Review: Hot Wax by M. L. Rio

Thank you to Netgalley & Headline for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Publication date: 9th September 2025

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 400

The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift—a vivid and immersive tale of one woman’s reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is. Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father’s forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills’ wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning—one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.

The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father’s sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil’s beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she’d lost forever: desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country—and drives her to a desperation all her own.

Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back—where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.

A sharp, scintillating, snowball of a novel, I was absolutely gripped and couldn't put this one down. Which is kind of unsurprising given how I felt about Rio's debut novel "If We Were Villains". And yet it still took me by surprise. A slow build crescendo that had me in a chokehold by the end as I feverishly turned the pages waiting for the blow to fall.

It's that kind of book, the slow build symphony that draws you in in pieces. A slow hook here, a flash of fear there, the electric breathlessness of Gil and the Kills as they perform in front of a raucous crowd. The novel unspools and drags you in. Teasing you with a sense of uncertainty, the promise of things whirling to a fever pitch before falling apart.

And when they do...

My breath caught in my throat, heart in my mouth as the fistfuls of the picture Rio had offered throughout tumbled into a cohesive whole and I wanted to howl and hold them all tight and go back to the start where maybe, just maybe, things might turn out differently this time.

It's a beautiful novel. No, perhaps that's the wrong word. It's raw and vibrant and takes you in its teeth. Points you towards the bright lights and the violence and the promise that practically vibrates off each page and dares you to look. The prose is delicious, the characters flawed and aching with humanity, and the story a sweeping catharsis as it unfolds.

I adored it.

Review: A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Publication date: 28th February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 880

The stunning, standalone prequel to the New York Times bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.
To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.
The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.
When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.
Intricate and epic, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of my favourite fantasy epics - sweeping in scope, lush in vivid rich details, and breath taking in its audacity. Which meant that I had both high hopes and huge fears when it came to A Day of Fallen Night - how could it possibly compare? 

I should not have worried.

Priory will always be excellent, but A Day of Fallen Night is a masterclass that showcases Shannon’s growing talent. She is a force to be reckoned with, a writer who can craft incredibly rich and detailed stories and never lose their reader for an instant. Fallen Night is a behemoth, an epic 880 pages long, but none of that feels bloated or unnecessary. Instead it is a tapestry of interweaving characters and plots, layered over years, coloured through time, and embroidered with the acts of humanity that make it feel raw and real to the reader.

I have struggled over the days since finishing it to articulate fully how I feel about this book. It’s hard to distil it down to a few choice words and phrases. Instead, I will simply press the book into people's hands with the instruction to read it. Read it and fall in love with the world, with the characters, with the scope and force of this novel. 

It is a masterclass in writing, an epic to rival big name fantasy epics, but frankly executed better and with a richer and diverse world. This is one that I will revisit time and time again, and I’m already excited to explore it through the audiobook.

Add this to your to read pile, you won’t regret it.

Review: Sisters of Sword & Song by Rebecca Ross

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Publications date: June 25th 2020

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 432

From the author of The Queen’s Rising comes a thrilling YA stand-alone fantasy about the unbreakable bond between sisters. Perfect for fans of Ember in the Ashes, Sky in the Deep, and Court of Fives.

After eight long years, Evadne will finally be reunited with her older sister, Halcyon, who has been proudly serving in the queen’s army. But when Halcyon appears earlier than expected, Eva knows something has gone terribly wrong. Halcyon is on the run, hunted by her commander and charged with murder.

Though Halcyon’s life is spared during her trial, the punishment is heavy. And when Eva volunteers to serve part of Halcyon’s sentence, she’s determined to find out exactly what happened. But as Eva begins her sentence, she quickly learns that there are fates much worse than death.

Rebecca Ross hit my auto-buy author list with her debut novel, and this (her third outing with a truly beautiful standalone novel) has cemented that position. It’s a truly beautiful novel, and the fact that it’s contained in a single book rather than investing in a new series just made me love it more. It’s refreshing in a world full of trilogies to be able to enjoy a book on its own.

I adored the world that Ross created, filled with Gods and relics and myths. It’s very reminiscent of ancient Greece, with its own twists and magic seeping into every crevice. Frankly I’d love a masterclass from Ross in world building, because she is just so good and with every story she tells, her world building becomes more complex and brilliant.

It’s a beautiful plot, tripping along from piece to piece and drawing you further into the world. But truly, the characters are what bring this to life. The sisters particularly are so complex, layered and their growth is so wonderful to watch. I was initially curious how the two differing voices would work in this story, but as it unfolds it becomes more obvious precisely why you need to hear both voices. Evadne and Halcyon demand to be hard, and their love for each other is what propels the book. They are two sides to the same coin, and I fell for them hard.

This was a standout book for the year. It’s filled with gorgeous prose, engaging characters, and fully immerses you in a stunning world. It’s a book that has stayed with me long after reading, and will be a story I return to again and again.

Review: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Publication date: September 9th 2014
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 336

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be saviour, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theatre troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.
Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

I popped into my local bookshop, "Mr B's Emporium of Books" and ended up looking at their staff recommendation shelves. One member of staff had picked four books, three of which were long standing favourites of mine, and one that I'd never come across before. Naturally I bought it.

And then I fell into this incredible story, and wasn't seen for several hours. I devoured it, I resented any time I had to spend away from it, I cried over it and laughed over it and felt myself unspool and reform slightly different after reading this. In short, all the signs of a truly excellent book.

It's a story about the end of the world. But it's also the story about a new world forming. It's about what really matters once you break down all of the pre-constructed ideas. But most importantly it's about people and relationships. Instead of falling into the trap of telling a world ending story on a world ending story scale, "Station Eleven" hones in tightly on a small group of people who are connected - some in obvious ways, others that you have to wait a while to find out how. It's about their stories in the years before the collapse, in the hours leading up to it, the days and years following. How each person adapts and responds to it - what makes them human coming to the fore.

I loved how each person ties back to Arthur, how everything revolves around his perfectly normal death - the lynch pin that everyone else spins around. A defining, linking point of kinship. Each little thread that overlaps, doubles back and loops on itself until you have a gorgeously constructed, tightly woven tapestry.

The writing is gorgeous, carefully constructed, haunting and engaging - I couldn't get enough of this beautiful piece. When I finished it, I simply sat staring into space until my husband asked me if he could do anything. I simply handed him the book and told him to read it. He did. He loved it too. And it prompted some really fascinating conversations about the book.

I can't believe I missed this book when it first came out, but I am oh so glad I've read it now. I can understand why that staff member put it up there with some of my other favourites, I'd put it there too.

Review: The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

Publication date: August 22nd 2017
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 389

When girl meets Duke, their marriage breaks all the rules… 
Since his return from war, the Duke of Ashbury’s to-do list has been short and anything but sweet: brooding, glowering, menacing London ne’er-do-wells by night. Now there’s a new item on the list. He needs an heir—which means he needs a wife. When Emma Gladstone, a vicar’s daughter turned seamstress, appears in his library wearing a wedding gown, he decides on the spot that she’ll do.
His terms are simple:
- They will be husband and wife by night only.
- No lights, no kissing.
- No questions about his battle scars.
- Last, and most importantly… Once she’s pregnant with his heir, they need never share a bed again.
But Emma is no pushover. She has a few rules of her own:
- They will have dinner together every evening.
- With conversation.
- And unlimited teasing.
- Last, and most importantly… Once she’s seen the man beneath the scars, he can’t stop her from falling in love… 

I have developed a bit of a love for all Tessa Dare novels. It started a couple of years ago, but my flirtation with "Do You Want to Start a Scandal?" over Christmas simply solidified this.

The Duchess Deal is no different. It's smart and funny and seductive and I adored both Ash (lambkin, darling, sweetmeat) and Emma. It's always satisfying when the heroine is both resourceful and strong in her own right. Sure marrying Ash is a smart choice that makes her life easier, but she doesn't just fall into his arms fluttering her eyelashes and wailing at him to save her. No, she doesn't need a man, but if there's one willing to satisfy her in bed then yes please sign her up. Basically I adored her.

Dare also walks the fine line between depth to a story and super dark destruction of all romance. There's enough sass and snark between Emma and Ash that I never tipped into pitying him - he's had a really tough time of it and been treated appallingly, but it's a big case of him just needing to be shown that his ex-fiancée is a terrible person and Emma is totally amazing.

It's got a great cast of supporting characters, including a nice trio of ladies that I'm expecting to get their own novels (OH HEY COPY OF THE GOVERNESS GAME ALREADY ON MY NIGHTSTAND) and the most under appreciated and amazing butler ever. Seriously, I want Khan to appear in all novels from now on.

Basically this has cemented my love for all things Dare. It's smart, it's funny, it's super toe-curlingly-swoon-worthy, and it was exactly what I needed right now. On to the next!

Game of Thrones Re-Watch: Season 1

It's nearly April. More specifically it's nearly April 14th and that means that the time has come, at long last, to start the Thrones re-watch.
With so many characters, plots, random easter eggs etc. it's the kind of show that really rewards re-watching. Plus it's a good way to dive straight into the new season all caught up and ready to go without the moments where you inevitably have to pause the episode and go 'but who is this guy???'

Season one had an insane amount of weight on its shoulders - arguably more than the ridiculously anticipated final season. It was a hugely popular fantasy book, being made into a hugely expensive HBO show. It was breaking all the rules and doing something no one had done before. It could have gone horribly wrong, flopped, and never had any follow up seasons. But it didn't. Fans of the books loved it for the faithful adaptation it provided. Fans of good TV loved it because it is incredibly good TV. And by the end of the season it had broken all the usual rules of engagement and done what a lot of shows are too afraid to do. Audiences were hooked.

Now I came a little late to the game - I didn't have Sky so I had been mildly spoiled for the end of the season before I launched into the box set. It took a few episodes to really hook me because there's a huge amount of information to bombard the viewer with to get them up to speed; I was intrigued enough to watch, but not yet into full binge territory. And I think that still holds true even now when I'm watching the season in full for the seventh time. Sure it's good, it's filled with insanely impressive set pieces, an amazing cast, and has an engrossing quality that sucks you in. But it's a slow burn. The kind that rewards you for watching, for going back and fitting previously unnoticed pieces together. No matter how much I'm enjoying it (and believe me, I always am) it doesn't fully grab me until the end of episode 6 - my first sit up and take notice 'oh hey you're really not messing around' moment.

If you've not yet experienced Thrones, I cannot recommend it enough. It's the kind of show that rewards re-watching and you'll never experience it exactly the same way twice. Yes it's brutal and bloody, yes it has a rather ridiculous boob quota (although that calms down in later seasons), but it's about so much more than that. Even if you don't consider yourself to be a fantasy fan, I guarantee you'll enjoy this. It's about people and power and relationships. The scheming of powerhouses, the resentments that run decades deep. Ignore the White Walkers and Dragons for a minute (the first season certainly does) and you still have an incredible, compelling, sweeping saga of a story.

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Publication Date: May 12th 2016
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Pages: 435

A dark enchantment blights the land
Agnieszka loves her village, set in a peaceful valley. But the nearby enchanted forest casts a shadow over her home. Many have been lost to the Wood and none return unchanged. The villagers depend on an ageless wizard, the Dragon, to protect them from the forest's dark magic. However, his help comes at a terrible price. A young woman must serve him for ten years, leaving all she values behind.

Agnieszka fears her dearest friend Kasia will be picked at the next choosing, for she is everything Agnieszka is not - beautiful, graceful and brave. Yet when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he takes.

I tried, a long time ago, to read a Naomi Novik book and really struggled and ended up giving up after a couple of chapters. However this book was pressed into my hands with the order to read it, so I felt I really needed to give her another chance.

I went into this thinking it was going to be one story (see the blurb) and it starts off looking like it will be. But then it changes. Ok, fair, not quite what I was expecting, but I'm still enjoying it. Then it changes again. And again. Honestly by the end I had no idea what kind of book I was reading, but I was loving it so I really didn't care.

It's a book that refuses to conform to one mould, and I adored that about it, even as I found it confusing keeping up. There was magic, and friendship and love of all different kinds, and creepy myths and legends and woods that come alive, and politics and intrigue and all of the things and I adored it.

I loved that it refused to be one thing. I loved that it refused to just be a pretty romance between teacher and student. I loved how it explored so many difficult facets of the relationship between Agnieszka and Kasia. I loved that Agnieszka was not your typical heroine and she was messy and wonderful and weird and bad ass. I love that Kasia turned all the expectations of her on their head. I loved how much Sarkan was grumpy and irritated and confused when the world did not go the way he expected it to.

Are you sensing a theme here?

Basically this standalone was one of those rare and perfect creatures that you can't quite pin down, but absolutely sweeps you away with its dark and wonderful story.

It's a great introduction to Novik's writing, and I'm now really excited to read more of her work.

My Christmas Historical Romance Binge (or: 3 mini reviews)

Christmas is a time for comfort. For nesting under a blanket with a cup of tea and a stack of books. (And apparently this year idly half watching my husband play Red Dead Redemption 2 over the top of my pages...)
Nothing screams comfort to me like a good historical romance, so with that in mind I settled in for three days of bingeing.

A Lady's Guide to Improper Behaviour by Suzanne Enoch
The Rules:
A lady should always make polite conversation...
Theresa Weller understands the rules of decorum, and is appalled when Colonel Bartholomew James disrupts a perfectly civilized dinner. This rude, insensitive man is the complete opposite of everything a gentleman should be — but with one searing kiss, Tess can think of no one else.
A lady should never lose her temper...
Aggravated beyond bearing by a man who speaks his mind, Tess wishes there was a guide to men like Bartholomew. Surely, with such an assortment of handsome, polite suitors to choose from, Tess should not ache for him.
A lady should never pursue a gentleman.
She invites him on carriage rides and dares him to dance, and almost makes him want to return to Society. Bartholomew knows Tess wants to be seen as a proper miss, but deep down, he knows she is precisely the sort to spark his desire... A most improper lady.

Sure it's basically the same plot as "England's Perfect Hero" by Enoch, which I loved, so that meant that it fell a little flat. But it had enough else to keep me mildly entertained for a few hours that I didn't overly object. It's not got quite the same spark as Enoch's books used to for me, but it's amusing enough, just steamy enough, and has some relatively good banter between the hero and heroine. However it's also fairly predictable, and my husband found it vastly entertaining to experience the plot purely from my predictions of what was about to happen.

Do You Want to Start a Scandal? By Tessa Dare
On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library.
• Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan?
• Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall?
• Perhaps the butler did it.
All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: it wasn’t her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers’ true identity, she’ll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville—the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she’s ever had the misfortune to embrace. When it comes to emotion, the man hasn’t got a clue.
But as they set about finding the mystery lovers, Piers reveals a few secrets of his own. The oh-so-proper marquess can pick locks, land punches, tease with sly wit... and melt a woman’s knees with a single kiss. The only thing he guards more fiercely than Charlotte’s safety is the truth about his dark past.
Their passion is intense. The danger is real. Soon Charlotte’s feeling torn. Will she risk all to prove her innocence? Or surrender it to a man who’s sworn to never love?

Yes, just yes. Tessa Dare never fails to completely steal me away into whatever story she spins. I adored the mystery, I loved Charlotte and Piers (OH MY THEIR BANTER) and it was super steamy and utterly delicious. After the slightly frustrating start with 'Improper Behaviour' this was exactly what I needed, and I've bought a few more by her so that I can continue this delicious bit of escapism into the New Year.

A Devil in Scotland by Suzanne Enoch
The dawning of desire...
1806, Scotland: Wild, reckless Callum MacCreath is in no hurry to become someone’s husband. But when his responsible, steady older brother Ian announces his engagement to their childhood friend Rebecca, Callum makes a startling discovery: he wants the lovely young lass for himself. But it’s too late, and when Ian banishes him for his duplicity, he’s only too happy to leave Scotland forever…
...is delicious and dangerous.
1816: Marrying Ian was the practical, logical thing for Becca to do. But once Callum sailed away to America, she missed his rakish charm and lust for life. Now, ten years later, Becca is a widow when a much-changed Callum returns to his Scottish homeland. Will he remember their spirited, fiery connection, or does he blame her for his brother’s unexpected death? This time neither of them can deny their scorching attraction, but will their hearts be burned in the blazing heat of scandal?

And then I went on to a fairly recent Suzanne Enoch and regretted my life choices. I used to love Enoch's books - they were feisty and funny and steamy and I loved settling down with one. But this one was absolutely terrible.
There was no steam, no witty banter, nothing beyond some rather limp shirtless hugging and an obsession with a truly terrible whodunnit that was upsettingly obvious right from the start. It was just... bad. Truly, truly bad. And not what I've come to expect from Enoch. It also sparked a bit of a purge, where all her more recent books that have been sitting on my to read pile have been removed. 

Silent in the Sanctuary re-read

Publication Date: December 28th 2007
Publisher: Mira
Pages: 552

Fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends— but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters. 
Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget—the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane—is among her father's houseguests… and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.
But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel, and a member of Lady Julia's own family confesses to the crime. Certain of her cousin's innocence, Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again. When a sudden snowstorm blankets the abbey like a shroud, it falls to Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane to answer the shriek of murder most foul. 

There's nothing quite like returning to an old favourite. Particularly when that favourite is set at Christmas and involves murder and intrigue. I've talked a bit about my love for coming back to read this book around Christmas, but realised I'd never actually written a review of one of my all time favourites.

The Lady Julia books were a happy accident for me. I'd read and loved some Gail Carriger and decided to take advantage of Amazon's 'people who bought what you've bought also bought this!' feature. It recommended me this series, and I bought the first book, "Silent in the Grave", based entirely off the first sentence. I then bought the next two books (all that were out at the time) before I was barely twenty pages into the first, because I was enjoying it so much.

Whilst all of the books in the series are favourites in different ways, this one is the one I come back to at Christmas. The entire family, snow bound in their country house, with a murderer on the loose! Ghosts and ghouls! Foul play! Romance! Intrigue! I just cannot get enough of it, it is glorious.

It's sometimes hard to follow up an incredible first book, but Deanna not only has written a worthy follow up, but an absolutely brilliant continuation of the story. I loved meeting more of Julia's family. I loved the slow, simmering tension between her and Brisbane. The writing is glorious, the plotting absolute perfection, and the mystery itself truly brilliant. It's the kind of mystery that has you almost believing in ghosts - the mysterious apparitions and fear that pervade the estate at night. The character's are beautifully constructed. Everyone could be a suspect, all charming with dark hidden secrets just waiting for Julia to ferret them out with her intrepidly determined sleuthing.

In short, this book is perfection, and I love it. It's one I adore coming back to, and I always make time for a re-read at Christmas. If you're looking for an excellent historical murder mystery, the Lady Julia series is one of the very best out there.

If you're curious to find out more about Deanna's writing, you can read my Q&A with her here!

TV Review: La Casa de Papel

There's been a lot of TV bingeing going on in our house over the last few months, as now that the stresses of the first half of the year have died down, we've been catching up with shows that we started and loved and never quite finished. La Casa de Papel is a fine example of this - brilliant, complex, utterly engrossing, and requiring a little more brain cells as you keep up with the subtitles which doesn't make it good TV viewing whilst you're trying to fold paper cranes...

But I digress.
This is a show that almost everyone seems to have watched/be in the process of watching/have heard amazing things about and are planning to watch. It's crept in everywhere. It's been one of Netflix's most binged shows for months. And it deserves every single bit of hype and more, because this is a case of a genuinely brilliant show.

It's the kind of show that is best unspoiled, so I'll keep this vague. Suffice to say this is one of the best shows I've seen this year. It's clever, it's slick, brilliantly plotted and filmed, and it keeps you guessing right up until the final moment.
It is genuinely worth the time invested in it, and is filled with breathless anticipation, pulse racing moments, and a suffocating sense of dread that permeates every scene the longer the group are trapped inside.

The heist formula is one we've seen many times before -a group of eight misfits with slightly illegal talents are rounded up by a mysterious figure known only as the Professor, to undertake a heist that he has spent years planning. So far so cliché. Yet once we get beyond that original idea, the entire thing soars. The character's are fleshed out into eight individual real people. Everyone is morally grey. There are no 'good guys' and 'bad guys' as the con-artists work on the inside in a truly brilliantly intricate plotted scheme, and the police work outside to try and foil them.
Every time you think the police are about to win, some additional layer to the scheme comes to light, and it is glorious to behold.

But the longer the heist goes on, the more the cabin fever sets in, the sleep deprivation gets the better of people, and tempers start to fray and schemes unravel. It's a claustrophobic look at a curious group of people, as tensions mount and you genuinely don't know who you want to come out on top. The Professor works from the outside to try and keep his plan afloat, but all throughout his brilliant scheme he didn't really consider the variable reality of having eight people living and breathing this heist. Those individuals add new dimensions and layers, and he's often scrambling to keep up.

It's a truly brilliant show. Compelling, with some of the best plotting I've seen on a show in some time, and a truly stellar cast. Whilst the series is narrated by Tokyo, it is a truly ensemble piece as every character has time invested in their development, and you find yourself caring, or at least sympathising, with almost everyone you've spent this claustrophobic and tense time with. Now I've finished I feel somewhat bereft, I'm going to miss this oddball bunch.I cannot recommend it enough.

TV Review: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

The nights are getting darker, there's more than a little chill in the air, and Netflix have unleashed the first ten episodes of their much hyped new series (just in time for Halloween no less) with a further Christmas special on the way. What have we done to deserve this?!

I've been excited ever since this show was first announced. I was a huge fan of the 90s "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" series (it's glorious) and I am a huge fan of Riverdale. Plus, you know, the series released on my birthday, so it's an all round win.

With all those expectations I settled in with the first episode and felt... curious, but not entirely enthralled. This could be in part due to the truly terrifying spider sequence that should come with a trigger warning, and basically involved me hiding behind a cushion and waiting to be told when it was safe again.

I left it for a week, mulled over my feelings for it, and then started in on the second episode, at which point I was hooked.

This is not a remake of the 90s-laugh-track-sassy-Salem-one-liners Sabrina. This is dark and twisted, and at times absolutely horrifying. Yet for all that I adored it. I'm not a fan of horror by any stretch, yet this somehow works brilliantly.
A lot of that is in how overblown and melodramatic it is. One particularly squicky episode (episode 5, complete nightmare fuel) left me struggling to sleep. Yet once I explained the plot to my husband, within moments we both found ourselves laughing at how insanely ridiculous it was. The writers had captured the twisty horrifying elements of nightmares, wrapped them up in the insanity that comes with it, and delivered a genuinely diverting hour of television.

The writing is brilliant, the cinematography curiously bizarre, and the cast, oh the cast. These characters are so good. I want to spend more time with them. I just want a normal day in the life of the Spellman household, never mind all the dark fun things that go off in the series. They start off as fairly average stereotypes, and gradually over the course of the series are unpacked into layered, nuanced and thoughtful people. Everytime I thought I had my feelings sorted for them, they'd go and upend my feelings again and make me fall in love with new facets of their characters.

Plus, diversity in television! Not only is Ambrose openly gay and has a super cute date, but we also have some truly amazing mortal friends surrounding Sabrina. Roz - fighting for banned books, suffering from degenerating eyesight. And Susie, a non-binary character who suffers hideous bullying and abuse but keeps on fighting and discovering themselves, played by a non-binary actor. I had several moments of fist punchy happiness watching this series for those characters alone. 

Once I was hooked, I couldn't help but binge the rest of the series. It wasn't what I expected, but it ended up becoming so much more, and ultimately being a really important series to me for the representation, the storylines, and these wonderful characters.

I can't wait to see where they go next.

Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Publication date: March 6th 2018
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Pages: 531

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

I'll admit to putting off picking this one up because it was so adored when it first hit shelves that I was terrified it wouldn't live up to the hype. Not so. When I finally did start it I found myself immersed in an incredible, vivid, fantasy world.

The world building and character development is staggering, and really grounds the action and provides a solid base to build on. Quite often I become frustrated with fantasy books that have a base of prophecy to spring board the action from, but in this instance it worked incredibly well.

Adeyemi creates a truly complex world with deft strokes, drawing the reader into the story, flinging them headlong into a masterful narrative, and then keeping the pacing balanced on a knife edge. I flew through the novel. At no point does it become bogged down in exposition, instead the construction of the world is so vividly done that the story practically sings as it comes to life around you.

It's an astonishing debut. A staggeringly exciting story. It hums with life, with magic, and sweeps the reader up in the incredible story. I adored this book, and was on the edge of my seat for the climax. Now if it only it can be 2019 so I can get lost in the second book...

Review: A Thousand Perfect Notes by C G Drews

Publication date: June 7th 2018

Publisher: Orchard Books

Pages: 282

Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?

Discovering one of your favourite social media bookstagrammer people is releasing their debut novel, is a bit like Christmas. But with more cake. I've followed Cait on her blog, twitter and instagram (go find her @paperfury) for some time, and her humour has always been absolutely glorious. So going into this novel I was expecting a lot. NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING!

Luckily though, Cait's debut novel not only lived up to all my many expectations, it exceeded them thoroughly.

This is a stunningly beautiful debut novel. It's dark and beautiful, with moments of sharp humour and gut wrenching emotional punches. Her writing has a lyrical quality that weaves its spellbinding web around you, and then tightens throughout the story until at the climax I was feverishly ripping through the pages to find out how it would all end.

The characters are complex and fascinating to unravel. Beck's mother is a particular delight (read: dark and horrible but also incredibly nuanced and complex so you end up feeling super conflicted!) and I adored Joey and the relationship between her and Beck. A* for glorious sibling relationships.

This is an incredible debut, that shows a truly formidable talent at the start of what is sure to be an incredible journey. If this is the quality we get on Cait's first published work, I cannot wait to see what she gifts us with next.