The Island by C.L. Taylor

 

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

4/5 stars 

6 teenagers are on holiday with their families. Their parents met while pregnant and the holidays have become an annual tradition each year. This year's coincides with Jefferson's birthday and his dad has organised an extra expedition: a week on a tropical island unaccompanied by the adults.

Things start off well enough but then their guide dies of a stroke and the teens are stranded. Twins Milo and Mia, Jefferson, Danny and girlfriend Honor and Jessie who is struggling following a traumatic incident. The group discusses phobias on their first night and then those phobias start appearing...

This was super tense and definitely kept me guessing but the initial idea of them going on yearly holidays because their parents were pregnant together was a little weak. The characters weren't super likable but we also didn't learn a lot about them.

Steff Out x

My Three Dogs by W. Bruce Cameron

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

5/5 stars

Liam and Sabrina have a happy life with their two dogs, Riggs and Luna, or so Liam thinks but when he brings home puppy Archie - rescuing him from a bad situation - it suddenly reveals that there are cracks in their relationship. Sabrina moves out for a break. Several days later Liam has come to his senses, he's spoken to Sabrina and they're planning to meet up where he wants to propose but before that happens he's in a car accident.

Liam's brother Brad takes over, tells Sabrina that Liam is dead and takes the dogs to a shelter where they are all eventually adopted separately to mixed success but Riggs in particular wants to reunite his pack.

At less than 300 pages this is a short novel, maybe a little too short in that we don't properly get to know our human characters but who cares when we are so perfectly in the heads of our canine characters and I love all three of them and never want them to come to harm! I especially loved the epilogue!

Steff Out x 

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

2/5 stars

Josephine Morrow is Girl One of Nine. She was the first to be born as part of Dr Joseph Bellanger's experiments with parthogenesis or solo birth. Her mother, Margaret, and the other mothers all lived with Joseph at a place known as the Homestead until a fire claimed the lives of Joseph and the youngest child, Fiona.

Now years later Josie, following in Joseph's footsteps and studying reproductive science, is semi-estranged from her mother but then she hears of an incident. Margaret's house has burned down and she is missing. Josie finds a notebook that implies Margaret was more interested in the others than she let on so with the help of journalist, Tom, whom Margaret contacted, Josie sets out to find her.

The concept of this was so interesting although I didn't really understand the choice of the time period chosen (the births took place in the late 70s and the story is set in the 90s) but the execution was such a letdown. The whole story is tell tell tell. Each vital bit of information is given by another character telling a story. There is very little show. Also the ending??? What the hell was that??? To put it bluntly there was no ending. It just stopped.

Steff Out x 

The Death Sculptor by Chris Carter

 

4/5 stars

Detective Robert Hunter is part of an elite murder investigation team in LA when he gets a call one day about a grisly murder. A district attorney has been killed despite being terminally ill and weeks from death. Yet this isn't an ordinary murder. He has been brutalised with limbs chopped off and used to make a grotesque sculpture, but what does it mean?

This was a gripping, fast-paced novel and the characters were interesting but I did have issues. The author was obsessed with describing everyone... Well everyone female. I don't care if the female bartender has a messy bun, or that the random in the bar has obviously artificial breasts, or that the victim's daughter is five foot five. None of this is relevant to the plot.

My other big issue was the plotting itself. The killer reveal was suitably tense but it did raise questions about things that happened earlier in the novel. There was a scene where the killer poses as a certain trade but I can't imagine it panning out as is but no disguise was ever mentioned.

Elements read as a debut novel rather than the author's fourth but I did enjoy it and seeing how things unfolded and the clues revealing themselves.

Steff Out x

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

5/5 stars

The prequel to Legends and Lattes showing orc Viv's early life at the beginning of her mercenary career.

Viv's enthusiasm to get the job done maybe without thinking too much about it leads to her getting a nasty leg injury which results in her group leaving her to recover in Murk, a dismal little seaside town.

On her explorations Viv comes across Fern and her dilapidated inherited bookshop. Fern loves the place but customers are very thin on the ground and Viv takes it upon herself to help once Fern's book recommendation inspires her that is...

An excellent and diverse cast of characters: Viv is an orc, Fern is a rattkin, we also have a dwarf, a gnome and some other beings. Each character is written so well with a distinct personality and I loved the way they all came together.

If I had one criticism it's that the "big finale" took a while to come and was over a little too quickly. I also wanted more of the end!

Steff Out x

So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

4/5 stars

Four best friends meet up for a baby shower on the hottest day of the year, a baby shower that ends in a horrific fire.

Charlotte who is struggling with infertility has organised the shower for Nicki who is hating being the centre of attention, especially considering one of the guests Charlotte invited for her... Lauren has already had her baby and is secretly struggling following a traumatic birth and Steffi is happily child free by choice and her career is taking off. Everyone has their secrets and tensions are simmering.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this and the way everything was revealed slowly but it frustrated me that these women have been best friends since university yet they don't talk properly about anything. The characters were really well developed but I did want more from the ending.

Steff Out x 

Tea You at the Altar by Rebecca Thorne

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

5/5 stars

Book 3 in the Tomes and Tea quartet and Kianthe and Reyna are deep into wedding planning when news arrives from tyrannical Queen Tillaine's spymaster Locke. She has a secret half sister who could be eligible for the throne! He also knows where she is and plans are afoot to bring her to town. But things are never that easy...

I love these books, I love this world, the writing style is nice and easy to follow but doesn't talk down to the reader. The representation is impeccable, we have our lead lesbians, we have characters who are bi or gay, one of our new characters in this edition is AroAce, we have multiple non-binary characters (would like a bit more pronoun variety, someone using neo-pronouns for example) including that rarity of an AMAB non-binary character - so many people just see non-binary as woman-lite so I was glad to see Rebecca bucking that trend. The characters are all so well-written and have distinct personalities and I love the secondary (tertiary?) plot with the dragons!

I'm looking forward to book 4 but I'm also sad that it'll be the last one but rest assured I'll look forward to reading whatever else Rebecca writes in the future!

Steff Out x