishing industry before the book's official publication date. Once the book was released and the media started to sing it's praises and when Maggie O'Farrell won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 award with this novel - I knew I had to pick up a copy right away. I went into this book with high expectations as a big Shakespeare fan and it was intriguing to me as I'd never thought about his life prior to his career in London.

I found it very interesting to speculate what Shakespeare's childhood and home life was like back in Stratford. O'Farrell has a very unique writing style in this book - sweeping descriptions and a very jumpy timeline/viewpoint. It's also slightly maddening that she never refers to Shakespeare's first or last name in the entirety of the novel. She names every other character, but never William.