The Black Sheep

By Sophie McKenzie

A bit unrealistic, but still really enjoyable.  I first discovered Sophie McKenzie with her YA novels years ago, but I think her adult thrillers are much better.

The Black Sheep is about a woman called Francesca, whose husband was murdered a year before the book began.  At his memorial service, a man approaches her and tells her that there was more to her husband's death than what was reported and that members of her family were involved.  This leads Fran to investigate which leads to an exciting and riveting climax.

One thing I think Sophie McKenzie is brilliant at is her ability to tell a story.  She isn't the best writer in the world but she is still able to write a story that immediately draws you in.  She has a unique writing style, and I've read enough of her books that I'd immediately be able to tell she wrote it without seeing the title or cover.  She is fantastic at creating characters that you can relate to.  Most of her books are centred around people who are ordinary people doing 9-5 jobs, and have been caught up in something awful.  Francesca is like that, going about her life looking after her kids and doing the school run.  I thought she was a great main character but she did annoy me slightly - it was clear that she was not able to trust any of her family and yet she still chose to confide in almost every member who ultimately could have been behind her husband's death.  Harry is also another likeable character, as are the rest of them.  I don't want to mention anything else about them, as I think I might end up spoiling the book for those who haven't read it.  Only Fran's Uncle Perry was dislikable I thought, constantly putting Francesca down but he too is fighting his own demons.

The setting was really good.  It was set in London, and being British myself I was able to picture everything clearly.  I actually imagined parts of the book to take place in real-life areas close to me, something I've only ever done a handful of times.  I think this helped me to enjoy it more.  The plot was a bit unrealistic and far-fetched, but I don't mind this; I think it adds excitement.  Who wants to read a boring book anyway?

While I mostly read books for pleasure and enjoyment, I also think it is great when authors write about issues that are relevant in the real world.  Abortion is prominent throughout the book and the ethics behind it, and one character suffers from bad mental health.

All in all, another great thriller from Sophie McKenzie.  It isn't the best book in the world and probably won't win any awards, but there are definitely worse books out there.  I'd recommend picking this up if you want something easy to read, that, although unrealistic, can just swoop you in and take you into its world.  I look forward Sophie McKenzie's next thriller.

Rating: 8/10

Date read: April 2017.

The Woman in Cabin 10

By Ruth Ware

This is the first book by Ruth Ware that I've read, and while I did really enjoy it, I don't think it was amazing.  I got major The Girl on the Train vibes, and the book seems to copy a lot of aspects of that book.  

The Woman in Cabin 10 is about a young woman named Lo Blacklock, who is a travel journalist.  She accepts an assignment on the maiden voyage of a small cruise ship, which she believes will help her open doors and possibly get her promoted.  All starts of well onboard, with just a handful of luxury cabins, but when Lo think she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard, the cruise takes a downward turn.  With all the passengers on the ship accounted for, who was the woman in cabin 10?

First off, I really liked the setting.  Set on a small cruise ship with only a handful of accessible rooms, it helped you realise the feeling of unease.  There really was no escape for Lo, who has no idea about who the potential murderer could be and if they will strike again.  The more she digs to try and get information, the more this seems possible.  I did get a sense of cabin fever reading this though, as it was set in the same small area constantly.  If the cruise ship had been a bit bigger, this might have been avoided, but then it may have caused the book to have a completely different tone and atmosphere.

On to the characters, as another reviewer mentioned on Goodreads, I absolutely hated Lo.  She reminded me so much of the main character in The Girl on the Train, Rachel.  Both are heavily dependent on alcohol and are really dislikable.  All Lo does is moan and make stupid decisions, which again she moans about later - countless times she asks herself "how could I have been so stupid?".  You'd think with all that was going on she'd be a bit more cautious and take more time to think about things.  She is also horrible to the people around her - her ex, Ben, and her current partner, Judah.  Whilst she was dislikable, I sometimes think that it is good for the main characters in books to be like this.  It shows that they are flawed and makes them seem more human, I think.  I also liked the fact that a lot of emphases was put on her mental health as I think that this is hugely important; there is also a lot of stigma shown to this by the other characters that I think is present in everyday life.  Mental health is something that shouldn't be shied away from in order to make characters more likable.

At times I often found it too difficult to keep up with the other characters - there were just so many.  Throughout the book, I constantly had to flick back to see who was who.  I did like that they all seemed like they could be villains and I had no idea who was behind throwing the woman overboard.

The final reveal occurred somewhat earlier than I expected, and I didn't see it coming at all.  I would say that the book was a bit unrealistic overall, however.  

As I said, this is the first book I've read by Ruth Ware, and because I really enjoyed it, I will definitely be picking up her debut and her next book which is due out soon.

Rating: 7.5/10

Date read: April 2017.

Carve the Mark

By Veronica Roth

Good, but I expected more from the author of the Divergent series.

Carve the Mark is centred around two main characters, Cyra and Akos.  Cyra's brother, Ryzek, is a tyrant who rules the country of Shotet, and uses her to torture his enemies because of her currentgift.  Akos is the son of an oracle, and when he and his brother are kidnapped by Shotet soldiers, he vows to do anything to get them both out alive.  He is forced to step in to help Cyra, who is having trouble controlling her currentgift, and if you've read any other YA novels where two characters from opposing sides are forced together, you can probably already tell what happens next. 

One thing I can't deny that Veronica Roth is excellent at is world-building.  The world she created in the Divergent series was very well thought out and the world in Carve the Mark is just as good.  I didn't like the setting however, but I think that this was just because of the type of book that this is.  I admit that I didn't know anything about this book before I started to read it - I just saw that it was written by Veronica Roth so I immediately bought it.  If I'd read the blurb I probably wouldn't have been in such a rush to read it.  

The characters in Carve the Mark were all quite well thought out, I thought.  Cyra and Akos were both interesting protagonists coming to terms with their newly developed currentgifts.  Ryzek was a good villain - I liked how his backstory was explored, and that him and Cyra used to be close when they were younger, but he was corrupted by his father so he could rule Shotet.  On the other hand, I just thought that there were too many characters in the book to keep track of, and I had to keep checking back to see who was who.  

Although I did enjoy this, the book is riddled with problems.  I thought there was an important plot hole surrounding the oracles, but if I try to explain it I think I might spoil too much of the story.  There is also the issue of racism which is quite prominent in Carve the Mark - if you google this then you'll get a much better explanation than I can probably give.

I don't think I'll rush to by the sequel when it comes out.  It was good, but nowhere near as good as Divergent.  It took me a week to read it, and if I had enjoyed it a bit more then I would have flown through it a lot quicker.

Rating: 5/10
Date read: April 2017.

Caraval (Caraval #1)

By Stephanie Garber

This book wasn't what I expected but I did really enjoy it.  I was expecting it to be similar to the Hunger Games, but other than a "game" being the central aspect there is nothing similar between the two books.  Throughout most of the book I got major Alice in Wonderland vibes.

'Caraval' is about two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, who live on a tiny island in the Conquered Isles.  They are abused physically by their father, and when Scarlett finally receives an invite to Caraval, a performance held once a year, they finally believe that they may have a chance of escape.  Upon arrival, Scarlett quickly discovers that the whole point of this year's performance revolves around her younger sister's kidnap, and she sets off on a perilous journey to try and get Tella back.

I thought the world-building in this book was great but not perfect.  Not much detail is given to the world as a whole but I found it really easy to visualise the setting once Scarlett arrived at Caraval.  There is a map at the beginning of the book which helped, but to be honest this was not needed as the descriptions given throughout the book were really good.  I did keep forgetting that most of the book was set at night, rather than during the daytime, and found it difficult to picture it like this.  

I did like most of the characters, especially Scarlett.  She was a strong lead and I really rooted for her.  Tella, on the other hand, really annoyed me.  She seemed to be so reckless and not think about her actions, but there is a nice little plot twist towards the end surrounding her that I didn't see coming.  Julian, the main love interest, was another character I really liked.  He was really mysterious.  I kept wondering whether he was on Scarlett's side or whether he was working against her.  Legend himself is another mysterious character, again you wonder whether he really is the villain that's he's portrayed as throughout the entire book.  Scarlett and Tella's father was the only one I was certain was a real villain, but is all as it seems?  I didn't like him as a character but he was a good antagonist.  The secondary characters who appear throughout the story are all really likeable and I was always wondering who had an ulterior motive and who did not.

I really liked the writing style; as I've said it was really easy to visualise what was happening in my head.  Towards the end of the book I didn't really see how it would work as a series as it seemed to come to a satisfying end but there is a nice plot twist at the very end that set things up nicely for the rest of the series.  The book as a whole was very mysterious and I often thought I had things figured out when in reality I couldn't have been more wrong.  I will definitely be picking up further books in the series.

One thing that did annoy me was the UK cover.  The US cover is so much nicer but having read the book I kind of feel that the UK one does fit the story more.

Date read: March 2017
Rating: 8/10.

The Road to Winter (Winter #1)

By Mark Smith

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

For the first few chapters I really did not think I was going to enjoy this at all. I think it was just the style of writing that put me off but the book as a whole ended up being quite good.

The book starts off telling us about the virus that hit the world and wiped out most of the population, and how the main character, Finn, survived after losing his parents. One day whilst surfing on the beach he meets a young girl, Rose, who is on the run from a group of "wilders" who are wreaking havoc throughout the country. Finn agrees to help her try and escape them and find her sister, who she lost a few days before whilst on the run from them. I won't say much more than that but the pace of the story really picks up from that point and is where it starts to get more enjoyable.

The two things that I make a book really enjoyable are the characters and setting. I loved every character in this book, even the villains. Finn was a strong lead who had been through a lot and I really liked him, along with Rose and her sister. Ramage was a great villain, who, despite not having much at his disposal like antagonists in other similar novels, still managed to be quite terrifying. It was maybe because you don't see him a lot in the novel, but hear a lot about him from Rose, and so he never really seems to disappear and you always know he was hot on the characters' heels. The setting was good, but with the descriptions given I often found it difficult to build up images in my head, and I felt with a little more description this could have been better. Not much detail is given to the mysterious virus and this is something I would have liked to have known a little more about.

As I've said, the writing style wasn't the best but the characters in this book really sold it for me. The novel ends on a cliffhanger and sets things up nicely for a second instalment, which I'd definitely be interested in reading.

Date read: March 2017
Rating: 7/10.

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

By Suzanne Collins

***MINOR SPOILER ALERT***

I read this for the first time about five years ago and thought it was a really weak ending to the Hunger Games series. I decided to reread the series but wasn't particularly looking forward to reading Mockingjay again as I knew how bad it was compared to the first two books.

However, I did enjoy it a lot more second time round but I still don't think it's perfect. Katniss still annoyed me for the majority of the book. In the first two I really rooted for her and she was such a strong character, but in this one all she does is moan and is so much more stubborn. I get that she had been through a lot but she was like a completely different character from the Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

I hated the ending first time round but thought it was actually really well done this time. I still thought it was a bit rushed but the whole drama with President Snow and Coin was done really well. The epilogue is still awful - think of the one at the end of the last Harry Potter but with less detail and a quarter of the length and you have the epilogue from Mockingjay. It was so rushed.

Although I think Suzanne Collins could have spent more time tying up a few loose ends that were left unresolved, I do think Mockingjay is a satisfying end to the series.

Date read: March 2017.

Rating: 7/10.

Cradle and All

By James Patterson

I was initially going to give this 3 stars but I thought the ending was brilliant and I did not expect it at all.

This is the first proper novel by James Patterson that I've read, and having heard so much about him I was a bit disappointed. His writing style is very poor. I felt as if the whole book was rushed and not very detailed, and the chapters were so short it was annoying. The book follows various different characters and you don't even get the chance to connect with them before the chapter ends - most of them only lasted two or three pages.

The novel itself was so unrealistic and unbelievable. I did notice a few plot holes, one of which was when a character was viciously attacked but then their injuries are never mentioned again and they seem fine for the rest of the book. As I mentioned though I did really enjoy the ending and it had a really good twist.

Date read: February 2017
Rating: 5/10.

The Passenger

By Lisa Lutz

This was nothing like I expected it to be but I still couldn't put it down! I can't believe I didn't read it sooner! It was so good.

I'll admit for the first few pages I didn't think I was going to enjoy it. But as soon as Tanya/Amelia or whatever you want to call her goes on the run, the suspense didn't stop and I couldn't put the book down.

I really liked Tanya as the main character. It was interesting to see her original backstory detailed in the emails throughout the book, although I was a bit confused to begin with. As the book goes on, a lot of things become clear, like why she ran away when she found her husband dead rather than report it to the police. Blue was another good character, but she wasn't in it as much as the blurb suggested. It was nice to see her return at the end of the book.

As I read the last few pages I thought that the book was ending nicely, and then something got revealed that I wasn't expecting at all. It put the events of the whole book in perspective and made everything make much more sense. I couldn't believe it.

I'd say the book was a bit far-fetched but that did not stop me enjoying it.  It was total escapism.  I would definitely read more by the author.

Date read: January 2017

Rating: 10/10

Graduation Day (The Testing #3)

By Joelle Charbenneau

***MINOR SPOILER ALERT***

WHAT THE HELL????????

I loved the first two books but this one was awful in comparison. The first half dragged for what felt like forever and was basically just Cia saying "okay this is what I have to do but how do I do it??" over and over again, along with the recaps about what happened to the world before the book began. It was so slow. Then, the second half felt so rushed. It would have been better if the first half was shortened and the last half lengthened. 

The plot was so unbelievable. To think that the president gives Cia such a challenging mission when she has so many others that can do it is just ridiculous. The two deaths at the end were so predictable and I knew that both of them were going to happen way before they did. One of them was so similar to the one at the end of the Hunger Games it was unbelievable. 

Having said that, there was a nice little twist towards the end that I didn't see coming, but because I was so disappointed with the book as a whole this didn't save it for me.

Date read: January 2017

Rating: 3/10.

The Diabolic

By S.J. Kincaid

This was quite good and I’m so glad it is a standalone instead of the first book in a series. It was nice to actually read a book and not have to wait for another year or two before finding out what happens. The ending was quite satisfying I thought, and there were no parts where it was dragged out to make the story last longer.

Having said that, it wasn’t perfect. The romance felt quite forced and unbelievable but as Nemesis is a diabolic this makes sense on her part. Many of the characters seem to drop like flies and no one seems to care. The world building was quite sketchy as well – it was like places were just given names but none other details. This lack of good world building is another reason I’m glad this is a standalone. The world didn’t really pull me in and so I’m not sure I’d want to invest time in reading more if it was series.

Date read: January 2017

Rating: 6/10.

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1)

By Neal Shusterman

I really enjoyed this book, but it wasn't as good as Neal Shusterman's other series, Unwind.  For the first few chapters, I thought it was going to be really similar to Unwind, but it ended up going in a completely different direction.  There wasn't any major villains in the book, and the villains that were there weren't that threatening, which made the majority of the book very slow paced.  Having said that, it was never really boring.

The "romance" between the two main characters was not weird exactly but a bit unbelievable.  It just seemed to spring up out of nowhere and wasn't that well developed.  I did like that it was very minor, however, and that the book did not revolve around it.

I thought that the world building was quite good - something I think Shusterman is consistently good at.  It really made you think what would happen if humans managed to actually conquer death and people could wake up completely fine a few days after sustaining a major injury.  I also found it interesting that everything in the world had been learned about and that there was nothing else to be discovered.  I did think that some details were a bit vague - not much detail is given about the levels of technology the world had and I would have liked to find out more about the Thunderhead.

Towards the end of the book, I didn't really see how this would work as a series but the last few chapters set things up really nicely and so I would definitely read more.

Date read: January 2017

Rating: 8/10.

Enclave

By Ann Aguirre

I did really enjoy this but thought it lost its way around the middle. It started off well in the tunnels from the old subway underneath what was New York City, with the main character Deuce just trying her best to help herself and others survive. The community that had been built in the depths of the tunnel was interesting and I would have liked to have seen this developed more with the tension occurring within and the threats from outside, but this never happens as Deuce and her hunting partner Fade are quickly exiled.

From there, I thought the book quickly got boring. I thought that what happens up in the city was similar to various other dystopian novels I have read. Deuce and Fade quickly realise that if they want to survive then they must head north out of the city. It began to get more exciting as soon as they had left the city limits, with them picking up a few new friends along the way. The last quarter of the book was just as good as the beginning.

I thought the characters themselves were well developed – I liked the fact that they all had their flaws, especially Stalker. He and Tegan add more excitement to the story as I thought it would have been boring had Deuce and Fade been running around for the majority of the book on their own.

The story itself is a mix of The Walking Dead and Fallout. I’d have liked to find out more about the “Freaks” so hopefully more detail will be given later in the series as to what they are and where they came from. The ending left things open for future books in the series. I did enjoy the book, and I’d like to read the rest of the series but I don't think I'm in any hurry to do so.

Date read: December 2016

Rating: 6/10.

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)

By Sarah J. Maas

I officially do not get the Sarah J. Maas hype.  Don't get me wrong, her world-building is brilliant, but there's things her books severely lack, and I have no idea what it is. Maybe it's just the genre that I don't like but I don't know.

I really wanted to like this book after hearing so many good things about it, but I really didn't. I feel like I'm in the minority for not liking it. It's the second book by this author that I haven't enjoyed, but I actually managed to finish this one. 

First of all, it could be half the length. I expected the competition to have a huge part in the book but not much time is given to it. The tests themselves were short and rushed. I only thought that the duel at the end was particularly interesting. 

I didn't like Calaena that much as the main character. She was described as being the most feared assassin in the world, but this is not shown at all. This could have been explored a bit more in the tests and maybe I would have believed it a bit more, as like I said, they were rushed. You'd think that after being held prisoner for over a year that she would be keen to practice her skills again, but she spends most of the book doing nothing but wandering around the hallways of the castle and playing piano. The other criminals in the competition were not believable either - half of them didn't even get a name.

I don't even have to mention how annoying and bad the love triangle was. How often does this happen in novels when it is not needed? 

Having said all of that I did like the world Sarah J. Maas built and I would be interested to find out more about it. I'd also like to see what happens in the rest of the books, I just don't think I can be bothered to read through five more to find out.

Oh and by the way, the US cover is stunning. I do like the UK one but it's nowhere near as nice.

Date read: December 2016

Rating: 3/10.

Ida

By Alison Evans

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

This book wasn’t what I expected it to be – I thought it was going to be something similar to Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy with the travelling between parallel universes, but it was completely different. For the first few chapters I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it, but as I read on I was more and more pleasantly surprised.

This is one of the few books I have read where I did not dislike any of the characters. Ida and Daisy were written perfectly and their relationship was believable. I thought Frank should have had a bigger part in the plot as I really liked him as well. The romance between Ida and Daisy was also done really well I thought – it wasn’t overdone and although it was a prominent part of the story, the plot did not revolve around it. 

The only part of the book where I felt I was let down was with the ending. Ida spent a lot of time on her own in the last half of the book, which I disliked. I liked all the other characters and would have liked if they had played a bigger part in the story. The answer that Ida was looking for was staring her in the face for half the book and seemed so obvious, and when she finally does discover it the story ends very abruptly. 

If this is the start of a series then I would definitely read more – Ida gets an interesting job offer towards the end of the book which would be interesting to read about, to see if she can maybe help others that are in the same situation as she was. All in all, a quick, easy and enjoyable read. 

UPDATE: I've been thinking about this book a lot since I read it back in December and I think I enjoyed it a lot more than I first thought.  I keep thinking about the characters a lot, and I might reread it sometime soon.  I've never read an LGBT themed story before but I really liked this and I'd be interested to read more by the same author.

Date read: December 2016
Rating: 7.5/10.

New World: Rising

By Jennifer Wilson

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve had it on my kindle for a while and can’t believe I haven’t read it sooner. There are a few similarities to other dystopian novels such as Divergent, The Hunger Games and the Moon Dwellers Saga – all of which I loved – but New World: Rising still manages to stand strong on its own.

I loved the characters in the book. The main character, Phoenix, annoyed me a little bit however as she constantly moans about how she is not good enough for anyone, but other than that I did really like her. The romance in the book was done nicely as well; there was no annoying love triangle that we see in so many novels.

I also really loved the world that Jennifer Wilson built, both inside the wall and outside. One thing that did irk me a little was that I would have liked for it to have been explored a bit more, with most of the novel being set somewhere safe from those locations. Hopefully this can be done in future books in the series. 

The ending of the book was done really well and was a good set up for the rest of the series. I will definitely be picking up book 2!

Date read: December 2016
Rating: 8/10.

Rise (Trifecta #1)

By Luis Almonte

I was so conflicted for the first half of this book. It starts off pretty well in the prologue and then not much happens for the first 100 pages or so. It wasn't boring, just nothing exciting happened. However, as soon as Alexia enters the Trials, it is full of action and is like a different book which I found difficult to put down. Towards the end, the character of Kaleb is explored a bit more, which gives him a purpose, as I thought he was pretty pointless to begin with. All in all, a good read. I will definitely read the next one in the series, but only because the amazing second half made up for for the not so amazing first half.

Date read: November 2016

Rating: 8/10.