[spoiler]REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

**not mine, taken from Photobucket, credit to the creator who is linked in the image**

Okay, so this review is an alternative, almost discussion-style post as opposed to my spoiler-free review here, so if you do not wish to be spoiled, please head there!

This book took me an aaaaaage to complete, at least that's what it felt like! But it's a big book, that requires commitment, which I seemingly lacked. 

I absolutely adored the down-to-earth characteristic that Sue displayed, although I did disagree with Sue's lifestyle, but hey-ho, in that time period, needs must right? And I'm certain she wasn't the only one being a fingersmith. I felt that her development through the book allowed us, as readers, to feel like we were living it up with her, in the sense that we felt how she felt, even though we knew what she didnt. One thing I did not like however, was that we knew a lot more of the truth than Sue did, way before she did. That was one thing I felt that let me down, as I could not sympathise as much with Sue whilst she was hating Gentleman and Maud with all her might, yet so desperately clung onto the idea that Sucksby was looking for her, which was, as we all know, is far, far, far from the truth!

Maud. Oh Maud, you seemingly naive, yet cunning girl. Yes, we understand your frustration with your lifestyle, and your Uncle, but you were looked after well, fed, and everyone tried to do the best for you. Hell, even I sympathised with you and I was Team Sue all the way! Well, I sympathised with you until you went, unsupervised, into the library and did the thing. I think, a part of me actually wanted Sue to carry out her hateful thoughts onto you, just for that act. Yes, I understand there was smut in probably every single one of those books, but someone took the time and effort to create the thing and you went ahead and destroyed at least one! You went down in my expectations after that Maud, especially when we discovered you were penning your own in the future. Not good. 

This is just a couple of my initial thoughts on the book, mainly on two of the characters. Is this something that you would like to see more of on my blog? A spoiler-free review, followed by a spoiler/discussion style post as well, where I offload all my thoughts which are free to discuss with you as readers? Let me know in the comments if this seems like a good plan. 

That's it for now, I'll be back in the New Year!

REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

***Please note, this review may not remain spoiler free***

Recently, I had the pleasure of picking up Fingersmith. I got it for a pound (£1) in one of my local charity shops, and had heard so much about the author, and with a new release of hers looming, I thought I may as well try her out, to see what her writing is like.

When I first read the back (I know some people refrain from doing so because of spoilers, but ultimately, how would I know if I was interested or not?), I got the impression that Sue Trinder (our lead female) was a sort of female version of Oliver Twist, and that the white gloves on the cover of the book were of some sort of significance to this line of work. Oh how I was not wrong.

The book follows Sue, who lives in London with her mother-esque figure Mrs Sucksby, as well as Mr Ibbs, John and Dainty, with the occasional visit from a man named, well, Gentleman. It is through Gentleman that Sue undertakes the biggest 'pickpocket' task of her life, and leaves her in a rather strange predicament....

I'll leave it there, incase of spoilers!

Basically, this book contains love, lust, greed, jealousy, rage, spit, murder and above all, bravery. I would highly highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good Dickensian novel, with a little bit of a twist thrown in there! If you've read the novel, please let me know down below so we can discuss it further - there will also be a spoiler blog post on this novel coming up, so avoid that like the plague if you wish to remain spoiler free!

See you all soon my lovelies!

R

Why I Love my Kindle.

Okay, so I know that there's probably a billion different blog posts on the Amazon Kindle,  or it's various products including the Kindle Fire, PaperWhite and the original Kindle, so yep, I'm writing another one.


Just about everybody has heard of an Amazon Kindle, or owns one themselves. And if the figures are anything to go by - a staggering 64 million e-book purchases between January and September of 2014 (figures found in this article) - pretty much everyone will have read a book in their format, or know someone who has. If this is in fact true, then why do people seemingly scoff, or scrunch their faces up at me, when I tell them that the Kindle is my tablet of choice?

Kindles run on the Android system, just like the Samsung/Sony/HTC/pretty much anything except Apple products. Yet I know people who swear by Android as they 'cant get away' with using Apple products, but they still own an iPad that they treat like their baby, or an additional limb. So really, what is the issue?

Personally, I believe there are a number of things about it to make you fall in love with a Kindle. For example, it's the device that was created for e-books. Its initial purpose was to support PDF and e-book formats in the best possible way, to allow more people more access to their books on the go, rather than lugging their War and Peace novels around with them (believe me, it's actually pretty hard, speaking from experience). However, the thing I think I love the most about my Kindle (a Kindle Fire), is its versatility. One minute, it's a book, the next a game, or an App, or a different book! But then it becomes a film, or it becomes music. The only thing that my Kindle lacks, is a camera. However, that is because my Kindle is the version before the ones with the cameras installed. But that really doesn't bother me. I'm more than content just flipping between my apps and my books.

I think that's just about it for now. However, I will be posting again in the near future regarding my Kindle! Next time, it wont just be me declaring my love for an e-reader, it will actually be two posts comprising of the books I own on my Kindle, how much I paid for them, and whether I've actually read them yet!

Just a quick last note about those future blog posts - the unread HEAVILY outweighs the read books on my Kindle!

REVIEW: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

***please note, this review may contain spoilers***

Now, this book is a one I finished a while back, but if my memory serves me right, I absolutely loved it.

I bought this book back at the start of the year, wanting to get stuck into what I knew was going to be another trilogy, as I haven't quite gotten over the series blues of The Hunger Games. I had tried to move on via The Maze Runner, but if anything, that sent me into a slump. So when I discovered this book, I thought 'why the hell not?'. After all, I had nothing to lose!

I'm so pleased I picked it up. It drew me in so well, kept me well and truly intrigued, and I finished it within a week, which is practically a record for me!

In this book, we follow Paige, who is part of a criminal gang in London in 2059. Her role in this gang, is to gain information through breaking into other peoples minds. Now, it's all going brilliantly, until one day, on her way home to visit her family, she is attacked, drugged and kidnapped, and taken to Oxford, where she becomes part of the latest "Bone Season".

I dont want to give too much away (I feel like this is all I have been saying lately), but I really think going in blind for things like this is the best way to go about it! I'll leave a link to the Goodreads page for this book here, should you wish to find out more and read more reviews on this book. 

Have you read this book? Let me know down below so we can have a chat about it!