Hello my bookish friends, another month has come to an end and I can confirm its been a good reading month for me. In England, we have gone back into Lockdown so that means I’ve had a lot of time to read on my hands (which I’m not mad at).
I managed to read 10 books this month, which is very good for me. It ties with the most I’ve ever read in a month. I enjoyed most of the books I read this month, so that makes it a really good month.
Lets talk about the books shall we?
First I read This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry. I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, I loved all the stand up elements to the book. It’s a great YA contemporary that’s out in the UK in February.
Then I read Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow by Benjamin Dean. This book was so adorable and wholesome. I loved every page. It’s a children’s book but I truly think everyone should read this book. It’s got such an important message. It’s out in February
Thirdly I read The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe. This book is absolutely wild. It’s so intense, with a plot that will keep you hooked until the very last page. Filled with twists and turns and complex characters. It’s out in February.
Up next was Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley. This is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s taken me a long time to make my mind up, but i think I loved it. It’s so human but other worldly. It’s out in March.
Then I read Forever Ends On Friday by Justin A. Reynolds. This was such a wonderful book, that deals with a heavy subject that made me really emotional. I really loved this book. Thanks to mykindabook for my copy. This one is out now.
Up next was A Meeting Of Two Prophets by Judah Tasha. This a sweet queer love story from a perspectives I’ve never read before. The love story really captured me but it also taught me a lot. Thanks to Judah for sending me this book. It’s out on February 4th.
Then I read Native by Akala. I read this as part of my 2021 challenge to read a nonfiction book every month. Such a brilliant book on class and race in the uk. I learnt so much. It was so informative yet accessible. This one should be required reading.
Up next I read Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson. I was really looking forward to this book but for me it unfortunately missed the mark. There was just something missing and few things that didn’t quite work for me. It wasn’t bad, but not my favourite. Thanks to Netgalley and SourceFire books for my copy. Out February 2nd.
Then I read The Coven by Lizzie Fry. I really enjoyed this book. It was engrossing and really clever. With fantastic characters and a book that parallels a society we find ourselves living in today. And who doesn’t love witches? Thanks to the publishers for this book. It’s out February 25th.
Lastly I read The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. I absolutely loved this book. I loved it. Every page, every character. The only thing I didn’t like is now I’ve got to wait for the second one. Such a brilliant young adult fantasy. This one is out February 4th.
So that’s all my books for the month. Do you plan on reading any of these? Or have you read any? Let me know.
Synopsis: When his best friend, Q, dies in a terrible accident, Jamal is given an extraordinary choice: one more week with Q, alive and kicking. The catch? Q mustn’t ever know that he died. Now Jamal had the chance to give Q the best week of his life before he has to say goodbye again…
I’m so excited to be on the Blog Tour for Forever Ends on Friday. Make sure you check out all the other books and see what they are saying about the wonderful book.
I’m going to start this review with a warning, get the tissues at the ready. You will need them. You will definitely need them. I did. I needed them. A lot of them.
Forever Ends on Friday is a book that I really enjoyed. There’s a lot to connect with, with wonderful characters and a heartbreaking story. It’s the kind of book you pick up and struggle to put down.
One of the highlights of this book is the connection between the characters that Justin creates. They are so sincere and heartfelt. I loved the friendship between Jamal and Q, like I said you can really feel the connection between them. But there’s also the relationship between Jamal and Autumn. Jamal and his sister, Q and his mum. Honestly they all had such depth to them. They really grounded the novel.
Forever Ends On Friday deals with really heavy subject matter but its all dealt with, with real honesty and emotion. There are some really emotional moments, which I know you’d expect from a book surrounding death, but because you really grow to care for the characters it makes it worse. If you’d like to know where I ugly cried (yes obviously I ugly cried) it was the conversation between Q and his mum. Oh I’m was so sad! So, so sad.
But please don’t think you’ll read this book and be depressed after finishing it, there’s at times some real light-hearted ness to the book. With the romance between Jamal and his sister and Jamal and Autumn, they provide some real funny and sweet moments.
It will also have you asking yourself some questions, would you bring someone back from the dead if you could, for a short while? Would you tell them what happened and they didn’t have long left? I know it’s something I’ve been thinking about after reading it.
Forever Ends On Friday is a really enjoyable contemporary, with a hint of sci-fi that I really enjoyed, that will tug at your heartstrings and remind you what truly important in life. You’ll treasure your friends and loved ones after this. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Thank you so much to Amber at MyKindaBook for my gifted copy, in return for an honest, unbiased review. And thanks for having me on the blog tour. It’s out now.
Synopsis: In Baxter’s Beach, Barbados, Lala’s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister, a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers. For Wilma, its the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result. When Layla grows up, she sees it offers hope – of life after losing a baby in the most terrible of circumstances and marrying the wrong man. And Mira Whalen? It’s about keeping alive, trying to make sense of the fact that her husband has been murdered, and she didn’t get the chance to tell him that she loved him after all.
I am so thrilled to be on the blog tour for this amazing book, make sure to check out my these other reviews
Let me state this now, I absolutely loved this book. I loved it so much. I had high hopes, but this book surpassed them in every way. It is absolutely one of my favourite reads of the 2020, there is no doubt about that. It was in my top 10 of the year for 2020. It’s the book I’ve been recommending to everyone. So I’m absolutely recommending it to you. It’s brilliant.
I don’t want to say to much about the plot of this book, I want you to experience it for yourself. How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House (can I quickly mention what a fantastic title that is) is at times heartbreaking and it also at points made my stomach drop. It’s so immersive and I was absolutely enraptured from the beginning, I really was. It’s beautiful, it has something to say
We follow multiple perspectives in How The One-Armed Woman Sweeps Her House and they are all fantastic. I mean, my heart now belongs to Lala. Lala is one of our main protagonists along with Mrs Whalen. They are brilliant and complex. There’s also Adan and Tone. All the characters are so well crafted. I also loved how Cherie, mentioned characters throughout this novel and then they got their chapter perspectives and they are brilliant. It made the whole book feel so connected. My favourite is character that you get a snippet of is Sheba.
How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is the kind of book you can’t stop thinking about. I would be baking cakes at work and thinking of Lala. Or be thinking about where the plot was going to go. Or how I wanted to get home and read it. It’s also the kind of book you tell everyone about. I was telling everyone at work about this. Most of them don’t read (sad I know) but I just had to let them know about this book and how it was consuming all my thoughts.
The writing is absolutely phenomenal, Cherie has such a wonderful way with words. Chapter 25 is a masterpiece. The writing is just so assured. It’s so powerful and emotive. There are also some really tough moments in this book, but Cherie handles them so honestly. This is Cherie’s debut and it’s one of the best debuts I’ve ever reads. It’s so assured. I just think this book is outstanding. I don’t reread books but I know I’ll be rereading this one, just to experience the beautiful writing again.
By the end of this novel, if you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough. There was so much building up towards the end and there was such an atmosphere. I couldn’t believe what was happening and Cherie paced it perfectly. I won’t say anymore. All I’ll say it didn’t disappoint me in anyway. I also had to put the book down and really take in what happened. Ugh, it was so good.
I can’t recommend this book enough. Could you tell I loved it? Please read it. It’s a powerful, intimate debut that is unforgettable. I’m already looking forward to what Cherie writes next.
Thank you to Antonia at Tinder Press for my copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out on January 21st.
Phew, December was not a great reading month for me. It got off to a bad start when i DNF’d two books, which I never do. Although I’m not going to actually class them as proper DNF’s because i do plan on picking them up again at some point. And then I think it took me nearly two weeks to finish my first book. It’s not like me at all.
I finally did get going and I finished five books this month, which isn’t very many for me, but as well know its not the amount you read, its what you learn from each book and how much you enjoy them.
So lets talk about the five books shall we?
First I read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. This has been on my shelf for a long time and I had high expectations but ultimately it was disappointing for me. I know people love this one, but for me it just had so much missing. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my favourite. I’m gutted I didn’t love it, but there’s plenty more books on my shelves.
Up next I read Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green. This was my favourite of the month, I loved it. I love what Simon is doing for Queer UKYA. It’s a sweet, funny road trip romance between to young boys with an important message. You can check out my full review here.
Thirdly, I read All The Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks. This just wasn’t it for me. It’s a memoir, but I’m struggling to see what the intentions of the book was. The balance was just totally of for me. Thank you to Orion for my copy and its out on January 21st if you’d like to check it out.
Then I read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. This was a brillant historical fiction book. If you loved The Nightingale by this author, you’ll love this one. It’s got a gripping story and characters you’ll love. It had me crying at the end. Thank you so much to panmacmillon for my copy of this book. It’s out February 2nd.
Lastly, I read insatiable by Daisy Buchanan. This to was a really important book. It’s modern, it’s filthy and it has a brilliant message. It definitely made me laugh out loud a few times. Thank you to Sphere books for my copy. It’s out February 11th.
So that’s it for my reading month. Let’s hope in January I can get my reading mojo back. Especially as I’m back in lockdown and what am I going to do besides read?
Now, I’ve been on lockdown this whole month and I really thought I was going to read more, but of course these lockdowns are hard and my reading took a while to get going.
I really started off the month slowly, just not reading much. I was finding it really hard to concentrate. But when I finally did get going I read some brilliant books. Absolutely brilliant. But I don’t only manage to read seven books. Not great, but not bad. Still I’ve found a new favourite so it was a good month.
Towards the end of the month my reading sort of tapered off again. But hey, that’s lockdown for you.
Let’s talk about these books then shall we?
First up I read The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell. This was a good book, not my favourite of the month, but still good. It kept me intrigued throughout. And I’ll definitely be checking out Laura’s other books. It’s out in January.
Next I read These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong and I really enjoyed this one. It took me a little why to get into it, but once I did I loved it. Great characters, a great story. Action packed. You can check out my full review here. Can I have book two now? This one is out now.
Then I read Between The World and Mw by Ta-nehisi Coates. This is a brilliant non-fiction book. I don’t think this is something you review. It’s just something you learn from. It’s a must read.
Up next was The Prophets by Robert Jones jr. Is this my new favourite book? I think so. It’s absolutely outstanding. The writing is phenomenal. Phenomenal. I can’t recommend it enough. This one is out January 5th. Thank you to Quercus books for my copy.
Then I read Love Is A Revolution by Renée Watson. This is a quick YA book that I really enjoyed. It had some fantastic characters, and I loved the message that this book gets across. This one is out in February. Thanks to Bloomsbury YA for my copy.
Next up was Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. This book was short but it really packed a punch. The writing was absolutely stunning. It really was stunning. This one is out in February and I can’t recommend it enough. I look forward to rereading it. Thanks to Viking Books UK for my copy.
Then I read While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart. Loved this one. I love historical fiction and this is an excellent one. Thank you to Headline books for my copy. It’s out in March.
Lastly this month I read The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I absolutely loved this book. Brilliant characters, a brilliant story. I can’t stop thinking about this book.
So that was my reading for the month. Are you interested in any of these? Or have you read any? Let me know.
Synopsis: It’s 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, is being transported from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam, where he is facing trail and execution for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent, while also on board are Sara Wessel, a noble woman with a secret, and her husband, the general governor of Batavia. But no sooner than their ship is out to see than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead Leper stalks the deck. Livestock are slaughtered in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice whispering to them in the darkness, promising them three unholy miracles. First: an impossible pursuit. Second: an impossible theft. Third: an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes. With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent and Sara can solve a mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.
Okay, I’m writing this review right after I finished The Devil and the Dark Water and all I can think about is that ending!!! But we’ll talk about that more later. The more I think about this book, the more I love it. It’s was sooooo good.
Just a little warning this review might seem vague but I really don’t want to give anything about the plot away. I want you to be swept away like I was.
We mainly follow Arent, as he has to solve the mystery that’s happening Saardam while his crime solving partner, who usually solves the crimes, Sammy is imprisoned. Is there a devil aboard called Old Tom?
The plot of The Devil and the Dark Water was pretty incredible. It’s a very detailed and intricate storyline, I definitely had to concentrate. But trust me you’ll want to concentrate. I usually try and guess what was going on, but I couldn’t. I had no idea. It really kept me guessing throughout. It was full of twists and turns, cliffhangers, murder, mystery. Ugh, it was just so damn good.
This book is full of characters. And I have to say at the beginning there’s a lot of names and I did get a tiny bit confused. But like I said, we mainly follow Arent. He’s a great character. He really is. I loved his friendship with Sammy and that’s all I say on that!!! I also loved Sara and Lia. Both fantastic characters. It’s great to read strong female characters. There’s many more you’ll meet when you read this book.
It did take me a while to read this book, but I think it’s because I was enjoying it and didn’t want it to end. Stuart has created such an immersive world. As I read the book I just forgot about everything else. It also has real momentum. It’s a slow build that buy the time you reach the end there’s so much anticipation that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Now shall we talk about the ending?
The ending! I was so shocked! I still can’t believe it. So I’m obviously going to talk about this without giving anything away but the mystery of this book was revealed and I was shocked, but I thought it was a clever twist and I was satisfied. And then there was ANOTHER twist that I didn’t see coming and it shocked me to my core. I had to put the book down for a minute to comprehend what I’d just read.
Also, the ending sort of broke my heart in a way. If you’ve read it you’ll know what I mean.
I really recommend this book. It was brilliant. It’s exciting, immersive and so enjoyable. Please give this one a read. You won’t regret it.
Thank you to Laura at Bloomsbury for gifting me with a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out now.
Synopsis: The death of a ninety-year-old woman shouldn’t be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in carer Natalka’s account of Peggy Smith’s death. But when Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she had been sure someone was following her. And that Peggy had been a ‘murder consultant’ who plotted deaths for authors, and knew more about murder than anyone has the right to. And when clearing out Peggy’s flat ends in Natalka being held at gunpoint by a masked figure. Well then DS Harbinder Kaur thinks that maybe there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all…
I’m super excited to be in the Social Media Blast for The Postscript Murders with Quercus Books. Definitely check out these fantastic bloggers and bookstagrammers for their reviews.
I really, really enjoyed this book. It just had everything you need in a good thriller. Here’s the thing, this book was exciting to read. I was excited to turn the page. I was excited to find out what happened. What more can you ask for?
When I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of how modern it felt. The whole story felt fresh. I think it was because of the characters. They were fantastic. You rooted for all these characters. I loved Harbinder. I loved that she was LGBTQ+, it was fantastic to see the kind of representation in the story and not be hid. Natalka is also great. As is Benedict. They felt like a real team and it was great to read.
Let’s talk about the mystery/ thriller aspect. I couldn’t figure it out. I just couldn’t and trust me I tried. Elly has crafted a mystery that you believe could have many outcomes so it keeps you on your toes. It was also really intricate between all the characters connections which I loved. It really kept it suspenseful. There was also some real cliffhangers in this book, so I just couldn’t put it down.
Now let’s talk about that ending shall we? The whole story is built up and comes together in these pages, and I had my suspicions as to who the murder was and I can confirm I was wrong! You know that feeling when you can’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what happened, this was me with The Postscript Murders.
I know this review is a bit vague in the way of plot, but I really don’t want to give anything away. Just be swept away and intrigued by all the twist and turns like I was.
Elly has crafted a great murder mystery/ thriller story here. It last gripping from start to finish. And like I said I couldn’t turn those pages fast enough. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Thank you Ella at Quercus Books for gifting me with a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out now.
Another month has come and gone. September was a strange month. I only managed to read six books. I haven’t read that little in a long time. I wonder why? Oh well, we can always hope for more books next month.
Also when I’m reading so little, it certainly doesn’t stop buying more books. I’ve bought and received double the amount of books than I’ve read this month. But I’m not complaining. There’s nothing better than book mail.
Anyway, let’s talk about these books shall we?
The first book is The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi and what a way to start the month. I loved this book. I’ll be surprised if it’s not in my top 10 for the year. Beautiful, beautiful writing! It’s out now.
I then read You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. This was just incredible! I loved it from the first page to the last. Queer Black girl love and I need more. It was Brilliant. It’s out now.
Next up was Beloved by Toni Morrison. I can say this wasn’t my favourite Toni Morrison book, but the writing was still exceptional as always. A masterful storyteller.
Then I read Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. This was absolutely fantastic. A brilliant fantasy book with every done so well. I loved it. Now I’ve got the long wait for book two. It’s out now.
I then finished Just Like You by Nicky Hornby. This book managed to capture a time and a place well. But there was also something lacking in this book. But it was a quick read. It’s out now.
Next up was The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffith. I really, really enjoyed this one. It was so good. Full of twists and turns. A fantastic mystery. Great characters. I loved it. It’s October 1st.
This is what it for me this month. I guess it wasn’t my best month. But let’s hope October goes better.
I also have a new Blog Photo which I absolutely love. My wonderful friend Hugo drew it for me. You can find him on Instagram.
Synopsis: After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family’s memories or childhood home. A residential programme for bright young high-schoolers at UNC- Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape – until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying Demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called ‘Legendborn’ students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysteriousteenage mage who calls himself a ‘Merlin’and who attempts- and fails- to wipe Beees memory of everything saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if it means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets – and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveals themselves as descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down – or join the fight.
For more stops on this blog tour, check out these other fantastic bloggers and see how much they love this book.
This is the kind of fantasy book I absolutely love. It had everything you could ever want. Fantastic characters, detailed magic, a brilliant plot and romance . Have I convinced you to read this yet?
We follow Bree, who joins a secret society to find out the truth about her mother’s death and gets so much more than she bargained for. It’s such a brilliant plot that I don’t want to go into too much detail and ruin it for you. I want you to be swept away like I was.
Bree is such a fantastic main character to follow. She’s smart, brave, gutsy. I loved her. You can’t help but root for her throughout. I even felt protective over her. I also have to give a shoutout to Sel. I also loved him. He had that classic arc of he’s a bad guy but is he really? I love him. Check out the answers below in the interview for some Sel information in book two!
There was a romance between Bree and Nick that was pretty inevitable but it was still fantastic. I totally believe it and was into it. But without saying too much, I wonder if there’s another character that could interrupt Bre and Nicks romance and i think I want it to be explored. It actually need it to be explored. I need it. It excites me.
The magic in this book is brilliant. It’s a real highlight. It’s incredibly detailed so pay attention. When Bree joins the secret order, it’s so interesting to learn about Shadowborns, Onceborns, Merlins. And I love how it all ties into King Arthur and the nights of the round table. It’s genius. I love the blend of modern and historical fiction. And just when you think it can’t get anyone detailed and intricate we learn about Rootcraft. Which celebrates black history and the power of your roots. Which I actually believe is genius and so powerful.
This book also has so many important messages. I love what Tracy has to say about grief. It was so powerful and poignant. It definitely made me tear up a few times. It’s just so honest and real. Such brilliant writing. It also makes you love Bree more. I’ve also lost my mum, like Bree and Tracy the author. So it really hit home for me. It also deals with race and it’s handled honestly and powerfully. It’s black girl magic. It’s what we need more of and this book is perfect at capturing it.
Ugh the ending. It was sooooo good. Tracy manages to build such momentum that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Seriously. It felt like I was in the action. And there was a lot of action. With so many twists and turns. I didn’t guess the ending. It totally surprised me. It was so powerful. I absolutely loved it.
I guess all there’s left to say it, when is book twoout? I need it. Like yesterday.
There’s so much to enjoy about this book and I really want you all to read it. You won’t regret it. Also, it’s just become a New York Times Bestseller
Now it’s time for the interview.
Thank you so much to Tracy for agreeing to do this. Enjoy the answers!
1) What inspired you to write this story?
The first early kernel of Bree, the main character of Legendborn, was born when I lost my mother. At that time, I found out that she had also lost her mother when she was my age, and that the same was true of my grandmother. Being a writer, I immediately wondered how such a pattern could have happened in my family. Of course, there’s no real answer here – life is strange and sometimes the odd and sad things happen to us and that’s that. But as a writer, I decided to create an answer. I began writing from a place of grief and mystery, and in the book Bree begins from that same place, too. I wanted to explore the idea of legacy and whose lives and deaths are lost to history and whose become legendary. That naturally led me to Arthuriana, as I’ve been a fan of the legends for most of my life, and I felt as though I could contribute something new to the 1500 year old storytelling tradition of growing the Arthurian canon. That’s really the source of Bree’s story—a book-length, contemporary fantasy answer to an impossible real world question.
2) Was it always going to be a school setting?
Yes! Once I decided to work with Arthuriana to explore some of my favorite legends, I immediately thought of Susan Cooper and The Dark is Rising Sequence. In those books, part of her brilliance was allowing Arthur and the stories to be pulled forward into the future in a sense. I gave myself the same challenge – How could Arthur and the Table exist in the modern day? The answer seemed very clear here in the US; the Round Table would embed themselves into a secret society somehow! Secret societies are a great cover for very old generations of power. I was familiar with secret societies at UNC-Chapel Hill because I went to school there for both of my degrees, and the campus is very much embedded in my mind. There are a lot of mysterious and fascinating societies at that school, being the oldest public university in the country. I did a lot of primary source research within UNC’s own archives. Tying in UNC’s history was actually quite easy with my background and because I’d been thinking about how that history impacts students for a long time
4) The magic system is so intriguing, how did you come up with it?
In the book, the Legendborn are descendants of the knights of the round table and have inherited magic because of that legacy. I wanted to believably stretch Arthur and the knights and the Table forward in time, and needed magic to make that happen. I also knew I wanted a magic system that had nothing to do with the Order of the Legendborn, and that they needed to have different uses and origins but work within the same environment.
Since the magic systems in the book are very, very old and fairly strict; they needed to be functional and solid over dozens of generations in order to work as I needed them to! So, my first step was to write them out in prose form first, in mostly full sentences, to test whether I could actually verbalize them. Then each system was moved to whiteboards to play out examples or work out problems. I have three whiteboards in my house: one in my kitchen for brainstorming while cooking or doing other tasks, one in my office that I can write on and refer back to as I work at my desk, and another that is portable so I can use it while sitting on the ground.
I used more than a dozen spreadsheets over the course of drafting and revisions, and they kept growing or getting re-organized. Some sheets were just about keeping track of recurring details. For example, I have a sheet that is just about the Scions and their bloodlines, their rankings, their inheritances (powers and personality traits), preferred weapons and character traits. I also collaborated in Google Sheets with my Wales-based Welsh language and medievalist consultant for all of the Welsh vocabulary, both made up magical terms and real ones. I think the magic systems took about a year and a half to design and “test” in revisions.
3) Have you always been interested in history, did this influence the book?
First – thank you for asking this question, because history is such a big part of Legendborn. How we talk about history, how it gets recorded, who gets to record it and why. I’m not a historian by trade, but I have always been interested in those sorts of issues around history. I am deeply fascinated with human storytelling, which is really the most critical component of history in my eyes. History as a strictly official, academic study feels to me like the stories that got written down or that have artifacts; But the history of humanity is much broader than we can possibly conceive and includes stories and tales that were never written down, or that were recorded using different methods and not captured by historians. The interesting thing about legends is that they’re different from myths because there’s a historical component – usually legends are based on a small sliver of truth revolving around a real person, or based on a communally believed history that doesn’t require a documented truth to persist. Legendborn is my way of playing with all of these ideas while working within some of the enduring themes of Arthurian literature and my own storytelling style.
4) Can you tell us anything about book two?
I can’t share anything too juicy, but I will say that the sequel builds on what is exposed in the first book, all of the magic levels up, and we meet brand new characters. And if you enjoy Sel, just know that we don’t see nearly the full extent of his powers in book one! Now that the groundwork is laid for the universe, we’ve got tons to explore.
Thank you Tracy for answering the questions. Such brilliant answers! Obviously I had to ask about book two, I’m obsessed. And we get more Sel!!!
Thank you to Daniel at Simon and Schusters Kids for gifting me with a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out now.
Synopsis: When Claire Fontaine learns that her ex-husband Simon is marrying again, to a woman with a teenage daughter, her blood runs cold. She is sure that years ago Simon molested her own daughter and was responsible for her mysterious death. She can’t let him get away with it a second time. Vandalism, harassment; whatever it takes, Claire will expose him. Simon doesn’t know where Claire got this delusion from; her daughter’s death was ruled a suicide. Why is she lashing out? Wanting to protect his new fiancée, he hires Sloane Wilson, an ex-cop turned ‘sin-eater’, whose job is to handle delicate cases without getting the police Involved. Simon gives her the task of getting Claire off his back. Sloane must navigate the wreckage of Claire and Simon’s marriage to discover the truth. Is she crazy, or is he manipulative? And can Sloane stay clear-headed enough to figure it out.
I’m also so excited to be on this social media blast for this fantastic book. Check out all these other reviews.
I don’t really read thrillers that often because I tend to find them a little disappointing, but I can gladly say I didn’t find this one disappointing at all. This is everything you want in a thriller. It was intense, suspenseful, intriguing, complex and just super enjoyable.
The question of An Inconvenient Woman is whether we believe Claire or her Ex-Husband Simon as to whether he abused his step daughter. This book definitely keeps you guessing as to who was telling the truth. I can say I believed Claire. There was just something about her character that made me. There’s another level to this book as Simon hires a ‘sineater’ to stop Claire trying to contact his future wife to warn her. This also made me feel like I believed Claire even more as Sloane the sineater was just ugh! But I’m not telling you the answer.
The plot goes to places I didn’t expect it to. It had many subplots and characters that all came together in ways I didn’t expect but it really made sense. The chapters were also short so it kept the pacing quick and fresh.
Here’s one of the (many) things I really enjoyed about this novel, it had so much heart. Claire had such a heartfelt, upsetting back story. It gave the novel and the characters another layer and so much depth. It really took this book to another level for me. Can we have more thrillers like this please?
The ending was so good. So, so good. I’m so glad it didn’t disappoint. It all came together in such a clever way and kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat until the end. It’s hard to write a review without giving it away. I’ll guess you’ll just have to read it. The ending felt very cinematic to me. It would make a fantastic mini-series.
I would definitely recommend this. It was engaging from the very first page to the end. I couldn’t put it down. It’s a novel I keep finding myself thinking about. It’s out now.
Thank you to Ella at Quercus for gifting me with a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review.
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