[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!

REVIEW: Zoo by James Patterson

***please note, this review may not be completely spoiler free, and all views are my own***

Hello world! How are we all? Hope everyone is well! Today, I am bringing you a review of my most recently read novel, Zoo, by James Patterson. Released initially in 2012 (I believe), it has seemed to slip under many people's radars, particularly those unfamiliar to Patterson or the genres he writes within. That is, until Sky released the information that they were to create a series of the same name, based upon the books. Naturally, after seeing the first trailer (or advert for us Brits), curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up purchasing the book online via Amazon, and upon its arrival a few days later, I picked it up.

Zoo follows our main character, Jackson Oz, who has a pet chimp, Atilla. Now, for those of you who have seen the series Zoo, you may be wondering who Atilla is, as apparently the poor thing has been left out of it. When a string of strange animal attacks on humans begin occurring more and more frequently, this leads Oz, and a number of other individuals, to take note of such behaviour and monitor it, looking for anything out of the ordinary or obscure to such an animals typical pattern. For example, lions, when in a pack and hunting, tend to only have one male lion as the 'lead' so to speak, and the rest of the pack tend to be females. However, in the book, one of the noticeable changes or strange goings-on is that a lion pack is actually hunting in an all-male formation, highly out of character for such a predator. When Oz gets asked if he would like to see strange animal behaviour patterns in Africa, he leaves his girlfriend behind in the US, and asks her to look after Atilla. And this is where it really starts to go downhill for our main character.

Whilst on the way to Africa, he recieves an email from his girlfriend Natalie, who is trying to tell him she wishes for them to break up, as she feels almost like a third wheel in her own relationship with Oz and his dedication to his work. He reluctantly agrees (what else can he do from the other side of the world) and throws himself into what Africa has to offer in terms of animal behavioural patterns. Several events follow this (which i do not wish to disclose in fer of spoilers for you all), but in these events there are attacks, deaths, new friendships and potential love interests, and Oz has only been there 24 hours!

From Africa, Oz returns to the US with his new love interest in tow, as he believes he has nothing to lose now that Natalie has seemingly cut all ties. However, he notices when he arrives at his apartment that things are not all they are cracked up to be, and this discovery aids him greatly in his research.

This book kept me gripped. At times, I really didn't want to pick it up in fear of what might happen next, but then again, it did such a good job of drawing me in again and again I couldn't resist! Some of the characters were incredibly well developed, although I feel that some deserved more time to shine in their roles (such as Oz's guide in Africa for example).

Overall, I rated this book a 4/5 stars on Goodreads, as I felt the story was lacking in reality in parts, although it did enough to keep me hooked. A must read for those who are wanting to be introduced to Patterson's writing style!

BOOK REVIEW | The Bees by Laline Paull

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

I took this to read on my recent holiday to Turkey, as it is one of the shorter books I own. I found the concept of it interesting, and when I was further recommended to read it and push it up my TBR, I felt this was an appropriate way to do so.

In this book we follow Flora 717, a sanitation worker bee, as she goes through her day to day life in the Hive she is born into.

I can't really give too much away, as anything I say will probably severely spoil the book for you! All you need to know is that Flora 717 is not like the others. She doesn't seem to fit as a sanitation worker bee, and grabs every opportunity given to her with open arms. At points, I sympathised with her, rooted for her, cried with her, laughed with her, wanted to sting another bee with her. I went on this rollercoaster ride of emotions, with a bee. Not even a real bee! Once I'd completed the book, I took a step back and asked myself what kept me so interested and wrapped up in Flora 717's story. And the truth is? I have no idea. I guess it just fascinated me to imagine life as a bee, whilst having the trials and tribulations of a human, all under a semi-dictatorship (if not a complete one)of a Queen or Loving Mother.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I would highly highly recommend you read this book. Even if it is just for the idea that it is about bees! That's what intrigued me initially, and when asked what it was about, that's all I could say. I promise you, once you begin to read it, you will be completely and totally sucked in!

Easily a five out of five stars, adding to this years list of 5*'ers, and making that decision of my favourite book of 2015 just that little bit harder.

REVIEW | The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

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

I took this book on my travels this year (as I'm writing we have only just returned from Turkey, beautiful country), as I had already owned The Silkworm for quite some time, until I was informed that this came first. Naturally, as a first time reader of Robert Galbraith, I was dubious about taking both books, so left The Silkworm at home. 

I regret that decision. 

Beginning this in the departures lounge at the airport, I found I only had about twenty minutes reading time before our departure gate opened after looking around the shops and having food. So of course, I challenged myself to read a certain amount of pages. And failed. What little I did read however, I absolutely loved and found myself wanting more.

Initially, I found the plot to be running a little slow. But that is completely understandable for the first in what I truly do hope is a substantial series length. 

For those of you who dont know, Robert Galbraith is not actually a man. Nor is he real actually. He's actually a certain wonderful author who is perhaps one of the most famous (if not the most famous) of the past 20 years. Who, I hear you ask? J.K. Rowling.

I KNOW RIGHT. The Harry Potter lady wrote something not Harry Potter and it is fantastic.

The first book in the Cormoran Strike follows, well, Cormoran Strike, a private detective, who when we meet him, is a little down on his luck. His business is failing, he's recently single, and lives in his office. Sounds like a hoot to work for doesn't he? 

And that's where we meet Robin. Robin is hired through a temp agency to be Strike's secretary, and the two seem to feign interest in one another at first, but without really caring. Until they realise, on seperate occasions, just how much the other person is helping them. For Robin, Strike is providing her with the opportunity to work in a position she's always dreamed of, and for Strike, Robin is providing that little bit of structure and support he really does need in the form of both employee and friend. The development of their characters over the course of the book makes for a great read, as we see Robin coming out of her shell more in the sense of investigating for the case.

The case. The case which Robin is involved in working on with Strike is that of the death of Lula Landry, a famous model (I'm thinking along the lines of Cara Delevigne here {if thats how her name is spelt}). Initial reports from the police, coroner and newspapers all believe and decide it to be suicide, but her brother John Bristow, approaches Strike begging for his help, as he believes it wasnt suicide, it was murder. Surely, if the police believe her death to be unsuspicious, and the coroner ruling the same, there's no need for Strike to intervene? Naturally, he intervenes and begins his investigation into the models death.

We follow Strike and Robin as the case develops, and without a doubt there are a few twists and turns along the way. Although you do feel as though you're on a little bit of a wild goose chase at times, it's worth it in the end. I had my suspicions for the culprit (if there ever was one), but sadly I was proven wrong. It didn't stop me loving following the story though, and I finished the majority of the book in one day whilst lounging around the pool. 

Overall, I would most likely rate this 4.5/5 stars to 5/5 stars. I am currently undecided on which to choose, as for all it is very very worthy of five stars, I felt that perhaps there was something missing. That and I didnt like Robins fiance all too much.

See you all soon with another review!

***

Have you read this book? What did you think? I'd love it if we could start a discussion below in the comments!