The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

Pages: 400 

Publisher: Harper Voyager 

Released: 8th of June 2023 

In the second installment of Juno Dawson's "irresistable" fantasy trilogy (Lana Harper), a group of childhood friends and witches must choose between what is right and what is easy if they have any hope of keeping their coven--and their world--from tearing apart forever.

Niamh Kelly is dead. Her troubled twin, Ciara, now masquerades as the benevolent witch as Her Majesty's Royal Coven prepares to crown her High Preistess.

Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can't remember what she's done--but if she wants to survive, she must fool Niamh's adopted family and friends; the coven; and the murky Shadow Cabinet--a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.

On the other end of the continent, Leonie Jackman is in search of Hale, rumored to be seeking a dark object of ultimate power somehow connected to the upper echelons of the British government. If the witches can't figure out Hale's machinations, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger--along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.

Sharp, funny, provocative, and joyous, Juno Dawson's sequel reimagines everything you think you knew about her coven and her witches in a story that spans continents and dives deep into the roots of England and its witchcraft. Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo are fierce, angry, sexy, warm--and absolutely unapologetic as they fight for what they believe in, all in the name of sisterhood.

What I Have to Say 

I wasn't sure going in how this book would be as I really loved Niamh in the first book. But I actually warmed to Ciara really quickly considering she was a murderer who made deals with demons. Actually it was really interesting the way that Dawson dealt with all her characters in this book. It showed people as not really good or bad, but that they made choices that were good or bad. Ciara definitely made some bad choices and I certainly wouldn't trust her with anything (especially Theo) but I  really grew to understand her and why she made those choices and began to believe that she could make better ones. 

Theo is my favourite character and I would die for her. Her friendship with Holly is wonderful and adds to the themes of friendship and sisterhood that are abundant in these books. It was interesting to see them changing and developing especially with the things that happen during this book. 

That ending though. If you don't like books ending on cliffhangers, you definitely need to wait until the next book comes out before you read this one. The ending was killer and I need the next book right this second. My advice is to get all three books when the next one comes out, put them in a pile beside your favourite reading chair and devour them all in one go. 

5 stars 

My thanks goes to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Hokey Pokey by Kate Mascarenhas

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Apollo 

Released: 8th of June 2023 

A grand hotel, a famous opera star and a psychoanalyst with a hidden agenda. Kate Mascarenhas's third novel offers her readers a glamorous, thrilling ride through murder, madness and the darkest recesses of the mind.

February, 1929. The Regent Hotel in Birmingham is a place of deception and glamour. Behind its six-storeyed façade, guests sip absinthe cocktails on velvet banquettes, spying on their surroundings in the gilt mirrors and perfectly polished tableware, while the hotel's red-jacketed staff scurry through its lavish corridors to ensure the finest service is always at hand.

In the early evening, a psychoanalyst checks in under a Nora Dickinson. Nora is young, diligent and ambitious. Though she doesn't see herself as a liar, she is travelling with an agenda. Having followed the famous opera singer, Berenice Oxbow, from Zurich to Birmingham, she's determined not to let her out of her sight.

But when a terrible snow storm isolates the hotel – and its guests – from the outside world, the lines between nightmare and reality begin to blur and Nora will find herself face to face with a past she thought she had long left behind...

What I Have to Say 

So this novel started out with the glitz and glamour of the nineteen thirties, it set up the premise of a fun historical thriller and then turned into a fantasy novel? It leaves a lot of mystery as to whether the fantasy stuff is in the main character's head for a while, but it was definitely more fantasy than thriller. I like fantasy novels, I review a lot of them, but having such a bait and switch be pulled on me was more than a bit disconcerting. 

The ending was also too easy. It set up big stakes and then just fixed it with barely any effort taken. It was a real let down, but I was glad I wasn't really into the book because it would have fallen really flat for me. 

And honestly it was all a bit weird. The fantasy stuff was only the start. It unsettled me and put me off reading a lot. I liked the sapphic relationship, but everything else was just really odd. This is certainly not a book I would read again. 

3 stars 

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

The Thing About Lemons by Tasha Harrison

Pages: 320 

Publisher: UCLan Publishing

Released: 1st of June 2023 

Ori Reynolds has just made the biggest mistake of her life. One that’s resulted in:

1) losing all but one of her friends,

2) feeling like the World’s Most Terrible Person,

and

3) having all her fun summer plans cancelled.

And, as if things couldn’t get any worse, she now has no choice but to go on a road trip with her estranged grandad Claude to his home in the French countryside.

Talk about life giving you lemons!

However, while Ori scoffs at her mum’s suggestion to “make lemonade”, her sour situation is about to turn significantly sweeter than she could ever have imagined…

What I Have to Say 

I tried to read this book with an open heart, because people make mistakes and it can be hard to move on from. Love is complicated and falling in love with the wrong person can be really difficult. But even though she didn't intend to kiss him, Ori was scheming to "get to know Jackson better" behind her friend's back. The fact that this led to cheating, was really not surprising. (This is all on page one, by the way.) 

So after not warming to Ori at all, she spent most of the book wallowing in her teenage drama. I read a lot of YA, so I don't use the term "teenage drama" lightly. This was just too much angst and self-pity for me. And then she very quickly moves on to the next boy she decides to have a crush on, after deciding really quickly that Jackson is not for her. I just felt if he was so easy to move on from, why did she kiss him in the first place?! 

So yeah, to say this book wasn't for me was a massive understatement. I just did not get on with it at all and would advise other people to stay away unless you can get really into teen drama. 

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

Until the Road Ends by Phil Earle

Pages: 240 

Publisher: Andersen Press 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

Until the Road Ends is the eagerly awaited new novel from the bestselling author of When the Sky The Times Children's Book of the Year, winner of a Books Are My Bag Readers Award, the British Book Award for Children’s Fiction and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

When Peggy saves a stray dog from near-death, a beautiful friendship begins. Peggy and Beau are the only thing that can ever come between them is war. Peggy is evacuated to the safety of the coast, but Beau is left behind in the city, where he becomes the most extraordinary and unlikely of war heroes.

Night after night, as bombs rain down and communities are destroyed, Beau searches the streets, saving countless families. But then disaster strikes, changing Peggy’s life forever. With her parents killed, both she and Beau are left alone, hundreds of miles apart. But Beau has a plan to reunite them at long last . . .

TW: Grief, Parent Death, Animal Death, Animal Euthanasia, mentions of animal neglect and abuse 

What I Have to Say 

This book was so sad, but it had an incredibly heartwarming story at it's heart. As a Homeward Bound loving kid, this definitely hit the spot. Though the start of the war is a bit tough as there is mentions of people taking their healthy pets to be put down and there are mention of abuse in both the dog and the cat's pasts, the  overall message is one of love between humans and animals. 

At the start it was a bit slow, but once it warmed up, it was a really entertaining read. My only hesitation about it was how eager to be a soldier the pigeon was. It came off a bit pro-war and wasn't really argued against until nearer the end. It made me a bit uncomfortable. 

The emotion was done well in this book. I loved the little historical touches like the cinema owner who took in pets abandoned by the war. 

If you're buying this for a kid you know, be cautious that they won't be sensitive to the animal abuse and death, but otherwise I would very much recommend it. 

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

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

Pages: 385 

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

Open the door to a spellbinding world where the wilderness is alive and a deep magic rises from the earth itself . . .

Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it’s up to her to find Ma―but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth.

So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes―she has stepped out of the city and into another world.

This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy’s mother.

And someone wants to destroy it.

Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a cat with an attitude to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world . . . and save the Greenwild itself.

What I Have to Say 

This is a great eco-focused book for children who love plants and nature! I really enjoyed meeting the botanists and exploring their world. I loved how there was some range in their powers as one of the characters has a power over animals instead of plants! 

I felt that this book was more of a set up than anything else. It was about discovering the world and learning about magic rather than fighting the evil characters, though there were some of that too! It was really good how everything was connected and fell into place at the end. 

I feel like this could be a good book to give children a respect for nature, if they come across it themselves, but it could feel pushed on them if handled badly. Better buy it for a child who already has an interest in plants and animals. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

Shanghai Immortal by A. Y Chao

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

This richly told adult fantasy debut teems with Chinese deities and demons cavorting in jazz age Shanghai.

Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King’s ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper – with varying levels of success.

So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all.

With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai. But when her hijinks put the mortal in danger, she must decide which is more important: avenging her loss of face, or letting go of her half-empty approach to life for a chance to experience tenderness – and maybe even love.

What I Have to Say 

I loved the vibrant setting and the Chinese concept of the afterlife, but the character was so, so annoying. The character was meant to be approaching adulthood at 100 years of age, but half the time she acted like a five year old. It was a relief during the times when she actually decided to be responsible for stuff because we got a break from the brattiness. 

Despite that though, I really enjoyed the book. The setting was just really interesting and I was invested in seeing how everything worked. I loved the idea of the roosters coming into hell because it was popular to burn paper roosters for the dead so that hell was just infested with wild roosters. That really spoke to me. 

I enjoyed the stuff in the mortal world as well. It was nice to see Jing away from the pettiness of the court so that she could just relax and be herself. It didn't get rid of all of the brattiness, but it did help a lot. 

Read for Chinese culture and traditions and a really interesting world. 

4 stars 

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

 

Vivi Conway and the Sword of Legend by Lizzie Huxley- Jones

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Knights Of 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

“The problem with growing up listening to bedtime stories about monsters, magic and myth is that you don’t really question it when a lake summons you…”

The lake has been calling to twelve-year-old Vivi Conway. On the day she and her Mams will move from Wales to London, she sneaks out to investigate what is calling her there. Instead of a quiet swim, she finds Excalibur (much smaller than she expected), a ferocious monster (much scarier in real life than in her mythology books), a new friend (which she doesn’t want at all) called Dara and a ghostly dog named Gelert (who can talk).

Gelert insists that Vivi is part of a magical group of children who share the souls of witches from legend and must protect the world from being taken over by the evil King Arawn of the Otherworld. Oh, and now she can magically control water. With a little extra help from spiky Stevie and sweet-hearted Chia, Vivi must come to terms with her magical destiny and be brave enough to embrace true friendship.

The first book in a fantastical series that combines a quest for magic and friendship with Welsh mythology and a pinch of science, all within a contemporary setting.

What I Have to Say 

This book is everything to me. It is an adventure perfect for the little child I was! Vivi is a great heroine and I feel really represented by her, but I also love all the other characters too, I really liked the diversity! Gelert was my favourite though because who doesn't love a grumpy talking ghost dog? 

I was really interested in the Welsh mythology. I love mythology stories and I didn't know much about the legends in this book. Arthur, Excalibur and the lady in the lake are naturally familiar to me, but I don't know a lot of the other characters who are featured. I also didn't know some of the creatures in the book and it was fun to see something new! 

Honestly reading Hux's books are like wrapping up in a warm blanket. They're so cosy and comforting. I'm a really big fan of their writing. I can't wait for the next book in the series. 

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