Killing It by Asia Mackay

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 378

Publisher: Zaffre

Released: 12th of July 2018 

Every working mum has had to face it.

The guilt-fuelled, anxiety-filled first day back in the office after maternity leave.

But this working mum is one of a kind.

Meet Alexis Tyler.

An elite covert agent within Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Her first project back is a high-stakes hit of global significance and the old boys network of government espionage is far from ready for the return of an operational mother. But woe betide anyone who ever tells Alexis Tyler 'you can't'.

She will have it all. Or she'll die trying . . .

And yes, she damn well will be home for bath time.

What I Have to Say 

I wasn't sure how this book would be, but I really enjoyed it so much. It's a unique idea, a new mother working as an assassin. It had a good blend of the comedy of the juxtaposition of the two ideas. I loved seeing her going from being the loving mother with her daughter and husband to spending the next day spying and breaking into places while planning an assassination. 

It also convinced me that all spies and assassins should be women. We have far more things that we tend to carry around that can be turned into gadgets. From tampons to lipsticks, no one looks twice at a women carry that sort of thing. Despite the sexism that Alexis faced, she really proved that having a women, a mother, on the team is nothing more than a asset. 

This book is a beautiful, feminist piece about a woman fighting tooth and nail to be recognised in her field after being on maternity leave. It's a powerful story with a suspenseful, funny and all round entertaining story of assassinations and covert ops on top. Definitely a story that's gonna stay with me. 

My thanks got to Bonnier Zaffre and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Happy UKYA day!

Since it's UKYA (young adult books written by UK authors) day, I thought I'd share a few UKYA books I've read recently which I've really enjoyed but haven't gotten around to posting a proper review of yet.

Jessica Cole: Model Spy Series by Sarah Sky 

I've read both of the books in this series now and I am absolutely in love with them. Jessica is an awesome character and is a strong character both in that she has a good personality and that she literally kicks ass. Both her modelling and her spying seem believable (as much as any other teen spy books do anyway) as she has family connections to both.

If you like spy books or anything with strong action-y heroines then this is a great series.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Okay so I know that everyone is going on about this book, but I wanted to add my own voice to the mix, because it really is an excellent book. It's great for showing the voice of Transgender. But if you want to know more about that go and read someone else's blog, because I only have a little bit of space here and I want to talk about the bullying in the blog. The portrayal of bullying in this book was so good that it made me angry. Because of how the teachers react to it. 

There are so many reasons to read this book. I may have to do a proper review of it later. 

A Dream of Lights by Kerry Drewery

This book shook me up. It is not a read for people who aren't looking for something a little dark, but for those who like books like that (like me!) it is a must read. It frightened me most because it read so much like a dystopia. Except it isn't a dystopia. It's a book about North Korea. And I think that is the most terrifying thing of all. 

There is also a lot of beautiful writing and an excellent plot. 

So there are some of the UKYA books I've really loved lately. What about you? Have you been reading UK authors lately? Feel free to post some of your favourites in the comments.