Category: Book Reviews

Audiobook Review: Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

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

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery  

Publishing Info: Audiobook by HarperCollins, narrated by David Suchet

Star Rating: 3/5

Back Cover Summary:

Sir George and Lady Stubbs, the hosts of a village fête, hit upon the novel idea of staging a mock murder mystery. In good faith, Ariadne Oliver, the well known crime writer, agrees to organise their murder hunt. Despite weeks of meticulous planning, at the last minute Ariadne calls her friend Hercule Poirot for his expert assistance. Instinctively, she senses that something sinister is about to happen. Beware: nobody is quite what they seem!

Last month I went on holiday to Devon and visited Greenway, Agatha Christie’s former holiday home and now a National Trust property. Since Agatha Christie based the setting of Dead Man’s Folly on Greenway, I decided this would be a great read for my holiday. The house is beautifully situated near a river, with zigzag paths through trees leading to the boathouse where the murder in Dead Man’s Folly takes place. It was fun to read the book at the same time as visiting and be able to visualise the places Poirot visited – walking in both Poirot and Agatha Christie’s footsteps!

The concept behind this novel is an interesting one – the mock murder mystery designed by a crime author which turns into a real murder. Despite the intriguing premise, however, this novel failed to captivate me as well as other Agatha Christie novels I have read. The story felt slow and a lot of information and details seemed to be repeated a lot.

There was a satisfyingly unpredictable solution to the murder, but it just felt like a bit of a drag to get there. For some reason it just didn’t hold my interest as much as, for example, The Mysterious Affair at Styles which I read earlier this year. Poirot was absent from the story at many points and I also would have liked to have seen more of Ariadne Oliver (the novelist and planner of the murder hunt), who is a great character.

Overall, this was not one of the best Agatha Christie novels I have read, however it was an interesting experience visiting the place the book is inspired by and I’m glad I decided to coincide reading it with my visit to Greenway.

Audiobook Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Recorded Books, narrated by Rebecca Soler

Star Rating: 4.5/5

Back Cover Summary:

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

It’s been hard not to see Fourth Wing on Bookstagram and everywhere else for the last couple of months as it’s been riding a massive wave of hype. I’m not someone who usually picks up a book because everyone else is reading it. On this occasion though, I did. Specifically, because chronically ill Bookstagrammers were giving it glowing reviews. Also, the dragons had something to do with it since I’ve been obsessed with dragons since I was a kid.

Fourth Wing is a fantasy romance set in a brutal war college for dragon riders. The romance is a slow burn enemies-to-lovers and although the romance aspect wasn’t what drew me to this book, I ended up loving the slow build. The slow burn gave plenty of time for the characters feelings for each other to evolve and was paced really well, and the author does an amazing job of slowly changing my perception of the love interest. The romance didn’t dominate this book either, leaving plenty of room for plot and character development.

Speaking of character development, Rebecca Yarros nailed Violet’s progression. Fourth Wing is set over a year so that’s a lot of time to cover, but the pacing is done really well. We see Violet grow from the scribe-in-training to a reluctant cadet to a dragon rider.

The chronic illness representation is based on the author’s own experiences of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. While I don’t have EDS, I have lived with chronic illness since childhood and found Violet’s experiences and feelings so relatable. Chronic illness rep in all genres is really important, but I find it especially emotional seeing it in fantasy stories. I’ve loved fantasy since I was young but I’ve so rarely seen anyone like me actually living those adventures. And here we have someone who is chronically ill being completely badass and riding dragons. It really does mean so much and I hope we get to see more rep like this in fantasy. Violet has to adapt, train and build her strength in order to be able to complete the college’s various challenges and obstacles. And although her body gets stronger, she is never cured of her condition.

Read More »

Audiobook Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

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

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

Genre: Fantasy  

Publishing Info: Audiobook by QUEST from W. F. Howes Ltd, narrated by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

Star Rating: 4.5/5

Back Cover Summary:

Kell is plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, he is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila.

As Red London prepares for the Element Games – an extravagant international competition of magic – a certain pirate ship draws closer. But another London is coming back to life, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning.

Black London has risen again – and so to keep magic’s balance, another London must fall.

It’s been nearly two years since I read the first Shades of Magic book, and I’m not entirely sure why it took me so long to pick up the sequel, but I’m very glad I did. I didn’t write a review of A Darker Shade of Magic, so can’t remember how I felt about it at the time, but I have the feeling that A Gathering of Shadows has left a greater impression. This is quite unusual, as I often find sequels don’t quite hit the same note as the first in a series. I liked the first book, but I loved this one.

As soon as I stepped back into the world of Shades of Magic, with its multiple Londons and intriguing magic system, I remembered why I found the imaginative world building of A Darker Shade of Magic so captivating. This book felt magical, and I was happy to be swept up in it. As Lila learns to use magic, we also learn more about how the magic in this world works, and getting to see it used for combat in the element games was great fun. I love competition stories and though this one did feel a little random, I think it worked well as part of Lila, Kell and Rhy’s development.    

Read More »

Audiobook Review: Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

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

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.

Read More »

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

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

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.

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.

Read More »

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!

Audiobook Review: Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones

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

Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Hodder & Stoughton, narrated by Helen Keeley

Star Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Summary:

It’s the golden rule of pretending to be someone’s girlfriend: don’t fall for their sister.

After a year from hell, Haf is ready to blow off steam at a Christmas party: a kind stranger, a few too many drinks and suddenly she’s kissing Christopher under the mistletoe—in front of his ex-girlfriend.

The next day the news is out that they’re apparently a couple, madly in love and coming to Oxlea to spend the festive season with Christopher’s family. But Haf doesn’t have better holiday plans and to save her new friend from embarrassment, she agrees to pretend to be Christopher’s girlfriend for Christmas.

It has the makings of a hilarious anecdote they’ll be telling for years. Until Haf meets Christopher’s sister: the mysterious, magnetic and utterly irresistible Kit. Maybe love was waiting for Haf in this quiet little town all along….

Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Laura Kay and Carol—this is sheer festive joy as you’ve always wanted to see it.

As soon as I heard about Make You Mine This Christmas earlier this year – a romance with queer, neurodivergent and disabled characters in the main cast – I knew this had to be my festive read in December. This book made me laugh and cry, and I had such a fun time listening to the audiobook, which had great narration by Helen Keeley.  

Some parts of this book are ridiculously cheesy, and some parts are just bonkers, but you know what, I loved that. I loved seeing queer and disabled people fall in love and experience all the tropes and Christmassy romance. The main trope here is fake dating, so if you aren’t a fan, this might not be the book for you. I really enjoyed the author’s spin on this trope, and it provided plenty of opportunities for humour and Christmas chaos. I felt the spark and connection between Haf and Kit, and enjoyed the slow burn and romantic tension. They only actually get a few days together, but the chemistry was definitely there right from their meet cute.

Although the romance is, of course, the beating heart of this book, I wouldn’t have enjoyed Make You Mine This Christmas nearly as much without the equally important platonic relationships. Just as much care and attention is given to the friendships in the book as the romance. Seeing Haf’s existing friendship with Ambrose and her new friendships grow was heart-warming.

Make You Mine This Christmas is a cosy and festive read with fantastic rep so if you are looking for a holiday romcom then this should be going to the top of your list!

Audiobook Review: King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

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

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Audible Studios, narrated by Lauren Fortgang

Star Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Summary:

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war – and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. 

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried – and some wounds aren’t meant to heal. 

Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is one of my favourite series, and I just knew King of Scars would be a great choice to get me out of a reading slump. This is the first book in a duology, but it follows the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. I would definitely recommend reading the previous books as the protagonists in King of Scars are returning characters from both of the previous series. It was interesting to follow characters beyond their original stories, see how the traumas of the previous books have impacted them, and explore how their characters develop further, which made me feel an even stronger connection to them than I did before.

In King of Scars, we follow multiple POV characters like in the Six of Crows series, and I really enjoyed getting to see the different perspectives. I’m intrigued to see how Nina’s story ties in more with the main plot in the sequel, as her plotline did feel quite separate from Nikolai’s in this book. Both plotlines were engaging and the character development was very strong. Having seen how their characters started out in previous books, it was great to follow their progression in King of Scars, and Leigh Bardugo did a fantastic job of developing each of the three protagonists. I especially liked getting Zoya’s perspective, she’s a really interesting character with a lot of depth and it was great getting more insight into her past and her inner thoughts and feelings.

Read More »

Audiobook Review: The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India HoltonBook Review:

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

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

Genre: Historical, Romance

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Penguin Audio, narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

Star Rating: 3/5

Back Cover Summary:

Miss Charlotte Pettifer belongs to a secret league of women skilled in the subtle arts. That is to say—although it must never be said—witchcraft. The League of Gentlewomen Witches strives to improve the world in small ways. Using magic, they tidy, correct, and manipulate according to their notions of what is proper, entirely unlike those reprobates in the Wisteria Society.

When the long lost amulet of Black Beryl is discovered, it is up to Charlotte, as the future leader of the League, to make sure the powerful talisman does not fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, it is most unfortunate when she crosses paths with Alex O’Riley, a pirate who is no Mr. Darcy. With all the world scrambling after the amulet, Alex and Charlotte join forces to steal it together. If only they could keep their pickpocketing hands to themselves! If Alex’s not careful, he might just steal something else—such as Charlotte’s heart.

Having loved India Holton’s riotously fun The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels at the beginning of this year, I decided it was time to dive into the second instalment in the Dangerous Damsels series. The League of Gentlewomen Witches centres on a new main character, a witch called Charlotte who is destined to rule the Wiccan League after her aunt. The love interest is a familiar face in the form of Captain Alex O’Riley, and many of the pirates from the first book return as well.

While the beginning of the book was excellent fun, I found the middle very slow. I kept reading, hoping things would pick up by the end, but sadly I didn’t find this novel quite as entertaining as the first book. Despite a brilliant first section, it just didn’t hold my attention and wasn’t as funny as The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.

Read More »