The Hive by Scarlett Brade

Should he live or die? You decide.

Charlotte Goodwin looks directly at the camera and reveals a chilling truth to the thousands watching her Instagram Live broadcast. She has killed her ex-boyfriend's new partner in cold blood. But she is not finished yet. The viewers must now vote to decide whether he should live or die. The public display sends shockwaves rippling through the online community and the numbers of viewers skyrockets. But as Lincoln's past is revealed, how will he be judged?

The Hive explores our darkest fears of the relationship between social media and mental health, but, most importantly, the strength of sisterhood against all the odds.

The Hive was Tsundoku Squads June read, although most of us didn’t get round to it, which is totally fine, we dip in and out as we need too :)

I was looking forward to this one, but ended up giving it a 2.5 rating. I was enjoying at first, I liked the social media side of things, seeing the tweets and comments. It also made me see how easy it is for people to jump on the bandwagon so to speak, people were commenting and ‘hitting die for the bants’. The friendship between the girls was obviously a good close one, and you can tell that throughout, but the story got to the point where it was just not believable, and rather over the top. I thought the ending wasn’t great, but what I think bugged me the most was how easy it was to figure out.

Forget Me Not by Claire Allan

I disappeared on a Tuesday afternoon. I was there one minute and the next I was gone. They've never found my body...

It's six in the morning during the hottest summer on record when Elizabeth O'Loughlin, out walking her dog, comes across Clare, a victim of a horrific knife attack, clinging onto life at the side of the road.

Clare dies minutes later, but not before whispering her haunting last words to Elizabeth.

When it becomes clear that Clare's killer has more than one murder on his mind, Elizabeth has to take drastic action or face losing everything.

But what if she can't stop a killer determined never to be forgotten?

This was Tsundoku Squad’s February read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that instead of stopping at the end of week 3’s part, I missed the stopping point and finished the book!

I do love a good thriller, and this one was a good one. The amount of twists, and moments I shouted out and gasped! Elizabeth was a great character, and I think my favourite throughout. The main character really is a lady named Rachel. She, Clare and Julie have been best friends for years, since school. They are wrapped into this murder in ways they can’t imagine, and it was so fun trying to figure out what was happening!

Claire Allan knows how to confuse you and surprise you, and I’ll gladly read another of her books.

I gave this book a big 5 stars, Tsundoku Squad gave it. Check out Em’s collective group review over on emandherbooks.com

Tsundoku Squad 2021 Wrap Up!

Wow, how has it been a year of reading with these fabulous ladies?! We met doing Netgalley November in 2020, and a few of us (13 to be exact) decided to keep going as a book group on Twitter for 2021. But it has went from a group of 13 discussing a book every Saturday, to a close group of friends who now WhatsApp each other everyday, ad I couldn’t be without them now. 

This is what we read together in 2021:

January - Love at the Northern Lights by Darcie Boleyn - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

February - Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

March - The islanders by S.V Leonard - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

April - Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

May - Lace by Shirley Conran - 

My Rating  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

June - The Tattoo Thief by Alison Belsham - 

My Rating  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2 

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

July - THUG by Angie Thomas - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

August - The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

September - The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

Group Rating. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

October - The Whistling by Rebecca Netley - 

My Rating  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

November - The Maid by Nita Prose - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

December - Underneath The Christmas Tree by Heidi Swain - 

My Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  

Group Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

I can’t wait to see what we have in store for 2022, and I’m sure we already have our first 3 books picked! I love my squad, so here’s a thanks to them for being fab book buddies! Here’s to another year of friendship and reading.

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

 

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

I received a copy of this from the publisher HarperCollins UK on Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This was Tsundoku squad’s November read. I think we all really enjoyed this one and could be a contender for our favourite red of the year.

Molly is such a brilliant character, I just want to be her friend, sit down and have a cup of tea with her. I bet she makes a great cup of tea. So yeah I loved her, and I was rooting for her so hard all the way through. I picked up,a dn so did some of the others, that Molly seems like she’s on the Spectrum somewhere. A lot of things stood out, the not understanding sarcasm, believing in others and being so easily led. My heart went out to her so much, and I wanted to punch stupid Rodney clean in the face. But I loved Mr Preston, he sounds such a happy go lucky guy, and I really liked the background with him and Mollys Gran.

Molly’s grief was well written, and it got me massively. I understood the feeling, as a lot of others do too, but I’ve always struggled with my Grandma not being here, so I felt like I related so much.

What a brilliant book, and I’d definitely recommend it to everyone.

Please check out Em’s collective Tsundoku Squad group thoughts over on her blog emandherbooks.com

Thanks again to HarperCollins and Netgalley for my e-arc.

WWW Wednesday 26.5.21

 Today we have another WWW Wednesday. I haven’t read much lately at all so this one won’t be very different from last weeks.

WWW is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Worlds and asks 3 questions. What are you currently reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I currently have one book on the go and that is still Summer at Skylark Farm by Heidi Swain. I’m really enjoying it I just haven’t read much this last week.

What have you recently finished?

I finished out Tsundoku Squad May book of Lace by Shirley Conran. It was a strange one, look out for my review next week!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next I will stay the same with The Twenty Seven Club by Lucy Nichol, Famished by Anna Vaught, and have added The Tattoo Thief by Alison Belsham as that is Tsundoku Squads June book.

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully I will get more reading done this week! 

 

Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale

 

Every city has its own magic...

Every night on their long journey to Paris from their troubled homeland, Levon's grandmother has read to them from a very special book. Called The Nocturne, it is a book full of fairy stories and the heroic adventures of their people who generations before chose to live by starlight.

And with every story that Levon's grandmother tells them in their new home, the desire to live as their ancestors did grows. And that is when the magic begins...

Nobody can explain why nocturnal water dogs start appearing at the heels of every citizen of Paris-by-Starlight like the loyal retainers they once were. There are suddenly night finches in the skies and the city is transforming: the Eiffel Tower lit up by strange ethereal flowers that drink in the light of the moon.

But not everyone in Paris is won over by the spectacle of Paris-by-Starlight. There are always those that fear the other, the unexplained, the strangers in our midst. How long can the magic of night rub up against the ordinariness of day? How long can two worlds occupy the same streets and squares before there is an outright war?

This was our Tsundoku Squad Book Group read for February. We were all really excited to read this, especially as January’s choice wasn’t good at all. We didn’t enjoy this one a massive deal more to tell you the truth, it ended up with one star more than Januarys read.

The book started off quite well, with beautiful descriptions which dragged us into the magic of the story. Paris by Night sounded amazing, and I could really picture the place, full of beauty, and the flowers sounded gorgeous. I honestly fell quite in love with it during the first section. 

The main character is Isabelle. She sets off to Paris in search for her Dad who left when she was young.  She meets a young girl who ends up taking her to her family, which is where Isabelle meets Levon. They fall in love quickly and Isabelle stays with the family. They don’t speak the same language but Isabelle learns to speak like them and learns their ways of life. They come from the old country, where they escaped war. They tell of their stories, their lands, their ways of life including living by night. They follow the stories and beliefs in The Nocturne. It’s all ver beautiful, until the people of Paris start to dislike the people of the night, and it turn very bad with things being damaged intentionally and people being hurt. 

The book started to trail off a bit with too much description, and after a while it took so much away from the story. Isabelle and Levon also quickly got irritating in their relationship for me, and I ended up not being a big fan. There was also too many characters and I started not to remember who was who.

Although this book started off well, I didn’t hate it but was glad I finished but the end. 

I gave this book 3 ½ stars, which I had to round up to 4 on Goodreads, as I felt it didn’t deserve a 3.

Tsundoku Squad gave it a collecive 3 stars 

Check out our group review over on Em’s blog here: https://emandherbooks.com/2021/02/28/paris-by-starlight-robert-dinsdale-spoilers/

WWW Wednesday 27.1.21

 

Hi and happy Wednesday! 

Today we’re back to WWW Wednesday, which is a tag being hosted by Taking on A World of Worlds. It means 3 things: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Over on Twitter on the Tsundoku Book Group we are still reading Love at The Northern Lights by Darcie Boleyn, and our views aren’t exactly changing much. Infact some of our views are going down and our rating could end up being quite low, unless it pulls itself out of the bag in this last part. I’m reading Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo which is a Netgalley arc, her first book Meet Me In London was great. I’m also trying to give my very first Agatha Christie a go! I done a poll on Twitter and Instagram and Poirot came out on top over Miss Marple, so I borrowed The Mysterious Affair at Styles from my library as an ebook. 

What did you recently finish reading? 

I recently finished Our Litle Cruelties by Liz Nugent for a Bookstagram tour, which was fab! I also finished As Good As It Gets by Romesh Ranganathan which was hilarious and totally relatable! And The last Thing To Burn by Will Dean which was amazing. Last night I finished Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies and it was so heartbreaking.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next I think I will move onto The Push by Ashley Audrain which I’ve been fancying for ages. Also maybe The Last House on Needless Street as a Netgalley Arc. And our next Tsundoku book group book, which is Wuthering Heights Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale.

Thanks for stopping by this week guys, hope everyone is doing well.