sarahsbooklife's reviews
475 reviews

Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Fireborn by Aisling Fowler

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book for this blog tour through the publisher and NetGalley via The Write Reads. All thoughts and opinions about this book are all my own.

This was a book that I was super excited to read! And I was not disappointed.

Fireborn is a fantasy debut that is coming out on Septemer 30th 2021 and I would highly recommend getting your hands on a copy when it comes out. It’s a middle-grade fantasy filled with adventure, action, a quest, a ragtag group of heroes, and plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

I loved the story and the characters in this book. Some of them I found I took a while to like but they slowly grew on me. I liked Twelve from the start but Six and Five took a while for me to like. Mainly because Five started off as being mean and a bit of a bully towards the main character Twelve and also to Seven, who was a nice girl but a little odd, neither of them quite fit in so where often out-casted by the other children.

If you’re wonder why they have numbers for names it’s because when they come to the Hunting Lodge they cut all times from before; their names, their family, everything from the past is left behind and they start anew. They only get to chose a new name when they pass their final test in the Blooding after years of training.

This story starts with Twelve and the others training, nice and normal everyday life. But that soon turns on it’s head and everything turns into chaos.

There was a lot to discover in about this world and I can easily see how this could become an expansive series. I loved the world that was created in this book and I would love to get to explore more.

Overall, I think that this was a really good story. With a great world, magic system, and intriguing characters. The pacing was good, although a little slow at times and then a bit too fast at others. I do have some questions and would like some more detail about some things, but hopefully they will be explored in another book. I’m unsure if this is the first book in a series or not but I definitely hope there is more to come from this world and these characters.

If you like middle-grade fantasy with a unique world and plot, characters that grow and develop, magic, magical creatures, with lots of plots twists then you should definitely give this book a try!

Content Warnings

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this through a giveaway, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought that this was a very interesting thriller and I liked that it was told from three different female perspectives. This book mainly focuses on the trauma, grief and the way that Hae-on's death affected those closest to her and round her rather than the murder itself. Which I thought was really interesting as a lot of thriller mysteries focus on the crime and figuring out who did. This story is told over seventeen years, from 2002 to 2019, and nearly all of it is about what happens after Hae-on's murder.

This book doesn't actually tell you who killed Hae-on, even though there are multiple suspects, and I did feel a little dissatisfied by this. Because I was hoping that Da-on, Hae-on's younger sister, would figure it out and revealed it by the end.

I do think that the most likely person was Taerim; as she was jealous of Hae-on being with Shin Jeongjun (her high school boyfriend that she later marries) the day she was killed. Also she is the only one that isn't investigated for an alibi because Han Manu doesn't tell the police that she's with him and was the one to actually see Hae-on in Shin Jeonjun's car. And by the time he does the detective doesn't believe him. Both boys have alibis for where they were whereas we don't hear about where Taerim went after getting off of Han Manu's scooter. I think she's the most likely one to have killed Hae-on but it could have easily been someone else.

I thought that this story was very well written, the plot and characters were all very fleshed out despite this being a novella. And each of the narrators had distinct voices. I did find the parts told by Yun Taerim to be a bit strange. As they are all one-side of conversations she has with a doctor, as she is mentally very unwell, years later but she is still very affected by what happened to Hae-on and often refers to her (not by name) when talking about her now husband Shin Jeongjun, who was one of the original suspects and possibly the last person to see Hae-on alive. Also the three of them are unreliable narrators with chunks missing in each of their narratives keeping elements of the story hidden away from the reader. But I found that as I read the book I was able to piece together different pieces of evidence and information from each of them to come to my own conclusion for who I thought had killed Hae-on.

I thought that this was a well written, thought provoking, and clever story. I just wish that the murder had been revealed or that there had been more closure by the end of the story as it's left very open ended with few things resolved or revealed.

Content Warnings

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I actually enjoyed what I did read, I'm just not feeling it right now. I think I might pick this book up again in autumn and closer to Halloween when the creepiness feels right.
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UPDATE: So, I finished it and I really enjoyed it. It was a perfect mix of creepiness, horrifying and mysterious. With snippets of magic and folklore woven in.
I loved that at the center of this book was sisterly love.
Also the plot twist at the end for who the villain was all along was brilliant. I loved that reveal. I really liked how this story was told and how it ended. But a part of me wants either a sequel or a short story about Vivi and Iris's next trip into the Halfway

to see if Tyler is still there and what Iris thinks she missed when they were last there.

I would 100% recommend reading this book if you like dark, creepy and imaginative stories.

Content Warnings