Review: Sistersong by Lucy Holland

 So, I'd been hearing about this book for a while and was lucky enough to get a physcial ARC (and what a beautiful orange ARC it is), but unfortunately a slump hit and I couldn't pick it up for a while.

But, I picked it up this month and just breezed through because I loved it so much! I will definitely be putting this on my top reads of 2021.

Here it is:

535 AD. In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, King Cador's children inherit a fragmented land abandoned by the Romans.

Riva, scarred in a terrible fire, fears she will never heal.

Keyne battles to be seen as the king's son, when born a daughter.

And Sinne, the spoiled youngest girl, yearns for romance.

All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold – a last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. But change comes on the day ash falls from the sky, bringing Myrddhin, meddler and magician, and Tristan, a warrior whose secrets will tear the siblings apart. Riva, Keyne and Sinne must take fate into their own hands, or risk being tangled in a story they could never have imagined; one of treachery, love and ultimately, murder. It's a story that will shape the destiny of Britain.

I have always loved historical fiction inbetween my fantasy fix, and this mixes the two beautifully - it's set in a Britain that is slowly losing it's magic, and shows the journey of 3 sisters learning just how they can try and continue to use this magic for themselves. This was also based on an old English ballad called The Twa Sisters, which I found intriguing, so I decided to look it up and see what exactly the book was based on - and I suggest you do too if you read it as it's so interesting to read about and see the similarities.

I do like that this book had the POV of all the sisters, though I do admit sometimes I got so frustrated with a couple of them - that may be because I'm quite good at figuring out what may happen in a book though. However, I think the character of Keyne was amazing - they were so well written and their storyline was absolute perfection. They were born a daughter, but throughout the whole book are fighting to be seen as a son - and I don't think that Keyne's character could have been written better. You really saw their struggle throughout and their strength to push through all the problems.

To me it did seem a bit slow at first, but after a while you see why, you really need to learn about the three sisters and see what part they will play in the storyline, and you soon get hooked into it and begin to connect with the characters and see all the different points coming together.

However, I do have to say the best part of the book in my opinion was the ending - it was mind blowing. I was absolutely entranced by the storyline at the end, and I couldn't believe how beautiful it was I got so emotional just reading it and finally seeing the link to the ballad it was based on. On top of that there was even an epilogue that just closed everything together wonderfully, and for me it helped to make the story. I do love a good epilogue.

I could say so much more on this book, but I won't ramble too much and instead I will just say go and buy a copy, you will not be disappointed at all. Overall, I give this 5 cats!

Have you read this book yet? Do you like retellings and have any favourites to recommend? Comment below I'd love to hear opinions!

Review: Alice by Christina Henry

I have had my eye on this book for so long, that when I popped into Waterstones one week I just had to choose this book to buy. I am slightly obsessed with Alice in Wonderland and any variations of it (I own about 5 different movie/TV versions) that I couldn't resist this twisted take on the story.

Here it is:

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn't remember why she's in such a terrible place-just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood... Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

This book was utterly absorbing - so much so that I read it in less than a day, and then pushed it into my sisters hands and told her she needs to read it. It was such a different take on Alice in Wonderland that I just zoomed through, wanting to know what would happen and not wanting to stop to do anything else until I had found out.

I adored the relationship between Alice and Hatcher throughout the book - it was weirdly beautiful how they supported each other through everything despite the fact that they both had pasts that they were trying to remember, and despite the fact that they both agreed that they would rather die than go back to what they were like before they escaped the hospital.

If I had to describe this book in one sentence: a deliciously dark and twisted version of Alice in Wonderland that will suck you straight into the action.

This is definitely a dark book, so beware if that isn't your thing, but it's definitely action packed and I really can't wait to get the next book and see just what happens in Alice and Hatcher's next adventure.

I give this book: 5 cats!

Have you read this book before or any other twisted Alice stories? Comment below!

ARC Review: Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Okay, guys, I have had this book a few months and I am already well into a re-read because it is just such a perfect mix of empowering and heart-warming, so I may ramble more than usual in this review. All I can say now is go buy it! I usually put that at the end but I will say it now because it is seriously an amazingly powerful book, that I think everyone really needs to read it.

Here it is:

'In an ancient city by the sea, three sisters - a maiden, a mother, and a crone - are drawing maps by candlelight. Sombre, with piercing grey eyes, they are the three Fates, and every map is a human life . . .'

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella's tale ends. We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella's two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not. Isabelle is fearless, brave, and strong-willed. She fences better than any boy, and takes her stallion over jumps that grown men fear to attempt. It doesn't matter, though; these qualities are not valued in a girl. Others have determined what is beautiful, and Isabelle does not fit their definition. Isabelle must face down the demons that drove her cruel treatment of Ella, challenge her own fate and maybe even redefine the very notion of beauty . . .

Cinderella is about a girl who was bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happily ever after?

You will probably know by now that I love a good re-telling or re-imagining of the classics, and as soon as I saw this was a retelling of one of the Ugly Stepsisters I knew that I needed to read it. I was lucky enough to get given a free ARC copy for review by Hot Key Books, and I powered through the first read in a few days it was so good - I actually even went on to re-read the book within a month of my first read because it really resonated with me.

But, when you first open the book to a dedication that says: "To anyone who's ever felt that they're not enough.", you know that there is definitely going to be something interesting within the pages - and I was most definitely not disappointed.

I could actually speak about this book for ages, there were so many passages and so many quotes that just jumped out at me and really resonated with me, so much so that my book was covered in little sticky notes during my re-read (I'm current about 2/3 of the way through the re-read and so far there are 10 sticky notes). I've never actually sticky noted a book before, so you can tell how much I loved it just from that.

I really connected with Isabelle as a character - and I think anyone that ever thought they weren't enough, or who thought that they shouldn't/couldn't be who they really are, or even those that tried to fit into the box that they were put in growing up will connect with her too. Isabelle is strong, and slowly learns to believe in herself and who she really is through the book - you see her push through her problems and self-worth issues and decide she is no longer going to be who her mother wants her to be, instead she is going to be who she was supposed to be all along. It's such a powerful transformation and Jennifer writes about the struggle of the transformation beautifully, adding in one of my favourite characters of Tanaquill the Fairy Queen to help Isabelle find the missing pieces of her heart.

Okay, I have probably rambled enough - it's been a while since I've rambled so much for a book - but I don't want to have you reading forever, so I will sum up this book in one sentence: This is a beautiful story about learning to carve out your own path when everything is against you - even Fate.

(p.s I just have to say I have found a new book crush in Chance, and I think everyone who has read this will agree with me he's such a charming character)

Stepsister is out in a few days (May 15th) and I think you should all go buy a copy, this is going to be one book that I will definitely read again and again, and I think this is going to be one of my top reads of 2019! I give this: 5 Cats (and so many more if I could)

May Wrap-Up!

So, I've been super busy this month starting a new job, but I get loads of travel reading time, so I guess my wrap-ups are becoming a regular thing now!

As before, these aren't all the books I've read this month, some get a full review but will be posted whenever I get around to it.

Mini review time!

The Beasts Heart by Leife Shallcross

I got this book as an ARC from Netgalley, but finished it so close to the release date that I thought I'd just do a mini review in my wrap up instead. As you should know, I adore re-tellings - of any form usually, all the writers differences in plot always fascinate me, and this was definitely an interesting take on Beauty and the Beast!

I loved seeing a book telling us of the Beasts POV. I've only seen one other take on it, and both are so different that it was great. I loved the history of the Beast - the backstory was filled out nicely and it was one of my favourite bits. I also liked the way the mirror was used in this book - to only see Isabeau's family, and only when the magic allowed it. In fact - the magic of this story was what drew me in the most - it was so intriguing!

4.5 Cats to this book (only because it took me so long to get into it)

The Extinction Trials by S. M. Wilson

I got this in a bookbox a while ago, and only just got round to reading it. There's been a big hype about this book, and it left me wondering if it could live up to it - it could and it did. This was my first dinosaur based book, as I've never really been a big fan of dinosaur based things, but this changed my way of thinking and I'll definitely be reading more in the future.

I admit, I always take a long look at maps before, so I saw Blaine's shack on the map and wondered about him - and where he might come in, so I wasn't as shocked as I probably should have been when he was introduced, but it did have me trying to guess about his origins which was fun.

Overall, I give this 5 cats, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the next book after everything that happened.

Carnivore by Jonathan Lyon

I got this book from the publisher, because I saw the cover and thought it was beautiful, and then the description had me intrigued. It's not often that I go out of my zone and read adult fiction, but sometimes I do and so far it's all been good.

This book was quite hard to read - not in a bad way, but because it was so intense and you had no idea where it would go. I've never read something as intense as this - and I warn you this is definitely not a book for those faint of heart and it has quite a lot of trigger warnings. But it was beautifully written - the descriptions in this were amazing, even if it was hard to keep up with the main character at times.


I give this book 3.5/4 cats. It was enthralling but totally not what I expected, and maybe a bit more intense than I thought. If I knew what I was going in to, I probably would have rated it much higher.

An Almond for a Parrot by Wray Delaney

I picked this book up for it's beautiful cover, and was slightly intrigued by the thought of a biography-like historical fiction so I bought it. I wasn't sure how much I would like it, but as soon as I started reading I got sucked right in to Tully's story - I especially liked how it went from her time in prison to her recollection - or 'memoir' of her time before she was imprisoned. In fact, I got so sucked in I almost missed my train stop because I couldn't tear myself away one morning!

There is one thing I will admit though, I wasn't expecting it to go into as much detail on her sex life as it did, and I definitely had a laugh at the terms Tully used during the more intimate scenes (I don't know if that's what they were called back then but wow they were weird) but other than that I had no complaints.

I give this book 4 cats. It is an adult historical fiction though, so maybe not for everyone!