REVIEW: The Winner's Crime - Marie Rutkoski

Title: The Winner's Crime
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Purchased
Publication Date: 12th March, 2015

Lady Kestrel's engagement to Valoria's crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust ... While Arin fights to keep his country's freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner's trilogy.  

BLOG TOUR: Dumplin' - Julie Murphy

Title: Dumplin'
Author: Julie Murphy
Series: None
Publisher: Harper 360
Source: Review Copy
Publication Date: 15th September, 2015

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all. With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

REVIEW: Beautiful Broken Things - Sara Barnard

Title: Beautiful Broken Things
Author: Sara Barnard
Series: None
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Source: Review Copy
Publication Date: 21st January 2016

I was brave She was reckless We were trouble Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realises, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own.

REVIEW: Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas

Title: Queen of Shadows
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #4
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Review Copy
Publication Date: 1st September, 2015

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . . She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return. Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

REVIEW: Asking For It - Louise O'Neill

Title: Asking For It
Author: Louise O'Neill
Series: None
Publisher: Quercus
Source: Review Copy
Publication Date: 3rd September, 2015

FROM THE WINNER OF THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR AWARD. It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma. The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there. She doesn't know why she's in pain. But everyone else does. Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes...

BLOG TOUR: The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Today I am so, so excited to host an audio clip and video for Dawn Kurtagich's phenomenal debut The Dead House. The Dead House is the chilling story of Carly and Kaitlyn  and what happened at 'the Johnson incident'. It's one of my favourite books of 2015 and it holds a special place in my heart. Before I go into it, here's what The Dead House is all about:

Title: The Dead House
Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Series: None
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: 6th August, 2015

Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . . Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers. Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’? Chilling, creepy and utterly compelling, THE DEAD HOUSE is one of those very special books that finds all the dark places in your imagination, and haunts you long after you've finished reading..

BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY: Drop by Katie Everson

Today the lovely Katie Everson has stopped by to chat about the things she tells herself pre-publication of her fantastic debut Drop. This book is a stonker and not one to miss! To top off a great post, the lovely people at Walker have given me x2 copies of the fantastic Drop to giveaway so don't forget to enter at the bottom! Enjoy!