Lush Book Club

So, on the 26th, I went to a book club hosted by Lush in London. It was amazing. Not only did it smell great, but there were cupcakes, drinks, lovely people, a hilarious author, lush goodies and a copy of The Summer Of Impossible Things.

I met Nicola from Fantastic Book Dragon and Ana from Fangirl Since 88 when I got there, and Nicola very luckily managed to get right to the front and save Ana and I both a seat, which we were pretty happy about! Soon after, Anna James and Rowan Coleman were sat down and ready to start. Anna started by introducing both herself and the author of the book, Rowan, and then Rowan read an extract from her book that had me very eager to begin reading.

Rowan was then asked a series of questions that Anna had prepared, and her answers were brilliant. She either had everyone hanging on her every word or laughing. There was something about practising kissing on a poster at the age of 11, if I recall correctly!

The audience were then able to ask some questions, which was great. I unfortunately didn’t have any as I haven’t yet read the book, but I can guarantee I’ll have tons once I’ve finished the book. After the questions had all been answered, Rowan signed some books and we got some lush goodies!

Overall, it was a really great night and I can’t wait to read The Summer Of Impossible Things! I definitely plan on going again in the next few months.

-Books&Belle xx

Blog Tour: A Review of Heart Of Mist by Helen Scheuerer (Spoiler-Free!)

Synopsis

In a realm where toxic mist sweeps the lands and magic is forbidden, all Bleak wants is a cure for her power.

Still grieving the death of her guardian and dangerously self-medicating with alcohol, Bleak is snatched from her home by the Commander of the King’s Army, and summoned to the capital.

But the king isn’t the only one interested in Bleak’s powers.

The leader of an infamous society of warriors, the Valia Kindred, lays claim to her as well, and Bleak finds herself in the middle of a much bigger battle than she anticipated.

Heart of Mist is the gripping first book in The Oremere Chronicles, a fantasy series of epic proportions.

Review

I’m very lucky to be one of the stops of the Heart of Mist blog tour! The first thing that I want to point out about this book is how beautiful the cover is. I know we’re not meant to judge books by their covers, but it was one of the first things that attracted me to it. That, coupled with how good the synopsis sounded, made me want to dive right in.

When I did begin to read, I was not disappointed. The opening is exciting and left me wanting more, and making me have to read on, which is always a good sign when you’re only a couple of pages into a book. The plot is fast-paced, which I liked. I always try and finish a book, but when it takes absolutely ages to get into I do struggle. I felt on edge a lot of the time I was reading this, just because I didn’t know what to expect next!

I do want to mention that there is alcoholism in this book. Bleak, the main character, drinks a lot to cope with her troubles, so if that’s a trigger for you, I would keep it in mind before picking up this book. Personally, I thought that it was an interesting topic to include, and one that is not often seen in YA, so to have an issue like this be a part of the story intrigued me.

Now, onto characters! I liked the main character, Bleak, but she did annoy me at times. She seemed a little whiny to me, and I just didn’t connect with her very much. Like I said, though, I did like her and I respect that she was able to take responsibility for her mistakes when she made them. Fiore, however, I loved! He was brilliant, and the only character that I connected with. There were others that I liked, but Fi was my favourite.

I loved the world that Scheuerer created, and I think that the way she writes is great. The plot kept me interested throughout the whole book and I’m looking forward to the next one. Overall, I give this book 4 stars.

Make sure you join in for the Twitter chat using the hashtag #MistPH for the change to win a Heart of Mist Prize pack.

Check out That Bookshelf Bitch for more information on Heart of Mist.

There is a giveaway, so check that out!

You can buy the book on Amazon.

Check it out on Goodreads.

-Books&Belle xx

Book Review – Sleeping Beauties by Jo Spain (Spoiler-Free!)

Synopsis

The inspector frowned and examined the earth under the trees. As he scanned the glade, his stomach lurched. One, two, three, four. Five, counting the mound of earth disturbed under the tent. Somebody had cleared the earth of its natural layer and sown their own flowers.

In five places.

Five graves.

A young woman, Fiona Holland, has gone missing from a small Irish village. A search is mounted, but there are whispers. Fiona had a wild reputation. Was she abducted, or has she run away?

A week later, a gruesome discovery is made in the woods at Ireland’s most scenic beauty spot – the valley of Glendalough. The bodies are all young women who disappeared in recent years. D.I. Tom Reynolds and his team are faced with the toughest case of their careers – a serial killer, who hunts vulnerable women, and holds his victims captive before he ends their lives.

Soon the race is on to find Fiona Holland before it’s too late.

Review

So, at the moment I’m rather annoyed as I have somehow managed to delete the review of this I had previously written, meaning I have to re-write it! I’ll start by saying that this books is one of my favourite reads of 2017. Mystery, good characters, suspense and a good plot. What more can a Thriller-lover want?

The main character, Tom, was brilliant. He’s the type of guy that I wish was real so that I could know him in real life. He’s determined, wise and just a great character. I also really liked Laura and Ray, and how there was a little something going on between them. It also didn’t take the focus away from the main plot, so I applaud Jo Spain for that.

I found the point of view changes really interesting in Sleeping Beauties. Every few chapters, it’d change from Tom’s to the perspective of one of the killers five victims before they were murdered. I thought that this definitely gave Spain an edge and it kept me reading, as I’d refuse to put the book down until I had read just one more chapter from one of the murdered women’s perspective. It was also rather chilling and somewhat heartbreaking to read their final thoughts before they died.

I played my game where I attempt to predict the ending, of course, and although I was somewhat right, there was a very big plot twist that left me gobsmacked. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

So, if you like Thrillers, I’d definitely recommend this one to you. Overall, I give this book 5 stars.

I’d like to thank Quercus Books for sending me a copy of Sleeping Beauties in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

-Books&Belle xx

Top 5 Villains From Horrors/Thrillers – Haunted Halloween Hop

So, as you’re all probably well aware, Halloween is coming up! To celebrate this, Jessica over at Reading With Jessica had the idea of the Haunted Halloween Hop. There are 10 of us participating, spreading over 10 days from my post today, the 22nd, to Halloween, the 31st, so make sure you check out the daily posts! Each post will be Halloween themed, which brings me onto my post – Top 5 Villains From Horrors/Thrillers.

1. Annie Wilkes from Misery by Stephen King

Annie Wilkes is… scary. She scares me. She’s the type of person that seems friendly, but is actually a complete psychopath. The things she does to Sheldon in the book, both physically and psychologically, are horrifying. She’s definitely one of the first villains that comes to mind, because there’s a chance of someone like her being real. She’s not supernatural, very sick people like her do exist, which is what scares me the most.

2. Joe from Lying About Last Summer

I wanted to include a YA villain on this list, because that is what a lot of the books that I read are, but I don’t tend to read YA Thrillers or Horrors. This is actually one of the only ones! He’s a well-written villain, thats for sure. I was suspicious of him throughout the whole book, and the things he did and who he did them to made me so angry. I despised him whilst reading, but I guess that was the authors intention!

3. Francesca from Local Girl Missing

Local Girl Missing is one of my all-time favourite Thrillers, and the villain, Francesca, was brilliant. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know that you can’t help but like her at the start. But then all of the awful things she did to people she was supposed to care about came to light.

4. Adam from The Second Sister

Adam made my skin crawl. He was charming and able to gain the trust of people like Ella, which was what scared me the most about him, because again, people like him do actually exist.

Pennywise from IT

I don’t even need to write anything about this villain. Clowns are so creepy. Clowns who eat children? Even creepier!

If you want to follow along with our Haunted Halloween Hop, heres the schedule:

 

22nd – My day.
23rd – Linda from Linda’s Little Library.
24th – Danielle from The Introverted Book Nerd.
25th – Jessica from Reading With Jessica.
26th – Kris from Boston Book Reader.
27th – Fernanda from The Wanderlust Reader.
28th – Diana from The Bookish Sisters.
29th – Sarah from Book Hooked Nook.
30th – Nicole from Boundless Bookaholic.
31st – Maggie from The Caramel Files.

-Books&Belle xx

Top 5 Wednesday: Books Featuring Vampires

Top 5 Wednesday (#T5W) is something that I discovered through Ash’s blog, so go check her out! It was created by Lainey and Samantha in 2013 and is still going strong. There is a new topic every week, and you choose 5 books that are related to that topic. If you’re interested in joining in, have a look at their Goodreads group for more information.

The topic this week is books featuring a paranormal creature of your choice. I chose vampires. The reason for this is that they’re my favourite paranormal creatures, and I love reading about them.

1. The Vampire Diaries

Like I’ve said plenty of times before, I love The Vampire Diaries… as a TV show. The books, not so much. However, the show was based on them and I love how the vampires are portrayed in this series.

2. Twilight

I really can’t believe that this wasn’t the first one that came to mind when I thought of vampire books. Say what you want about it, I loved these books, and the films, when I first discovered them. They started my fascination with vampires, and whilst there were things that were so cringey, I couldn’t get enough with them. I was always Team Edward, in case you were wondering.

3. The House of Night Series

This is another series that I love. I started this when I was 12 or 13, and I still haven’t finished it! There is so many books, and I’ll go through stages of devouring a book or two in a few days, and then won’t touch the next one for another year. Perhaps it’s my subconscious trying to make the series last as long as possible.

4. Glass Houses

I’ve only read the first book in this series, but I did enjoy it. The vampires in it weren’t my favourite, as you can probably tell from the above picks, I like the vampires to be the protagonists of the story. They were written well, however, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book.

5. Dracula

I wasn’t actually going to include this one, for the simple reason that I’ve not read it. But I do want to, and I felt I couldn’t do a vampire post and not include Dracula. I’m definitely bumping it up my TBR a few places!

Remember, if you’re interested in taking part in #T5W, check out their Goodreads group!

-Books&Belle xx

Stephen King Haul

So, over the weekend I acquired six new Stephen King books, and the best part was, I didn’t have to even spend a penny for any of them!

The first one I’m going to mention is Misery by Stephen King. I was out for lunch with my Nan and Dad, and my Nan and I were talking about books. I told her that I wanted to read Misery, and both her and my Dad said how good it was. About ten minutes later, my Nan got up to “go to the toilet” and took absolutely ages! When she finally cam back, she came from the wrong direction and had a Waterstones bag in her hand. She gave it to me, and inside was Misery.

Later on back at her house, she was up in her room whilst my Dad and I were watching TV, and when she came down, she had a pile of hardback Stephen King books with her, which she gave to me.

She also wrote down the names of all of the Stephen King books I have so that she doesn’t get me any I’ve already got. She’s so lovely!

-Books&Belle xx

 

Book Review – Doubt The Stars by Maddyson Wilson (Spoiler-Free!)

Synopsis

How far would you go to save the damned?

Celeste Adair lives in a world painted gray. She’s spent the last five years of her life stuck in a mental institution because she told the truth: there was an angel on the roof of her foster home. Since then, she’s been slapped with labels she didn’t deserve and words she didn’t ask for.

Luke Enoch lives in a world painted a fire red. He and his sister, Clover, have been living on the streets of Brooklyn for the last five years, running from the police because Luke has been accused of lighting the house fire that killed their parents. Luke has sacrificed everything to keep Clover safe and will do whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t suffer the same fate he has.

After waking up from what they thought to be their final breaths, Celeste and Luke find themselves trapped in the year 1392 with a single mission: protect Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers. With the centuries-old war brewing, the only shot they have at keeping Romeo and Juliet alive is keeping them separate. But, when fate (and a trigger-happy prince) steps in, there aren’t many things Celeste and Luke can do to stop all of Verona from falling into war. With the line between good and bad erased, Celeste and Luke will have to risk everything to keep the star-crossed lovers safe–even if it means losing each other.

Review

I loved the idea of this book. I’m a sucker for Shakespeare, so when I read that it would be set within Romeo and Juliet, I was really excited. What I got, however, was not what I was expecting. It was so much more. I really enjoyed it, there were aspects of fantasy, (one of my favourite genres!!) plot twists, and after I had read the first few chapters, I struggled putting it down.

I loved Celeste. I wasn’t sure what I would think of her, but she was a really interesting character, and I think the way she was written was brilliant. She was strong, brave and very determined to accomplish her mission. Considering all the things she had been through in her life, she turned out pretty well. Luke, on the other hand, I was unsure about. Don’t get me wrong, I liked him. He was fiercely loyal and protective over his sister, something I can relate to, being the oldest sibling, but his morals… they weren’t great. I understand why he did the things he did, but it doesn’t mean I have to like them. The relationship between these two characters was also intriguing. I couldn’t tell what was going to happen, they were both very damaged people, so I didn’t know how that would work out, but it didn’t stop me from hoping something would.

Wilson’s writing was also something I wanted to mention. I like the way she writes, and she certainly kept me interested and guessing what was going to happen! There’s also a bit of violence in this book. It’s not at all over done, in fact, I thought it was just the right amount, but if that’s something you don’t like, I’d suggest thinking about it.

Also, be warned this is part of a series! Thank god, because I don’t know if I could cope with not knowing what happens next. I’m certainly looking forward to reading more about Celeste, Luke and the Eon Warriors.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I’d like to thank Maddison Wilson for sending me a copy of Doubt The Stars in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

-Books&Belle xx

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Creepy Settings

Top 5 Wednesday (#T5W) is something that I discovered through Ash’s blog, so go check her out! It was created by Lainey and Samantha in 2013 and is still going strong. There is a new topic every week, and you choose 5 books that are related to that topic. If you’re interested in joining in, have a look at their Goodreads group for more information.

This week, the topic is favourite creepy places. There’s so many amazing locations in books that I’ve found creepy!

1. Knockturn Alley – Harry Potter

Knockturn Alley always creeped me out a bit, especially after watching the film and seeing all the scary people approach Harry when he’s there! It’s the Wizarding World, though, so I’d still love to go there, despite it’s bad reputation.

2. Under The Mountains – ACOTAR

Okay, I definitely would not like to visit here. Let alone spend months down there like Feyre did! Even the visits from Rhysand wouldn’t make up for it.

3. The valley of Glendalough – Sleeping Beauties

This is where the killer buried the women that he murdered, so it’s safe to say this would be one of the last places I would want to go. The way Jo Spain described it was brilliant, however.

4. Withering Heights (Home of the Earnshaws) – Withering Heights

I find this whole book pretty creepy. It’s my favourite classic, but yes, very creepy!

5. The Apartment Francesca Rents – Local Girl Missing

If you’ve read this book you’d know why. She’s all alone when she’s there, and that coupled with the plot just makes me think.. no I would not be there. Plus, she hears noises and creepy stuff happens!

I love all of these books, and their creepy settings!

Remember, if you’re interested in taking part in #T5W, check out their Goodreads group!

-Books&Belle xx

 

Wunderkids Book Launch

So, on Saturday, I went to the Wunderkids book launch in London! I hadn’t been to a book launch before this one, so I didn’t know what to expect from it. This one was more of a party (which was great, because I love parties) so I’m told it was a bit different from the usual launch. It was such a good night though, and I’m so glad I went. I met up with Ana from Fangirl Since 1988 and Nicola from Fantastic Book Dragon, so it was really nice to see them again!

The author, Jacqueline Silvester, is really lovely, and was kind enough to sign all of our books, take a quick selfie with each of us, and have a chat! Oh, and I forgot to mention this on the night, but her outfit was so nice. I haven’t read Wunderkids yet, but I’ve heard some great things about it from people who I met at the launch who had read it, so I can’t wait to get around to it. It’s a fairly big book, which makes me even more excited!

There was also food and wine! I’m not the biggest fan of seafood (although I did try a prawn for the first time!) but I loved the cupcakes. They were so so good! Nicola certainly enjoyed the wine. On the way back to the train station once the launch had finished at 10pm, she had taken her heels off and was saying hello and waving to so many people on the street. I wish I had videoed that part of the night!

I’ve concluded that I definitely enjoy book launches. Food, drink, books and fellow book lovers. Whats not to love?!

-Books&Belle xx

Blog Tour: A Review Of Search For Maylee by Didi Oviatt (Spoiler-Free!)

Synopsis

Since Maylee was abducted from her high school the very month of graduation, her Aunt
Autumn has never lost hope in finding her. It’s been three years. Autumn has finally reached inside herself and found the courage to track down an old lead. She moves across the country to find him.

Will Autumn be able to pry Maylee’s case back open? More importantly, what will
Autumn uncover in the process of searching for Maylee? It’s a cold dark world we live in, and she is about to find out just how cruel it can be. Strength and determination are on Autumn’s side and she will do whatever it takes to either bring Maylee home, or to deliver the justice she deserves.

Review

I’m lucky enough to be one of the stops of the Search For Maylee blog tour, which I was very excited about. The synopsis of the book really intrigued me, so I was happy to be chosen! I usually prefer to read physical copies, but I read Search For Maylee as an e-book. It was a quick read, I enjoyed it enough to read it all in one sitting!

I loved the main character, Autumn’s, determination to find her niece no matter what the costs were. I did think some of the things she did were a bit foolish, but considering the situation that she was in, I guess you can’t blame her. Nobody knows how they would react if something like that happened! Plus, she was a strong, independent woman who didn’t take crap from anyone, which I always love to see in a book! Especially in Thrillers, sometimes you’ll get women being portrayed as the ‘damsel in distress’ which really bugs me, so hats off to Oviatt for creating such an amazing main character here.

I also want to mention Josie. I had a lot of admiration for her character, despite everything that she had been through, she still wanted to provide as much help as possible, which I thought was extremely brave of her.

The main thing that bothered me was the police having to go through Autumn to get find the ‘missing key’ in the case. I feel like they definitely would have found that the same way that Autumn did. So, there is a bit of a plot hole there. However, the overall plot definitely makes up for this. I couldn’t put it down, I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next, and if Maylee would be found, dead or alive. Oviatt’s writing style is engaging and I definitely enjoyed it.

The ending also provided me with closure, which I was glad about. I had no more lingering questions and I thought the author tied it up rather nicely.

Overall, I give this 3.5 stars.

.5

Goodreads Link

Purchase Links: One Two Three

Author Bio

Didi Oviatt is an intuitive soul. She’s a wife and mother first, with one son and one daughter. She’s a suspense novelist, and magazine columnist second. Her thirst to write was developed at an early age, and she never looked back. After digging down deep and getting in touch with her literary self, she’s writing mystery/thrillers like Search For Maylee, Aggravated Momentum, The Stix, and New Age Lamians(a trilogy to be). Along with a six- piece short story collection called the Time Wasters. She’s also collaborated with Kim Knight in an ongoing interactive short story anthology The Suspenseful Collection. When Didi doesn’t have her nose buried in a book, she can found enjoying a laid back outdoorsy life. Time spent sleeping under the stars, hiking, fishing, and ATVing the back roads of beautiful mountain trails, and bathing in the desert heat plays an important part of her day to day lifestyle.

AUTHOR LINKS:
Suspense Author & Book Blogger
didioviatt.wordpress.com/
amazon.com/author/didioviatt
http://www.facebook.com/didioviatt
twitter.com/Didi_Oviatt
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DidiO

Giveaway:
3 Kindle copies of “Search for Maylee” Gifted through Amazon

-Books&Belle xx