So many books, so little time

  Read in November 2020 Early this year, I picked up Vox by the same author. I enjoyed it so much that I could not stop reading it and had finished it within a day. When I saw this on Netgalley, I knew I had to try and get my hands on a copy (thanks HQ for approving my request!). Q is just as thought provoking as its predecessor. Yet again, it focuses on something we take for granted, in this case education, and how in a dystopian future it could be strictly controlled or even taken away from some. The thing I like most about Christina Dalcher's work, even though it scares me a little, is how realistic this feels. Given the state the world is in currently, this could happen to us very soon and that's a chilling and sobering thought. I am intrigued to see which aspect of society Dalcher writes about next.

Read in November 2020  Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of The Thirteenth Fairy. This is my honest review. I am a massive Disney fan and have heard a lot about Melissa de la Cruz so I was very excited when I got this ARC. Knowing it would be about storybook characters coming to life was the icing on the cake.  The story starts off very reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty but Melissa de la Cruz puts her own spin on it. As she says, "the tales are wrong. The tales are twisted and untrue*". And then we meet Filomena. A 12 year old not very socially outgoing bookworm with overprotective yet loving parents. She is eagerly awaiting the final book of a series that defined her childhood. This is describing me! I have a strong feeling we would be friends in real life. Reading this was such an enjoyable adventure. My younger self would have loved reading this book. As a twenty something now, I am also so happy I picked it up because I spent a delightful couple of hours reading it. My ...

  Read in November 2020 Thank you Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. This is my honest review. To Kill a Queen is a story of Princess Raine, a reluctant heir, trying to find her older sister. She sets on a quest with Archmage Kirin where her life is in danger. The world building in To Kill a Queen was good but needed a little bit more explanation. There was a very interesting premise and it is a good strong foundation for a new fantasy world. In hindsight, though, some plot developments were obvious but still didn't get much page time in my opinion. Something would be revealed and before the characters have had chance to absorb it, the story moves on. I also thought the last few chapters were rushed and could have been expanded into a whole additional book because here it seemed to be resolved a bit quickly. I think this book is supposed to be the first in a series but I don't really see how it could carry on. I think To Kill a Queen works well as a standalone so...