April TBR

It's time for another TBR, and seriously where is this year going.


During the month of April, I am joining in with the O.W.L's Readathon so for the 12 subjects I have chosen books that match the prompts

REVIEW: Day Shift (#2) - Charlaine Harris

Title: Day Shift (#2)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Midnight, Texas
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular — and very wealthy — clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight...

REVIEW: The Paper Magician (#1) = Charlie N. Holmberg

Title: The Paper Magician (#1)
Author: Charlie N. Himberg
Series: The Paper Magician
Publisher: 47North
Format: Paperback
Pages: 214 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic… forever.

Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvellous than she could have ever imagined — animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.

An Excisioner — a practitioner of dark, flesh magic — invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

REVIEW: Hidden Huntress (#2) - Danielle L. Jensen

Title: Hidden Huntress (#2)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Series: The Malediction Trilogy
Publisher: Angry Robot
Format: Paperback
Pages: 458 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Sometimes, one must accomplish the impossible.

Beneath the mountain, the king’s reign of tyranny is absolute; the one troll with the capacity to challenge him is imprisoned for treason. Cécile has escaped the darkness of Trollus, but she learns all too quickly that she is not beyond the reach of the king’s power. Or his manipulation.

Recovered from her injuries, she now lives with her mother in Trianon and graces the opera stage every night. But by day she searches for the witch who has eluded the trolls for five hundred years. Whether she succeeds or fails, the costs to those she cares about will be high.

To find Anushka, she must delve into magic that is both dark and deadly. But the witch is a clever creature. And Cécile might not just be the hunter. She might also be the hunted… 

REVIEW: First Man In: Leading from the Front - Ant Middleton

Title: First Man In: Leading from the Front
Author: Ant Middleton
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher Ltd
Format: Audiobook
Time: 6HRS 59MINS
Narrator: Ant Middleton
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

No one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life’s challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he’s learned over the course of his fascinating, exhilarating life.

After 13 years service in the military, with 4 years as a Special Boat Service (SBS) sniper, Ant Middleton is the epitome of what it takes to excel. He served in the SBS, the naval wing of the special forces, the Royal Marines and 9 Parachute Squadron Royal, achieving what is known as the ‘Holy Trinity’ of the UK’s Elite Forces. As a point man in the SBS, Ant was always the first man through the door, the first man into the dark, and the first man in harm’s way.

In this fascinating, exhilarating and revealing book, Ant speaks about the highs and gut-wrenching lows of his life – from the thrill of passing Special Forces Selection to dealing with the early death of his father and ending up in prison on leaving the military – and draws valuable lessons that we can all use in our daily lives.

REVIEW: Demon Dentist - David Walliams

Title: Demon Dentist
Author: David Walliams
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: David Walliams
Time: 4HRS 46MINS
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Darkness had come to the town. Strange things were happening in the dead of night. Children would put a tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, but in the morning they would wake up to find… a dead slug; a live spider; hundreds of earwigs creeping and crawling beneath their pillow.

Evil was at work. But who or what was behind it…?

REVIEW: Mortal Engines (#1) - Philip Reeve

Title: Mortal Engines (#1)
Author: Philip Reeve
Series: Mortal Engines Quartet
Publisher: Scholastic
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold.

Thaddeus Valentine, London's Head Historian and adored famous archaeologist, and his lovely daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes toward his heart, saved by the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice. Racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. "Look at what your Valentine did to me!" she screams. "Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon.

REVIEW: Renegades (#1) - Marissa Meyer

Title: Renegades (#1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: Renegades
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 552 Pages
Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Secret identities. Extraordinary powers.
She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies―humans with extraordinary abilities―who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except for the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice―and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

REVIEW: Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (#2) - M. C. Beaton

Title: Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (#2)
Author: M. C. Beaton
Series: Agatha Raisin
Publisher: C & R Crime
Format: E-Book
Pages: 224 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Feisty Agatha Raisin, former London PR exec, retired to quiet Cotswold village. Handsome vet Paul Bladen accidentally kills himself while attending Lord Pendlebury's horse. Agatha and attractive neighbour James Lacey investigate the curious lack of sorrow shown by his divorced wife while a killer plans another "accident".

REVIEW: Noughts & Crosses (#1) - Malorie Blackman

Title: Noughts & Crosses (#1)
Author: Malorie Blackman
Series: Noughts & Crosses
Publisher: RHCP Digital
Format: E-Book
Pages: 410 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.

Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum -- a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together? 

REVIEW: Ruby Red (#1) - Kerstin Gier

Title: Ruby Red (#1)
Author: Kerstin Gier
Series: Precious Stone Trilogy
Publisher: Square Fish
Format: Paperback
Pages: 322 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Sixteen-year-old Gwen lives with her extended - and rather eccentric - family in an exclusive London neighbourhood. In spite of her ancestors' peculiar history, she's had a relatively normal life so far. The time-travelling gene that runs like a secret thread through the female half of the family is supposed to have skipped over Gwen, so she hasn't been introduced to "the mysteries," and can spend her time hanging out with her best friend, Lesly. It comes as an unwelcome surprise when she starts taking sudden, uncontrolled leaps into the past.

She's totally unprepared for time travel, not to mention all that comes with it: fancy clothes, archaic manners, a mysterious secret society, and Gideon, her time-travelling counterpart. He's obnoxious, a know-it-all, and possibly the best-looking guy she's seen in any century . . . . 

REVIEW: Saga Vol. 8 - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Title: Saga Vol 8.
Author: Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Series: Saga
Publisher: Image Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 146 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

After the traumatic events of the War for Phang, Hazel, her parents, and their surviving companions embark on a life-changing adventure at the westernmost edge of the universe.

February 2019 Wrap Up

Welcome to another wrap-up, I hope you had a good February and also a good Valentine's Day.

Well let's get on to another wrap-up

1. Noughts & Crosses (#1) - Malorie Blackman (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
2. The Paper Magician (#1) - Charlie N. Holmberg (⭐⭐⭐)
3. An Eye for an Eye - Malorie Blackman (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
4. The Next Together (#1) - Lauren James (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
5. And I Darken (#1) - Kiersten White (⭐⭐)
6. Unearthed (#1) - Megan Spooner & Amie Kaufman (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
7. Charmcaster (#3) - Sebastien de Castell (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
8. Asylum (#1) - Madeleine Roux (⭐⭐)
9. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Moby Dick (#2) - Gideon Defoe (⭐⭐⭐)
10. Hidden Bodies (#2) - Caroline Kepnes (⭐⭐)
11. The Miserable Mill (#4) - Lemony Snicket (⭐⭐⭐)
12. The Battlemage (#3) - Taran Matharu (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Overall I ended up reading 12 books (which isn't bad, that's half my TBR), I got through quite a lot at the end of the month after I was recuperating from surgery.