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Book Lists

5 Favourite Fictional Couples

by amyleighreads2 Comments on 5 Favourite Fictional Couples

*There may be some spoilers if you haven’t read these books yet!*

These are five of my favourite fictional couples! Definitely not an all-time favourite list as I’m sure there are many more couples that I love also but these were the five that popped into my mind first!

Lucy and Josh – The Hating Game

One of my favourite tropes is the hate to love trope and I thought this was executed perfectly! This is only a recent read of mine but I feel perfectly comfortable putting these two in my top 5 favourite couples! The friction at the start of the novel and then to see the tension build throughout the storyline to their eventual romantic relationship was great to read!

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Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky – To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

The whole premise behind this series was so endearing and fluffy and I enjoyed these two immensely! I loved how it started so impersonally with the contract and all the rules and then to see over the course of the series blossom into a full blown romance was very cute!

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Ron and Hermione – Harry Potter Series

Just simply iconic! Re-reading this series recently really reinforced how much I love these two as a couple. I was so glad that they eventually got together after years and years of wondering whether or not it was going to happen. Gratification!

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Feyre and Rhysand – A Court of Thorns and Roses Series

A Court of Mist and Fury blew me away when I read it and it was mainly due to Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship! I fully thought that Rhysand was the evil, dangerous, wicked fairy that he was portrayed to be and then to dig deeper into his character and the connection with Feyre was amazing! I am trash for this series and I was very happy that Feyre ended up with Rhys and not Tamlin.

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Kazi and Jase – Dance of Thieves

 I loved these two together! Again it’s the hate to love trope that I cannot get enough of, just in a different scenario. Kazi as a Rahtan soldier undercover, Jase the Patriarch of the Ballenger Empire, it is just destined that they should be enemies, and yet… Oh the anticipation, the relationship, the betrayal. I loved it!

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Reviews

The Hazel Wood Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on The Hazel Wood Review

35121240This book follows the story of Alice who has been moving around her whole life with her mum Ella trying to outrun the bad luck that plagues them constantly. That is until Alice’s grandmother a reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood and Ella proclaims that they are free. Or are they?

The first half of the book I really enjoyed. The build-up of anticipation and tension really set the scene for the book and kept me on the edge of my seat. But the second half was a little disjointed and was a bit of a letdown. It got a little too fantastical all at once and I was a little lost in the woods. Had there been a little more information given about the Hazelwood prior to them actually entering might of made me appreciate the setting a bit more. But how it was kind of told just made me a bit confused and not really connected to what was happening.

I did enjoy the kind of mystery aspect surrounding what Althea had written, that component really intrigued me and had me wondering about what she encountered when she went missing. I like that we only got inserts from the book by Finch and how elusive it was to actually hold and read it.

Alice isn’t a favourite female protagonist of mine but I did appreciate how protective of her mother she was. How she would truly do whatever was necessary to try and find her and get her back even putting herself in danger was really courageous.  But I liked the fact that she still kept secrets from her mother and tried to find out about her grandmother and the Hinterland. She was just a bit too standoffish and cold (lol) for my liking for me to personally warm to her as a character, but in the end it did make sense so that made me appreciate her.

This book is actually quite dark and a little bit macabre, the pacing was pretty fast but there were a few lulls in the plot and at times I did find myself a little confused but I pushed through and did get it in the end. The premise was very different and unique but I thought the execution and the twist wasn’t explosive enough for me.

⭐️3/5 Intriguing, dark and a little strange…

Updates

Membership Revoked!

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Membership Revoked!

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been utilising my local library…smh! I had a membership with them once upon a time but if you haven’t used it in the last 2 years it is revoked and its been at least 7/8 years since I’ve even stepped into the building! But I finally decided that enough is enough and went in and signed myself back up. It has gotten to the stage that there are sooooo many books that I am interested in but I’m not sure that I am going to like, so why would I buy it? If I do end up reading a book and I fall in love with it then I can buy it for myself, easy done! I thought why am I wasting my money buying complete series with 4/5 books if I’m not sure I am even going to like it? This is a very easy fix to a situation that I unnecessarily created… So with all that being said this is the haul of books that I loaned out for the next few weeks! I would really like to get to a few of them on top of my actual TBR for April but we will have to see how I go! 🙂

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Reviews

Circe Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Circe Review

9781408890080I am underwhelmed.

This book follows the life of Circe, daughter to the Titan Helios. She is the least favoured among his children and when she is found to have fallen for a mortal man and used witchcraft against her own kind she is banished for eternity to a small island, to while away her existence alone.

I went into this book highly anticipating the read because of how hyped it was and I found myself bored.

At first I was very much invested in the storyline. I liked Circe and found her to be relatable for about the first quarter of the plot and then things spiralled a little bit for me. I appreciated her arc throughout the story but I think it was the way the plot unfolded that didn’t capture my attention as much as I thought it would.

It was a lot of Circe on the island by herself being told what was happening in the world around her and we didn’t really didn’t get to experience any of that excitement or adventure. Being exiled I should of figured that it would be a lot of Circe by herself but the way this book was hyped made me think it was going to be a whole lot more exciting and it just wasn’t for me.

I enjoyed the sort of historical aspect with all of the gods, titans, demigods and monsters and how they came to be in this book, but again it was fleeting and the story dragged a little.I found I didn’t really form a connection to any of the characters and by the end of it I really didn’t care. There wasn’t really any sort of build up of anticipation and the ending was a little too open ended for me.

I can see why so many people enjoyed this book and there wasn’t really anything outstandingly wrong with it, I just didn’t particularly enjoy it myself.

⭐️2/5 solid book, not one of my favourites…

Reviews

Sightwitch Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Sightwitch Review

prizepack2Did not expect this!

We delve a little bit deeper into the story of Ryber Fortiza. Ryber has spent her whole entire life in the Sightwitch Convent as a sister without sight, someone who hasn’t been called by the goddess to become a fully-fledged Sightwitch. She works herself hard and makes sure she abides by all the rules of the sisters in order to be called but one by one the sisters around her are called and she still isn’t. That is until one day more and more sisters are being called into the mountains of the goddess and they aren’t returning.  

I didn’t really know what to expect getting into this book, but I was pleasantly surprised with its direction. It goes so deep into the history of the Sightwitches and the flashbacks that occur really helped to strengthen the storyline further.

I love the fact that a minor character in the other books that I overlooked as unimportant could have such a rich and exciting backstory. I kind of wrote Ryber off in the previous books as just the girlfriend of Merik’s threadbrother. She was so insignificant to me that I even had to look her up because he name was familiar to me. Her arc throughout the course of the book was so well done! Being a devout sister who never broke the rules to become the last sister who delved deep into the mountain to save the rest of the Sightwitches, breaking all the rules in the process!

The addition of Kullen into the story was a nice touch for me. Again, he really didn’t leave a lasting impression on me in the last books and found myself having to reorient who he was in the series. Once I remembered who he was I was intrigued with how he managed to get himself into this situation. Why doesn’t he remember who he is whilst under the mountain and how important is he in the grand scheme of things?

I thought the pacing was perfect, it started off a little slow but you are fed enough information that you want to continue to read on. The history of the Sightwitches and how they have come to be was sooooo interesting to me especially learning about the Paladin’s and how they are the first of manifest the powers that are so common in the Witchlands now.

After the conclusion I just have so many questions that need answering! Did Kullen really cleave and die at the end of Truthwitch? Where did Ryber go after absconding from the ship? Is she going to save the Sightwitches from the cold embrace of the mountain? I need to know!!!

Because it was a novella though it was lacking a little oomph and left me with more questions than answers, but I was still entertained and enjoyed my experience whilst reading it!

⭐️4/5 I need to get to Bloodwitch ASAP!