I am meant to be reading through Dark Apostle with the usual suspects, but, I just cannot get into it. I’ll save that rant for when I am finally finished with it, but because I was doubting my ability to read, I tried a few other books.

I can clearly say it isn’t me. It’s the book!

The Fortune Teller – Natasha Boydell

Picked up as an Amazon ‘Early Reads’ deal. I always try and read something a bit ‘different’ for these freebies and rarely am I steered wrong.

The Fortune Teller sees Simone getting a reading from carnival Fortune Teller, Mystic Maggie. The plot deeply explores the question; ‘If you meet the man/woman of your dreams, get to spend five years with them happily but it’ll end in tragedy, would you do it anyway?’

A trip into paranoia, deception, heartache and all those wonderfully tragic emotions that I adore! It’s a great, ‘easy’ read that I loved spending time with. Character-driven plot, with a wide variety of voices unravelling a slow-burn mystery. The first half is a bit more romance than mystery, as it’s building up the second half of the book, which isn’t what I was expecting to read, but I enjoyed this section none-the-less and it set up the premise for the rest of the story to unfold.

The Arranged Marriage – Monica Murphy

DNF – 17%

Any character who thinks that their party-hard lifestyle is behind them and they’re too old when they’re 24 is an idiot.

Both the FMC and MMC in this book were insufferable, and I couldn’t cope with either of them any more.

The arranged marriage trope didn’t make a lot of sense because the two families were already rich and old-established families. Marrying them together like they were aristocrats just wasn’t working for me.

Never Never – Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher

I was brought a copy of this book for my birthday. Other Jenny can buy me books any time, she always picks out good ones!

My first CoHo book! Hooked me from the first two chapters, didn’t let up and I ended up reading most of it in a day.

Teenagers, Charlie and Silas have no recollection of who they are or who they are to each other. They have the piece the clues of their lives together and figure out what’s going on.

The first two parts of this book are absolutely nailed! There’s so much promise and intrigue as to what’s happening to the two characters. The last part and the ‘big reveal’ felt a little bit weak and I’m not sure if this is because I’ve read a copious amount of orc smut that involves fated mates or not! There\’s a kidnapping sub-plot that just felt a bit weird and out of place, but I guess it also added a bit of glue to some of the plot, maybe?

The epilogue was unneeded and a bit confusing.

The Warlord’s Prize – Emma Alisyn

I\’m not all that picky when it comes to my reads. I like a book to have a decent command of English and grammar, have some sort of plot thread and have characters with personality.

The Warlord’s Prize isn’t a proper book. It’s a ‘come get me’ that’s meant to lure readers into a long-winded series. This is a common tactic for the romance/sci-fi romance genre, but it never works as well as say… writing a good book and giving it away.

The FMC, Chanda, is running from her father; she is hurt and needs help. She enters into a bargain with space vampire, Khuldil. I have no idea why she was fleeing her father, why her father needed assassins to bring her home. I guess that’s in the main story? But she wasn’t a fun character to read about. A liar and racist towards Khuldil’s people constantly. It wasn’t enjoyable. Somehow, the two fall in love, get romantic, something dumb happens in which Khuldil locks Chanda in a room, she escapes whilst pregnant with his children and… I dunno, it was all pretty stupid and didn’t make a lot of sense.

I was expecting a Happy Ever After, but it never came, even with a Seven-Year Time Jump, and I won’t be reading the proper story to find out the answers. The characters weren’t enjoyable enough to take that leap.

In a Dark Mirror – Kat Davis

Another Early Read from Amazon.

When I picked up this book, I didn’t realise it was a fictionalised version of the ‘Slender Man stabbing‘ but it didn’t feel like it was being intentionally sensationalist or exploitative.

Maddie and Lana lure unsuspecting Peyton into the woods to sacrifice her to Him, a dark entity that the young girls have come to worship.

The timeline of the book is set over 2007, the lead-up to the sacrifice and 2017; when Maddie has been released from the mental institution under very specific conditions – one of which is that she cannot engage with the murder on social media. The story details her life between both timelines and the struggles surrounding both.

A captivating, page-turning read, that is intriguing and uncomfortable in equal measure.

My only irk with this book is that there\’s no reference within the pages on where the story idea came from. I feel like that is a disservice to both readers and the real people involved in the true crime.

Currently Reading

As the struggle with Dark Apostle and Warhammer in general continues, I am reading The Hangman\’s Tale – a non-fiction book about Syd Dernley, Hangman\’s assistant during the times when capital punishment in the UK was still legal. A fascinating read that I am thoroughly enjoying.