Book Review

Title: The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games Book 2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: 4.75 Stars

I read The Inheritance Games in September of last year and really enjoyed it but I am only now picking up the sequel because I was waiting for the final book to be released so I can read them closer together. The opening to The Hawthorne Legacy picks up where The Inheritance Games left off with Avery and Jameson trying to figure out how his grandfather knew that Toby who alive and why he picked Avery for the game. As Avery doesn’t want to be used by the boys she makes a bet with Jameson about who can figure this mystery out first and it seems that Jameson has a head start because he is a member of the family and has access to people that knew Toby that probably won’t talk to Avery. She is also dealing with the cold Grayson, the eccentric Xander and the seemingly uninterested Nash along with her sister, Libby who is doing more harm than good right now. Avery is still trying to adjust to this new life and she realises that Toby who she knew as Harry is already in the wind again but the purpose of the game seems to be finding him and bringing him back into the family and repairing the broken bonds here. There is also a secret surrounding Avery’s birth that needs to be solved since it seemingly went to the grave with her mother and her deadbeat father has now re-entered the picture.

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Book Review

Title: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Genre: Contemporary, Drama

Rating: 5 Stars

I picked up The Truth About Alice because it seemed like a quick and easy read and while it was quick I read it in a couple of hours, the subject matter at times wasn’t easy. We are follow four students from Healy High discussing the scandal surrounding another student, Alice Franklin. The other perspectives are that of Elaine, Kelsie, Kurt and Josh, at one of Elaine’s parties Alice allegedly slept with two boys, Brandon Fitzsimmons, the high school quarterback and Tommy, a local whose leaving for college soon. Just a few weeks later Brandon dies in a car accident and the reason for the crash as Josh mentions to the police is Alice sending him suggestive text messages. So, Alice becomes not only the school slut but a killer as well in the eyes of her fellow students. When the rumour emerges because of Elaine, Alice goes to her best friend, Kelsie and denies them but Kelsie isn’t sure if Alice is telling the truth or not. Kelsie stops being friends with Alice to protect her own reputation which she has worked hard for but it means Alice has no one to support her now. Josh, Brandon’s best friend, was in the car when he died but survived and it is Josh who starts the text messaging rumour by accident to protect himself even though both boys were drunk at the time of the crash.

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Book Review

Title: Santa Baby by Cassie Mint

Genre: Erotic, Romance

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I haven’t read anything by Cassie Mint in the past but her Christmas themed novella seemed like a good place to start. I know this is holiday themed but I never have the urge to read these kinds of books during the holiday seasons for some reason so I am reading it in the summer. This novella only took me about 20 minutes to read from beginning to end so I would recommend the kindle edition if you can get it because it is so quick to read. The story is following Clara, a teenage runaway who is taken in by a bar owner named Jack who is the kindest, most caring person I have ever read about. He gives Clara a job and a place to live and when we meet her at the beginning of the story she is now 22 and has known Jack for several years and has a major crush on the older man.

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Book Review

Title: Daddy’s Dirty Boss by Jade West

Genre: Erotic, Romance

Rating: 5 Stars

Jade West is an insta-read author for me along with Katee Robert as they write some of the best erotic fiction I have read in recent years and are up there with the big name authors like Laurell K. Hamilton and J. R. Ward and Daddy’s Dirty Boss is no exception to this. This novel centre around Faith and her father’s friend, Miles Lindon who have known each other since Faith was a baby since Miles and her father are friends. Miles is a very central person in Faith’s life and it wasn’t a surprise when she became developing romantic and sexual feelings towards him in her teens which only increased when she spots him sleeping with one of the office girls at her sixteenth birthday party. After this Miles distances himself from the family and waits for the sexual feelings Faith has to die down and we jump forward two years to a few weeks before Faith’s eighteenth birthday as she is going to work for Miles during the summer before heading off to university.

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Book Review

Title: The Dinner Guest by B. P. Walter

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: 4.75 Stars

The opening to The Dinner Guest was interesting as it opens with the murder of Matthew shortly followed by the arrest of Rachel. We learn that Matthew and Charlie are a same sex married couple and Matthew has a son Titus and they live a normal life in the Chelsea borough of London although certain parts are staged for Charlie’s Instagram. These posts are seen by Rachel and she sees their life as perfect and wants to be a part of our so with the money she left from her mother she quits her job and moves to London. Rachel ends up meeting Charlie in Waterstones for the first time and shortly after in M&S Matthew invites her to his book club to Charlie’s surprise. Knowing Rachel deliberately moved to London to be near the family and instigated a way into their lives makes her seem crazy. However, we learn in the present timeline since the novel bounces between the day of the murder and the year leading to it that Titus asks why Rachel would confess to Matthew’s murder when she didn’t do it so this is going to be a journey of learning whether Rachel actually killed Matthew or if Charlie, Titus or someone else is responsible.

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I am 10 books in this month so far and I am aiming to finish all 17 of these prompts before the end of the month.

  

Roll 1 (3 + 2 = 5) – Person Word in Title – The Deathless Girl by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Roll 2 (6 + 1 = 7) – Mood Read – Torn by Jennifer L Armentrout

Roll 3 (5 + 6 = 11) – Opulent –

Roll 4 (3 + 1 = 4) – Last Chance – Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

Roll 5 (4 + 2 = 6) – Community Shelf – The Dinner Guest by B P Walter

Roll 6 (2 + 4 = 6) –Highest Rated –

Roll 7 (3 + 1 = 4) – Small Book – On or Off Season 3 by A1

Roll 8 (5 + 5 = 10) – New – On or Off Season 2 by A1

Roll 9 (5 + 2 = 7) – Becca Rec –

Roll 10 (2 + 2 = 4) – Spooky –

Roll 11 (1 + 5 = 6) – Scroll Feed – On or Off Season 1 by A1 

Roll 12 (4 + 6 = 10) – Random – Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Roll 13 (4 + 2 = 6) – Humans – What We Didn’t Say by Rory Dunlop

Roll 14 (4 + 2 = 6) – Mood Read –

Roll 15 (6 + 5 = 11) – Opulent –

Roll 16 (6 + 4 = 10) – Community Shelf – Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Roll 17 (1 + 5 = 6) – Highest Rated –

So far this month I’ve read 10 books, 3 of those were manwha but I greatly enjoyed them and highly recommend you pick up On or Off if you’re a BL fan. I am hoping to double that amount before the end of the month so wish me luck.

Contains a map

Explores mother & child relationship – Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Title includes a flower

Multiple POVs – What We Didn’t Say by Rory Dunlop

Protagonist works with animals – The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Translated – On or Off Season 2 by A1

Published in May – On or Off Season 1 by A1

Books on the cover

Author’s first name begins with A – Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Set in space

Hooked you from the opening line – The Dinner Guest by B P Walter

Title begins with M

Free space

Addresses mental health

Audiobook with an asian author and narrator

Reread a childhood favorite

Purple cover

Title begins with Y

Set in the 50s

Author recommended by a friend – On or Off Season 3 by A1

Featured on BookishFirst

Character rides a horse – Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

First in a series

Bird on cover

Recommended on social media – Torn by Jennifer L Armentrout

Book Review

Title: What We Didn’t Say by Rory Dunlop

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Drama

Rating: 5 Stars

The opening of What We Didn’t Say was interesting, we are introduced to a married couple Jack and Laura who have been separated for two years. Obviously something happened between them but we don’t know what yet only that two people Zac Ford and his girlfriend, Claudia are involved. Jack and Laura met at university where he was a lecturer and she was a student, there isn’t a huge age gap between them only eight years but it was interesting to see. Two years after they separated Jack returned to London but the meeting with Laura didn’t go well so they begin emailing each other. Jack sends Laura his diary to read about the time they were together and apart but she remembers things a little differently so she makes corrections and comments on the diary. We also know this is all in the past since Laura wrote a letter to their son, Michael telling him the emails and diary would explain her relationship with his father.

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Book Review

Title: Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Genre: Contemporary, Family, Drama

Rating: 4 Stars

The opening to Mostly Dead Things was interesting as we are introduced to Jessa-Lynn and her brother, Milo. Their father is a taxidermist running a business he inherited from his own father and he has slowly been teaching his children the trade. He had been hoping for Milo to take over but he believes that Milo is too sensitive and begins teaching Jessa who is very similar to her father. We see some great moments between father and daughter but this is overshadowed when Jessa finds her father’s body after he commits suicide. In his suicide note he leaves the business which now has a lot of debt to Jessa and this is where the story really begins. A year after their father’s death Jessa is running the business, dealing with alcoholism and a seemingly mad mother. Milo has had to deal with his wife leaving him five years earlier and their children and Brynn happens to be the woman that Jessa was in love with too. The siblings don’t know how to cope with their mother who seems to be going with the father’s death by using the stuffed animals to make increasingly erotic “art” which Jessa despises but it does help her sell a particular piece which she can use to keep the business afloat despite Milo telling her they should consider selling it. There is also some incredible tension between these siblings and I am excited to see what happens.

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Book Review

Title: Blood of Elves (The Witcher Book 1) by Andrzej Sapkowski

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

Rating: 3 Stars

The first two books in The Witcher series are anthologies of prequel short stories that introduce us to the characters, their backstories and their relationships to each other especially Geralt and Ciri since the main series focuses around them and Yennefer I believe but apart from that I didn’t know much about it going into it. The opening to Blood of Elves was interesting as it takes place about a year after Sword of Destiny. While Geralt rescued Ciri from the Battle of Cintra many people believe that Ciri is dead and that Geralt has vanished but Dandelion’s ballad about the battle stirs up some questions and lands him in some serious trouble. Dandelion even when he is being tortured for information won’t betray his friend even when the thing he loves most is at stake. Fortunately he is rescued by Yennefer and I have a feeling that the pair will be meeting up with Geralt and Ciri at some point in the future. The relationship between Geralt and Ciri so far is parental as he comforts her when she has nightmares and I can’t wait to see more of that as the novel progresses.

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