Five Give Up The Booze, a review

Another parody famous five book about excessive drinking this time. This one was, well… let me explain.

The majority of it was just like the other books in this parody series that I’ve read so far, the five are in the modern day and are struggling with an issue. This time the issue happens to be excessive drinking, and they decide to attempt dry January as a group. Now, of course, the ending is all wrapped up nice and neat, everything turns out alright in the end, Bruno Vincent keeps these classic hallmarks of the original stories. However, there was a bit that made me feel uncomfortable within this one (which hasn’t happened previously). There was an LGBT aspect which seemed to be thrown in there simply for humour, but it doesn’t come off well. It took me a second to figure out that it wasn’t meant to be serious and then once I realised this I was uncomfortable with the scene. It’s just not done well at all and really lowers my opinion of this book.

Other than that, this is another enjoyable and silly rendition of the five and if you can get past the hiccough above (and like me are wanting to collect and read them all) then go for it. It’s still fun in the main.

The Miniaturist, a review

I took this book with me on holiday a few years ago, on my old eReader (which has since died, RIP). When my family goes on holiday, we don’t sit by the pool, we’re constantly busy, always experiencing new things, and to be quite honest we need a rest once we get back to the UK! Which doesn’t tend to lend itself to reading, however, I couldn’t put this book down!

The plot didn’t end up being what I had expected. From the title and synopsis, I had assumed that there was going to be a larger focus on the paranormal and weird activities of the miniaturist and her figures. Instead, this is very much focused on Nella’s life after moving to the city of Amsterdam to live with her new husband. As was common in the time period this book is set in (1686), she doesn’t really know her new husband Johannes, and they don’t interact much as he is often out. However, he gives her a wedding present of a dolls house, one which is the size of a cabinet and is an accurate replica of their house.

To fill up the dolls house, Nella goes to a little shop down a side street and gets figurines of those who live in the house. This is where the synopsis seems a little inaccurate. It makes it feel like this book is going to delve into fantasy and magic with these figurines, and there is a little bit of that, but it really isn’t the focus of the book. As mentioned above, this book focuses instead on the trials and tribulations of living in this time period as a woman, and also Johannes troubles.

I do wish that the blurb wasn’t so misleading, as this did disappoint me a little, however, I still did massively enjoy the book and was enraptured from start to finish. Have you read this? Do you agree with my thoughts on the synopsis? Comment and tell me 🙂

Darkling – a beautiful world

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and NineStar for a free ebook of this novella in return for an unbiased review. This is my first delve into an LGBT+ fantasy story and I really enjoyed it. I like the fantasy plot line and the inner workings of this world, as well as the dynamics portrayed between the characters, especially with Jordan and Ryder. Personally, I have never been keen on reading about too much romance, but I did enjoy some aspects of it in this story. Although it was a little much for me at some points it’ll be perfectly fine for those who like reading about romance, although this one is a little… darker. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book to younger readers, probably around 16+ depending on the individual is a good age range. I just have to pick up the next book which is released in this series as I need to delve back into this world again! Kind of hoping there won’t be as much romance in further books, but I can deal with it if there is, I just need more of Ryder’s magic! Basically, there is amazing world building and I just need more of it!