The Carnelian Fox by Kay MacLeod

For full disclose I won a copy of this book in a giveaway. However, all opinions below are my genuine thoughts regardless of this.

So I adore Pokemon. I always have and I always will. I was so excited when I heard about the existence of this book (before it was even published mind) and that excitement only grew as I waited for it to be published. When I finally sat down to read it, I was a little apprehensive. What if I didn't enjoy it after all that?

I needn't have worried.

This book is AWESOME. It had all of the Pokemon nostalgia I had hoped for but beyond that, it was an incredibly fun and engaging fantasy story. Sam is our protagonist, a young battle Prime (equivalent of a trainer) just starting out on her journey with her new Gem (monster friend) Finn. If you're not familiar with Pokemon, Sam's goal is essentially to capture these Gem creatures from the wild to train and bond with. She sets off with her best friend Callum but things soon take a turn for the worse and she's forced to deviate from her plan in ways she didn't expect.

The real strength of this story is its creativity, even with the universe largely following the Pokemon setup. I adored reading about each new Gem as they were introduced, and it was really cool to see how Sam's team developed. Sam herself was a great character. She was very relatable but entertaining and I appreciated her heart a lot. Many of the things that have bugged me about how characters act in the Pokemon anime towards their Pokemon were addressed here through Sam. She was always very grateful to her Gems and it felt like a real bond between them.

This is the first of a new series and I know I will definitely be picking up the rest. Several of the plot elements had me intrigued and I can't wait to see how they're addressed later on. This is the start of what looks like a very promising saga and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Pokemon, or just wants a great creature-based fantasy story.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Alibi Girl by C.J. Skuse

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe this is the first C.J. Skuse book I've ever read. I've heard such rave reviews about this author and when the opportunity to read her new release came up, I knew I couldn't pass on it. Could The Alibi Girl live up to the hype? Absolutely yes.

The blurb for this book is so vague and I don't want to give much away, but essentially our main character is a woman named Ellis. She has many, many fake names and spins a different story about her life to pretty much every person she meets. The reasons for her doing this are not as clear as they seem, and the story starts to unravel when things from her past catch up with her.

This was a great thriller, fairly straightforward in plot but with excellent writing to keep things moving forward. It's weird because normally the sparser plot would bother me but Skuse writes such brilliant characters that it didn't matter much at all. Ellis herself was so interesting to me and I loved how she was done and how that reflected on her past. The other characters (who will not be named for plot reasons) were also detailed and engaging.

This review might seem a little thing but trust me, this is a great thriller experience and it's best to go in as blind as possible. There aren't tons of twists and turns but this is a tightly plotted, well executed story and I cannot wait to seek out more of Skuse's work.

Overall Rating:

Loved by P.C & Kristin Cast

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot believe there is a new House of Night book in 2020. When I saw this was on NetGalley, I was HYPED. I read every single one of these books back in the day in all of their glorious insanity. This series is the absolute definition of guilty pleasure and I didn't realise how much I missed being baffled by it.

So Loved is the first in a new trilogy, set one year after the first 12 books. Zoey is now turning 18 (that's right, everything happened to her before she was 18!) and things are not quite right with the universe. EITHER universe.

Oh yes that's right, there are parallel worlds in this. And zombies! And a whole bunch of other insane plot elements I wouldn't dare spoil. All of the expected characters are here and even a few unexpected ones. If you enjoyed the previous House of Night books then this is much of the same and it continues the story well. It was a very entertaining read and I couldn't put it down. Do I think these books are great examples of quality writing? Honestly no. But I'm never bored reading them and that's worth something.

Sadly it would not be fair to mention some of the explicit negatives. Pop culture references are toned down massively from the first series but there are 5 on the very first page which is a LOT in quick succession. There is also a fair amount of questionable content, both in terms of jokes and actual patterns that show up. The black girl must keep talking about how sassy and black she is (I am not black myself but this stood out as a yikes to me), calling herself 'brown sugar'. Two lesbians discuss about magically making straight girls lesbians and it's implied they took advantage of that. Damien is a gay guy who is revealed later to have depression and, presumably as a result, he cries. A lot. Like every time he shows up. Male characters crying is 100% fine but when the gay guy is the only one who cries, this has unfortunate implications attached.

All in all, this is a solid continuation of the series. Is it perfect? No, but none of them were ever perfect. Did I enjoy reading it? Absolutely. For better or for worse, these books hold a morbid fascination for me and I will definitely be carrying on with this new series.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Quarry by Ben Halls

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Dialogue Books in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually a fan of adult contemporary books in general. There's nothing wrong with them but it's very rare for one to catch my eye. The Quarry stood out to me because it focused exclusively on telling stories of men living in a desperately poor and unpleasant area. I had no idea of what to expect but I am so glad I took the chance and picked this up.

Halls' writing is truly phenomenal. It took me a few stories to get into the style and tone of this anthology but as an author, he pulls no punches with topics. Almost every character is vibrantly brought to life with his prose and he gives weightier issues all of the focus and nuance that they deserve. There are common themes throughout the stories-addiction, poverty, troubled relationships-but the content never feels repetitive and almost all of the stories earn their place here. Some of my favourites include the ones focused on the postman, alcoholic, gambling addict and the final story. All of them are good but these had the strongest sense of heart.

Several of the stories intertwine with each other but I'd actually hoped for a bit more from this element. A few stories have open endings and I half-expected them to be subtly resolved in later stories in the anthology. This sadly wasn't the case which left some endings a little unsatisfactory but I understand, that is how real life goes. The worst offender was the first story which felt like it would have had massive ramifications (for example, I would have expected a story from the POV of the manager left to deal with the fallout) but instead is never mentioned by anyone ever again. These are minor niggles but they did prey on my mind whilst reading which was a shame.

Overall though, I was incredibly impressed by this anthology. As a debut book, this has made me very excited to see more of Halls work and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes character-focused stories with a unique twist. This is a tightly-written, wonderfully themed and very enjoyable collection and I am so glad I read it.

Overall Rating:

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Children's Books  in exchange for an honest review.

This book was entirely different from what I was expecting. I'd heard that it was a horror book about a group of girls in a boarding school who start developing terrifying mutations as part of an infection-type thing they call 'the Tox'. And yes, that technically is the plot! But it doesn't give you a lot to work with in terms of genre or tone. Even after reading this, I'm still struggling to classify it a little but I think sci-fi is the label that fits it best.

So, many people in the Booktube community have raved about Wilder Girls and I do think that's a bit of a shame really because, after reading it, I'm struggling to see why. Don't get me wrong, there were some really cool things about this book. The characters were fairly decent, the plot once it kicked in was really absorbing and I had no idea how things were going to pan out. But at the same time, there were definitely things that were lacking. With the horror aspect being played up in the way this book is marketed (or at least, classified) I expected more of a focus on what the Tox actually does to these girls' bodies. In actuality there is almost no detail given. At first I assumed this was to build suspense but this is not followed up by any payoff and so it all fell a bit flat for me. It was hard to visualise the true nature of the Tox when we had so little to go on.

Overall, I think I wanted to like this book more than I did. I went in very blind beyond the basic description and, while I tried so hard not to let rave reviews influence me, I was sadly left wondering what all the fuss was about. The climax felt rushed and messy, once again vague on details. I did like the ending paragraphs and parts of the plot were done really well. I just wish there'd been a little bit more of everything.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Stranger's Wife by Anna-Lou Weatherley

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.

This book really did not gel with me. I did finish it but it was a definite slog and I skim-read about 40% of it. There was just nothing in the plot which I found particularly gripping and, while the characters were alright, I wasn't invested enough to make up for the lack of good story. The two female characters described in the blurb don't meet until about 60% of the way through the book and once they do, things become very pedestrian. I also feel the plot they hatched made no sense? I could see no advantage to what they did. So disappointing!

Overall Rating:

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

I received a free copy of this book for review thanks to publisher William Morrow and Edelweiss.

This book was like a flame to me. A thriller book about someone recreating 'perfect' murders from literary crime fiction? Fantastic! I was a little nervous it wouldn't live up to my expectations but thankfully my fears were for nothing. Eight Perfect Murders is the story of Malcolm, a crime bookshop owner who has been living a relatively unassuming life. One day an FBI agent shows up on his doorstep because they believe someone has been recreating a list of 'perfect' fictional murders he wrote about for a blog once. As he gets involved in investigating, he starts to wonder if someone is targeting him specifically.

I loved this book. It does spoil the plots of quite a few famous mystery books (the ones in the blurb on Goodreads plus The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie) so be warned but for any crime/murder mystery fan, this was a beautifully-done homage. One thing I really liked is it addressed the possibility for an unreliable narrator fairly early on, which was such a relief. I thought just from reading the blurb that Malcolm being behind the murders might be used as a last-minute twist but instead, it gets introduced as a possibility near the start and then is neither confirmed nor denied until the end. This might sound a bit odd but it is done in a brilliant way and it stopped me being impatient, allowing me to properly get invested into the story.

The characters are pretty good as well on the whole. Swanson does seem to struggle a bit with having characters act like real people, and one or two do suffer from that in this book. However, it is nowhere near as prominent as in some of his other works. The main character was interesting and keeping things from the reader was actually incorporated into his personality which I liked. The eventual ending and solution to everything is satisfying and done pretty well.

On the whole, this is a brilliant thriller and has quickly become one of my favourites. It takes a fantastic premise and manages to deliver on it with a gripping story full of fun tidbits for crime fans. I definitely recommend!

Overall Rating:

.5

The Forever House by Tim Waggoner

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Flame Tree Press in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked up this book. What I got was an inventive, intriguing and all-round solid horror book. The Forever House tells the story of the 'Eldreds', a group of aptly-named eldritch beings who like to disguise themselves as humans and feed off the pain of others. They are just moving into a neighbourhood where a horrific massacre took place and they're getting ready to mess with their latest victims.

The pacing of this book is pretty solid. You get chapters written in third person but focusing on each of the different people living in the neighbourhood, and this is done extremely well as there are many characters but it didn't become exhausting. The people themselves are a fairly mixed bunch. You have Neal and Kandice, a married couple who are struggling due to Kandice revealing she is bi. There is Cora, Martin and their daughter Vivienne, a family dealing with the pressure of Martin's gambling addiction. Perhaps the hardest character to read about is Spencer, a man struggling with his pedophilic urges and attraction to Vivienne. There are more characters than this but I considered these the main ones.

So yes, one of the main characters of this book is a pedophile and honestly, his sections get very graphic. I want to commend Waggoner for tackling this topic and actually pulling it off pretty well. Spencer is sympathetic in a way that might make some readers uncomfortable but his desires are never condoned. Having said that, the child character is described in an extremely graphic and sexual way throughout his chapters and this was very tough to stomach. I suspect a lot of people won't enjoy the book because of this and I think that is a valid reason to avoid picking it up.

Even without the sexualisation of children, the rest of this book has a large focus on sex. It felt a bit gratuitous a lot of the time and I honestly feel it didn't need to be there. Horror suffers a lot from unnecessary sex scenes and sexual assault (looking at you Stephen King) so it was a shame to see that at play here. At one point, a sex scene should have a fairly large emotional fallout but this is simply never discussed or dealt with by the narrative, a choice which is odd given the fantastic characterisation the rest of the time.

Sexual content aside, everything else about this book was spot on. I've already mentioned the characters but the way the horror was manifested into the story was done very creatively and I honestly had no idea how it would turn out. I would definitely recommend this to fans of eldritch-type horror who can stomach the graphic content and like a slightly light-hearted tone to their narration.

Overall Rating:

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Voracious/Little, Brown and Company  in exchange for an honest review.

So fun fact: I am on a PhD program currently with 9 other students and about 5 of those students are doing hardcore AI projects. Personally I know nothing about AI and whenever they would talk about their research, I would automatically switch off. However, this doesn't build the best working relationship so I thought I would try reading around the area so I could at least carry a conversation with them.

This book is AMAZING. Honestly, it is written in such an engaging and accessible way that me, the anti AI queen, could not put it down. Firstly I should clarify what this book is not. It is not a deep guide to how to create or work with AI systems. Instead what it is is essentially an overview of what AI means, how it functions (on a very accessible level) and the wonderful mistakes the systems make. One of my favourite parts of this book is all the examples it gives of things generated by real life AI systems and they are hilarious! I was laughing so loud on the bus that people were giving me weird looks.

In terms of the layout, each chapter flows very naturally into the next one. I've already mentioned that I think it's accessible but things really are broken down very clearly. Shane has a fantastic style of prose which is informative but engaging, and I didn't even zone out once which is impressive for even the most interesting of nonfiction books. The text is also peppered with frankly adorable drawings (see the one on the cover) which really helped bring the information to life and added to the overall feel.

Overall, I am blown away by this book. I thought it would help with my PhD but I had no idea how much I would enjoy reading it. I have already bought a copy for a friend as a birthday present and I would recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in the topic. It really does teach you more about how the world works and I feel like I will definitely read more about AI in the future because of it.

Overall Rating:

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

VERY LIGHT SPOILERS FOR EVERY HEART A DOORWAY & BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY.

I am unbelievably happy I got an ARC of this book. I love this series with every fiber of my being and so far, I have yet to be disappointed by a single book. Come Tumbling Down picks up a little while after Beneath the Sugar Sky with the return of my personal favourite character, Jack. She has come back to the school to seek help because her sister has stolen her body and the very existence of her own doorway world is in danger.

There isn't much else I can say about the plot without spoilers but this book brings back a lot of characters I had missed and with them, all that fantastic representation. It makes me so happy reading about everyone in this series because every single bit of representation seems so well-handled (obviously I cannot comment on the groups I am not part of but there are no obvious red flags to me) and every character is so fully-fleshed out and interesting in their own way. The storyline continues to be creative and just a joy to read about. As much as I enjoy the one-off explorations of the doorway worlds, every new book seems to add to the growing overall storyline and this is just the perfect way to continue on with Jack in her world. The only potential downside is some people might be sad that their other favourites aren't in the spotlight but I'm sure future books will address this and give them their turn.

Honestly, there's not much more to say. If you're a fan of this series, this next installment will not disappoint. If you've not started this series yet, I highly recommend it. McGuire creates a magical world with magical characters and who could ask for more?

Overall Rating:

.5

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Harlequin-Mira in exchange for an honest review.

YA thrillers get a bad rep and to be fair, most of them don't live up to their synopses. Thankfully Good Girls Lie manages to be the exception to this rule and delivers an intriguing, well-paced and engaging story.

British Ash has just arrived at The Goode School, an american boarding school for teenage girls of the highest caliber. She has a troubled past but she's determined to keep her head down...that is, until she accidentally gets involved in one of the school's secret societies and catches the attention of the Head Girl. When her roommate is found dead, Ash must fight harder than ever to keep her secrets to herself. Even from the reader...

I will admit, it took me a little while to get into this book. It is primarily told from Ash's POV but there are a few chapters told from an unknown POV and occasionally it will focus on the Dean of the school, with these being told in third person. None of these changes in POV are indicated so it was quite jarring to suddenly find you had switched perspective without realising. However, once I got to grips with that, I became very invested in the story. One thing I really liked was you were unsure what direction the plot would take for most of the book. Once certain things are revealed it does become very easy to guess, but before that you don't get much to work with which means you can't predict what will happen (in a good way).

Ash herself was a breath of fresh air. I found her a very compelling character, even with the narrative deliberately keeping a lot of information about her back from the reader. Similarly all the other main/side characters were pretty interesting and none of them were stereotypes which is where YA thrillers usually suffer. I liked that the Dean got such a lot of focus as that rarely happens in these kinds of books.

Overall, this is a solid YA thriller to pick up. It gives you so little to work with plotwise in the synopsis but that only strengthens the style of storytelling and the way the narrative slowly unfolds. It's not the fastest paced thriller but if you crave YA thrillers with well-crafted characters and a neat little story, this is definitely worth a try.

Overall Rating:

.5