Summer Falls and other stories by James Goss and Justin Richards

Summer Falls and more by James Goss and Justin Richards
Release Date: October 22, 2013
Pages: 288
Rating:💜💜💜💜 1/2
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Summer Falls by Amelia Williams: Young Kate discovers a mysterious painting entitled "The Lord of Winter" in a charity shop, leading her on an adventure she never could have planned. 
The Angel's Kiss by Melody Malone: Detective Melody Malone has an unexpected caller: movie star Rock Railton thinks someone is out to kill him, and when he mentions the "kiss of the Angel" she takes the case. Devil in the Smoke, as recounted by Mr. Justin Richards: On a cold day in December, two young boys, tired of sweeping snow from the workhouse yard, decide to build a snowman — and are confronted with a strange and grisly mystery.


My inner fangirl is rolling around on the floor, crying happy tears. I've wanted to read this book since Clara was seen holding it and I was not disappointed. All three novellas were full of references to the show so I highly recommend that all Doctor Who fans should read this book. But even if you're not a Doctor Who fan you should pick it anyway because these are three beautifully written books.

1. Summer Falls by Amelia Williams (5/5)
   "Kate stood, watching the sea for a long time. She'd never seen anything so impossible, so beautiful. She looked out at the waves frozen into mountain peaks, stretching towards a distant, dark sky, and she felt afraid. She was alone in a world that was a dream."
   This novella was beautifully written and had the feeling of a mystery / sci-fi novel which I loved. It gave me warm tingly feelings inside, and it had a very Christmassy vibe (even though it is set in August).
2. The Angel's Kiss by Melody Malone (5/5)
   "But I am Melody Malone, with ice in my heart and a kiss on my lips. In the city that never sleeps and should never blink, mysteries are my business."
   One of my favourite Doctor Who characters is River Song (Melody Pond), and Melody Malone was obviously based off her. She was a private detective solving supernatural crimes whilst on the lookout for The Doctor. She is smart, sassy and sexy but also able to get to the root of the crime. This may be my favourite novella of the three.
3. Devil in the Smoke by Justin Richards (4/5)"Madame Vastra leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands in front of her on the table, for all the world like Sherlock Holmes. Only female. And green." My least favourite of the three, mainly because of the characters. In Doctor Who I don't particularly care about Strax, who plays a big role in this story. However it was funny and captivating, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Release Date: January 12, 2017
Pages: 302
Rating:💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Flora has amnesia. She can't remember anything day-to-day: the joke her friend made, the instructions her parents gave her, how old she is.
Then she kisses someone she shouldn't- and the next day she remembers it. 
It's the first time she has remembered anything since she was ten. But the boy is gone.







Don't let my rating stop you from reading the book because I did really like the story. It was a sweet well thought out story which I found easy to become trapped in, and I managed to finish this book in a couple of hours. However there were a few things in the story that annoyed me enough to lower my rating from 5 to 3.

Everything was repeated so much, and I do understand why. However I did get frustrated when I had to read the same line for the hundredth time because it made to book seem to jump around instead of going forward. The writing style also felt quite straight forward, almost as if a child was telling their life story. I guess it could be because Flora thinks she is a ten year old but even the descriptive parts felt simple. For me this took away from the book and made me enjoy it less.

I loved Flora as a character; she is sweet and funny, but also so confused. Every few hours she forgets everything from when she was ten and so has to read notes about what has happened to her. She reminded me of  Lucy from 50 First Dates because every time she found out about her condition Flora managed to stay upbeat and positive. I felt protective over her, wishing that none of the bad that happen to her did. I wish she lived near me so I could be friends with her!

There are several surprises in the book that I didn't see coming and I loved that Emily Barr did surprise me. It kept the story fresh and gripped me. I think if one of the surprises had been taking out I wouldn't have enjoyed. It is the kind of book where you only have ten pages left but hundreds of things to resolve! However Emily Barr managed to wrap everything up in a good, clean ending which I loved.

I’d still recommend this book. It was a lovely read and I’m glad I picked it up. Give it a try because you may love it!

How to read more books

I am not an expert when it comes to consistent reading; there are some months where I read 6 or 7 books and other months where I read half a book. However I do have some skill when it comes to reading lots of books. The months when I actually remember just how much I love reading are the months where I fly through books left, right and centre. So today I decided to share my wisdom with you guys and tell you how I read more books.

1. Take a book with you everywhere. This one might seem obvious because you need a book to read (duh...) but it would surprise you how much more time you spend reading when you begin carrying books around with you. Even if you know you won't have time to read your book just remembering to pick up your book means you're one step closer to reading it. 
2. Remember to read. Again this might sound obvious but it does make a difference. I was sitting on my bed over the weekend, scrolling through Instagram without any real purpose. In the hour I sat there staring at random people's dogs I could have easily read a couple of chapters of my book. So instead of wasting your time staring at random feeds, put down your phone and pick up a book!
3. Set a Goodreads goal. This doesn't work for everyone, but it does work for me. Having a yearly target means that you feel the need to read books in your spare time. For me it works because I am super competitive, so I feel the need to try and crush my reading goal. It is always a nice way to keep track of which books you've read that year so you can look back and remember all the awesome books you enjoyed.
4. Listen to audio books. Most popular books have an audio book to go with them so if you don't have time to sit down and read a book, download the audio book. There are so many different places to get audio books (online, library, book shops), that it is easy to pick one up. By doing this you will be able to listen to the book anywhere and easily get through your TBR.
5. Don't read bad books. I have to admit, I'm awful at following this rule. Once I start reading a book I have to finish reading it otherwise I feel like I'm a failure. So one of my new year's resolutions is to stop reading a book if I'm not enjoying. Seriously, if you're not enjoying a book PUT IT DOWN! Don't torture yourself with a rubbish book when you could be reading two good ones.

So those are my tips for reading more books. If you any of these help you, or if you have tips of your own, please leave them in the comments below so that we can all help each other!

The Girl Savage by Katherine Rundell

The Girl Savage by Katherine Rundell
Release Date: January 6, 2011
Pages: 231
Rating: 💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Wilhelmina Silver’s world is golden. Living half-wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult. For lions and hyenas are nothing compared to packs of schoolgirls. Where can a girl run to in London? And will she have the courage to survive?






I loved this book and I thought that the writing was beautiful. The writing style felt similar to Enid Blyton, so if you love her books you're going to love this book! It only took me a day to read it because it is so incredibly short (only 231 pages! What?!). I'm so glad that I read it though because it was such a beautiful story with lovely descriptions.

It was really interesting to read a story that is set in Africa, a place that I've never read a book set in. The description of the African landscape was gorgeous and made me feel like I was there. I loved the relationships that Will created with the creatures in this book; the fact that she treated them like humans was really lovely and I enjoyed reading about her adventures. 

One thing that did annoy me a little was the fact that the African characters kept on saying 'ja'. I know this is trying to show what their accents are like, but I kept on picture them talking in a German accent. Also the fact that there were native expressions in the conversations with no translations was a little confusing, but it was easy to get over it.

**Mild Spoilers**

I thought the character development in this book was phenomenal and so realistic. When Will is tossed into a whole new environment that she has never experienced before, she didn't settle in right away. She finds that world difficult to understand but over time she realised that she doesn't have to hate her new life. I really loved that the character development took time and didn't suddenly happen. 

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that needs a break from all the young-adult, dystopian books that are being written these days. It gave me a break between books and I really enjoyed reading it. Although this book is aimed at younger children it gets serious at points and doesn't feel childish at all. It was a fun, quick read and I can't wait to read more Katherine Rundell!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Released: January 3, 2012
Pages: 390
Rating: 💜💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the centre of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.


I'm just going to come out and say I adored this book. I don't usually read sci-fi books but this book just pulled me in. I loved that it was set in a China, and how it mixed unknown futuristic things with well-known current day things. It had such a different feel from other sci-fi books that I've attempted to read and I loved it.

Marissa Meyer did a great job with this book, coming up with a new type of re-telling for traditional fairy tales. She managed to make Cinder human-like whilst exploring the limitations of being cyborg. There were scenarios in the book (not being able to blush or cry) which builds up our view of this new world, and things that were added in for humour (Cinder having to buy a new foot) but they all fitted together perfectly. I was really pleased with how well the idea was executed, and it really did it for me.

The world-building was okay but I feel like there could have been a bit more, just to give the reader a little bit more context of the world we are in. There were new places that we don't know about (Eastern Commonwealth, United Kingdom, European Federation etc...) and I wish that there was a map in the book so I knew where all the empires (?) were. The place the book is set wasn't really described massively but we did get a little bit of description that actually kind worked. Overall the world-building wasn't as heavy as I expected but there was enough that you wouldn't feel lost.

I loved the characters in this book! They were all so 3-D and well-written. I made a basic break-down of each character:

• Cinder- The protagonist (obviously); she is smart, brave, funny and strong. I was so happy that she stood up for herself and wasn't a push-over.
• Prince Kai- The main guy; he is adorable and funny but does have a serious side to him. He has to put up with a lot throughout this book and I hope he gets a break.
• Queen Levana- I kind of loved her. She is so intimidating and knows what she wants that I just wanted to read more about her. Can't wait to see her role in the next book.
• The family- I hated the stepmother and older sister (Pearl) and loved the other sister (Peony). So much hate for the family, I have no more to say.
• Iko- The robot sidekick. She was so funny and inappropriate, I loved her.   

The ending was amazing, it was such a massive cliff-hanger. I was expecting the surprise at the end but I wasn't expecting anything else that happened at the end. I basically put down Cinder and thought "I need to read Scarlet". I can't recommend this book enough; if you haven't read it yet go and buy it!

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz
Released: June 22, 2015
Pages: 320
Rating: 💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?


I really loved this book and whizzed through it, taking only two days to read it. It is so light-hearted and funny, a perfect mix of good writing and the classic Disney that we all know and love. 

All the old characters were well written (Maleficent, Jafar etc...) and had the same attitude to life as they do in their respective films. However Melissa de la Cruz had adapted the characters to show that not only were they in the 21st century, but that they had aged since their films and were past the prime of their lives. Also the fact that there is no magic obviously limits how evil they can be, but I think she dealt with it well.

Oh my god, these new characters! I loved all of them! They were all so amazing and Disney-like. I loved learning about these new children and all their different personalities. I especially liked how the book switched between their point-of-views so you get to see the island from their individual perspectives. It also meant you get an insight into what the characters' motives and thoughts are which I think helps build up the overall story.

This was definitely an introduction novel to the Disney film as it introduced a lot of characters in short amount of time. It also built up problems and relationships that were obviously going to continue in the film. There was also a ton of description which helped build up the world, although it did get annoying at times. I understand that Melissa needed to build up the world but I want to know why Mal wanted to impress her mother not what shade of purple she wears! 

Overall I loved this book, and can't wait to watch the film and read the next 2 books! It does its job well, getting me super excited about all the Disney villains and their children. It is a lovely, well-written book and is adorable. A perfect prequel to the Disney Descendants film and I would recommend it to people who love the Disney villains.

March TBR

This month I'm taking part in two reading challenges (yearathon and all the short ones), so I have a list of books I need to read this month. It is strange having a stack of books on my desk ready for me to read because I usually just read whatever I want, when I want. That being said, I am super excited for the book I  will be reading this month.

So, in no order what so ever, here are the books I will be reading:

1. The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
3. Slawter by Darren Shan
4. The Girl Savage by Katherine Rundell
5. Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie
6. Summer Falls and other stories by Justin Richards

There it is: my ambitious TBR. Luckily I have a week-long holiday during this time, giving me some spare time to read instead of study. Hopefully I'll be able to read all of the books this month, although I can't promise anything!

Have you read any of these books, and what did you think of them? What is your March TBR? Tell me in the comments!