Book Review: Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly Macmillan

Gripping is my first thought. Real is my second.

An interesting cast of characters and an intense plot that kept me hooked and local locations I could plausibly visit. See I live near Bristol where the book is set. In fact my hometown was mentioned in the context of a dream Jim had where he's at Portishead Lido, while I've never visited the Lido itself (I drive past it sometimes though) I live in Portishead, so that was a nice little Easter egg.

The plot kept me guessing, I didn't work out who did it, it was written very sneakily with very few obvious clues and plenty of red herrings of possible suspects that seemed more likely.

I did notice one minor inconsistency though, at the beginning Skittle the dog was a boy but he's referred to as 'she' at the end of the book. Completely not relevant to the book but it bugged me anyway.

5/5 stars.

Stef Out x

Book Review: Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

Content warning: Child abuse.

Real and authentic and heartwarming and so so sad.

I loved Ginny and I feel that her autism was well-written, her backstory was so tragic and I did actually like that a lot of it was implied rather than spoken outright, usually I like things spelled out explicitly but it would have felt out of place in this book.

I feel like a lot of the adults were pretty useless and didn't take Ginny seriously or listen to her properly, especially regarding 'Baby Doll', to me that was obvious fairly quickly yet the adults in Ginny's life were so dense! And her adoptive mum in particular took things way too far and I wonder how thing would have been if she'd opened up sooner. Overall an interesting book that makes you think.

4.5/5 stars.

Stef Out x

Song of the Week #8

So today's song of the week is one that isn't even on my iTunes playlist but has been stuck in my head for a few weeks after a TV performance I'll add further down. The song is 'Proud Mary' by Tina Turner.

It's one of those feel good songs that makes you want to get up and dance yet the lyrics are real and serious, about going to work and making a living even if the work is crap. Apparently it was originally envisioned as the story of a woman who would get a bus to work as a maid for rich people, but then that changed and it became about a boat. I guess like all songs it's down to interpretation.

This is the reason it's been in my head lately, BBC show All Together Now getting it's first score of 100 with a quiet unassuming lad called Michael's rousing performance of this song, it's an epic moment and you really want to join in.

Stef Out x

Book Review: Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor

Another long title haha! So apparently this is a companion book to the 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' trilogy. I didn't realise this when I picked it up from the library but I still breezed through it in a day.

I knew nothing about the history of the characters but they drew me in and I loved them anyway. I loved that it wasn't set in the US or even the UK, it made for a really rich, interesting setting.

Even though it was only one basic storyline I still enjoyed it and wanted more. The illustrations were stunning and added so much extra life to the story, Zuzanna is a badass little punk in platform boots! Loses one star because I felt like the ending was a little abrupt but I guess we see more of both in the main trilogy.

4/5 stars.

Stef Out x

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Phew, a long-winded title there! Anyway I loved the characters in this, they were all so well-developed, even the side characters. I loved that the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin developed slowly, no insta-love here! Although a worrying hint at a triangle in book 2 though I hope not.

Also more sex scenes in Young Adult books please! Teens have sex and they want/need to see it in their books. I was half expecting a weird faerie pregnancy to happen!

The world-building was so intricate and everything felt so real! I loved the plot, everything was so detailed with some great foreshadowing and overall really smart writing.

Note 1: I personally couldn't work out the riddle.

Note 2: Apparently this book is actually classed as New Adult, not Young Adult, hence the sex I guess.

5/5 Stars.

Stef Out x

Song of the Week #7

A quick one this week in between work and stuff, another busy week. Here is Sara Bareilles with 'King of Anything'

This wasn't my original pick for this week but it came up on my phone on the way home from work today and I just felt a little inspired.

"Who cares if you disagree, you are not me, who made you king of anything?" This line just speaks to me and I find it really powerful especially at the moment with all of the scary political stuff in America.

Anyway that's it for today (told you it'd be quick!) but I'll be back soon.

Stef Out x

Book Review: Sweet Pea by CJ Skuse

Wow! This was almost a 5 star book. Almost! I loved it and Rhiannon was scarily relateable, all the people that ended up on her kill lists, I understood.

Everything was really well plotted with few loose ends. I loved Rhiannon's interactions with the other characters, especially Daisy and the PICSO's. I completely understood her motivations and it made me think are we all just a little bit psycho?

Honestly my main criticism with this book was that I wanted more. More backstory, more detail on the whys and in particular more of an ending! That ending though, a shocker and I just wanted to read more, where is Rhiannon going to go from here?

4/5 stars.

I need to sort out the timing of my book reviews though. With days of not getting onto the computer they end up going up late. Sweet Pea I finished Sunday and it won't be going up until Tuesday now. I guess I just need a slightly longer/slower book so everything can catch itself up.

Stef Out x