Can’t Wait Wednesday : The Shadow Friend by Alex North
4 March 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Alex North, Can't wait Wednesday, The Shadow Friend

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is : The Shadow Friend by Alex North. I enjoyed The Whisper Man so look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next. And I love the description. Take a peek:
If it had happened to you, you would have run away too.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul’s friend Charlie Crabtree brutally killed their classmate – and then vanished without a trace.
Paul’s never forgiven himself for his part in what happened. He’s never gone back home.
Until his elderly mother has a fall. It’s finally time to stop running.
It’s not long before things start to go wrong. His mother claims there’s someone in the house. Paul realises someone is following him. And, in a town many miles away, a copycat killer has struck.
Which makes him wonder – what really happened to Charlie the day of the murder?
And can anyone stop it happening again?
Expected publication : July 2020
Top Ten Tuesday : One Word Book Titles
3 March 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: One word book titles, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is :
Books With Single-Word Titles
I quite enjoyed this week’s theme just working my way back through previous blogging years. Here’s what I came up with – all books linked to reviews.
- Westside by WM Akers
- Ration by Cody T Luff
- Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
- Kin by Snorri Kristjansson
- Witchmark by C L Polk
- Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
- Dracul by Dacre Stoker
- Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- Miserere by Teresa Frohock
Weekly Wrap Up : 1st March 2020
1 March 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Crownbreaker, Sam Lloyd, Sebastien de Castell, The Memory Wood, Weekly wrap up
It’s March – it’s actually March. Who can believe it. I’ve had a busy week again – I sound like a scratched record. Basically, same old, same old. I read two of my planned books this week. Also nearly finished another SPFBO and will soon be starting the next – I need to catch up with my titles over March and April but I’m chilled about it because I’ve not got as many review books over the next two months. So, what did I read this week:
- Crownbreaker by Sebastien deCastell – which was a great ending to a wonderful series. Review here.
- The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd – which I absolutely loved. And my review is here.
What I’m reading next week:
- Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (audio) – I have made progress and I’m really enjoying it so should finish it probably Monday.
- The Deep by Alma Katsu
- The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Upcoming Reviews:
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
- Queenlayer by Sebastien DeCastell
- The Absinthe Earl by Sharon Lynn Fisher
- King of Assassins by RJ Barker
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
Crownbreaker (Spellslinger #6) by Sebastien de Castell
28 February 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Crownbreaker, Sebastien de Castell, Spellslinger #6
Coming to the end of a series is such a mixed bag. On the one hand I’m pleased with myself for completing the whole series but on the other I’m sad to see it end and with the Spellslinger series I genuinely think I could have read a few more adventures starring Kellen and Reichis. That being said, I really applaud the author for knowing when to draw a line under things rather than delaying and have readers lose their motivation to continue – which does sometimes happen after all.
This has been such a good series. At its core I’d say these books are a feel good exploration of good vs bad with some very funny moments usually provided by a crazy critter. More than that they’ve provided intriguing plots and excellent character growth for the main character which in my opinion is the winning element of this series. I’ve really loved watching Kellen grow into this final iteration – his journey isn’t over of course, this is only the start for him (even if it’s the conclusion for us readers), but he’s a lot more self assured and happier with himself.
When we began this journey with Kellen, he was still a young boy, on the brink of being magically tested and worried about the loss of face if he didn’t succeed. As it happens, failing at magic is probably Kellen’s greatest moment and certainly sets him on a path that will define him and help him to become a much more rounded character than if he’d stayed at home. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Crownbreaker surprised me in more ways than one to be honest. Kellen has finally found a place and role that suits him and I think I almost went into this read wondering what shenanigans were going to be thrown at him. I did wonder whether things might be a bit more pedestrian but I needn’t have worried. It seems Castell had plenty in store and more than that he really did have the long picture in mind with some of the earlier instalments as you’ll find out when you read this. Little light bulbs were pinging on inside my head as I realised that elements from earlier in the series were all playing into the storyline – in a most satisfactory fashion I might add.
I’m not going to describe the plot at all as I don’t want to spoil this final instalment. I will only say that war is looming, Kellen will have to make a very difficult choice and characters from the past will be putting in appearances. Okay, one small spoiler – Ferius makes an appearance and it was so good to have her back that it made me realise how very much I’d missed her.
In terms of criticisms. I have nothing. Taken as a whole this has been a wonderfully entertaining series. A strange combination of wild west frontier meets magic, with assassins and all sorts of different cultures thrown into the mix for good measure. And I may have had the odd book that I didn’t like quite as much as the rest but this was only a very slight dip that in no way affected my enjoyment.
I highly recommend the Spellslinger series. It’s thoroughly entertaining, superbly written, has so many characters that you can fall in love with, great settings and some cheeky sidekicks – that I hope don’t hear about me calling them sidekicks! *gulps*
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 4.5 of 5 stars
P.S – word to the wise. You know that time you went to catch a movie and as the credits were rolling and everyone was leaving, and you thought you’d just chill and wait for the stampede to be over – and then a sneaky bit of something extra appeared on the screen making you feel totally smug. Well, I’m just saying. You might think it’s over but is it really over??
Friday Face Off : Leap Year – One Ring to rule them all – A cover with a ring
28 February 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, Koji Suzuki, Ring

Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
Leap Year – One Ring to rule them all – A cover with a ring
A lot of the new themes are open to interpretation which might make choosing the covers and seeing other’s choices very interesting. I can’t stress enough that this is all about your own interpretation and hopefully this new open feel to the meme will bring a larger selection of books and covers. It’s not supposed to be hard work, there are no rules, just enjoy yourself.
Well, I can’t even begin to express how much I wanted to use Lord of the Rings this week. But, I’ve shown great restraint because obviously I never miss a chance to throw a bit of Tolkien into the mix. Instead I’ve gone for a book that I read some time ago – it took me ages to find this because I couldn’t remember the author name and then I realised I could have just typed ‘ring’ into Goodreads – doh. Anyway, my book is Ring by Kōji Suzuki. Scary little book this:
My favourites:
I love the way the middle cover actually looks like a ring with a gemstone glinting with light. The blue cover has that edgy out of focus thing going on and the final cover just gives me the heebies. Overall I think my favourite would be:

Which is your favourite?
I’ll be updating the list in order to include forthcoming events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share then let me know in the comments). As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know 😀
Next week – Skeleton – them bones, them bones, them dry bones…
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers) (I’ve added some new themes – some of these are slightly different, in order to avoid too much repetition I’m trying to make the themes more of a suggestion that everyone can interpret how they like.
2019
6th March – Skeleton – them bones, them bones, them dry bones…
13th March – Exotic – ‘That which yields, is not always weak”– anything that represents something from distant lands.
20th March – Brown – a cover or covers that are brown
27th March – Freebie – choose one of your favourite covers
3rd April Fools – a trick of the eye – a cover that is more than meets the eye.
10th April – Moody – a cover that is atmospheric,
17th April – out of focus – double vision or all a blur
24th April – Armour – ‘“Pretty armour doesn’t make a warrior.”
1st May – Canine – “And then there were cats, thought Dog.:
8th May – graphic novel cover – “Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel”
15th May – pink – as pink as cotton candy – any cover that is pink
22nd May – Sorrow – a cover that makes you feel sad
29th May – Silhouette – an island, a person, anything you like
5th June – Flight – any type of flight – to flee, to fly
12th June – The bodice ripper – exactly as it seems
19th June – Time – time waits for no one
26th June – Windows – windows to the soul?




