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: 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: 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: Crazy Rich Asians (#1) - Kevin Kwan

Title: Crazy Rich Asians (#1)
Author: Kevin Kwan
Series: Crazy Rich Asians
Publisher: Audible Studios
Format: Audiobook
Time: 13HRS 53MINS
Narrator: Lynn Chen
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. 

Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry.

REVIEW: Hunting Prince Dracula (#2) - Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Hunting Prince Dracula (#2)
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Format: Audiobook
Time: 11Hrs 18Mins
Narrator: Nicola Barber
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine...and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

REVIEW: A Boy Called Christmas (#1) - Matt Haig

Title: A Boy Called Christmas (#1)
Author: Matt Haig
Series: A Boy Called Christmas
Publisher: Cannongate Books
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Time: 4Hrs 26Mins
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

A Boy Called Christmas is a tale of adventure, snow, kidnapping, elves, more snow, and an eleven-year-old boy called Nikolas, who isn't afraid to believe in magic. 

REVIEW: The Silkworm (#2) - Robert Galbraith

Title: The Silkworm (#2)
Author: Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoron Strike
Publisher: Hachette Audio UK
Format: Audiobook
Time: 17Hrs 16Mins
Narrator: Robert Glenister
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises.

The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him. And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before...

REVIEW: Blame It on Bianca Del Rio - Bianca Del Rio

Title: Blame it on Bianca Del Rio
Author: Bianca Del Rio
Publisher: Random House Audiobooks
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Bianca del Rio
Time: 4HRS 45Mins
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Audible Blurb

Not today, Satan.

The cheeky, larger-than-life drag queen and outrageous comic - 'The Joan Rivers of the Drag World' (New York Times) - who isn't afraid to shock or offend, shares her trademark acerbic wit and sharp commentary in this uproarious collection of advice.

When it comes to insulting comics, Bianca Del Rio is in a class by herself. Fierce, funny, and fabulous - a would-be love child sired by John Waters and birthed by Joan Rivers - Bianca sandblasted her name in the annals of pop culture on RuPaul's Drag Race. Thanks to her snarky frankness, impeccable comedic timing, and politically incorrect humour, she became the show's breakout star, winning its sixth season.

In Blame It on Bianca Del Rio, Bianca shares her opinions loudly and proudly, offering raucous, hilarious, no-holds-barred commentary on the everyday annoyances, big and small, that colour her world, and make it a living, albeit amusing, hell for anyone who inhabits it. A collection of biting advice, Blame It on Bianca Del Rio will shock you and keep you laughing. But be warned: it is not for the faint of heart!

REVIEW: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (#1) - Mackenzi Lee

Title: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (#1)
Author: Mackenzie Lee
Series: Guide
Publisher: Harper Audio
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Christian Coulson
Time: 10Hrs & 47Mins
Rating:⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Henry “Monty” Montague doesn’t care that his roguish passions are far from suitable for the gentleman he was born to be. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quests for pleasure and vice are in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and travelling companion, Percy.

So Monty vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

REVIEW: The Void (#3) - J. D. Horn

The Void (#3) - J. D. Horn

Series: Witching Savannah

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Time: 10Hrs and 8Mins

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

An otherworldly energy runs through the city of Savannah, betraying its sleepy, moss-cradled charm. The old, beguiling streets look welcoming to most…but certain families know what lurks under their genteel surfaces. Families like Mercy Taylor’s, which has the most powerful lineage of witches in the South, know this all too well.

Mercy and her husband, Peter, are happily preparing to welcome baby Colin into their lives. But their excitement quickly becomes overshadowed by a gruesome discovery: someone has scattered severed limbs throughout the city. After a troubling visit from an old foe, Mercy learns dark magic is at play, and someone—or something—wants her and her unborn child out of the picture. To uncover the shocking reason why, the amateur witch must face a force beyond her power…or risk losing everything.

REVIEW: The Martian - Andy Weir

The Martian - Andy Weir
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: R. C. Bray
Time: 10HRS 53MINS
Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

Goodreads Blurb

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

REVIEW: Stalking Jack the Ripper (#1) - Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper (#1) - Kerri Maniscalco
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Format: Audiobook
Time: 9Hrs 26Mins
Narrator: Nicola Barber
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Blurb

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

REVIEW: The Source (#2) - J.D. Horn

The Source (#2) - J. D. Horn
Series: Witching Savannah
Publisher:  Brillaince Audio
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Time: 10hrs 56mins
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Blurb

Savannah resident Mercy Taylor may now be in control of the South's most powerful family of witches, but she's struggling to master her newfound magic. Pregnant with her first child and still reeling from a heartbreaking betrayal, she just wants to be able to use her supernatural abilities without accidentally destroying dishes or blasting the doors off buildings.

But when Mercy's long-presumed-dead mother suddenly returns, begging Mercy to keep her presence under wraps, the witch wonders how many secrets her family is hiding...and who she can really trust. And when the danger around her intensifies to deadly levels, Mercy knows she must discover the truth behind her family's magic—before it destroys her.

REVIEW: The Cuckoo's Calling (#1) - Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling (#1) - Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoron Strike
Publisher: Hachette Audio UK
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Robert Glenister
Time: 15hrs 53mins
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Blurb

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

REVIEW: The Line (#1) - J. D. Horn

The Line (#1) - J. D. Horn
Series: Witching Savannah
Publisher:  Brilliance Audio
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Time: 9hrs 6mins
Rating: ★★★★★ (It was Amazing)

Goodreads Blurb

To the uninitiated, Savannah shows only her bright face and genteel manner. Those who know her well, though, can see beyond her colonial trappings and small-city charm to a world where witchcraft is respected, Hoodoo is feared, and spirits linger. Mercy Taylor is all too familiar with the supernatural side of Savannah, being a member of the most powerful family of witches in the South.
Despite being powerless herself, of course.

Having grown up without magic of her own, in the shadow of her talented and charismatic twin sister, Mercy has always thought herself content. But when a series of mishaps—culminating in the death of the Taylor matriarch—leaves a vacuum in the mystical underpinnings of Savannah, she finds herself thrust into a mystery that could shake her family apart…and unleash a darkness the line of Taylor witches has been keeping at bay for generations.

REVIEW: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Publisher: Audible Studios
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Thandie Newton
Time: 19hrs 10mins
Rating: ★★

Goodreads Blurb

Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead and subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed.

REVIEW: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (#1) - Stephen King

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (#1) - Stephen King
Series: The Dark Tower
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Audiobook
Time: 7hrs 19mins
Narrator: George Guildhall
Rating: 2/5 (It Was OK) ★★

Goodreads Blurb

In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger.

He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.