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?

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: The Secret Lives of Superhero Wives - Joynell Schultz

Title: The Secret Lives of Superhero Wives
Author: Joynell Schultz
Series: The Superhero Wives World
Publisher: Wet Dog Press
Format: E-Book
Pages: 316 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Nobody said being married was easy, but try being married to a superhero. Not only is there laundry, cooking, and a career to balance, but throw in a few supervillains and your day’s booked.

Ariana, Victoria, and Emma’s men spend more time saving the world than doing dishes. These wives want some semblance of a normal married life but would settle for an uninterrupted meal together. Besides, how can they compete with saving the world?

When a catastrophic earthquake devastates Shadow Town and crime spirals out of control, it appears the city needs all the help they can get to clean it up. Everyone expected the resident superheroes to save the day, but nobody expected the wives’ help too…

REVIEW: Hidden Bodies (#2) - Caroline Kepnes

Title: Hidden Bodies (#2)
Author: Caroline Kepnes
Series: You
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: E-Book
Pages: 449 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.

In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice…

REVIEW: After (#1) - Anna Todd

Title: After (#1)
Author: Anna Todd
Series: After
Publisher: Gallery Books
Format: E-Book
Pages: 593 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way. 

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to. 

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before. 

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn't the one for her and disappears again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper. 

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her? 

Unless…could this be love?

REVIEW: Sweet Torment - Georgia Cates

Title: Sweet Torment
Author: Georgia Cates
Publisher: Georgia Cates Books LLC
Format: E-Book
Pages: 130 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Bram—
My best friend’s little sister—that’s all Claudia Bliss is to me.
My head keeps trying to convince my heart, but both know it’s a damn lie. 

It’s her face I see every time I close my eyes.
It’s her lips I long to kiss.
It’s her touch I crave in the dark.
She’s the one I love … but wanting Claudia is wrong. 

She’s been like a little sister to me since the day she was born. Now, everything between us is changing—including the special bond we’ve always shared. It’s stronger than ever … and becoming something so different. Something so hot. Something so forbidden.

My little dove is growing up.
Doesn’t matter how wrong it is, I can’t stop wanting her.
I will have her.

Claudia—
Bram Windsor. I have loved him my entire life.

For years, I was nothing more than one of the boys to him. Owen’s little sister. The pest who tagged along everywhere the boys went. But now, everything has changed.

I’ve grown up and it’s time Bram sees me for what I am. A woman. A sexual being who wants him. A virgin more than ready to give herself to him.

I don’t care what our friends or family say. I love him and everything about being together feels right.
I will have him.

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: Final Promise - Alexa Riley

Title: Final Promise (#4)
Author: Alexa Riley
Series: Promises
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 117 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Liberty has spent years watching her mom work as a maid for the powerful Spade family. It’s hard for her to see everyone around her have money, but it’s even worse when she falls for one of those rich men. Devlin is someone she can never have and all her desires for him are wrong. Maybe taking a job as his secretary was a mistake? 

Devlin Spade was born and bred to be a certain man, have a certain job, and live a certain life. But when he meets Liberty everything changes. He’s willing to give it all up if it means having her, but she won’t stop pushing him away. He can’t let her go, even if she tries to run. 

REVIEW: All About Me (#2) - Joanna Mazurkiewicz

Title: All About Me (#2)
Author: Joanna Mazurkiewicz
Series: Love & Hate
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 222 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

I’m the monster, a bloody human incapable of emotion

I soon realise that my revenge didn’t make me feel any fucking better about myself, instead, it pissed me off to realise that I’m in love with her.

Two days later the letter addressed to me arrives in the post and the ground moves beneath my feet, because the whole truth about India is out in the open and the pain punches me so hard that I can’t breathe, darkness crawls through me, sparking all the insecurities and fears about my dead brother back to ugly reality.

Then off I go with my apology, trying to fix this fucked up situation but she doesn’t want to listen. Every time I do something the guilt is burning my gut, pushing her further and further away from me. 

She even goes an extra mile making me feel like a prick and she gets involved with someone else just to get back at me. She pretends that the event in the restaurant didn’t mean anything to her like she is immune to my actions. 

India’s pain is raw, deep and whenever I lay my eyes on her I remember the cruel things I’ve done.

The next couple of months I focus on getting her back. This is the only thing that matters to me now. I must redeem myself; forget about anger, other birds and parties. 

India is the only person that I want, I love her and only her but the problem is that she hates my guts, so I’m the last person that she wants.

I must prove to India that I’m worthy of her love.

REVIEW: Blackmailing the Virgin (#2) - Alexa Riley

Title: Blackmailing the Virgin (#2)
Author: Alexa Riley
Series: Promises
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 95 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

When Calder Cox sees Felicity for the first time, he has to have her. There’s nothing that will hold him back…until he finds out she’s his lawyer’s daughter. 

Felicity Chandler is graduating college soon but has no idea what she wants to do. While playing her violin one night, she sees Calder and feels instantly drawn to him. But when he tries to keep his distance, she doesn’t know what to do with all of her feelings. 

Calder can’t be held off much longer, and when his control snaps, there are consequences. Felicity might be trying to run, but he’ll make sure she stays…even if he has to blackmail her to do it. 

REVIEW: You (#1) - Caroline Kepnes

Title: You (#1)
Author: Caroline Kepnes
Series: You
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Format: E-Book
Pages: 433 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

REVIEW: Mr & Mrs (#1) - Alexa Riley

Title: Mr & Mrs (#1)
Author: Alexa Riley
Series: Promises
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 106 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Phillip has been married to Molly for a year. He’s beyond obsessed with his new wife, to the point that he has to hold his true feelings back. If she knew how crazy he is for her, she might push him away.

Molly is feeling distance growing between them, and she’s worried she’s not enough. One night she walks in on Phillip, and it changes everything.

When Phillip discovers Molly was in an accident and now has amnesia, he’s going to do all he can to make her fall in love with him again. Holding nothing back this time.

REVIEW: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (#1) - M. C. Beaton

Title: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (#1)
Author: M. C. Beaton
Series: Agatha Raisin
Publisher: C & R Crime
Format: E-Book
Pages: 196 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Agatha Raisin decides to leave her PR job in London to enjoy the delights of an early retirement in a quiet village in the Cotswolds, where she soon gets bored but is eager to fit in. Showing off her "talent" in the parish cooking competition should make her popular -only if her quiche didn't kill the judge. Thus, Agatha must reveal the bitter truth: she bought the fatal quiche from a caterer. To clear herself, she has only one solution: identify the murderer.

REVIEW: All About You (#1) - Joanna Mazurkiewicz

Title: All About You (#1)
Author: Joanna Mazurkiewicz
Series: Love & Hate
Publisher: Unknown
Format: E-Book
Pages: 298 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

I start hating Oliver just after his older brother Christian’s death. I drag him down a road of humiliation and pain to try to cope with what his brother did to me. 

A few months after Christian’s passing, Oliver leaves town, and for the next two years, he is absent from my life. The demons claw their way back in, and I must learn to live with the secret that has destroyed me. 

Now I’m starting a new life, away from Gargle and away from my past, but everything crashes when I see Oliver the first day at university. It’s clear that many things have changed since we’ve been apart. Now he is captain of the rugby team and the most popular bloke on campus. 

Then he makes a bet and gives me an ultimatum: I leave Braxton forever and start somewhere else, or I stay and play his game… because he’s never forgotten that it was me who ruined his life two years ago.

JANUARY 2019 Wrap Up

Where has January gone, seriously I want to know it seems to have flown by. Well moving on welcome to another Wrap Up.

I managed to read 15 books overall, I also joined in with the 24in48 readathon where I managed to complete 3 books (I'm quite impressed with that)

I read:

1. Truthwitch (#1) - Susan Dennard (⭐⭐)
2. Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (#8) - M. C. Beaton (⭐⭐⭐)
3. The Wide Window (#3) - Lemony Snicket (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
4. The Dark Day's Pact (#2) - Alison Goodman (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
5. You (#1) - Caroline Kepnes (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
6. Ringing in the New Year - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐)
7. The Secret Lives of Superhero Wives - Joynell Shultz (⭐⭐⭐)
8. First Man In: Leading from the Front - Ant Middleton (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
9. Hidden Huntress (#2) - Danielle L. Jensen (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
10. Day Shift (#2) - Charlaine Harris (⭐⭐⭐)
11. Mortal Engines (#1) - Philip Reeve (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
12. Horrorstӧr - Grady Hendrix (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
13. Ruby Red (#1) - Kerstin Gier (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
14. Renegades (#1) - Marissa Meyer (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
15. Demon Dentist - David Walliams (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

I'm quite impressed with myself that I managed to read 15 books. Here's to another good month in February.

FEBRUARY 2019 TBR

Welcome to another February TBR, again I will have 24 books on my TBR, but this month I have added quite a lot of books from last month as I still want to read them.

• The Miserable Mill (#4) - Lemony Snicket
• Hidden Bodies (#2) - Caroline Kepnes
• The Battlemage (#3) - Taran Matharu
• Asylum (#1) - Madeleine Roux
• The Invisible Library (#1) - Genevieve Cogman
• One of Us is Lying (#1) - Karen M. McManus
• Charmcaster (#3) - Sebastien de Castell
• Long Dark Dust (#2) - J. P. Smythe
• The Pirates! In an Adventure with Moby Dick (#2) - Gideon Defoe
• Alice (#1) - Christina Henry
• Three Dark Crowns (#1) - Kendare Blake
• And I Darken (#1) - Kiersten White
• Crooked House - Agatha Christie
• The Next Together (#1) - Lauren James
• Noughts & Crosses (#1) - Malorie Blackman
• Geekerella - Ashley Poston
• Shaken (#3) - Joss Stirling
• Dumplin' (#1) - Julie Murphy
• Free (#7) - Kristen Ashley
• The Secret Runners of New York - Matthew Reilly*
• Unearthed (#1) - Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner
• The Paper Magician (#1) - Charlie N. Holmberg
• Poor Unfortunate Soul - Serena Valentino
• Until I Die (#2) - Amy Plum

I'm currently reading Dumplin', Hidden Bodies, Unearthed, and The Paper Magician.

REVIEW: Truthwitch (#1) - Susan Dennard*

Title: Truthwitch (#1)
Author: Susan Dennard
Series: The Witchlands
Publisher: Tor
Format: E-Book
Pages: 416 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

Goodreads Blurb

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

December Wrap Up

Welcome, to another wrap-up.

Where did December go to, I really want to know.

1. Goodnight Mister Tom - Michelle Magorian (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
2. Distortion (#2) - Victor Dixen (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
3. A Boy Called Christmas (#1) - Matt Haig (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
4. Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe - Melissa de la Cruz (⭐⭐)
5. Inferno (#5) - Julie Kagawa (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
6. The Inquisition (#2) - Taran Matharu (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
7. Crazy Rich Asians (#1) - Kevin Kwan (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
8. The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists (#1) - Gideon Defoe (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
9. Final Promise (#4) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
10. Mr & Mrs (#1) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐)
11. Blackmailing the Virgin (#2) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐)
12. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
13. Stolen Songbird (#1) - Danielle L. Jensen (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
14. The Christmas Hirelings - Mary Elizabeth Braddon (⭐⭐⭐)

Overall not a bad reading month, especially in December

January TBR

Here we go again

Another TBR, where has December gone so fast, and when did the New Year get here? (really, I'm honestly asking you).

So as you can gather with the start of a new month, it's a new TBR, Aaaaaannnnndddd Resolutions! (yes it is that much of a shock I need to use an exclamation).

I have set a goal of only buying 1-2 books a month this year (if you know me well, such as my husband, you know this is good in theory).

I am also wanting to read the majority of the books on my bookshelves (some booktubers have a TBR shelf, I have bookcases).

So enough of my rambling here we go.

• The Dark Day's Pact (#2) - Alison Goodman
• The Wide Window (#3) - Lemony Snicket
• Charmcaster (#3) - Sebastien de Castell
• Long Dark Dust (#2) - J. P. Smythe
• The ABC Murders - Agatha Christie
• One of Us is Lying - Karen McManus
• Asylum (#1) - Madeleine Roux
• Horrorstӧr - Grady Hendrix
• The Battlemage (#3) - Taran Matharu
• Ruby Red (#1) - Kerstin Gier
• Day Shift (#2) - Charlaine Harris
• The Pirates! In an Adventure with Moby Dick (#2) - Gideon Defoe
• Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (#8) - M. C. Beaton
• The Paper Magician (#1) - Charlie N. Holmberg
• Mortal Engines (#1) - Philip Reeve
• Three Dark Crowns (#1) - Kendare Blake
• Hidden Huntress (#2) - Danielle L. Jensen
• The Invisible Library (#1) - Genevieve Cogman
• First Man In - Ant Middleton
• Alice (#1) - Christina Henry
• And I Darken (#1) - Kiersten White
• Divergent (#1) - Veronica Roth
• Dumplin' (#1) - Julie Murphy
• Renegades (#1) - Marissa Meyer

Overall, not a bad list of books to read in January