(This review may contain spoilers).

When I first saw the cover of this book, I was immediately taken with it. And I really wanted to like this book. The blurb was such an intriguing one and there was a lot that could have made the book really easy to read.

I felt that Samantha was a character who came across as quite one-dimensional, with a few sparks of more to her that didn’t really go anywhere. I actually found it quite hard to relate to any of the other characters. While there was a lot of potential with Samantha’s mother and sisters, I felt that most of their characteristics only cropped up when it was relevant to the plot. For instance, Samantha saying her mother didn’t like people to be in same-sex relationships. Actually, the two young women romantically involved weren’t even mentioned before the whole conversation. It really felt like there was a lot missing in character development and the switching from Samantha’s first person POV to Manny’s was confusing and made it hard to read towards the end.

I would have liked it if the book had been expanded upon, with more details about the other secondary characters, such as Samantha’s host family. I was also very disappointed that Samantha’s personality kept changing. She went from being absolutely clueless about a guy being interested in her to outright flirting. And there were a lot of cringeworthy scenes where she seemed to come across as a vapid fangirl, rather than a strong female character.

The book was very short, which was a mistake. Considering the book was (I’m guessing?) meant to be about a young woman breaking her way into a man’s sport, it spent very little time actually developing that and it was irritating that Samantha was so much better, despite it being acknowledged she didn’t have the same experience.

There was so much potential in this book, but it really fell short of the execution. I don’t think I’ll be reading more books in this series unless there are some drastic changes put in place.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It took me a while to get into this book, as it started out with a lot of information dumping and I would have liked to see Katherine’s relationship with her parents and siblings, rather than have it summarised.

I did feel that Arthur wasn’t a very strong character, which made sense with him as a historical figure, but even though Katherine assumed he was just writing what he was told to, there was very little about the letters she and Arthur had been exchanging with each other.

I had some very mixed feelings about Henry VII. I felt the female family members were more interesting than him and I couldn’t help but feel a lot of sympathy for Katherine, considering how badly she was treated for such a long time. During the period after Arthur died and before she married Henry, I found myself repeatedly getting angry on her behalf.

While I used to read a lot of books about the six wives of Henry VIII, I only knew bits and pieces about Katherine of Aragon, so it was nice to have a book that was entirely about her. While it was a bit confusing with so many historical figures with the same name, I did find there were a lot who eventually grew on me. And it was good to see something of the politics, even though there was a lot of development that I felt was glossed over. Even towards the end, the characteristics of Katherine’s maids were glossed over and told about rather than shown.

I did feel a lot for Katherine, but certainly at the start of the book, it was good to see a slightly different version of Henry VIII, rather than just him as a villain (which he was, but the beginning of the book showed a different side of him). However, I could still recognise who he would become in the way he treated Katherine before they were actually married.

It was good to see Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour appear and the crossover between the next two women Henry VIII was to marry. However, I don’t think I’ll be reading the next book/s in this series any time soon, as there were times this was bogged down with too much summarising of character relationships and history.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d ideally give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

This book seemed to very much more mirror the story in the New Testament of the Bible, at least as far as the other world Thomas found himself in was concerned.

It was good to see the huge differences in Thomas’ two different realities and how he’d changed so much in the forest. I would have liked a bit more detail of the past fifteen years, as I didn’t really get to see much of Thomas’ relationship with Justin previously and it would have had more of an effect if I’d been shown some of their previous interactions with each other. I did really like Justin, though, especially by the end of the book.

I thought it was interesting that I didn’t really see any of Teeleh and his creatures in the world, only the humans. I would have liked some more details about how the Great Romance had been perverted, as there seemed to be two schools of thought about the relevance of it during the present time.

To be honest, I really felt that the side of the story that took place in Earth now was somewhat lacking in comparison to Elyon’s world. It was interesting to see more links between the two worlds, though. However, I would have liked some more details about exactly why each person had a ‘mirror’ in the other world.

I liked Rachelle quite a bit more in this book, but I especially liked the fact that there were so many characters who were strong and had a lot of depth to them. I was especially fond of Mikil by the end of the book, even if I had mixed feelings towards her throughout.

I really liked reading Justin’s interactions with everyone, but I especially enjoyed seeing how he treated Lucy. Those scenes made me feel quite emotional; and it all really came to a head during the scene right at the end of the book.

I did feel there were a lot of fast-moving scenes in this book and I was engaged really easily and thoroughly. I do have the third book in this series that I definitely intend to read at some point soon in the future, but currently, I think this book is my favourite.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s been a while since I read any books in the Dresden Universe, but when I found this among my books, I immediately decided I wanted to return to Harry Dresden’s world. And it was much easier to pick up where I left off than I thought it would be.

It was good to get a glimpse into the afterworld and it was nice to meet a character from early on in the universe, as well as to get to know, however briefly, a new character who had his own connections with the people in Harry’s life. I found the inner monologue Harry was experiencing to be particularly amusing.

There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of new characters, but it was particularly nice to see the older ones and how they had to deal with things now that Harry was no longer in the world of the living. While Dresden couldn’t exactly interact with his former friends, at least at first, it was still nice to learn a bit more of the world under the Chicago he was used to.

I’d say it was Molly who I felt the most for. While everyone was affected, I felt she was the one who was affected the most negatively, considering she struck out on her own. Then again, Murphy’s decision to throw in with Marcone seemed to have a huge damaging effect on her.

There were a lot more references to popular culture, and in particular to Marvel, than I was expecting. Towards the end of the book, the Star Trek thing did seem to get a little bit ridiculous with the whole thing with Molly, but perhaps that was because it was the only real time I got to see inside a wizard’s mind.

One of the things I really like about this universe is that even the characters with magic get beaten down and have to haul themselves back up and this book wasn’t any different, even though Dresden was, effectively, no longer alive. And it was especially good to see he was subject to the limitations of what he was.

I particularly liked Morty and Bob in this book, even though I didn’t get to see too much of either. There was a lot going on and I was very firmly pulled into the action and story. I cared about the characters and what was happening to all of them. And I plan to read the next two books in this universe in the very near future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was very intrigued when I read the blurb of this book and even though the very first scene didn’t immediately have anything to do with the plot, it was still enough to pique my interest in the rest of the book.

While I did find MacReady an interesting character and it was good to see his relationship with his wife, I kind of lost an emotional connection with him due to his interactions with the other characters. Apart from Beck, I wasn’t really able to differentiate between the characters; and Beck kind of seemed the token female police officer. She was also a bit too much with the attitude at times, especially when she seemed to expect her partner to drive and answer his cell phone at the same time.

The secondary plot of the story was more interesting to read, but it wasn’t really detailed enough to work with what was revealed at the end of the book. I felt some of the characters could have been expanded upon a lot more; and there was quite a bit of repetitiveness when it came to MacReady being the new guy. There were times I felt like I was reading about the new kid at school trying to fit in and the conflicts from some characters didn’t really make a lot of sense.

The most interesting part of the book was the conflict MacReady was experiencing within his own family, but I didn’t get to see a lot of the tension between him and his wife. And while there were issues between him and his brother, those were also told, rather than me being able to see and make those judgements for myself.

There were some moments of tension, but I felt those were somehow lost until towards the end of the book. However, although the loose ends were kind of tied up, I was left wondering how it was all kept hidden in the town.

I would have liked more details on the secondary characters and less of the sole focus being on piling on the new guy. I didn’t have much of an emotional connection to any of the secondary characters and I would have liked to see more of the actual case. At the moment, I don’t plan to read the next book/s in this series.