March Reading Wrap-Up

So, there is still another day of March but I am not going to finish my current book in that time so I thought I would do my wrap-up today.

I feel like it hasn’t been the best month for reading. Some of the books were pretty good, but none were amazing. I feel like most of the books have dragged a lot and I haven’t enjoyed reading as much this month. I still managed six books but that’s not as much as previous months.

I have been very good about writing reviews this month however, and have already reviewed all of the books!

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Book Unhaul!

So, on BookTube I love a good unhaul video! Obviously this isn’t a video but I am still doing an unhaul so I thought I would post about it. Most of my books are ebooks so it is unusual for me to have many physical books I want to get rid of but I have built up a little pile.

What am I going to do with the books you ask? Well there is a used bookshop in the hospital and a patient library so I am planning to donate the books to one of them.

My reasons for getting rid of these book vary, so I will give an explanation for each as we go along.

With this book I just couldn’t get through it. It was weird but also just not that interesting. I made it about halfway through before I gave up. Unfortunately it was quite expensive.

Book Review- Redemption Road

Title- Redemption Road
Author- John Hart
Published-  2016
Genre- Crime, mystery
Length- 433 pages
Rating- 3/5
Synopsis (Amazon)- Elizabeth Black is a hero. She is a cop who single-handedly rescued a young girl from a locked cellar and shot two brutal kidnappers dead. But she’s also a cop with a history, a woman with a secret. And she’s not the only one.

Adrian Wall is finally free after thirteen years of torture and abuse. In the very first room he walks into, a boy with a gun is waiting to avenge the death of his mother. But that is the least of Adrian’s problems.
He was safer in prison.
And deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen. It is not the first to be found.

This is a town on the brink.

This is Redemption Road.

Brimming with tension, secrets, and betrayal, brilliantly evoking an America of small towns and remote landscapes, of the abandoned, the derelict and the desperate, this is a novel so chillingly suspenseful and a story so full of twists and turns that you simply cannot stop reading. It marks a new high point in the writing of this bestselling master of the literary thriller.

Review- I received an ARC of this book from the publisher so thank you to them.

This book is a little difficult for me to review as the genre  is one that I have realised I am not that keen on. That however, has no bearing on how good or bad the book actually is.

Book Review- Penance

Title- Penance
Author- Kanae Minato
Published- April 6th 2017
Genre- Crime, mystery, thriller
Length- 240 pages
Rating- 3.5/5
Synopsis (Amazon)- When a group of young girls are approached by a stranger, they cannot know that the encounter will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Hours later, Emily is dead. The surviving girls alone can identify the killer. But not one of them remembers his face…

Driven mad by grief, the victim’s mother demands the girls find the murderer or else atone for their crimes. If they do neither, she will have her revenge. She will make them pay…

Review- I received an ARC of this from the publisher so thank you to them.

The story is told by five people, the four young girls who were with Emily the day she died, who are now adults, and Emily’s mother. The way the accounts of these five people are written is very unnatural and feels forced. Each one of them is talking to someone in one way or another, in writing, in a speech etc. Much of what they say in these accounts people  just wouldn’t say in some of the situations they are in, it would be better if the accounts were told in some other format.

February Reading Wrap-Up

So, February has been another good reading month for me. The last week was a little slower than the rest of the month but I am still pretty pleased with myself. I have finished 9 books so far this month but should finish my current one this evening.

I have read a good mix of genres this month, YA, thrillers, crime, contemporary and non-fiction!

I have also read a variety of formats this month. Until about six months ago I read almost exclusively on my Kindle but this month I have read ebooks, hardcovers and paperbacks. I have managed to persuade my fiancé to take me on two trips to the bookstore in the last few months and am building up a nice stack of books on my desk as a result!

Book Review – The Legacy

Title- The Legacy
Author- Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Published- March 23rd 2017
Genre- Thriller/Crime
Length- 464 pages
Rating- 4.5/5

Synopsis (Goodreads)-  The murder was meant as a punishment – but what sin could justify the method?

The only person who might have answers is the victim’s seven-year-old daughter, found hiding in the room where her mother died. And she’s not talking.

Newly promoted, out of his depth, detective Huldar turns to Freyja and the Children’s House for their expertise with traumatised young people. Freyja, who distrusts the police in general and Huldar in particular, isn’t best pleased. But she’s determined to keep little Margret safe.

It may prove tricky. The killer is leaving them strange clues: warnings in text messages, sums scribbled on bits of paper, numbers broadcast on the radio. He’s telling a dark and secret story – but how can they crack the code? And if they do, will they be next?

Review- I received an ARC of this from the publisher so thank you to them.

This was originally written in Icelandic and has been translated into English. The translation is perfect, at least in that it makes perfect sense, I haven’t seen an Icelandic copy and wouldn’t be able to read it if I had! The names are Icelandic but there is a pronunciation guide at the start of the book, I mostly just ignored it and pronounced things how I wanted to in my head which I imagine a lot of people do, but it is nice to have the guide.