Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Series: Millennium (book #1)

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: 16th Septembe 2008 (originally 2005 in Sweden)

Read Date: 9th January 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, adult fiction, mystery or thriller, book review, 4

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch - and there's always a catch - is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Book Review

Book Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Standalone novel

Publisher: Clarion Books

Release Date: 5th April 2016

Read Date: 24th February 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, review copy, 2.5, YA fiction, book review

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets. 

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own - one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows the young men's deadly connection, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy - or herself?

Book Review

Book Review: You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

Standalone novel

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: 1st March 2016

Read Date: 21st February 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, 2016 favourites, book review, review copy, YA fiction, 5, favourites, romance, contemporary

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

Grief turned Jaycee into a daredevil, but can she dare to deal with her past? 

On the anniversary of her daredevil brother's death, Jaycee attempts to break into Jake's favourite hideout - the petrifying ruins of an insane asylum. Joined by four classmates, each with their own brand of dysfunction, Jaycee discovers a map detailing her brother's exploration and the unfinished dares he left behind. 

As a tribute to Jake, Jaycee vows to complete the dares, no matter how terrifying or dangerous. What she doesn't bargain on is her eccentric band of friends who challenge her to do the unthinkable: reveal the parts of herself that she buried with her brother.

Book Review

Book Review: Nirvana by J.R. Stewart

Nirvana by J.R. Stewart

Series: Nirvana (book #1)
Publisher: Blue Moon
Release Date: 10th November 2015
Read Date: 19th February 2016
Tagged Under: 2016 read, 3, book review, review copy, science fiction, YA fiction
Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

When the real world is emptied of all that you love, how can you keep yourself from dependence on the virtual? 

Animal activist and punk rock star Larissa Kenders lives in a dystopian world where the real and the virtual intermingle. After the disappearance of her soulmate, Andrew, Kenders finds solace by escaping to Nirvana, a virtual world controlled by Hexagon. In Nirvana, anyone's deepest desires may be realized - even visits by Andrew. 

Although Kenders knows that this version of Andrew is virtual, when he asks for her assistance revealing Hexagon's dark secret, she cannot help but comply. Soon after, Kenders and her closest allies find themselves in a battle with Hexagon, the very institution they have been taught to trust. After uncovering much more than she expected, Kender's biggest challenge is determining what is real - and what is virtual.

Book Review

The Re-Read Experience: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass (book #1)

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Release Date: 7th August 2013

(Re)read Date: 13th January 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, book review, fantasy, YA fiction, 4

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @Goodreads

Book Summary

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.  

Her opponents are men - thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.  

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Book Review

Book Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass (0.1-0.5)

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens

Release Date: 4th March 2015

Read Date: 13th January 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, 2016 favourites, fantasy, favourites, novella or short story, book review, YA fiction, 5

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @Goodreads

Book Summary

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Book Review