(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

The fact that I like horror movies is something that most people who know me are aware of. Someone from my church recently told me that he’d been told I only drank Diet Coke… and that I like horror movies.

I always find the genre of slasher horror to be interesting. I think it’s fascinating to see the kinds of things people will do in order to survive. I have to say, though, that I think sustaining that level of horror throughout the course of a novel is probably very difficult.

This book was fairly short, so I felt it worked really well. The characters were interesting and Chris especially wasn’t really obvious in his motivations. There were some moments in the book that really creeped me out and even though I would have liked a bit more explanation for certain things, I felt a lot of it did make sense… and it didn’t have much of an open end.

I could see a lot of the events happening in my mind and cringed along with some of the descriptions. There were a number of things I didn’t expect in the book and I felt that, although there wasn’t much of a mystery, it was still really interesting.

The Welsh phrases and words worked well, but the footnotes were a bit distracting. I kept having to break the flow of the narrative to check the translations. Apart from that, though, I felt this book was interesting and it was cool that the island was actually a real place. I would like to see something about the aftermath of what happened there.

I’d probably read other books by this author at some point in the future. If you like horror books, this is a quick, entertaining read.

(I received a free ARC of this book).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book had one of those things that I like in it – a strong female character. I really liked Renna and even though this book did have something in it that I don’t like in romances (love triangles), it wasn’t handled really badly in this book.

I did feel that there was a good amount of world-building. Although I would have liked to learn a bit more about the various alien races and planets, there was enough for the world to feel quite real.

I felt that the sexual tension between Renna and Finn came across really well. It was interesting to learn about their past together and although ‘the thief with a heart of gold’ isn’t a really original stereotype, it was still one of the things I liked about Renna.

I was a bit disappointed that many of the other characters weren’t as fully explored as they could have been. They seemed to really only be there to further the plot with Renna, rather than living their own lives outside of the main storyline. I did also feel that Renna relied too much on seducing people. Presumably, as a thief, she’d be doing other things rather than just seducing people for information/to trick them. I would have liked to see more of her skillset.

I did like the fact that Renna was a much more active character and it was nice to see how things did develop between her and the other crew members. I would have liked the ending to be less open-ended, but I suppose it does leave questions for book two, which I have and will be reading in time to post my review later this month.

I did feel this book was entertaining and easy to read. There were some cliches, but the main characters were well-written enough that those cliches actually worked. This probably is a book that I’d re-read at some point in the future and, depending on book two, I imagine I’d pick up book three to read; if and when it comes out. I personally found it well-written, with very few errors, if any, in the writing.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found this book to be a really quick, easy read. Although there was a lot I didn’t understand about how ships work (in the past and now), I found that the characters were interesting and intriguing enough to drive the story enough.

Although I believe this book was a later one in the series (I believe), I still found it quite easy to understand. I liked Kydd’s friendship with Renzi.

It was interesting to see how different Tyrell was as a captain and how his crewmates viewed him in comparison to how Kydd’s men viewed him. Although the Hannibal’s crew weren’t shown in the same detail as the crew in Kydd’s ship, I still empathised with the men who had to suffer under a tyrant.

One of the interesting things about this book was the stretching of the rules. I noticed a few times where the truth was stretched, or discarded outright, and it was interesting to see the characters react within those parameters.

There was quite a lot of action in this book and although there were some parts where I wasn’t sure what was going on, it was quite cool to see what life on the sea was like during that time. I found this book entertaining and easy to read and I cared about Kydd in particular. I felt he was the most well-rounded character in this book. I did feel that the ending was a little rushed, but apart from that, I think this book is worth reading if you like historical books about the English navy.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought the idea of this book was quite an interesting one, but although the plot was fairly intriguing, I did feel that the formatting to this book made it difficult to read. Each chapter was mostly a block of text, with no paragraphs where new people spoke.

The characters I could easily relate to in this book were Jerel and Rich. I would have liked to see more of their relationship and their banter. There was too much summarising of their interactions and with the other characters, I kept getting a bit confused with the genders of certain other characters, too.

It was interesting to see how the heist went, though I’m still not sure I understood exactly what it was they were trying to accomplish.

I think this book would benefit from a proof reader. It could also be expanded, with more detail included for some of the supporting characters. As it is, the book was quick and easy to read, but I think there is room for improvement.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I don’t think I’d personally class this book so much as a thriller. I never had any sense there was a lot of danger involved. I don’t actually know the reality that this book was inspired by, though I seem to recall hearing something about it in the past.

I did struggle to understand a lot of motivations in this book. Because it was written in first person, I only saw people from Hannah’s perspective, which made it difficult for me to relate to any of the other characters… except perhaps for Alice. And Eric. There was actually one part that I found strange which wasn’t really explored, although it could have been.

I felt that there was a lot that wasn’t explained in this book. Again, I know it was written in first person (and I really liked that the central character didn’t change), but I felt that some of the questions I had could have been answered.

The book was mostly easy to read, apart from switching between past and present. I didn’t think that worked as well and I really struggled with the switching of tenses.

Although there were some elements of mystery in this book, I felt that it was more of a character’s journey to discover herself. I don’t think it’s a book I’d pick up to read again, but it was fairly quick and easy to read.