Book reviews Archives - Page 20 of 28

01Feb 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review of The Night She Disappeared

Book reviews, Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

The Night She Disappeared is Lisa Jewell's latest book, having come out in the middle of last year. It focuses on the night a mother's daughter disappears (shock) and the resulting search her mother and a lady who also gets involved partake in. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Night She Disappeared via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. The Night She Disappeared follows a similar form to a lot of Lisa Jewell's books - it covers the tale of a very dark night and switches between two different times which both eventually build towards…

22Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review of The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Book reviews, Mystery, Thriller

I'm not going to lie - I picked up The Sanatorium because of its incredible cover and then read the blurb and knew it would be right up my street. They say don't judge a book by its cover but I feel the publishers have done a fantastic job of creating the exact look and feel I imagined throughout the novel. It's eery, creepy and filled with historical mystery. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Sanatorium via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. Pin me to Pinterest! The Sanatorium is the perfect "everyone meets at…

19Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review of The Appeal by Janice Hallett

Book reviews, Mystery, Thriller

I picked up The Appeal after randomly finding it during my search for books on Amazon. The concept gripped me - a book written in the form of messages, emails and texts where you could work out who the killer was as the evidence was presented. It is done brilliantly and could already be in my favourite books of the year list. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Appeal via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. The Appeal is all about a small group of people who are taking part in the local play which…

16Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review of Girl A by Abigail Dean

Book reviews, Mystery, Thriller

How many of my reviews start "I bought this because I saw it online"? Well, Girl A by Abigail Dean is another example of that. I'd seen it feature on a lot of people's Instagram feeds as a book you must read. It's a dark and mature story that's well written, but is it worth your time? Pin me to Pinterest! Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase Girl A via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. Girl A is kind of a thriller but that's already happened. It focuses on Lex Gracie or Girl A who…

12Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Book Review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Book reviews, Classics, Fantasy

If you do any searching on the internet for "books that changed my life", many people will list The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho as one that will affect your life in some way. But did it have any effect on mine? Pin me to Pinterest! The Alchemist is a novella that comes in under 150 pages and took me less than a day to complete the audiobook. It tells the story of a boy who goes on a journey to find a treasure and to fulfil his dream but along the way meets people who teach him more about life than he thought there was to learn. The Alchemist plot – 4/5 The Alchemist, as I stated above, is the story of a boy (who is only ever called 'the…

06Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Book reviews, Fantasy

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the Harry Potter series and is the first to really delve deeper into Lord Voldemort’s background, increasing the magical world we found ourselves enveloped in the first book. Pin me to Pinterest! Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Chamber of Secrets via one of these links, I'll receive a small commission to support the blog at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. As I read the penultimate book in the Harry Potter series, Half-Blood Prince, I thought I’d carry on my reviews of the previous books in the series which I’ve read over the past year. The…

04Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness

Book Review of Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

Book reviews, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Thriller

As I start many book reviews, I’d seen quite a lot of good things about Sweet Pea on my Bookstagram before I picked it up with some even stating it’s their favourite book series. Therefore when it came on offer on Kindle and was a cheap Audible buy, I had to pick it up! [caption id="attachment_1573" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Sweet Pea by C.J. Skuse is a book about a psychopath who lives a normal life alongside her murderous other life. We follow Rhiannon as she goes about her everyday duties via the entries of her diary. Plot – 3.5/5 Rhiannon seems like a very regular person to most people - she may be a little odd, but no more so than everybody these days. However, little does…

28Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Book Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Book reviews, Fantasy

I picked up Graceling by Kristin Cashore because it was, what I thought, a relatively short fantasy novel to dig my teeth into before the festive period started. However, it ended up being a bit more of a slog than I would have hoped. [caption id="attachment_1548" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this review contains affiliate links. This means if you decide to purchase Graceling via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you from Amazon which supports the blog. These affiliate links do not influence my final opinion of the product. Graceling focuses on the story of Katsa who has learned from a young age that she has something called a “Grace” which means she…

20Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

Book reviews, Nonfiction

If you didn’t know - like the big kid I am - I absolutely adore all things Dinosaurs. Admittedly my interest hasn’t spread out into much more than simply reading up about them and watching films/documentaries about them. But either way - I love these enormous, dangerous creatures that lived millions of years ago. [caption id="attachment_1524" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] That’s why, when I saw The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte on sale on Amazon, I just had to pick it up. In all honesty, I wasn’t 100% sure what I was purchasing, I’d just seen it was a celebrated book and had quite an appealing front cover. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is actually a non-fictional telling of the… well… the…

07Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Book reviews, Sci-Fi

Ready Player One was one of my favourite science fiction novels I’d ever read when I first picked it up. It was a brilliantly nerdy book filled with cultural references, video game references and a multi-layered story that discusses the evolution and effects of technology on culture and wove in a fun ‘bigger than this’ storyline too. [caption id="attachment_1482" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Ready Player Two has come out after Ready Player One was made into a fairly successful movie too and so comes with a lot of hype behind it. It carries on soon after the events of Ready Player One with Wade Watts and co dealing with their newfound fame, money and lives. Plot – 3.5/5 As I said, Ready Player Two carries on the story…

Category: Book reviews