Rabbits Review

Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller in which a deadly underground alternate reality game might just be altering reality itself, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast.

It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air–4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th–4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past–and the body count is rising.

And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K–a Rabbit’s obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake. If I didn’t have such an affinity with wolves, I would absolutely be wanting my spirit animal to be a rabbit right now, and not just any rabbit oh no, no cuddly bugs bunny for me

I want a badass rabbit that wants me to follow it down a rabbit hole into some crazed wonderland that I may never return from.

So why the tangent on rabbits and not talking about the novel? Well buckle up.

This is a dark nerd gamers paradise think DBD meets D and D with masterful twists and turns that makes you feel more than any computer game ever did or could – yeah it is that good. If you love your games on the obsessive, intellectualy and highly playable side then you will love this book.

Imagine playing a game where the it is the world but more than that it takes over everything you have and becomes so much more than just a game.

I refuse to spoil it for people but OMG what a rollercoaster ride and I never wanted to get off, I was adoringly satisfied from opening page to finishing page and I just wanted it to keep going. 5 stars really isn’t enough.

The Colours of Death Review

In an alternative present-day Lisbon, a small percentage of the population have been diagnosed as Gifted – having telepathic or telekinetic powers. Along with the power comes a stigma and suspicion that Gifted Inspector Isabel Reis with the Lisbon Police Force knows only too well.

When Isabel is called to investigate a mysterious and violent death which hints at Gifted involvement, she knows it’s more than just her personal reputation on the line. In a society where Gifted individuals are already viewed with mistrust; Isabel is hiding her own secret and knows she has to tread carefully as a conspiracy emerges and the body count rises.

The first thing that I loved about this novel was that it was set in Lisbon – a setting that I have not encountered in many books so that was a refreshing aspect and the author gave so many vivid descriptions of both the setting and the food in the novel, that I genuinely felt like I was reading this sat on the streets of Lisbon. Some of the translation was slightly off but that did not bother me in the slightest and took nothing from the reading of the novel.

This sci-fi crime thriller – even just those words feel me with pleasure than I can say – is set in a present day yet alternate Portugal where a political party is leading the agenda to rid those of the gifted with telepathic or telekinetic abilities. It really is so refreshing to read crime fiction that has a fresh new twist.  The characters are well written and I enjoyed getting to know them and see them develop as the story developed.

This was a thrilling, highly inventive and incredibly gripping novel and I really don’t want to give anything away by going into more detail but you really need to read this book whether you like thrillers, crime, sci-fi, dystopian or just something new then this book really needs to be in your TBR pile. 5 stars.

The Hollow Gods Review

Black Hollow is a town with a dark secret.

For centuries, residents have foretold the return of the Dreamwalker—an ominous figure from local folklore said to lure young women into the woods and possess them. Yet the boundary between fact and fable is blurred by a troubling statistic: occasionally, women do go missing. And after they return, they almost always end up dead.

When Kai wakes up next to the lifeless body of a recently missing girl, his memory blank, he struggles to clear his already threadbare conscience.

Miya, a floundering university student, experiences signs that she may be the Dreamwalker’s next victim. Can she trust Kai as their paths collide, or does he herald her demise?

And after losing a young patient, crestfallen oncologist, Mason, embarks on a quest to debunk the town’s superstitions, only to find his sanity tested.

A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas, and deadly secrets loom in the foggy forests of Black Hollow. Can three unlikely heroes put aside their fears and unite to confront a centuries-old evil? Will they uncover the truth behind the fable, or will the cycle repeat?

This debut novel is filled to the brim with folklore and analysis of the characters is masterfully subtle yet effective in that the reader believes they are reading a story about a crazed and demonic woman that is terrorizing a town but in actuality it is an examination of anxiety, grief, loss, identity crisis and everything else you go through in fantasy realms.

The writing is beautiful and the author develops a beautiful visual scene in an extraordinary way. She has developed scenes that are so real it is almost overwhelming and can almost play with your emotions and mind.

The narrative is the point of view of three different characters and each one had a different tone/voice which really gave the impression of different characters talking and was an aspect that I love but is often rare in fantasy books.

As well as the characterisation and the narrative I also like the romance aspect. It was only a small aspect of the novel but an important part because it allowed the reader a moment of desire and a break from the darkness.

Overall, I loved the book and would give it a solid 4 stars due to the pace at the beginning being a bit slow for me.

Unspoken Review

The Unspoken One has been banished for many years, his very existence erased. Ameera must find his true name and summon him if she has any hope of saving her kingdom from war, and herself from marriage to a ruthless king.

The Kingdom of Nur has been suffering for years under Ameera’s father’s rule. She’s bid her time, carefully keeping her secret hidden and waiting to become queen so she can repair what her father has broken. Then an unwanted marriage to the brutal king of Nur’s enemy threatens everything she’s worked towards.

With her wedding drawing near and the future of her kingdom in peril, she finds the forbidden name. She knows The Unspoken One is her last chance to save Nur, but she risks much in summoning him. His magic is not understood, the crime he was banished for is unknown, and speaking his name carries an unbearable punishment.

For Nur, for herself, she must risk it all. Or lose everything she holds dear. She speaks the name too many have paid a painful price for uttering. Nothing, not the kingdom, their lives, or her heart, will ever be the same.

Everything in this stunning YA Fantasy Romance came together perfectly from the setting to the one of the strongest female leads I have ever encountered as a reader. This incredible story is unpredictable from page one and I fell instantly in love with every aspect of it and finished it super quickly.

I do not want to spoil anything for anyone all I can say is you will miss out if you do not read this book.  I wish I could give it more than 5 stars

The Lost Apothecary Review

I was provided The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner as an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own and thanks is extended to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course. Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman. Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

First off it is important to say there are some aspects of this book that could trigger some readers such as thinking of suicide, recalling a miscarriage, behaviour of a predatory nature towards an adolescent, divorce and infidelity, poisoning and blood. However, despite all of that I loved it and it didn’t take away from the novel in anyway.

I am a big fan of historical fiction anyway and this had everything I look for it perfectly evoked 1790’s London for me as well as present day London and is the perfect mix of mystery, suspense, murder, discovery, guilt and adventure.

The narrative flips so that each chapter is the point of view of the three different women and there is a clear and entirely seductive link between the time periods courtesy of the little blue vial, however I won’t go into details as I would want all readers to experience it first time round like I had the pleasure of doing.

If I had one criticism – and it is a very small one- is that I found the intense friendships that developed after a very small number of meetings a reach and Caroline’s thought processes within the novel didn’t always sit right with but like I said it is a very small criticism and it didn’t take anything away from the storyline or the narrative as a whole.

I was also pleasantly surprised after reading the description of the book to find that this wasn’t a novel filled with hatred for men nor glorifying women in their hatred and demise of men but simply an illumination of the journey that women go on after making specific choices and the consequences and effect that these choices have on aspects of themselves and their lives.

Overall I enjoyed the novel and its fast flowing pace. A definite 4.5 stars for me.