A Fond Farewell

My Dear Dear readers,

It's the post I think we all knew was coming but I've been holding off for some time.

As you can probably tell from my pitiful lack of blogging, I've decided to stop using this blog. As sad as it is to say goodbye to this era of me, its time to move on.

I've grown too much and changed too much in these past 5 years for 'No Twerking Here Please' to be sustainable.

Panic not, however! I'm not giving up blogging altogether, just starting afresh. if any of you fancy keeping up with me my new blog is called 'Just Hebe' and I'll pop a link in for you to find me.

Although I'll still be talking about books, my other interests and more about me will be featured here. To save repeating myself, I've posted a full explanation for my change of heart on my new blog - which you can see by clicking 'New Beginnings'.

I hope you can all understand and that I haven't let anyone down. I'm not deleting this blog, I'm leaving it right where it is for me to reminisce and enjoy, It's just time to say goodbye.

So a big hug to you all for all your years of patience and kindness. This blog has truly shaped the woman I am today and I will forever be grateful for that.

So I shall sign out one final time (No I promise I'm not crying) and say good bye for now.

Happy reading,

Hebe x

Crime and Historical Fiction

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• Burial Rites - Hannah Kent ( SO well researched, powerful and full of feeling. A truly impressive debut.)

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2018

Hi All! Another year, another book challenge! Last year I actually for once competed my challenge *bows profusely* so I've decided to bump up my book goal by 5 books! 45 books here we go...2018 you better be a good one...




Book goal: 45
Books read: 30
% complete: 66%                                    


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• A court of Thorns and Roses #1 - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)
• A court of Mist and Fury #2 - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)
• A court of Wings and ruin #3 - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)
• A court of Frost and Starlight #3.5 - Sarah J Maas
• Amy and Matthew: A love story - Cammie McGovern

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• Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

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• Crooked Kingdom (#2) - Leigh Bardugo
• Crown of Midnight (TOG #2) - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)

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• Dark Days (Skullduggery Pleasant #4) - Derek Landy (AUDIO VERSION)
• Differently Normal - Tammy Robinson

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• Empire of storms (TOG #5) - Sarah J Maas

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• Heir of Fire (TOG #3) - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)
• Here's looking at you - Mhairi McFarlane

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• Isla and the Happily ever after - Stephanie Perkins

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• Kingdom of Ash (TOG #7) - Sarah J Maas

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• Lola and the Boy next door - Stephanie Perkins

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• My life next door - Huntley Fitzpatrick

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• Playing with fire (Skullduggery Pleasant #2) - Derek Landy (AUDIO VERSION)

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• Queen of Shadows (TOG #4) - Sarah J Maas

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• Ratburger - David Walliams

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• She doesn't know - Shane Morales
• Six of Crows (#1) - Leigh Bardugo
• Skullduggery Pleasant (#1) - Derek Landy (AUDIO VERSION)

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• The Faceless ones (Skullduggery Pleasant #3) - Derek Landy (AUDIO VERSION)
• The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
• The Luxe (Luxe #1) - Anna Godberson
• The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
• Throne of glass (TOG #1) - Sarah J Maas (RE READ)
• Tower of Dawn (TOG #6) - Sarah J Maas

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• Wolf brother (chronicles of ancient darkness #1) - Michelle Paver  (AUDIO VERSION)

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Book Review | Lacey's Story: Skinniness is Next to Goddessness

Title: Skinniness is Next to Goddessness - Lacey's story

Author: Julia Keanini

Genre: Contemporary, YA

Pages: 258

Series: The first of six books 

Publisher: Pickled Plum

Rating: 5 stars

Lacey Steele knows all of life's hardships, her mother's disapproval, her classmates' disdain, and her own lack of self-esteem would be fixed if only she were thinner. With her friend Ashley, they create the Future Goddess Girls Club. All it will take to lose the future? Drop the extra pounds plaguing them. 
As the number on Lacey's scale decreases, the more she feels empowered and the faster she wants results. Extreme calorie cutting may be a bit much, but at least it isn't a real eating disorder.
Lacey and Ashley's shortcut seems to good to be true, outfits they only dreamed of wearing now fit perfectly and boys they'd longed for, now can't help but turn their heads.
But just as life seems to become exactly what they want, the shortcut reveals its price, one much too high to pay.
Skinniness is Next to Goddessness? Lacey's Story takes on a dark subject in a brighter manner combining the difficulties of body image and eating disorders with hope, love, and eventual acceptance.
The Goddessness? books are stand-alone and can be read in any order, but each contain mild spoilers for any previous books in the Goddessness? series.

Its rare but it has happened - I awarded 'Lacey's story' 5 whole stars! This book was totally amazing, as you will see by how much I am about to rant and rave about it. (sorry in advance)

This has to be the first book I have been asked to review that is written in such a fantastic style with a plot that perfectly balances its various twists and suspense in each chapter, meaning I actually couldn't put it down and ended up pulling an all-nighter. (Kind of sad that most people my age are pulling all nighters at parties and such in comparison to mine, which consist of reading). The fact that I was gripped throughout and couldn't get it out of my head even after putting it down is always a sign I've read something really really good.

The writing style was perfect for its genre: conversational, not repetitive, no inappropriately fancy vocabulary and such, but not simple and babyish either. The characters were all written well and maybe could have done with a bit more description as I found a few hard to picture, however, this does allow the reader to come up with their own interpretation of the characters.

The message behind the story and the story itself was my favourite part about 'Lacey's story'. Keanini managed to completely capture the mind of most teenage girls, especially those who struggle with body image or eating disorders, which is an alarming amount in this day and age. it was scary how from a readers perspective it was so easy to see eating behaviour as poor or irresponsible, however, reflecting on it there are times where I know many girls and boys (myself included) have had similar thoughts or feelings to those in the book who have a bad relationship with food and it shows how easy it is to fall into bad habits.

I thought not only was the book funny and well written, but the romance in it was spot on. teenagers have this habit of sort of averting the topic of liking someone and waiting for them to figure it out even when it is blindingly obvious it is meant to be. Keanini let this happen and made the characters more real and more relateable. Nobody was special or out of the ordinary and it made one relate easier to characters especially Lacey herself. 

Overall a really great summer read and would recommend to anyone! 

Happy Reading,

Hebe x

Book Review | Red Hourglass

Title: Red Hourglass

Author: Scarlet Risque

Genre: Thriller, Romance

Pages: 249

Series: First in the Hourglass series

Publisher: N/A

Rating: 4 stars


A POWERFUL, MYSTERIOUS woman finds a homeless girl in a New York subway and adopts her. Janet swears loyalty to the White family and they train her at their Academy as a secret agent. Before long, her transformation into the Red Hourglass—an assassin—is complete. She is ready to start her missions in service of the White Queen.

In order to learn the whereabouts of her real mother from the White Queen, the Red Hourglass must stop the planned expansion of Wilmar Enterprises. She goes undercover to infiltrate Wilmar, and she is hired as the executive secretary to the Chief of Security, Conan Casey.

Janet works diligently to uncover all Wilmar’s secrets. She soon learns that Conan Casey, her target, is heir to the billion dollar Wilmar organization. She falls prey to his dark seductions and twisted secrets … and they leave her gasping for more.

She unwittingly bets her stakes on a dangerous game of love. Where do her loyalties lie? Will she betray Conan for the White Queen, or fall in love with him and give up all hope of finding her real mother? And will they get out alive?

The first in the Hourglass series - a dark coming of age thriller romance novel about finding one's identity with dominance and submission romance scenes against the backdrop of capitalism, undercover agents, poker and tango with an infusion of eastern and western philosophy.

So I have just realised that when I first published this review, it managed to delete itself so this is take 2 of my review for 'Red Hourglass'!

Any synopsis that contains traces of badass female assassins and steamy Romance immediately grabs my attention and so I was super excited when presented with 'Red Hourglass'.

I really loved how original the plot was and the different links tied into the main plot. Although at times I found it a tad predictable, there were times where I was not expecting the twists that arose and this kept me gripped. At times I found I simply couldn't put this book down and every chapter ended with me wanting to squeeze in another before bed time (one more chapter inevitably turned to many many more).

Another feature I loved was the way in which the characters were linked to each other. I thought Conan was so hard to read and it was difficult to gauge how I felt about him. This allowed me to empathise with Scarlet a lot more and really helped me engage with her as the main character. I also loved how the White Queen interacted with her agents and vice versa and thought this relationship was a new concept and fun to get my brain around.

The characters themselves all added to the plot and were more complex than first meets the eye, which was sort of perfect. I thought the skill in which Risque adapted the characters steadily but surely and gave them all different personalities and purpose was really great. I would love to have had more development on Conan's family and thought scenes with them, particularly at the end were rather rushed and crammed in and would have benefitted from more attention.

One thing I was not expecting was the adult nature of the romance in the novel. With the 'fifty shades' craze still at its height, for many the steamy scenes would be an enticement, yet for me they were a little graphic and often laughable I found (this may just be my immature brain of course!)

The writing style was accessible yet not to basic, which was wonderful as you could imagine a lot but your brain wasn't going into overdrive trying to figure out words or over the top descriptions.

Overall, a fast paced, action packed read and would recommend to any adult who is into thrillers and crime reads.

Happy Reading,

Hebe x