Review: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Jamaica? No, she wanted to. This is possibly the grittiest and most "literary" book I'll read this year. I mean it. It's the kind of book you study in high school and hate, but read on your own and love. It's one powerful piece of writing, and it reminded me of The Color Purple but even bleaker. Here...

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Review: The Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz

  The girl with the dragon tattoo still has it. Summary  She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.Late one night, Blomkvist receives...

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The good, the bad, and the ugly: Gladiatrix (Gladiatrix #1) by Russell Whitfield

Genderbent Spartacus with lesbians. The good It's about female gladiators! Hell to the yeah! Scheming Romans  The book assumes the reader knows stuff about ancient Rome, because you'd hardly read it if you didn't (thank you, author, for treating us as the knowledgeable people we are) LGBTQ...

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The good, the bad, and the ugly: New Pompeii (New Pompeii #1) by Daniel Godfrey

Capitalising on time travel never ends well. The good Time travel (they transport people from the past into the present, but it's actually quite complicated and gets confusing later) Romans (always a plus) But no romance! (even better) Mother of all plot twists (I did not see that coming!) Nice...

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Mini review: Love in the Land of Midas by Kapka Kassabova

Clickbait summary: Not as corny or romantic as the blurb makes it appear. Actual summary A love story that crosses generations and continents, from post-war Europe to the present day. The legends of the Greek myths are diffused with the complicated history of the Balkans in a story...

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The good, the bad, and the ugly: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers

Finished reading on: 20 April 2016 Clickbait summary: Misandrist in Medieval Brittany joins cult that kills men, falls in love with man. The Good The red dress on the cover  The weapons (main character Ismae is an assassin, so she's got a couple) Medieval setting and all it entails...

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A Reread of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

  Date finished: 28 November 2015 I first read Pride and Prejudice five years ago (not as long ago as I thought, actually, when I checked Goodreads) and gave it a 3-star rating. 13-year-old me didn't understand the language, but 18-year-old me found it much easier and more enjoyable to...

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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson

 Date finished: 11 October 2015 I just finished the last book of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and I'm worried that I'll never be able to enjoy anything I read ever again. I feel that no other book will compare in complexity and intrigue. It's by no means a perfect book but it...

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Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Date finished: 12 August 2015 Where do I even start? This is a novel based on a true story about the last person to be executed in Iceland in 1830, Agnes Magnúsdóttir, sentenced to death for her part in the murders of two men. It’s dark and grim, definitely not what you’d want to read on a...

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The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium #2) by Stieg Larsson

  Date finished: 31 May 2015   I just finished reading this, and wow! This is a great sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and does not disappoint at all. The only reason it took me two weeks to read is because I'm spending less and less time reading books these days. If I'd spent...

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson

  Date finished: 7 April 2015 Swedish crime novels are not something I have much experience with, but I very much enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I didn’t intend to read it when I did, I just happened to see it in my school library and decide to give it a go. I thought it might be...

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Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende

Date finished: 19 March 2015 Although she's a bestselling author, the only reason I've heard about Isabel Allende is because she was mentioned in Spanish class a couple of times last year and the year before. About a month ago I was looking for Hispanic writers to read, and remembered...

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Panic (Panic #1) by Lauren Oliver

Date finished: 14 December 2014 When I first read the blurb of this book I was a little wary of the "new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them" line, but I was pleasantly surprised when the book turned out to be original and unclichéd,...

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Sense & Sensibility (The Austen Project) by Joanna Trollope

   Date finished: 21 May 2014 Sense & Sensibility is my favourite of the Jane Austen novels. (I've read all of her works and I'm only sixteen. Just putting it out there.) I just love the contrast between Elinor and Marianne, and the bitch that is Lucy Steele, and the awkwardness...

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The Elites by Natasha Ngan

  Date finished: 27 April 2014 Original review, ie. not posted on Goodreads While I was reading this I thought that I'd only give it three stars, but then I finished it and decided that hey, it's original and unique, so why not give it four? Because, hello, it's a dystopian novel set outside...

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Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

  Date finished: 19 April 2014 Original review, ie. not posted on Goodreads This is one of those books that isn't actually that good, but I enjoyed nonetheless. It had its flaws, but for some reason I liked it anyway. I absolutely loathe Romeo and Juliet (I studied it in Year 10 - we...

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Northern Lights (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman

  Date finished: 19 September 2012 Review originally posted on Goodreads I read Northern Nights by Philip Pullman in September. I really enjoyed the book, and continued to read the rest of the series. The story starts when the main character, Lyra, and her daemon, Pantalaimon,  accidentally...

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