Tag: book blogger

Wrap Ups

October Wrap Up

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on October Wrap Up

In October didn’t do the best in terms of quantity of books however, I am still super stoked with what I managed to read. I ticked off two books that have been on my TBR for over 2 years each and read some new releases I’ve been highly anticipating even though I found them to be just ok! I have quite high hopes for November though and there are just sooo many more books that I am excited to pick up.

The books I read in October were:

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard – ⭐️5/5 stars

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson – ⭐️3/5 stars

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton – ⭐️3/5 stars

Witchshadow by Susan Dennard – ⭐️3/5 star

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

TBR

November TBR

by amyleighreads4 Comments on November TBR

I felt like I had a pretty good reading month in October and I wanted to carry that over to November and continue on with my momentum! Once again I’m just going to be listing all the books that are at the top of my TBR at the moment and throughout the month just mood read whatever I feel like reading!

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Reviews

Into the Water Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Into the Water Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the last days before her death, Nel Abbott called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.

As a character I didn’t particularly like Jules or feel any kind of connection to her so I wasn’t that invested in the story as whole because of that. Throughout the book she never surprised me or did something that would encourage me to be on her side. Sure she had something horrific happen to her when she was a child and the other children and her sister were horrible to her but none of that had anything to do with Nel’s death and the deaths of all the other women at the pool. It did give us some context as to Nel’s character and I can see why Jules would believe that her sister was so callous all these years.

Lena just got on my nerves for the majority of the story as well. I can appreciate that she just lost her mum and is in mourning at the moment but her attitude and brattiness was annoying. She was very selfish in keeping that secret about Katie and I was 100% on Louise’s side for telling her that! She would of eased their minds months and months ago about why Katie killed herself had she just told the family about the relationship.

I feel like Louise bless her was the most realistic out of all the characters in this book. Her grief over her daughter’s death and her unwillingness to give up and figure out the cause of it all felt so real and raw. I can’t imagine what she would be going through but she knew that Nel and Lena had something to do with it and ultimately they did.

I liked the structure of the book, having the multiple perspectives really gave us a lot of context and upped the mystery factor as to who was behind Nel’s death. The pacing was just a little off though, there wasn’t enough reveals or twists for me, it was just one big build up to the standoff with the Townsend’s. It was original, unlike anything I’ve read so far and ultimately was just an ok for me!

⭐️3/5 stars Very eerie, dark and wet!

Reviews

Witchshadow Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Witchshadow Review

*A little Spoilery*

War has come to the Witchlands . . . and nothing will be the same again. Iseult has found her heartsister Safi at last, but their reunion is brief. For Iseult to stay alive, she must flee Cartorra while Safi remains. And though Iseult has plans to save her friend, they will require her to summon magic more dangerous than anything she has ever faced before.

The structure of the plot wasn’t a favourite of mine to be honest. I didn’t really like that we lost all of that time right at the start and then have to have flashbacks throughout the course of the plot to find out what happened. Once again Safi and Iseult have been torn apart and even though they are evolving and distinguishing themselves as characters we don’t see them together enough anymore.

I feel like this was definitely Iseult’s book as she figures out what it means to be the new puppeteer and her voidwitch powers. We witness her struggle with the guilt of having to kill so many people and being able to do it so easily and not giving in to that ‘monstrous’ side of herself that she feels is within her. She has many revelations and epiphanies and we learn so much through her about the truth of who the paladins actually are.

Safi’s storyline was a little stunted to begin with. I didn’t really care about the Emperor at all and I wasn’t as invested in what was going on with that. I did like the fact that we learnt more about the Hell-bards and their history and the restrictions that they have now that Safi is one of them.

Vaness and Vivia was a storyline I wasn’t sure where it was going. Definitely didn’t think that they would actually form a relationship which seems to be the direction it’s going. Having that weaved into Stix and Ryber and their adventures was very entertaining and had me wanting to find out what was going to happen next.

Overall the Paladin’s and Exalted Ones were brought into the story way too quickly for me. Had they been introduced right from Truthwitch at maybe I would be on board but right now I’m kind of confused as to who is who. You absolutely need to read Sightwitch to have any indication as to what was going on in this book and even though I only reread it a month ago I was still kind of like huh?

The only thing that is really pushing me forward is Iseult and Aeduan finally being reunited and Merik’s little appearance right at the end with those mysterious sisters. I have no idea what is going to happen next I just hope Iseult and Safi get a chance to sit down, catch up with us and let us as a reader take a breather.

⭐️3/5 stars I’m invested, the story just veered far from what I was expecting