Spellstoppers by Cat Gray – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Welcome to Yowling – a secretive seaside village where magic is just one step away…
Max has spent years thinking he is cursed, because whenever he touches anything electrical it explodes. But then he is sent to Yowling and discovers he is a Spellstopper, someone with the rare ability to drain dangerous build-ups of magic and fix misbehaving enchanted items.
When Max’s Grandad is kidnapped by the cruel Keeper of the malfunctioning magical castle that floats in the bay, only Max’s gift can save him. Together with his new friend Kit, Max throws himself into an adventure filled with villainous owls, psychic ice cream and man-eating goldfish. But can he really pull off the biggest spellstop ever?
About the Author
Cat Gray is an author and journalist, based in London and Ireland. She started her journalism career at the age of 19, interviewing musicians and celebrities in between attending classes, then went on to be an editor at a series of glossy magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country.
Since she was very young, she’s always believed that there’s an adventure just around the corner, and this is reflected in her magical fantasy stories. Spellstoppers is her first book.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/_catgray
Instagram: http://instagram.com/cat.gray
What I Thought
Classic middle grade adventure with young Max not fitting into the everyday world because of an unfortunate ability to kill anything electrical. His exasperated mother sends him to live with her estranged father where Max finds out that magic exists, and that he has the power to stop it. And soon those newly realised abilities are put to the ultimate test.
Max’s grandfather Bram and his assistant Kit are joined by the unusual inhabitants of Yowling including the not so nice owls (think Hitchcock’s The Birds) and the really not nice Keeper of the mysterious and ailing castle, Leandra (who gave me Madam Mim vibes).
Full of both hideous and mouthwatering food, and animal companions with unusual names – children are going to love this story of learning how to harness what you’ve been taught to fear.
If you are a fan of The Apprentice Witch or The Hedge Witch I think you’ll enjoy this just as I did.
Cat Gray has written a pacy story set in a sleepy seaside town and with a main character you can’t help but like.
Thanks to Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publishers for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the rest of the tour stops for more insights.
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
The Measure by Nikki Erick – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Your fate arrives in a box on your doorstep. Do you open it?
It’s the decision of a lifetime. It seems like just another morning. You make a cup of tea. Check the news. Open the front door. On your doorstep is a box. Inside the box is the exact number of years you have left to live. The same box appears on every doorstep across the world.
The Measure is a transfixing contemplation of fate, a piercing exploration of how we value our lives, and a soaring story of love and heartbreak. When the world shifts irrevocably overnight, each character is faced with an immense decision. As boxes open across the world, their lives intertwine in moving, unexpected ways. An unforgettable story of love, resilience, and hope. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, David Nicholls, Matt Haig and Stuart Turton.
About the Author
Nikki Erlick’s writing has appeared on the websites of New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan and The Huffington Post. She graduated Harvard University summa cum laude and is a former editor of The Harvard Crimson. She earned a master’s degree in Global Thought from Columbia University. The Measure is her debut novel. @nikkierlick @BoroughPress
What I Thought
When publishers talk about high concept, this book is exactly what they mean. And this concept does deliver in the telling too.
Told from multiple points of views (8) but from a series of people who are connected or becoming connected throughout the story. Each with a distinctive voice.
The opening of the story hit very close to home and I’d be interested to know how much of the story was influenced by the pandemic. The discussion felt very real about how we accept or face up to our risk of mortality, how much we accept or mitigate risk.
The concept was so spooky. That one day everyone who is 22 and over gets a box on their doorstep. Maybe Terry Pratchett’s Death got fed up of playing the Hogfather and decided to deliver everybody their life expectancy! Children are exempted from this knowledge until the day they reach 22. Is this a gift or a curse to them?
In Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End people only find out their fate on the day that they will die, here people are given notice but what will they do with it?
We follow the characters as they decide whether or not to open their boxes, initially not understanding what the strings inside mean and then how they deal with the fate they have been given. Some with hope and others with despair – and not always in the way you’d expect.
Society is quickly divided into short-stringers and long-stringers and both groups have their challenges.
Human connection sees them reach out to others with the same experience and it sees them keep living their everyday lives because, until it does, life doesn’t stop. Births, marriages, death, loss.
This is one of those philosophical books that makes excellent book group material because it touches on what are fundamental questions to humanity. I highly recommend it, although trigger warning wise it won’t always be the right time for people to read something like this. As with the best of books there is hope amongst any despair that features heavy topics and you will get attached to characters – with all lengths of strings. How long will they be with the reader? Like people, as long as they remain in our memories and hearts!
Thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers working with Anne Cater at Random Things Tours – and the publishers – for the gifted ARC for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought too and tell me below – would you open your box?
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Here for the Drama by Kate Bromley – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
She came for a job. What she’ll get is the performance of a lifetime.
Aspiring playwright Winnie D’Angelo has spent the past seven years waiting in the wings, working as a personal assistant to celebrated, feminist playwright, Juliette Brassard. But when an experimental theatre company in London, England decides to stage Juliette’s most renowned play, accompanying her mentor across the pond could finally be Winnie’s moment in the spotlight-assuming everything goes smoothly. And with Juliette’s very charming and very off-limits British (hello, hot accent!) nephew suddenly in Winnie’s flustered orbit, what could possibly go wrong?
Smart, handsome, and sweet, Liam is everything Winnie didn’t expect from what’s turning out to be an increasingly hectic work trip, but his family ties to Winnie’s boss pose a serious problem. Still, Winnie is falling for him. Hard. How could she not when the guy’s kisses are worthy of a thousand encores? But with Juliette stubbornly butting heads with the play’s director, Winnie knows that more than anything, the show must go on, even if it comes at the expense of her own work-and her burgeoning relationship with a guy she suspects might always hold her heart, even from half a world away.
About the Author
Kate Bromley lives in New York City with her husband, son, and her somewhat excessive collection of romance novels (it’s not hoarding if it’s books, right?). She was a preschool teacher for seven years and is now focusing full-time on combining her two great passions – writing swoon-worthy love stories and making people laugh. Here for the Drama us her second novel after Talk Bookish to Me.
What I Thought
I really enjoyed Talk Bookish to Me so was looking forward to this one too. Here for the Drama has lots of the same ingredients and still exisits in the world of writing, just this time it’s scripts.
Winnie was a very relatable heroine. Somewhat passive at the start of the novel and probably struck by a bit of imposter syndrome, hence the unfinished play.
The dynamic between her and Juliette was a little Devil Wears Prada but with Juliette actually being likeable and also full of her own insecurities. Her persistence and demanding attitude is what sets the story rolling through until our heroine can start taking her life into her own hands.
Online dating experiences definitely make for fun and cringeworthy experiences so there is plenty of humour in the earlier chapters until the person Winnie is seemingly destined for is right under her nose although somewhat forbidden fruit due to the familial connection and his inherent distractibility.
The writing, and therefore reading was effortless and this does exactly what it says on the cover. Gives some drama but with predictable satisfaction as the curtain falls.
If you enjoy Emily Henry (or any of the books in my picture above) then these books should be added to your TBRs too. And they are allowed to be Neverending unlike the stories that they contain (that reminds me – must get back to my WIP).
Thanks to Tracey at Compulsive Readers and the publisher for a gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out everyone on the tour too.
kirstyes 