Grey Magic - JT Lawrence

♥♥♥♥♥

I am breathless, and it’s not just because of asthma.

What a gripping and engaging book. I don’t usually read books about witches (Harry Potter doesn’t count in this case) But after reading the short story in Lawrence’s Sticky Fingers, I craved more. Lucky for us, Lawrence  already started working on the full novel.

Raven is a hip, hexing-and-texting sorceress - or at least, she used to be. Now her ancient timber house is falling down around her, and the bank wants to repossess it. Nothing would make her cantankerous neighbour happier than seeing Raven and her messy menagerie out on the street. To add to her stress, the reckless Wicked Witches are causing mischief and it's her job to reign them in. Worst of all is that her magic seems to be fading.

We follow Raven, an eccentric modern-day witch, accused of murder, she must explore her past lives in order to keep her freedom and find her magic. Along the way to proving her innocence, Raven encounters some very interesting characters.

There aren't any of the characters that you feel shouldn’t be there, all play a crucial part in the story and Lawrence has a way to write characters. I loved Raven immediately she was witty, funny and her conversations with her inner voice were hilarious.

The last chapters had me holding my breath and needing my inhaler, which I found very ironic.

Was intense and beautifully written, would recommend in a heartbeat. 

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs

♥♥♥♥

A story that will creep you out if you aren’t used to reading books like this.

We follow Jacob Portman, a sixteen-year-old, who experienced a horrible trauma in the family. He goes on this quest to find the people from his grandfather’s stories. He journey’s to a remote island in Wales, where he stumbles across the crumbling ruins of what was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. He discovers his grandfather was someone completely different.

The vintage photographs throughout the book are creepy and chilling and somehow does actually add to the story.

I enjoyed the story, it drew me in, and Riggs’ writing is engaging and has a way to take you along on the journey. I liked all the characters, my only problem was when it came to the love interest it was cringe-worthy.

When it comes to first books in a series, this was a good foundation and I can’t wait to get stuck into the rest of the series to find out what Jacob’s adventure has in store for us.

Losing Emma, Finding Hope - Lisl Barnes

♥♥♥♥♥

In a world where cancer is romanticised to make more people read about this subject (Not that I’m complaining), I really appreciate that Lisl Barnes decided to share their story in such a way.

First off the cover and all the illustrations are beautiful, and I’m sure they captured Emma’s likeness.

Lisl’s writing pulls you in from the beginning and I quickly got so absorbed in their tale, it broke my heart and opened my eyes. It shows the brutal truth of childhood cancers and how it can change a family.

I would recommend this book in a heartbeat. I wanted to get in my car and go give Lisl a hug, (don’t know how appropriate it would’ve been) and tell her, their story touched my heart.

The Honorable Heir – Laurie Alice Eakes

♥♥♥

Where to begin, and not sound horrible.

I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a Historical Fiction, I love historical fiction, I didn’t love this book. It felt like the second book in the series, but it’s stand-alone, trust me I went back and checked on several instances. If it wasn’t that I wanted to know who stole the jewels I would’ve given up at 40%

It follows Catherine who had married an English earl a couple of years before, she returns to her family home after her husband died, closely followed by Lord Tristram who was commissioned to find the jewels that Catherine presumably took.

I didn’t like how the story dragged on, and the ending felt very rushed. I know Catherine was supposed to be the victim in this situation, but she just irritated me.

I’m sure there will be people who love this book, but for me, it fell short. 

It Ends with Us - Colleen Hoover

♥♥♥♥♥

This was an emotionally draining and yet so satisfying book.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, she grew up in a home where her father abused her mother. She worked hard to reach her goals and life was just going in the right direction when she met Ryle Kincaid, a gorgeous neurosurgeon, life suddenly feels too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn and just a tad arrogant and this did make them get off to a rocky start. While she can’t get Ryle of her mind, there is a ghost from her past that surfaced as well in Atlas.

I adored Lily, I connected with her from the moment I opened the book. Her spirit and just her character all over drew me in. That is what I love about Hoover’s books her characters are normal everyday people. Ryle although he was an arrogant know-all, I really liked him, up to a point. There was just something about me that screamed at me.

Hoover’s story felt so real and even though this situation was very close to home, I couldn’t stop reading. I cried, I laughed, and Hoover has the way to make you enjoy every single minute of it.

I would have to add some trigger warning if you are going to read it, I didn’t have a clue what it was about and it did catch me off guard to be reading about such a personal subject.

Miriam and the Stranger – Jerry S. Eicher

♥♥♥

This is my first Amish story in a long time, I used to love these stories, and was quite excited when I got a copy from NetGalley. The excitement was fleeting and now a distant memory.

This is book 3 in the Land of Promise series, we get to know Miriam Yoder, a young Amish woman, who has been through a lot. She soon finds herself betrothed to a widower Mose Stoll, who arrives from her home community. There is also an English man who makes Miriam’s heart beat faster.

I didn’t know that this was book 3 when I requested it, but Eicher does catch you up on what happened in the previous ones… eventually.

I found that it dragged a lot, but I was determined to finish it. There were some parts where I wasn’t really sure if this could happen in the Amish community, but this isn’t facts, so you can change some aspects of it. The end felt rushed and all happened in about what felt like 10 pages. But at least everything was all wrapped up.  

Don’t think I will read anything else by this author, and I won’t even go and read the previous books in this series. 

The Trouble with Faking – Rachel Morgan

♥♥♥♥♥

I am telling you this series is giving me so many feelings and just confirmed to myself that this is my genre, this is what I love to read.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one follows Andi, she has longed for the boy next door, Damien, since she was 10. Andi moves to Cape Town to attend UCT, almost immediately there is a twist to the book as Charlotte, Damien’s girlfriend, suspects that he is cheating on her with Andi. After Charlotte breaks up with Damien, he and Andi decide to continue the façade, ‘to make the people they really like jealous.’

Andi is pretending she likes someone else, even though she is in love with Damien, Damien is in love with someone else and pretending to be in a relationship with Andi, and the game just gets interesting from there.

There were so many twists and turns in this book, that when the end happened, I couldn’t help but giggle because I had it so wrong.

I would definitely recommend this series to any contemporary romance fans, and of course, there is the added bonus that it is set around a location I have actually been, and I could nostalgically dream back to that  wonderful holiday.  The other thing I really enjoyed was the fact that Andi is a Booktuber and has an Etsy shop. I am a big fan of Booktubers.

The Trouble novels are stand-alone novels that can be read in any order, but each contains mild spoilers for any previous books in the Trouble series. I have now also seen that the author is considering publishing these under a pen name to set them apart from her fantasy novels. So if you can’t find it under Rachel Morgan, you might get it under Rochelle Morgan.