To Live Is The Rarest Thing In The World

As someone with health anxiety and a fear of dying, They Both Die At The End was an anxiety-inducing, emotional read.

I have no doubt that was the intended response.

I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant when I bought this – a suggestion from my discord server as a story to make you cry. Yes, I like to torture myself, clearly.

Separated into four parts, each accompanied by an inspiring quote, the story follows Mateo and Rufus as they’re contacted by “Death-Cast”, a government-run scheme that tells people that they’re going to die that day.

You can see why this was probably a bad idea for a hypochondriac to read.

Memoir, Non-Fiction, Reviews

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

What do I know about love?

Admittedly, very little.

I know there are a million different types of love, if not more. There’s familial love, friendship, pets (although some will argue pets count as family). There is romantic love, love you hate to feel, love you long to feel. There’s the love you feel for your favourite character, that ‘soft spot’ you hold for the cute barista in your local coffee shop. There is the love that hides in the furthest corner of your mind for the person you wish you could have, but know you can’t. Or the love that leaps out whenever you’re around them. It is the reflection of yourself in the water as you walk across your favourite beach. It is in the kiss goodbye in the hospital ward before the machines are switched off. It is the laughter with the bartender who ‘just got you’. It is the free fall of a bungee jump, hair wrapped around your face and adrenaline pumping through your veins. It is the silence as you’re immersed in your favourite book.

Love is a million things and more.

Poetry, Reviews

Invitation to Poetry by Mihai Brinas

For me, poetry has always been a way of bleeding onto paper. Seeing the raw emotions of the poet, the voice, is what draws me to them in the first place.

I’m even more of a sucker for romantic poetry. Sonnets, villanelles, modern poetry that doesn’t follow any structure; if it’s about love, I’ll read it.

Love is the language of poetry after all.

Poetry, Reviews

Chronicles of Chaos and Consonance by Kalybre the Eclectic

Poetic language is certainly hard to master.

You need to be descriptive but not too complicated. Elegant with your words but simple enough for the imagery to flow and dance on the page.

One thing about poetry is just how subjective it can be.

Which makes reviewing it quite a challenge.

Domestic Fiction, Fiction, Reviews

Expectation by Anna Hope

I’m very nostalgic.

Even at 23 years old, I look back at my life quite often and see how different I’ve grown, how far I’ve come (or how far I’ve fallen, in some ways). It’s a bit dramatic, given that I’ve only just started my twenties and have so much ahead of me.

But I feel like everyone goes through this at each stage. Expecting so much from the future and getting to it, only to miss the past. Or at least that’s how I know a lot of people are.

That’s exactly what you get from Anna Hope’s Expectation.

Dystopian, Reviews, Sci-Fi, YA

The Young World by Chris Weitz

Zombies are my favourite horror creature.

I used to be terrified of everything ghost or spirit related, but as I’ve grown up, I’ve developed more of an appreciation for the undead and the apocalyptic world that comes with them.

Book Tour, Fantasy, Reviews, YA

Blog Tour: Hallow by Olga Gibbs

Fantasy has always been my favourite genre to read. Especially YA fantasy.

From Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush series to Lauren Kate’s Fallen series, my fantasy of choice would be worlds of angels and demons, of heavenly creatures fighting hellish monsters and the world that’s caught between.

Reviews, Thriller, YA

The Treatment – C. L. Taylor

For those who know me, I’m a big fan of social media and the internet. I practically spend my life on it and it’s something I easily relate to.

That’s one reason why I felt connected to this novel.

Reviews, Romance

Match Me If You Can – Michele Gorman

Romance novels aren’t my forte. I’m more of a YA or fantasy fan. Books are my escape and I find it more exciting to escape into worlds of fantastical creatures than worlds of cliche romances. I like different. I like spectacular.

So what a great start to my reviews than with a romance novel.