books and bouquets

  Rating :  ★ ★ ½ Release Date : 17th June 2013 Genre(s) : New Adult Romance I just want to start off by saying I  really  wanted to like this book, especially after reading Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas and  loving  it. But in my opinion, it’s just not on the same level unfortunately.  Bully follows Tate and Jared, childhood best friends and now enemies. Jared makes it his life mission to bully, humiliate and  borderline emotionally torture  Tate - until one day, after spending a year in France, she begins to fight back. How will Jared cope? First of all, the plot was great: a fast-paced bully romance which features enemies to lovers -  fabulous.  The angst, the drama, the tension, was all executed perfectly. I had a throughly great time reading this book, but I just cannot ignore all of the bad aspects.  The biggest downfall of this book was the  characters ; the majority (if not all) did not feel well developed and ...

  TTT (Top 10 Tuesday) is a weekly meme created by  That Artsy Reader Girl . This week is  10 Animals from Books. I really struggled to find non-Harry Potter animals, I'm so attached to all of them - but I tried to branch out to make things more interesting. Enjoy! 1. Hedwig from the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling 2.  Abraxos  (Manon's Wyvern) from the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas 3. Boxer from Animal Farm by George Orwell 4. Chairman Meow (Magnus' Cat) from the Shadowhunters Chronicles by Cassandra Clare 5. Trassel (Matthias' Wolf) from  Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 6.  Buckbeak from the  Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling 7. Tea Dragons from The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill 8. Wilbur from  Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 9. L ysandra (shapeshifter) from t he  Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas 10. Marley  from Marley and Me by John Grogan I hope you enjoyed this list, let me know in the commen...

Rating:  ★ Release Date: 26th May 2011 Genre: New Adult Romance This review does contain spoilers - take caution reading. Right ok, where do I start... I picked this book up because one of my favourite youtubers said it was one of her favourite adult romance novels, so I thought I'd give it a try, that was my first mistake.  This book follows Travis 'Mad Dog' Maddox and Abby aka 'Pigeon' (what kind of nickname is that anyways? He never even justifies it..) and the course of their friendship (if you can call it that) and whirlwind relationship. Travis appears to be this alpha male type character - but ultimately he's just an abuser.  I'm just going to go ahead and write a list of every single thing wrong with this book, so here goes: ~ It is inherently  sexist and misogynistic ~ Travis is the ultimate 'bad' boy (not even in the kinda good way) arsehole stereotype who has serious anger issues. Examples include: Him beating up his friends for simply mak...

As England recently eased lockdown restrictions, I may have gone a little crazy buying books... A lot of these were gifted to me or bought in charity shops, but a few were purchased from a trip to Waterstones - try to guess which ones they were! 1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 2. Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn 3. Caraval by Stephanie Garber 4. The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon 5. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas 6. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna 7. Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 8. Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron 9. Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson If you've read any of these, let me know what you thought in the comments! Books and bouquets. x Bloglovin      Goodreads      Twitter      Instagram

  TTT (Top 10 Tuesday) is a weekly meme created by  That Artsy Reader Girl . This week is  10 Colourful Book Covers. This one was a little bit tricky for me as I seem to read a lot of fantasy, which tends to have very dark covers. So I've taken 10 'colourful' books from my TBR shelf - enjoy! 1. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender 2. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune 3. Beach Read by Emily Henry 4. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan 5. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 6. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson 7. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson 8. Find Me by André Aciman 9. Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman 10. You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes I hope you enjoyed this list, let me know in the comments if you've read any of these and what you think of them! Also be sure to follow me on bloglovin  as unfortunately my email subscription service will be terminating in June.  Books and bouquets. x

Rating:  ★★★ Release Date: 7th May 2020 Genre(s): Religious Poetry Massive thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review. I do really love poetry (when I read it) and the premise of this: growth and healing, sounded right up my alley. The sunflower project is a collection of poems grouped into the four stages of a life cycle of a sunflower - it symbolises unLYSHed's life journey and growth to becoming the person she is today.  My favourite aspect is definitely the writing style - it's  beautiful, raw, intimate and emotional.  The honesty in her words makes you feel a genuine connection to the writer, it leaves you enthralled and hoping for the best for her. It address abuse, sexual assault, loss of faith (and gaining that faith again), heartbreak, trauma, self love and your own worth. One quote that particularly resonates with me is: "your heart is happy now but your mind remembers then do not be ashamed"...

Rating :  ★★★ ★ ½ Release Date : 13th April 2021 Genres(s) : YA Fantasy  Massive thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Go and read this right now, it’s so hard to put into words the connection I have formed with this book, but just trust me. The prison healer follows Kiva, a prisoner in the ruthless prison Zalindov and the challenges she faces once the notorious Rebel Queen is captured - she must fight to keep the Rebel Queen alive, and do so at whatever cost, including facing the lethal Trial by Ordeal. Can Kiva survive the four elemental tasks, that no other inmate has ever succeeded in doing?  I adored  all  of the characters in this book, and that isn’t even an exaggeration. Kiva is far from your typical YA female lead, she is so  strong and fierce , whilst also being sensitive and caring. Tipp, a young boy with a stutter, was so lovable. It truly makes you reflect on how cru...

  TTT (Top 10 Tuesday) is a weekly meme created by  That Artsy Reader Girl . This week is  10 Book Titles That Sound Like They Could Be Crayola Crayon Colors. I'm going to be honest, this was crazily hard! Crayola have had some wacky names over the years, including Macaroni & Cheese, Surf's Up, Mountain Meadow, Twilight Lavender and Grandma's perfume (to name a few). So, this list of books are some that I think could  work as Crayola colours (maybe?) and the colour swatch I think they'd be! 1. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon 2. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard   3.  State of Sorrow by Melissa Salisbury 4.  I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson 5.  Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 6.  Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu 7.  Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee 8.  Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee 9.  Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik 10.  The Wicked Fox by Kat Cho I hope you enjoyed this list, let me know in the comments which of...

Rating :  ★ ★ ★ ★ Release Date : 15th April 2021 Genre(s) : Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy Massive thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I  adored  this book - it had everything you could truly need from a YA sci-fi/fantasy novel. And isn’t the cover just  stunning?  Pastel pink follows Harlow, a reincarnated Pastel Zeek living on Zadok, who was previously murdered on Earth as Ruby, a human. It follows her life in both of these locations - and how they intertwine. The book starts straight into the action - with a graphic depiction of Ruby's murder in the human world, which hooks you into the story straight away. First of all, I  loved  the reincarnation aspect, I'm fairly sure I've never read a book which has quite done it justice? But this certainly did! It was so easy to tell between Harlow's chapters and Ruby's chapters, as they had such different storylines and 'personalities' (even ...

Rating :  ★★★ ★ ★ Release Date : 22nd August 2020 Genres(s) : Fantasy romance Massive thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for providing me with a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book so much!  It was a super short and quick read, which I managed to read in one sitting. It follows Nitya, an 18 year old girl who wants more from life than her current lifestyle gives, and her journey working in the Palace's kitchen (and the people she meets along the way -  wink wink ) I genuinely have no faults with this book, other than I wish it hadn't ended! Munson's writing style is  perfection.  I thought the characters were written perfectly, the world building was exquisite (which I was shocked at - how can you be so drawn into a world that is only developed 35 pages?!) And the romance was to die for! But, please be warned this book is targeted at adults, and there are some fairly erotic scenes.  I will most certainly be picking up ot...

  TTT (Top 10 Tuesday) is a weekly meme created by  That Artsy Reader Girl . This week is  10 Books I’d Gladly Throw Into the Ocean (lol, I really enjoyed this prompt). All of the books on this list were rated wither 1 or 2 stars and to be honest, I really wouldn't mind if I never saw them again. Each of this is a one word summary (sometimes two) which I think explains my reasoning for them being on this list really well. I don't think they need more explaining! 1. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire Sexist. 2. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton Boring. 3. 13 minutes by Sarah Pinborough Unmemorable. 4. The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr Annoying MC. 5. The Rain by Virginia Bergin Annoying MC (again eek). 6. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg Childish. 7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy Repetitive. 8. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green Pretentious. 9. The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace Problematic. 10. The Seagull ...

Rating :  ★★ ★★ Release Date : 5th April 2021 Genre(s) : Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Paranormal Romance Massive thank you to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was initially torn whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars, but since reading this book I haven't been able to stop thinking about it! So I've decided to settle on an unofficial 4.5. Violet City is an alien-invasion sci-fi, which follows Penelope Simmins, your average teenager, and 'Rowan', her alien captor, a Volkranian who eerily resembles a human. The first chapter jumps straight into the action and I was hooked straight away, I binged the entire book in less than 24 hours, because I just needed to know what happened next! It was fast-paced, action-packed and all-round fantastic!  My favourite thing about this book was definitely the romance, especially the chemistry and tension built between the 2 main characters. I think it happened very naturally (even thoug...

Rating :  ★★ Release Date : 6th April 2021 Genre(s) : Horror Graphic Novel Massive thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Vain is a horror comic which follows 4 vampires: Lost, Fanny, North, and Marquis - collectively known as 'The Vain' - across several decades. They are constantly evading the capture of Felix Frankin, an FBI agent who is investigating the suspicious burglaries which only seem to steal blood (he begins to wonder whether this is a war offence... or perhaps something more sinister). It reads much like a typical American style crime TV show. My favourite part of this was, without-a-doubt, the comic style illustrations (I thought this was a graphic novel going into it, but I was soon proven wrong) and I  LOVE  the cover, how stunning! But, please be aware this is an  adult horror comic,  therefore, there are some extremely gruesome scenes, with lots of gore and violent scenes. I a...