megsbookishtwins's reviews
1177 reviews

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

Quin has been training all her life to be a 'seeker', a purpose she believes is honorable and noble, yet when the day comes to take her oath everything she believed about being a 'seeker' was false and her world has turned upside down. Her adventure takes her across the world from Scotland to Honk Kong to There.

I'm a bit unsure of what to write in this review. For the majority of the book I was left confused and the story just didn't really seem to make any sense to me? At about 50% I started to skim read because I was just not enjoying it. While the first 10% grabbed my interest, it just went downhill from there. The majority of the book just seemed to want to keep what a Seeker is a mystery. What is a Seeker?

Spoiler

an Assassin I'm assuming

And while it hinted at it, it took far too long for them to come out with it. They did a task to swear their oath, and they ended up covered in blood and vomiting, but it took far too long to actually get told what they did. I felt like I missed pages or something because the jump from the start of the task to the end was so sudden. Ok, Quin killed people, but why? Who were they? Too many questions get answered too late in my opinion. But even so, what did Quin think a Seeker was in the first place? It wasn't suspenseful, but rather irritating.

The magic seemed to be explained poorly as well. The world building was very poor, I didn't understand the setting, was it steampunk? It seemed to be medieval, but I'm not so sure, was it actually the future? I still have no clue. All this really took away from my enjoyment of Seeker. Also, I don't really understand what the Dreads were, just mediators? But they couldn't intervene in anything?

I wasn't really fond of the characters, and I definitely did not connect with any of them. I really disliked Quin and her father's relationship. A 'obey me because I say so' type of relationship, and Quin doesn't really question that? Or stray too much from that thought. Other characters weren't impressive either, one ended up an opium addict, another turned from a love interest to Quin to the antagonist of the story. While I get his motivations, there just seemed to be little depth and he was willing to betray the ones he loved, well supposedly, so quickly. So , little depth or development for the characters which stopped me empathizing or connecting with them.

Overall, a book I wouldn't personally recommend. Poor world building, poor writing, poor plot and structure, and poor characters and development.

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

It's 1952, and one of Barcelona's wealthy socialite, Mariona Sobrerroca, is found murdered in her home. The facist government is at it's height and the police struggle to get control of the case. Ana Marti Noguer is a young journalist who jumps at the chance to cover the story. She soon gets involved too deep in the case and soon her own life is put in danger.

As many of you already know, adult fiction is usually a hit or miss for me, but The Whispering City was a pretty decent read. I must be honest, the beginning and the end were the weakest parts of this book for me, however, I raced through the middle and I was really dragged into the story and the mystery.

As a history lover, I really did love the setting and atmosphere of The Whispering City and I liked the politics which were involved and it really gave the story a sense of realism and it was quite subtle. The Whispering City also highlight gender issues in the time period. The women are seen as inferior and we see what they have to go through in terms of discrimination and how they are not taken seriously and how it agitates them.

I felt like each character was pretty complex, they some interested me while some bored me. My favourite character was Ana Marti Noguer. I liked her ambition and determination and I understood her more that Beatriz, perhaps it was an age thing though.

Overall, a decent read with a good mystery, it is such a shame I wasn't dragged in instantly and that the ending fell short of my expectations.

I absolutely love Gillian Flynn. She is a fantastic writer who always manages to creates these really messed up characters and lives with such a compelling mystery and shocking twists. Such a good book which really does give me the creeps, but fantastic nonetheless.

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

Another DNF (22%) from me, unfortunately.

Alice fell in love with a married man, now she is about to have a child out of wedlock and to save her from the shame, her family send her to the countryside to Fiercombe Manor. This house is filled with mystery.

I really do not like not finishing books, especially ones from NetGalley because I then try and review a book I haven't finished, when I have been given it for the sole purpose of reading and reviewing a pre-released book. I have so little time recently to actually sit down and read a book so that when I do and it is a book I'm not enjoying, or struggling through I feel like I'm wasting my little time I have. So I made a resolution to DNF any books I'm not enjoying.

The Girl in the Photograph is not a bad book, it is just not for me. I don't know why I keep requesting adult books, because most of the time I do not enjoy them, mainly for the simple fact that they are quite slow and the writing is usually felt rich in detail that not much can really happen in about 100 pages. At nearly 500 pages, I was already feeling like I was struggling through it at 20%.

So, while I can't really comment much on this book because, well I obviously did not really get into the mystery or the story much at all. So, it would be best to read other's review of this book to get a real sense of this book. I will reiterate my previous statement - it is not a bad book, just too wordy and slow for me. For those who like adult mysteries, especially historical fiction ones, which are slow and detailed then I'm sure those people will eat this one right up.

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

London is not the same city that we know. Parks are bombed, streets are burning, the hungry are dying and if you don't have an ID card, well, you simple don't exist. Lalla is a sixteen year old girl and she has grown up in this world. Her father has an escape plan, a ship which will fit 500 people on who have been chosen. While on board the ship, Lalla grows anxious about their destination and learns to make her own decisions.

I loved the concept of The Ship, it is original, enticing and dangerous. The beginning was strong and I thought the world building was exceptional. Even though Lalla lived a sheltered and protected life due to her upbringing and her father's role in government I still felt like she understood what was going on around her. The middle, however, was a real let down and it is the reason why The Ship is only getting 3 stars from me. Even though the synopsis said that 'Once on board, as day follows identical day', I just did not expect so much time would be put in to portray this, and that was, unfortunately a let down for me. Especially considering the ending was strong as well, and there was some great character development.

I felt like the plot was still interesting, despite the middle dragging. Her father was the leader of the Ship, but it almost felt as though he was the leader of a cult, or something similar. It was actually quite unnerving how everyone loved him, and how he considered himself to be the father of everyone. He sort of convinced everyone to choose him, and leave their past and memories of loved ones behind. I did love the fact that Lalla was so against it, how she felt like it was all madness.

I felt like most of the characters were extremely well developed, but Lalla was my favourite. She was so vulnerable and broken and she just wanted to be loved and liked. In the end though, she went down the path that she wanted to go down, despite Tom - the love interest. Tom, I personally did not like, and I did not really feel the love between the two. Perhaps that was the point? Tom doesn't really love Lalla, but more like the idea of her? The image her father has created.

I'm not sure I liked the cliffhanger. Well, I did like it, but do we get to know more? Is this just a standalone? I just don't think I particularly like the fact that there is a cliffhanger.

Overall, a good book, with some good world building and characters. Unfortunately for me, it was just too slow paced for me at times.

A really suspenseful and engrossing read and a thoroughly addictive thriller. It really does get you thinking about who did it and there are so many unanswered questions and clues and I'm really trying to put them together. Starting Get Dirty in 3, 2, 1...

I received this free from the author in exchange for an honest review

Aralias can move back in time. He is a traveller. Clara Heartwell is a widow and an archaeologist who crosses paths with Aralias when he comes to return a lost relic that was given to her. Together they work together to save his son Jack who was kidnapped by a mad who wants power over time. They are faced with many dangers along the way.

The Undays of Aralias Lyons was an OK read. It is set in the Victorian Era, with a steampunk setting with some fantasy added to it. The description was very well done and very vivid. The creatures were also very original and there was some good world building. It is obvious the author has a great imagination. The writing was good, but I did notice a few times that there were commas where there wasn't supposed to be commas, and no comma when there should have been one. It wasn't the biggest issue, but the story probably could have done with a little bit more editing.

The characters, to me, were not that memorable. I didn't really connect to any of them and that is why I am only giving a 3 star rating. I was not bothered at all what happened to the characters, which is unfortunate. If the characters impacted me more then I probably would have enjoyed The Undays of Aralias Lyons more considering there was a lot of the story which was character driven, and a lot of scenes where Aralias and Clara were just bickering.

The story itself was good, but when I got about 30% in, I just started losing interest. A personal opinion, but I think the author failed to keep the momentum and the suspense going. This led to me enjoying it less.

Overall, a decent book, which is fairly cheap if you own a kindle. If you are a fan of steampunk, then this is a book that you should probably give a go.

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

DNF 47%

Kelsea Raleigh Glynn is a princess. She has been kept away in the country, away from danger to be taught how to be a queen. On her nineteenth birthday knights come to the door to escort her back to the Keep to become Queen of the Tearling. Kelsea couldn't be more different that her mother Elyssa. Her guard can see the difference and she has managed to keep their loyalty. Around her necks hangs a magical sapphire which is used to identify her as the rightful queen of Tearling. When she gets to the Keep she has to keep one eye open at all times and there are enemies hiding in every nook and cranny and each one would do anything to prevent her from wearing the crown. While Kelsea has enemies in her own castle, she also needs to be wary of the enemies across the border in Mortmesne and the Red Queen.

I was beyond excited to read this. I went in with high hopes and about 20% in those hope were slowing being destroyed. What I expected was a fantastic high fantasy with great world building, action packed with a great plot. But that is far from what I got in The Queen of the Tearling. I was really confused by the world in The Queen of the Tearling. I went into this thinking that it was a high fantasy, even the synopsis gives that impression with names such as Tearling and Mortmesne. However, the future I got in the less sure I was that it was a high fantasy. There were mentions of England, America and Europe. That really confused me because we never really got much of a history about why it went from the world we have today to the medieval world in this book. But I also don't really feel comfortable calling this a dystopia or even post-apocalyptic either. The reason this is such a problem because it shows the poor world building. It seems like a weird hybrid. I would have been much better had Erika Johansen just stuck to it being high-fantasy.

There were many scenes in the first half of the book that just bugged me. For starters, the guards are there to protect Kelsea as she is a Queen who have enemies trying to kill her, yet during night, the knights don't set even up watches, they drink alcohol, and they are loud, etc. I personally would never trust those guards with my life, as they don't seem to be paying attention at all. There were also constant remarks about how Kelsea thinks she is ugly. I applaud the author for creating a character who doesn't have the perfect looks, but she spent her whole life with no mirrors or any way to look at herself, so how does she know what she looks like? I also don't need constant reminders of how ugly she thinks she is.

I only got halfway through the book due to the sheer length of the novel. It was excruciating and it was so slow paced and so little action that I just felt like I could not carry on at all, I just had to give up. I felt like The Queen of the Tearling was never ending. There was a lot of unnecessary things in and not enough important stuff, such as the world building and clarification of what the hell happened.

I personally would NOT recommend this book.

“It’s true, you know. In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl.”

Mark Watney is one of the first people to walk to surface of Mars. He is also the first person to be stranded there. After a accident during a dust storm nearly kills him, his team thinks him dead and they leave the planet for Earth. Mark Watney is stranded on Mars with no way to communicate, rations that won't last him till the next mission to Mars, with the Hab that is only designed to last 31 days. So, as Mark Watney puts it, he's screwed.

I love a good disaster-in-space story. Movies like Apollo 13, Armageddon, Sunshine really do get my heart pumping. And this book really had that atmosphere, you know.

While at times I absolutely adored this book, other times it was mind numbingly boring. At first, I was instantly dragged into it. It was a fantastic start. But then the story was bogged down with a lot of science talk that just went right over my head. I didn't understand a word of it and it really did ruin my enjoyment of the first half of the book. While I adored Mark, he was witty and he really did have a great sense of humour that saved this book.

The second half of the book, was by far the best half. We got to see some other characters, and we got to see people's reactions on earth, and their attempts to try and save Mark Watney. I loved his team as well.

I found The Martian to be incredibly realistic, the science (I haven't got a clue if it's accurate, but it felt like a lot of research was put into it), the characters, people's reactions. It just all felt very real and very well done. As I've said before, sometimes I was fairly bored, but it was still a very tense and suspenseful book in places, especially the second half.

I had read so many great reviews for this and I had it on my wishlist, and I was expecting fantastic things from this, but I was a little bit disappointed. While I would personally recommend if you are a fan on Science Fiction, of Space stories, or are a huge fan of NASA, etc, then I'm pretty sure that this is the book for you. But if those things completely bore you, then stay away.

I received this free from the publisher via netgalley

In a Texas town, three girls are bound and murdered in an ice-cream shop. See How Small follows the lives of those affected by the murder, such as the family, witnesses and suspects.

This is a really hard book for me to review. The beginning seemed promising, but due to the nonlinear narrative, I found it really hard to get my head around and to actually enjoy it. While I was very intrigued by the beginning with the strong opening, I just couldn't get into it at all. Like I said, my main problem with See How Small was the narrative - it just made it very hard to read. So, no, it was not necessarily a bad book, it just was not for me.

There was a lot of jumping around due to the narrative. There were memory flashbacks which were back and forth, back and forth. There were jumps from one character to another so fast that it was hard to keep track of the story or the characters. There were so many characters and they were introduced so fast in the beginning that it made me a little lost as I was not sure how they were connected to the event or what their role played. It would go from one character to another, which left me no time to connect with any of them, so I was not at all emotionally invested in the story because I had no emotional connection to the characters.

Of course, it is easy to admit that Scott Blackwood is a gifted writer and See How Small definitely has a haunting prose, but unfortunately the way the story was told was not for me. I feel like I need to stress that this is not necessarily a bad book, it is a 'it's not you it's me' type of read.