“Everyone’s immortal until they’re not.”
I think I may actually like fantasy books. 🙂
The first novel I completed this month was great. I initially started two V.E. Schwab fantasy series while trotting the length of the country; Shades of Magic (this) and Villains (but more on that next month). Thankfully the follow up to A Darker Shade of Magic did not disappoint.
After the introduction of the mysterious obsidian stone, the story continues with Kell, his brother Prince Rhy and Deliah as they navigate the various Londons along their chosen (or chosen for them) paths in society and try to not be killed in the Element Games.
I really liked this novel, it was fast paced, introduced new yet well-developed characters and had many plot twists and turns. I look forward to reading the final novel in this trilogy.
| Book Lovers |
“If I had to pick one person to be in my corner it’d be you. Every time.”
NEW FAVOURITE ROMANCE! I purchased this book on a Thursday, started reading that evening, forced myself to stop before I completed it in one siting (purely to savour the book that smidge longer) and finished it with pure joy the following morning. The smile that crossed my face as I read the last sentence is the reason I read romances. Warm, gooey, sugared covered, sweetness is what a good romance read gives me. This book did just that and more!
Convinced she is the ‘before girl’, Nora the heroine in this tale accepts her fate as the woman men date before they find ‘the one’, as long as she continues to be ‘the one’ for her literary clients. An escape to Sunshine Falls to transform Nora’s poor dating history winds up with her bumping into a fellow bookish brood in the form of Charlie, an editor whom she met months before in less than ideal circumstances. Cue meet-cute 2.0.
I won’t divulge any further but I feel that E. Henry wrote this book for me. With sarcastic quips, tangible chemistry, misguided communication and beautifully flawed human puzzle pieces that fit together I loved every aspect of this book. Including all the book puns, jokes and references to other beloved novels of mine. Maybe if you aren’t into romances, don’t adore reading or have a black heartless soul you won’t like it… but otherwise I’m sure you’ll love it just like me. 🙂
| Unfinished |
“We are travelers, always moving, always in flux, and so are our fellow passengers. Our time riding together is fleeting, but it’s everything — because the time together is what brings us love, joy, connection.”
What a queen. No one is more surprised than me that I liked this memoir. If you don’t know who Priyanka Chopra Jonas is then maybe you’ll know her famous husband Nick Jonas from the boyband The Jonas Brothers. But after reading this… it feels criminal to only know her husband and reference her in this manner. She’s a bad arse. Very impressive resume, with global accomplishments and life-achievements, she should be more famous than him!
I didn’t expect to like this book but upon finishing it I was tempted to re-read (and that never happens) just to me amazed by her wisdom and experiences again. While this isn’t my favourite memoir ever – that place will always be held by my future bestie Michelle Obama, this offers an incredible insight to the cultural differences of growing up and working in two very different worlds; India and the United States.
I’m still kind of in awe to be honest.
| Finding Cinderella |
“I love that you don’t carry a purse,” I say.
“I love that you don’t carry one, either,” she says with a laugh.
So cheesy, yet I’m so happy.
Not one of CoHos best romance novels, yet very enjoyable nonetheless. Part of the Hopeless universe, this novel introduces you to Daniel and Six, the two best friends of Sky and Dean who after a year of bad relationships have a chance encounter that leads to finding love and a much needed happily ever after… or does it.
Whilst I will admit to reading the entirety of this book without realising it was part of ‘Hopeless’ (so you 100% can read this as a stand alone novel) I did enjoy every aspect of it. It was short, sweet and captivating, I desperately wanted to know what the big secret was and if they would end up together (I know I know it’s kind of obvious)!
| The Time Keeper |
“When you are measuring life, you are not living it.”
Twas’ alright. Kind of predictable though.
The Time Keeper has been on my to be read list for a while now. Written by Mitch Albom and with a very interesting premise about the fable of Father Time how could I not be excited!
Unfortunately, what I hoped and have come to expect from Albom’s writing style of fantastical, complex and inspiring tales used to portray insightful lessons was quite different from the story I read. Instead I was meet with a flurry of barely introduced characters, a newly designed sun dial and threads of human struggle woven into a story. While the take-home messages were all well and good I found reading the book a challenge and possibly even a waste of my own time. 😦 But if you’re new to Albom’s work then please do not let this book dissuade you, his other novels are exceptional!
“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. An alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.”
| This Close to Okay |
“You’re human and you have to reconcile that with yourself somehow. Forgive yourself. Allow yourself to feel everything deeply, to grow and learn.”
Hmmm I’m going to say nope to this one.
While the writing was lovely and the unique connection these two strangers develop after a chance but much needed encounter was intriguing… I just got bored. The story seemed to drag for the latter parts and the ending was underwhelming. Sometimes I found the dialogue between the two characters more like an intense Q&A game than normal chat, yes I learnt intimate details about them quicker but it felt disingenuous.
Overall it was okay I guess.
| Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) |
“Possibly I was overthinking this. I do that; it’s the anxiety that comes with being a part-organic murderbot. The upside was paranoid attention to detail. The downside was also paranoid attention to detail.”
Number four in a bot-full series this novella had it all. The perfect balance between planning, action and sarcastic but truthful commentary that readers have grown to love. He also ‘cares’ now so thats fun. 😛
I won’t begin to describe this book for those not familiar with the Murderbot series – all I will say is, if rogue sec-units, dry humour, the rise and fall of sanctuary moon and galaxies of the future are your thing then maybe you should check this out. And if you already know then you know… “so the plan wasn’t a clusterfuck, it was just circling the clusterfuck target zone, getting ready to come in for landing”.
| The Missing Sister (The Seven Sisters, #7) |
Ugh why does it go on. I wanted resolution. I shall preface this book review with some history. Prior to starting this series I was not a series reader. I was yet to find a single series (and I had tried) where I wanted the story to go on. Normally I like novels for the feeling of escapism. Being transported to a different world, with different people, different adventures and mainly different problems than my own. But just as with any life, at some point you have to return to reality and face those problems, so a stand alone novel is great, a series is not! Until I met this series.
After reading The Seven Sisters and falling into a trance of their life, their stories and their unknown Pa Salt I was fixed on forgetting my woes and uncovering their truth. If you like romances, adventures around the globe and uncovering a mystery then I can’t recommend this series enough. All books in the series I believe are between 3-5 stars, all great reads. However, my bone to pick with this novel is because it doesn’t stop here!. I thought the questions the fans (myself included) had about who Pa Salt was, where the missing seventh sister is and tying up loose ends would all be answered in this novel, sadly I was wrong.
On starting this book it spends the beginning fifth catching us up on what the six sisters have been up to and introducing the possible seventh sister. For someone hoping this would be the final novel containing all my answers you can imagine my disappointment when the latter chapters only posed further questions and I left was none the wiser about anything. Now I wait for an eighth book release which will hopefully have those answers!
Otherwise the story was great, elements of romance and mystery, many historical references which the series has become famous for and they even visited New Zealand which felt a little homey 🙂 Still my favourite series without a doubt! Plus without this series I wouldn’t have given more series a try and some books on this months list wouldn’t have been read, so it’s not all bad I suppose.
| Better Than the Movies |
“Sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”
What a great romance reading month! Also what an amazing YA novel!!. Just wow!!!
The characters, the plot, the music playlists and rom-com references; all so so good. 🙂 I am not a big YA fan. I usually find the characters too juvenile, the plot too simple and overall the outcome a little too perfect. But this book was an exception. Your classic enemies to friends to lovers romance with A+ rom-com movie references and excellent music choices made for a very enjoyable and heart-warming read. Plus because it was YA the book never got too steamy and the sweet innocence of the characters made the ending feel like it had been gift-wrapped and tied with a big, sparkly bow (which yes I know I said I don’t like that but when the books this adorable I make an exception).
If you have read any of the above books, have suggestions for what I should read next or want to see what I’m reading right now comment and check out my Goodreads below.
GC Chronicles 