sunsetxcocktail

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Unfortunately another one for the DNF pile. This one just did not work for me. It's long winded and boring and just another bland YA fantasy revolving around forbidden magic and disputing nobles and religious groups who all have their own agenda. I got half way through but can't find the willpower to pick it up again. I tried the other day and barely got through ten pages. Boring and just not up to par with the YA fantasy available, at least not for me. Time to call it quits. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for approving my request to view the title. 

I received a copy from Netgalley.

This was also an additional book in one of my Fairyloot subscription boxes so I got a signed paperback as well.

I didn’t dislike it, I wasn’t particularly blown over with it either. It’s just another generic YA fantasy set on the high seas. In this one the heroine Marianne lives on her father’s ship. Her mother died when she was a young child. Her father is the Viper, the protector of the 12 Isles. But they’re more like pirates and assassins – ruthless, cruel and brutal. Marianne is supposed to take over one day.

However, she doesn’t seem to have the violent streak a Viper needs. She’s not dim by any means. She has a conscience and thinks things could be done better. Because she’s a girl she’s treated like crap by the crew. She has one companion – an older lady who has helped train her who treats her like a person. She was once close to one of the boys her age, but circumstances made him turn his back on her.

She’s betrothed to the Prince of the royal family the Viper serves. The prince appears to be condescending and arrogant. On the night of her official initiation as a Viper everything goes wrong and things happen and Marianne is forced to flee. Pursued by her father’s crew over the 12 isles she discovers nefarious plots and a secret about her own past that could have a massive impact on the 12 Isles and the Eastern Lands they’re on the brink of war with.

The prince isn’t the asswipe he seems to be – and there’s much more too him. Alliances are drawn, plots are uncovered, other Royalty is determined to be selfish and useless and things need to massively change. It’s up to Marianne and her companions to make this happen.

It wasn’t by any means a bad book, - it was just kind of okay. I liked Marianne as a character, she had a code of honour and a brain and thought logically. She was emotional but wasn’t ruled by her emotions. The prince turned out to be a really interesting character as well. The writing was okay, the story was okay. There just wasn’t anything about this book that really stood out to bring it apart from other sea based YA fantasies.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hatchette Children’s Books for the review copy.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Unreliable narrators aren’t usually my thing. They make me uncomfortable. The whole premise of this book made me uncomfortable.

A perfect daughter of psychologists institutionalised for a crime. She’s convinced she did no wrong (even though it’s obvious from the start she did.) Her logic is flawed and frightening but also…in a weird way vey plausible. Which makes it all the more frightening.

Hannah is a very intelligent girl who has a habit of latching onto people and calling herself the perfect best friend. She’s not cruel or violent or anything. She’s manipulative without even realising what she’s doing.  She’s doing a summer programme at a college and something terrible happens to her roommate.

Police are called and they all think Hannah is responsible. She’s labelled “a danger to herself and other” and put in a hospital for evaluation until the trial. Despite how uncomfortable this book made me as a reader, it’s extraordinarily well written. It’s compelling and page turning and you just have to know what’s going on. What happened with the roommate, what makes Hannah the way she is? Is she faking it and a very good actress – or is she really just nuts and doing a good job of covering it up and trying to convince everyone she’s normal and no threat to anyone?

It’s a harrowing experience following Hannah as she wakes up in the hospital and goes through talking to the doctors and learning how things work and what she has to do to convince everyone what happened was an accident.

Slowly, we learn what really happened. The truth about Hannah’s involvement and what might happen next.  What makes it all the more believable is there’s no black and white right and wrong way to handle the outcome. It’s not a fair outcome, really but it’s a realistic one and something that highlights the tough decisions that justice systems sometimes have to make.

It’s a difficult book to get through but a really good one.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

This title appealed to me immediately as it came recommended for fans of “One of Us Is Lying” which I absolutely loved. However, this book failed to meet the high standard of that book. I thought this book was awful.

The premises was interesting enough. There was a party and someone died. The actions of a small group of people lead to the tragedy and someone saw what happened. Now, a year later those people are sent mysterious invitations to a murder mystery party with a big prize. No name of the person inviting them.

The party is a costume party and each character is given certain props. Challenges to solve that get more personal and more deadly as the night progresses. Secrets are at stake, lives are at stake and the risks become more and more over the top. Some of the group were friends, some aren’t and they all must come together to figure out what’s happening and survive the night. Should be interesting. Its high stakes and tense.

Problem for me was I absolutely hated all the characters. They were all horrible horrible people or bland people with about as much personality as cardboard. Also, very predictable. I knew almost immediately who the responsible person was. As the plot went on it became just ridiculous and unbelievable.  

It was one of those – this is so stupid why am I finishing it books? – but I did read the whole thing.  I just really did not like this book at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK Children’s for approving my request to view the title.

The concept of this one started off interesting - two nations poised on the brink of war, the son of the one general goes to spy on the other side and winds up falling for the princess he's supposed to be gathering information on. I managed nearly 300 pages of this but frankly I'm just bored. 

I don't care about any of the characters and there's too much emphasis on military tactics for my liking and it's very boring. Calling it quits. 

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I somehow wound up with three Netgalley e-arcs – one was a sample I got by mistake. One approval from the US site which I never expected to be approved for and one from the UK site (I have both UK and US residences so I use both sites).

Reading this book reminded me of the Charlie Brown episode “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown”. In the episode Charlie Brown’s class are assigned to read “War and Peace” over the Christmas holidays. A daunting task as it’s such a big book and throughout the episode poor Charlie Brown is trying his best but only ever seems to be on page 5 of the book. At the end of the episode his best friend Linus asks did he like the book? Charlie Brown replies he finished the book at 3a.m. and doesn’t remember a thing about it. 

Which pretty much summons up my experience reading the Queens of Innis Lear. No matter how much I read, I barely seemed to make a dent in (it felt like I hadn’t got past page 5!) which I actually did. That being said – I absolutely completely fell in love with this book. I loved it so much I bought a finished US hardcover, a finished UK paperback and an audio version. It did take me well over a year to actually finish it. 

The book is a fantasy themed retelling of King Lear – the mad king and the ungrateful daughters and a kingdom poised on the brink of war. King Lear is not a play I’m that familiar with and did have to read the Spark Notes a few times to familiarize myself with the original story. The novel is full to bursting, it’s richly written with the most excellent word building. It’s so lush in its details. It has the most wonderful history and magic woven into the story. There are a hell of a lot of characters to get to grips with, lots of different points of view. Emotional and romantic and violent and a myriad of other emotions. 

I remember very little of the plot the characters, just that I loved it to pieces. 

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I love gothic horror mysteries and that premise was what attracted me to this book immediately. However, this book didn’t really fulfil my personal idea of a gothic horror mystery. That being said, the mystery aspect was really good and I really enjoyed the story.

It starts in 1966 and tells through news articles of a report granted a visit to a once grand house and the lady, Maud, who owns the property. The lady is a recluse and as a child witnessed the descent into madness of her father. No one really knew what happened (this was back in 1913) and the house seems to have remained in a similar state since. The reporter has been digging into the history of the father and the mystery surrounding the demise of a once prominent and respected man from a highly well to do family. There’s rumours of witchcraft and devil worship and all sorts of superstitious things.

The lady retells the story as she remembers it and her father growing up from when she was a small child to when she was a teenager and when the incident happens.  The story tells of Maud’s troubled adolescence - she’s an intelligent child who wants more out of life than what her station will allow. Her father is a tough man to please – a historian. As she grows up Maud eventually manages to convince her father to allow her to use his library also helping with his translation of an old text with a religious theme.

We see passages as well from the father’s notebook, detailing his inner thoughts as the situations occur, with Maud, with his research and a secret from his childhood which haunts him and is driving him to the brink of madness. There’s a definite religious overtone to the father’s inner journals, demons and sins and secrets and penance and so forth. Though it’s well handled without being overly dramatic and overly preachy.

Maud discovers her father’s journals and begins her own investigations. It’s really quite fascinating and once you get used to the style of writing hard to put down. I’m not recapping a lot of the plot as it would be very spoilery. Maud was a really likeable heroine, strong willed and sensible, her voice was very easy to follow and as the novel evolves as a reader you really want her to succeed in her tasks.

There was nothing remotely scary or chilling about it so it didn’t hit the horror mark for me, but it was quite atmospheric.  The mystery was really good and it had a satisfying ending. I really enjoyed the book and would definitely read something by this author again.

Thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Medical mysteries are not my favourite thing. But I do find the job that coroners do quite fascinating. This one sounded good so that was why I requested it. The premise was interesting and sounded like a TV show, and if it were a TV show I would watch it, so figured I would read it as well.

It wasn’t a bad book per say, the basic idea was the main character Emily had been training to be a doctor, she grew up with a father who was a coroner and learnt from him from a fairly young age. She’s right on the cusp of graduating as a doctor and starting a life in Chicago with her dreamy also doctor fiancé.

Then she gets the shock news that her father has had a heart attack and she needs to go home. Meanwhile there’s been a murder of the daughter of a high profile Senator, a horse riding “accident” that may not be an accident. Emily’s high school sweetheart Nick is now the town sheriff.

While it wasn’t bad…it wasn’t…that good either. It was just very bland. And very very predictable. The type of predictable you know exactly what was going to happen, when Emily went home and wound up having to help out with the coroner aspect of things all the while thinking I have a life and a fiancé to go back to. The problem with the fiancé was he comes from a very well to do family and he and his mother (more likely his mother) are doing wedding planning and basically telling Emily what’s going to happen. Also another story line where you know exactly how it’s going to end.

The two main characters, Emily and Nick were likeable enough, there were plenty of twists and red herrings. It was all just….okay. Overall the whole thing was kind of bland and dull. It was left at a sort of open ending with potential for a series, but not a series I would be interested in continuing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

This is one of those books that's out of my usual comfort reading zone but sounded really good so I thought I would give it a try. It's not that I hate it or anything, I did actually like most of what I read, the setting was interesting and so were the characters but it's been well over month since I last picked this book up and don't see myself doing so any time some. Something I may pick up again at a different time - I didn't dislike it or anything I just seem to have lost interest for the time being.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I love boarding school mysteries. Especially ones where there is a mix of past and present. The mystery of this one was what caught my interest in the synopsis. A journalist who can’t get over the murder of her older sister at an exclusive boarding school is still haunted by the brutal crime. Still stalking the grounds of the now closed school.

And discovers a body in a well. On the same grounds. To make things worse…the school is reopening.

The present chapters are the main character Fiona investigating, still troubled by her sister’s death, despite the fact that the culprit was caught and imprisoned and remains in prison. She seems to think there was something more to it. Despite being told to let it go. Of course, she won’t. Her police officer boyfriend seems to be slowly losing patience with her obsessiveness into this murder.

The past chapters tell the stories of a group of girls who all attended the boarding school in the 1950s. The school was a stowaway place for unwanted girls – from a mix of poor families and wealthy ones with secret daughters they wanted to keep hidden. The teachers were all cruel, the rules were strict, and there were frightening stories of a ghost haunting the grounds and the buildings. There was at atmosphere of mystery, gloom and unpleasantness. The girls in one dorm all around the same age, were all very different yet managed to bond and eventually share secrets.

One of them disappears.

Fast forward to modern times and Fiona’s investigation. She’s a journalist and convinces her boss to let her write a story on the upcoming revival and reopening of the school, allowing her more freedom to dig into the events surrounding her sister’s death and subsequently the discovery of the dead girl in the well.

To be perfectly honest I really didn’t care much about Fiona or her side of the story. She was likeable enough, but everything felt just a bit bland and cardboard cut-out. She reminded me of the same sort of journalist I’ve seen in TV movies – strong willed and independent, smart in some circumstances but irritating in others. Obsessive where she doesn’t need to be which of course leads to discovering secrets that dangerous people want to keep hidden and will go to any lengths to make sure things stay that way.

What really interested me was the 1950s story of the girls at the school, their histories and secrets and how they came together, the mystery when one of them disappeared. There were no obvious suspects which didn’t help matters. And the body went undiscovered for so many years.  The more Fiona digs in the more unanswered questions she finds. What leads to the truth is was really surprising.

There was a good sense of atmosphere and mystery, and the plot was fairly fast paced and made for a pretty good page turner. The writing was good, and made the story flow really well and easy to picture and disappear into the narrative. While I’ve already said I didn’t care for the main character, I still really enjoyed the book. I always find it a mark of a really good book when I don’t like half the characters but still really enjoy the story. I would definitely pick up something else by the same author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I love a bit of French history, after obsessively watching three seasons of Versailles, and the recent BBC adaption of Les Mis, this book was pretty much a must have for me. It did take a long time for me to get through it, but I did really enjoy it.

The unique mix of French history and magic mixed together in a fascinating way I’ve never seen done before. And it was completely gripping. The heroine Camille lives with her frail sister Sophie, and her asshole of a brother Alain. Their parents have died and the family are struggling to make ends meet in 18^th Century Paris. The conditions of the area they live in is harsh, Sophie designs luxurious hats at a specialty shop through struggling with her health, while the brother is a gambler and a drunk, also nasty and violent and a thief. He has a nasty habit of stealing what little funds the sisters can scrape together and using for himself, despite the fact they are on the verge of eviction if they can’t pay their overdue rent ASAP.

The form of magic is described as dark and petty, magicians in this book have a bad rep and their type of magic in the day and age now is frowned up on and kept hidden by those who could do it. Camille’s mother could practise and she taught Camille. Though there are consequences to using magic – blood must be spilled and it has serious long term effects on the wielder’s physical body and health.

When Alain steels the money Sophie and Camille have put together for their rent, out of desperation Camille turns to some dark “La Magie ordinaire” using a blood work spell to enchant an old gown and transform herself into a beautiful baroness. She can turn card tricks and use la magie to turn the cards to her advantage, therefore earning enough money for her and Sophie to live comfortably. So heads off to Versailles to charm the court and get into the gambling halls.

Of course it’s not as easy as it sounds. She finds herself drawn into the glamorous and dangerous world of court gossip, gambling and politics. And it’s not long before someone is on to her secret. It’s tough to know who to trust and Camille must keep her wits about her before her charade comes tumbling down.

In her regular life an accident with a carriage leads Camille to a group of scientist boys her age who are trying to build a hot air balloon. She becomes entranced in the group and the balloon itself, one of the charming boys in particular – who also turns up in her new group of friends at Versailles.

I loved Camille as a heroine. She was strong, quick witted and determined. The book was brilliantly written, plenty of intrigue and increasing angst and worry as the plot took more dramatic turns, the revolution is starting to happen, the poor are uprising and the streets are dangerous. The atmosphere was tense and nail biting in some situations and dramatic without being over the top.

And there was a delightful barely there romance where you just want to shout and Camille and the boy involved “JUST KISS ALREADY!!” An interesting mix of characters as well, some strong friendships developed, and some nasty villains. This book had everything I look for in an epic fantasy and I loved all of it.

This was a brilliant book and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for approving my request to view the title.   

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I snagged this one when it was a Read it Now title as the concept sounded interesting.

And it was an interesting idea. Small town where everyone knows everyone, woman gives birth and a mysterious doctor shows up last moment to help with a difficult home birth. Then things start happening - when the boy grows up and hits his teens the strange doctor starts appearing again, but no one knows who he is. There's no record of a doctor anywhere by that name. There was a gift given at the time of birth of a special bible, with a creepy message, and something apocalyptic hinted at. The mother asks her local priest to look into this.

Problem was it was just so flat and uninteresting. The characters were all cardboard with no depth whatsoever, and the dialogue was so stilted and unrealistic. All tell and no show and very very boring. Calling it quits and DNFing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Troubador Publishing Ltd for the review copy.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

When I initially requested this one I didn’t realise it was a novel in verse. I normally don’t like novels in verse at all. I’ve never been a poetry person at all, really. The only novel in verse I have read I didn’t like much.

That being said, however, this book just blew me away. I completely loved it. It took a bit of getting used to the style of the poems. Every page more or less had its own poem, and those poems told the story. The words were just so…incredibly powerful. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Xiomara’s voice was just amazing. I can’t even begin to relate to Xiomara’s circumstances, but her words were just mesmerizing. Her mother is a deeply religious woman who seems to want Xiomara to follow in those footsteps. In her parent’s eyes X’s twin brother Xavier can do no wrong. He’s smart and goes to a special smart kid school different from X’s high school. X’s only friend seems to be her church buddy Caridad whom she has known forever. Forced by mom into taking confirmation classes at church X isn’t really into it. She starts to have questions.

She’s not allowed to date, and because of how she looks she often gets picked on by boys and has become very tough in defending herself. Yet when she’s paired with a boy in her bio class she starts to notice things about him, they have similar tastes in music and start to get closer and bond. Into a more than friendship thing.

Which she knows if she gets caught will raise hell with her mother. Her struggles with her desire for the boy and fear of her mother echo in her poetry. She wants to do normal things and doesn’t think kissing a boy is wrong. It’s not. But her upbringing tells her differently.

And then her English teacher mentions a poetry club. She’s noticed X has promise in her writing. But poetry club clashes with confirmation class. X rarely shows her poems to anyone. (Her poems are awesome! I can’t say enough times how much I loved the pure, raw power of this girl’s voice).

Of course before long things go wrong. And it’s just heart breaking. After everything this girl goes though, at one point she just stops talking to everyone she knows when her trust is betrayed. I felt so bad for her. I just wanted things to get better. The pain in her silence comes through in such anguish. Yet she gets the chance, finally, to make her voice heard, and it’s just wonderful.

There’s so much emotion packed into this book, the characters. It’s just such an amazing story. There are not enough ways I can say how much I loved this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Egmont Publishing for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

If I could give this book 0 or minus starts I would, it was really that bad.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book I have actively hated so much. I’m all for diving into dark fiction every now and then but this book was one of the worst, most absurd things I have ever read. It made no sense whatsoever.

Normally I would just say to hell with it if I don’t like it and DNF, which made it all the more irritating because even though I hated the story and loathed the characters, I wondered if A) it would get any better or B) I would be able to work out what the fuck was going on.

Unfortunately, neither of these things happened.

The premise was what caught my attention, I’ve read a previous book by the same author, which was a little weird, but I liked it. As I said, I do like dark fiction every now and then. So why not try it? The story follows New York based teenage twins Everett and Ruby whose eldest brother Dashiell died recently of an overdose.

Ruby was completely besotted with Dashiell to something boarding on reverence. (I’m half convinced there was something else going on there as well.) They were both totally obsessed with each other. Ruby was completely blind to Dashiell’s flaws. He was an addict, charming and manipulative and could convince her to do anything, long after he’d been thrown out of the house. The father was a workaholic, their mother left years ago. Ruby was an idiot. A sycophantic moron who couldn’t see the danger around them. Her brother Everett was possibly the only remotely likeable character in this. The more straightforward, sensible of the pair.

Something seems to allow Dashiell to come back from the dead in a spirit form where he can possess a body if he murders it and can live in it’s skin. At least that was my understanding. So naturally Ruby is the first person he goes to. Which is squicky enough in itself. Yet when Everett notices something off about Ruby and when she’s not possessed she tells him Dash came back he thinks she’s lot the plot. And before long Dashiell has convinced Everett whilst possessing Ruby that he could possess him instead. He can have one or the other.

And does some pretty vile things whilst wearing Everett – including visiting his old girlfriend whilst in Everett’s body and getting her into bed. She doesn’t know Everett is possessed, of course. Which is pretty much rape – she consented to Everett, not Dashiell. If she doesn’t know Dashiell is the one riding the front she gets no say in that. And that’s pretty fucking disgusting.

On top of all this there’s some of sort Land of the Dead plot where other ghosts are walking around, and Dashiell has pissed off the Big Bad who runs the show. And comes after him for revenge.

The whole thing was bizarre, twisted. Way too many characters, all of whom had no personality and were just pretty horrible people. It was beyond fucked up and just an awful, awful novel. Nothing made sense and it was pretty much one of the worst things I have ever read.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan-Tor/Forge for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

The premise of this one caught my attention and made me want to request it. A girl’s identity is called into question when she finds her name is on a record of deceased people. With an alternate story of a woman’s decision some 20 odd years ago that might be the cause of it.

For the most part, this was actually a pretty good book. Jessie Sloane has lived with her single mom her whole life then mom gets sick and dies. Jessie has spent most of her life caring for her. She suffers from terrible insomnia which plagues her for days at a time during this difficult period.

I liked Jessie as a character, she was tough and seemed fairly smart and logical given her terrible circumstances. She knew how to look after herself. Applying to college for financial aid she discovers Jessica Sloane is deceased. Bringing on a whole host of panic and desperate search for answers as to what the hell her mom was hiding and where it all went wrong and how could she have never known this before?

The second story line follows Eden and her husband Aaron. The one thing Eden wants more than anything is a baby, but Eden seems to be unable to conceive. Which puts a huge strain, both emotional and financial on what was otherwise a perfect relationship.

Eden’s story was hard for me to relate to, as a woman who has no interest in rearing children, her obsession was just something I couldn’t get my head around as a reader. Yet as the novel progressed and Eden’s chapters went on I did find myself empathising with her. No matter what this poor woman tried nothing was working. And her best friend who came to visit has two or three noisy children she always brings with her and is pregnant again. It was heart-breaking for Eden. But as things go on and get more difficult Eden’s desire for a child becomes all consuming. She works at a hospital and is often going to the new baby ward. She drops hints that she did something terrible and it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. At least that’s what the story seems to want you to think, anyway.

Meanwhile Jessie is struggling to find out what happened and why “Jessica Sloane” is deceased. And how did she get this girl’s social security number? Made worse and worse by the fact that she just can’t sleep and her mind is going round in circles. She doesn’t know what’s real or what’s not anymore. It’s all pretty compelling stuff. And definitely becomes a page turner.

This is a huge spoiler but it pissed me off so much and ruined the whole book for me and I need to rant about it.

I mean…for fuck’s sake. All of that…all of that and to have it ruined with that. It just felt like such a huge let down for what was otherwise a really good book. The truth about Eden’s story is revealed as well, and thankfully that wasn’t as infuriating. It actually turned out to be nothing like what I thought it would be.

Great potential but ruined by a rubbish twist. The end itself wasn’t that bad, really. But that twist just pissed me off so much.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for approving my request to view the title.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I did wind up buying a finished copy for this one. I saw it whilst browsing in the bookstore. And the cover was just lovely. A green cover with gold accents and a princess silhouette. Caught my eye right away and I just had to have it.

I have a weakness for anything Tudor related, I’m completely fascinated by anything related to Henry the 8^th and his six wives. This one looked interesting as it was charting the history of Catherine of Aragon’s daughter Mary. Might be interesting to see things from Mary’s point of view, starting from when she was a young child to her early twenties.  

Unfortunately, I just didn’t like this novel much at all. It felt like a history lesson, and a boring one at that. It was very much tell and not show. And I may be a bit biased as Anne Boleyn is my favourite Tudor wife and she is portrayed as very much a villain and a vile woman with little more grace than an ambitious whore in this one. Which I really did not like.

But then again, I can understand, Catherine was the first wife and Mary is her daughter and while Mary finds herself reluctantly understanding that kings, like her father have mistresses, this one is becoming very prominent in his life and it will be impossible to like her from Mary’s point of view. Mary has always idolized her father, and when he starts changing and pushing Mary and her mother aside for this new woman, things change.

Mary does go through some horrible things as she gets older and has to deal with the loss of her princess title, being manipulated and shut out, separated from her mother and everything comfortable and familiar, to dealing with new people she doesn’t know who don’t respect her…it’s pretty awful.

Though again, as this was being told it felt like it was all tell and not show. I can certainly empathise with Mary but I didn’t feel an emotional connection to her character at all. The whole thing felt very boring and long winded.

Not for me at all in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for approving my request to view the title.