Review - The Shelf by Helly Acton

 

 

Title: The Shelf

Author: Helly Acton

Pages: 416

Publisher: Zaffre

Release Date: 18th June 2020

 

Blurb from Goodreads: 

A funny, feminist and all-too-relatable novel about our obsession with coupling up, settling down and the battle we all have with accepting ourselves, The Shelf introduces the freshest new voice in women's fiction.

Ever feel like you're losing a race you never signed up for?

Everyone in Amy's life seems to be getting married, having children and settling down (or so Instagram tells her), and she feels like she's falling behind.

So, when her long-term boyfriend surprises her with a dream holiday, she thinks he's going to finally pop the Big Question. But the dream turns into a nightmare when, instead, she finds herself on the set of a Big Brother-style reality television show, The Shelf.

Along with five other women, Amy is brutally dumped live on TV and must compete in a series of humiliating and o tasks in the hope of being crowned 'The Keeper'.

While inside the house, will Amy learn that there are worse things than being 'left on the shelf'?

 

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop

 

 

My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Bonnier Books UK and NetGalley*

Thirty-two-year-old Amy is feeling the pressure to get married and have children.

She has been in a relationship with her boyfriend, Jamie, for two years. When Jamie springs a surprise holiday on Amy, she thinks that he is finally about to propose.

However, instead of finding herself on a beach, Amy is suddenly on the set of a new reality show called The Shelf where Amy and several other women are dumped live on TV. Amy must compete with her new housemates to reach the final and be named The Keeper by taking part in degrading tasks.

Can Amy learn to love herself again?

Who will be crowned The Keeper?

Contemporary books can be hit or miss for me, but I ended up enjoying The Shelf.

I am glad that The Shelf is not an actual show, because the basis of it was so sexist and demeaning that it infuriated me.

The contestants on the show had different personalities and views, so it was interesting to see how they interacted.

Amy was a likeable and relatable protagonist. I enjoyed reading her journey.

The writing style was easy to follow and I found that I read the book fairly quickly.

While I wasn't blown away by this book, I did enjoy it and it made me think about the pressure we can sometimes put on ourselves to reach certain milestones such as marriage and having children.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

DNF Review - The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

 

 

Title: The Angel of the Crows

Author: Katherine Addison

Pages: 448

Publisher: Tor Books

Release Date: 23rd June 2020

 

Blurb from Goodreads: 

A fantasy novel of alternate 1880s London, where killers stalk the night and the ultimate power is naming.

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

 

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop

 

 

My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Rebellion and NetGalley*

- DNF @20% -

It's London in the 1880s, but not as we know it.

Supernatural creatures roam the streets, coexisting with humans, but there is also a killer on the loose.

An angel works to catch the killer with help from a human sidekick. Can they stop the killer together?

The premise of this book really intrigued me - Sherlock + Supernatural + Jack the Ripper should have been something right up my street and been something that I loved, but unfortunately this wasn't for me.

I did enjoy the first few chapters, but then I found myself losing interest and I couldn't get back into what was happening.

The characters were okay but I didn't really connect with or care about any of them.

This did feel a bit like fan-fiction rather than an original novel.

The descriptions of the victims bothered me. It's a misconception that Jack the Ripper's victims were all prostitutes, but this book (what I read, at least) did nothing to contest that misconception.

This was a book where I couldn't get on with the plot or writing style and in the end I decided to stop reading, which was disappointing as I'd been looking forward to reading it.

Unfortunately, this wasn't for me.

 

 

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday - Firekeeper's Daughter

 

  Can't-Wait Wednesday is a feature hosted at Wishful Endings where people showcase an upcoming book they are looking forward to.

 

This week I'm anticipating . . .

 

 

Title: Firekeeper's Daughter

Author: Angeline Boulley

Pages: 496

Publisher: Rock the Boat

Release Date: 18th March 2021

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.

Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

Why I'm Looking Forward to this Book:

I've heard so much hype for this book!

It sounds like such a unique read!

March TBR

 

 

 Here are the books I'm planning to read in March . . .

Fable (Fable, #1) by Adrienne Young

The Mask Falling (The Bone Season, #4) by Samantha Shannon

 

The Shelf by Helly Acton

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

What are you planning to read in March?

Can't-Wait Wednesday - The Infinity Courts

 

 Can't-Wait Wednesday is a feature hosted at Wishful Endings where people showcase an upcoming book they are looking forward to.

 

 

This week I'm anticipating . . .

 

 Title: The Infinity Courts (The Infinity Courts, #1)

Author: Akemi Dawn Bowman

Pages: 482

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Release Date: 6th April 2021

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years. The only problem? She’s murdered before she gets there.

When Nami wakes up, she learns she’s in a place called Infinity, where human consciousness goes when physical bodies die. She quickly discovers that Ophelia, a virtual assistant widely used by humans on Earth, has taken over the afterlife and is now posing as a queen, forcing humans into servitude the way she’d been forced to serve in the real world. Even worse, Ophelia is inching closer and closer to accomplishing her grand plans of eradicating human existence once and for all.

As Nami works with a team of rebels to bring down Ophelia and save the humans under her imprisonment, she is forced to reckon with her past, her future, and what it is that truly makes us human.

From award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes an incisive, action-packed tale that explores big questions about technology, grief, love, and humanity.

Westworld meets Warcross in this high-stakes, dizzyingly smart sci-fi about a teen girl navigating an afterlife in which she must defeat an AI entity intent on destroying humanity, from award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman.

 

 Why I'm Anticipating This Book:

The afterlife has been taken over and rebels are working to save humans?

Yes, please!

 

 

February Wrap-Up

 

 *Contains spoilers for the January FairyLoot book*

February was another good reading month for me.

WHAT I READ

 

Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1) by Kristin Cashore - paperback - 3/5 stars

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) by Rick Riordan - audiobook - 3.5/5 stars

 

Light of the Jedi (Star Wars: The High Republic) by Charles Soule - eARC - 3/5 stars - read my review here.

The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2) by Samantha Shannon - hardback - 4.5/5 stars

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo - audiobook - 3/5 stars

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (The Shadow Histories, #1) by H.G. Parry - eARC - DNF (1/5 stars) - read my review here.

The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1) by Alexandra Bracken - audiobook - 3/5 stars

The Song Rising (The Bone Season, #3) by Samantha Shannon - 4/5 stars

Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw - eARC - 2.5/5 stars - review to come.

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber - audiobook - 3/5 stars

The Dawn Chorus (The Bone Season, #3.5) by Samantha Shannon - ebook - 4/5 stars

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark - audiobook - 3.5/5 stars

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1) by Nghi Vo - audiobook - 3/5 stars

HAULED BOOKS

 

 Physical books:

 

 I pre-ordered The Project and got the FairyLoot edition of Lore in the January box.

NetGalley ARCs:

 

BLOG POSTS

 

I hosted an excerpt as part of the blog tour for Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

I posted my February TBR

I did Can't-Wait Wednesday posts for A Pho Love Story, We Are the Fire and Sweet & Bitter Magic

 I wrote a 3 stars review for Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule and a DNF review for A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry

I hosted a guest post for the blog tour for We are the Fire by Sam Taylor

 

CURRENTLY READING

 

Fable (Fable, #1) by Adrienne Young

What did you read/haul in February?

 

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday - Sweet & Bitter Magic

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a feature hosted at Wishful Endings where people showcase an upcoming book they are looking forward to.

 This week I'm anticipating . . .

 

 

Title: Sweet & Bitter Magic

Author: Adrienne Tooley

Pages: 368

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Release Date: 9th March 2021

 

Blurb from Goodreads: 

In this charming debut fantasy perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Girls of Paper and Fire, a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.

Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others.

Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret.

When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.

Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don't kill each other first...

 

 

Why I'm Anticipating This Book:

 A character who steals love from others?

A magical plague?

Two characters who work together reluctantly?

Yes, please!