Book review: Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey [blog tour]

Sometimes I'm in the mood for a straight-forward romance, at others I enjoy racking my brains over a good old-fashioned mystery. Meet Me In Another Life is all that and then some; love story, sci-fi, family drama, mystery, all wrapped into one stonkin' good read. 

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller [blog tour]

I have been really fortunate with the books I've recently read as they've all been incredible. You know how sometimes nothing really grabs your attention and you end up in a bit of a reading slump? I have been experiencing the exact opposite this past month and Otherworld was another winner. It was a proper geekfest with incredibly intriguing world-building that had me thoroughly hooked throughout. I'm normally not much of a sci-fi reader, but after discovering the imaginative world hiding within the pages of this book I'm definitely keen to explore the genre more.

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

I already teased this gorgeous new YA sci-fi in my recommendations for autumn reads to curl up with this upcoming season, and for a good reason. Out of all the young adult novels I've had the pleasure to read recently this was by far the most interesting and innovative one. Author Lauren James has created a chilling and completely gripping adventure set in the bleakness of space and I was hooked from the very first page and now crave more books like it.

What I Read in August 2017 – Wrap Up & Mini Reviews

After reading a massive eleven books in July, August was a bit of a quieter month as my reading high halted. My siblings stayed with me for two weeks out of the four meaning I wasn't commuting by myself, diminishing my reading time to the few longer train journeys we took out to Brighton and Oxford. Still, out of the six books I did manage to finish in August, five were 4-star reads which wasn't bad at all. My favourites this past month were YA alien invasion sci-fi I Am Traitor by Sif Sigmarsdóttir and magical fantasy epic A Shiver of Snow and Sky by Lisa Lueddecke.

The Glow of Fallen Stars (Ventura Saga #2) by Kate Ling

Last year I joined my friend Laura at the Books With a Bite blogger evening, where YA and children's teams across the Hachette Group presented some of their most exciting upcoming titles. One of the books that came on my radar during the evening was The Loneliness of Distant Beings, a debut by UK author Kate King. The space opera adventure sounded both intriguing and romantic, and I really enjoyed it. So I was very excited when I was unexpectedly sent a copy of the sequel, The Glow of Fallen Stars.

I Am Traitor by Sif Sigmarsdóttir

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but surely I'm not the only one who gets pulled in by a stunning design? I rarely read science fiction novels, and if I do they're more on the post-apocalyptic / dystopian side of things, they almost never are about alien invasions. But the striking red cross on top of the otherwise monochrome cover art was so eye-catching that from the moment I saw I Am Traitor, I was bought in and it was calling me from my to-read shelves so much that it magically made its way to the top of my to-read pile just days after I got my copy.

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken

If you've been following me for a while on here or on social media you will have heard me rave about Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. A lot. As one of my favourite books of 2016, this time travelling, swashbuckling teen adventure was imaginative, fascinating and well-written that despite reading it almost a year ago I'm still thinking about it and recommending it on a regular basis. So of course I was very excited for the second installment to come out!

Book review: A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray

Firebird by Claudia Gray is one of my most favourite young adult series. The books are innovative, exciting, constantly take me by surprise and the world-building is on another level – it's absolutely stunning. A Thousand Pieces of You was its highly imaginative opener that got me hooked, Ten Thousand Skies Above You was the sequel that blew me away, meticulously plotted and possibly even better than the first book, and A Million World With You provided an explosive conclusion, even bigger and more epic than its precedents.

Book review: The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling

At the recent Books With a Bite Blogger Evening a number of intriguing and exciting new titles were presented and the one that stood out to me the most from the piles of glorious proofs we were allowed to dive into was The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling. And when later on in the evening I had the privilege to chat to the author and her editor about the book and the story behind it I was even more interested, and so I bumped this sci-fi romance straight to the top of my to-read pile.

Book review: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky is a crazy sci-fi/fantasy mash-up, which started out as a solid 5-star novel aimed at the young adult market. As the story progressed, however, it became less sure of what it wanted to be and the feeling of excitement I felt over those early chapters mostly disappeared. In the end I did think it was an interesting read, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, but it didn't manage to live up to my initial expectations.

Book review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

I owe a big thanks to Booktube for flailing all over Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, as it was released in the US a few months prior to the UK and the hugely positive reviews I've come across since is what got me interested in this book in the first place. It's crazy to think that I read not just one complex and completely gripping time travel young adult novel with pirates within a single month but two (the other one being the brilliant The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig), yet there you have it. If this is the latest hype in YA fiction and more swashbuckling time travel novels will be released soon I'd be totally okay with that, because I'm hooked.

Book review: MARTians by Blythe Woolston

After reading a few hefty novels in a row, filled with intricate world-building and stories that required a slower pace of reading to ensure I didn't miss a small nugget of information that would become important later down the line, I was keen to delve into a lighter read which wouldn't require quite so much brain power and I picked up the thinnest novel on my to-read shelves; the interestingly named MARTians. I assumed this would be an alien invasion novel, but it's actually more of an middle grade/young adult dystopian tale which looks at today's society of excessive consumerism and takes it one step further into the extreme – a fascinating concept.

Book review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

Last October I read one of my favourite reads of 2015 and one of the best young adult novels ever, the stunning A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray; an incredibly rich and highly imaginative concept that single-handedly elevated the sci-fi genre within YA. I was absolutely mesmerised by this read and so impressed by the intricate details sprinkled throughout that made it so very excellent, and I was thrilled when exactly one year on from discovering this amazing novel I was given the privilege to read an advanced copy of the equally brilliant sequel, Ten Thousand Skies Above You.

Book review: When I Was Me by Hilary Freeman

Have you ever woken up in the morning feeling disorientated, not entirely sure where you are? I can't be the only one who has had this happen, especially when awakening from a very intense dream or when on holiday and the bed is positioned at a different angle than I'm used to. It usually only takes a few seconds – a minute at most – to regain my bearings and remember where I am. But what if minutes turn into hours and you're still not sure about your surroundings? What if everything if just slightly different from what you are used to; your bedroom is decorated differently and your mum's hair has changed colour overnight?

Book review: The Weightless World by Anthony Trevelyan

My edition: Paperback (proof), published on 18 June 2015 by Galley Beggar Press, 260 pages.

Description: Steven Strauss is just where he doesn’t want to be: on a ‘business trip’ to India with his boss Raymond Ess, the charismatic and chaotic founder of Resolute Aviation. Lately the company has fallen on hard times – indeed Steven and his fellow employees have accepted that Resolute is dead and they’re all going to lose their jobs. But not Raymond Ess. Ess is determined to save his beloved company, and to this end he’s devised an audacious rescue plan. He claims that during his recent travels he has come across a man, a recluse of the Indian wilds, who is willing to sell his remarkable invention: an antigravity machine. Now, with Steven in tow, Ess has returned to India planning to buy the machine, to bring it to market and thereby right all wrongs, recover all losses, restore all reputations.

Steven knows it is madness. He knows antigravity machines don’t exist. He knows also that last year Raymond Ess had a spectacular mental breakdown. However in India, Steven will find there is much that he doesn’t know. Who is this reclusive inventor, this Tarik Kundra, and does he even exist? Who is this guide who will take them to find him in the country’s most remote wilderness, Asha Jarwal? And who is this bumbling, soft-spoken elderly American, Harry Altman, and why is he suddenly everywhere Ess and Steven go?

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Book review: Resistance is Futile by Jenny T. Colgan

My edition: Paperback (proof), published on 4 June 2015 by Orbit, 340 pages.

Description: Connie thinks she's never met anyone quite like Luke Beith before.

She has no idea how right she is.

As a high-ranking mathematician in a male-dominated field - with bright red hair - Connie's used to being considered a little unusual.

But she's nowhere near as peculiar as Luke, who is recruited to work alongside her on a top-secret code breaking project.

Just what is this bizarre sequence they're studying? It isn't a solution to the global energy crisis. It isn't a new wavelength to sell microwave ovens. The numbers are trying to tell them something . . . and it seems only Luke knows what.

The truth is out there. Will Connie dare to find it?

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Book review: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) by Jeff VanderMeer

My edition: Hardcover, published on 27 February 2014 by Fourth Estate, 195 pages.

Description: For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious, remote, and concealed by the government as an environmental disaster zone even though it is to all appearances pristine wilderness. For thirty years, too, the secret agency known as the Southern Reach has monitored Area X and sent in expeditions to try to discover the truth. Some expeditions have suffered terrible consequences. Others have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as Area X seems to be changing and perhaps expanding, the next expedition will attempt to succeed where all others have failed. What is happening in Area X? What is the true nature of the invisible border that surrounds it?

Annihilation tells the story of the twelfth expedition through the narration of a nameless biologist attached to the mission. A reticent, solitary woman, the biologist brings her own personal secrets with her. She is accompanied by a psychologist, anthropologist, and surveyor, their stated mission to chart the wilderness, take samples, and expand the Southern Reach’s understanding of Area X.

But they soon find out that the information given to them about Area X is incomplete or inaccurate, and that they are being manipulated by forces both strange and all too familiar. The old abandoned lighthouse on the coast is more than it seems. A moaning in the distance at dusk appears to have no natural cause. A tunnel plunging into the ground isn’t on any map.

In Area X, they will all find out what it truly means to face the unknown. Adapt or die.

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Book review: Way Down Dark (The Australia Trilogy #1) by James Smythe

My edition: Paperback, published on 2 July 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton, 288 pages.

Description: There's one truth on Australia: You fight or you die. Usually both.

Seventeen-year-old Chan's ancestors left a dying Earth hundreds of years ago, in search of a new home. They never found one.

The only life that Chan's ever known is one of violence, of fighting. Of trying to survive.

But there might be a way to escape. In order to find it, Chan must head way down into the darkness - a place of buried secrets, long-forgotten lies, and the abandoned bodies of the dead.


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Book review: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 6 November 2014 by HarperCollins, 357 pages.

Description: Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite's father is murdered, the killer—her parent's handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can't let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul's guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

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Book review: The 100 - Day 21 by Kass Morgan

My edition: Paperback, published on 25 September 2014 by Hodder, 311 pages.

Description: It's been 21 days since The 100 landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries... or so they thought.

Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost.

And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.



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