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Book Review 📑
Plot:
Nurse Hyeon, at 18 has earned her position as palace nurse by studying harder than anybody else, despite her familial background. All she wants is a slight approval from a father for what she's accomplished and where she is. But, a massacre happens that puts her mentor in prison. Determined to find truth, she secretly pursues her own investigation that leads her to Eojin, a 19 year old police inspector who also believes that the killer is still free. When rumours about Crown Prince being the killer begins to spin, Hyeon has very little time to prove her mentor's innocence. Together Hyeon and Eojin should uncover all the secrets to find the truth.

Thoughts:
The author did a good job of transporting the reader to the time and place everything happens with her beautiful world building and character building. The history and cultural differences were described adequately to understand the mindset of the people who lived then and what is expected of anyone. Both, Hyeon and Eojin had good character traits with a past that shapes them. There's never a dull moment as one or the other keeps happening and despite the odds how Hyeon and Eojin proceed with their investigation is really interesting to read. There was a tinge of romance that could be possible given their time and age. Overall this was a very swift immersive read that I finished in a single sitting.

My Rating: 4/5⭐

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4

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
The Plot:
Florence Day does not believe in love since a year ago when her ex broke her heart. And that is a problem because she is a ghostwriter for one of the most famous romance authors of all time. When she meets up with her new broad-chested handsome editor for some extension or change in plot, he outright refuses and pushes her to stick to the already extended deadline. Before she could think of an alternative to save her career, she gets the news of her father's death and she drops everything to go back to the town which she'd avoided at all costs for the past decade. When she finds the very same editor in ghostly form outside the funeral parlor she knows she cannot always run from her past and her home. How she accomplishes her father's last wishes, all the while finding love and taking hold of her writing is the rest of the story.

Thoughts:
I liked that the story did not just focus on the romance part but also on Flo's friends and family dynamics. It's mostly fiction than romance. The writing was beautiful with some flowery words and a good number of quotes to highlight. We get to meet so many beautiful characters including some LGBTQ+ characters who are not given any special intros or backgrounds or slurs. All of them just exist and in a very normal society. I appreciate this beyond words because ultimately that's how the society and people should be, no question of coming out, being accepted or rejected. Flo getting matured with her life turning twists and turns was captured beautifully. The paranormal part of the story was not elaborated greatly except that they exist and some can see. There's no rhyme or reason. All the characters get a very good ending without too much drama. The romance portion was subtle but, with a pinch of imaginary spice. Overall this was a really good read.

My Rating: 4/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview by @a_reader_recommends

7

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Plot:
The story picks off exactly where the first book ends. Ziva is again traveling with Kellyn and Petrik to save her sister Temra. They have a prisoner who they painfully bested in the first book and the most dangerous of all. The means to save Temra puts them in the path of war, winning or losing which may not make much different with their lack of knowledge and resources. But, everything comes down to what Ziva and her likes are capable of doing.

Thoughts:
Like in the first book, Ziva's reality was shown perfectly in the most frustrating way. It allows the reader to understand a little of how people like Ziva feel in real time. The magical abilities of others like Ziva were crafted well considering their role in the large scheme of things. Prioritizing the people over vengeance was a good choice which lead few very good moments of war strategies. Almost all the characters take decision on behalf of others and put them in a precarious position. That just frustrated me to no end. The ending was good but Ziva's magik was not explored to her potential which minimized her strength. Overall, this was a good duology wrapped up neatly.

My Rating: 4/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #masterofiron #tricialevenseller by @a_reader_recommends

5

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Plot:
Daisy Darker's Nana has invited their entire family to celebrate her 80th birthday in Seaglass. Daisy, her mother Nancy, father Frank, sisters Rose and Lily, Lily's daughter Trixie and the boy next door Conor all arrive one after the other in hopes to get something out of this visit. But, soon the celebration turns deadly and every one hour one after the other everyone start ending up dead.
My Thoughts:
The story is narrated from Daisy's pov and all her feelings were captured perfectly. The story dragged a bit in the middle but all the questions were answered in the end with a couple of twists. Apart from the revelation of why and how, why now is also answered. The ending gave closure to the characters alive but am not sure what would happen to all those who died. There's also a neat hint at the end that indicates from where this story was inspired from. Overall this was a good read and as I've never read any of the author's books before, I would very much like to rectify that in the future.
My Rating: 4/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #daisydarker #alicefeeney by @a_reader_recommends

6

1

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Plot:
Cat is an orphan with an extraordinary skill to find flaws anywhere in a construction building. She is unofficially on the holy Sanctum in Collis and during one of her nightly routine checks, she witnesses a murderer escaping which she shouldn't have been able to. Investigation is handed over to Simon who's new but, seems to have the knack for finding answers where there were none. Cat starts understanding why she was able to know about the murder which puts her in a dangerous position between being exposed for who she is and wanting to catch the killer.
Thoughts:
The book had a really interesting magic system which hardly scratched the surface of it's enormity. The storyline and the characters were developed well but the ending was just not satisfactory. It all pointed towards the direction that there might be at least another book later on explaining the extent of the magical abilities, it's background and the capacity of Kat. Otherwise this was a good murder mystery solved with the help of people with magical abilities.
And, I could not find the connection between the cover and the story😜

My Rating: 3/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview by @a_reader_recommends

6

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Plot:
Twenty years ago Claire's elder sister went missing was never found. It broke their family in more ways than one and each dealt grief in different ways. Now, some other girl has gone missing and Claire closely follows the story about her unable to letting go. Something tragic happens and there's no escaping the past.

TW: Gruesome rape, mutilation, torture, murder, graphic descriptions, physical/drug abuse, suicide etc.

Thoughts:
This book was harder to read because of the body horror and the cruel ways in which the victims get violated. Never read a Karin Slaughter's book without reading the trigger warnings.
The story is narrated in 3 POVs: Claire's, her other sister's and notes from their father's journal. The story kicks off from the first chapter and expect brutality within few pages. Everything was so intriguing and the book kept me engaged and invested to know how it ends. Coming back to the characters, Claire pushes herself through every horrible thing that she faces even though she's unsure of what to do. For a character who was co-dependent most of her life she seemed to do excellent job sometimes which was hard to believe. After the 2nd twist, the Claire did not have a proper direction and the story seemed be all over the place. Claire's other sister who's also gone through a lot brings out another perspective of how the past affected and still affects her present. She does have similar number of chapters as Claire's but her character portrayal also shifted 180 deg like Claire's. And then there was this investigator from FBI who seemed to be enjoying himself when there was so much pain and grief around him and in the end he proved to be the most gullible which annoyed me to no end and I wanted punch his face. Otherwise, the storyline and other characters were written well especially, the antagonist. The ending seemed fitting but something felt missing like the final revelation was not grand enough.
If you're in a good head space, pick this.

My Rating: 4/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #prettygirls #karinslaughter by @a_reader_recommends

5

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Plot:
Naomi jumps at the opportunity to help her estranged fraud twin sister Tina, not because she wanted to escape her own wedding. At least that's what she keeps telling herself. Too bad Tina leaves her penniless and incharge of her 11 year old niece who she never knew existed. Like every other time Naomi fixed Tina's mistakes, she decides to start afresh giving a home for her niece. Knox is one of the first few people who mistook her for Tina and was all ready to almost kick the shit out of her but slowly they come to an understanding and try to be amicable and settle things. Knox does not want to get involved with her or anything permanent at all and Naomi wants a peaceful love filled life. But Knox's baggage and Naomi's twin don't make anything easy if not dangerous.

My thoughts:
The storyline was really good. It started out light and fluffy with a grumpy guy-romantic gal falling for each other wibe but, Knox's constant frown n rudeness became annoying. Getting frustrated unable to not like someone is understandable but being rude is just not okay. Naomi 's niece gets abandoned and the kid's feelings were not dealt with. Even Naomi broke off her wedding, suddenly became incharge of a human(her words) but, she just took everything with stride. Knox's baggage and his explanation seemed to be just not enough. Read 'Guncle' to know how a person suddenly being incharge of a child feels like and manages their living. Also, the book is 200 pages too long.
Overall, this was a light fluffy steamy read and I understand why there are so many 5 star ratings for this book. But, having read so many romance with traumatic characters getting into dangerous situation this did not make the cut anywhere for me.

My Rating: 3/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #thingswenevergotover #lucyscore by @a_reader_recommends

15

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑

Plot:
Jani and her sister Zosa barely scrape through life in the port town of Durc. One day, Hotel Magnifique comes to town and Jani convinces Zosa to interview together for staff positions. One thing leads to another and they go aboard the Magnifique. Soon Jani discovers that all that magic that enamor the guests and staffs also has some deadly secrets. With the handsome doorman Bel to save her many a times, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery behind Hotel Magnifique and save everyone she loves and cares about.

Thoughts:
Like 'The Night Circus', the magic involved here is elaborate and complicated and like 'Caraval', there are 2 sisters where one is adventurous and the other follows. But, there stops the similarities. The magic system in this book is never explained and there's never a reason as to why certain things work and why certain things doesn't. Though there are talks about the history of Hotel Magnifique, there's no background given than a couple of hurried pages. Jani seemed to be too self-centred, impulsive and reckless never bothered with the consequences of her actions even though she has so much at stake. Someone gets hurt by every single of her actions and she never learns till the end of the book. Otherwise, Hotel Magnifique had a lot of impressive qualities and the setting was magnificent. Almost all the characters were shallow and it was hard to root for any of them. For the elaborate plot, the ending seemed to be quicker. The writing did not do justice to the characters or the plot. Sadly, this book had so much potential.

My Rating: 2.5/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #hotelmagnifique #emilyjtaylor by @a_reader_recommends

9

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑

Plot:
The story follows 2 POVs one of Meg Williams and of Kat Roberts.
Meg is con artist who takes different names in different places and targets a particular type of people and leaves them high and dry. Whoever gets close to her ends up losing everything but, there maybe some who get benefitted too.
Ten years ago, Meg did something that changed Kat's life forever and now when she finally gets to meet her, she works on exposing her. But, the more she gets to know Meg, the lines between the actual Meg and the con artist Meg seems to blur making Kat wonder many of her thoughts and assumptions.

Thoughts:
The story had amazing potential where a con artist is doing a con while another is trying to con the con artist. But, sadly that's not how the story went. We get to see Meg in her element conning people over the span of a decade and the current one that she's executing. Though the lingo each of the character she takes seems to be an adjustment to read, the author did a good job of compiling the cons. Kat, on the other hand seems to be a naive young woman who is said to have great potential but never puts to use any of her talents. She just goes along the ride with Meg without doing any side much investigation. She's never a step ahead in the game. There's no cat and mouse game between Kat and Meg. Kat simply did not use her skills and resources and succumbed to treachery just like that. Till the end Meg does all the work but the final act was not that impressive. There were no twists that were unpredictable. Even the con was obvious and left no room for surprise. If only Kat had been smarter, the ultimate con had been trickier and the pace of the book had been faster, this could've been easily a 5 star read for me. There were no thriller elements, only a little mystery. Overall it was an okay read.

My Rating: 3/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #theliesitell #julieclark by @a_reader_recommends

8

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4 years ago

Book Review 📑

Plot:
Blythe promises herself to be a better mother than her mother or grandmother ever was. But, her daughter Violet seems to be different from other kids (not in a good way). Her husband Fox seems to be convinced that she's imagining things. But, a tragedy occurs after their son Sam is born and everything aspect of her family gets shattered. She loses everything and everyone but, maybe she was right all along and others may understand after all.

Thoughts:
This book deals with a very possible but harsh reality of motherhood, the stress and the expectations of being a mother and sometimes the reality of not wanting to be a mother. The story neatly summarises the lives of 3 women who transfer their stress, trauma and fear in one form or other generation after generation. The story is written in Blythe's POV narrating their life events to Fox with alternating storyline of her mother's and grandmother's. Sometimes without chapter titles I found it hard to understand whose story is going on. But otherwise it was written well. All of Blythe's feelings were authentic and perfectly captured. There were no twists in the story and even the tragedy was predictable. The ending was good but I wanted the last word to be of Fox's.
Overall this was a good psychological family drama over a period of 3 generations and I would absolutely recommend.

My Rating: 4/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #thepush #ashleyaudrain by @a_reader_recommends

8

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Andrea Oliver series written by Karin Slaughter (see my previous review post) and you've to read the first book to follow what is happening here and to get more insight on pretty much everything.

Plot:
Andrea picks up her first assignment as US Marshall to protect a judge in Longbill Beach. But, her actual intention is to solve the murder of Emily Vaughn 40 years ago. By solving the mystery she intends to keep a Certain someone in prison forever. But, somehow the Judge she's there to protect, the murder she's trying to solve and whom she's trying to convict are all related and things are not easy with the present crimes coming into picture.

Thoughts:
I loved this book more than the first and like in the first book I loved the past narrative more than the present but the author's writing has vastly improved from the first book. Andrea's character matures perfectly and her detective skills are to be appreciated. She has a partner Bible who lightens the moment with his dry humor but also very good at his job. The moments with Andrea's love interest are fun. The character Emily deals with so much as a teenager on her own without anybody to rely on and it is heartbreaking. The justice is served a little too late but that may not solve Andrea's problem completely. The ending and the climax confirms that there'd be another book.
Overall this was a fantastic book that has to be picked up knowing the trigger warnings.

My Rating: 5/5⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #piecesofher #girlforgotten #karinslaughter #netgalley by @a_reader_recommends

5

0

4 years ago

Book Review 📑
TW: Physical Abuse, psychological abuse, violence, murders, blood, gore, drug abuse, homophobic slurs, AIDS sufferings, etc.

Plot:
Andrea has had ups and downs in her boring life before but nothing could compare to the day in the Mall where she and her mother somehow ended up being held at gunpoint. All her life she had believed she knew her mother but that day revealed things that confirmed that she had no idea who her mother actually was. When her mother sends her away after the incident, she goes in search of the truth instead of just escaping to a new life as per her mother's instructions. The dangers she faces and the truths that she discovers are life-altering.

Thoughts:
The plot follows 2 different timelines of 2 different characters that finally completes the story in a perfect ending. I loved the complex characters (especially the charisma of the antagonist), the thickening stress-filled sometimes suffocating storyline and the ending. But, the investigation on the current events seemed to be less efficient and vague. That made me like the past more than the present.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐

#bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookslover #bookishpost #bookswithbeautifulcovers #bookishphotography #bookishlove #bookishlife #bookishquotes #bookishmerch #bookreview #piecesofher #karinslaughter by @a_reader_recommends

4

0

4 years ago