Cover Characteristics: Only the Backs of People

Cover Characteristic is a weekly feature hosted at Sugar & Snark. I thought we'd struggle this week but five minutes after looking at our bookshelves we had 5 covers we loved!

My favourite cover is Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, I've always been a huge fan of this cover and the book itself is amazing as well, I do also love The Book of Ivy cover and Hereafter. Ann's favourite is I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella.

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Sunday Post 22nd May 2016

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it's a chance to post a recap on the past week, show the books we have received and share what we plan for the coming week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and the aim is to show our newest books and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops or downloaded on to their e-reader. As always you can click on any of the pictures to be taken to the Goodreads page for that book if you're interested in finding out more about it.

Last Week on the Blog:

• Bout of Books Wrap Up
• Wednesday Catch-Up
• Clare Reviews: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
• Friday Reads
• Ann Reviews: Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson

Books We Got This Week:

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye: This is one of my most anticipated books of the year so I am very excited it arrived!

Every Exquisite Thing by Mathew Quick: I was sent this for review by the publisher. I love The Silver Linings Playbook so I hope to love this as well.
The Second Love of My Life by Victoria Walters: I was sent this for review by the publisher as well and I am excited, though nervous to read it. I cry at everything, I have been known to cry at commercials on TV so I am pretty certain this book will make me sob - but on the flip side it looks like an amazing story!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown: I am very excited for this series - I have heard so, so many good things.
Regency Buck/The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer: These are two of my favourite Heyer novels and since my own copies went missing recently I jumped at the chance to get the beautiful new covers! 

The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans: I received this for review from Headline. I have enjoyed Evans' books in the past so I have a good feeling about this one.
The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight: I received this via Netgalley and am excited to read it. The plot sounds very interesting to me and I am excited to read this soon!
The Sway by Ruby Knight: I love anything related to assassins so this sounds great. This is another Netgalley book.

Reading Update:

Ann:

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan: 5 stars, Great ending to this series. I loved it very much.
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan: 5 stars, Loved the fact that I couldn't figure out what was going to happen until it was revealed. Overall a great read.
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan: 5 stars, I love Riordan's writing and this series!

Clare:

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson: 4.5 stars, Emotional and funny with great characters and a compelling story. Really enjoyed this!

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between: 4 stars, Short but emotional. I found myself actually crying over the partings which shows I cared about the characters.

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston: 4.5 stars, Beautifully written and engaging story with so much strength to the characters. 
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman: 4 stars, Alice Oseman writes such wonderfullly real characters. I felt like I knew these people!

Out of Control by Sarah Alderson: 4 stars, Lots of action and romance. Definitely an exciting read.

Conspiracy Girl by Sarah Alderson: 4 stars, Much like Out of Control this was action packed with a great romance. These are very addictive books.

Tangled Souls by Jana Oliver: 2.5 stars, I never grew to love these characters and I think there were too many plot points going on that didn't tie together satisfactorily.

The Dark Vampire by Kate Baxter: 4 stars, Enjoyable book with great characters, an engaging romance and a quite well drawn world. I look forward to reading more of this series. I will have a full review up soon.

Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown: 3 stars, I enjoyed this but probably would have liked it more if I didn't love the film so much.

Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: 4 stars, Enjoyable and exciting read. I very much enjoyed this.
Demon Road by Derek Landy: 2 stars, I never grew to like the main character which did affect my enjoyment of the book.

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson: 4 stars, Very good start to the series. I definitely want to continue although its a fairly long series so it may take me a while!

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti: 3 stars, I felt a bit disconnected from the characters but I did like the concept and the plot. 

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan: 4.5 stars, This was just as funny and exciting as I expected. I liked Apollo more than I thought I would and I am excited for the rest of the series.

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer: 4.5 stars, This is one of my favourite Heyer novels and a re-read for me.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer: 5 stars, Definitely in my top 3 Heyer novels. I love Sophy and this has such a great comical plot.

Next Week on the Blog:

• Cover Characteristic: Only the Back of People
• Top Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed
• Top 5 Characters You Defend
• Clare Reviews: HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
• Friday Reads

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Ann's Review: Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Title: Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Author: James Patterson

Series: Confessions #1

Pages: 360

Format: Paperback

Rating: 5/5

Blurb: On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. She can't trust anyone -— maybe not even herself.

Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous -- and revealing -- game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of? 

"He couldn't believe how we lived. 

And I can't say I blame him."

I didn't really know much about this book from the start as I had brought it myself when we did a book order. The more and more of it that I read the more I loved it. This book was a perfect mixture of mystery and fun. 

I loved all of the characters is this book cause they were all different. I think that the writers did an amazing job making all the characters different and complex. One of my favourite characters has to be the main characters little brother, Hugo. He was just such a fun character and I found myself laughing a lot at what he did. I even ended up laughing in the middle of a silent reading lesson and school. I love all the characters in this book and they were all well written.

I loved this books plot. I loved that it gave you the things needed to solve the case spread out in the book, and I also enjoyed the fact that although I had my suspicions about what had actually happened I couldn't know if I was correct until the end until it was revealed. Overall I loved that the plot wasn't entirely based around the murders it was also about the characters and how they were dealing with everything that they had found out about their parents. 

Although there weren't many places described in this book, the places that were described were very detailed and I could see them in my head as if I was there and I wasn't just reading about them. I love when this happens when I read books, I love the feeling of being in the story and this book made me feel that way.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend that you read it if you not only love mystery books but also if you love complex characters and also funny parts. This book was very well written and all in all one of my favourite mystery books that I have read.

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Friday Reads 20th May 2016

Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice, the idea is to grab a book, turn to page 56 (or 56% in an e-book) and find any sentence (no spoilers!) and then post it. Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are currently reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence and impressions about the book.

Clare:

I have just started reading The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan which I am very excited about. I love the idea of teenage Apollo and I am very glad to be returning to the Camp Half-Blood world!  When I have finished it I intend to read Zodiac by Romina Russell which I have been meaning to read for ages. I am not sure what to expect from it but I am hoping to enjoy it. And then I am going to read City of Light which I picked up on a whim a couple of weeks ago - again I am not really sure what it is about but I am excited to find out.

Book Beginning:

"My name is Apollo. I used to be a god." - The Hidden Oracle

Friday 56:

 "I knew running would not help. If it were possible to run from disease spirits, the medieval Europeans would've put on their sneakers and escaped the Black Death. (And FYI: the Black Death was not my fault. I took one century off to lie around the beach in Cabo and came back and found that the nosoi had got loose and a third of the continent was dead. Gods I was so irritated.) - The Hidden Oracle

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading 

Clare Reviews: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Title: Jane Steele
Author: Lyndsay Faye
Format: Paperback Received from the publisher for review
Pages: 414
Rating: 5/5
Blurb: Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors. 
A fugitive navigating London's underbelly, Jane rights wrongs while avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement to be a governess catches her eye. She takes the position and soon falls in love with Mr Thornfield, the master of the mysterious Highgate House. But what happens if he discovers her murderous past?

“Though I no longer presumed to have a conscience, I have never once lacked feelings.”

To say I was excited for this book is a huge understatement. Jane Eyre is easily one of my favourite books so this instantly appealed to me. This is not a retelling but rather a story about Jane Steele who has a few things in common with Jane Eyre - an aunt who despises her, a horrible boarding school, a job as a governess - but handles so much of this so very, very differently.

Jane Steele reads and loves Jane Eyre, which comes up many times throughout the book. She seems to have an admiration for the character of Jane Eyre but she has very little in common with her  personality-wise. Much as I love Jane Eyre I can't deny that I longed for her to have just a bit more back-bone. To take just a tiny bit of revenge! And that's what this book finally gave me. Anyone who thought that certain characters from Jane Eyre really deserved the worst - you will love this book. 

And even if you've never read Jane Eyre - there is so much to adore about this book. The writing style is wonderful, simultaneously reminiscent of Bronte and evocative of the slightly more daring life that Jane Steele lives. The detail about her time in London was so fascinating to me, this is where the story really deviates from resemblance to Jane Eyre and also where Jane Steele undergoes a lot of pain and loss. The atmosphere was wonderful and I could picture myself there with Jane and the amazing cast of side characters.

When the action moved back to Highgate House it became, if possible, even more appealing to me. Much as I love Mr Rochester I have to say - Mr Thornfield appealed to me more. He was a more human character in my opinion, more sympathetic in many ways whilst also being incredibly strong and certainly a true match for Jane. The other characters, likewise had a great effect on Jane. She grew so much as a character throughout this book and I loved her every step of the way.

There is a mystery element to this book (no wives hidden in attics though) which I enjoyed. I actually didn't solve the mystery before the big reveal so there was a definite gasp-moment for me when everything was revealed. It's hard to really classify what genre this book would fall into however. It has mystery and romance and historical elements to it but to pigeon-hole it into any one of these seems way too constrictive. The romance was easily one of my favourite of the year so far. It was a fairly slow burn romance and I felt like they fit together in a great way - their personalities complemented each other.

Overall this was everything I had hoped it to be. Everything the taglines of "Reader I Murdered Him" and " Orphan. Governess. Serial Killer." had made me believe it would be. I can see myself re-reading this many times. In fact it may even become as worn out as my copy of Jane Eyre is! 

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Wednesday Catch-Up 18th May 2016

Every Wednesday we are linking up with WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is hosted at Taking on a World of Words and asks 3 questions: What are you currently reading?, What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you'll read next?

Clare:

Currently Reading:

I am about to start reading Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes which, I believe, is a stand-alone novel about a girl who hunts demons. Which sounds very Supernatural/City of Bones which naturally appeals to me! I've never read anything by Jennifer Lynn Barnes before but I have heard good things so I am hopeful. I am also reading Doctor Thorne. I've actually not read any of it the last couple of days so I definitely need to catch up!

Recently Finished:

The first book I read this week was Hex which was definitely a difficult read. It was very unsettling and horrifying which I should have expected but didn't. I will have a full review up for this next Thursday (26th). I then read Ten by Gretchen McNeil which I enjoyed. It had its faults but it was fun and light and I read it super quickly. I then read Front Lines which was a very well-written read with plenty of action and some great characters. I never knew what to expect and it was quite emotional at times. I am excited for the rest of that series. I then read Rose Under Fire which is a brilliant book, but it made me a bit depressed and so I had to change to read a slightly more cheerful book. And Love, Lies and Spies certainly delivered on that, it was such a great, fun read with some really amazing characters. The Unexpected Everything was a great read, it was both emotional and funny and I really enjoyed the romance, although the friendship was the real highlight. Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between was surprisingly emotional, I actually cried which shows how attached to the characters I was. Exit, Pursued by a Bear was brilliant. Plenty of strong characters and a very important story. I then moved on to Radio Silence by Alice Oseman which was, again filled with great characters. Alice always seems to write very realistic feeling characters so I forget for a time that I am reading fiction. I then read Out of Control and Conspiracy Girl which were very exciting and fun books to read and then moved on to Tangled Souls which was a fairly disappointing read. It needed a lot of editing and I didn't fall for the main characters. I then read an exciting and romantic book - The Dark Vampire by Kate Baxter. I was sent this for review and I will be writing my review soon. And finally I read Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde is one of my all time favourite movies and I was intrigued to see if I liked the book. In the end, I enjoyed it but I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I not seen the film. There were a few differences and whilst I liked some of them I missed some of the other plot points. 

Planning to Read Next:

Next I am planning to read Demon Road (more demon hunting), The Angel Experiment which I have heard great things about and The Hidden Oracle which I am crazy, stupid excited for because Rick Riordan has not yet let me down.

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading