Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Review

8 Reasons it’s good for YOU to write reviews

People often talk about why writing reviews are so important to authors but what about for you the reader. Here we go:

Your Reading History

If you read a lot, you can forget what you’ve read. You don’t want to waste time reading a book you didn’t enjoy, twice.

But on the flip side, wouldn’t it be awesome to rediscover the books you did love. You don’t want to forget those gems.

Reading Goals

If you enjoy a challenge, set yourself a reading goal. Celebrate your wins doing something you love.

If you discover your not getting time to read, it could help you identify that your life is too hectic and you don’t get to relax. Or maybe your energy is focussed elsewhere, which is fine. You can reduce your goal.

Favourite author

It helps you not forget the name of that author whose voice you loved. Now, you can discover more of their books.

You can follow authors you like on sites like Goodreads, Book Bub and Amazon. This will help keep you notified of new releases.

Better Recommendations

Over time your tastes may change but seeing what you enjoyed helps identify what you love. In turn, this will help you discover more fabulous books.

If you post your review to sites like Good Reads or Amazon, then algorithms will learn what you want and recommend what to buy/read next. This can save you time in finding your next great read.

Others will read your reviews, see what you like and be able to make intelligent recommendations.

Reading Buddies

You may connect with people with similar tastes, get reading buddies, and/or develop a book club. Reading can become a social activity, and thanks to the internet, you can buddy a reader anywhere in the world.

By talking about the books you read, you become someone people trust for recommendations. Imagine being an influencer for the books you love, someone others take notice of? If you’re good at reviews, this could be you.

Self Development – Reading

There’s more to reading than getting from page 1 to the end. When you write a review you reflect on what you read.

What was it about? How did it make you feel? Did you learn from the story?

Reflecting on what you read is a skill you are taught at school to deepen your reading but is often lost when you no longer have a teacher invested in your reading.

Self Development – Writing

When you write a review, you’ll think about what was done well and how you can use those techniques in your own work. Being a reader helps you deliver more of what readers want.

You will also be exposed to new words or phrases, expanding your vocabulary. You will visit places, meet new people, and explore plots that will inspire new ideas.

Free Books For Honest Reviews

Authors look for people that read their genre. If they are giving their book away for free, they want it to be to someone that will appreciate and love their book. If you apply to be a reviewer, your history as a reviewer could be checked.

The reason is, if you love their genre, their book is off to a good start already in your hands. If you have a following that enjoy your reviews on this genre, then you’ll be helping the right eager readers discover it.

When authors can see what you like, it helps them know if their book is right for you. Someone that enjoys gritty serious crime novels is unlikely to enjoy a sweet high school romance.

We’re all beautifully unique. It’s okay if YA Contemporary Fantasy isn’t for you, but I’m hoping those that do will love and review OCEAN HEART.

Have you preordered Ocean Heart?

If you buy a copy of Ocean Heart between 1 Oct and 1 Dec, you can enter my preorder giveaway. Visit my Giveaway Page for more details.

Where can you find my reviews?

Let me know the positives you’ve experienced from writing book reviews, and check out my reviews.

Goodreads
Litsy
BookBub
Amazon Author
Book Review Page

[kofi]

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Books

Ocean Heart

Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Fantasy, Historical, Writing, Young Adult

Book Review: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

I picked up this novel from YALC 2019. I love mermaids and I love a well developed villain.

Blurb

The fairy tale you thought you knew…

The story of the Sea Witch, the villainess from Hans Christian Anderson’s classic tale The Little Mermaid, told from the viewpoint of the Sea Witch when she was a twelve-year-old girl…

Evie has been wracked with guilt ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned. So when a girl appears on shore with an uncanny resemblance to Anna, Evie befriends her in an effort to make amends. And as the two girls catch the eyes – and hearts – of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at happy ever after. But is Evie’s new friend really who she says she is?

A gripping story of friendship, betrayal and the power of hope…

Beginning

The story starts by introducing the three friends Evie, Anna, and Nik (aka the Crown Prince). The childhood friends are running along the beach and playing in a cove until there’s an accident. Evie risks her life to save Nik. Evie cracks her head on a rock. Her friends rush her home to her family that know magic and her mother gives her life to save Evie.

We then jump to Nik’s sixteenth birthday taking place on a ship. It reminded me of the scene from the start of Disney’s little mermaid. Anna isn’t here as she died in a tragic accident. This did confuse me a little as I thought I’d missed something because the only tragic accident I knew about was the one above, and Anna was fine.

A storm comes and Nik is washed overboard. Evie and his playboy cousin Iker search the tide for him, hoping he’s been washed ashore. Evie spots Nik first, he’s with a girl, but in a flash she is gone.

Middle

Evie is a witch but hides her magic because it’s punishable by death. The story covers lots of celebrations including one where wicker dolls to symbolize witches are thrown into the fire.

Evie meets a mysterious girl that is a dead ringer for her friend Ana who tragically died, taken by the sea, during a swimming challenge gone wrong. The new girl claims to be Annemette.

Annemette reveals to Evie she too has magic, and confesses to being a mermaid. It was her that saved Nik when he almost drowned and she fell in love and had to come to land for true love. She has limited time to get true loves kiss or return to the sea as foam.

Annemette is in luck because, as Nik’s BFF, she’s the one girl with access to him. But, Evie is poor and shunned away by the elite as unsuitable, so she’s not usually invited into the palace. Evie lies, and says Annemette is from a well off family, and Annemette uses her magic to create herself (and Evie), fine dresses. As a result, they are invited to stay at the palace.

Evie encourages Nik to date Annemette. She reminds her so much of her lost friend, she’ll do anything for her. Evie starts dating Iker. Nik isn’t too pleased about this, due to Iker’s reputation and there is a hint of jealous. Evie knows her and Nik can only ever be friends due to her heritage.

While Iker keeps kissing Evie, Nik holds back with Annemette. As the days pass, Nik starts expressing his suspicions more and more causing friction.

Evie searches for another way to break the curse. She starts practising her magic more, becoming stronger.

During all of this, there are flashbacks. These sometimes reveal Evie’s pasts, and sometimes the Little Mermaids and her life bebeathe the waves.

End

Time is running out! In Evie’s desperation she tells Nik, Annemette is a mermaid. Annemette is not impressed, so, she reveals Evie is a which! Iker over heals and demands the guards arrest her.

The girls run. Evie is still determined to save Annemette and believes she’s figured out the spell. It turns out Annemette has her own ideas to stay human & it has nothing to do with kissing Nik.

It’s during these final pages, Nik confesses he never had eyes for Annemette, he has always loved Evie. Annemette takes Nik’s life, making her human. But, as a human she’s vulnerable. Evie is shot with arrows and pulls Annemette down into the water. She holds her down until her last breath. Her friend, dead again.

Evie doesn’t die. With all the magic swirling in the water, she merges with an octopus and becomes the Sea Witch.

Final Thoughts

I loved the story telling. Sarah Henning set the novel in Denmark where it was from originally. She brought to life the Danish coast, and a fishing village rich in customs. There were moments that were so vivid, and I loved the fresh take on a classic fairy tale.

There wasn’t a happily ever after. I really wanted to see her with the crown prince & show those snobs that their love is more powerful. But, I guess I should have expected it. I kept looking at the cover and wondering where the famous sea witch was, and she was Evie.

The sea witch is usually the villain but in her own story she wasn’t. I liked Evie and I felt sorry for her fate. I’ll have to read book 2, Sea Witch Rising, to see if things improve for her.

Redfae Bookshop is my Affiliate Bookshop.org shop link.

[kofi]

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Why I Love YALC!

Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Resource, Review, Tips, Writing

Book Review: The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

I wanted this book for so long, by the tine I got it, there’s a second edition! The bonus is, the new edition has even more content!

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My husband bought me these books for Christmas from my wish list. I also wanted a ‘nice pen’ and he choose this gorgeous sunshine yellow Lamy fountain pen. I keep fantasising that this will be my book signing pen ?. ? Have you read The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi or Embrace Your Weird by Felica Day. ? I am a fan of @feliciaday since her staring role in The Guild a funny web series you must watch, especially if you ever played MMORPG. ? #theemotionthesaurus #embraceyourweird #booksonwriting #booksonwritingfiction #writingresource #doyouwanttodatemyavatar #theguild #webseries #feliciaday #mmorpg #angelaackerman #beccapuglisi #positivevibes #beingyourself #beingyoubeingtrue #followyourdreams #writinganovel #fictionwriter #booksigningpen #booksigningdreams #lamypen #fountainpen #lamyfountainpen #girlgamer #mmorpg

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It’s part of the Writer’s Helping Writers series. The series includes a number of thesaurus covering different aspects such as character traits or settings. The aim of the books are to help writers find the words they need to make the impact they want.

Author Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi

The series is co-written by Angela & Becca.

Writers Helping Writers

The pair run a website together (https://writershelpingwriters.net) to share information to help writers.

One Stop For Writers

They also have developed an impressive web-app (https://onestopforwriters.com) that’s described as a library of resources and tools to support writers.

What is the book about?

The one I got is on character expressions. It’s a thesaurus about different emotional responses and covers internal and external reactions.

How it works?

You look up the emotion your character is feeling, like lust, confusion, envy, fear, betrayal, etc.

There’s a little description so you can check you understand what the emotion is and make sure you picked the right one.

It then has a list of ways a character might behave if experiencing this emotion.

There are also some suggestions for internal sensations, which is useful for 1st person POV.

There are even some suggestions on how the emotion can escalate or deescalate.

How I used it?

Editing (Ocean Heart)

I used this book alongside the developmental feedback from my editor. She highlighted some points in my story where I needed to amp up the emotions and some places where I had skipped along without any reaction at all.

I looked up the emotion in the book and read the suggestions. I reflected on which reaction was most true to my character, then worked it in.

Future use…

This book will get used time and time again. I’m planning to next use it alongside writing Sky Heart. Hopefully it’ll reduce any feedback from my editor about under played or missed emotions.

Final thoughts…

This is a really useful book and has left me wanting the rest of the series.
It’s more of a resource than a thesaurus and I don’t think there is anything out there quite like this. It is designed especially for writers to aid their craft.
I highly recommend this book.
Do you have any writer resources that you swear by?

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Ally Aldridge Writing

Camp NaNo July 2020

I’m taking part! Or, so I say…

I’m doing the challenge with World IndieWarriors and set my goals as follows:

  1. Write the ending of Sky Heart (book 2) – estimated 20k words
  2. Finish reading my two current reads (Agent Undone by Cassidy Reyne, and Sea Witch by Sarah Henning)
  3. Complete Storyseller Academy course

About Sky Heart

Slow Start

1 July

I’ve barely started! So, at the end of June I was sending Ocean Heart (book 1) to my editor but fear struck. It was ready a week early but I kept reading it through, checking it, worrying whether it is good enough. When I was still doing this is July, I realised what I was doing and hit send… at almost midnight.

2 July

So, I started a day late. When I looked at chapter 24 of Sky Heart (book 2) I couldn’t remember what was going on. It dawned on me that it’s been too long, I need to reread it all to get my hear back in the story. I may not get to write this month ?.

3 July

I was introduced to a website called Art Breeder. OMG this website is addictive! At first my ‘breeds’ were not quite right but the more I played the better I got.

Top row – Mariah, Jace; Bottom row – Murray, Kiely

4 July

Today, I’ve been working on blog posts and reading (a little). Blog posts weren’t part of my NaNo goal but reading was. Finally started on Camp NaNo ?.

Reflecting

I think if it wasn’t Camp NaNo, I would have taken a break this month to reflect on finishing Ocean Heart.

I’m nervous about what is next and still have a lot to learn and publishing it is my annual priority goal.

You’ll notice I’ll be more laid back about my goals this month. As always, any progress is good but I’m more interested in the social aspect of the challenge.

It’s a great way to connect with other writers. If I can encourage another creative towards achieving their goals, that’s still a win. And once I’ve rejuvenated I’ll come back stronger.

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Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Review, Romance, Young Adult

Book Review: Out of my League by Sarah Sutton

I have been following Sarah for a while on Instagram as I was intrigued to read her debut novel What Are Friends For?

So, when the opportunity to read an ARC for her new novel came up it was the perfect chance to see whether I like her writing. And, I do.

Don’t forget to join my newsletter for my own ARC sign up news!

Blurb: Out of my League

Beginning

The MC, Sophia, has dreams of getting an internship at a local Newspaper. She is famous for her article on plastic straws that activated change.

Her journalism plan involves writing for the school paper but she receives the devastating news that the School’s Board are scrapping the papers funding to buy bleachers for the baseball team.

Sophia is supposed to be finding ‘the right time’ to dump her idiot boyfriend Scott. She decides to save the school paper by writing a final article, on how toxic the Baseball team and undeserving of the funds. She delays dumping Scott to use him to get the information for her expose.

Middle

Sophia attends an end of school party with her best friend Edith. It’s at Walsh’s house, the captain of the baseball team; the baseball team that has taken her beloved newspaper’s funding.

Sophia isn’t a fan of Walsh. Scott has constantly bad mouthed him to her, highlighting his every flaw.

Scott arrives at the party, with another girl.

When he realises he’s been caught cheating, he dumps Sophia in-front of everyone and humiliates her. Walsh jumps to her rescue and claims they are secretly in love and can now be together.

Despite being a heart throb, Sophia is not into Walsh. She runs off and Walsh goes after her. He offers to be her fake boyfriend and help with the article (not knowing the angle Sophia is aiming for).

We follow Sophia infiltrate the baseball team, gathering incriminating evidence for her article. She fends off her ex-Scott’s snide remarks whilst he flaunts his new girlfriend.

In addition, Sophia’s parents are at each others throats, their ups and downs escalates to divorce. And Sophia turns to her fake boyfriend for comfort. They get close, and she discover’s Walsh’s family life isn’t perfect either.

Walsh starts doing sweet things for her, even when nobody is around to witness it. Sophia starts to fall for him and has to keep reminding herself its not real. Edith tries to persuade her to scrap the article but she can’t see any other way to save her dream of becoming a journalist.

Everything gets very messy for Sophia:

  • She fights with her parents that now have decided on counselling, and are having a baby.
  • She runs to Walsh. He confesses he knew Scott was cheating and at the party he planned for her to catch Scott out, to get back at him. Realising she was a pawn in their rivalry from the start breaks her heart. She tells Walsh about the article exposing the team cheating (paying other teams to throw the game) and storms off.
  • She goes to Edith’s house, and they fight. Sophia is heartbroken that Edith knew about Scott too and didn’t tell her, and Edith points out the many ways Sophia has been selfish.

Ending

Sophia has a lot of making up to do. With the support of her parents and BFF, it’s time to get back the boy she loves with a grand gesture… but, when she arrives at the pitch the game is cancelled.

She bumps into her ex, Scott. He tells her Walsh revealed the baseball team’s cheating. Scott’s new girlfriend is sick of the rivalry between the guys and dumps him.

Sophia finds Walsh speaking to a baseball scout. Despite the cheating, he still got picked. They get together. Sophia loves Walsh more than the article and scraps it.

Her parents are happy. Sophia and Walsh are happy. Then Sophia gets a call. Her teacher sent her straw article to the local paper and they love it and offer her an internship.

So many happy vibes ?.

Final thoughts…

I know nothing about baseball but that didn’t matter. This is a heartwarming sweet love story. I loved the friendship between the girls. All the characters and relationships were well developed, complex and had their own motives.

The fake relationship is believable, there was a good motive from both sides. The chemistry between the two was brilliant and I caught butterflies many times, rooting for them to kiss and realise what they have is real.

“And, just like that, the tingly sensation from my fingers, spread to my stomach.” Excerpt from Out of My League by Sarah Sutton

Sarah is one of the incredible authors you can discover in the World Indie Warriors brochure, containing full details on how to connect with her and buy her books.

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World Indie Warriors (website)

Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Contemporary, Fantasy, Future, High, Paranormal romance, Software, Tips, Urban, Writing, Young Adult

How I did my book foot stack photo

Have you seen my #footstack pic on Instagram? Check out the feed @Nic_Reads_Inheels for my heel stack inspiration.

I only discovered #footstack very recently. It is a pic of someone balancing books on their shoes. When the #CampNanoWIW prompt was a #shelfie pic, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

I had so much fun doing this. And, when I posted it people asked, are they your legs, your books, your pic, how?

The answer is Yes and this is how.

The original pic

I wasn’t going to share this pic but here you go.

Unedited #FootStack

The books I bought from Amazon, Book Festivals or won on Instagram. They are all from my never ending TBR pile.

Since having children, I don’t have many heels. I also tidied away the ones I did have and have no idea where I put them. These shoes are my work ones from Clarks.

The red stockings were bought years ago from Ann Summers, back when I felt more daring, and haven’t been seen outside the bedroom. ;)

I did need help to get this pic. My husband stacked the books whilst I giggled upside down and tried to hold steady. My selection was rather ambitious and I realised this was my limit… no more books.

He then took the pic for me. He actually took quite a few as we tested my balancing skills at different degrees of steepness. We found it looks better the straighter my leg are. Posing like this was a full on workout.

How I edited the pic

Pic Monkey App

I used the Pic Monkey App to remove the background using their Cut Out, Smart, tool. It was super easy.

Unsplash

Unsplash is my favourite site to get free photos. I found this photo of a pretty yellow wall by Mona Eendra from Copenhagen. Yellow is one of my brand colours so this was perfect.

Pretty yellow wall from Unsplash

Photoshop Mix App

This app enables you to layer images together. I created a project and added the wall as my first layer, then my cut out image as the second layer. I then cropped it to a square and adjusted the two layers until I was happy with the positioning.

I had never used this app before and it was very straight forward. I figured it out without watching the tutorials. But, I’m going to return to watch them later to discover more.

Instagram App

The final edit was done using IG’s filter Clarendon. Then, I added my comment and tags and posted it.

If you give this a go, please tag me. I’m @Redfae on Instagram. I’d love to see your book stacks too.

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Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Chapter Book, Childrens, Middle Grade, Review

Book Review: Mermaid School

This review is of an ARC copy of Mermaid School by Lucy Courtenay from Net Galley. My review has not been influenced and is my honest thoughts.

For starters, I know I am not the target audience for this book but here are two truths about me:

  1. I love mermaids.
  2. I love books for kids.

This is an early chapter book and doesn’t take long to read. The text is broken up with sketches of what is going on in the story.

Beginning

The main character is Marnie. She is feeling nervous about her first day at school. Marnie tries to hide who she is to fit in.

Certain teachers assume Marnie will be trouble due to her wild aunt Christabel’s reputation . Her aunt is also a radio celebrity which earns Marnie cool points with some students.

By the end of day one, Marnie has succeeded in making her first friend, Pearl, and her first enemy, Orla.

Middle

Marnie’s mum and aunt give her advice on handling Orla. Somehow their advice gets Marnie into trouble. Now Marnie has to muck out the seahorse stables.

Orla’s bad attitude is not making her popular with any of the other mermaids either. During an outburst, Orla reveals what her problem with Marnie is. Orla’s sister is missing in a dangerous storm and wouldn’t have been working there if Christabel had played the demo tape as promised.

Marnie decides she wants to help Orla. She goes to the studio with Pearl to look for the demo tape but can’t find it.

End

Things get worse. Orla’s sister is found – yay – but, now Orla is missing. Marnie has an idea, and together with Pearl they rescue Orla.

Marnie realises where the missing demo tape is. She finds it. Christabel plays it and offers Orla’s sister a job.

There’s also an extra chapter that reveals a final secret. Shh!

Thoughts

There are lots of fishy puns that reminded me of a YA novel I read called Forgive My Fins. The puns worked better in this MG book due to the age of the characters.

The story gently deals with issues like fitting in, bullying, friendship and being kind. The fantasy setting is brilliant. A lot of thought has gone into the sort of classes a mermaid would have and the way their world operates.

It’s a sweet story and will likely appeal to young girls looking to read their first chapter books.

Redfae Bookshop is my Affiliate Bookshop.org shop link.

[kofi]

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Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Future, Review

Book Review: Trust Me by Maddie James

The novel is set in the future. Cyan and her mother are hunted because they are the last Caucasian women. They are wanted for science, trafficking, etc. Cyan’s mother was lost, presumed dead, when she was younger during an attack in their home. Cyan has spent most of her life on the run with her dad until he was murdered. Cyan is then on the run getting help from an unlikely companion, her father’s murderer.

Beginning

The book starts off by showing us this futuristic world. As Cyan’s needs to live off the grid to keep her safe, they actually live a very simple life. Cyan grows up in an extremely sheltered life where her mum is her main companion.

The start of the book is a little disorientating as we jump back and forth in time and between the viewpoints. You best get used to this style of story telling as it is used throughout the book.

Middle

I’m not keen on books where the characters are travelling. As Cyan is never safe, she’s always on the move.

Cyan lost her mother when she was young during an attack in the family home. She then spent a number of years raised solely by her dad. Her dad is getting old and struggling to keep her safe so he gets Devin (someone who has hunted them for years to get the bounty) to kill him and take on the role of protecting Cyan. The promise Devin makes to Cyan’s dad forces them together.

It was uncomfortable to read at times. There wasn’t only one rape scene but several, told by different characters and at different times.

At first Cyan doesn’t like Devin, he killed her dad. Devin keeps their relationship strictly business as he worries that if he gets emotionally involved it will cloud his judgement. Cyan learns to depend on Devin for protection and Devin learns to trust Cyan and her premonitions. The romance between them grows and I enjoyed the steamy scene in the barn.

I also liked Cyan’s powers and would have liked to have seen more of this but then she would have been less vulnerable. She gets a vibration feeling when danger is coming and premonitions that cone true. She also has a very destructive power which she used to attack hunters when they hunted her family. All the time in hiding, they never thought to encourage her to practice her powers to use them to keep them safe. So sadly, Cyan can’t use them.

The End

There was a decent end to the book. There were two plot twists and Cyan finally used her powers to save them.

The ending is left open for possibly another book.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this book was not for me. I was provided this book by Net Galley for an honest review.

I wasn’t keen on the constant danger or the idea that being the last woman with blue eyes meant men wanted to rape you. I found it hard to understand and it felt racist at times because men of colour were unable to control their urge and behaved like savage animals. If these are trigger points for you, give this book a miss.

Another gripe was her father’s plan for her survival.  I found it a bit odd – why die. I couldn’t understand why Devin was risking his life for a promise to a dead man he had never really known. I didn’t believe Cyan would willingly go with Devin after seeing him murder her dad, especially as she didn’t know why and only had Devin’s word that it was what her dad wanted.

However, there are also many good points. The book is very well written with lots of showing and the world was brought to life in a natural way that sucked you in. I loved Cyan’s powers and wanted more. I loved the secret behind her necklace and it was a great reveal at the end. The slow burning romance kept me turning the page and I was thrilled when the pair finally got it on.

The author has written plenty of other books and maybe another title would be more my thing but I don’t think I will be in a hurry to read another one unless it comes highly recommended by someone who knows my reading tastes.

Have you read a book by Maddie James? Do you like novels set in the future or characters with powers?

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Discover more ways to connect by clicking my link tree.

@Redfae

Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Fantasy, High, Review

Book Review: Crown of Conspiracy by Kara S Weaver

I bought this book because I fell in love with the cover. It is stunning. I also have gotten to know the author who is lovely.

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I am currently reading Crown of Conspiracy by Kara S Weaver @kara_s_weaver . It accompanied me on holiday and has been one of my major distractions during #nanowrimo2019 ? I've loved books and writing for as long as I can remember. My heart belongs to Fantasy. To be published is my forever dream and I’ve queried literary agents & publishers for years. Through @worldindiewarriors I’ve connected with a group of amazing self published authors. They’ve helped me realised I can take control of my own destiny. With their support and encouragement, I am now actively working towards getting my 86k words ready to publish. For my birthday, I achieved one of the first steps; I am finally getting an editor at long last. ? #inspirelit @daughterofsceva • • #passion #writing #reading #NationalLifeWritingMonth #NationalNovelWriting #literaryart #booklover #writerslife #bookstagtam #happynovember #writersunite #connectingwriters #writers #callingallwriters #callingallauthors #authorsconnect #writersnetwork #AuthorsOfInstagram #SupportWriters #SupportAuthors #writerstrong #indieauthors #worldindiewarriors #selfpublishing #crownofconspiracy #me #redhead #redheadlife

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Beginning

The book starts with a short prologue that helps to set the world building. It introduces the way the royal family is set up and religious belief system with the gods. Instantly you know that this is another world.

The first chapter jumps in with action and quickly introduces the main characters and their personality. We quickly get a sense of Shalitha’s free spirit and how she feels constrained by the rules in place to protect her. I loved the start so much. The way it was written was so vivid, I could see it in my head playing out like a movie.

Middle

A lot happens in this novel. There are loads of plot twists throwing in things I hadn’t anticipated me. Watching the conspiracies unravel, kept me turning the page to the end.

I won’t give too much away but there are lots of people conspiring against the crown. One traitor manages to capture Shalitha and things get quite dark. This was really well written and I felt her pain, desperation and fear.

Don’t worry, Shalitha is no dainty princess. She trains alongside the palace guards and knows her own mind. It is her feisty spirit that often gets her injured but without it she would probably be dead.

The best part of the middle is the slow burning romance between Shalitha and Talnova. Due to their positions in the palace they both have to take care. It makes their actions believable and I was rooting for them all the way.

The Ending

If you are hoping for a big battle, you have got it. It didn’t end how I expected though and left me needing the next book.

Final Thoughts

I need to read the next book in the series (hurry up Kara). For some reason I thought the book would have more magic than it does. It is really well written and there are lots of good plots within this story. This novel is not predictable and well worth a read.

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Ally Aldridge Book Genre, Review, Romance, Young Adult

Book Review: The Practice Boyfriend by Christina Benjamin

I can’t remember when I downloaded this book. It was just there on my Kindle, unread.  It was like finding a hidden treasure. It became the perfect companion to read during the late night feeds with Aria.

The Beginning

The novel quickly sets up the scene of the three main crowds.  It is told told from two points of view, Hannah’s and Cody’s.

Hannah attends a private school.  She is only able to go due to a scholarship she achieved thanks to her high grades.  She works hard to keep her place and never breaks the rules.

Then there is the ‘it’ crowd made up of the rich kids of the most influential families.  Cody was once part of this crowd but following the scandal where his pregnant high school sweet heart died in a drink driving accident, he is now an out cast.

Hannah realises she is going to finish school without ever doing anything wild or having a boyfriend. She sets her sights on Harrison, the high school king and famous for his exclusive parties.  To get invited you need to be given a key. 

The Middle

Considering that Cody knows the ‘it’ crowd but is no longer part of it, she singles him out to ask for his help.  Cody tries to talk her out of her plan.  He warns her the clique are not nice people but when Hannah resolves to blackmail him, he decides she might fit right in.

Hannah thinks Cody is a safe perfect practice boyfriend because there is no way she would fall for him.  Cody teaches her the rules of the elite and helps her practice her kissing.  Cody is rich and even pays for her to have a full makeover and wardrobe upgrade.

Cody pretends to be her boyfriend.  To keep up the pretence they have to spend a lot of time together.  They have their first kiss and more.  Cody continues to help Hannah to get noticed by the ‘it’ crowd and it works.

Now Hannah is being invited to hang out with the girls eager to gossip about Cody.  They want her to see the monster he is as they blame him for the death of their friend.  Being in the spotlight attracts the attention of Harrison and it looks like Hannah is going to get her wish.

The End

Hannah discovers that money, popularity and wealth isn’t as glamorous as she anticipated.  She discovers some ugly truths but is it too late to make things right?

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved this book.  I wanted Aria to wake up in the night for her milk so I could read some more.  It was fast paced.  I loved the world building.  The twisted ‘it’ crowd reminded me of Cruel Intentions.  I love the misunderstandings and conflict between the two and the relationship was believable. 

Both characters were well developed and I really liked both of them – which is a tricky thing to do in dual points.   I would definitely be interested in reading more by Christina Benjamin,   

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