Review: Ink by Alice Broadway

Publication Date: February 2nd 2017
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 366 pages

Every action, every deed, every significant moment is tattooed on your skin for ever. When Leora's father dies, she is determined to see her father remembered forever. She knows he deserves to have all his tattoos removed and made into a Skin Book to stand as a record of his good life. But when she discovers that his ink has been edited and his book is incomplete, she wonders whether she ever knew him at all. 

Oh this book. It's a prime example of a beautiful cover and blurb not truly reflecting the pages within, which was gutting, because I had been so excited about this one only to feel horribly let down.

Instead of the unique and fascinating story I was expecting, I was left with a blandly flat main character who was not only 'the chosen one' (for no particularly good reason, just because, which only made her more unbearable) but Leora had absolutely no character to speak of. This was a problem with the writing style, because even though the ideas were there they just didn't translate well onto the page. The characters were all indistinguishable from each other because there was no variation in speech, everyone spoke the same, and as a result everything just felt flat and underdeveloped and honestly, incredibly boring.

It also suffered from poor editing, where it felt like key scenes or moments had been cut out and the story and character development suffered as a result. I was left feeling confused by thoughts and decisions that should have been clearer, and as though I'd been left in the dark for pivotal moments with Leora's realisations.

All in all this was a disappointment. I wanted to love it, I was all set to, with such a vibrantly fresh concept I didn't think I could not. Yet I was left feeling disappointed, frustrated, and like I'd wasted my time.

Review: Catwoman - Soulstealer by Sarah J Maas

Publication Date: August 9th 2018
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 384 pages

When the Bat's away, the Cat will play. It's time to see how many lives this cat really has...
Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking.
Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing's undoing.
In this third DC Icons book - following Leigh Bardugo's Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Marie Lu's Batman: Nightwalker--Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbour Luke Fox by day. But with a dangerous threat from the past on her tail, will she be able to pull off the heist that's closest to her heart?

Confession time again, I've not yet read the first two books in the DC Icons series, despite having them sat looking pretty on my bookshelf. Which may well answer your first question - do I need to have read the other DC Icons books before starting this? The answer is no, this stands on its own two feet, whilst still being based in the same world that the others inhabit, which is nice because you can read them in any order and dip in and out as you fancy.

Maas has long been a favourite author of mine, so it was her name on the cover that had me excited more than this sudden desire by DC to make these characters appeal to a young adult audience (although that's also awesome, but secondary at this moment). I've enjoyed all her original characters and I was looking forward to seeing her put her own mark on Selina Kyle, because bad ass assassin of the night? This has Sarah J Maas written all over it. 

It didn't have a lot of the depth and complexity that I've come to expect from Maas, but it was still a very enjoyable read. Selina was a curious character, remarkably simple at heart with her desire to protect her sister, but with a fascinating moral greyness that makes you root for her even when she's robbing people and taking names. She's a delight to cheer on, and her friendship with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn only accentuates that. Stand out moment has to be the first heist the three women pull, which someone needs to commit to film asap because it is glorious.

If you're a fan of Maas then you'll enjoy this, but don't expect to be blown away by it - it doesn't have the time or possibility to truly let her trademark complex plotting and characters come to fruition. If you're a fan of superheroes and villains then you'll definitely enjoy it. And if you just like picking up well written young adult books then it's definitely one you shouldn't miss. It's enjoyable, well written, surprisingly fun at times, and an excellent example of a super hero/villain romp done well.

Film Review: King of Thieves

This week I was able to get preview tickets to see the latest heist film, "King of Thieves", based on the true story of the Hatton Gardens Heist. The trailers had me thinking this would be a whip smart, darkly comic film with a truly glorious cast. Instead I was mostly bored.

Bored enough to contemplate walking out part way through, which hasn't happened in a film for some time. How then, with such a brilliantly seasoned cast and intriguing subject material, did the film I watched fall so incredibly flat?
Two reasons, terrible characters and a weak narrative.

Perhaps the narrative fails due to it still being a story that's fresh in peoples minds. Most UK cinema goers will enter this film knowing what's going to happen, and with the ending a foregone conclusion you need to make the rest of the narrative work hard to keep the interest. Instead it's a script that has been mostly botched together from transcripts and an article that first appeared in the Guardian. The events are still too recent (particularly for those who suffered from the heist), and the film is too afraid of glamourising the theft, so shies away from making the characters relatable, or allowing it to actually be funny. Too often the humour isn't utilised and it instead feels awkward and forced.

The film makers appear in their desperation to not embrace the full scope of the heist - (because when it's a real life story heaven forbid you glamourise it, yet when it's something like the Ocean's films it's made out to be the coolest thing ever) to have swung too far the other way into boredom and sloppy storytelling. Yet they are still already facing criticism in articles popping up saying they've made the perpetrators too cool, and that it's far too soon to be making a hollywood film about it. Whilst I don't agree with the former statement, the latter is definitely true. By rushing this film out, barely four years after the events, they've botched any ability to tell a good and compelling story without raising uproar. 

Surely even a poor script can be saved by a stellar cast though? Not so here, where almost every character is so unlikable it's impressive. There's no one to root for, no one to sympathise with. Instead I was left feeling frustrated and disgusted as these rude and staggeringly incompetent men backstab and slag each other off. I wanted to be swept up in the story, I wanted to enjoy it, yet the only character who creates any sort of interest for the audience is the mostly fictionalised Basil, (Charlie Cox) who is a real part of the heist, but whose character has been created because no one knows anything beyond his role in the heist and the fact that he got away.

This film isn't helped by its release coinciding with "American Animals" another real life crime story that's in cinemas shortly, and has been tackled incredibly well. If you want excellent storytelling and a truly brilliant piece of film making go and see that, and don't waste your time and money on the scraps that have been stitched together to create "King of Thieves."

Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Publication Date: December 27th 2011 (this edition)
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 579 pages

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell. 

I'd put off reading this book for an awfully long time, and now I'm not entirely certain why. Perhaps it had become muddled with other books around the same time? Regardless, I'd steadfastly refused to pick it up, all the while not actually having any idea of what it was about... Genius. However then the trailer for the TV adaptation appeared, and on watching that I realised that I might have been a little bit hasty on my refusal to give this book a go and I should probably pick it up after all.

And I'm really glad I did. The book was incredibly engrossing, and once I'd started reading I found it very difficult to put down. There were a few issues, that did raise some red flags for me (stalkerish protective machoism wrapped up as being a good thing, as well as a few consent issues) and those did colour my feelings for the book, but the rest of the story was so well written and engaging that by the end I could kind of forgive those earlier problems. Mostly. Well, honestly if I think too hard about it then I start to feel a little bit squicky and problematic, which is never a good feeling for a book. But when I think back on the book those aren't what sticks out for me. What I think about is the engaging characters, the vivid and fascinating settings as the story moves around the globe, the curious story that gradually unfurls and wraps you up in it until you feel as though you are with Diana as she tries to navigate this crazy upside down mess she's fallen into.

It starts as a small story, one that feels safe and warm and filled with bright curiosity, and then slowly expands, illuminating the layers and sub plots that tangle in around our heroine and show us how far reaching this story will ultimately be. I devoured it. And then I found the audiobook and listened to that too. 

Honestly I did feel slight Twilight undertones, but they were quickly swept away with a genuinely fascinating story, one that evolves to become its own complex beast by the end of the book, leaving me breathless to find out what happens in the second book.

It's not a challenging read, despite its size it's quick and curious and light, although there are darker undertones waiting to surface. It was supernatural comfort food, with a bit more depth to it than I initially feared I would find. And now I cannot wait to see how the story translates to the screen in the adaptation airing on September 14th.

Books I'm Squeeing About in September

I don't want to think about the fact that it's September already, and honestly I don't know how that happened. Or how it ended up that I didn't post anything for so long. Time is tricksy.
But finally, after one of the longest reading slumps I have ever experienced, I am back to reading, and by extension reviewing, and my bank balance is not thanking me for the sudden influx of new books...
So September, what pretty's do you have in store for me?

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
September 6th 2018

Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.
When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

Confession time, I've managed to get hold of a copy a few days before the UK release for this book, and I am loving it. I really love Schwab's writing, so I was pretty much guaranteed to pick this one up anyway, but she had me at Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities in the world. Basically I've been making googly heart eyes at it ever since I bought it...

Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
September 18th 2018

On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus's deeply held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood.
Fast-forward to contemporary Paris, where Phoebe Taylor—the young employee at Sotheby's whom Marcus has fallen for—is about to embark on her own journey to immortality. Though the modernized version of the process at first seems uncomplicated, the couple discovers that the challenges facing a human who wishes to be a vampire are no less formidable than they were in the eighteenth century. The shadows that Marcus believed he'd escaped centuries ago may return to haunt them both—forever.
A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities not just for change but for revolution, Time's Convert channels the supernatural world-building and slow-burning romance that made the All Souls Trilogy instant bestsellers to illuminate a new and vital moment in history, and a love affair that will bridge centuries.

I'm part way through book two of the All Souls Trilogy, and I love it. So again, a bit of a no brainer that of course I was going to pick this one up. Plus more of Marcus which is never a bad thing. I love books that take side characters and give them a whole book to themselves.

Vengeful by V E Schwab
September 25th 2018

Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there's Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn't know about his most recent act of vengeance.
Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.

See aforementioned comment about auto buying Schwab's books. Add in that I adored Vicious, in an 'oh my god this is kinda dark but also amazing and where has this book been all my life' kind of way.

The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli
September 27th 2018

Once there were two sisters born with a bond so strong that it forged them together forever. When they were angry, mirrors shattered, and when they were happy, flowers bloomed. It was a magic they cherished - until the day a terrible accident took Essie's life and trapped her soul in this world.
Dax - the heir to Firgaard's throne - was responsible for the accident. Roa swore to hate him forever. But eight years later he returned, begging for her help. He was determined to dethrone his cruel father, under whose oppressive reign Roa's people had suffered. Roa made him a deal: she'd give him the army he needed if he made her queen.
Together with Dax and his sister, Asha, Roa and her people waged war and deposed a tyrant. But now Asha is on the run, hiding from the price on her head. And Roa is an outlander queen, far from home and married to her enemy. Worst of all: Dax's promises go unfulfilled. Roa's people continue to suffer.
Then a chance to right every wrong arises - an opportunity for Roa to rid herself of this enemy king and rescue her beloved sister. During the Relinquishing, when the spirits of the dead are said to return, Roa can reclaim her sister for good.
All she has to do is kill the king.

This is a good month for follow ups to books I loved. Prime example is this, the follow up from debut novel "The Last Namsara" which was beautiful and heartbreaking and wonderful. If you haven't read it, go and caught up in time for this beauty.

That's it for my month, what books are you looking forward to this month?

Review: Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George

Publication Date: September 19th 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 432 pages

Six teenagers’ lives intertwine during one thrilling summer full of romantic misunderstandings and dangerous deals in this sparkling retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
After she gets kicked out of boarding school, seventeen-year-old Beatrice goes to her uncle’s estate on Long Island. But Hey Nonny Nonny is more than just a rundown old mansion. Beatrice’s cousin, Hero, runs a struggling speakeasy out of the basement—one that might not survive the summer. Along with Prince, a poor young man determined to prove his worth; his brother John, a dark and dangerous agent of the local mob; Benedick, a handsome trust-fund kid trying to become a writer; and Maggie, a beautiful and talented singer; Beatrice and Hero throw all their efforts into planning a massive party to save the speakeasy. Despite all their worries, the summer is beautiful, love is in the air, and Beatrice and Benedick are caught up in a romantic battle of wits that their friends might be quietly orchestrating in the background.

Much Ado About Nothing has to be my favourite Shakespeare. I love the sass, the banter, the characters - and that love affair can be traced back to the Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson adaptation in the 90s which I still love re-watching. So when I came across Angie's review (which essentially was a love letter to this retelling) it was a no brainer that of course I was going to pick it up.

With such high hopes and a dizzying array of nerves (how could the story really work transplanted into the 1920s?) I was nervous when I opened to the first page, but within the first few sentences I was laughing and most of the way to falling in love with Benedick Scott, and utterly utterly smitten.

This cast of characters is utterly glorious. McKelle has taken the essence of the play, and then filled it with her own glorious originality and charm. It is funny, biting, the characters are real and wonderful and flawed, and I fell in love with each of them over the course of the book. She shows the original wit, and then plumbs each character for new depths, compelling, complex, shades of grey instead of black and white. I adored the new facets given to John and Maggie for example, turning them into complex and fascinating people that I wanted to spend more time with.

Not since Blue and her boys in The Raven Cycle have I fallen so hard and fast for a misfit group. They stole my heart and I found myself in turns laughing and then moved to tears at this beautiful and fresh retelling. There is lightness, romance and humour certainly, but McKelle twists that deftly with hardship and raw grit and emotion. This story has hard edges beneath the softness and humour, and it makes it all the more powerful and beautiful.


(Side note: Chapter titles created from original bits of dialogue from the play? BE STILL MY HEART.)

In short, this book is wonderful. Ultimately this will be one of my favourite reads of the year, and will be gifted to several people at Christmas to spread the joy and beauty of this book. It is a gem of a book, one that I will return to repeatedly, and one that deserves more notice than it has received.
Read it. Read it now.

Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Publication Date: April 1^st 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 388 pages

Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name. 
When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex? 

I positively adored “Night Owls” (or “The Anatomical Shape of a Heart” if you’re in America) and as soon as I realised there was another offering from Jenn Bennett on the shelves, I didn’t hesitate to pick it up.

It was exactly what I expected, and exactly what I’d hoped for – a light, romantic story with whip smart dialogue and a swoon-worthy romance at its heart. The only dampener was that you could see the “twist” coming a mile off, but so long as you don’t mind knowing roughly where the story is going, it doesn’t detract from it at all.

If you’re a fan of light fluff filled romance that will definitely give you butterflies, or some classic rom coms (think “You’ve got Mail”) then this is a definite must read. Perfect for whiling away a few hours, and to give you that swooping feeling of that first epic love, this is one I know I’ll be coming back to time and time again.

Top Ten TV Shows That Have Kept Me Sane Whilst I've Not Been Reading

So what do you do when you’re a book blogger who can’t seem to settle down and read? We all go through those patches where you cannot finish a book and end up starting ten and only getting a few pages in. Frustrating, demoralising and incredibly bad for the ever growing to read pile, I turn to television.

As a result I have been ploughing through a truly crazy amount of television over the last twelve months. Some absolute duds that I barely made it through the pilot of, but some incredible shows as well. So rounded up for your viewing pleasure, here are the top ten tv shows that have been keeping me sane whilst I haven’t been reading.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
I love Gilmore Girls, so this was on my radar purely because it was coming from the Sherman-Palladino camp. I resisted watching the pilot when it came out earlier this year so I could binge through the entire series when it landed at the end of November, and I am oh so glad I did. I was interested but not hooked, right through the first episode until the final fifteen minutes at which point my jaw hit the floor and it shot straight up to an all time favourite show. It’s gloriously funny, quick, whip smart, and takes a long hard look at women, relationships, and life – not just in 1958 when the show is set, but a lot of commentary is relevant even now. I love this show, I couldn’t get enough of it, and I am so thrilled that season 2 has already been commissioned.

Stranger Things
Why oh why did I not catch on when the first season came out?! A nostalgic, terrifying trip of a show, Stranger Things is one of the best things on television, and it not only came back hard with its second season, some might argue it came back even better. It’s dark and intense and brilliantly written and acted. The character arcs are fantastic and involve some truly great evolution and amazing pairings that had me practically skipping come season 2. This won’t be one you can hold off watching, once you start you’ll binge straight through, and join the rest of us desperately wanting season 3.

The Handmaid’s Tale
Oh boy was this one traumatic. It also resulted in a lot of fascinating conversations surrounding the events of the show and how we would respond if these things started to happen in real life. For all the trauma (this is not a show you can easily binge, you need to give yourself a breather between episodes) it is one of the best shows out there. Incredibly done, with some truly stunning acting, this show felt real, terrifyingly real, and became all the more powerful for it. Season 1 covers the entirety of the book, but there is a second season in the works, and I’m fascinated to see where they take us next.

Big Little Lies
I’m feeling a bit conflicted about the newly announced second season of Big Little Lies, because the first season was so perfect on its own. However the idea of going back to these characters for a second go around fills me with glee…
It’s a surprisingly funny, dark, and brilliantly constructed who dunnit, that centres on this group of families and the ways their lives cross and intersect in all sorts of twisty ways. It’s incredible, with some truly amazing performances, and one of the best portrayals of an abusive relationship I’ve seen in a show. Sometimes incredibly hard to watch, but always gripping, this is a compulsive must watch.

Dear White People
Short, sharp, incredibly relevant, this show explores the racism at fictional university Winchester, and packs an emotional and truthful punch. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s brutally honest and as a result horrifying. It lays out the racism still far too prevalent in society today, and does it elegantly. Focused on a group of students, episodes follow storylines for each, interweaving, doubling back on themselves to fill in blanks, and showcasing a truly astonishing cast of actors. Watch this show. And then get ready for the second season that’s already been commissioned.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
This is a show that I’ve ended up having a lot of thoughts about as I’ve caught up with the two and a half seasons so far available. It’s a completely odd mismatch of things – a show with mental health at its heart, that’s also got a musical element with some of the funniest whip smart lyrics around? Not something that would immediately spring to mind. But somehow this show works, brilliantly. There are the odd episode mis-steps, but on the whole this is a surprisingly nuanced and layered look at mental health. Honest, at times quite dark and hard to watch, this is a surprising show that rewards watching all the way through. The further in you get the more you realise is going on – plus the songs will be stuck in your head for days…

Master of None
I will admit, the first few episodes I was not convinced. But a friend of mine had been raving about this show for long enough that I felt I ought to carry on, and I was incredibly glad that I did. It’s funny, realistic, tackles topics like racism and sexism head on, and explores all manner of relationships from those with family, to friendships and romance. It’s a wonderful insight into life as a 20 or 30 something and has a freshness to it that makes it even more charming.
The second season is where it really kicks off – particularly the first episode, shot entirely in black and white and mostly in Italian. I loved it.

Santa Clarita Diet
Completely insane, a little bit gruesome, but seriously brilliant – this show took me by surprise. I started to watch it purely because it was Drew Barrymore and not a crazy number of episodes to work through. The first episode (mostly due to the ick factor) was not the greatest hook, but it was still off the wall enough that I kept watching… And watching… And watching… And before I knew it I’d finished the entire series and had become a lot more invested in these characters than I’d ever expected to be. It’s funny – the two leads are brilliantly suited and their down to earth portrayal make the crazy hijinks that ensue even more entertaining. Just don’t watch it whilst you’re eating dinner…

The Crown
Who doesn’t love this show?! Gorgeously shot, costumed, scripted, and acted, this show cannot put a foot wrong. It’s decadent and engaging, completely immersing you in the upside down world of the royal family and breathing fresh life into England’s very recent past. The casting for this is absolutely superb, with some truly incredible performances across the board. If you’ve not had chance to watch it yet, it’s perfect viewing for the entire family and an excellent binge watch over Christmas.

Riverdale
Based on the characters from the Archie Comics, this show is much darker than you’d expect and explores a much more grown up side of Riverdale. The stories are dark and twisty, the characters are compelling, and it’s shot in gorgeous dark and neon colours that add an extra ethereal air to the show. Everything about it is just more and it gives over to that otherness to great effect. The cinematography in the second season is particularly brilliant, with a lot of episodes feeling as though they’re panels that have been lifted straight from a comic. Halfway through the second season, now is the perfect time to catch up before the show re-starts in the new year.

Are there any good shows you feel should be bumped onto my viewing list? Let me know in the comments!