Shelf Spotlight - 10th January 2015




Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews and The Sunday Post hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This edition covers the last month of books, so it's kind of a big one

Review: NetGalley/Edelweiss

Dancing with Molly Don't Ever ChangeThe Cage (The Cage, #1) The Revenge Playbook

Dancing with Molly by Lena Horowitz - June 2nd 2015, Simon Pulse

The Leveller (The Leveller, #1) The Night We Said Yes Between the Notes Paperweight


Tiny Pretty Things Emmy & Oliver My Heart and Other Black Holes The Prey (The Hatchery, #1)


Atlantis Rising The Messenger (Mortal Beloved, #1) Above What Remains


Disappear Home  Phantom's Dance Stung (Struck, #2)

Mind Games Love, Lattes and Mutants Narvla's Celtic New Year Talon


Inked Shadow Study (Soulfinders, #1) Of Shadow and Stone Me and Mr J


Phew! Thats a few books!
Call by with your post and I'll visit fo'sho! <3

Review: Twisted Fate by Norah Olson

Twisted Fate
When Alyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit—shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him. 

As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too. 

And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.

I'm not sure what this book even is.

Now, that is an odd way to start a review and I can only apologise, but frankly I have no idea what this book is. Or should I say, how this book got published.

I want a fantastic psychological thriller, I pick up this book because frankly the blurb has this dark thing about it that makes me thing 'that will fill the void in my life', and instead I get superficial, predictable and absolutely no sense at all. Now, I get what Olson was trying to do and I can only congratulate her on the fantastic idea that she had, but other than that everything was a load of tosh. Ugh.

I don't even know where to start.

First of all, the writing was not too great, I got this image of Olson being this old person trying to write from a young person's perspective, because of the constant references to Sydney's troublemaking tendencies (skateboarding and smoking weed, apparently). But it also feels like some sort of wish fulfilment, wherein Sydney is this troublemaker but she still manages to get these amazing perfect grades and she knows lots of big words and her best friends are like that too and... what?

None of it is even relevant. 

And Allison is made out to be this bad character because she's boring and she bakes muffins and she is responsible and she falls in love, and all of those are decent things to do. Why is Sydney a better person? This is the depth of the characters in this book.

Don't even get me started on Graham.

There are so many perspectives in this book and because of this the big twist in the end is made too obvious. I am not a fan of all the switching - especially because all of the characters except the policeman and the emails sounded the same, and foreshadowing is just stupid unless done right. This is not one of those times. Plus, despite the fact that the big twist is so obvious, it also makes no sense, it seems like something tacked on to the end in the final stage of editing to make it a little deeper and a little bit more thrilling.

Cannot formulate words.

No. This book was not for me. I've seen a lot of positive reviews for it, so maybe it is worth checking it out. For me, the only reason I got through this book so quickly was because the % bar was moving so fast. If the book had been much longer it would have been a definite DNF.


Book released 20th January 2015 by Katherine Tegan
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review: The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)
The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

This was such a freaking amazing piece of fantasy that I can barely put into words how much this book blew me away. The set-up was great from the get go, with a fantastic world being built in just a few pages. Whilst the start was slow, it picks up very quickly and we are suddenly thrown into this fantasy with all of the things I love from books of this genre. We have action, plot twists, intrigue, romance and a kick-ass heroine! 

I wouldn't be surprised if Mare remains my favorite heroine of the year. She was tough and strong, but also cracked and weak at times - something that I love in my heroines. She's tough, coming to terms with powers that she shouldn't even have, but she's also out of control, a risk to herself or others. Mare is torn between whether to use these powers for good or to flee from them. 

There's also a love triangle... Wait! Don't run! This is a love triangle with a twist. This is Mare trying to decide which boy is best for her political views and her cause, and it's a dark and dangerous triangle, with seemingly innocent people betraying the people they are supposed to love. AWESOME! Maven had his moments, but I was in love with Cal from the start, so the end was a complete kicker for me. 

This is a book that grips from start to finish, it's a complete kicker - my heart was wrenched, my knuckles were white, my loyalties were tested until I had no idea who to trust. The world building was beautiful and so well done and Aveyard may well be one of the best fantasy writers, to go alongside my personal heroines Maria V. Snyder and Kristin Cashore.

Urgh, just take my word, whatever it's worth, and read this book. I swear!


Book released 12th February 2015 by Orion Books
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review