Category: Reviews by Bee

Review: The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward

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511BFSCXkAL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward
Genre: Contemporary(?), Fantasy(?), Romance
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 363
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Upon going to university, I’ve found that it’s incredibly difficult to find time to read. I mean, I have time to read, but when the rest of my flatmates are embroiled in discussion about gender identity, it’s kind of hard to stay in my room catching up on the October new releases. After 3 weeks, so mostly spending time with these guys, I think I can justify pulling out of a Marvel marathon to catch up on some much needed reading and reviewing – I have missed it after all. Unfortunately, I’m rather disappointed that The Potion Diaries was the first book I decided to dedicate my precious free time to.

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Review: Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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9680718Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Hodder and Stroughton
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Maddie read Obsidian earlier in the year and said that it was basically Twilight with aliens. In Half-Blood‘s case, it’s basically Vampire Academy with gods. Is this author able to come up with something completely original? If you have a favourite book by her, then please recommend it! Especially if it’s unlike anything you’ve read before. Continue reading “Review: Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout” →

Review: Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

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26088387Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
Genre: Contemporary, Once Upon A Road Trip
Published by: Macmillan Children
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

It’s not often that we get a story as beautiful as the cover, and Tonight The Streets Are Ours is a perfect example of the cover doing the story justice! This was one of the stand-out reads of the year for me, it was so carefully crafted and made me think about how I treat others, it also has the perfect “imagine a person as an actual person” storyline that I’m such a sucker for. Other books with this theme include Dash And Lily’s Book Of Dares and the obvious Paper Towns. 

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Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas23848145
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 644
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Series: Throne of Glass (#1) | Crown of Midnight (#2) | Heir of Fire (#3)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book should be subtitled: Caleana Sardothien is dead and gone, so don’t expect anything. Okay, so I’m not this series’ biggest fan – it’s got plenty of those already – and it’s no secret that I didn’t really enjoy Heir of Fire either, however Queen of Shadows takes the biscuit. After all the hype I was reading on GoodReads I found this book to be terribly disappointing.

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Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

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7171637Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Genre: Supernatural, Historical (*scoff*), Romance
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 479
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★.5
Series: Clockwork Prince (#2) | Clockwork Princess (#3)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I already know I love the Shadowhunter world, and Cassandra Clare is great at writing diverse characters and making them mesh together. Henry and Charlotte are so far my favourite characters of the series. More of them please. And I could go on at great length about these things, but, chances are, you’ve already read this series anyway – I know I’m a little late to the game – so I’ll jump straight to my issues instead. Everyone likes a little controversy, right?

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Review: Monster by C J Skuse

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23126431Monster by C J Skuse
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Contemporary
Published by: MIRA Ink
Pages: 318
Format: ARC Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author

Monster was completely different to anything we’ve ever read. It’s part horror, and mostly thriller set in a contemporary boarding school backed onto a woods that really sets the scene for a perfectly enchanting murder. Who wouldn’t want to read that? There were so many twists and turns we couldn’t distinguish from the beginning who was good and who was bad. This book perfectly throws you off the scent with multiple mysteries and suspects that surround the local area. It’s the perfect book for lovers of We Were Liars and Sarah Alderson novels.

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Mosquitoland by David Arnold

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18718848Mosquito land by David Arnold
Genre: Contemporary, Coming-Of-Age(?)
Published by: headline
Pages: 336
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Okay, this book was insanely quotable, and I don’t find myself highlighting passages very often, but for some reason I was highlighter-happy (electronically, guys, I’m not about to deface a beautiful book with the wet ink of a highlighter)! I was scrolling through the reviews of this book on Goodreads though, and this review is pretty much going to be the consensus opinion: amazing beginning, what was that middle?, okay, so how-am-I-supposed-to-feel-about-this-now-ending. But the writing though. My goodness. (It would be summed up with this emoji: 👌) Let’s pros and cons this.

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Review: Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall

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25326323Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall
Genre: Gothic, Paranormal, Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 258
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book was so addicting and there was no way I could put it down when it really got going. Five kids on a camping trip to an ancient burial ground? Sign me up! I’d describe this book as soft core paranormal, where the majority of the story is contemporary with a hint of mystery.

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Review: All Of The Above by James Dawson

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23156540All Of The Above by James Dawson
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: ?
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This is the first James Dawson book I have read, and his stuff seems pretty hyped, so I was excited. After reading the acknowledgments I found that this is different to the majority of the stuff he’s done before, apparently he does more horror(?) but All Of The Above was refreshing with it’s realism and what makes it even better was the protagonist was completely unapologetic for how crazy her life was. If I could use a meme to describe this book it would be: ‘sounds fake, but okay.’ It’s so jam-packed with teenager-y themes that it feels a little overwhelming at times, but I guess that’s life.

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Review: Hello, Goodbye, And Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith

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23369370Hello, Goodbye, And Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Headline
Pages: 248
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

So, I picked up Hello, Goodbye, And Everything In Between, because all I’ve been doing recently is watching Pretty Little Liars (we’re on season 3, if you’re interested and Spoby is life.) At 248 pages I was confident I could finish it in one sitting, and I did! Which hopefully makes up for the fact I haven’t finished a book in over a week. The basic premise is that Aidan and Clare are just about to go off to university (literally they’re one day away) and they’re trying to decide whether or not to break up. And although it had a few gems, overall the story was pretty generic and much like the million teen rom-coms I’ve seen before.

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