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A Haunted Girl

Posted in Book Review

A Haunted Girl

17th April 2024

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

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Sarah J Maas. Bloomsbury. (448p) ISBN: 97815266053

Sarah J Maas. Bloomsbury. (448p) ISBN: 9781526605399

A Court of Thorns and Roses

I’m a bad person, I had openly mocked my friends for reading and enjoying this, I realise now that I was being a bit of a book snob.

I was pleasantly surprised by the solid fantasy story that unfolded after I finally got around to settling down to read it, and messaging my friends to let them know where I was in the reading!

World building was slow but thorough, character development was slightly sketchy in some places, but I really enjoyed some of the fae that were included in the story development and it all came together for a satisfying conclusion to the first arc.

A very obvious Beauty and the Beast retelling but with deadly and vicious fae and a human hunter as the main characters, which upped the stakes a bit right from the start.

Feyre as a main character was a bit frustrating at times as I was always waiting for her to be a bit more kick ass than she was for most of the book as she had so much inner strength and resilience at the start of the book, though this did improve as the book went on 😉

Full of curses, dastardly villains, monstrous creatures, encroaching doom, and simmering passion. I was kept on tenterhooks for a long time waiting for them to actually kiss, and like all good morality tales things really hit the fan after that!

I enjoyed this enough that I will probably read the rest of the series when I can fit a spare book in and am looking forward to finding out what happens in the next instalment, especially after that ending.

and Rhys!

Morning, it's Monday once more and I'm on the last

Morning, it's Monday once more and I'm on the last stretch of A Court of Thorns and Roses today.

What book(s) are you reading this week?

#amreading #tbr #bookstagram #books #bookrecommendationsplease

Repopulating my Goodreads lists and came across th

Repopulating my Goodreads lists and came across this brilliant book published in 1985, almost 40 years since we bought this and it was £4.95!

Books have gone up so slowly compared to everything else over the last 40 years, still such good value.

Going to the cinema was £1.70 then, average now is £8

#buybooks #booksaregoodvalue #booksforthewin

Just pre-ordered Waterblack by @alexpheby to go al

Just pre-ordered Waterblack by @alexpheby to go along with these two beauties.

#preordered #tbr #fantasy. #fantasyseries @galley_beggar_press

Just back from the allotment

Just back from the allotment

Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips. Image Comics. (144p) I

Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips. Image Comics. (144p) ISBN: 9781534327429

Houses of the Unholy

Another cracking graphic novel thanks to Image Comics.

This one had the feel of Dennis Wheatley story with Silent Hill and good thriller horrors thrown in for good measure.

There were flashbacks that built tension into the current narrative and allowed some of the back story to be filled in as Natalie Burns journeyed with an FBI agent to investigate the killings of the Satanic Six.

These flashbacks took us to the time of the 80s Satanic panics, the hysteria that there were Satanic cults everywhere and that children were vulnerable to abuse from these cults.

It also touched on the idea of repressed and implanted memories that was huge at the time also, and according to Natalie this is what the Satanic Six were, six children who got caught up in this hysteria.

Much like the children in various witch trials, the children told what was expected of them and some adults had to face the consequences of these words.

The story is brilliantly supported by a great art style that has a predominantly red and black palette which is oppressive and really adds to the atmosphere as the story progresses.

Bleak, oppressive, and tense. Loved this from start to finish.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nice little walk with a pond full of tadpoles at t

Nice little walk with a pond full of tadpoles at the end

Happy #caturday

Happy #caturday

No idea what these are but I keep seeing them on m

No idea what these are but I keep seeing them on my way home from work, pretty

Transferred all the data from Indie Publisher site

Transferred all the data from Indie Publisher site to the Big Bearded Bookseller blog.

I know that a lot of the information is old and am in the process of updating it now that it's on my main blog.

There's now a redirect from the indie publishers site to the Big Bearded Bookseller blog

http://www.bigbeardedbookseller.com/category/indie-publishing/

I know it’s so hippie and probably Temu quality

I know it’s so hippie and probably Temu quality but I like this

Just playing about with my archive transferring it

Just playing about with my archive transferring it to my Photo Reel so it's all in one place rather than several and I can start organising it into appropriate folders doing better edits and getting it up on RedBubble and the blog

Finding some images I'd completely forgotten about is fun but frustrating that they've been festering on various hard drives for years

This is from Whitby about 10 years ago!

#whitby #gothfestival #whitbygothweekend #gothgirl

Had a few DMs recently querying me as a book blogg

Had a few DMs recently querying me as a book blogger...

This is my Insta and I'll post what I feel like when I feel like it, remember you don't need to follow.

I've got a lot of interests and a 20K+ photo archive to work through so be prepared for anything.

#blackandwhite #fountainsabbey @ntfountainsabbey #swans #formalgardens #myinsta

Another from the archive, this time a Crested Cara

Another from the archive, this time a Crested Caracara

#crestedcaracara #birdportrait #birdphotography #falconidae

Read (grudgingly finished) 61 of 2024

Read (grudgingly finished) 61 of 2024

Dandelion from today

Dandelion from today

Sabir Pirzada, Martin Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey. Ima

Sabir Pirzada, Martin Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey. Image Comics. (120p) ISBN: 9781534397545

Dandelion

I’ve found that everything I’ve received from Image Comics since restarting NetGalley this year has been great, and Dandelion is no exception.

A collection of stories set in a future where living pods that travel through the air have become the home of the homeless and unproductive, a place to be exiled and never allowed to return to earth.

In this world the pods are supplied and serviced by drones and the people in them are nationless and shunned.

One of my favourite episodes was titled ‘True North’ a story of hope tinged with great humour, but every story is worth reading.

Each story is nice and short, but though each episode is short they all pack a punch building up a world that we know could be ours in a near future, rather than using technological advances to better the world and lives of all, the rich use them to get richer and displace those deemed no necessary.

Each story is perfectly illustrated by several artists fitting the theme of the story perfectly.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rachael Krotec. Nib and Feather. (434p) Woven Son

Rachael Krotec. Nib and Feather. (434p)

Woven Song

Another book where the cover drew me to it instantly!

So glad I did as this turned into a really fun read, mixing various mythologies up into a magical adventure with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

One thing that threw me to begin with was the in-sentence explanations/translations of Japanese words/terms threw the pace a bit and could have been covered in a little glossary at the front beside the explanation of the honorifics.

This was a story of two halves (well one and two thirds, the first part a very descriptive tale beautifully told, then the action and romance increased as the barriers between worlds thinned.

This is a great tale of outsiders mixed with forbidden loves, found family, Imperial intrigue, spirit possession, a little bit of sword play, and a lot about not living up to others expectations of you.

If you like a bit of mythology and action this is a good book for you though I’m still wondering what happened to the prisoner with the facial scar, it felt as though there was going to be more but sadly not.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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