Gemma Dwyer

My heart! It feels so whole and broken at the same time...

I don't know where to start with this one.

This was a difficult book to read, because of the subject matter. But it was so well written and I couldn't put it down!

I can't remember the last time I stayed up until 4am reading a book!

My god, what ana amazing story and characters.

There was a point at about half way through that I had to put the book down for a couple of minutes to digest what was happening because I did not expect that at all.

I start suspecting who the killer was around 60% of the way through, so I was a bit disappointed when I found out I was right. I've read way too crime and detective novels, and see waaaaay too many tv shows to not have picked the killer based on the character and the part they played. But in saying that, when the killer was revealed it didn't make it any less interesting.

10/10 for sure and I've already downloaded the second book in the series to my kindle.

I've been wanting to read The Dark Tower series for a long time and I picked up the first three in the series from my local second hand bookshop.

The opening of the Gunslinger is great. It sets the scene really well, although throughout the book, I found myself questioning whether the story took place in the past, the future, or an alternate universe. I'm not new to the works of Stephen King, so I had to keep telling myself “stop questioning, everything will be answered”. Also I had to remind myself that The Gunslinger is the first of an eight part series and all questions would be answered in due course.

Much like all previous Stephen King novels I've read, I was hooked from the get go. His writing is just amazing and gets better throughout this novel. He gives us the main goal of the gunslinger straight away - find the man in black, as he has answers to the gunslingers questions.

I don't really know what I expected with The Gunslinger to be honest but as with every other King novel, it didn't disappoint. It had just the right amount of action for a fantasy novel, just the right amount of fantasy, and just the right amount of background into the two main characters of this book - Roland (the gunslinger) and Jake, a young boy Roland meets along the way.

I loved the ending of this book. It set up the scene for the next in the series and gave us enough to want more.

Roland's character was well developed and throughout the book, I was rooting of him. There was one part towards the end though where I disliked his actions. But his journey is to find the Dark Tower and nothing is going to stop him from getting there.

All in all, The Gunslinger was a great start to what I'm sure is going to be an amazing series of books. I'm really excited to see what King has in store for Roland and if he can complete his journey.

I wouldn't say I really liked this book. I did enjoy reading it though. It was a bit different. I read a few reviews of people complaining about how it's all about the author being all “me me me”. It kinda had to be. It was about her spiritual journey to recovery after going through a divorce and finding herself after suffering from depression for years. It was nice reading it. There are a lot of things I will take from this book and I will probably go back to it and refer to at some point. It was just hard to get used to the fact that it wasn't a story, it was a memoir. And also there is a lot of mention of god in there too. So if this makes you uncomfortable, if suggest you don't read it.

When I first started Big Little Lies, I had no idea what the book was even about. It was recommended to me by my sister and I'd just finished reading The Book Thief when I picked it up. It actually took me longer to get through it than it normally would a book this size but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Within the first couple of chapters we are introduced to our main characters - Jane, Madeline and Celeste.

Jane, a young single mother to a 5 year old boy, Ziggy. Madeline, a re-married mother of 3, who has just turned 40. And Celeste, Madeline's best friend - mother to 5 year old, twin boys.

All three mothers are just starting their 5 year olds at school and with it comes drama, drama, drama.
Madeline is normally involved in the drama as she doesn't really know when to hold her tongue - but in the end, this is why I loved her.

I didn't really have a favourite scen or part of the book to be honest, but the ending was shocking and I didn't expect it at all. We don't know who has died in the story until it happens - this kept the suspense going throughout the whole thing. I thought I had guessed who died and who the killer was, but I was waayyyy off.

Big Little Lies, delves into serious issues of every day life. Domestic violence, kids being bullied at school, rape and infidelity. Some parts of the book were hard to read as the violence described wasn't expected but it seemed real. By the end, these characters were real to me. I wanted to yell at Celeste and tell her to leave her abusive husband. I wanted to hug Jane and tell her it was okay and she was doing a great job of raising Ziggy. And I wanted to be best friends with Madeline. I haven't actually felt this about characters in a book for a long time. It was refreshing. (Now I have to watch the TV show).

Liane Moriarty did a fabulous job of developing her characters throughout the novel, and who they changed and adapted to their current situations. Jane grew so much as a young mother, Madeline learned to get over her hatred for her ex-husband, and Celeste learned to be brave and stand up for herself.

Overall, I enjoyed Big Little Lies, with it twists and turns. I'll have to see if the TV Show is any good and hope that the characters are as well portrayed on screen as they were written in the book.

I read so many good reviews about this book but ai actually couldn't even get through it. Most of the stories seemed pointless and weren't gripping. As the stories that are told are told by the main character and were in the past it takes away the suspence because you know he's not going to die. I didn't really like the main character either.

It was such a shame because I was really looking forward to reading this novel but I couldn't physically get through it. There was way too much prose in the writing that was hard to decipher.

I was going to give The GoldFinch 4 stars but the last 200 or so pages just dragged on and on and I was fairly disappointed with the ending to tell the truth.

Theo is a great character, he's likeable and I liked his realness. I just felt bad for him throughout the first 3/4 of the book, up until he made a very terrible decision over and that is when I started hating that stupid little painting. Why Theo? Why? And Boris - dude, what the hell??

Anyway, Donna Tartt makes very believable MALE characters. I feel that the female characters weren't fleshed out as much as the male characters. But she is a very talented writer and very brave for putting so much death into this story - I thought I was reading George RR Martin for a second, with every character she kills off.

The Goldfinch was totally not what I was expecting at all. In fact, I don't think I even knew a single thing about it before I picked it up - it's sat on my bookshelf for near on 4 years waiting for me to get started but I was always reading something else. I'm glad I finally got around to it but the massive 800 pages were a little much and it could have been around 200 pages shorted in my opinion.

OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

I had read a few reviews before starting it and lots of people had a lot of good things to say but having never read anything by David Estes before I had no idea what to expect. But I absolutely loved it.

My heart broke on more than one occasion while reading Fire Country. But by the end it was fully mended again.

I loved Siena's character. She was so strong and determined to make a change but she didn't even realise it.

And Cric...... ♥ is all that is needed. I was so angry when he died, I almost stopped reading but I was so intrigued by Siena and her ability to be able to fight on, even after he best friend had been killed. But I was so shocked and relieved and happy and angry when he wasn't actually dead. I was angry because I couldn't believe the grief I had gone through to get to that point in the book. But also because Siena's dad was just a complete dick really.

Lara and Skye were awesome too.

And can't forget Perry. He was so amusing and I like how he was just a weed but he played such a huge part in Siena getting to where she did.

But I would have liked a little more in depth interaction between Siena and the other Wildes. But other than that I absolutely adored this story.

Omens is one of those books that you don't want to end. I loved every minute of it and found it extremely hard to put down.

This is also the first novel I've read of Kelley Armstrong and I'm very pleased to say I'm a new fan and will look out for more of her novels.

I just loved the story of Omens, the characters. It was amazing. I'm so glad I saw it and randomly picked it up. I can't wait for the second book in the Cainsville series and I can't believe I have to wait so long for it.

I really liked this novel. The way Nicholas Sparks portrayed the love between Allie and Noah was amazing. I really liked the general story of it all. Of course I love the movie but by reading the novel (as is the case with most novels) you get a better insight into the characters than you do from watching a movie. One thing I did find however was that the book finished quite suddenly. I was expecting more but all in all it was nicely written and had a really good storyline.

It took a really long time to read this book, more so than it normally would have. And that is not due to any factor of this story, it's just down to the fact that I've had so much going on in the last 3 months that I have struggled to be able to sit down and just enjoy reading. But in a way, I'm glad I did take so long to read this one.
Stephen King is one of my all time favourite authors. I love his stories, his writing but mostly his imagination. Where does he come up with all of these brilliant ideas??
11.22.63 has become one of my favourite novels by King. The sheer volume of research that went into writing this book is insane. His accuracy for actual historical events was amazing.
I loved how he was able to create and mould fictional characters into interacting with real life people.
Jake/George was a very likeable character and I was rooting for him and Sadie the whole way.
I won't write a long review just now, maybe later once I've had time to think about it more, but this book was great. It's amazingly written, thr characters were great. And although it's quite lengthy, that is one of the best things about it. The detail was great and the history was amazing.
Well done Mr King, on another masterpiece.

Mary Poppins is one of film's most loved characters. She is one of my favourite and I've watched the movie over and over again so many times since I was a child. It's a magical movie and Julie Andrews is just the perfect Mary Poppins.

I decided, after watching Saving Mr Banks, to buy the books. I got the whole set for around $20 and it's sat on my bookshelf for years. But since watching the trailer for the new Mary Poppins Returns movie coming out this year, I wanted to get stuck into it.

The first book, Mary Poppins is great! It was just as magical as I hoped it would be. PL Travers sets up a very unique personality for Mary Poppins and I loved her. I read every line in Julie Andrews voice.

One thing I noticed about this book though was, that it ended quite suddenly. One minute Jane and Michael were on an adventure with Mary Poppins and the next it had skipped to a couple of months ahead and she was leaving. However, it was a perfect ending.

Jane and Michael though, in the book were little brats. Especially Michael. It annoyed me how bratty PL Travers made him out to be. I think they cut that from the movie to make him a more likeable character. Mary Poppins though was quote arrogant herself but I love her so that's okay.

Most of the adventures they went on were missed from the movie so it was actually a nice surprise to read some of them, however bizarre and unrealistic.

All in all, this book was great and it will be added to the “reading to my children in the future” list.

This story is a very interesting concept and like nothing I've ever read before. It took me in right from the beginning and I found it at times difficult to put down. Which is quite unusual for a sci-fi/post apocolyptic novel for me. It's not something I normally read. But I loved the idea of this the premise behind this novel.

It was very easy to read but I think the only thing that let it down was that I'd have loved to have seen the characters development a little more. We don't really get to know the characters very well and they seemed a lot of the time just to be 2D characters. I've read books where the characters became like a part of my life, that was missing in this book. If he characters had been more developed, if have given this a 5 star rating for sure. I have the other 2 books in the series sitting on my bookshelf so hopefully we get a bit from the characters in those two.

I don't really know how I feel about this book. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and I didn't want to put it down in some parts. But some parts were just down right ridiculous.

I feel like I didn't connect with the characters very well. Miranda and Phillips were both likable characters but I didn't feel a connection to them at all.

The story was interesting. And a little creepy at times. But I felt like it was dragged out at the end too much. I did enjoy I though and will probably give another one of Gwenda Bond's books a go at some point

This story is very different to anything I've ever read before. I was just fascinated by it right from page one. Although I feel that it could have had a lot more action and a lot more vampires, it definitely made up for it in terms of how much blood and gore there was.

The Hallowed Ones has a very interesting concept and I think Laura Bickle's writing is just amazing. There was a lot of background information on the Amish lifestyle and I've read a few reviews by people saying that there was too much of it. Having knowing nothing or extremely little about the Amish life, I liked finding out about how they live and why they live the way they do. I also think that the story needed it to progress. There is a reason the Elders act the way they do. But I loved that Katie was a little bit rebellious and although she believed in the rules that are set, she didn't always follow them.

I'm not religious at all and don't believe in organised religion so I was quite surprised that this story didn't make me feel more uncomfortable reading it because there is a lot of preaching that happens in the story. But I think Katie's belief that Gods word is the right way but she also believes that in order to help others, sometimes you must break those rules.

I really enjoyed reading this story and I'm definitely going to carry on and read The Outside to find out how Katie, Alex and Ginger get on in Vampire territory.

This book has easily shot to the top of my favourites list. My heart hurts. I didn't want it to be over, but what a story.

It took a long time to get into this book. I wanted to give up because I just didn't get it. It wasn't what I expected at all. I got to the end though and there were parts that I really enjoyed but overall it was just ok

I really liked this book actually. I liked the concept of it and I think it was written really well. I found myself really liking the main characters and it held quite a bit of suspense. It was a good light read.

This is the first Stephen King novel that I've read and I found a little hard to adapt to his writing style but none the less I loved this book.

It sent shivers down my spine - so much so that I couldn't find the courage to read it at night. I really felt the pain and fear that these characters were going through. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially anyone who has seen the movie because the movie has nothing on this novel.

I'm giving Slumber 3.5/5 stars.

It had a totally different concept to anything I've ever read before and it was certainly gripping enough.

I loved Wolfe and I liked Rogan but she got on my nerves sometimes. She came across as being strong and determined but she very often (and at times predictively) became the damsel in distress. Which annoyed me because she was just being stupid.

Overall, I liked the story and the writing was very good. I've read Samantha's Lunarmorte series and actually proffered that. But I still enjoyed this book. I kinda wish it was just a stand alone though. I don't think it needs a sequel.

3.5 stars

I read this book really quickly. In fact I read it in the early hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep.

It was a good story and it certainly was different to anything I've read before but I did have a few problems with it.

1. There were so many grammar errors throughout the whole book. One or two I can let slip but there were so many. It just didn't seem like it had been edited properly, if at all.

2. This is the first time I've not liked the male protagonist in a book in a long time. I actually started off really liking Lucien and understanding why he was so aggresive - he's the pack leader after all. But all the lies he told Caia just infuriated me.

3. Caia was a good character, I liked her but I hated how she didn't stand up to Lucien more. She had a right to know about her past etc and he refused to let her know and it was like when he said “no” she just backed down. And although she kept telling Lucien she wasn't “a child” I found myself wondering how much she actually believed of that. She was a likeable character but not very strong in my opinion.

Having said the things I didn't like about Moon Spell, there were however lots of things I did like about.

The story was unique and well thought out in terms of plot. It was gripping and I enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed reading the history of the pack etc. It was interesting and definitely explained a lot.

At this point, I'm unsure if I'll continue the series but I'll read a few reviews before I completely cross it off.

I don't even know where to start with this review to be perfectly honest.

This is the type of paranormal book I've been wanting to read for ages!! I've had enough of the “we only feed of animals” type of vampire. This was proper “I want to rip your throat out and drink all your blood” type of vampire. And I loved it!!

I will say this book isn't for the faint of heart because there is a LOT of blood and a few gruesome scenes but I loved it.

The characters were amazing. Allie is a strong female character and she kicks ass!!!!!!

Can't wait to read the next one.