The Sentence by Christina Dalcher

Pages: 336 

Publisher: HQ 

Released: 17th of August 2023 

A law intended to end capital punishment.

Prosecutors who seek the death penalty put their lives on the line if the guilty are later found innocent.

A lawyer convinced beyond reasonable doubt.

Justine Boucher is presented with overwhelming evidence in a brutal murder case. Her request for execution is granted.

But what if she’s wrong?

What I Have to Say 

I'd forgotten quite how good Christina Dalcher's books are. The Sentence was well written with well presented arguments and very much intended to make you think. It was interesting to me how a book that so staunchly anti- capital punishment, also looked at the arguments for it.  

This book is dark. I would definitely say don't read it if you're at all squeamish about certain crimes because some bits of the book go into detail about heinous crime. Let's just say, I was really glad I was reading a fictional book about fictional people at some points and while I know that there are real crimes that are just as horrible, I can avoid reading them. 

The ending of the book was understandable. I could see how she was going to end it a few pages before the end and while it frustrated me endlessly, I don't think she could have ended it any other way. It was an ending that suited the book, even if not one that entirely satisfies the reader. 

I'm really glad I had the chance to review this book as I enjoyed reading it immensely and it reminded me how much I originally enjoyed the previous book of hers that I reviewed. 

5 stars 

My thanks go to HQ and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

Death at the Party by Amy Stuart

Pages: 400 

Publisher: Penguin 

Released: 3rd of August 2023 

THE PLANNING TOOK MONTHS. THE MURDER JUST MOMENTS . . .

Nadine Walsh is determined to make her summer garden party the event of the year.

Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they've had. A chance to forget.

As she prepares to welcome her guests, however, Nadine can't help but be distracted. Her husband is of little help to her. Her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns.

But it's Nadine's own secrets that threaten to destroy her perfect party.

By the end of the night, Nadine will be standing over a dead body in the basement.

But which of her guests will she have murdered? And why?

What I Have to Say 

I don't think there was a single character I liked in this book. Maybe the daughter or the niece, but they didn't get a lot of screen time and I'm sure if they had, I would have hated them too. 

I didn't warm to Nadine at all. She seemed to hate and judge all of her neighbours, even the one she was having the affair with and that just set off on a bad foot to me. Then the story was massively predictable. It didn't really matter to me which neighbour she killed because all the ones it seemed likely to be were very interchangeable. 

Honestly I was just bored through most of this book. There was no tension there, not much desire to know more. I'm giving it three stars because it wasn't badly written, but I didn't enjoy it very much. 

3 stars 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

High Rise Mystery by Sharna Jackson

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Knights Of Media 

Released: 4th of April 2019 

The detective duo everyone is dying to meet! 

Summer in London is hot, the hottest on record, and there's been a murder in THE TRI: the high-rise home to resident know-it-alls, Nik and Norva. Who better to solve the case? Armed with curiosity, home-turf knowledge and unlimited time - until the end of the summer holidays anyway. 

What I Have to Say 

While bringing a beautifully teenage feel to the genre, Jackson created two great characters and a fantastic community that I can tell will create great mysteries to future books. I loved how real the Nik and Norva felt, utilising smart phones for everything. Because why would a modern day teenager have a case book and write everything down when they can just reach for their smart phone and have a document they can edit and update whenever they need? The way that current teen culture was used in this way (and others!) just made it feel really authentic. 

I loved the relationship between Nik and Norva as well. Jackson did well to show how sisters really are, a complex relationship where they love and hate each in equal measures. I really liked the way they bickered and fell out, teased and needled one another but at the end they were there for each other all the time. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more from the Tri and it's inhabitants in the rest of the series. It's looking like a really great addition to the middle-grade crime genre. 

The Great Animal Escapade by Jane Kerr

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Publisher: Chicken House Books
Released: 7th March 2019 

Other Books in the Series: The Elephant Thief (though this book can stand alone) 

Danny works at Belle Vue Zoo, where – alongside training the famous elephant Maharajah – he helps out with the day-to-day tasks of caring for the animals. But when animals start escaping, Danny is the prime suspect: after all, he was a former street urchin and pickpocket. When a man turns up claiming to be his father, the plot thickens. Can Danny untangle the mystery of the animal escapade – and find out where he really belongs – in order to clear his name?

With themes of prejudice, identity and belonging, this new adventure will thrill young readers as they follow Danny on his next adventure set within the walls of Belle Vue Zoo in the late 1900s.

What I Have to Say 

This book has everything. Elephants, villains, diversity, runaway emus, fireworks, danger and mystery. It creates a great world inside Belle Vue with a wonderful cast of characters both human and animal! 

Though it glossed over the harsh conditions that many zoos at the time kept their animals in, it addressed some of the debates over zoo and other animal parks both within the story and in an author's note at the end of the book. I liked to see how Kerr balanced this line between hiding the unpleasantaries of the time period and showing her version of Belle Vue as being on the forefront of animal rights. Showing animals like Emerald, who are the last of their kind being protected in the zoo and their policy of looking after the animals and setting up education about the animal world was a great way to introduce these things to kids without plunging them into the horrific sides that the issue has shown in both the old Victorian zoos and the modern day animal parks. 

I liked the personal struggles between Danny and his family as well. It showed a lot of the tension that can come between children and their adopted families, especially when, in Danny's case, there was the fact that his father was using him (in the guise of the Indian Prince Dandip a character created to help publicise the zoo), to help his enterprise along. I felt they dealt with it very well, showing Danny's feelings on the issues quite clearly and touchingly. 

This was a great story and a really good mystery. I loved everything about it and it made me really want to go back and read the Elephant Thief! 

 

My thanks got to Chicken House for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Agatha Oddly: Murder at the Museum by Lena Jones

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books 

Released: 7th March 2019 

A second mystery for thirteen-year-old Agatha Oddly – a bold, determined heroine, and the star of this stylish new detective series.

Agatha Oddlow’s set to become the youngest member of the Gatekeepers’ Guild, but before that, she’s got a mystery to solve!

There’s been a murder at the British Museum and, although the police are investigating, Agatha suspects that they’re missing a wider plot going on below London – a plot involving a disused Tube station, a huge fireworks display, and five thousand tonnes of gold bullion… 

What I Have to Say 

A lovely new voice to the MG detective scene! Though this was the second in the series, it still gave a really nice introduction to the characters. I don't normally like coming into a series on the second book, but this one just really worked for me. I might go back and read the first book at some point, but there was enough detail in the book to catch me up with what happened. 

I loved Agatha's character a lot. I loved how she liked fashion and looking good alongside codebreaking and investigating. Often girls who are active and adventurous in children's book are made into tomboys and are given less feminine-attributes so it was really good to see that Agatha was allowed to be feminine alongside her dectectiving. I also loved her friend Brianna who was more of a sciencey-girl and helped Agatha out with the science side of her investigations. I loved her style too. I'm not sure what she was like in the first book, because I know she was a popular girl in the Chic Clique , but in this book she was awesome. 

I also really liked how detailed it went into Agatha's code breaking when she was working through the tests for the Gatekeeper's Guild. It made me really want to learn how to code break and send secret messages for my friends. 

This is definitely a book for any fan of MG detective so if you have a murder-mystery obsessed kid or just want to investigate Agatha's world yourself, go pick up this book or the first in the series! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with this free copy for review. 

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Harper Collins 

Released: 3rd of December 2018 (Kindle only, paper release 24th of January 2019)

EVERYONE’S INVITED. 

EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT.

Bristling with tension, bitter rivalries, and toxic friendships, get ready for the most hotly-anticipated thriller of 2019.

In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.

The beautiful one

The golden couple

The volatile one

The new parents

The quiet one

The city boy

The outsider

The victim.

Not an accident – a murder among friends.

What I Have to Say 

The ending ruined this book to me. The reveal of the murder. Because the author took the same way out that tons of other crime writers do to explain why this person did the things they did. So, SPOILERS FOR MOTIVE OF MURDER BUT NOT THE ACTUAL KILLER: surprise surprise, it was a personality disorder, because why else would someone kill someone? If there were more books about people with personality disorders living healthy lives without being cast as the villain every time, this wouldn't be so big of an issue. The fact is there are people living out in the world with these issues. And every time they see themselves in fictions they are the twist in a crime novel. The world is sending them a message to say that they are destined to kill someone and THAT IS NOT OKAY. 

Until that, I really liked the book. I'm really upset with how that one bit of the book ruined the rest of it for me. Because the plot was really engrossing. The characters were engaging and completely dis-likeable in the way that some plots work with dislikeable characters and the setting was beautifully written. I loved the feeling of beauty all around that was created at the start of the book and the way it changed to an isolated, desolated landscape as the storm hit. 

I wish I could recommend this book, because it really kept me reading and enjoying it for most of the book, but I know the damage it does to people with personality disorders, so I just can't. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with this copy for review. 

Codename Villanelle and No Tomorrow by Luke Jennings

Codename Villanelle 

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 224 

Publisher: John Murray 

Released: 26th of June 2017 

She is the perfect assassin.

A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.

Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.

Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to.

She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness.

Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.

Until stopping a ruthless assassin becomes more than her job. It becomes personal.

Originally published as ebook singles: Codename Villanelle , Hollowpoint , Shanghai and Odessa. 

No Tomorrow 

Pages: 256 

Publisher: John Murray 

Released:  28th of November 2018

In a hotel room in Venice, where she's just completed a routine assassination, Villanelle receives a late-night call.

Eve Polastri has discovered that a senior MI5 officer is in the pay of the Twelve, and is about to debrief him. As Eve interrogates her subject, desperately trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, Villanelle moves in for the kill.

The duel between the two women intensifies, as does their mutual obsession, and when the action moves from the high passes of the Tyrol to the heart of Russia, Eve finally begins to unwrap the enigma of her adversary's true identity.

What I Have to Say 

I really enjoyed Killing Eve, the series on the BBC, so when I saw the books, I thought I'd give them to read. It wasn't as good as the series, the writing was a little clunky and the plot was quite long and drawn out (which is more understandable now that I know it was a series of eBooks), I think that the way that they changed it for TV was better. It did however make much more sense in the books when they went to Shanghai. I'm not sure why they changed it to Germany in the series. 

I did like having more details about the characters. Villanelle got a lot more background and detail in Codename Villanelle and it was so cool to see more about her life and the way she became an assassin. In the second book it was Nico who I loved to see more from. In series he was kind of in the background being there and getting annoyed at Eve's growing obsession with Villanelle. But in the book he was funny and quirky. He was so sweet and he had goats. It was worth reading for the antics of the goats. 

The other thing that I liked better in the book was the ending. It was so different from the series and it was far more satisfying. 

I think it was worth reading, but I was off-put by a lot of the sex and the gritty stuff that wasn't really needed. Villanelle was unecessarily crass in some scenes and it just wasn't my thing. I also felt that telling everything about Villanelle's identity in the first few paragraphs took away all the mystery and suspense. The series kept a lot of surprises so it kept you watching and guessing. The book was very lacking in this respect. 

If you loved the series though and want to see more behind the characters and the parts of their personality that had to be dropped for the series, then it's worth reading, but perhaps not if you're not into grimy, gritty crime. 

My thanks go to John Murray and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review.

Blog Tour: An Excerpt from The Curious Case by Julia Golding

Happy Sunday, I'm here to share with you an excerpt from The Curious Crime, a thrilling new middle grade series from award-winning children's author, Julia Golding. The series looks into an alternative timeline in the Victorian era, picturing a world where women are banned from practising science and religion of any kind is outlawed. 

Released on the 7th of November, this fantastic new series is the perfect way to get children to look at science and the rights of minorities in a new way while following Ree and Henri and their menagerie of animal friends on their adventures, for a few synopsis click here!

Chapter One: 

 Of Dodos and Men 

There was a creature trapped in the rock.

Ree ran her fingers over the capital stone, feeling for the shape that lay just under the surface. A fin like a shark. Spindly hind legs like a frog. A beast that inhabited two worlds, walking out of the water to colonize land. Her desire to release it burned in her chest as she took up her chisel. She loved this moment just before she began to carve her picture. 

But what were the eyes like? The museum fossils gave no clues. Perched on the scaffolding, Ree looked beneath her at the display case covered with a sheet. Scuffing at a corner with the toe of her boot, she pushed the cotton aside. Exactly as she remembered, the stuffed turtle gazed mournfully up at her. Eyes like that would be perfect for the creature she was carving, she thought, imagining it leaving the tropical sea for the last time.

The dodo perched on the scaffold next to Ree croaked and deposited a dropping on the planks. “Philoponus, behave,” murmured Ree, picking up her mallet, “or do I have to put you back in your pen?”

Her friend, the last known of the species, made a deep grumble before he pecked up a fragment of stone she had already chiselled off. He hated it when she stopped paying full attention to him and concentrated on her craft. “Are you sure you should be eating that?” She asked absent-mindedly. Phil stretched his neck, his long broad beak with its hooked end pointing at the vaulted glass ceiling. He shook himself. Downy grey feather flew. 

Ree sneezed. “Idiotic overgrown pigeon. Look, I’ve got to work and you know it.” Setting the wooden handle of the chisel in her palm, she raised the mallet and gave a tap on the well-worn end. The blade cut into the sandstone, releasing a trickle of dust. Her fingertips caressed the gritty surface, wiping it clean. Her father had taught her that each block she worked already had its own ideas about what it should become. She had to ease the picture out, not force it against its will.

The boards creaked as her father, the foreman of the works, approached. A stocky man, nose bent on the bridge, he moved with the even pace of one who knew things should not be rushed. His knees clicked as he crouched beside his daughter.

“How is your project coming along, Ree?” 

She took a swig from her water bottle to clear her throat. “Good, Da. I’ve decided to do the animals moving out of the water onto land – you know, like the guides tell visitors?”

“That’s grand.” James Altamira scratched Philoponus’ neck, causing the bird to shiver with delight and lean heavily on the chief stonemason. The dodo really was the most affectionate, if attention-seeking, creature. “But keep your hat on right and tight, darlin’. Lord John and the trustees are making a surprise inspection sometime this week.” 

With a sigh, Ree picked up her cap and pulled it down over her ears, tucking her plaits inside. She wanted to cut her hair short but her father insisted she keep it long, ready for the day when she would have to go back to wearing women’s clothes. It was a dickens of a pain though because the dodo thought it was funny to pluck off the cap when she least expected. The dangerous joke had grown very tired. She had given up wearing the cap this morning, trusting that her high position would keep her hidden. 

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned Phil, recognising the look in his pale eyes, black pupils dilated. Most people would mistake the expression as wide-eyed innocence. She knew it to be mischief. “You’ll get me into hot water.”

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 18th of October 2018 

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. 

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it. 

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.

Trigger Warnings: Animal Death, rehab, hoarding, sacrificial style murder 

What I Have to Say 

This book was intense. I loved everything about it from the prologue to that ending (that ending! Okay I'm also a little furious about that ending. But it was completely perfect.) The story was so intriguing, knowing virtually nothing about the suspects except who didn't do it (though maybe they did and it's all just a ruse to make you sure that it's not them?). 

I think seeing how the people who have been accused or arrested, but not convicted of a crime, are treated is a new favourite thing to read about in crime novels. It's so awful how people just assume that person is guilty from the moment they're arrested, despite the mistakes that police can make and it's such an interesting thing to show. These two girls have gone through so much harassment and worse at the hands of a community that is so sure that they're guilty; the way they've suffered and found their own ways of escape for five years, it's emotional but so fascinating to read.  It just makes it so interesting to see a story start from there and work through them trying to prove their innocence. 

I loved the excerpts of Lovelorn and the fanfiction that the girls wrote as well. Especially as it was so integral to the plot. It was great hunting for details in every excerpt to try and work out whether it was important. The only thing I'd say that was not so great about this book was how gory some of it was. 

Honestly, if you're still unsure about whether to read this book, read the prologue. It left me breathless with excitement for the rest of the book. 

My thanks go to Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 320

Publisher: Harper Collins 

Released: 6th of September 2018 

Welcome back to New York, 2119. A skyscraper city, fueled by impossible dreams, where the lives of five teenagers have become intertwined in ways that no one could have imagined.

Leda just wants to move on from what happened in Dubai. Until a new investigation forces her to seek help—from the person she’s spent all year trying to forget.

Rylin is back in her old life, reunited with an old flame. But when she starts seeing Cord again, she finds herself torn: between two worlds, and two very different boys.

Calliope feels trapped, playing a long con that costs more than she bargained for. What happens when all her lies catch up with her?

Watt is still desperately in love with Leda. He’ll do anything to win her back—even dig up secrets that are better left buried.

And now that Avery is home from England—with a new boyfriend, Max—her life seems more picture-perfect than ever. So why does she feel like she would rather be anything but perfect?

In this breathtaking finale to The Thousandth Floor trilogy, Katharine McGee returns to her vision of 22nd-century New York: a world of startling glamour, dazzling technology, and unthinkable secrets. After all, when you have everything… you have everything to lose.

What I Have to Say 

I am really going to miss these teens and their drama. It was a really great conclusion. It wrapped up everything despite all the tangled mess of the whole thing. I'm still just not a fan of Avery and Atlas, but I loved Avery's ending otherwise. I've always been interested in her story of fame and perfection and how trapped she was by being Avery Fuller, so it was really nice that there was a resolution for that and not just the relationship with Atlas. I loved her so much better in Oxford with Max, but I didn't expect much to come from that, so I'm not that disappointed. I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. 

The same can be said of the other characters. They all had really good conclusions, getting things that they wanted but also making sacrifices. I especially liked Watt's ending, I'd really like to see a sequel about him and how he copes with what happened at the end of the book. 

The ending itself was a roller-coaster. Through all the books there've been shocking twists and turns and new things to throw things into chaos, and this book definitely delivered exactly what I've come to expect from Katharine McGee, something completely unexpected! 

I really do think this was a fantastic series, despite the incest. A fantastic murder mystery series in such a unique setting. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with this copy for review. 

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Curse by Sam Hearn

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 160 

Publisher: Scholastic Fiction 

Released: 2nd of August 2018 

Welcome to Baker Street Academy, where there's always a mystery to be solved! Luckily Sherlock Holmes is on the case, with his friends John Watson and Martha Hudson. Told through Watson's diary, with energetic comic-strip illustrations, this introduction to Arthur Conan Doyle's classic characters will have every young super-sleuth hooked!

What I Have to Say 

A fantastic introduction to the Sherlock Holmes characters for any young reader. This book was an amazing blend of comic strip type illustrations, prose, emails, and so much more! It showcased so many different ways that there are to tell a story, but still with the classic voice of John Watson threaded through to tell the story in his diary as a nod to the original books. 

This is the second book so I was coming in after not reading the first adventure. There were a lot of references to it, including Moriarty being in Switzerland sending ominous, vaguely threatening postcards, which were wonderful and hilarious. So I do think that reading them in order is a good idea, but it didn't put me off too much, so it's not essential.

The story itself was really clever. I figured it out pretty quickly, but I think that is more about the fact that I'm a grown up who's read a lot of mysteries, including a few of the original Holmes books, so I feel that when I was younger I wouldn't have found the twist so obvious, because it is a good twist! Just a little overdone in Sherlock Holmes re-imaginings.

This is definitely a book for a young budding detective!

My thanks go to Scholastic for providing me with this copy for review. 

Killer T by Robert Muchamore

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 377

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 6th of September 2018 

Our world is about to change in ways we can barely imagine. KILLER T is a novel about growing up in that world. 

Harry and Charlie are teenagers whose lives are shaped by a society that's shifting around them. He is a lonely Brit in his first term at a Las Vegas high school. She is an unlikely friend, who gets accused of mixing a batch of explosives that blew up a football player.

The two of them are drawn together at a time when gene editing technology is starting to explode. With a lab in the garage anyone can beat cancer, enhance their brain to pass exams, or tweak a few genes for that year-round tan and perfect beach body. But in the wrong hands, cheap gene editing is the most deadly weapon in history. Killer T is a synthetic virus with a ninety per-cent mortality rate, and the terrorists who created it want a billion dollars before they'll release a vaccine.

What I Have to Say 

It took me so, so long to get into this. For a start, it started years before the actual plot came together and had, I think, about four or five time skips? I lost count by the end of the book. It makes sense when you look at it as a whole and realise that it's showing the rise of gene editing, but most of the time while I was reading it, I was bored. It would have been better if it had at least been started after Charlie got out of prison, I think. 

I liked Charlie quite a bit, but I honestly completely hated Harry. He was fairly okay at the start, but as time went on he just became more and more of a prick. I hate how he treated Charlie so much when he didn't even tell her that he liked her. Charlie deserved so much better than him. 

The world was really interesting, especially after the epidemic, seeing the world slowly rebuilding itself and putting together more protections for the next epidemic. I have to say, I did like a lot how it ended and how Charlie ended up. 

I think it was worth reading, but I really, really wish it had been shorter. I think a lot of stuff could have been cut out while still showing a nice overall picture of the rise of gene editing and Charlie and Harry's life. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 459

Publisher: HQ Young Adult 

Released: 17th of May 2018 

Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…

and secrets hide in every shadow.

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.

Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems. 

Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…

And she’ll need to play.

Trigger Warnings: Gambling, mentions of drug use and prostitution. 

What I Have to Say 

Though this didn't stick out as much as some of the other books that have similar topics and themes, I did thoroughly enjoy the story. Levi and Enne were fantastic characters. I loved Enne so much, the mystery surrounding her, the way she got to grips with the City of Sin so quickly despite being so naive when she firsts arrives. 

Although I took to Levi at first, it really really was Enne who stole the book for me. I can't wait to find out more about her and what she does next. 

The plot also was thrilling. It gripped me pretty quickly and drew me straight into the city, seeing it through Enne's eyes was the perfect way to get to grips with it quickly. It was so immersive and a joy to read. 

There are so many of books about sin and debauchery around at the moment. The seedy underbelly of Fantasy worlds being explored and enjoyed and this is definitely a good addition to the genre. 

My thanks go to HQ and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Released: 5th of September 2017 

The story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.

Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete. 

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. 

A bad romance, or maybe three.

Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains. 

A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.

A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

What I Have to Say 

This book caught me and kept me hooked from the first sentence, but it was a little difficult to get my head around the backwards storytelling at first, but after I'd gotten used to it, it was really great to see how each event had been triggered by the one before it. It was a very different way of storytelling but a very interesting one. 

Jules was a very interesting character. It was both hard to get to know her and very, very easy because there were some things that were very true to her, such as the superheros and the way she picked up on things so easily and could memories things so quickly. And other things that seem like a part of her but that she has lied about completely. 

This is definitely one of these books that I sped through, not wanting to put it down and am now regretting it because it's over. If you're looking for something compelling and intriguing that will keep you reading then this is the perfect book. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens 

Released: 7th of September 2017 

'They think I hurt someone. 

But I didn't. You hear?

Coz people are gonna be telling you

all kinds of lies.

I need you to know the truth.'

Joe hasn't seen his brother for ten years, and it's for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row.

But now Ed's execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think ...

What I Have to Say 

This one took me a while to get into. At first the characters didn't seem that likable and the story progressed really slowly. But as I got into it and it was getting closer to the execution date, it got more gripping. 

I really liked Joe as a character as the novel went on. He was so faithful to Ed and seemed to really care about his family even though they didn't really seem to treat him well. He spent so much money to go to Texas and see his brother who he hadn't really seen since he was really young and so only had vague memories of. He was willing to stay in Texas even though he was barely scraping by enough to eat. 

I still like the poetry-ish feel of the book, but it isn't as exciting as it was in One. It was new and unique then, but now it's a little less new. It's still cool and easy to read though. 

My thanks go to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for providing me with a copy for review. 

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 308 

Publisher: HQ

Released: 25th of July 2017 

Reality is in the eye of the beholder…

Even among the many unusual members of the travelling circus that has always been her home sixteen year old Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years.

This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all of their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival's Freak Show.

But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that—illusions, and not truly real.

Or so she always believed…until one of them is murdered.

Now she must unravel the horrifying truth before all her loved ones disappear.

What I Have to Say 

This is my new favourite world. I was so sad to leave it. Both Gomorrah and the cities it was travelling through were so well built. The tension outside of Gomorrah with the people against Gomorrah and the people who reside within it made such an exciting background to such a personal story of family and loyalty. 

The illusions were wonderful. I loved the way that Sorina's family were introduced and how the illusions were all introduced through the performance. The emotions within their family quickly got intense after they started to be murdered. Aside from the rather creepy drawings throughout depicting how the murderer was planning to kill them, which were really unnerving but added nicely to the atmosphere of the book. 

Though I guessed the ending, it didn't feel predictable at all. It was such a brilliant plot, woven beautifully to create a creepy wonderful murder mystery. 

My thanks go to HQ and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review 

Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 336

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Released: 24th of August 2017 

Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl.

A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist - but Cara's fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.

Cara doesn't know what to trust: everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?

What I Have to Say 

I've enjoyed Sophie Hannah's books before and this one wasn't an exception. She built up the mystery so well from the very start, not only what happened to Melody Chapa, but also what happened to Cara at home, why was she running away? There were so many different things to be intrigued by that it kept you reading, interested in what would happen next. 

The Melody Chapa stuff was really interesting. Obviously as the main theme of the book, it was really prominent. It was funny to see the other characters in the book and how they were all drawn up into the mystery of whether the girl in the hotel room was Melody Chapa. I really liked the side characters in this book, possibly more than Cara herself. 

The mysteries around Cara were really interesting at first, but I was unsure about the character. She seemed a bit timid and suggestible, a housewife who suddenly had the thrill of independence, booking her secret holiday and running away from her family. It was good to see her grow over the course of the novel and change into someone more secure with voicing her own opinions. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review. 

Another Place by Matthew Crow

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304

Publisher: Atom
Released: 3rd of August 2017 

A small town. A missing schoolgirl. A terrible secret. And one girl's fight to survive.

Sixteen-year-old Claudette Flint is coming home from hospital after an escalating depression left her unable to cope. Released into the care of her dad, she faces the daunting task of piecing herself back together.

She may look unchanged; but everything's different. The same could be said about her seaside hometown: this close-knit community seems to be unspooling in the wake of the sudden disappearance of one of her schoolmates, Sarah.

As the police investigate and the press dig around for dirt, small town secrets start to surface - and Claudette must do everything in her power to keep her head above water. 

What I Have to Say 

Apart from a really, really accurate description of depression right at the very end of the book, this book didn't really have much of an impact on me. The story was enjoyable to read, but I didn't really have strong opinions on whether it was good or bad. It was just one of those in the middle books that was good enough to read but doesn't really go much further than that. 

I liked the main character, the depiction of her feelings felt accurate and very present throughout the book. She was easy to like, because it was obvious that she cared deeply about finding Sarah and her really bad depression periods were shown accurately but not in too much detail. Sometimes going into the nitty gritty detail of depression can be off-putting. In this book it more goes into the time lost when you're depressed. It's pictured like she just goes dark and stays in her room for days, which is exactly how it feels like when you emerge from deep depression like that. 

Really that's all I can say about this. It's obvious that a lot of thought went into this and it's got some really good descriptions of how it feels to be depressed, but as a story, I didn't find it particularly compelling. 

So if you want to understand depression, it's a great book, if you're looking for a story to get lost in you might want to pick up a different one. 

My thanks go to Atom and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Murder in D Major and Death in D Minor

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 268 

Publisher: Henery Press 

Released: 13th of September 2017 

With few other options, African-American classical musician Gethsemane Brown accepts a less-than-ideal position turning a group of rowdy schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. Stranded without luggage or money in the Irish countryside, she figures any job is better than none. The perk? Housesitting a lovely cliffside cottage. The catch? The ghost of the cottage's murdered owner haunts the place. Falsely accused of killing his wife (and himself), he begs Gethsemane to clear his name so he can rest in peace. Gethsemane's reluctant investigation provokes a dormant killer and she soon finds herself in grave danger. As Gethsemane races to prevent a deadly encore, will she uncover the truth or star in her own farewell performance?

Pages: 220

Publisher: Henery Press 

Released: 11th of July 2017 

Gethsemane Brown, African-American classical musician and expatriate to an Irish village, solved a string of murders, led a school orchestra to victory in a major competition, and got used to living with a snarky ghost. She can rest easy over the Christmas holiday. Right? Wrong. The ghost has disappeared, her landlord's about to sell her cottage to a hotel developer, and her brother-in-law is coming for a visit—with one day’s notice.

She scrambles to call her spectral roomie back from beyond and find a way to save the cottage from certain destruction. But real estate takes a backseat when her brother-in-law is accused of stealing a valuable antique. Gethsemane strikes a deal with a garda investigator to go undercover as a musician at a charity ball and snoop for evidence linking antiques to a forgery/theft ring in exchange for the investigator’s help clearing her brother-in-law. At the party, she accidentally conjures the ghost of an eighteenth-century sea captain, then ends up the prime suspect in the party host’s murder. With the captain’s help, she races to untangle a web of phony art and stolen antiques to exonerate herself and her brother-in-law. Then the killer targets her. Will she save herself and bring a thief and murderer to justice, or will her encore investigation become her swan song?

What I Have to Say 

These books were quick and easy reads, they were a wonderful cross genre between Supernatural fiction and Crime. Gethsemane was a really interesting character to read about and Eamon was just wonderful sarcastic and witty. I really missed him in the second book, even though the new ghost, the sea Captain was also really fun to read, though in different ways. 

I think I preferred the plot of the first book to the plot of the second though. I enjoyed getting to know Gethsemane's brother in law, I just didn't feel as interested in the crime. I'm not really sure why. There was plenty of tension and intrigue, but I didn't get into it. Perhaps because I liked Eamon so much. 

Both books though were thrilling, intense and well written. I loved how Irish everything was because Ireland is a place that I haven't been and really like to read about. I also really liked the fact that Gethsemane was black and American. It was nice to see Ireland through her eyes and her race really contributed to the mystery and crime in the second book.

I really like this series and will definitely keep reading it.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Henery Press for providing me with this copy for review. 

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 1st of June 2017 

Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule.

Sports star Cooper only knows what he's doing in the baseball diamond.

Bad body Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime.

Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life.

And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won't ever talk about any of them again.

He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude it's no accident. All of them are suspects.

Everyone has secrets, right?

What really matters is how far you'll go to protect them.

What I Have to Say 

A good mystery like this one was exactly what I needed right now. It had very real, believable characters who you couldn't help but like as piece by piece you got to know their real personality. I don't think there was actually one of the four that I didn't love completely by the end. The way it's written makes you feel like you know them at the start but then as they get caught up in being investigated for murder and their lives start to fall apart, it uncovers more about their personalities and you start to really know them as individuals rather than stereotypes. 

The mystery was compelling and beautifully written. I guessed the ending, but in a way that made me feel really clever rather than like it was predictable, because of the fantastic twist to the story. You've got to be able to guess the endings sometimes, or what's the point, right?   It was just perfect and exactly the answer that satisfied me immensely. 

Above all this is a story about secrets. There are so many secrets hidden in this book and it's all about what happens when they come out. I absolutely loved that idea and the way that everything changed as the plot progressed. 

This is definitely one of the most perfect contemporary mysteries I've read and I would recommend it to anyone. 

My thanks go to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review.