Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

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It’s been a while since a book has knocked me out of the field. What a remarkable book.

I read this book with friends, and let me tell you I wish I read it sooner. We were enthralled from the first page right through to the end, speculating late into the night, coming up with theories, getting frustrated but enjoying every single minute of it.

It does read a little like Australian desperate housewives but do you know what, I loved it. The characters crept into my heart, I wanted to fight for Celeste, I wanted to shake Jane out of her funk, and Madeline was probably my favourite, although I think that in real life she would’ve irritated me.

The plot had me guessing until the big reveal, it was frustrating but at the same time, I couldn’t put the book down, and that is what a great book is to me, I want to be so engrossed in a book that I forget about my life and what I have to actually be doing otherwise. Personally, I appreciate the way the author handled the big issues in this book, tackling domestic abuse, divorce and it’s aftermath and many more.

When an author can write characters like this, that crawls into your life you can’t help falling in love. I can’t wait to read more by Liane Moriarty.

Suddenly Royal - Nichole Chase

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This book is definitely for people who loved the Princess Diaries, but of course with the little twist of being for grownups – YES that’s right, get ready for some steamy scenes.

Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation to the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.

The writing is beautiful and draws you in from the opening sentence. The characters also had a way of crawling into my heart and making me want to get to know them better. It made me laugh and cry and that to me is the signs of a good book. Can’t wait to get my hands on the next in the series.  

It was a very enjoyable read/listen, I had the audiobook that I got on Audible and when I couldn’t listen I read the ebook. The narrator did different voices and accents for the characters that added to the experience.

Sticky Fingers - J.T. Lawrence (AUDIOBOOK)

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When Janita announced that she was releasing an audiobook of this one, I knew I had to get a copy. Luckilly I had some credits saved on Audible and could get it as soon as it was released. 

The Bianca Flanders is an asset to this book, I enjoyed her voice and it definitely brought out the best in each of the stories. 

I already reviewed the book, it can be found here

The book contains the following stories with a short review of each:

Escape follows as suicidal baby, the determination was palpable, and the ending, what a twist.

She did it, a battered woman is found in a pool of her dead husband’s blood, with a detective that didn’t quite trust his gut feeling.

Bridge Gate a series of letters between a young girl and her estranged father. I love these kinds of stories that is written in the form of letters. This one is one that I would love a full novel.

The Itch an itch that just won’t go away, such an intense story that drew me in.

The unsuspecting gold digger a woman finds herself engaged to an extremely wealthy man, this one knocked me out of the park, another one I wouldn’t mind reading more, and that end, what a shock!

Something Borrowed The broken hearted bride. This story had me grabbing tissues.

Pigeon Pair Pigeon’s so many pigeon’s, such a cute start and then the end, damn pigeons.

Grey Magic if you would like a story about a modern witch, and you like this short story, there is a full novel now available, with a second one on its way.

The Little Pink Book A midwife with a twist, couldn’t help but picture Call the Midwife in my head, but the end was definitely not what I expected. This one will stay with me for a while.

Travelling slacks a holiday review gone bad, giggle inducing. Such a wonderful story, in the form of reviews on a website.

Sticky Fingers A kleptomaniac telling her story, how she got started, you will laugh, gasp, and shake your head in disbelieve.

Off the Hinge Such a sad story and definitely a great way to end this wonderful collection. 

Without Merit - Colleen Hoover

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There is no doubt about it, Colleen Hoover is one of my favourite authors. She is a brilliant writer and can get a message across in a way that most authors can’t. This book’s cover had me hooked from the reveal, I knew I had to get a copy ASAP and then once I did for some reason I put off reading it.

The book centres around the Voss family, they are definitely not your average American family. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep.

It was definitely a page-turner, with all the secrets that were revealed and then, of course, Merit’s own revelation. This wasn’t your average Colleen Hoover book that revolved around the romantic relationship aspect, but more about the family dynamic and how families work through their own issues.

The characters where interesting, each one getting their moment to shine, my only complaint would be that the book ended so abruptly with a lot of the story not being done (if this is the first book in the series, I will change this part of the review). I would really like to know how the story ends for them.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable read.

Turtles All The Way Down - John Green

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Here we are at the end of the most anticipated book of the year for me.

I adored The fault in our stars, it’s still one of my favourite books, and to be honest the rest of John Green’s books weren’t top of my lists. When I heard what the book would be about, I thought, this was a character I could relate to.

Which I did, I could see some of her actions in myself, I could relate to the way her mind would go into a downward spiral about one little thing, maybe it hit a little too close to home in some ways.

Aza has OCD and anxiety. From the outside, she looks like she has everything. We meet her best friend Daisy who is a brilliant fanfiction writer. There is Davis her sort-of-not-really-almost boyfriend. And don’t forget the Tuatara lizard. As always Green has a very eclectic band of friends, each with their own very distinct personality, and he writes all of them beautifully.  

I did struggle a bit with the book, but in the end, I flew through it. I loved that Green points a big spotlight on some very difficult issues regarding mental health, but the rest of the stories almost felt forced. Each character worked on their own, but once you paired them off, then it didn’t really work for me. Especially Aza and Davis relationship, it felt very forced at some stages.

Overall, it was a good read. Will I read it again? Probably not.

Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon

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I’m not even sorry this book took me almost 2 years to finish, I started it right after reading the first book, and with it being such a bulky book, I would gladly put it down to read something else. But in the last two months, I made a serious point of trying to finish it.

This one was almost as good as Outlander, we follow Jamie and Claire to France, where they have new challenges to try and stop the battle at Culloden. New and old foes battle it out, new and old friends to help them on their journey. I have to be honest that there was a lot of parts that dragged on for pages, and that’s probably the reason why it took me so long to get into the story again.

I laughed, cried, and heaved a sigh of relief. This series is going to be one of my favourites if I can just finish the next books in the series.

There will probably be a lot of readers that will stone me for this, but it does help that we have a wonderful series that gives faces to characters. There will still be people who say they would rather just watch the series, just remember dear ones, there are some major developments that the series does not show.

Here’s to finding long-running book series that you can spend your non-existent time to try and catch up. 

What Have we Done – JT Lawrence

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In tomorrow's world where the edges blur between addictive virtual reality and real life, would you hurt your daughter if it was the only way to set her free?

Lawrence strikes again in this action pack final book in the When Tomorrow Calls series. She grabs you from the first page and drags you on a virtual rollercoaster ride until the last full stop.

We meet up with beloved characters with a couple of new characters that will draw you into this epic tale of what can happen in the future. This thrilling heart racing Dystopian-thriller makes you sit back and think and realise what Lawrence has concocted isn’t such a far-fetched idea.

Reaching the end of the story I found myself shocked and cursing Lawrence, the reveal, in the end, blew my mind. The way Lawrence picks up all the loose threads from all the books and brings them all together to weave this intricate story is why I love reading her books. This is exactly what I will always expect from Lawrence. The writing as always is beautiful, and she has now proven that she can pick any genre and I will gladly follow along, well maybe I will draw the line at Horror, please don't write horror. 

For this reader who usually stays away from thrillers, I can guarantee you, this book will keep even the technophobes on their toes or give them new fears of technology, either way, this was a fast-paced read. 

Click for reviews of Why You Were Taken and How We Found You