Kiki’s Epeolatry

  Two people have a meet cute in an elevator. One a romance novelist who is struggling to write her next book and the other a hopeless-romantic actor.  Unromance follows the story of two people making a pact, trying out love tropes in the hopes of helping with writers block and to help destroy the idea of what romance is. But as you can imagine had dire consequences for both parties. When first ordering this book I was taken mostly by the cover. It is reminiscent of the days of the 2000s romcoms such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 days. And this somewhat comes up in conversation during the book itself. I just wish I cared for the writing more.  I think this is the problem with contemporary romance books these days, it is more about what has been than what is fresh and different. The idea behind the book as well as the book cover itself felt like a marketing ploy which sadly I did fall for. The chemistry of both characters feel very flat and I didn’t particularly like the endi...

  I’ve been following Ashley Poston’s work for a while. At first it was the comic con series back in 2020 when she first became known to me during COVID. After I read the series I forgot about her for a while. It was only when I went into my local Waterstones to pick up The Dead Romantics she came back under my radar. She is now one of my must buys if a new book comes out. Her take of the romantic genre has always been fresh and interesting with some form of magical realism. A Novel Love Story follows our heroine Elsy, otherwise referred to as Eileen. Unlucky in love she struggles to try new things. Instead, she is comforted by her favourite book series by her favourite author, Rachel Flowers. On her way to a cabin retreat by herself, she finds her car broken down in a town that is somewhat familiar to her favourite book series. I’m not going to lie, compared to Poston’s earlier novels this book took some time for me to get into. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve had to...

  Booktok. One of the most exciting community spaces for a reader in the past five years. A place where there is a big online community giving insight into old and new releases. Reviewers who are receptive to their audience and you don't have to be 'somebody'. This is no branded bookclub. It is a place for all people with different tastes come together to share what they truly love. Books. I have to be honest, I have also been a fly on the wall. Using their recommendations many a time for myself or as research to help someone else in their favourite genre. It can be a great tool. But there are times where I have thought that I was giving into the book version of 'fast fashion'. But what do I mean by 'fast fashion' exactly? Well, have you been watching recently? Especially in the romantasy space where plots have been subverted to a simple trope. One huge example that I tend to see is 'how much spice is there?' I get it. You want certain things to make...

  REVIEW So we are back in the world of the Beast Hunters for a sophomore instalment where we see Ara, Khendric and Topper back on another adventure. But this time with a difference. Instead of the world building from the previous book, we get to delve into a mystery with darkness starting to make pace in the background. We meet new characters, some good and some not so much. Not only do we have the overarching themes of beasts but also political intrigue and secretive plots. It is far more intricate than the previous instalment where the characters are making decisive and confident choices. Especially for our fave apprentice, Ara. If you want to get away from the current world affairs, this book will serve as an escape from reality.  What these last two books do remind me of however, is a tv show. Why I say this is because it felt kind of episodic but they both have reinvented themselves with different themes. I found this to be quite good actually. This is because it feels l...

 Hello! So, I know that it has been some time since I was last writing to you all. But I saw an email the other day and it really got me that I couldn’t not share my thoughts on it.  As we all know it’s that time of year again. The fairy lights are beginning to twinkle, the days and nights are getting darker and colder and we are all starting to look ahead to the next year. But what comes before next year? Well, the Goodreads Book Choice Awards of course. One of the biggest events in a bookworm’s calendar. But personally, I think the whole thing is an insult to the whole book community. Obviously, when I was younger I didn’t think any different to most bookworms. However, I have come to realise that it isn’t necessarily what is the best book of the year but rather a popularity contest. More so now than ever with the insurgence of ‘BookTok’. Honestly, I don’t think we will ever get a book worthy of the title ever again. It has become a pure vanity project. Take me back to the T...

I genuinely cannot remember the last time I picked up a book. It has been an overwhelmingly difficult time. But Forgive or Forget is the antidote I needed. It is quick-paced, thought-provoking and thrilling at the same time. And to top it off, it’s less than 300 pages. We follow the main character Alice, as the story weaves from the past to the present. Her motives and why she did the things she had done.  I must admit I wasn’t too sure of Alice at the beginning. Where we first see her and how she had to reintegrate into society. But the more the story progressed, I felt like I understood her and was cheerleading as a reader.  Friends, when you get the end of this book it feels like a whirlwind. The best kind. It was probably one of the best endings ever.  Everything about this book is unforced and flows so easily. I’m so glad that I have had the privledge to read and review this book. Thank you to LiterallyPR. I started this book as a non-believer, now I’m a convert. Rat...

SYNOPSIS Ben hears noises in his basement and witnesses weird goings-on in his local park. His eight-year-old daughter Imogen starts receiving messages from someone claiming to be her missing mother. And then there is Mr Jones —the man who haunts the imaginations of the children at Imogen’s school. But they are just stories, surely? Ben soon develops a creeping suspicion that someone is out to kidnap his daughter. Are his fears real or a result of his own stress-induced paranoia? REVIEW One of the main ideas that I have taken away from this book is how mind-bending and dark it is. It keeps you guessing until the very end. It keeps you up at night thinking about who the culprit must be, just like the main character, Ben. It questions your own sanity and how certain questions keep popping up in your head, such as who is Mr Jones? why is he doing these things? how can he be stopped? It is a never-ending cycle of trying to figure out what is going on the more that you progress into the boo...

  REVIEW Set in the height of wartime Emma is a qualified nurse who has moved to Singapore with her husband, Ernest and chronicles her life as she enters into a period of unease throughout the world. I have read a few books by Blackthorn, most as you probably would be able to see from this blog, but Emma’s Tapestry is wholly different from what I have read before. I enjoyed it immensely from the historical aspects of the world war to the Spanish Influenza. If you are a history buff maybe you should pick up this book and have a try. You might be pleasantly surprised of the effort of detail. One thing I did like about this tale is Emma herself. She has faced so much with a awful husband and her family background which wouldn’t have been welcoming of the time  , you can’t help but to admire her tenacity. What I love is the links of culture to the story itself, there are many things that I have learnt from this book. It is a history lesson of the things that we must remember and h...

  REVIEW I know what you probably are all thinking... a Christmas story at the beginning of April. What a weird idea to even be thinking of the winter holidays when we are just about to celebrate Easter. But the truth is why do we need a reason to think about one of the jolliest times of the year? Surely we don't need permission? The story follows Holly and her upbringing as a child to the present day as a ruthless tycoon in the logistics world. She has a perfect life, a great job and security. But with every rose comes a thorn... Logistics when delving into its many layers has a great amount of heart, acceptance and the joys that family can bring. Even though we are first introduced to a hardened Holly who has clearly dealt with so much already during her lifetime, she shows that with a little open-mindedness to the possibility of magic, anything can truly happen. This book deals with many themes from abandonment, how workers are treated and to none other than Santa himself. If yo...

SYNOPSIS It's been over a year since that night and Amani hopes that starting all over again will help her move on from the past. So, when she moves to a new city, Amani wants to focus on her new life, her best friends and the boy she's been crushing on but everything is falling apart and Amani finds herself looking for happiness in all the wrong places. Can Amani confront the ghosts of her pasts so she can become the girl she's always wanted to be?

  SYNOPSIS   The shark was beneath my bed, growing large as the room, large as the lighthouse, rising from unfathomable depths until it ripped the whole island from its roots. The bed was a boat, the shark a tide, and it pulled me so far out to sea I was only a speck, a spot, a mote, a dying star in an unending sky...  Julia has followed her mum and dad to live on a remote island for the summer - her dad, for work; her mother, on a determined mission to find the elusive Greenland shark. But when her mother's obsession threatens to submerge them all, Julia finds herself on an adventure with dark depths and a lighthouse full of hope...  REVIEW I have such an affection for this book. It is pretty perfect and not to forget the illustrations are absolutely stunning. There is not really anything that I can say which I didn't like. The only criticism is that I wish I had a book like this when I was a child because I know that I would have loved it. But really I don't think ...

SYNOPSIS  Behind every ordinary day, behind every ordinary story, there's an extraordinary one just waiting to happen... Two people. Simon Sparks hides in plain sight - his astonishing gifts locked deep inside himself, as he dreams of lost potential and extraordinary tomorrows. Jodie Brook hides behind what you think of her - a single mum who can barely make ends meet. But her dreams are filled with the education she wanted and discovering a better life for her and her son. One life. When Simon and Jodie's lonely worlds collide, it upends everything. But as it becomes clear they have so much to learn from each other - Jodie can show Simon how to rejoin the world, and Simon can help Jodie prepare for her greatest challenge yet - they begin to realise that life could be so much more. One ordinary day at a time...

 There has been a lot plaguing my thoughts for the last few months. Despite having quite a lot of things go off in my real life it seems like I’m still pulled back to the same thoughts about the book community. It is the one thing I keep seeing every time I log back into my social media and if I’m being honest, I’m not pleased. When did the book community feel so much like a kid's playground? To put into context it seems like there has been a great divide by what should be considered a good book. let me explain... If you read a book and think that it is amazing, brilliant, rate it five stars and give a good review. But what about the books that you really didn't like? Surely you should be able to give it one or two stars if you feel like this is required? Nope, this is blasphemy. According to some, this counts you as a coward. You should have stopped reading it as soon as you realised that you hated the book. Well, I'm sorry but I strongly disagree.  You can't really ca...

  SYNOPSIS When a scientist falls overboard during a storm he has an underwater encounter with an inexplicable phenomenon. This has a profound and devastating effect. He finds himself in an intimate relationship, not only with the inhabitants of a remote Island who rescue him, but also with the creature he encountered. It begins to pursue him with a vengeance and whilst trying to understand it, he discovers the legend of the Blue Man recounts similar experiences. The narrative swoops from our world to another, revealing the existence of other beings and their cultures. As we become more familiar with these aliens we learn that they are desperately trying to avert a looming disaster on their planet. REVIEW It has been a while since I have finished a book and I don't automatically have something to say. Just like this book, my thoughts have been on a slow burn. This is not obviously a bad thing but has made me think a little more about what makes this book a thought-provoker. It'...

  SYNOPSIS  Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.   REVIEW   It has certainly been a while since I’ve picked up a book of philosophy. To be honest, since finishing my university course I thought that at the time, I might never pick up a book again in this genre. But here I am. What a failed attempt. But I do certainly love the scope of this type of philosophy and Rousseau did not disappoint. Not only was the ideas easy to relate to, but simple to read as well. If you’ve read anything to do with Philosophy you come to understand that it is not always easy to read between the line...

SYNOPSIS What if Cinderella never tried on the glass slipper? Unable to prove that she's the missing princess, and unable to bear life under Lady Tremaine any longer, Cinderella starts work at the palace as a seamstress. However, when Cinderella finds herself witness to a grand conspiracy to take the king - and the prince - out of power, she is faced with questions of love and loyalty to the kingdom. Cinderella must find a way to stop the villains of past and present... before it's too late.

 Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great and having a lovely week. I just wanted to introduce you all to my brand new challenge that I will be taking part in. My very own TBR challenge! As most of you will already be aware, I have a very bad book addiction. Very bad. Terrible. But because I buy more than I can read, this has lead to many fantastic reads sitting on the bookshelf ready to have their day to be read. Well, hopefully that will soon become a distant memory… and maybe stop my bank account from screaming every-time I wander into the bookstore. From now on, I pledge to make a review of all the books I read from my TBR list. Some reviews might be big, some small. But the main thing is, I will be reading! I hope you all follow me on this crazy journey because if I’m being honest, there are a lot. I haven’t counted in a while but it must be in the 240 range. Wish me luck and I will be writing very soon…

SYNOPSIS When a monster brutally kills her parents, Ara is saved by two beast hunters. Becoming their apprentice, she discovers serums, secret bestiary knowledge, and remarkable abilities-all to save unsuspecting souls from the same fate her parents suffered. But, terrifying creatures lurk everywhere and Ara must master the art of beast hunting quickly if she is to uncover the elusive beast plaguing the village of Cornstead.

  SYNOPSIS Victorian London.  Joseph Winter is a master criminal, known around the backstreets as  Trace – because he never leaves one. That is, until a tip - off about a fabled  treasure map turns sour, shattering his reputation and  turning his dreams  to dust.  With nothing left to lose, Joseph decides to take the leap and persuades a  group of interesting strangers to join him on the hunt. After taking to the  waves, they are catapulted into a wonderous odyssey stretching across  the globe , unearthing not only missing clues but their own hidden  depths when pushed to extremes demanded by the sea.  The treasure hunt leaves questions. Yet soon Joseph begins to ask his own ... Why are they doing this?  Who can I trust?  Who am I now?

 Genuinely I have never felt so passionate about a book topic. I think this genre has been the pinnacle of my time as a reader from the beginning, all the way up till now. It affects the way I think and observe the world.  So, why do I want to talk about YA and what can be gained from this rant? Well, I think it is due to capitalism. What happened to quality over quantity? Now, I ask you this question, when was the last time you read a YA novel that not only stuck out to you but also was a hot topic of conversation? I don't think these conversations have existed in any sense for the last five years. YA has simply been absorbed into a never-ending library with more vivid and interesting genres that take our fancy.  It just doesn't exist. It is dead, but somehow we are making out that it still lives. Like a conspiracy to one of the most conversed topics of whether it died in the first place. But we all know, deep down, the golden age is gone and what comes after? Publishing...

  SYNOPSIS Cello prodigy Jenny has one goal: to get into a prestigious music conservatory. When she meets mysterious, handsome Jaewoo in her uncle's Los Angeles karaoke bar, it's clear he's the kind of boy who would uproot her careful plans. But in a moment of spontaneity, she allows him to pull her out of her comfort zone for one unforgettable night of adventure... before he disappears without a word. Three months later, when Jenny and her mother arrive in South Korea to take care of her ailing grandmother, she's shocked to discover that Jaewoo is a student at the same elite arts academy where she's enrolled for the semester. And he's not just any student. He's a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world- and he's strictly forbidden from dating. When a relationship means throwing Jenny's life off the path she's spent years mapping out, she'll have to decide once and for all just how much she's willing to risk for love.

  SYNOPSIS Sometimes saving a life is only the start of the story... It's nearly midnight on the eve of the millennium when eighteen-year-old Joel's heart stops. A school friend, Kerry, performs CPR for almost twenty exhausting minutes, ultimately saving Joel's life, while her best friend Tim freezes, unable to help. That moment of life and death changes the course of all three lives over the next two decades: each time Kerry, Joel and Tim believe they've found love, discovered their vocation, or simply moved on, their lives collide again. ...Because bravery isn't just about life or death decisions; it's also about how to keep on living afterwards.

  SYNOPSIS Fifteen years ago, Felicity Kerr threw caution to the wind and kissed her colleague Ryan Sullivan under the ancient wishing tree along the coast. When Ryan failed to respond to her kiss, Felicity was mortified that she'd read his signals so horrendously wrong and left Lemmon Cove for good. But now Felicity's job brings her back to her hometown, and face to face with Ryan, who is leading a bad of octogenarians rallying to save their beloved 300-year-old sycamore from being bulldozed by property developers. The spark with Ryan is still there, but Felicity is guarding a secret and as much as she wants to join the protest by his side, she can't help but hold back. Will Felicity be able to mend her broken heart and find happiness with Ryan beside the sea?

  SYNOPSIS Southern Australia, 1983. While Middle-aged stalwart Miriam rolls into town in her broken-down car, Frankie - a deer hunter - is up in the forested hinterland with her gun. Meanwhile, fisherwoman Old Pearl sits on her front deck with her dog, a glass of whisky in her hand, and Emily, the English backpacker, scrubs out the pie-encrusted kitchen at the roadhouse. But all is not well. Gran Parks is stirring. Four troubled women. One restless spirit. Who will survive?

Throughout my reading life, there has always been something that has made me happy beyond measure. It's the feeling which I get from buying and collecting and placing new books on my shelf. It is even that great excitement when I have gone into my favourite bookshop and be able to walk around to buying that book that I've been eying up after half an hour browsing. But then the pandemic happened and my reading habits changed for the worst.  At first, when the lockdown was first announced, everything was fine. I still had my last year studies at university, which were coming to a close and I had my sister with me. So, I would say I was pretty lucky compared to some of the other people that were facing the same problem of the pandemic. It is only when I finished my degree and began looking for a new job it seems my life took a little spiral and I have only come to realise this in the last few months. Then the book requests started to enter my inbox. The inbox that I haven't lo...

SYNOPSIS After a traumatic psychotic episode, a nameless young woman recounts past psychiatric crises in an attempt to make sense of her present and fight for her future. A genre-defying debut collection of prosetry, History of Present Complaint reveals the devastating reality of living with chronic mental illness. HLR writes of the human experience in her distinctive style: knock-out blows of blistering truths are tempered with shots of sardonic British humour, and the lines between fact and fiction, safety and danger, sanity and insanity are blurred beyond recognition through her bold poetry and sharp prose. History of Present Complaint is a damning depiction of under-funded mental health services and serves a vital role in giving a voice to the voiceless, shining a light on the darkest corners of the human condition and forcing the reader to see what has been there all along.

  SYNOPSIS Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find it, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous - and addictive - than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest: a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

  SYNOPSIS John Carver has three rules: Don't drink in the daytime, don't gamble when the luck has gone, and don't talk to the dead people who come to visit. It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from the whispers, the guilt, and the fear he was losing his mind, Carver fell into addiction, dragging himself through life one day at a time. Desperation has pulled him back to Afganistan, back to the heat, the dust, and the truth he worked so hard to avoid. But there are others, obsessed with power and forbidden magics, who will stop at nothing to learn the truth of his gifts. Abducted and chained, Carver must break more than his own rules if he is to harness this power and survive.

  There is no greater happiness than holding a physical book. Truly. Whether it be a hardback or paperback, they both share the same thrill that the ereader would find difficult. It is more than just text. It can be a symbol for a gift, a family heirloom or even showing how you have spent your hard-earned money on something that you love. It's happiness at its heart. A physical book is very special as it gives physical experiences. You can make memories with them. Want to write notes? Of course, you can. Dog-ear them? Yeah, sure. Tear it apart because some of the text means more than the rest? Be my guest. It's different from its technological counterpart as you don't need to wait for it to charge to read. It's already there, waiting for you on the shelf. Lost your charger? Well, you don't need one with a book. Don't get me wrong, I do like an ebook and it has saved me quite a few times but it's not the same. It doesn't quite give me the same rush of exc...

SYNOPSIS Flowers have always made Fearne smile. She treasures the memories of her beloved grandmother's floristry and helping her to arrange beautiful blooms that brought such joy to their recipients. But ever since a family tragedy a year ago, Fearne has been searching for her own contentment. When a chance discovery inspires her to start a happiness list, it seems that Fearne might just have found her answer... Sometimes the scariest path can be the most rewarding. So is Fearne ready to take the risk and step into the unknown? And what kind of happiness might she find if she does?