Tag: Book Review

Book Reviews

Review: The Switch by Beth O’Leary

BethRose

45134200

5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads  | Get it here!

Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley. Review was written in December of 2019 and may not reflect the final product. 

May, for me, is Chick Lit/Rom Com month. It’s the one month of the year that I go nutso for some good fun Romance novels and try to devour as many as possible. One title I came across was Beth O’Leary’s* debut novel, the Flatshare. It was adorable and heartfelt and everything I could want in a very English Rom Com. It was the absolute contender for my “Cutest Book of 2019” and unlikely to ever find a worthy opponent.
… I think you can see where this is going. The Switch by Beth O’Leary is every bit as adorable, heartfelt and lovable as The Flatshare is, and then some. It is far and away the cutest book for 2019 – and it hasn’t even been officially published yet so it could even get the 2020 title too!

So anyway I tweeted Beth O’Leary and now she knows how cute her book is. Because obviously I’m an authority on such things. 

But what is it about, you ask – besides all the best and most wonderful things a book should be?

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

Review: Night Spinner by Addie Thorley

BethRose

45046766

4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads  | Get it here!

Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley. Review was written in November of 2019 and may not reflect the final product. But I sure hope it does.

I know how it feels to lose everything. I know how it feels to be terrified and unsure. But I also know how it feels to be remade, to cloak yourself in steel and wash yourself in fire and refuse to be trampled. To stand and say ‘I am not what they make of me, but what I make of me.’

Enebish is the monster people use to scare children. She was once an elite warrior of the Empire, drawing on the darkness and stars with her Goddess-given powers to help expand their borders. But one unforgivable act – one lapse in control – and her powers make a monster of her. Disfigured and scarred from the horrific incident two years ago, Enebish is sequestered away in a distant monastery whiling away her punishment sneaking out of her rooms at night and training the King’s own falcon. And so her life goes, shunned by the monks tasked with her imprisonment and with only a heretical acolyte and the King’s falcon to call friends. Far from Enebish and beyond the monastery’s walls trouble is brewing in the Empire. Goha, Enebish’s sister and Right Hand of the King comes to her with a entente – capture the notorious rebel Temujin and her crimes will be forgive. People will no longer fear her and she can retake her place at her sister’s side. And all it will cost is one Rebel faction. Tracking down the charismatic rebel leader across the empire proves to be a worthy task for redemption, but coming face to face with the brutalities of war may be Enebish’s greatest challenge yet.

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

BethRose

Image result for thorn intisar khanani

3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads | Get it here!

“Should I run so far that I reach the sea, I should not have run far enough, for the thing I run from rides on my back and in my blood and will not be shaken.” 

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.

Mistreated by her cruel family and mocked in court, Princess Alyrra has always felt more comfortable in her palace’s kitchen or riding free on horseback. Longing to escape her lonely existence Alyrra accepts the politically motivated marriage proposal of a price from a far off land. Though she has never met her prince his delegates have shown her more respect and loyalty than her own people. Alyrra sets off across the lands full of hope, seeking a better life, only to have a great and fearful sorceress steal her identity and title from her, casting her out as a servant. This unexpected freedom gives Alyrra opportunity to start a new life as the palace Goose Girl, a life in which she finds real joy, love, and contentment. A stark contrast from her life as a princess. But not all is well in her new home. The dark sorceress has great and deadly plans for the prince’s bloodline and only Alyrra can stand against her and make things right. But at what cost?

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

Review: A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth

BethRose

41716322

2.5 out of 5 Stars

Get it here | Goodreads

I am a Caretaker, and a good Caretaker puts her House first. Before king. Before Country. Before her life an her heart.

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.

Seven years in exile after her father’s act of treason have left Violet Sterling bitter and longing to return to her ancestral home, Burleigh House. A sprawling grand country estate, Burleigh is no ordinary home – it is one of the remaining five Great Houses of England. Filled with magic and bound to the King, the Great Houses are responsible for the prosperity of their county. Vi’s father was Burleigh’s Caretaker, entrusted by the King with Burleigh’s key and tasked with mitigating the House’s magic. Vi loves Burleigh more than anything else, and Burleigh loves Vi. Seven years of separation, the toll from years without a Caretaker and a new danger from the Crown has threatened their bond. With time running out and the walls of Burleigh falling, Violet has to decide if she can put her House before her own life and heart – as a good Caretaker should – or if she can find her own way.

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Book Reviews

Review: Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen

BethRose

40032040

3.5 out of 5 stars

Get it here! | Find it on Goodreads

Her life was looking less and less like one of Miss Austen’s novels and more and more like an utter mess.

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss. 

Now that her elder sister has married, Lady Victoria Aston is free to enjoy her idyllic country manor lifestyle knowing that the family estate has been secured. With her sister in London and her once exiled best friend avoiding her, Vicky spends her time roaming their estate in a stolen pair of breeches and hiding away with one of Miss Austen’s novels. When the unspeakable happens, Vicky is thrust into the centre of the Season with one goal: Find a husband to save her family. With Miss Austen’s books as her guide and the spirit of Lizzie Bennett in her soul, Vicky must learn to navigate London’s marriage mart without breaking her heart. Is roguish Mr Carmichael as charming as he seems? Does childhood friend Tom Sherborne mean well, or is he after Vicky’s dowry? As if all that isn’t enough, Vicky finds herself the victim of a series of increasingly unfortunate accidents that make her wonder if someone wants to stop her from ever walking down the aisle.

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

Review: The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy

BethRose

Image result for poster

2.5 out of 5 stars

Get it here! | Find it on Goodreads

“They say memories are the same as living it,” he says, swinging his arm around me. “But you have to admit, Jules. Real life is so much better.”

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss. The published text may differ from the very early ARC that I received.

Please be aware that this review contains spoilers.

Skin on skin is all it takes for Etta to steal a memory to claim as her own. Under the brutal reign of Madame, memories have become a commodity in the city of Craewick. Memories of the poor and condemned are sold at the auction block under the watchful eyes of the cruel Minders. Working with the Shadows, an underground memory black market, Etta learned to harness her abilities to steal memories back from the rich Hollows to return to their rightful owners. But six years ago, Etta did something unthinkable and a bargain with the Madame is all that keeps her alive. When Madame threatens to send Etta’s mother’s memories to the auction block, Etta has to learn to face her past to take back the future of her country.

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Book Reviews

Review: Zealot: A Book About Cults by Jo Thornely

BethRose

9780733640506

Zealot: A Book About Cults

By Jo Thornely

4 out of 5 stars

Get it here!

In his early life and career, Jim Jones did a lot of good things and helped hundreds of people. But sometimes bad things people do override and overshadow any good things they do. This is one of those times. What an asshole. 

I’ve been a fan of Jo Thornely’s writing from back in the days of her Batchy-ette recaps on News.com.au. I wasted many a lecture getting the latest goss on a show I never watched, drawn in only by the virtue of Thornely’s writing. It was heaps good. And, unsurprisingly, so was Zealot. 

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Book Reviews

Review – Romanov by Nadine Brandes

BethRose

Image result for romanov nadine brandes

Romanov

by Nadine Brandes

2.5 out of 5 Stars

Get it here! | Add it on Goodreads!

The history books say I died.
They don’t know the half of it.

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss. 

Rasputin is dead, the Tsar has left his throne and a revolution is sweeping through Russia. Seventeen-year-old Nastya, the former Grand Duchess Anastasia, has been given the task of smuggling a magical object into exile. With the Bolsheviks outlawing magic, the magical matryoshka doll her last hope of saving her family and curing her ailing brother, Alexi. When the inevitable occurs, Nastya must trust in her magic – and a handsome Bolshevik soldier – to find the spellmaster who can save them all.

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