Top Ten Tuesday #331

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was fairly quiet, which was nice after a busy couple of weekends. I do have some fun stuff coming up this week though, I have a riding lesson tomorrow and I’m meeting up with friends on Friday, so I’m looking forward to both of those things.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is meant to be Fictional Crushes, but as a 24 year old who reads a lot of YA, I felt a little weird about the idea of a list full of 16-18 year olds, so instead I’ve decided to share a list of my Top Ten Favourite Audiobook Narrators. I got back into audiobooks about two years ago, and I’ve discovered so many narrators I love since then, so I thought I’d share those today:

1. Saskia Maarleveld (Books Listened To: The Rose Code, The Alice Network, The Last Bookshop in London)

Saskia Maarleveld definitely seems to have a genre niche as all the books I’ve listened to her narrate have been WWII fiction! Anyway, I love her so much as a narrator, she’s a really animated performer, she switches between accents flawlessly and she definitely makes every character feel and sound very different. I was going to read both The Alice Network and The Last Bookshop In London anyway, but I specifically chose to get the audios over e-books or physical copies because her narration of The Rose Code was so good.

2. Andrew Cotter (Books Listened To: Olive, Mabel and Me)

Andrew Cotter is a sports commentator, so naturally he’s good at audio work, and I knew when I saw that he was releasing a book about his two Labradors Olive and Mabel (who became famous over lockdown after he posted videos of them with him doing sports style commentary over the top) that I had to get it in audio. I was not disappointed: Andrew’s relaxing Scottish tones whilst relaying his dogs antics was the recipe for a perfect listening experience.

3. January LaVoy (Books Listened To: The Diviners Series)

January LaVoy is another audiobook narrator who really performs the book to the full! She captured the creepy atmosphere of The Diviners series so well that I honestly couldn’t imagine having experienced the books any other way. She’s wonderful at switching between voices too, which was so important in a book with such a sprawling cast of characters, and she even sings when there’s songs included in the book. I highly recommend listening to the audiobooks if you’re considering The Diviners, because it really made it an experience for me!

4. Neil Gaiman (Books Listened To: Coraline)

Neil Gaiman has the kind of voice that is perfectly suited for bedtime stories, and I honestly can’t describe it any better than that (think people like David Tennant or David Attenborough-it is just a coincidence I went with two Davids for this, they just have the kind of voice that when you listen to it, you can almost hear it reading you a bedtime story) which is perfect for Coraline really, because it’s definitely the kind of book I can imagine asking my Dad to read me when I was a kid. He narrates a lot of his own audiobooks and I definitely want to try more!

5. Santino Fontana (Books Listened To: You)

Yes, Hans from Frozen, or if you want a more niche reference Original Greg from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend also narrates audiobooks. I’d actually watched the series before listening to the audiobook, so I did already have Penn Badgley’s voice in my head for Joe, but Santino made me forget that pretty quickly. He captures Joe’s creepy douchebaggery so perfectly, does brilliant accents and definitely heightened the book for me because there were times where I wasn’t really enjoying it, but his listening kept me going.

6. Laura Bates (Books Listened To: Men Who Hate Women)

Not every author is a good narrator, though I have had good luck with author narrated books I’ve read so far. Laura is clearly super knowledgeable about her subject (and I’m both massively impressed and slightly terrified that she went undercover with these extreme misogynists) and explained everything really clearly and succinctly. I learned so much about the online communities that these extreme misogynists are part of and though it was terrifying, I definitely feel better informed now!

7. Jordan Cobb and AJ Beckles (Books Listened To: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin)

This was the first book I listened to with multiple narrators, and it was definitely a good choice to have different voices for Malik and Karina, it allowed you to get into both characters heads better and made sure that both characters had a distinctive voice. Cobb and Beckles both did a really great job at engaging me in the story and making me feel connected to Malik and Karina.

8. Nicola Barber (Books Listened To: Hunting Prince Dracula, Escaping From Houdini, Capturing The Devil)

Nicola Barber was such a great narrator for this, she really captured the atmosphere of the books, and I fell so much more in love with Thomas Cresswell after hearing her accent for him. She does really great accents (as you can tell from this list, accents are really important for me!) and her voice is generally just lovely and soft and soothing. I would definitely happily listen to her narrate more books.

9. Carey Mulligan (Books Listened To: The Midnight Library)

Carey Mulligan has such a good voice for audiobooks, it’s so easy to listen to. Her performance was the highlight of this book for me because I actually didn’t love the story as much as I would have hoped to. I would definitely listen to Carey Mulligan do more audiobooks though.

10. Soneela Nankani (Books Listened To: The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold)

I finished the Daevabad trilogy in audio due to the sheer length of the sequels (and the first book wasn’t exactly short!) and I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed Soneela Nankani’s narration. She definitely has a really dramatic voice, which made the book feel engaging even when it was fairly slow paced.

So there we go, those are some of my favourite audiobook narrators. How about you? Have you listened to any of these? Do you have any particular favourite audiobook narrators? What makes a good narrator for you? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is meant to be Books That Make Me Smile, but since it’s a topic I did last year, I’ve decided to go for a different topic again (I swear I will get back to the regularly scheduled topics at some point). So instead I’m making up my own topic, and I’m going to share my Favourite Books With Characters In Their Late Teens/Twenties (so basically 18+) as I’ve definitely been getting into reading more adult books in the last few years and I want to share some of my favourites.

Top Ten Tuesday #330

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I was in London again this weekend to see Back To The Future, the new musical that’s just opened. It was good, though I have to admit, not quite as great as Hairspray was, although it’s probably not really fair to compare the two, as I’ve loved Hairspray for years!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic was meant to be Books I Wish I Could Read Again For The First Time but I already did that topic a few years back, and I don’t think the list has changed much since then, so I decided to go in a different direction. Instead of that, today I’ll be talking about Most Hyped Books Still On My TBR. Honestly hyped books do tend to sit on my TBR for a bit longer, because I get scared that they won’t live up to the hype! So here we go, the most hyped books that are still sitting on my TBR:

1. The Bear and The Nightingale-Katherine Arden

This is one of those books that I feel like I see everywhere, it’s a perennial feature on other blogs and everyone raves about how good it is. I definitely want to try it sometime, but I am slightly scared that I won’t love it as much as everyone else does. I’ll also probably get the audiobook and I’m not sure I’ll have enough credits for it this year.

2. Rule of Wolves-Leigh Bardugo

Honestly I was super excited for this one after watching Shadow and Bone but I’ve been in a reading slump all year, particularly with physical books and I didn’t want that to affect this book as it’s the last Grishaverse book we’re going to get for a while. I’m hoping to maybe get around to it early next year, as I really do want to see how she wraps up Nikolai’s duology.

3. Good Girl, Bad Blood-Holly Jackson

I meant to read this last year after reading A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, but I never got around to it. I may read it before the end of this year, but I’m very much going with my mood this year and just seeing what I want to read rather sticking to any sort of reading plan, so we’ll see!

4. House of Earth and Blood-Sarah J Maas

I’ve been putting this one off for ages simply because it’s so long. Even with the audiobook, which is how I plan to read it, it’s over 30 hours long and I’ve not been in the mood for that kind of reading commitment this year. I’m sure at some point, I will be in the mood for a chunky audio, but not right now.

5. Mister Impossible-Maggie Stiefvater

This one only came out in May, so comparatively speaking hasn’t been on my shelves as long as the others but I’m still a little nervous because I didn’t love Call Down The Hawk as much as I was hoping to. Middle books in trilogies are always dangerous too, they can be amazing or terrible and there’s usually not much in-between. Here’s hoping Mister Impossible falls on the good side!

6. The Tattooist of Auschwitz-Heather Morris

I’m kind of torn on this one to be honest, because it’s been super hyped, won a lot of awards etc and a friend whose reading taste I share liked it. However, there has also been a lot criticism about the accuracy of its portrayal of historical events, and whilst I do understand creative licence from what I’ve read, some of the basic details about Auschwitz in the book are wrong. So this is where my problem comes in, I want to read it because it sounds like an interesting story, but from the perspective of someone who studied history, I don’t want to read something that gets even the basic details wrong, and is an inaccurate portrayal of the experience of a real life person. It’s a tricky one for me, I don’t usually have this problem with historical fiction because even where they’ve been inspired by real people/events, the characters themselves are usually fictional.

7. A Promised Land-Barack Obama

This is 100% solely down to length. I’m sure Barack Obama’s presidential memoir will be very interesting, but it’s also almost 800 pages and I’ve just not been feeling long books this year, so this one may be going on the back burner for a while!

8. The Girls I’ve Been-Tess Sharpe

I only bought this in May, so compared to some of the others, it hasn’t been on my TBR for that long. I’ve not really got a particular reason for not reading this book yet, I’ve just not been in the mood. I’m also always a little wary with YA thrillers, because they have a tendency to not “thrill” me much!

9. Thunderhead-Neal Shusterman

I’ve been meaning to read this one for YEARS, I think I bought it in 2018/2019, but as it’s a longer book, it’s one of those that just keeps getting shuffled down my TBR pile. Whilst I liked Scythe, I didn’t LOVE it, so I’ve basically just not really felt the urge to get to this one. I would like to read it one day, but it’s not a priority at the moment.

10. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle-Stuart Turton

I’ve heard so much good stuff about this one, my friend really enjoyed it and it sounds super up my street, but again, it’s a longer book and I’ve been putting it off. I’m also slightly nervous just because the hype has been so great around this one, so hopefully it lives up to it.

So there we go, those are just some of the most hyped books on my TBR that I’ve still not read yet. Have you read any of these? Which should I start with? Do you put off hyped books for a long time too? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is meant to be Fictional Crushes, but as a 24 year old who reads mostly YA, it feels a little weird to making a list of 16/17 year old fictional crushes. So instead, I’m going to do Favourite Audiobook Narrators, as I think I’ve listened to enough audio now that I can make a list of these!

Top Ten Tuesday #329

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these. I had a great weekend, Hairspray was really amazing, the show was generally incredible anyway, but the atmosphere in the theatre was so electric because we’d all been away for so long, it was a really awesome audience to be a part of, which made the show even more amazing I think because everyone was so excited to be there and so appreciative of all the actors. I’m back down in London over the weekend for another show, the new musical, Back To The Future, which I’m super excited for, we wouldn’t usually do two theatre shows on back to back weekends, but my mum was really excited for this one as she loves the film.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, which means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Favourite Places To Read. I’ve slightly twisted the topic as I tend to read in one of maybe like four places regularly, so instead I thought I’d do an update on a topic I did a few years ago, Books I Read On Holiday as being on holiday is one of my favourite places to read, so it does kind of fit the theme this week:

1. Things A Bright Girl Can Do-Sally Nicholls-Carcassonne

I read at least part of this one whilst I was on holiday with my family in France in about three years ago, I was hoping to be reading sun soaked by the pool but sadly the weather wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for on this holiday and I read most of it inside!

2. The Dead Queens Club-Hannah Capin-Stirling

Not the most exotic or far flung of locales, but I go back to my University city quite a lot as my family has connections to the area, and when we were back up there on holiday last summer, this was the book I was reading, I’ve read a lot in Stirling over the years, from family holidays when I was a kid, to Uni, and various trips back since.

3. Into The Crooked Place-Alexandra Christo-Carcassonne

I didn’t read much of this in Carcassonne, in fact I think I finished almost all of it on the flight over and just finished the last few pages when I arrived in France, but I’m counting it anyway! I really enjoyed this book, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel whenever this reading slump of mine finally breaks!

4. Truthwitch-Susan Dennard-Cape Town

Naturally since I was in Cape Town for almost three months last year, I read quite a bit whilst I was out there and this was one of them. I remember sitting and trying to read this on the beach whilst the other volunteers were surfing and the pages kept blowing away because it was so windy!

5. Stalking Jack The Ripper-Kerri Mansicalco-Carcassonne

I read this one on the same holiday that I read Into The Crooked Place, this was the other book I brought as I’d almost finished Into The Crooked Place. I have to admit, this series was kind of uneven, and there was too much focus on romance in later books, but I really enjoyed this first instalment.

6. Circe-Madeline Miller-Cape Town

I started this just before I left for Cape Town, but I did read the large majority of it whilst I was out there. This was the book I was reading whilst we were on the Garden Route tour, so I was soaking up Circe’s adventures whilst we were driving through the most beautiful African landscapes, which was pretty cool!

7. Blind Beauty-KM Peyton-Coach through UK, France and Switzerland

The first time I went to Switzerland with Guides when I was about 11, we took a coach there (our second trip when I was 14, we flew) and so it was quite a few days on the coach before we actually got to Switzerland, which naturally meant a LOT of uninterrupted reading time, so this was one of the books that I read on that coach trip.

8. Allegiant-Veronica Roth-Carcassonne

I started reading this book just before Christmas in 2015, and my family was in France for New Years, so this was the book I was reading whilst I was over there celebrating New Years. I remember finishing it on the super long car journey back from France, this was a good couple of days in the car reading the book and being super frustrated with it!

9. Challenger Deep-Neal Shusterman-Amsterdam

I think I started this in the airport whilst I was waiting to get my flight home, so I didn’t read very much of it in Amsterdam (my main book for that trip was Empire of Storms, which I mentioned in my other post) but since I did start it there, I think it still counts!

10. Night Spinner-Addie Thorley-Cape Town

Reading this in Cape Town was kind of a funny contrast because the setting in the book is so cold and frosty and I was obviously reading this during Cape Town’s summer but I’ve never been one for seasonal reading anyway. This was one of my favourite books I read out in Cape Town, such a fun and creative retelling of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

So there we go, my updated edition of Books I’ve Read On Holiday. I can’t wait to be able to add more to this list when we are finally able to travel a bit more, though I don’t think I’ll be adding any non-UK destinations till next year! Have you read books in any cool places? Have you been to any of the places on my list? Any fun stories about books you’ve read on holiday? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is meant to be Books I Wish I Could Read Again, but I did that topic a few years ago and I’m not sure I have anything new to add, so I think I’m going to go off in my own direction again. I thought I’d do Most Hyped Books On My TBR That I’ve Not Read Yet.

Top Ten Tuesday #328

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was fairly quiet, I was mostly working and watching the Olympics again, it was a little strange yesterday when I woke up and there was nothing on! I’ve got an exciting week coming up though, I get my second vaccine dose on Thursday so I will finally be double vaccinated, and I’m going to see Hairspray on Saturday, which I’ve waited a whole year for after it was cancelled last year. It will also be my first time in a West End theatre in almost two years (the last time was when I saw Waitress in October 2019) and I can’t even explain how happy I am about it!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, which means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Secondary Characters Who I Wish Had More Page Time. Often I love secondary characters even more than main characters, so this week’s topic was really fun for me. Here we go, secondary characters I’d like to have seen more of:

1. Zuzana-Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy-Laini Taylor

I fully admit, I loved Karou’s best friend way more than I loved Karou! Zuzana is super funny and feisty and I like her love story way more than Karou and Akiva’s. I really loved Night of Cake and Puppets where Zuzana was the main character, and though she didn’t really fit all that well in the second book, I would much rather have seen more of her than Karou. If Laini ever does a full length Zuzana book, I would be super happy to read it.

2. Sonia Rhienschild-Unwind Series-Neal Shusterman

Sonia is a super interesting character, she and her husband Janson are the architects behind the technology of unwinding, with the intention that it be used to improve organ donation and not the horrific process it eventually became. She becomes a leader in the resistance against unwinding, and rescues AWOL unwinds. I found her whole backstory super fascinating, but though she’s a really important part of the series, she only really appears into two of the four books. I would have loved to see more of her, and if Shusterman ever wanted to write a book, or even a short story about the Rhienschilds one day, I would definitely read it.

3. Razu-Daevabad Trilogy-SA Chakraborty

Razu is a fairly minor character in the Daevabad trilogy but I would have loved to see more of her. I feel like she was kind of a missed opportunity, because she and Nahri had the potential for a really beautiful friendship (they’re both thieves and have a similar sense of humour and just seem like they get on really well) and this wasn’t explored enough.

4. Lourdes Alfero-The Shadow Game Trilogy-Amanda Foody

Lourdes is the catalyst for the whole series, as Enne goes to the City of Sin to find her, and yet, we only really get snippets of information about her life through the series. From what we do find out about her though, she sounds fascinating, she’s a journalist, genderfluid, supported the monarchist cause and was involved in the Revolution of the New Reynes. I would have loved to maybe have had a few more flashbacks to her in the main series, we learned a bit about her life, but there’s still so much more to discover. I said in a previous TTT post that I’d love her to have her own book, and I stand by it. We’ve barely scratched the surface of her adventures!

5. Shazad Al’Hamad-Rebel of The Sands Trilogy-Alwyn Hamilton

I feel like poor Shazad really gets short changed in the latter two Rebel of The Sands books. We get to see quite a bit of her in the first book, and her friendship with Amani is a real highlight. However in Traitor To The Throne, and Hero At The Fall, her role decreases significantly which I thought was a real shame, because she was such a strong character in the first book.

6. Eliza-Stalking Jack The Ripper series-Kerri Mansicalco

One of my biggest gripes with the Stalking Jack The Ripper series is that Maniscalco focuses more on Audrey Rose’s relationship with Thomas, than her friendships or family relationships. I really loved her cousin, Eliza, or Liza as she’s known in the book but she has a fairly background role, only really popping up briefly in Books 1 and 3, and I wish we’d got to see more of her and Audrey Rose together, as I feel like it was a missed opportunity for female friendship and camaraderie in these books.

7. Evrane Nihar-Witchlands series-Susan Dennard

Evrane for me is one of the most interesting characters in the series, she has a really interesting power (Waterwitch with a healing speciality), and she’s a Carawen monk, but we know very little about her life, how she came to be a monk, her relationship with Aeduan, I feel like there’s a lot more to fill in about her story and would love to see her get more page time in future books, or maybe even her own book one day.

8. Nehemia Ytger-Throne of Glass series-Sarah J Maas

I think we all know that Nehemia gets the short end of the stick in the Throne of Glass series, she should definitely have been expanded beyond the Black friend who dies to fuel the white main character into action, because that is a super problematic trope. Nehemia is probably a more interesting character than Aelin in all honesty, and I would have loved to have seen more of her work with the rebels from Eyllwe.

9. Renata Galygina-The Crown’s Game duology-Evelyn Skye

Honestly, even four years after reading the books, I’m still super miffed with how Renata was treated. Her only purpose is to have a crush on Nikolai and pine after him and she doesn’t get at all developed beyond that. I felt so bad for her because she’s basically a prop of a character, an obstacle between him and Vika, and even after it’s established that Nikolai doesn’t return her feelings, she doesn’t get any more of her own character development. If this book could be done over, I definitely think it should have included more of a plot for Renata outside Nikolai.

10. Yuilana Romanov-The Crown’s Game duology-Evelyn Skye

Again I wish Yuilana had been expanded more. She’s typecast as the stone cold bitch because she’s clearly far more suited for ruling than her brother but not given the time of day because she’s a girl. She’s so underutilised, I think there’s a lot more to her than the book presented but because we never really get to see her POV, she just comes across as a flat one-dimensional villain. Again if these books could be done over, I would definitely have expanded Yuilana’s role.

So there we go, those are some secondary characters that I think should have had more page time. Do you agree with me? Have you read any of these books? Which characters did you include on your list this week? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, the topic is meant to be Favourite Places To Read, but I read in one of about four places and that’s it, so I’m going to tweak it slightly and do a Part 2 to a topic I did a few years back, Books I Read On Holiday.

Top Ten Tuesday #327

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I’ve had a very busy weekend of work, I was working Saturday, Sunday and yesterday so I’m happy to have a couple of days off now. I’ve been really enjoying watching some of the equestrian events at the Olympics, I managed to catch some of the cross country in the eventing, and caught up with the eventing showjumping after work yesterday evening, it was so great to see Team GB win the gold! I’m looking forward to seeing the individual showjumping final tomorrow, the GB riders did great in qualifying today, so I’m excited to see how they go tomorrow. It was also amazing to see Keely Hodgkinson get a silver in the 800m, we haven’t had a medal in that one in a while!

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday for you all, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Covers/Titles That Made Me Want To Read/Buy The Book and as I do love a good cover post (and often judge books by their covers, shush we all do) I’m going with Covers That Made Me Want To Read/Buy The Book. Here we go:

1. Blanca & Roja-Anna-Marie McLemore

Cover Designer: Daniella Mazzella di Bosco

I have to admit I’m not really a magical realism fan, I’m definitely one of those people that needs magic to have rules. But the cover of Blanca & Roja is so, so pretty that as soon as I saw it, I thought, yes, I have to read this. It doesn’t hurt that I’m also a sucker for sister stories.

2. The Gilded Wolves-Roshani Chokshi

Cover art by James Iacobelli, Design by Kerri Resnick

The designs for The Gilded Wolves trilogy are among the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen, and whilst I do love heists and found families and the book sounded right up my street anyway, I definitely bought a physical copy of the book rather than getting the audio or e-book because the cover was so beautiful. I really loved the book, so it was definitely worth it!

3. The Language of Thorns-Leigh Bardugo

Cover Designer: Natalie Sousa

I don’t usually read short stories, I’m not the biggest fan of them and I’ll admit, whilst I do love Leigh Bardugo, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get this. Then I saw the beautiful cover and was like “yup, I have to add it to my collection”. I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed the stories (and loved Sara Kipin’s beautiful illustrations) and I definitely have Natalie Sousa’s beautiful cover to thank for that.

4. This Poison Heart-Kalynn Bayron

Cover Designer: Raymond Sebastien

I probably would have read Kalynn Bayron’s second book anyway as I really enjoyed Cinderella Is Dead. But I have to admit, much as the idea of a girl with magic plant powers and a creepy old dilapidated house sounded right up my street, it was seeing the beautiful cover that had me hooked on this book.

5. The Gilded Ones-Namina Forna

Cover Designer: Johnny Tarajosu

I love the colours on this one, so vibrant and it’s been great to see all of these covers with beautiful Black girls coming out over the last few years. I have to admit, I wasn’t massively pulled in by the description, I’ve been finding a lot of YA fantasies kind of samey over the last few years, so the beautiful cover was definitely what convinced me I should give it a try.

6. For A Muse of Fire-Heidi Heilig

Cover Designer: Leo Nickolls

I was already pulled in by the description of this book, it sounded really different from a lot of other YA fantasy I’d been reading, with the main character’s skill at binding souls to shadow puppets and the fact that she was mentally ill which is still something that is super lacking in YA fantasy protagonists. But it was the cover that really had me sold on getting a physical copy, I couldn’t not have it with the incredibly vibrant covers and that really striking dragon.

7. The Fair Botanists-Sara Sheridan

Cover Designer-Charlotte Day

I saw the author tweet the cover reveal for this book, and was instantly obsessed. I loved the little illustration of Edinburgh Castle, and I really love the colours, I think everything is super well balanced, with the brightly coloured flowers and the green leaves. The purple type used for the title is also one of my favourite colours so I loved that.

8. Six Crimson Cranes-Elizabeth Lim

Cover Designer: @_afterblossom_

I actually wasn’t the biggest fan of Spin The Dawn, and wasn’t planning on reading another Elizabeth Lim book, but then I saw the beautiful art for Six Crimson Cranes, and thought I might actually give another of her books a try after all!

9. Night Spinner-Addie Thorley

Cover Designer: Kylie Alexander

This was 100% a cover pick. Sure, the idea of a gender-swapped Hunchback of Notre Dame retelling sounded pretty cool, but it was the gorgeous blues and the way the silhouette forms the night sky, with Orbai (the bird who features in the book) blending into Enebish’s face that made me want to pick up this book. And I’m so glad I did, because I would have missed out on a great story if I hadn’t. Sometimes shameless cover picks do lead to really great stories!

10. Girl, Serpent, Thorn-Melissa Bashardoust

Cover Designer: Sasha Vinogradova

This is one of the better uses of the YA book snake in recent years! I wasn’t a fan of Melissa Bashardoust’s first book, Girls Made of Snow and Glass, so I wasn’t sure about her second one but it was the cover which convinced me. The white and the pink are so lovely together, and I love the combination of beauty & danger with the snake and the roses, it really fits the book.

11. The Scorpio Races-Maggie Stiefvater

Cover Designer: Christopher Stengel

This was actually my first Maggie Stiefvater book, before The Raven Boys. I knew nothing about her work, nothing about this book and literally picked it up and bought it just because of the gorgeous cover. Maggie Stiefvater’s covers are always amazing, but there’s something about the vibrant red of this one, with the heart design and the big black horse that really pops. This is not my favourite Maggie Stiefvater book, I definitely prefer The Raven Cycle, but I’m glad I read it, because it was my introduction to her books.

12. The Priory of The Orange Tree-Samantha Shannon

Cover Designer: Ivan Belikov

This was 1000% a cover buy. I was never going to read the incredibly chunky Priory in physical hardback format, it just would not have been practical, as I’m very much an on the move reader (I read a lot on public transport!) but when I saw how gorgeous the cover for this book was, especially that magnificent dragon, I had to have it for my collection (and I got it as part of a ticket for an event Shannon was doing anyway, so £18 for the event and the book seemed very reasonable considering the hardback by itself would have been I think £25+). No regrets, the book is stunning!

So there we go, those are just 12 covers that made me want to read/buy the book, I could definitely have come up with a lot more! Covers are super important, they’re your first impression of a book and whilst I will still read a book that doesn’t have a great cover if I like the sound of the story, a good cover can make or break things for me if I’m on the fence! How about you? Have you ever bought a book because of the cover? Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’ll be talking about Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve More Love.

Top Ten Tuesday #326

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I had my friend Hannah to stay over the weekend, which was really nice, we had a very chill time as usual, eating pizza and chatting about books. We may not have got to go to YALC again this year, but we still had a fun weekend together anyway. I’ve also been watching some of the Olympics, mostly the gymnastics and equestrian events as that’s where my main sports interest lies, and it was so exciting to see the GB women’s gymnastics team get a bronze today, it’s been such a long time in the making for them! It was also great to see us get team bronze in the Dressage as well, though I do have to admit, when it comes to Equestrian, Eventing and Showjumping are definitely the ones I prefer watching!

Anyway, enough of my rambling about sports, since it’s Tuesday, I’m back with another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Books I’d Want With Me While Stranded on A Deserted Island. Now honestly, if this year has taught me anything, it’s that isolation is SEVERELY OVERRATED and I need to be able to see my friends regularly. Also I hate the heat, so a deserted island would not be the place for me, I’d probably do better in an isolated mountain cabin, curled up in blankets and drinking an inordinate amount of hot chocolate. But anyway, if I were on a deserted island, these are the books I’d want with me (for series I love, I chose my favourite book as I thought it would be cheating to pick the entire series!):

1. The Battle of The Labyrinth-Rick Riordan

I couldn’t be without at least one Percy Jackson book if I was stranded on a desert island, and I picked this one. I love the entire series, but for me The Battle of The Labyrinth is one of the most exciting, the whole quest through the Labyrinth is brilliant, we have lots of development on the Percy/Annabeth front and the stakes are sky high as we build towards the big fight with Kronos. I could definitely see myself whiling away a couple of hours with this one on a desert island.

2. The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games was such an addictive read, I remember I was so glued to what was happening, that I could hardly put it down. It would definitely be a great read to while away the time whilst I was waiting for someone to come and rescue me from the deserted island. I also might be able to pick up a few survival tips, and it would be a great reminder that even if I was stranded on an island, at least I’m not a teenager involved in a death match.

3. Dangerous Girls-Abigail Haas

The setting for this is definitely suited to being stranded on an island, since it all takes place on Aruba. It’s another really fast and addictive read as well, so I could definitely forget about the tedium of isolation whilst I was gripped by this sun-soaked thriller. I’d also like to see if I could pick up the clues to the murderer this time around, now that I’ve read it once and know who did it.

4. Rebel of The Sands-Alwyn Hamilton

Again, this book would really suit being stranded on an island, given the desert setting. It was also a really fun and pacey story so I think it could easily distract me in my isolation.

5. To Kill A Kingdom-Alexandra Christo

Again, the setting here makes it perfect for a deserted island read, it’s all set in the ocean, it has brilliantly immersive writing so it would be easy to just sink into and distract me and it was just a lot of fun, so I would definitely love to have it with me in my isolation.

6. A Darker Shade of Magic-VE Schwab

Of course I have to have my favourite VE Schwab book with me whilst stranded on a deserted island. I can think of no better way to pass the time than with one of my favourite books, and I know that the hours would fly by as I enjoyed Kell, Lila, Rhy and Holland’s adventures all over again.

7. Vengeful-VE Schwab

Are you at all surprised to see another VE Schwab book on here? You shouldn’t be! Vengeful is another of my favourite VE Schwab books, it’s incredibly pacey for a nearly 600-page book, it has brilliantly complicated villains, SO MUCH FEMALE ANGER and is really just an absolute masterclass in writing, worldbuilding and character development. I would be much happier in isolation if I had this book with me.

8. The Exact Opposite Of Okay-Laura Steven

The Exact Opposite Of Okay is so funny, it would definitely be a perfect book to have with me on a deserted island as I would spend so much time laughing that I would forget about the potentially precarious situation.

9. Code Name Verity-Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity has everything: humour, heartbreak, intense female friendship and blinding plot twists. It would be a bit of a change of pace from some of the other books on here as it’s definitely a slower build, but I think if I wanted a break from the fantasy/thrillers/dystopia that make up the bulk of my list, Code Name Verity would definitely be a good one to go for. I also would want to have at least one historical with me, as I love historical fiction.

10. The House of Hades-Rick Riordan

And we come to my favourite of the Heroes of Olympus books. This is definitely a Percabeth heavy book, which is one of the main reasons that I love it so much, but it’s also super action packed, the stakes are really high as again we race towards the climactic battle with Gaea in the next book and I feel like we get a lot of great character moments in this one. Also it’s probably the darkest book of the series, and me being me, I love that!

So there you go, those are the books I would want with me on my deserted island. Have you read any of these? What did you think? What books did you choose to have with your on your deserted island? Did we share any? Let me know in the comments!

Next week is Titles or Covers That Made Me Want To Read/Buy The Book so I will definitely be going with Covers That Made Me Want To Read/Buy The Book since I definitely judge buy the cover!

The Unbound (The Archived #2) Review

Book: The Unbound (The Archived #2)

Author: Victoria Schwab

BECHDEL TEST: PASS-Mackenzie and Dallas talk about her problems.

Content Warnings: PTSD, death, grief, incidence of self-harm, dissociative episodes, blood, mention of attempted sexual assault, incidence of drugging a drink, hospital & scenes of a medical nature, mental torture, explosions

I first read The Archived in 2017, and I’ll be honest, I’d been putting off reading The Unbound, because I knew the series was unfinished and not knowing if the third book was ever going to come out, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read the second book knowing we might never get the proper ending. I definitely had to familiarise myself with what happened in The Archived before reading this, which I don’t usually do, but it had been so long, I’d definitely forgotten a lot of stuff! Still, this year I finally decided to dive into The Unbound as one of my #RockMyTBR Challenge books and I have to admit, I was disappointed. It was a really slow paced book, taking me almost three months to get through, and I still didn’t really connect with Mac as a character. Here is a short synopsis of the book:

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she’s struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn’t easy-not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she’s really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She’s sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she’ll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

So as I said at the top of the review, my biggest problem with this book was definitely the pacing. I had the same problem with the first book, but it felt even worse here. The pace didn’t really start to pick up until around the last three chapters, so that’s a very long time to not feel massively invested as a reader. Honestly if it hadn’t been Schwab, I probably wouldn’t have finished this book. It was a slog to get through the first half and then the ending felt really rushed, so you didn’t really have time to take in all the stuff that was happening. A lot of the chapters were overly long as well which added to the slow pace.

This book is focused a lot around Mac’s time at her new school, which I found kind of dull, though I’m sure actual teen readers would probably like that more. This was definitely more of a me thing, at almost 25, I don’t really relate to school stories anymore, which is why I read more YA fantasy than contemporary, but the problem here for me was that there was so much focus on the mundane day to day of Mac’s school life rather than the fun fantastical elements.

I appreciated once again that her parents were actually present in this book, and I feel like this was a really good example of how including parents can actually increase rather than take away the drama from characters’ lives as Mac’s parents were somewhat of an obstacle to her adventures in the Archive. I actually felt kind of bad for Mac’s parents and didn’t blame them for not trusting her, she was constantly lying to them and even though I know she couldn’t tell them the truth, she did seem quite harsh on them when all they wanted to do was protect her (I’m clearly getting old being on the side of parents in YA books!).

I was glad that Mac’s trauma from the first book was addressed in this book: she’s really struggling after the confrontation with Owen at the end of the last book. It was super frustrating to see her refuse help, I understand that she couldn’t tell anyone about The Archive, but I felt like she could definitely have dealt with her other issues. Still, that is probably coming from a privileged place, never having dealt with the kind of trauma that Mac is in this book, and I’m sure there are a lot of people dealing with mental health issues that find it hard to ask for help, so on that front it did feel realistic, it was just more frustrating from a reader perspective because you so want her to deal with everything that’s happened to her. I was so glad when she finally did get to a therapist though, and it was really refreshing to see a YA fantasy book actually deal with the trauma that a main character faced, as honestly, pretty much all YA fantasy heroes could probably use therapy!

It was super frustrating that Schwab threw Mac into another love triangle situation, with Mac, Wesley and Cash in this book. Not only did it feel unnecessary because it was so clear that Mac and Wesley were going to get together, I felt genuinely bad for Cash because he seemed like a really sweet guy. It also just felt like super contrived drama to keep Mac and Wes apart.

It was frustrating that even though Mac ostensibly had a little circle of friends in this book, that she kept them all at arms’ length and seemed like she only used Amber in particular to get information because of who her dad was. I also didn’t love that the only people Mac seemed able to form proper connections with were the boys, her connection with Amber was very superficial, Safia seemed to hate her for no reason and the same with Sako. Schwab does seem to have a bit of problem with allowing her female characters to have proper and meaningful friendships with other women, which is something that I’ve seen carry through in her work: aside from Vengeful, and her Cassidy Blake books, her other books really aren’t that great with female friendship and I hope this is something that she works on in future!

Surprisingly, I didn’t think the writing in this one was all that great? I mean this was one of her earlier published books, so naturally she’s improved a lot since it was released, but even compared to The Archived this one wasn’t that great. There were a lot of overly long, clunky sentences and it didn’t have the same atmosphere as The Archived. The dialogue at least was still good, Schwab has always done great dialogue.

The cycling of settings was very repetitive, we were either at the coffee shop, at school, in Mac’s apartment building or in The Archive building, so once again, you really don’t get a good sense of the world. I still have a lot of questions about The Archive: how do they decide on who gets to be a Keeper? It’s clearly a genetic thing as it seems to get passed down through families but what is it in your genes that makes you a good Keeper? I was hoping that Schwab would expand on the world of The Archive more in this book but it didn’t seem like that was the case.

I wasn’t massively invested with the villain in this book, without wanting to spoil anything, I wish Schwab had gone in a different direction as to who was responsible for the people disappearing into the voids. The villain reveal felt kind of cheap and I feel like had she gone in a different direction, it would have actually resulted in a more interesting plot.

I don’t really get why Mac looked up to Da so much? I mean I understand he was her grandfather and she loved him, but he threw her into this life that she doesn’t even really seem to want and lied to her so much, I was surprised that she wasn’t angrier with him to be honest.

The characters in this all felt kind of flat. I had that problem with Mac in the first book and it didn’t seem to have improved any in this one. The villains were also surprisingly two-dimensional for a Schwab book when she’s usually so good at villains. Even Wesley who I really loved in the first book came across as kind of a jerk, at least in the first part of this book, though he did improve towards the end.

Mac made a lot of stupid decisions in this book, which yes, realistic for traumatized teenager, but very frustrating as a reader! She could have let Wes in on her plans, especially when she went to break into the crime scene and it didn’t really make sense to me when she didn’t. She cuts Wes out a lot in this book, which didn’t really make much sense to me as he’s literally the only person in her life who she can actually be honest with.

Honestly I wasn’t really sympathetic with Mac wanting to keep on with her Archive duties, because it felt to me like it actually would have been better for her if she’d been declared unfit for duty as she clearly wasn’t in a place to be handling Archive work. I mean I get why she was so adamant about wanting to hide it because she didn’t want her mind altered, but it was tough to read about her pushing herself way too far when she clearly wasn’t ready. I didn’t think Roland was actually really helping her out by covering for her, I think having the one adult she could trust pretend like she was able to do something she was clearly struggling with, actually made things worse for her.

There were quite a few YA cliches that as an adult reader kind of made me roll my eyes, like Wes being the guy that all the girls fawn over and Mac drooling over his abs. Again this is just a me thing, I’m sure actual teens would probably be able to relate to it more than I could!

There were a few kind of unrealistic things that bothered me: the fact that Mac was able to function as well as she did on less than four hours sleep a night was kind of unbelievable. Also I went to a private school, and okay maybe it’s different in the US, but I found it hard to believe that the Hyde school party dress code would be so strict that everyone wore uniform to it. When we had no uniform days at my school, as long as you weren’t wearing anything too short (like super short shorts and crop tops), you could wear pretty much whatever you wanted.

The action when it finally did happen at the end of the book was great, I just wish there had been more of it throughout.

Honestly Mac was supremely lucky throughout the book that things went her way, a lot of her plans were not well thought through and it was sheer chance that anything came off. It seems like Mac has nine lives the amount of times she managed to overcome what were surely fireable offences in this book!

Despite me really not getting along with this book, I really do hope that the third book eventually comes off because the way the book ended was not conducive to a proper ending and I want to see Mac and Wesley get a proper send-off. I also think Schwab has improved so much as a writer since writing this book, that Archived #3 will probably be the best book of the trilogy-if or when it happens!

Overall, I was really disappointed in this book. It was poorly paced, had flat characters and the things that Schwab usually does well like world building and villains just weren’t up to standard here. Maybe that is just a sign of how much she’s improved as a writer since 2014 though. Either way, I do still hope that she gets a chance to end this series on a high and in the way she always intended to.

My Rating: 2.5/5 (it kills me to give a Schwab book such a low rating, but here we are).

My next review will be of my June audiobook read, The Poppy War, by RF Kuang.

Top Ten Tuesday #325

Hi everyone, I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these! The UK is currently melting in a heatwave, and honestly I am just waiting for it to be over, I’m really not a summer person, definitely more of a cool Autumn breeze kind of girl. Still it does mean time reading out the balcony which is one of my favourite things to do so that is an upside. My week has been fairly quiet, but my friend Hannah is coming to visit over the weekend so I’m really excited for that.

Anyway, since it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday for you all, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is meant to be Books I Read In One Sitting but honestly even when I was a faster reader than I am, I never really read books in just one sitting. So I decided to twist this topic to suit me better and do Books I Read In Less Than 2 Weeks (which seems to be my average reading time):

1. The Perks of Being A Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky-2 days

Perks is a very short book, under 300 pages so naturally it didn’t take me very long to read. This is one of the rare times where I actually preferred the movie, the book is in an epistolary format and I just don’t get along all that well with those, I find it hard to grasp the narrative.

2. Speak Up!-Laura Coryton-3 days

This one is definitely aimed for much younger readers, but it was a nice quick read and definitely a good introduction to activism for young girls.

3. The Daughter of The Pirate King-Tricia Levenseller-4 days

I always tend to read faster in the summer when I spend hours outside reading. This was a really fun, light read with a great main character and a large dose of humour which made it very engaging. I really do need to get around to the sequel at some point!

4. City of Ghosts-Victoria Schwab-4 days

Middle grade books are always very quick to get through because they’re so short and Victoria Schwab’s middle grade debut was no exception. It was a nice refreshing break from all the dense fantasy that I tend to read, a fun little read with friendship at the heart rather than romance (YA books take note: you could do this too.)

5. Daughter of The Burning City-Amanda Foody-6 days

Another of my post-exam reads, I raced through this one whilst reading out in the sun. This was such a creative story, I loved the combination of the murder mystery in a circus setting and it was a wonderfully atmospheric read. This is one of few YA fantasy books that I actually thought could have benefitted from being a bit longer, because the world building was a little lacking. I don’t think Foody is ever going to do a sequel, but I would love it if she did as I feel there’s a lot more of Gomorrah to be explored.

6. Six of Crows-Leigh Bardugo-7 days

7 days for an almost 500 page book may be quite a long time for most people, but for me that is very quick! I was so addicted to the characters that even though there were definite pacing problems in the beginning, I raced through it and I’m so happy that it was my introduction to the Grishaverse as if I’d started with Shadow and Bone, I’m not sure I would have actually read onto this one? For me, this is definitely still Bardugo’s best book.

7. The Song Rising-Samantha Shannon-7 days

I know Shannon has said this has been her least favourite book to write in The Bone Season series so far, but it has definitely been my favourite to read. It’s much pacier than the rest of the books, and more tightly plotted and just generally worked better for me as a reader. I will admit, having a five hour train journey to Scotland whilst reading this book did help me finish it faster, but I was so engaged with the story, that I didn’t really want to put it down for long.

8. The Exact Opposite of Okay-Laura Steven-7 days

It’s no surprise that this one was a fast read, it’s short and funny and Izzy O’Neill is one of my favourite main characters of any book ever. I’m not usually a massive fan of contemporary YA but occasionally one comes along that’s right up my street and The Exact Opposite of Okay was that for me.

9. Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer-Rick Riordan-8 days

Again, 8 days might seem like a while for really fast readers, but for me, a 500 odd page book in just over a week is very good. Rick Riordan’s books are always very quick reads for me, they’re funny, pacey, lots of action and I always love the characters, The Sword of Summer was no exception to this.

10. The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats and Piracy-Mackenzi Lee-9 days

Given the length of the chapters in this book, I was quite surprised I finished it as fast as I did (again for me) but the long summer days reading outside definitely helped. It was also the height of lockdown number one, so I didn’t really have anything else to do other than read. I didn’t love this as much as Monty’s book, but I still really enjoyed it, Felicity was great as the main character and I loved how focused on female friendship this book was.

11. Stalking Jack The Ripper-Kerri Maniscalco-10 days

This was an engaging historical murder mystery. I loved Audrey Rose as the heroine, a traditionally feminine women in STEM in a historical fiction book was definitely a protagonist I could get on board with, and whilst I had theories on who the killer was, I didn’t find it super easy to guess, I was on the wrong track for ages.

12. The Language Of Thorns-Leigh Bardugo-10 days

I’m not usually a short story reader, but I loved this collection of folktales from the Grishaverse. I probably could have finished this faster if it hadn’t been for my exams as it was fairly short. It’s such a fun addition to the world Bardugo has created, and I really loved the illustrations, they definitely enhanced the stories.

So there you go, those are some of the Books I Read In Less Than Two Weeks. Have you read any of these? Did you like them? What’s your average reading time? Do you read a lot of books in one sitting? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is Books I’d Want With Me On A Deserted Island, so that should be a fun one.

The Rose Code Review (Audiobook)

Book: The Rose Code

Author: Kate Quinn

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

BECHDEL TEST: PASS-Mab, Osla and Beth have multiple conversations that don’t revolve around men.

Content Warnings: Death, bombing depictions, parental abuse, patient abuse, incidence of using a straightjacket, vomiting, sexual assault, blood, description of lobotomies, alcoholism, infidelity, PTSD, racial slurs, sexist slurs, grief depictions, war themes, forced institutionalisation

I actually came across The Rose Code by chance, I was scrolling through Instagram and shown an ad for it, it sounded interesting and so I decided to check out the audiobook! Never say targeted ads don’t work eh? Anyway, it’s no secret that I love women’s history, so naturally, a story about female codebreakers in WWII was always going to be right up my alley. I ended up really enjoying it, particularly the narration and have gone on to read another of Kate Quinn’s books, The Alice Network since. Here is a short synopsis of the book:

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything – beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and their true enemy – closer. .

I have start with the thing I loved most about this book: the narration. Saskia Maarleveld was incredible, I think the best audiobook narrator I’ve listened to. She does the whole audiobook in an accent that isn’t her own, which is impressive enough anyway but then she does multiple different accents for all the different characters as well, and slips into and out of them so easily. She really made the book such an excellent listening experience, and one of the reasons I was so excited to read The Alice Network is because I saw she was the narrator.

I also really loved how much this book centred female friendships, as I’m sure you know if you’ve followed me for a while, female friendships are like catnip to me. Anyway, I loved how supportive Osla, Mab and Beth were of each other and the way that they formed their own little family. Even though I knew the moment that their friendship fell apart was coming (not a spoiler, it’s in the synopsis), I was so devastated when that moment came because I had become so invested in their friendship as Quinn had developed it so well.

Beth’s character development was a highlight of this book for me. At the start of the book, she’s 24 and under the thumb of her emotionally and physically abusive mother. As a result, she’s painfully shy and withdrawn, to the point of barely being able to speak to people and has very low self-esteem. It was so wonderful to see her come into her own over the course of the story, gaining confidence through her work as a cryptanalyst and eventually being able to stand up to her abusive mother. Of the three characters, I felt like she grew the most over the course of the story.

I also really loved Osla, I think she was my favourite of the three girls (Beth being a close second). She’s smart, determined, desperate to prove herself and not be overlooked as a “silly deb” & she’s the most fun of the three. I also thought her trauma was really well handled, she experiences a bombing fairly early on in the war and it really colours her experiences afterward, it’s not just brushed under the carpet. The way she used humour as a way of dealing with her trauma really rang true, and her loneliness and longing for a family really made me feel her.

Mab on the other hand, kind of rubbed me up the wrong way. There were certain things I did like about her, I liked how feisty she was and how determined she was to forge her own path in life but I didn’t love how judgemental she was of other women. In the beginning, she’s incredibly judgemental of Beth, referring to her as “weak” and “spineless” and I thought this was really unfair given that Beth has been emotionally and physically abused by her mother for years. She’s also fairly unreasonable to Osla following the incident that breaks up their friendship, and whilst it is somewhat understandable given her state at the time, Osla had also been through a lot of trauma and it seemed like she was trying to be supportive of Mab’s trauma, but Mab gave no thought to hers. Having said that, I did appreciate that Quinn allowed her female characters to be flawed: Mab is judgemental, Beth is so hyper focused on work to the extent of ignoring other people’s feelings and what is happening in their lives and Osla constantly referring to not wanting be considered a “silly deb” could be annoying.

The dual timeline was generally done well: they tied together nicely, but I definitely found the past timeline more engaging and better paced than the present: the present was a lot of Osla and Mab griping at each other which wasn’t the most fun to read.

Speaking of the pacing, this book is a little long and could probably have been trimmed down a little, it definitely took a while for things to build up. Having said that, the narration was so engaging that it didn’t really matter, I still wanted to keep listening, even when the plot was lagging a little. The chapters were also nice and short, which kept things ticking over nicely.

All the codebreaking stuff was really interesting and I learned a lot that I didn’t previously know by the end of this book-for instance, I had no idea that the Duchess of Cambridge’s grandmother was a codebreaker at Bletchley!

I wasn’t massively enamoured with the romance plots. I didn’t find Mab and Francis’ relationship particularly interesting, they didn’t seem to have much chemistry and I found Francis kind of dull so I wasn’t massively convinced when she was suddenly in love with him. Osla and Philip definitely had more chemistry, but I found it slightly odd reading about them since Prince Philip was a really person and died not long before I started reading the book. You also know from the start that it’s going to end: though I will say Quinn did a great job of making the inevitable still seem heartbreaking. Beth and fellow codebreaker Harry Zab actually had the most convincing connection as they had a lot in common, but he was married, so I couldn’t really invest in their relationship as I really hate cheating.

I really loved that this book made a big deal of talking about contraceptives, not many contemporary books do, so it was really great to see it in a historical one.

Quinn’s writing style was really great, she creates a wonderful atmosphere throughout and the sense of suspense heading up to D-Day was really well done. You get a very vivid picture of the inner workings of Bletchley Park and she captures the sense of camaraderie but intense secrecy very well.

Obviously being a war book there are some very devastating parts, and whilst I don’t want to go into too many details about the specifics in order to avoid spoilers, Chapters 43-46 are particularly heartrending. Quinn handles character grief exceptionally well.

It’s not the most diverse cast, all of the main characters are white & the one important non-white character suffers much racial abuse. Being a WWII book isn’t an excuse for lack of diversity, plenty of POC were involved in the Allied War effort and it would have been nice to see more of that here. It’s also very heteronormative, and the only non able-bodied character is the son of Beth’s love interest, who has leg braces after suffering from polio.

The scene where Osla and Mab first meet is probably one of my favourites of the entire book: the way Osla embarrasses the man who was masturbating on the train was priceless!

Quinn has clearly done her research in terms of the real life operations, bombing raids, the way that cryptography worked, the day to day life of Bletchley Park, all of this detail really enhanced the story. Being a history graduate, I love it when I read historical fiction and it’s clear that author has properly researched the time period! She also managed to integrate the historical cameos very well, in a way that felt natural to the story.

Some of the 1940s slang felt a little cringey and there were some overused phrases like “silly deb”, but generally the dialogue was really good.

I liked that Quinn wasn’t afraid to confront some of the harsh realities of 1940s Britain, like the treatment of patients in asylums, and the sexism that the three girls faced in their work, especially Osla who is constantly looked down on for being traditionally feminine and a society girl, and is even suspected of being a traitor just because of who she is dating. I found the asylum parts of the book particularly harrowing to read, Beth’s experience there sounded truly horrendous.

Being a mystery book, there are naturally quite a few twists along the way, the main one being this traitor from Bletchley Park and I have to admit, I had the completely wrong end of the stick for a long time on that one. There were also a couple of other mysteries from the past that I didn’t work out, even though in hindsight they probably should have been super obvious.

I loved Beth and Dilly’s mentor/mentee relationship, I thought that was really heartwarming, and I enjoyed the little nods to Alice in Wonderland throughout the book (the characters’ book club being called “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, the asylum parts being referred to as into the clock, several allusions to codebreaking being like “going down the rabbit hole” etc).

Also I feel I should mention: there is a dog in this, the DOG IS FINE. The dog survives, I promise.

I did feel like the end was almost a little too neat? Don’t get me wrong, the characters definitely deserved a happy ending after everything they went through and I found it quite heartwarming, but everything was resolved just a bit too easily for me and we didn’t get to see any of the fallout from the events that happened towards the end of the book. It would have felt a bit more earned I think if more development had gone into rebuilding the girls’ relationship and if everything hadn’t been resolved so quickly: I think the conclusion could have actually done with a bit more space, which is strange to say for such a long book!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The narration was fabulous, I loved the female friendship at the heart of the story, I enjoyed the characters and the setting, and whilst it could have been a little pacier in places, I found myself engaged the whole way through. Plus it made me seek out another of Quinn’s books, which is always a mark of success!

My Rating: 4/5

My next review will be of The Unbound by Victoria Schwab, I know I said that would be my next one last time, but I do these in the order I finish them, and I finished The Rose Code before The Unbound. Please bear with me as I catch up on reviews, I’ve been busy with work over the past few weeks and haven’t had a chance to sit down and write reviews for my most recent reads! I’m hoping I should be all caught up by the end of the month!

Top Ten Tuesday #324

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has been fairly quiet, work has been slowing down a bit recently but I’ve got a couple more shifts booked for this week so hopefully they are busier (on the upside, slow days at work means getting a bit of reading in!).

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday from you all courtesy of Jana At That Artsy Reader Girl. Now this week’s topic didn’t quite work for me as I’ve not really read any Book Titles That Are Questions so I decided to twist the topic a little and instead do Unnecessary Title Abbreviations Used On Book Twitter. If you are on Book Twitter, you’re probably familiar with the endless abbreviations used for book titles that seem like gibberish to anyone who doesn’t know what they mean. Some of these titles make sense to abbreviate because they are super long (like A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder for instance), but some are fairly short titles that could quite easily be typed out in full. Honestly I kind of hate title abbreviations and would rather use a shortened version of the full title (like Gentleman’s Guide for The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue) because I think it looks better, but to each their own. Anyway, on with the unnecessary title abbreviations:

1. SoC-Six of Crows-Leigh Bardugo

It’s three words. They’re super short words. It’s one of the most popular books on Book Twitter, so I do get that most people probably think that everyone knows what you’re talking about (and most probably do) but there’s really no reason to abbreviate this title, it’s not going to take up many characters!

2. ToG-Throne of Glass-Sarah J Maas

AGAIN, IT’S THREE WORDS. I understand abbreviating the A Court of Thorns and Roses series titles because they’re that bit longer but the Throne of Glass series is all three word titles, and whilst it’s not a problem for this particular title (I can’t instantly think of any other titles with the same acronym that have the same degree of notoriety as Throne of Glass), there are other titles in the series that share that same title as other books. Queen of Shadows for instance, there are several other books that share the same title and there are several other books in the series that have the same acronym as books by different authors. So I think it would save confusion if people just referred to these books by their full names!

3. TBS-The Bone Season-Samantha Shannon

All the books in these series have pretty short titles and whilst they are fairly popular, I don’t know if they’re so popular that you’d look at the acronym and instantly know, yep that’s The Bone Season. I can understand abbreviating the title of Shannon’s standalone, The Priory of The Orange Tree (TPOTOT), though like I said above, I tend to prefer to just shorten the title to something simpler, like plain “Priory”.

4. THG-The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins

Okay, so I imagine most people probably know that THG stands for The Hunger Games, it’s fairly self-explanatory, but why not just use the full title? It’s only three words, it’s not going to take up much space in your tweet!

5. GOT-Game of Thrones-George RR Martin

I understand the series title being abbreviated, A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) is a bit of a mouthful, but Game of Thrones is comparatively simple. I imagine most people will recognise what GOT stands for in conversation because it is a fantasy phenomenon and popular outside of book circles thanks to the TV series, but unlike most book acronyms, got is actually a word, so that could be confusing if you’re not a fantasy fan!

6. S&B or SAB (I’ve seen both used)-Shadow and Bone-Leigh Bardugo

Again it’s three words, it’s not that hard to use the full title. I really don’t think any of Leigh Bardugo’s titles are long enough to be abbreviated, she tends to go for fairly short titles. SAB is a fairly popular acronym as well, it could be the TV show, Switched At Birth, there are various scientific abbreviations that also use SAB, so I think in this case being specific is helpful!

7. TRB-The Raven Boys-Maggie Stiefvater

All the books in this series get abbreviated when talked about on Book Twitter, but they all have super short titles! I can definitely see situations where it could be really easy to mix up TRB and TBR, if you’re typing in hurry, so that could quite easily be confused. TRB is also used for a lot of technical acronyms so that could also be confusing.

8. TPW-The Poppy War-RF Kuang

I can speak myself to the confusion I felt with this one, over the past year, I saw TPW floating around Twitter a lot and could not work out what it was at all, until I finally found out it was The Poppy War. The Poppy War is such a short title that I think shortening it honestly creates more confusion than it solves? Just go with the full guys!

9. TGW-The Gilded Wolves-Roshani Chokshi

Again, it’s a fairly short title so abbreviating it seems kind of redundant, and though it’s a popular book, I don’t know that it’s so popular that people will know what it is instantly by the acronym. It’s also an acronym for the TV show The Good Wife, which I reckon is probably more well known so that could be confusing!

10. TCP-The Cruel Prince-Holly Black

It seems fairly redundant for The Cruel Prince to be shortened, and there are a million and one other things that it could be because TCP is a fairly common abbreviation (there are around 100 different options if you search TCP acronym) so specificity probably wouldn’t hurt here.

So there you go, some of the Book Twitter abbreviations that I feel are unnecessary. How about you? Any Book Twitter acronyms that you don’t understand? Do you like using abbreviations for book titles? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is Books I Read In One Sitting, I’m going to tweak it slightly to Books That Took Me Under Two Weeks To Read as I’m not a massively fast reader and two weeks seems to be my average.