May 2023 Wrap Up

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Despite having a bad cold at the start of May, things picked up in the latter half of the month and I managed to do more reading and writing. I only finished one book this month but I have also very nearly finished Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, which has amazing chronic illness rep (and dragons!).  

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – I just love V. E. Schwab’s writing. She always manages to draw me into a story. The Shades of Magic world is so magical and imaginative. This is the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic and I actually think I enjoyed it even more than the first. We get to delve deeper into the characters in this book. There’s also a magical competition which is very cool. I’m off on holiday soon so will post my full review when I am back!  

As I was ill, I didn’t get to write as much this month as I had hoped. I did manage to write in the second half of the month though and am now at 27k. I’m working on a chapter from the perspective of the antagonist which is always fun and interesting to write.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

Audiobook Review: Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

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Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Hodder & Stoughton, narrated by Jasmine Bayes  

Star Rating: 2/5

Back Cover Summary:

The first in a darkly enchanting fairytale-tinged fantasy duology about a morally grey witch, a cursed prince and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted destinies, perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove.

There’s always a price for defying destiny.

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the court as Seer with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not-charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip her of her title once he’s crowned.

After the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse about the prince’s future bride. Her wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t protect her against fate—nor the doomed attraction growing between her and the prince….

Violet Made of Thorns has a promising premise but the execution of the elements doesn’t gel in a satisfactory way. At the start, I felt slightly baffled, as what I was reading didn’t seem to fit with the book’s description. There was much more banter, humour and over-the-top situations than I would have expected to find in a dark fantasy.

The writing style is a conversationalist first person that would feel more at home in a contemporary novel. This isn’t necessarily an issue, and many readers may enjoy this style, but it didn’t work for me in this case. It can feel slightly jarring when high fantasy novels have a more modern style, but it could have really worked here with the fairy tale aspect of the book if it had been packaged differently. The large amount of inner monologue also makes the pacing of the book feel very slow for such a short novel.

While the opening parts of the book were almost cartoonish and slightly ridiculous at times, the story does get darker as the book progresses. That slow descent to a darker story could have worked really well, but I didn’t feel it. I wasn’t drawn in and didn’t feel that dawning horror as events progress ever more darkly. Something was just missing.

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April 2023 Wrap Up

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left2 Comments

I’ve been feeling really rough with a bad cold the last couple of weeks but I’m slowly starting to feel a bit better. I’m listening to A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab and am really enjoying it so that is providing something to look forward to while I sit at home feeling ill!

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Historical romance isn’t my usual reading genre but I love watching a good period drama film or show so decided to give this one a go. I’m glad I did as it’s a fun and enjoyable read with great characters, humour and, of course, romance.

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen ⭐⭐ – I was really excited for this one so was disappointed to find it wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing style, which had a conversationalist first person narration and excessive inner monologue. The descent to darkness, thematically and for the characters, could have worked really well but there wasn’t enough atmosphere. I listened to the audiobook and the narration may have influenced my enjoyment of this one as I didn’t like the narrator’s style or voice. I’ll be posting a full review soon.   

Progress has been a little slow lately thanks to the aforementioned cold, but I’m still feeling optimistic about the progress I’ve made on my WIP this year. Hopefully I can get back into it soon.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

Audiobook ARC Review: A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

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A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Genre: Historical, Romance

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Harper Collins UK Audio, narrated by Eleanor Tomlinson  

Star Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Summary:

When Kitty Talbot is jilted by her fiancé three months before their wedding, the future looks dark. Without his fortune to pay off her late father’s gambling debts, she and her four sisters face certain ruin.

But Kitty has never backed down from a challenge, so she leaves the countryside and heads toward the most dangerous battleground in all of Regency England: The London Season.

The aim is simplee: find a wealthy bachelor to wed in order save the Talbot family from destitution.

Kitty is neither accomplished nor all that genteel, but she is utterly single-minded; imbued with her father’s gambling spirit, Kitty knows that risk is just part of the game. What she doesn’t anticipate is Lord Radcliffe, elder brother of the deliciously wealthy Archibald de Lacy. Radcliffe sees Kitty for the fortune-hunter that she really is, and is determined to scotch her plans at all costs…

Thank you so much to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Historical romance is, admittedly, not my usual reading genre. However, I have for many years enjoyed period romance films and TV shows, including the recent Netflix phenomenon Bridgerton. I decided it was finally time to step into the Regency world in book form. A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting is a delight and I am so glad I decided to give it a go.

Kitty is such a fun protagonist and I loved seeing her use her wit and cunning to try and secure a match. Her love for her sisters and the home they risk losing is the driving force behind her actions, putting their security over her own wants. She’s fiercely determined to achieve her goal, whatever it takes.

The interactions between Kitty and Radcliffe made me smile every time and I eagerly awaited every verbal sparring match. It takes a little while for Radcliffe to appear which, having read the description, did leave me a little confused at first since I was expecting him to make an appearance sooner. However, all quickly became clear and while I did enjoy the opening section, my enjoyment increased once Radcliffe was introduced to the story.

A Lady’s Guide for Fortune-Hunting is a fun read with plenty of humour, a slowly developed and satisfying romance, and an overall great cast of characters. It does what it says on the tin, and it’s exactly what I was looking for. While the novel follows a familiar formula, Sophie Irwin executes it very well. I’ll be looking out for her next book.

March 2023 Wrap Up

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the LeftLeave a comment

We’re over halfway through April and I’m only just posting my March wrap up. I don’t know where the time has gone! The last few weeks have been quite busy so I haven’t had much time for reading or blogging. Although I didn’t read loads in March, I did read the best book I’ve read so far this year and a new favourite, so from that perspective it was a very good reading month!

Legendborn by Tracey Deonn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This book is phenomenal. I loved it so, so much. I had a feeling right from the start it would be a 5 star read and I was right. The writing, world, magic, characters, everything was just so good. Legendborn is an amazing debut and I am so excited to read the next book!  

Broken Web by Lori M. Lee ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I loved the first book in this series, Forest of Souls, and think its quite an underrated gem. The sequel suffered a little bit from middle book syndrome unfortunately. It just didn’t grip me as much as the first book did. However, I still enjoyed it and will definitely read the next book.

I have been getting back into writing again this year and progress on my current WIP is continuing steadily which is great! I’m around a quarter of the way through the book which is really exciting.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

Audiobook Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left3 Comments

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Simon & Schuster Audio UK, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Star Rating: 5/5

Back Cover Summary:

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants to escape. A residential programme for bright high-schoolers seems like the perfect opportunity – until she witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus….

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so-called ‘Legendborn’ that hunt the creatures down.

A mysterious mage who calls himself a ‘Merlin’ and who attempts – and fails – to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory about her mother. Now Bree will do whatever it takes to discover the truth, even infiltrate the Legendborn. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and foretell a magical war, Bree must decide how far she’ll go for the truth. Should she use her magic to take the society down – or join the fight?

After seeing so many good reviews for this book, I had high hopes. From the first few chapters, I knew I was going to love Legendborn and that it might well become a favourite. And it has. It’s been a long time since I loved a book as much as I loved this one. It truly blew me away.

I was drawn in from the very beginning and was totally glued to the book all the way through. Time didn’t exist. I would just disappear into the audio and emerge a while later not having realised how much time had passed. Something that is incredibly rare for me. I felt so immersed in the story and didn’t want to stop listening. The narration from Joniece Abbott-Pratt was perfect and brought so much emotion and depth to the telling of the story.

Legendborn draws on the King Arthur legend, though isn’t exactly a retelling. The characters in the secret society that Bree finds herself part of are descendants of King Arthur’s knights. I love Arthurian legend and really enjoyed how Tracy Deonn used King Arthur’s legacy to create a story different from any other King Arthur retelling or interpretation I’ve come across.

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February 2023 Wrap Up

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the LeftLeave a comment

January was a slow reading month and I didn’t actually finish any books, but in February I finished two! February was also an exciting month because I went to my first book event since before the pandemic! I went to the Norwich event on Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night tour. It was amazing to hear her talk about her writing and world building and I came away feeling so inspired. I also got my copy of A Priory of the Orange Tree signed!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I struggled to get through this one as I found the pacing too slow for me. There was so much I loved about this book, but the pacing just held back my enjoyment and it did take me quite a while to read it. It’s a fantastic book so would still definitely recommend it, I just didn’t click with it sadly.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I decided it was time to take a break from fantasy and read something totally different. I’ve read a few Agatha Christie novels before but not in any order. So this time I decided to read the very first Poirot novel. I was hooked all the way through and there were so many twists and turns!

While in Norwich I popped into a couple of independent bookshops and as soon as I spotted the UK paperback edition of One For All by Lillie Lainoff on the shelf, I just knew I had to pick up a copy!

After writing a lot in January, February wasn’t so good. I’ve been struggling with my current project, which is essentially a completely refreshed version of an old project I’m writing again from scratch, but although I’m writing on a clean document, I am essentially editing/redrafting what came before. I’m someone who loves first drafts and struggles with redrafting and editing, so I’m finding it challenging! But hopefully I will learn a lot from it.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

Audiobook Review: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the LeftLeave a comment

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery  

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Harper Collins, narrated by Hugh Fraser

Star Rating: 5/5

Back Cover Summary:

A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.

All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.

There is just something about Agatha Christie’s stories which always manage to keep me hooked from beginning to end, and The Mysterious Affair at Styles did this superbly. I have previously read four of Christie’s novels – a rather random selection. This time, I decided to go back to the very beginning and see where it all started. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is both Christie’s first published novel and the first Poirot book. This, it turns out, was an excellent choice.

Although it is possible to dip in and out of Christie’s books, I’m very glad I chose to read the first, as it provided a good introduction to the characters of Poirot and Hastings. Hastings appears in several, though not all, of the Poirot novels. The dynamic of the pair is very much reminiscent of Holmes and Watson and, much like in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we see the mystery from the perspective of Hastings, the Watson of the duo.  

The mystery to be solved in this Poirot instalment is a classic Christie, with a country house, questions over inheritance and, of course, poisoning. I was engaged throughout and sped through the book as I was totally hooked and desperate to find out the solution to the mystery. There were so many twists and turns in the investigation, and the big reveal was a fantastic conclusion.

I listened to the audiobook edition narrated by Hugh Fraser, who was a very good narrator and made it an enjoyable listen.

Overall, this was a brilliant mystery and I am very glad I decided to return to the beginning of the Poirot series. I’ll definitely be reading more!

January 2023 Wrap Up

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left2 Comments

I am very late with my January wrap up. The last few weeks just seem to have been very busy. I didn’t manage to finish any books in January! I’ve been listening to the audiobook of The Jasmine Throne and I’ve been finding the pacing a bit slow so it’s been taking me a while to get through it. I’m also halfway through reading Broken Web.

In January I had two exciting Fairyloot parcels. The Atlas Paradox, which matches the first book excellently. And the Daughter of the Pirate King set which I ordered months ago. It was worth the wait though as they are such gorgeous editions.

Although I didn’t do so much reading in January, it was a great month for writing. I wrote the most words I’ve written in one month in a long time, so I’m feeling very happy about that.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2023

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left12 Comments

A new year means more new exciting releases to look out for!

Top 10 Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish, but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. If you’re interested in taking part click here.

Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson

I really enjoy Margaret Rogerson’s writing and Sorcery of Thorns was fantastic so I’m very happy that we get to see more from these characters.

In this sequel novella to Sorcery of Thorns, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas must unravel the magical trap keeping them inside Thorn Manor in time for their Midwinter Ball!

Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas has returned, so has scrutiny from nosy reporters hungry for gossip about the city’s most powerful sorcerer and the librarian who stole his heart. But something strange is afoot at Thorn Manor: the estate’s wards, which are meant to keep their home safe, are acting up and forcibly trapping the Manor’s occupants inside. Surely it must be a coincidence that this happened just as Nathaniel and Elisabeth started getting closer to one another…

With no access to the outside world, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas – along with their new maid Mercy – will have to work together to discover the source of the magic behind the malfunctioning wards before they’re due to host the city’s Midwinter Ball. Not an easy task when the house is filled with unexpected secrets, and all Elisabeth can think about is kissing Nathaniel in peace. But when it becomes clear that the house, influenced by the magic of Nathaniel’s ancestors, requires a price for its obedience, Elisabeth and Nathaniel will have to lean on their connection like never before to set things right.

Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling by Elise Bryant

I don’t read a lot of contemporary YA these days but this sounds fun and it has migraine and dyslexia rep.

Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow—which is how she ends up singing in her friends’ punk band as a favor, even though she’d prefer to hide at the merch table.

Reggie is a D&D Dungeon Master and self-declared Blerd. He spends his free time leading quests and writing essays critiquing the game under a pseudonym, keeping it all under wraps from his disapproving family.

These two, who have practically nothing in common, meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve. And then again on Valentine’s Day. And then again on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s almost like the universe is pushing them together for a reason.

Delilah wishes she were more like Reggie—open about what she likes and who she is, even if it’s not cool. Except . . . it’s all a front. Reggie is just role-playing someone confident. The kind of guy who could be with a girl like Delilah.

As their holiday meetings continue, the two begin to fall for each other. But what happens once they realize they’ve each fallen for a version of the other that doesn’t really exist?

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of my favourite books and I’m so glad the author decided to write more books set in this world.

The stunning, standalone prequel to the New York Times bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Intricate and epic, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.

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