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Showing posts from April, 2018

Review of I Stop Somewhere by T. E. Carter


Genres: Contemporary, Abuse
Pages: 321
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: 19/04/2018
Find The Author: Website
Find The Book: Book Depository/AbeBooks UK/US
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(Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished. 

Tormented throughout middle school, she begins her freshman year with new clothes, new hair, and a plan: she doesn’t need to be popular, she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper. 

 It’s a lonely existence, but at least no one’s tripping her in the halls. In fact, no one notices her at all. Until Caleb Breward, tells her she’s beautiful and makes her believe it. 

 Ellie loves Caleb, but sometimes she doesn’t like him that much - his awkward smile, the possessive way he touches her, the tone he uses, how he ignores her one minute and can't get enough the next. And on one black night, she discovers the monster her boyfriend really is. Ellie wasn’t the first victim, but now, trapped, she has to watch it happen again and again. She tries to hold onto her happier memories in order to get past the cold days, waiting for someone to find her. 

But no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place. 


I feel really guilty rating this book 1 star but I can't bring myself to rate this any higher. I understand that what this author really wanted to do was show us the ugly and brutal world of rape culture but unfortunately they contributed to it instead. This is not a positive message for survivors of rape. This is a book that wants to tell teenage girls that if they're raped, no-one will believe them. Their lives will be torn apart and every single thing they do will be used against them.

Fellow reviewer Elise pointed out that a good 38% of this book is torture porn and they're right. Except the other 63% is torture porn too. To be honest the whole thing was just torture to try and read.

Trying to put my hatred of the way rape culture is used here, the rest of it really wasn't good writing either. I kept forgetting characters because they weren't real people, just a name. Very little happens for the majority of the book other than Ellie reminiscing over her and Caleb's relationship and slowly explaining what happened while meandering around her hometown. The main thing about Ellie was that she wanted to be pretty and popular and other than that she was just... there.

 I'm not going to rate this 5 stars just because it's a subject that's rarely talked about and it was a difficult read. It fucked with my head sure but other than the graphic descriptions of rape not a lot of the story will stick with me. Honestly, the sooner I can get this book out of my head the better.

 Extra note: I've seen people constantly mention The Lovely Bones and 13 Reasons Why in relation to this but I think that the novel that is like this book is Living Dead Girl. A truly horrible book.

Review of The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson



Series: Shades Of London #3
Genres: Paranormal, Mystery
Pages: 374
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Release Date: 05/02/2018
Find The Author: (Website/Twitter)
Find The Book: Book Depository/AbeBooks UK/US
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Grieving, shaken, and feeling very much alone, Rory's life as a member of the Shades of London has changed irrevocably. It's only been a matter of hours since Stephen was taken from her, possibly for ever. Her classmate Charlotte is still missing, kidnapped by the same people who tried to take Rory. Rory is no longer a schoolgirl haplessly involved in the dealings of a secret government unit. She is their weapon in a matter of life and death. 

With hardly a moment to think for herself, Rory is back to work. Charlotte must be found - as must Stephen, if he is even out there. Lines must be drawn and forces rallied. Something is brewing under London, something bigger and much more dangerous than what has come before. The Shadow Cabinet holds the key to everything, and it is up to Rory to unravel its mysteries before time runs out...


I've just finished watching American Horror Story: Cult. I hate American Horror Story but I watch it anyway, even though the plot is always stupid, predictable and feels a lot like the writer was sucking themselves off. But anyway that is important because I really really hated AHS: Cult, I can't stand reading or watching stuff about cults. So I was in luck when I picked this book up, because it was all about cults too! RIP my sanity.

The original book held so much promise about what the story could become, without feeling cheesy. I thought it was going to be like Life On Mars (you should watch that), where they investigate weird crimes involving ghosts. Well book two destroyed all hopes of that and all I could hope for for book three was that it wouldn't be as bad. It's not, but the cheese fest is upped so painfully that at one point my ears actually started leaking cheese (trufacts).

The general idea is to quickly clean up the mess that was book two by linking it to book 3 as much as possible and just in case you don't remember it, Rory spends the majority of her time rehashing every event, which is my number 1 most hated trope. I hate it more than insta-love. I do love Rory's thoughts about England but her stories about her famly started to be repetative, as in, she literally told the same stories from previous books. I have a relative that does that. It's annoying as hell.

I'd write more about the story but... I'm struggling to work out if there is one. There's a mysterious cult, Charlotte's gone missing, there's a couple of blonde twins I don't care about and this whole thing about shiny Egyptian rocks. Without spoilers that's literally the whole book. There's a mild cliffhanger and no book 4 but I'm not even sure if I would choose to pick up book four at this point, as there's no redeeming this series.

 I feel like if you start a book series around the theme of Jack The Ripper with bloody, gory murder you kinda have to follow on from that with a similar theme? Throwing a cult into the mix was uexpected and not at all welcome, and it was even worse that it went on for two books and now four, as this is definitely continuing into the next book. I've stopped caring about any of the characters as most of them have become cardboard background characters anyway.

Weekly Update (28/04/2018)


It's been quite a packed week this week, so I'll just pick out the best bits to post here! Im ill again and more determined to move out as soon as possible, as I'm convinced this house is making me ill. I've found a town close to Bath in the UK (I live in Bridgwater at the moment) and it has everything we need, we just need to save up for the fees, deposit and first month's rent. The rents here are around £600 a month but you have no chance of getting a house unless you can cough up over £1000 before you move in.


Received This Week On NetGalley




I'm glad I started posted what I get on NetGalley because I had no idea that this week I must have gone crazy! I have a little catching up to do but I should be fine as long as I restrict my requesting next week.


Read This Week




I loved The Name Of The Star but the rest of the reads this week were abysmal, I'm hoping next week is much better.



This week I went on a blind bag feeling LEGO hunt and managed to get the Harley Quinn minifig I've been really wanting and the super rare Policeman! There's some amazing LEGO sets coming out this year, I can't wait.

Don't forget to leave me a link to your Stacking The Shelves, Weekly Updates, or just your blog!

Review of The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson


Series: Shades Of London #2
Genres: Paranormal, Mystery
Pages: 290
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 26/02/2018
Find The Author: (Website/Twitter)
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After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Deveaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance to get back to her friends.

But Rory’s brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she’s become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact. She soon finds out that the Shades - the city’s secret ghost-fighting police - are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it’s too late.


I'm sick and tired of being disappointed by sequels. I'm a little but angry too. Why is it that nearly every Young Adult author can write an amazing first book and then the second just goes to shit? This wasn't that terrible and at very least the writing style stayed consistent (looking at you DeStefano) but just like... basically nothing happened.

We started off with a pretty fantastic set up - a basement with a mysterious chalk cross and a man beaten to death with a hammer held by an invisible hand and his employee blamed for it. So here I was, thinking great, now more mysterious stuff is going to happen, I couldn't wait to find out what the cross would signify. Yeah that was all over and done with within a chapter - when we finally got the the chapter 50% into the book.

“Life is always going to be a series of ouch-making moments, and the question was, was I going to go all fetal position, or was I going to woman up? I went into fetal position on the bed to think about this. Fetal position turned out to be very comfortable.”

 Nearly every plot point in this book (all three of them, the rest is just Rory worried about failing her exams) goes nowhere, or is over within a short space of time. I was expecting that Rory would be joining the team and we'd all go ghost hunting and we just got... nothing. She finally went to go find the team a good half way into the book and the rest was umming and ahhing about if the only available terminus (Rory) should be used or not.

The ending was enough of a cliff hanger to make me read the next book but I'm certain that it will have pissed a lot of other readers off. I'm mostly angry because I'm surprised that with a concept as cool as this and with so much that you can do with it, I was stuck reading about Rory taking hot showers and not connecting with her boyfriend.

“But here I was, quasi-boyfriend saying he wanted to take me on an actual date, and I was just staring at him impassively, like a horse watching a mime pretending to walk against the wind.”

 It was kind of sad to see that Jerome, Jazza and Alistair all became background characters in this book, particularly Alistair. He got a grand total one of scene. When Rory screams at Alistair (ghost) to back off, Jerome obviously assumes it's him and his first reaction is "what is wrong with you?". Erm she was literally stabbed a couple of weeks ago.

Charlotte gets all the fun of being a major character in this book... while still feeling completely like a background character. I actually really felt sorry for her, she's just been beaten over the head and nearly killed by someone she didn't see and Rory/Jazza's reaction is to scoff at her wanting a psychiatrist and literally saying that Rory's injury was worse, acting like Charlotte had no right to be anything but completely fine with what happened to her. Pro tip: just because someone might be worse than you, that doesn't make your pain any less valid.

Review of The Name Of The Star by Maureen Johnson



Series: Shades Of London #1 
Genres: Paranormal, Mystery
Pages: 374
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 29/09/2011
Find The Author: (Website/Twitter
Find The Book: Book Depository/AbeBooks UK/US 

Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school just as a series of brutal murders mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper killing spree of more than a century ago has broken out across the city. The police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man believed to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him - the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target...unless she can tap her previously unknown abilities to turn the tables.


I'm obsessed with Jack The Ripper. I'm not sure why but I imagine everyone else who is obsessed with the Ripper has the same thoughts. As this book puts it, he is the first modern serial killer - and he was never caught. This book is perfect for a gory history fan like me because it loves London's dark and bloody history just as much as I do.

When I first read this back in 2011 I didn't think it was that special. I don't know what I was thinking because this book is quite special, it was released around a time when every book featuring something of the superatural was basically a huge cover up for an insta-love romance and I grew to hate them. This book does have a light romance in it, but nothing more than you'd expect from the average teenager. Non-spoiler: No thousand year old men profess their undying love for her.

“No one hid their interest when I walked into the room. I'm not sure if it was the news about Boo or my general appearance. At home, people would have asked. People would have been crawling all over me for information. At Wexford, they seemed to extract what they wanted to know by covert staring.” 

The story is, Rory's parents decide to travel away from their hometown of Louisiana (did I butcher that spelling?) and as it's Rory's final school year, she gets to decide where they go. She choosing London because she's crazy and moves into a girl's dorm while her parents travel to Bristol. Then some people are brutally murdered, recreating the crimes of Jack The Ripper.

I really love Rory and I could see her being my friend. She's really weird and exactly what I look for in a friend. She thinks that London is really far down south and that Brisol and London are really far apart by UK standards (we're pretty aware that we live on a small island). She also seems to think that Bristol is towards the middle of the country, whereas we'd consider it down south. Plus she chokes on her dinner sometimes which I can definitely relate to.

“England and Britain and the United Kingdom are not the same thing. England is the country. Britain is the island containing England, Scotland, and Wales. The United Kingdom is the formal designation of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a political entity. If you mess this up, you will be corrected. Repeatedly.”

This is clearly the start of what I'm hoping will be an epic paranormal investigation series, so I'm hoping other major events in London will be covered over time too. Jack The Ripper is fascinating but have you heard of the Ratcliffe Highway murders? Or we could go further back with nods to Shakespeare's time. I've been disappointed in sequels before but I'm going to choose to be cautiously optimistic with this one.

 If you want a great look at London's dark past without feeling like you're reading a textbook the size of it, I highly recommend you let Dr Matthew Green take you by the hand and show you all of it in London: A Travel Guide Through Time. It's not for the faint of heart but honestly one of the best history books I've ever read and I never once felt like I was being pelted with information.

Review of When The Mountains Roared by Jess Butterworth


Genres: Childrens, Mystery
Pages: 282
Publisher: Orion
Release Date: 05/04/2018
Find The Author: (Website/Twitter)
Find The Book: Book Depository/AbeBooks UK/US
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(Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

I thought we'd live here forever. But then I thought Mum would be here forever too. 

When Ruby's dad uproots her from Australia to set up a hotel in the mountains of India, Ruby is devastated. Not only are they living in a run-down building in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by scorpions, bears and leopards, but Ruby is sure that India will never truly feel like home - not without her mum there.

Ever since her mum died, Ruby has been afraid. Of cars. Of the dark. Of going to sleep and never waking up. But then the last remaining leopards of the mountain are threatened and everything changes. Ruby vows to do all she can to protect them - if she can only overcome her fears... 


I'm trying to read books with different cultures this year, because I'm tired of being an English-person stuck in America where all the main characters are white and middle class. This one is a children's book set in India and is a fantastic introduction to Indian culture for anyone wanting to learn more about it. The author has used her own experiences in life and written them into Ruby's story, creating vivid characters and a great mystery.

There's some great themes here - a love of animals, poaching, respect of other cultures and loss of a parent. Ruby travels with her Dad to live in the Indian mountains, running a direlict hotel that the locals shy away from. Greiving the death of her mother and a move to another country would take it's toll on anyone and we see glimpses of that from flashbacks that Ruby has.

Poaching is the main theme and it's devastating effects on the environment. When Ruby discovers that the owners of the hotel are up to something, she enlists her new friend Paveen and her Grandmother to help her investigate, discovering more about her new home of India along the way. I do wish that we had learnt more about Ruby's home of Australia, as it wasn't mentioned that much.

Many Covers Monday: All The Bright Places



Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. 

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. 

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

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US/Chinese/Croatian 
The US cover is also used to for UK cover and I have the special edition of this, that's purple instead of blue. I love books that look textured like this. The Chinese one is okay, I have noticed that while the US covers have become an art form, other countries don't care quite so much and their covers are... a bit bland in comparison. Out of these three I think I like Croatia's the most, I love the weathered paper texture in the background and I feel like I could almost peel the sticky notes right off of the cover if I wanted to.


Estonian/Finnish/German
I don't often see Estonian or Scandinavian covers around, so this is a rare treat for me. I'm in love with the bold colours of the Estonian cover but I'm a bit underwhelmed by the Finnish cover.. it kinda looks like something I might use for my phone background. Thanks to the wonders of the German language, their cover almost becomes a bit ominous - "ALL DIE"


 Greek/Icelandic/Indonesian
I reeeeeally don't like the Greek cover, it creeps me out to be honest. From a distance it's not particularly eye catching either. The Icelandic cover feels familiar, I guess the concept has been used before. I really love the Indonesian cover though, it reminds me of those art pieces with all the blocks plus it looks really textured!


Italian/Persian/Polish
 I really like the Italian version and matching the text with her coat is a great idea. I'm not sure about the Persian cover, the art is okay but drab and the big red and yellow banners at the bottom are awful. I don't care for the last one, it's too forgettable.


Portuguese x2, Russian
Yessss, more post it note textured goodness.This is one of my favourite covers and I like the second Portuguese cover too (totally saying WHEEEEE in my head as well). I immediately recognised the last cover as Russian without being told as they really have a thing for badly photoshopped cover models. I think I've seen the guy on another cover but I'm not certain.


 Serbian/Spanish/Swedish
The Serbian cover is eh okay, reminds me of a school textbook. Looks quite childish too. I know I've seen a popular book that looks like the cover of the Spanish edition but I can't quite place it. I love the raised paper look of the Swedish edition but it just look a little... self pubbed.


Thai/Vietnamese
The Thai cover is so nice, its hard to use bright bold colours without making it look like a children's book so I think they did really well there. I love the Vietnamese cover too, the text is just a little hard to read? Maybe I'd read it easily if it was English.

Which cover is your favourite? Let me know in the comments!