Book Review | The Test

Title: The Test

Author: Gregg Bell

Genre: Romance/ contemporary

Pages: 247

Series: Stand alone

Publisher: Thriveco inc.

Rating: 4 stars


It's the last chance for law intern Mary Maloney. Twice she's failed the bar exam and if she fails again, she'll lose her job, her home, and her self-respect. Only love keeps her going, but that too seems to be slipping through her fingers.

Tom Falcone has always “the guy” for Mary. He’s kind, thoughtful, wants a family, and he’s all Mary ever wanted. But Mary always seems to have a way of failing. Even at love.

Now, needing everything she’s got to come through, a stunning revelation sends her reeling. The life she’s always dreamed of is still within reach, but only if she can somehow pass one final test.


As always with Gregg Bell's books, from start to finish I was hooked. This by far is my favourite aspect of this reading experience as it is so vital when writing Romance otherwise I find it just ends up dragging on and being overpoweringly cheesy and slushy. The Test succeeded in avoiding this and was easy to read simply because it was so gripping.

The plot was easy going and fitting for the genre as it made it an easy light read and not too much concentration was needed to follow. I thought in places it teetered on the edge of being predictable, but then again I have an uncanny ability to guess exactly what's going to happen next, so if you're not an easy guesser then it shouldn't be too much of a problem, and again for a Romance novel not too many DUN DUN DUNNNN moments are needed, so this was a very minor issue.

I enjoyed the writing style and thought the characters's dialogue was smooth and realistic, there were no wooden bits of speech that left me groaning internally at the stupidity of what had just been said, another trap many Romance writers fall into. The language also didn't go overboard with the imagery and descriptions so cheesiness was again avoided. The balance of Romance, description, Dialogue and the Character's thoughts was pretty much perfect.



I liked the characters, they were all realistic and easy to picture. The varying personalities in each of them was also expressed really well and the interactions between characters was fluent and played out well. I thought Mary was an admirable heroine, yet at times I found some of the characters a little unrealistic and like part of them wasn't exposed. For example, Rachel. I felt more about her character was needed and that she was only really there as a plot device rather than to be an actual person - very little was ever about her in any situation and she was praised little for the good she did do. Apart from that, I thought the characterisation was awesome.


Overall, If you fancy a really great love story that's easy to follow and has some awesome moral stories and characters, I highly recommend The Test!


Happy Reading,

Hebe x

Book Review | The Faire Pendant: The Ballad of Captain Thatch

Title: The Ballad of Captain Thatch

Author: Leah Price

Genre: Children's fantasy

Pages: 134

Series: 2nd in the Faire Pendant series

Publisher: Talebearers

Rating: 5 stars

Glenna’s life is anything but ordinary. The daughter of Renaissance festival vendors, Glenna’s days are filled with magic and medieval reenactments as she travels the faire circuit with her family. Then one day, Glenna’s life changes forever. With the help of a pendant, she discovers Otherworld. An enchanted realm, Otherworld is the land in which all of the myths and magic woven by the Renaissance players comes to life! To make things even more complicated, it’s pirate weekend at the festival! The faire grounds are crawling with pirates, both in the real world and Otherworld. And, as Glenna quickly discovers, the pirates can do real damage in both worlds. Can Glenna stop the marauding pirates? Can she become the pirate queen the residents of Otherworld need her to be? And, perhaps most importantly, can she find a way to juggle both her life in the real world and Otherworld without damaging either?

I was delighted to once again be invited into Glenna's world, having already visited when reading The Tale of Atterberry, the first in the Faire Pendant series. The Ballad of Captain Thatch definitely did not disappoint, if you couldn't tell by the rare 5 stars I awarded it!

The writing of the book was perfect for its audience and although I'm not a child, I still enjoyed it. It wasn't predictable or over-simplified, but it wasn't too adult for young readers. The book had a promising and wonderful sort of magic to it throughout and stepping into Glenna's shoes made it feel like I was a kid experiencing the magic all over again. 

The plot was well established and engaging, having you hooked throughout so you want to keep reading. The chapters were also great lengths, not too long, not too short - perfect for bedtime reading. I also thought the transitions between Otherworld and the real world were made very smoothly. I liked both worlds, which meant I was kept excited throughout and not just in certain chapters. 

The characters, as always were fun and realistic. The old characters matched their traits from the first book and I found I had missed them, which is always a sign of a great character. The new characters were easy to envision and they were all relevant to the plot and brought a new lesson to the overall message of the book. (I particularly liked Ash and Grace).

I thought the whole book as a concept matched up well with the first in the series but brought something new so it wasn't repetitive. There was an original spin to the book, merging fictional ideas all together in a rather marvellous mixture that is great for the imagination and really quite entertaining. To see sprites and magicians alongside pirates was nothing short of cognitively spectacular.

The morals and lessons learnt from the book and the attitudes and manners of the characters were perfect for children. The sense of friendship, adventure and comradery is something that every child should have access to both fictionally and in the real world. If you're looking for a great read with your children or to reintroduce some adventure back into your life I would highly recommend the Faire Pendant Series, they are a triumph.

Happy reading,

Hebe x

P.S click the link to check out my review of The Tale of Atterberry - the first in the series

Book Review | The Aureate Spectacles

 Title: The Aureate Spectacles

Author: Eliott Mckay

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 397

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Inkitt

Rating: 3 stars




Would you sacrifice your people for the man you love?

Michaela was a seemingly normal high school senior, hiding behind a pair of hideous spectacles which masked her true identity. When she’s abducted by an intriguing werewolf, she learns that her father was a powerful vampire, and she has been chosen to protect his city from her predatory kind. As the situation grows dire, the fate of the city rests in her hands, and she must choose between peace for her people or the man she's growing to love.

This book is possibly one of the hardest I have had to review simply because I really enjoyed it, however, it was overcast by one thing that by the end made it harder to get through...I shall try to explain a little more eloquently!

So firstly, I loved the writing style. It was fluent and elegant with very few minor errors. Michaela's thoughts were expressed in a conversational way that meant she was more relatable to a younger audience, however in places the writing was also formal and rather lovely. 

The characters were all described well and enough was left to the imagination to make them special to you. I thought the real sense of family ties and inheritance, a theme of the story, was addressed really well and links between generations were made keeping you awake and getting excited along with Michaela over little connections that were pointed out (particularly between her and her father). 

The ideas and concepts were pretty darn good. It had a classic romance, but it was slightly different to any of the similar books I've read. I liked the fantasy world very much and would love to have been given more insight into its geography and how it interacts with our world, with maybe a map insert in the book.

You may have noticed that thus far I have been more restrained with my reviewing than usual and haven't given a lot of detail. I felt before going on I should explain why. The main overriding problem I mentioned at the beginning of this review was the confusion I felt. Unusually, I found the book got worse and worse as it went along. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a disaster! Simply, as the plot thickened and more excitement happened I found myself going back and thinking maybe I had skipped out a chapter or something. Strong relationships between characters seemed to spring up overnight for starters. I found this meant I struggled to feel sad or happy or anything really when things happened to characters, which made it harder to be hooked and get attached. The plot also got very confusing. I don't consider myself to be a stupid person or to struggle particularly with complex plots, however, I got seriously confused in places and felt like it was assumed I knew what certain things were in Michaela's world, where I had no clue. Everything that shouldn't have come as a surprise did and everything that should've been a surprise or a dun dun dunnnnn moment sort of was obvious.

This may sound a bit like a rant and not make much sense to many of you, yet I assure you IT WAS NOT BAD. It's so hard to explain how I feel about it, I think the best way I can come up with to describe it is I feel like if someone verbally explained the plot to me I would love it and 100% get it, but it was almost as if Mckay was so excited in writing such a great story, they forgot the readers didn't have the same knowledge level about the book to keep up.

I feel like if you get this book, it is a winner and I would definitely recommend anyone giving it a go because if it hits the spot, it is worth it. For me, however, I was too confused to bask in its really quite splendidly written storyline.

Happy reading,

Hebe x

2017

And unsurprisingly yet again I failed 2016's book challenge!!! *facepalm* I think this just adds the cherry on top of the cake when it comes to bad things that happened 2016. However, this year I am lowering the bar to 40! I am determined! And I realise that I say this every year but still!  I'm 100% blaming school for impeding on my precious reading time... 40 books - let's go!



Book goal: 40
Books read: 40
% complete: 100%                                    - COMPLETED -


-A-

• A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
• A court of mist and fury - Sarah J Maas
• A court of Wings and ruin - Sarah J Maas
• Also Known as Lard Butt - Ann Herrick
• Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins (re read)
• Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

-B-

• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - April Tucholke

-C-

• Cinder - Marissa Meyer
• Cress - Marissa Meyer

-D-

• Don't look bcak - Jennifer L. Armentrout

-E-

• Everneath - Brodi Ashton
• Everbound - Brodi Ashton
• Evertrue - Brodi Ashton

-F-

• Silence - Becca Fitzpatrick (re read)

-G-
-H-

• Heir of Fire - S.J Maas
• How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran

-I-

• In Pieces - Danielle Pearl
• In Ruins - Danielle Pearl

-J-
-K-
-L-

• Lord of shadows (Dark artifices #2) - Cassandra Clare
• Love letters to the dead - Ava Dellaira

-M-
-N-

• Need - Carrie Jones (re-read)
• Normal - Danielle Pearl (re-read)

-O-

• Okay - Danielle Pearl 

-P-

• Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld

-Q-
-R-

• Red Hourglass - Scarlet Risque

-S-

• Scarlet - Marissa Meyer
• Lacey's story (Skinniness is Next to Goddessness) - Julia Keanini
• Stardust - Niel Gaiman

-T-

• Teardrop - Lauren Kate
• The Aureate Spectacles - Eliot Mckay
• The Ballad of Captain Thatch - Leah Price
• The Bane Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
• The boy who sneaks in my bedroom window - Kirsty Moseley
• The Girl of Ink and Stars - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• The Immortal rules - Julie Kagawa
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
• The sky is everywhere - Jandy Nelson
• The Test - Gregg Bell
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachael Joyce

-U-
-V-
-W-

• Wonder - R.J Palacio

-X-
-Y-
-Z-

Book Review | I was a Bitch

Title: I was a Bitch

Author: Emily Ruben

Genre: YA contemporary

Pages: 503 

Series: Stand alone

Publisher: Inkitt

Rating: 4 stars


What if you woke up having forgotten the last two years of your life?
After a horrific accident Lacey Jones has to try piece together her shattered past. With no memory of the previous two years she finds herself in a relationship with a man she doesn’t know, and with a reputation for being the Queen Bitch of High-School. 
She decides to keep the secret of her memory loss until she can figure out what happened in these two years she lost, trusting only the mysterious and sexy Finn to help her, but will she continue being that bitch or will she decide to rewrite her story?

Sometimes I find reviewing actually really difficult. Some books I am sent are admittedly really hard to get into and some I even struggle to get to the end. However, this was probably one of the easiest books I've ever had to read and review, just because I was completely and utterly hooked from the moment I unboxed it.

I think many people would underestimate this book for its cover and title being seemingly very orientated towards teenage girls. However, it has a lot more waiting inside - 500 pages more in fact. Despite its length reading this book didn't seem like a mammoth job in the slightest, which I think shows how good it is. For me I was grabbed by the title as it's short and snappy and the word 'bitch' certainly grabs ones' attention! (This might of course be because I am a teenage girl)

Something I really enjoyed whilst reading was the writing style. It was very chatty and informal, which really suited the book and was engaging as it made you feel like Lacey was a friend and therefore more real. I especially loved how Lacey expresses the feeling of 'fangirling' and her excited outbursts because not only is this something I think many people can relate to (particularly teenage girls) but I found my excitement was reflected by Lacey's thoughts and vice versa.

The plot was fast paced and got me completely hooked. There were a few mysteries tied into the main plot that threaded in really well and although a few outcomes were slightly predictable, there was enough to keep you guessing. There were a few scenes I felt were not needed and dragged the book out a bit. It was almost as if there was so much to write about all the characters, memories and emotions it sometimes became a little repetitive. That being said, I wanted to keep reading so badly any extra information I could cram in about the characters was pretty welcome, so this didn't pose too big a problem.

The characters were really good mainly because they were so accurate to what (sadly in many cases) teens are like. Finn was perfect. He had just enough vulnerability and sadness in his life to make him real and relatable, yet he still managed to be a character one could really aspire to be because of his attitude towards others and his utter perfectness. (Sorry, I'm obsessed). I also thought Lacey was a tremendously relatable and funny character. I found myself laughing along with her, sympathising with her and wanting to be her to an extent. At times I found her slightly annoying...that being said I think that is the desired effect as it helps show that she's just a normal teen in many ways trying to find who she is and maybe the part of her I didn't like as much shone through to remind the reader at times she must feel like two different people in her situation.

The reason I didn't give this review 5 stars was because although I am a total sucker for romance and I found myself internally squealing at some of the sweet things that happened, I also had a few moments where I almost inwardly groaned at the cheesiness. A dash of cheesiness is fine, but sometimes the romance I thought was too intense for teenagers. However, this could be a poor judgement seeing as this review is coming from a teenager who is very critical of any romance that is non-fictional, in a setting where romance and chivalry is just about dead.

The morals of the story were fantastic. They send a really good message to teenagers, especially younger ones that you should be who you want to be and never bow to the gigantic pressures telling you otherwise. It's also never too late to turn the tables. I think it is a book everyone can take something from, whether you were a bitch, are a bitch or will never be one.

Happy reading,

Hebe x