“Hypercompetent idiots” isn’t a trope I’ve ever seen included in a book’s description but when I saw it on The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy, my smile at an interesting premise turned into a laugh and I immediately knew I was going to have to read it. Osric Morduant is a gentleman assassin, a member of the Fyren Order. His magic is also fading and he’s in desperate need of a healer. Aurienne is a Haelen, just who Osric needs in fact, and she is desperately working alongside ... View Full Review
In this eleventh instalment of Louise Allen’s popular Thrown Away Children series we begin Milo’s Story at his placement with new foster parents Michelle and Andy. Sold a pipe dream of significant additional income for the simply “putting an extra pair of jeans in the wash” and with noble yet naive intentions of rescuing a child, they enroll with a private agency to become foster carers. But the realities of the system turn this pipe dream into something rather more like a pipe bomb and Milo arrives with more complex behaviours than either of ... View Full Review
When Stace was seven her world was turned upside down when she realised she was in foster care. Thinking every child had a social worker and loving her life, her parents and her family, a brief encounter at the park with her biological father changed everything. On top of the already devastating revelation for a child to have to comprehend - that their life isn’t what they always thought it was - what came after was worse. Years of upheaval, confusion, neglect and abuse that shattered a once happy, football-mad child. When the most horrifying happens and she ... View Full Review
The Stolen Heir reintroduces Suren and Oak, eight years after the battle of the serpent in Holly Black’s popular The Folk of the Air series. With part one of this tale written from Suren’s perspective we dive into The Prisoner’s Throne to see how their story continues from Oak’s point of view. The plot follows immediately on from the dramatic conclusion to its predecessor and concludes The Stolen Heir duology. Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal but how far reaching are the repercussions of his deceptions, and what choices will he ... View Full Review
We’re now on the third instalment of the Empyrean series, which had the book world clamouring for Fourth Wing and led us on with an almighty cliffhanger in Iron Flame. If you haven’t read either of these books, do. Definitely read them before picking up Onyx Storm, but also just read them anyway - they’re wonderfully all-consuming, I haven’t been this in love with a book series since I was a teen and they are my go-to book recommendations. On picking up the first two books, I was not of this world ... View Full Review
Available from Amazon
My experience of the concept of a utopia is an environment where everyone is uncannily happy and gets on. In this interesting twist on a utopia, in Anthem everyone wants to be a psychopath. To lack empathy and compassion is revered and to fail the psychopathy test is to be outcast and branded deviant. Jason Freeman is a service android, who doesn’t dream of murder, but of being accepted. Prince Marcus Kane, a role model for Jason, was raised to despise those who are like Jason, but behind closed doors is also struggling to emulate ... View Full Review
Book nine in the Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box starts with our Wyoming game warden in exile after the conclusion of the last book, Blood Trail. But when his eldest daughter Sheridan is supposedly contacted by the foster daughter they buried six years ago, he races back home to try and uncover what’s going on. Could April really still be alive? And how is she related to the string of violence that seems to be making the same journey across the country.
Although this story takes place outside of the hunting season, with the wildlife ... View Full Review
As you may expect by now, in the eighth of a series following Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett, hunting takes centre stage in this tense new thriller. But this time the target isn’t big game. The story opens on a hunt, the practised stalk becoming more sinister as we realise this is the voice of our killer. When Joe Pickett takes the call that a hunter has been killed, field dressed and hung like an elk, it puts the rest of the hunting season in jeopardy and levelling a massive blow to the state. Is the killer part ... View Full Review
This book would have been invaluable to me five years ago, when I decided that although I had so far been lucky with my weight so far, my metabolism wouldn’t be my friend forever and getting into a regular exercise routine would be beneficial for when I got older. That’s not to incorrectly categorise this book as about losing weight, because it’s so much more useful than that. The focus of Stronger is to show you how to use strength training to help you age better and be independent throughout your later years. Developing ... View Full Review
In My Lady’s Secrets we see a rebellious side to Regency England. Cressida has spent the last few years as part of the baggage train for British soldiers fighting in Spain. Estranged from Lord Greville by scandal, she survives on her wits until captured and brought back to England by none other than her husband. Now, rather than face the gallows she must entrap George Byron, one of the most famous men in the country and a childhood friend, all with her brooding and stunning husband looking on.
The shared history between all of the characters oozes off ... View Full Review
Marilyn’s Story is the latest in Louise Allen’s Thrown Away Children series written alongside Theresa McEvoy, detailing the experiences of a foster carer and the children being cared for. Marilyn’s placement with the Allens starts off on the wrong foot, with an undeniable social worker pressing the match right before a planned family holiday. Marilyn’s experiences were complex and the few weeks they spent together were filled with dramatic highs and lows. As suspicions of County Lines exploitation become more and more apparent, the placement becomes even more dangerous.
Allen’s ... View Full Review
Following Jude’s scheming in the Folk of the Air series, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has managed to reclaim the Ice Needle Citadel. Her daughter Suren, the child Queen of the Court has fled to the human world, living feral and getting back at the fae by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She once again crosses paths with heir of Elfhame, Prince Oak, as he requests her help on a mission that will take him north.
It was great to be back in Elhame once more. The main characters from the Folk of the Air series, ... View Full Review
-262x400.jpg)
