#WWW Wednesday – January 17, 2018

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished Everless by Sara Holland and while it was still a little bit tropey, it did subvert other tropes and completely sucked me in! I’ll be looking forward to the next book.

I also read Mr Stink by David Walliams. This is a children’s book very much in the style of Roald Dahl (complete with illustrations by Quentin Blake). I liked it but I wasn’t quite sure what it was trying to say. I’ll have a review up on Friday.

Two reviews this week! My review of Everless went up here and I also reviewed False Awakening, an urban fantasy by Cassandra Page, here.

What are you currently reading?

I haven’t had a lot of time for reading this past week as I’ve been on holidays with a couple of friends, but I have been reading The Empty Grave (Lockwood & Co. #5) by Jonathan Stroud. Feeling a bit bittersweet as I have been following this series since it began and this is the last book.  Also, last time I finished a series by Jonathan Stroud, I threw my Kindle across the room (the ending wasn’t bad at all, just gave me a lot of feelings), so I’m a little apprehensive.

I am still going with The Hospital by the River by Catherine Hamlin. I haven’t had much time for audio books but I’ll be getting back to my longer walks tomorrow so I will be able to make some more progress with this one.

What do you think you’ll read next?

So I requested some ARCs from NetGalley that I thought were not going to be published until June and October, only to discover after I was accepted that they were actually published last June and October (and are still available to request?!). And also there was that time on Sunday when I went to the library and accidentally came away with six books. Which is all to say, I really don’t know, but I have plenty to choose from!

What are you reading this week? 

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Book Review: “Everless” by Sara Holland

Title: Everless
Author: Sara Holland
Genre: YA/fantasy
Date Read: 06/01/2018 – 10/01/2018
Rating: ★★★★☆

Review:

After a little bit of a slow start, this book totally sucked me in! I can’t wait to continue following the characters in this world. It took me a little while to get my head around some of the world-building, but once I did, I really enjoyed where the story took me.

In a world where the currency is literally the years on one’s life, Jules and her father struggle to make ends meet from one day to the next. After her father’s death, Jules goes to work at the Everless estate, home of the wealthy Girling family, where she lived as a child before she and her father were driven away.  But the  more times she spends there, the more secrets she uncovers about her past, and the more questions she finds that need answers.

I really enjoyed the way that Holland subverted some typical YA tropes. What I thought was surely going to be a love triangle turned out to not be. There is still a bit of romance and it does have some eye-roll-worthy moments that are typical of YA, but this is very much not the focal point of the book. Jules actually spends most of the book trying to figure out her past and her abilities, rather than swooning over anyone.

The last third of the book is quite twisty. I had figured out some of the reveals that came along, but certainly not all of them, and I was taken by surprise on more than one occasion. There is a good cast of characters and I really appreciated how many women and girls made up the supporting cast.

I really loved the world-building. The idea of blood-iron did take me a while to understand, but it is pretty well explained.  There is also a lot of mythology and history of the Kingdom of Sempera, which Holland weaves into the story. Sometimes it did get a little info-dumpy, especially earlier on, but this didn’t bother me too much.

The ending is full of drama and leaves a lot for the second book to explore. I’m really excited to see how everythiing pans out.

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Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of Everless for review purposes.

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#WWW Wednesday – January 10, 2018

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’m still getting back into the swing of things for the new year, so I’ve been a bit slow at reading. I finished reading False Awakening by Cassandra Page.  I enjoyed it but I think it suffered a bit because it had been so long since I had read the first book, so I had trouble remembering some of the details it referred to. My review will be up on Friday all being well.

I have posted three reviews since my last WWW post. Click the titles to read them:

Warcross by Marie Lu (YA sci-fi)
Vicious by V. E. Schwab (sci-fi)
Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian (YA contemporary)

What are you currently reading?

I am reading an ARC – Everless by Sara Holland. I’m really enjoying this! It’s a bit different to the usual YA fantasies that are coming out at the moment (though it does admittedly fall into some typical tropes). I love the idea of time as currency.

I have also just started The Hospital by the River by Catherine Hamlin. Catherine Hamlin is an incredible woman who has done so much for women in Ethiopia. I knew a bit about her but I’m interested to learn more about her in her own words.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I think it needs to be Your One and Only by Adrianne Finlay, a YA sci-fi. I’ve had this ARC for a while now and it publishes in early February, so I want to make sure my review is up in time.

What are you reading this week?