20 books of Summer

20 books of summer is run by Cathy at 746 books, I took part last year and do think I did very well, but this year I am going to try and combine books for other challenges and books that I have started but not yet finished. I was thinking about doing ARC’s but I am doing a lucky dip sort of thing, so I will try and read one lucky dip book and one 20 books of summer book, unless that gets too much.

I have to thank Books are my favourite and best, for reminding me out this. I will be reading the books in no particular order, and click on the picture to get a link to the goodreads page.

Have you read any of these books, what did you think of them? What books will you be reading this summer?

Emma

 

ARC Review: Talus and the Frozen King

 

Meet Talus-the world’s first detective.

A dead warrior king frozen in winter ice. Six grieving sons, each with his own reason to kill. Two weary travellers caught up in a web of suspicion and deceit.

In a distant time long before our own, wandering bard Talus and his companion Bran journey to the island realm of Creyak, where the king has been murdered. From clues scattered among the island’s mysterious barrows and stone circles, they begin their search for his killer. But do the answers lie in this world or the next?

Nobody is above suspicion, from the king’s heir to the tribal shaman, from the servant woman steeped in herb-lore to the visiting warlord whose unexpected arrival throws the whole tribe into confusion. And when death strikes again, Talus and Bran realise nothing is what it seems. Creyak is place of secrets and spirits, mystery and myth. It will take a clever man indeed to unravel the truth. The kind of man this ancient world has not seen before.

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me ages to read, I didn’t love it. It was an interesting idea but the story was a little bland and it didn’t hold my interest. It was just all a little slow and felt like the author was trying to make a sherlock character in a fantasy setting and it really didn’t work.

The sons of the murdered King were all unique and I wanted to know what happened so I kept reading, but if this had not been a review book I am not sure I would have finished.

The plot was a little predictable and didn’t often stray into exciting territory.

Talus was on okay character a little too much like Sherlock for my liking, would have been better if he had his own personality a little more. Bran was hot-headed and not my favourite character at all.

It wasn’t terrible but I don’t think I will be reading anything else from this author.

3 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: The Walls Around Us

On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.

On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.

Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries…

What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?

In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The writing of this book was beautiful, especially when it was Amber’s POV, it had me hooked from the word go. I have never read anything like this before, it was hypnotic and a well rounded story that held me captivated.

There was a lot to like about this book and very little to dislike, strangely since it’s usually the draw in books for me, I wasn’t 100% keen on the paranormal side of this book. It could have been done better.

The characters were fine, I am not going to say I was in love with them but I didn’t dislike them. I suppose that’s the best you can ask with certain books.

I do not know what else to say without spoiling it. It’s well worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: Hush

For small-town girl Blakely Henry, any hope of finding her biological parents died when she stopped believing in fairy tales and Disney princesses. That is, until she spots her boarding school’s new British exchange student, Max Ryder, staring at her. Why would a boy who looks like he stepped out of the pages of a magazine be looking at her? Because Max knows something Blakely doesn’t.

Following the tragic demise of one of Europe’s most beloved royal families, Max has stumbled upon information he thinks may lead to a lost royal heir, and now he is on a quest halfway around the world to see if he’s right.

Sworn to secrecy by his university professor and the headmaster of Lakeview Academy, Max is admitted into an exchange program with the sole purpose of finding out the truth. But will his personal feelings for Blakely get in the way?

When a stolen email surfaces, Blakely and her friends’ lives are threatened, and Max starts to question what he is really after.

From the exclusive rolling lawns of Canada’s most prestigious boarding school to the University of Saint Andrews’ hallowed grounds, Blakely’s quiet, unassuming life is turned upside down. Is she really who she thinks she is? Can she survive long enough to help Max unearth the truth?

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It wasn’t exactly what I expected but it was a nice story. I liked how it switched between locations, I would have preferred a little more descriptions, especially on St Andrews, it’s one of the most famous universities in the world, I expected her to know a little more about it other than it is next to a golf course. I suppose I am biased since I live near there. But there was a general lack of descriptions throughout the book.

Blakely was a little annoying, she expected things to fall in her lap and didn’t really think about anyone’s feelings but her own.

Max was a good character, sounds cute and seems like a nice guy but the whole insta-love annoyed me. It was even before he met her.

North was probably my favourite character, he seemed like a really loyal friend and a great catch.

I found the switching of POV’s annoying, there was no break to indicate it and it sometimes even happened during a paragraph, those points were confusing. I found the fact that you knew most the secrets at the start a little strange, you were just waiting to see how it played out.

Overall a good book and I will be reading the next one in the series.

4 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: Ollie the Orca

Come along and join Bubba the Bottlenose dolphin as he makes a new buddy while sharing a day they won’t soon forget. Grade 1-2 Reading Level

Bubba is out on one of his undersea adventures when he finds a frightened Orca trapped by a fishing net! In this attention gripping yet comical tale, Bubba works with his buddy Sammy the Seagull to free Ollie. Come along and join Bubba the Bottlenose dolphin as he makes a new buddy while sharing a day they won’t soon forget.

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The pictures of this book were bright and well drawn, it was a fine book but I felt that there could have been a little more to the story, it was too message based. Yes I know it’s for kids, but they like excitement and adventure.

The story was fine but like I already said, I could have done with a little more, it was just a little bland.

3 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: The Heir

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can’t escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn’t expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought.

I received a free 10 chapter excerpt of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I bought this after reading the first ten chapters.

Although I really did not like Eadlyn, she was a spoiled brat and never really changed, it was an okay book.

I really enjoyed the first selection book and the third one was okay, this one probably on par with the third one. There were some great moments but most of the book dragged. The whole of the selection was a farce, and we are only in the first book of this selection.

Kile was a good character but I honestly felt he was too good for Eadlyn and I really want to know who entered his name.

Henri was a nice guy but I didn’t like him, not sure why. I do not want him to win.

I was glad to see Maxon and America back in the books but they both felt like really flat characters and nothing like before. I was sorely disappointed to how they were portrayed in this book.

The way she started to feel about each guy was annoying it was like she was developing feelings for them all. I hope Kile is the one she falls for and marries in the end.

It did have it’s good moments and I will read the next book to see what happens but I am keeping an open mind.

3 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: The Last Boat Home

Explosive, dark and tender, The Last Boat Home is a devastating novel about sacrifice, survival and a mother’s love. If you loved The Light Between Oceans or The Snow Child, this is for you.

On the wind-swept southern coast of Norway, sixteen-year-old Else is out on the icy sea, dragging her oars through the waves while, above her, storm clouds are gathering. Surrounded by mountains, snow and white-capped water, she looks across the fjord and dreams of another life, of escape and faraway lands.

Back on shore, her father sits alone in his boathouse with a jar of homebrew. In the Best Room, her mother covers her bruises and seeks solace in prayer. Each tries to hide the truth from this isolated, God-fearing community they call home.

Until one night changes everything.

More than thirty years later, the return of an old friend forces Else to relive the events that marked the end of her childhood.

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled at the start of this book. It was a little confused and didn’t hold my interest. But once I got into it, it was quite enjoyable, the story was good and it flowed well. I liked most of the characters, especially Else’s grandaughter.

This book had strong themes of abuse, religions and heartache. It had some moments that were hard to read due to their subject nature but at the same moment you had to read on to find out what was happening.

Lars was a character I didn’t particularly like. He was just plain rude and a little but creepy for my liking.

The book had some interesting ideas but it struggled to hold my attention.

I would recommend this book, just to people who prefer a slower paced books.

3 out of 5 stars.

ARC Review: Bellman and Black

Bellman & Black is a heart-thumpingly perfect ghost story, beautifully and irresistibly written, its ratcheting tension exquisitely calibrated line by line. Its hero is William Bellman, who, as a boy of 11, killed a shiny black rook with a catapult, and who grew up to be someone, his neighbours think, who “could go to the good or the bad.” And indeed, although William Bellman’s life at first seems blessed—he has a happy marriage to a beautiful woman, becomes father to a brood of bright, strong children, and thrives in business—one by one, people around him die. And at each funeral, he is startled to see a strange man in black, smiling at him. At first, the dead are distant relatives, but eventually his own children die, and then his wife, leaving behind only one child, his favourite, Dora. Unhinged by grief, William gets drunk and stumbles to his wife’s fresh grave—and who should be there waiting, but the smiling stranger in black. The stranger has a proposition for William—a mysterious business called “Bellman & Black” . . .

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read most of this book a long while ago and it’s taking me time to read the rest.

I love Diane Setterfield’s first novel The Thirteenth Tale, I did try my best not to compare the two they are completely different.

Bellman and Black was full of secrets, mystery and very haunting. The writing was beautiful, flowery and melodic. A little slow paced, maybe I am just not used to reading this kind of book. I had theories on what was going to happen, I was very close, but it took me a while to work it all out.

The funeral was very sad and I almost didn’t carry on reading after it. The man in black is very creepy.

Overall an intriguing and well written book that although is a little slow it is a great read.

4 out of 5 stars

Review: Ten

SHHHH!
Don’t spread the word!
Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

I love this kind of book, it was fun and exciting, left me guessing who the murderer was. I also liked the that there were other small mysteries to work out as well. It was a well written book and the story progressed well.

I liked the characters, wasn’t the biggest fan of Minnie, her outbursts annoyed me. T.J. was a good character, he was kind, loyal and true to his heart.

Meg was a good main character,  she was loyal to Minnie no matter what, even if it meant her own feelings got hurt.

The killings were sometimes brutal but not overly descriptive (which I am quite glad of). It was a little odd that Meg found the victims first every time, maybe it was meant for us to think she was the killer but I never really thought she was. I had someone else in mind and I was completely wrong. I never once guessed who it actually was.

I recommend this to people who like the scream films.

4 out of 5 stars

ARC Review: Akarnae

With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings’s world changes–literally.

Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her… but he’s missing.

While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora’s boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can’t ignore her fear that something unexpected… something sinister… is looming.

An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex’s shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race’s survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?

Will Alex risk her entire world–and maybe even her life–to save Medora?

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off a little slow for me, but once I got to the third chapter I was hooked and had to finish it that day. It reminded me a little of Harry Potter, just in the way how magical it was and how much it sucked me in.

Alex was a great main character, I love books where you learn with the character, it was really well written and I was just lapping up the whole story. The beginning was a little lack luster but the rest of the book made up for it.

The friendship between Alex, Jordan and Bear was great and only got better over time. It was a fun and loyal friendship which made me smile a lot.

The world of Medora was complex and completely inviting. I loved learning all the magic and technologies of the world. It all made perfect sense and always left me wanting more.

I wish I could gush and explain exactly what I loved about this book but with revealing too much I cannot. So if you want to know how good it is, click on the picture which which will take you to the goodreads page.

5 out of 5 stars.