REVIEW: The Summer I Turned Pretty (#1) - Jenny Han

Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty (#1)
Author: Jenny Han
Series: Summer
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 276 Pages
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads Blurb

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

REVIEW: Legendary (#2) - Stephanie Garber

Title: Legendary (#2)
Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Caraval
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Hardback
Pages: 432 Pages
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads Blurb

A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfil her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval...the games have only just begun.

REVIEW: Knife Edge (#2) - Malorie Blackman

Title: Knife Edge (#2)
Author: Malorie Blackman
Series: Noughts & Crosses
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 417 Pages
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads Blurb

No one could begin to guess at the depth of the hatred I held for Sephy Hadley. Everything began with her and my brother. And that's how it would end.

Where there has been love, now there is hate.

Two families have been shattered by the divided and violent society they live in.

Sephy Hadley - a Cross, supposedly powerful and privileged - has bound herself forever to her nought lover Callum McGregor's family.

But Jude McGregor blames Sephy for all the tragedies his family has suffered. And he is determined to force her to take sides, and destroy her life . . . just like she destroyed his. . .

REVIEW: Aurora Rising (#1) - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Title: Aurora Rising (#1)

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: Aurora Rising
Publisher: Rock the Boat
Format: Hardback
Pages: 470 Pages
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads Blurb

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.

REVIEW: Wilder Girls - Rory Power*

Title: Wilder Girls
Author: Rory Power
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 353 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW, PAPERBACK COPY BOUGHT BY MYSELF WITH MY OWN MONEY*

Goodreads Blurb

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First, the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

Believeathon II TBR

Today marks the start of the second round of Believeathon, this is taking place for two weeks till the 24th May.

I have had my TBR sorted for a while (where I haven't changed it for the 12th time).

So during the two weeks, we are set the task of reading a total of five books. Everyone is given a started point and an endpoint.

O.W.L.s Magical Readathon

It's that time of year again when we all go back to complete our O.W.L.s

via GIPHY

REVIEW: Crooked House - Agatha Christie

Title: Crooked House
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 242 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

The Leonides were one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That was until Astrides, the head of the household, was murdered. Charles Hayward, engaged to the late millionaire's granddaughter, decides to investigate.

REVIEW: Down Amongst the Sticks and Bones (#2) - Seanan McGuire

Title: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (#2)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Seanan McGuire
Time: 4HRS 4MINS
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretence of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

REVIEW: The Girl Who Stole an Elephant - Nizrana Farook

Title: The Girl Who Stole an Elephant
Author: Nizrana Farook
Publisher: Nosy Crow Ltd
Format: Paperback
Pages: 247 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Chaya, a no-nonsense, outspoken hero, leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on a noisy, fraught, joyous adventure through the jungle where revolution is stirring and leeches lurk. Will stealing the queen’s jewels be the beginning or the end of everything for the intrepid gang?

REVIEW: Becoming - Michelle Obama

Title: Becoming
Author: Michelle Obama
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Michelle Obama
Time: 19HRS 3MINS
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same. 

REVIEW: The Initiation (#1) - Chris Babu*

Title: The Initiation (#1)
Author: Chris Babu
Series: The Initiation
Publisher: Permuted Press
Format: E-Book
Pages: 320 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

Goodreads Blurb

In a ruined world, Manhattan is now New America, a walled-in society based on equality. But the perfect facade hides a dark truth.

A timid math geek, sixteen-year-old Drayden watches his life crumble when his beloved mother is exiled. The mystery of her banishment leads him to a sinister secret: New America is in trouble, and every one of its citizens is in jeopardy.

With time running out, he enters the Initiation. It’s a test within the empty subway tunnels—a perilous journey of puzzles and deadly physical trials. Winners join the ruling Bureau and move to its safe haven. But failure means death. Can Drayden conquer the Initiation, or is salvation out of his grasp?

March 2020 TBR

Welcome to another TBR, and this time it is March's turn. I know I always say it but again where has the last month gone.

So let's get into the books I am aiming to read this month

• The Witcher: The Last Song - Andrzej Sapkowski
• Orphan Monster Spy (#1) - Matt Killeen
• Ninth House (#1) - Leigh Bardugo
• The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam (#1) - Chris Ewen
• A Map of Days (#4) - Ransom Riggs
• Orphan Monster Spy (#1) - Matt Killeen
• A Pinch of Magic (#1) - Michelle Harrison

• Cirque du Freak (#1) - Darren Shan
• A Sprinkle of Sorcery (#2) - Michelle Harrison
• The Vampire's Assistant (#2) - Darren Shan
• The Extinction Trials: Exile (#2) - S. M. Wilson
• The Shadows Between Us - Tricia Levenseller
• The Midnight Lie - Marie Rutkoski

• Surviving His Scars (#4) - Terri Anne Browning
• Dear Martin - Nic Stone
• Pet - Akkwaeke Emezi
• Death Note vol - Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata
• A Darker Shade of Magic (#1) - V. E. Schwab
• Children of Blood and Bone (#1) - Tomi Adeyemi

• Soulbinder (#4) - Sebastien de Castell
• Jurassic Park (#1) - Michael Chrichton
• Dread Nation (#1) - Justina Ireland
• Sapphire Blue (#2) - Kerstin Gier
• The Grim Grotto (#11) - Lemony Snicket
• Girls of Paper and Fire (#1) - Natasha Ngan

I have chosen a wide range of books there to cover me for all eventualities.

Watch out for my TBR for The Bookie Trials Royal Weekender which commences on the 28th and 29th March.

REVIEW: The Extinction Trials (#1) - S. M. WIlson

Title: The Extinction Trials (#1)
Author: S. M. Wilson
Series: The Extinction Trials
Publisher: Usborne Publishing
Format: Paperback
Pages: 381 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Betrayal. Sacrifice. Survival.
Welcome to the Extinction Trials.

In Stormchaser and Lincoln's ruined world, the only way to survive is to risk everything. To face a contest more dangerous than anyone can imagine. And they will do anything to win.

But in a land full of monsters - human and reptilian - they can't afford to trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other...

REVIEW: Salvation (#1) - Terri Anne Browning

Title: Salvation (#1)
Author: Terri Anne Browning
Series: Angel's Halo MC Next-Gen
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 228 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Lexa
These feelings I have for Ben can’t go anywhere.
I’m the Angels Halo MC president’s daughter.
And he is the sheriff.

For both our sakes, I have to keep him away.


Ben
Lexa calms the rage that I’ve struggled with my entire life.
I couldn’t care less who her father is.
Nothing matters but making her mine.

Because my broken beauty is where my salvation begins.

REVIEW: Life is Strange Vol 1: Dust

Title: Life is Strange Vol 1: Dust
Author: Emma Vieceli (Author), Claudia Leonardi (Illustrator), Andrea Izzo (Colourist)
Series: Life is Strange
Publisher: Titan Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 115 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

One year after the storm destroyed Arcadia Bay, fan-favourite characters Max and Chloe have a new life together… but timelines are starting to tangle.

Collects Life is Strange #1-4

REVIEW: A Curse so Dark and Lonely (#1) - Brigid Kemmerer

Title: A Curse so Dark and Lonely (#1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Cursebreakers
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback
Pages: 477 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Fall in love, break the curse.

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

REVIEW: Heartstopper Vol 1 - Alice Oseman

Title: Heartstopper Vol 1
Author: Alice Oseman
Series: Heartstopper
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 268 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore, and he's sort of got a boyfriend, even if he's kind of mean and only wants to meet up in secret.

Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie - the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months - but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him. That is, until the start of January, in which Nick and Charlie are placed in the same form group and made to sit together.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...

REVIEW: Me - Elton John

Title: Me
Author: Elton John
Publisher: Macmillan
Format: Audiobook
Time: 11HRS 47MINS
Narrator: Taron Egerton
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three, he was on his first tour of America, facing an astonished audience in his tight silver hotpants, bare legs and a T-shirt with ROCK AND ROLL emblazoned across it in sequins. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again.

His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with the Queen; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation. All the while, Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade.

In Me Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you, by a living legend.

REVIEW: Rebel of the Sands (#1) - Alwyn Hamilton

Title: Rebel of the Sands (#1)
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Series:  Rebel of the Sands
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback
Pages: 358 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumour has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic.  For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.

Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.

Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she’d gallop away on mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.