Contracts and Cats by Toni Binns

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

5/5 stars

Sable is applying for what looks like her dream job. A live-in job at a local bookshop where she must also take care of The Cat. After a successful interview with the current caretaker Sable accepts the job, once she does the reality of the role becomes more obvious... For the next year she cannot leave the premises at all.

It turns out that there is plenty to keep her busy though since this is actually a magical bookshop and it... Travels to best meet it's customers needs. One of these customers leaves something behind, something he shouldn't have had in the first place. A baby dragon!

I love this book! It was long (526 pages according to StoryGraph) but it didn't feel it. I flew through it. I loved the characters and their diversity and the fact that we got passages from the point of view of The Cat. The writing flowed and the plot was engaging and easy to read and everything felt seamless. I even enjoyed the mundane day to day life bits of breakfast and coffee. I'm really looking forward to the next book!

Steff Out x

A Death at the Party by Amy Stuart

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

3/5 stars

Past and present collide as Nadine organises her mother's 60th birthday party. It's also the 30th anniversary of her discovering her 15-year-old aunt Colleen's dead body at a previous birthday party.

Nadine has recently recovered from a broken hip and subsequent infection, she also has to cope with her ex-fling - and her husband's best friend - coming to the party with his new wife who has recently had a baby, her daughter's best friend is in a coma in hospital following an overdose and a journalist keeps sniffing around her famous author mother.

This was an interesting concept, told over the course of one day with a variety of characters although we lacked the time to get to know all of them effectively. Certain plot threads were mentioned and then discarded, there was indication that Nadine's own accident wasn't an accident but then that was abandoned. There wasn't really enough time to cover everything and then the ending was very abrupt with no resolution.

Steff Out x

Thick Witch Travels by Lizzy Ives

 

Ebook with great thanks to Sword and Rose press and the author.

5/5 stars

You may recall last year I read book 1 of this series? Trilogy? I think it's a trilogy... Fat Witch Summer which I loved.

Book 2 picks up a year later, the Gift system has been dismantled thanks to Thrash and her coven but familiars keep approaching Thrash, everyone's unsettled and they just need a break.

Now Thrash, Cresca, Em and Saki are heading out on a gap year to travel Europa finished off with an apprenticeship Thrash arranged at Wainwood Academy under famed architect Fernicus Wainwood. Right from the start the four all seem to have different ideas about the trip and Thrash worried they might be growing apart but then a familiar asks for their help...

I LOVE these books, the characters are so well-written and 3D. They all have distinct voices and personalities. As a fat person I relate to Thrash's struggles to buy off the rack, especially when thrifting or at boutiques (that adjustment wand sounds amazing though!). I loved the ace rep.

The story is complex and layered but still easy to follow and the danger towards the characters feels real. I loved the expansion of the world and the magic system, everything is so well thought out and I'm really looking forward to the future and seeing where these characters end up.

Steff Out x

The Dog Share by Fiona Gibson

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

4/5 stars

Suzy's partner Paul decides on a whim to buy a Whiskey distillery that they visited on holiday on a small Scottish island. 2 years later Paul has vanished and the distillery is close to going bust. Suzy equally on a whim but for the right reasons decides to go it alone and try to save it.

On a visit to the island Suzy comes across a lost terrier that she names Scout. Trying to find his origins she connects with local Cara who has just had to put her own dog to sleep. Suzy eventually decides to keep Scout, a new mascot for a new life.

Ricky's dad was the former head distiller and Ricky and his son Arthur are visiting for Easter to try and cheer up grandad following the loss of his dog not so long ago. Suzy tries to get Harry re-involved with the distillery but he's reluctant until Ricky and Arthur have a chance meeting with Scout on the beach.

This was super cute, I loved the variety of characters and the way everyone's paths crossed and how one dog can affect so many people.

The writing style was easy and engaging but there were frequent time jumps (two weeks later, two months later etc) which were a little annoying. There were a couple of plot threads that felt incomplete by the end which was a little bit frustrating but I still really enjoyed it.

Steff Out x

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

3/5 stars

Grady Green is an author. He has just phoned his wife, Abby, with news of being a New York Times bestseller when she stops the car saying she sees someone in the road. The call goes silent and when Grady goes to investigate Abby has vanished!

A year later Grady is a broken man living in a cheap hotel and with a writing advance needing to be paid back (he only wrote one book of a two book deal) his debts are accumulating. But then his agent Kitty - Abby's godmother - phones. She needs him to write a new book and she's got just the place he can use, the cabin used by a now deceased author on the isolated island of Amberley off the coast of Scotland.

The island when Grady arrives is a very strange place. A tiny community of 25, phones that don't work, or do they? No consistent schedule to be able to leave the island. Odd looks and comments and for Grady the delivery of some of Abby's old newspaper articles possibly referencing people on the island.

This started off interestingly but it took a lot of time to get anywhere. The pacing struggled. There's only so many paranoid hallucinations someone can take before thinking just get on with the plot! The last quarter where we get all the reveals felt crowded and muddy. There were moments one character mentioned that earlier in the book seemed to belong to another character. Some stuff seemed a bit out of the blue and unbelievable. And then that ending!?!? What was that??? I hated the lack of clarity there.

Steff Out x

Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

3/5 stars

Becks's mum and Silva's dad have just got married and gone on their dream honeymoon. Silva at 18 is supposed to be the responsible adult looking after 16 year old Becks but then Silva doesn't come home after waving the parents off.

Becks's cat Azog decides to poop in Silva's room and while cleaning it up Becks finds a bunch of receipts for random items, the earliest dated has a handwritten message on it expressing romantic interest. Further investigation reveals other strange items: a crappy wig, fairground token, medal, locker key and a football related newspaper article.

So I loved Becks. Black, out and proud lesbian, Marvel and Tolkien obsessive (her cat's name even comes from the Hobbit movies). Also China - I wish we could have had more of her. Raych was interesting but we didn't know her enough to care about what happened

But Silva. Silva pissed me off in short. She's supposedly so fragile following her mum's death from cancer but it's not like she was a little kid (I can't recall if the amount of time was specified), enough time has passed for her dad to feel comfortable remarrying. Also her blind obsession frustrated me to no end. You are 28 yet you are acting like a child!

The ending was also very abrupt like the author didn't want to go over a certain word count.

Steff Out x

Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood

 

Paperback read but ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

4/5 stars

Content warnings: child death, suicide plus attempts, eating disorder, grief.

Maggie has just woken up from a coma to be told that her daughter Elspeth has drowned and her husband Sean has left. Maggie's injuries tell the police that she tried to stop the car going into the river but what caused the accident? Maggie has lost her memories of the day. Then she's told that due to her husband leaving she now has no home or belongings and very little money of her own.

This was a gripping, fast-paced novel with nice short chapters. Some of the chapters were separated by letters from an unnamed child in some kind of children's home situation. You might have guesses as to who this child is but you are probably wrong because that particular reveal comes quite late.

The only thing I didn't like was that the whole situation between Maggie and her husband is very brushed over and I feel like it needed more page time.

Steff Out x