R. F. Long

"But now the holly wears the crown. And the May Queen comes. Will you abide her thorns to hear her voice?"

what a wonderfully dark fairytale. I loved this dark story about a Jenny and a Jack and a boy, Tom, who stumbled into a forest that ate him whole.

7 years later, that same forest swallowed Jenny and now she's fighting for her life in a world she could never even imagine. Where names and kisses, whispers and drinks - all are dangers. Where friendship is only as solid as the promises you've show more already made.

And even a stone can save the world. The story completely sucked me in and I loved it all. I was sad when I got to the last page, knowing there was no more Jack and Jenny, Puck and fae to love. show less

Damn you Ruth.

Now in the interests of full disclosure I know Ruth and I can see echoes of panels we've been on, or she's been on and I've commented at or bar-room discussions later, at conventions in this. My greatest regret about this is not reading it sooner, but now I have book 2 to look forward to reading soon.

Izzy is a regular teen with a summer job and challenging her parents, but one day she sneaks out to go to a gig with friends and her life changes forever when she's exposed to the show more fey underworld of Dublin and her life will never be the same again. Her exposure to Jinx and their romance will change both of them and the relationship between Dylan and the Leannan Sidhe Silver also makes me want to read more. There are also Angels of all sorts, fallen, sauntered vaguely downwards and still members of the choir heavenly, all with different plans and motives.

This is faerie that's not cosy, not easy, full of death and blood and politics that is pretty raw. Mistakes could kill, both faerie and angels are willing to kill if they think it will further their plans.

Features a lot of Irish mythology, lots of the unusual places in Dublin and that mythic sense from a lot of Irish fairy tales where Faerie is just next door. It also makes me want to re-read it and visit some of the places mentioned in the text.

Recommended. show less

What reader wouldn’t enjoy a book about a mysterious, magical library? But is that enough to keep you hooked? Nope! And therein lies the reason this book faltered a little.

Story:

When Sophie Lawrence, a bookbinder, is offered a job at the Ayredale library by her estranged uncle, she grabs at the opportunity, not just because she sees it as an escape from her manipulative, cheating boyfriend but also because she wants to discover what happened to her mother at the same library fifteen years

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ago. Once she is there, she realises that things are not quite as they appear. No one wants to tell her the secrets of the past. The presence of her first crush Will Rhys only serves to add to the mystique. Will she find out the secrets that no one wants to reveal to her?

Where the book worked for me:
• The library, obviously, ranks as the biggest pro point. I loved how its sentience was weaved into the story. I also enjoyed all the details of the book binding process as we saw it through Sophie’s eyes. Any bibliophile would enjoy those parts.

• The story is lush with such vivid imagery that you can picture the entire world in which Sophie resides. The descriptive part of the writing is mesmerising and the world-building, fabulous.

• The plot, regardless of its flaws, keeps you hooked from start to end, thereby resulting the book going by very quickly.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
• I wish the characters were more multi-dimensional. Most of them are a clear black or white. I couldn’t connect with Sophie much; some of her decisions are so questionable that one can’t help want to smack her on the head. Tia, the archivist, was outstanding and easily the best character in the book, but some of her decisions didn’t make sense in the broader picture. Will was clearly written as having some deep, shameful secret but with many obvious clues scattered throughout, it took no genius to figure out what his secret was. Sophie’s uncle was a disappointing character; he had so much potential to be a memorable main character but succumbed to a clichéd turnaround whenever required by the plot. Sophie’s mum, Elizabeth, was intriguing but hardly had any role to play, quite ironically as she’s the bookbinder referred to in the title. The rest of the characters don’t even deserve a mention.

• There is a lot of repetition in the dialogues, which worsens with the recurring flashbacks. The editing should have been a lot tighter.

• The title fell flat for me. I can’t pinpoint why but it somehow sounds makes the book sound like a historical fiction. The cover too, with the girl facing away from the reader, doesn’t convey the right feelings. A fantasy reader who looks only at the cover and title will surely not pick this book up. Both of these needed to be more magical, more enigmatic.

• The first 70% or so of the book kept me absolutely hooked, but the last section becomes too complicated, though it has its fair share of surprises. One theme running through the book is that of ‘contained chaos’, and towards the end, the writing itself was like ‘contained chaos’. It became a bit over-ambitious and couldn't sustain its own momentum.

Most readers remember a book by how it made them feel at the end; this book will make you feel great at the start but the end doesn’t create any impact. Overall, it is a great plot but needs a bit of fine-tuning to go from ‘good’ to ‘memorable’. For me, the end would deserve just 3 stars but the rest of the book would get 4 stars. Hence, I’ll go with the average of the two ratings and allot 3.5 to this interesting novel.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Now here's a book that seems to transcend multiple genres! Historical fiction, romance, LGBTQ, sci-fi, suspense, paranormal, fantasy... This can be both great and risky. Those looking for conventional SFF will find the historical goings slow while those who don't have any genre preferences will be happy to have found so many within a single book.

The story comes to us from two characters in two distinct timelines: Megan in 2019, and Ellie in 1939. Megan is a landscape gardener, newly show more appointed to take charge of the gardens of Foxfield Hall. An intriguing part of these grounds is the unicursal maze with a well at its centre. This well is the source of great mystique with the legend of a green ghost attached to it. Ellie is teased by her fiancé for believing in the legend and so she sets out to capture photographic proof of the ghost. What happens when these two girls aim to find out more?

The book is strongly female-intensive. Hardly any male character (with a minor exception of David, Ellie’s fiancé) is in the lead role or memorably portrayed. But the women make the story and take it to amazing heights. Other than Megan and Ellie, the characters of Nora, Ms. Seaborne, Hattie, and Gwenhwyfar are nicely etched, with so many layers underneath layers that you keep wondering what their true selves are.

The concept of the book is extraordinary. The story is intriguing, the writing is great, and the tempo is nicely maintained throughout. Some parts of the storyline are quite complicated and farfetched, but that doesn't take away much from the book. The way Jessica Thorne blends together the varied genres almost seamlessly is awesome.

In spite of all the interesting combinations, there was still something that kept me from rushing to complete the book. For some reason, my mind kept zoning out from the proceedings. I do feel that this is more of my problem that that of the book. Maybe I was just not in the frame of mind to read this because I can't find anything boring about the story, nor am I able to pinpoint any specific flaw in the writing. So I will recommend it heartily, because I honestly believe that I picked it up at the wrong time. And such an innovative storyline needs to be read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the Advanced Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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