Happy Indulgence

I’ve read a couple of Emily Henry books, with Book Lovers and Happy Place as some of my favourite rom-coms. Great Big Beautiful Life immediately intrigued me with its comparisons to one of my favourite literary romcoms, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (which I just realised now, that I never wrote a review for on this blog!). So what is Great Big Beautiful Life about? Two writers arrive at the…

Filled with political intrigue, morally grey characters and lots of yearning, He Who Drowned the World offered a fantastic follow up to the first book. As a gender queer retelling of the Ming Dynasty’s ruler, there’s enough twists and turns here as the three main characters vy for the throne. The three characters are Zhu, the self-titled Radiant King who was born a woman, Ouyang, the eunuch who…

A brilliant fantasy to kick off my 2025 reading year. I loved the combination of murder mystery and fantasy, with an apprentice and master investigator duo. Not only were the characters interesting, but the fantasy world also unfolds organically, through the eyes of Dinios Kol, the assistant investigator who has just graduated from his exams. Not only is Din a keen observer, he’s also a…

Featuring a librarian with a plant companion, a jam shop and a spell that makes trees grow, The Spellshop is a cozy fantasy that left me with many warm and fuzzy vibes. It was nice just relaxing and reading about Kiela’s life as she moves to an island to take refuge. At first, Kiela takes a while to open up to the townspeople, as she wants to keep to herself after escaping from a traumatic past.…

It’s such a wonderful treat that we got an epilogue that we didn’t expect, and Kaldoras gave me all of the warm and fuzzy feelings! It definitely made me miss all of the characters of the Medoran Chronicles and it was so wonderful to see our favourite characters living their best lives. It’s been a while since I’ve read the original series, but I didn’t need to recap it or anything as there’s…

With so much hype surrounding it, what did I think of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue? @newsouthbooksau Check out Jeann's review here:

As a huge V.E. Schwab fan, I have been eagerly awaiting The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It tells the story of Addie LaRue, who lives in 18th Century France, who makes a deal with the devil to live forever in exchange for her soul. As with any bargain however, there’s a downside – no one can remember Addie, and she can’t leave a mark on the world.

A deal with the devil

The beginning is…

I’m Terrible at Writing Negative Reviews

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that not every book you pick up is going to be a good book. It’s impossible for a single book to click with every single person who picks it up. The vast majority of people probably just put a book they don’t enjoy aside when they finish and forget about it. But us book bloggers/ reviewers have to express our thoughts on books we didn’t enjoy.

What…

A Heart So Fierce And Broken Review: Even Better Than The First Book? @BloomsburySyd

I’m so glad I finally read this one after hearing mixed reviews initially! It does flip everything that we know on its head, as it mainly follows Grey, the Guard Captain and Lia Mara, an older princess from Syhl Shallow. While I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t going to see much of Harper (and consequently, Rhen), Gray was my favourite from the first book, so I was delighted that this book…

The Gravity of Us Review: In Which Space and Science is Cool

The Gravity of Us tries to pack quite a punch in 300 pages, with space/science, journalism, mental health and coming of age all being key themes in this book. It has an interesting plot that alternates between being fluffy and serious and a diverse cast of characters. Although the story was entertaining, I thought most of the characters were a bit bland and I wasn’t really invested in everything…

All Fall Down Review: Pros and Cons of Causing International Intrigue

The Good Things

YA contemporary/ thriller. A refresher reread for me so I can finally finish the trilogy.

Ally Carter! Her books are always fast paced fun reads. First person present tense with short chapters that end in cliffhangers makes for a very addictive read!

Grace’s PTSD and panic attacks are a big part of the story.

Along with the murder mystery, there are politics and secrets!It’s set…

Fake It Till You Break It

This was the cutest romcom about fake dating ever! How do you get a teenager to do NOT something you want? Suggest they should do it of course. Seeing Mia and Jake agree to date one another to get their moms off their backs was so cute, and I loved all the childhood moments that they shared with one another.

The characters were also completely adorable, I adored the…

The 100% Guaranteed Way to Get Me to Read a Book

I read a lot of books. So far in 2020 (as of July when I’m writing this post) I’ve already read over 200 books this year, in a wide range of genres. And I have over 200 more books on my physical TBR waiting for me, but there’s a few things that make me pick up a book faster than others.

Well, there is one specific thing that will always move a book to the top of my TBR:

There’s a horse in the…

Blood & Honey Review: Middle Book Syndrome? @HarperCollinsAU

I absolutely loved the hate to love romance in Serpent & Dove last year, especially the memorable characters and the witchy atmosphere within it. Blood & Honey was one of my most anticipated reads this year, how does it stack up as a sequel?

Before diving into Blood & Honey, I read the official recap for the first book on the Epic Readsblog. This helped me familiarise myself with the world and…

Reviews of new YA contemporary romances: Dash & Lily and Instant Karma @AllenandUnwin @MacmillanAus #dashandlily

I read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares years and years ago and absolutely loved it. And I’m so excited that it’s now a Netflix series, and I’ve been loving the first few episodes that I’ve seen (highly recommend)! Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily is the third book in this series, following The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily, and its release coincides with the release of the Netflix series.

Even though it’s…

A Deadly Education Review: Dark academia meets magical school @HachetteAus

A Deadly Education was one of my most highly anticipated reads, being a huge fan of Naomi Novik’s other works, but I was incredibly wary after some early controversy about the text. Featuring a dark magic school filled with witty characters, is this book going to be the next Harry Potter? Or is it going to offer something fresh in terms of fantasy?

Magical school where monsters roam the hallways

Does Posting More Actually Improve Bookstagram Stats? A Super Scientific Experiment

If you didn’t know, I’m fairly active on Instagram (specifically on Bookstagram). I had been posting on and off for years but only recently started posting daily again. At the end of August, I had so many photos waiting to be posted, I decided to try posting twice a day.

One of the mysterious algorithm claims that had been floating around for years was that the algorithm favoured accounts that…

With the release of The Burning God on the horizon, I sat down and chatted with Rebecca Kuang (also known as R.F. Kuang) – who is the Author of The Poppy War series! I was so so excited about this opportunity to chat to one of my favourite authors.

We talked about the effects of the current pandemic situation on writers, her inspiration behind the Poppy War series, what it’s like to be a…