A Court of Silver Flames - by Sarah J. Maas

Title:              A Court of Silver Flames

Author:         Sarah J. Maas

Published:   Feb 16, 2021

Series:           A Court of Thorns and Roses #4

Rating:          4 stars

Synopsis:

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.

I listened to this as an audiobook, but kept up with it in my physical book.

I'm not sure whether it was that it's a different narrator for this book than the previous ones, but something about the other characters didn't quite seem like it used to be; like their attitude and the things that they said sometimes.

Luckily I knew this was going to be from Nesta's point of view, but if you don't know that going into it then you're probably going to be a little confused when you begin reading it. However I did like that this one was from her viewpoint and not another Feyre/Rhys one. The book does tend to sway between both Cassian and Nesta's point of view, but it would have been nice if it was a little clearer at the start of each chapter or section when they switch view points (or maybe that's just my brain not registering the switch, which I'm starting to think is the case.

I loved seeing Nesta and Cassian together and the way that they interacted and grew as characters. I do wish that we'd seen a bit more of Elain, Lucien and Mor though and I do still love those characters. I did love Nesta's character arc though and also loved seeing her deal with the trauma that she'd gone through in constructive ways.

I would have liked to see more of the Trove and maybe have it turned into two books if necessary, but I did still like the story as a whole.

There was also apparently a scene cut from the book as it was essentially too much for the book and I agree that it would have been too... in-depth, I'll call it... and that it would have turned the book into more of a smut book than it already was. Personally, I think that one or two sexy scenes would have been okay, but there were too many for my liking. By about halfway through the book it felt less like they were steamy and more like I was just sitting through them to get to the next part.

One thing I was 100% not prepared for though was the 'C word'. I'm sure that I'm not the only person on the planet who loathes that word, but for it to be published in a book in the fantasy section of a book store? The words "fuck" and "cock" are also mentioned, so I wouldn't really recommend that younger teens read it.

Spoilers!

When Cassian brought the shield up to Feyre the second time I guessed that she was pregnant so I wasn't as shocked/proud/relieved of them when they finally told the Inner Circle the news.

It was also pretty underwhelming about how the Cassian and Nesta mating bond was revealed.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | A Court of Thorns and Roses

    2 | A Court of Mist and Fury

    3 | A Court of Wings and Ruin

 3.1 | A Court of Frost and Starlight

    4 | A Court of Silver Flames

The Prison Healer - by Lynette Noni

Title:             The Prison Healer

Author:        Lynette Noni

Published:  30 March, 2021

Series:          The Prison Healer #1

Rating:         4 stars

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.
When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.
Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.” Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom. But no one has ever survived. With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.

I managed to read an early copy of this book from work and wanted to give it an honest, spoiler-free review.

All thoughts and opinions regarding this book are solely my own.

Our Characters:

Kiva: our main character who has seen Some Things in her lifetime.

Jaren: our main man who has also seen Some Things in his life but somehow remains positive.

Naari: our guard who seems to be nicer than the rest.

Tipp: our little cinnamon roll and my favourite character just for being the littler of sunshine that he is!

I loved Jaren's humour and I also love how natural the amputee, stutter and blindness are when they're mentioned in the story; they don't seem as if they're forced in just for the sake of being in the story. Also the casual mention of someone being gay and the other main characters not even making a fuss about it.

One thing I picked up on though, was how tunnel fever reminded me of back at the start of the coronavirus pandemic; how easily it was spreading and the precautions you had to take if you dealt with someone with the virus so you also didn't become infected.

I did like how when you look at the side of the book at the pages you can see two blacked out parts of pages which makes it interesting as you don't know what that's about until you get there and when you get to that point in the book, it makes total sense why they're blacked out.

One point reminded me of something I've read at some stage though -- how some prisoner's in real life somewhere are allowed to look after shelter cats in the prison and it helps not only the prisoners, but also the cats as both parties learn to love and trust again. The prison cat in The Prison Healer named Boots reminds me of that and I really like that it was mentioned.

There was something I wasn't really fond of in the book though which was how often something like "Those five words were..." was said. It just became little repetitive over time, but it didn't detract from the story which was good.

However the final chapter was shocking with what it revealed! It probably didn't help that I had to stop with only three pages left at one stage as I'd had something on a timer. I also later figured out that I'd already called what was going to happen, but it was still a shock to the system. But oh my goodness, I seriously can't wait for the second book in this series to come out! I need to know what happens next!

"What about Your Highness?"

He pulled a face. "Definitely not." 

"Your Grace?" 

"I'm not a duke." 

"Your Excellency?" 

"Nor a lord." 

"Your Majesty?" 

"Please stop."

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Prison Healer
    2 | The Gilded Cage

Almost Midnight - by Rainbow Rowell

Title:              Almost Midnight

Author:         Rainbow Rowell

Published:   Nov 2, 2017

Rating:          3 stars

Synopsis:

Midnights is the story of Noel and Mags, who meet at the same New Year's Eve party every year and fall a little more in love each time . . .
Kindred Spirits is about Elena, who decides to queue to see the new Star Wars movie and meets Gabe, a fellow fan.

Midnights was previously published as part of the My True Love Gave to Me anthology, edited by Stephanie Perkins and Kindred Spirits was previously published as a World Book Day title.

I picked this book up from my local bookstore as at only 131 pages, I could see that it was going to be a quick read (and I managed to read it in roughly an hour, so I take that as a win for me).

These two short stories were cute and gave me the warm and fuzzies inside. My favourite of the two was the first one titled Midnights but I also liked the second titled Kindred Spirits, just not as much as the first one.

In Midnights, I really hope that they stay together (as friends or as lovers? You'll only know if you raed the book! I'm not giving away spoilers!). I'd give this one a 4 star rating.

In Kindred Spirits, I hope that all three of them remain friends and get to see many a 'Star Wars' movie together, even if it's just the three of them sitting at someone's house marathon watching them or something like that. I'd give this one a 3 star rating.

I adored the glittery cover too and also loved that the glitter didn't come off everywhere while I was trying to read but maintained the awesome sparkle!

Pay attention to the illustrator's name of this book as you may notice it somewhere in one of the stories; I did! The illustrations were amazing and I loved the way that both of these stories were set out with their chapter headings etc.

'I need you to be my person,' Mags said. 'I need to see you. And hear you. I need you to stay alive. And I need you to stop kissing other people just because they're standing next to you when the ball drops.'

Big Little Lies - by Liane Moriarty

Title: Big Little Lies

Author: Liane Moriarty

Published: 1 Apr 2015

Series: -

Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

The internationally bestselling author turns her unique gaze on the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves every day and what really goes on behind closed suburban doors.
'I guess it started with the mothers.'
'It was all just a terrible misunderstanding.'
'I'll tell you exactly why it happened.'
Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident... or something else entirely?
"Big Little Lies" is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and and schoolyard politics.

Trigger Warning: domestic abuse, bullying, sexual assault

This book was the Bookish Bean Co. book club pick for Nov 2020.

I know that this book has been turned into a TV series featuring actors like Reese Witherspoon and our  own Nicole Kidman (I know she wasn't born in Australia, but we've pretty much adopted her as our own), however I haven't seen it so I went into this book without being biased.

Overall, I didn't mind the book, however it did feel like it dragged on a little bit and I was usually more interested in Jane's back story and what was happening with __________. I was a little irritated that by page 100 out of 450+ I still didn't even know who had died, but I think that may just be a point to do with me in general and less about the book -- after all, isn't that the entire point of this plot?

'Let me be clear. This is not a circus. This is a murder investigation.'

Ed threatened to kill Nathan and frame Bonnie. Madeline threatened to kill Renata. Is Madeline dead? Or Celeste? Or maybe Jane? So many options!

At the start I was curious why Celeste wanted to 'put down her marriage', but the more that you read, the more the story unfolds and makes sense why she would say that.

I did like when Patricia Cromwell was mentioned and The Australian newspaper though as it brings a little of real life into the fictional story.

In regards to the bullying and the domestic violence warning at the start of this review: people need to remember that the victim is never at fault -- that's what makes them the victim. There are many reasons for people to stay in their situation, whatever that may be, but we all should do our best to notice the signs and help them out of trouble if we can!

I wouldn't have picked up this book on my own if it hadn't been one of the books that the book club picked, but I'm oddly glad that I did. It may not have quite been my pace, but it did deal with adult themes like domestic abuse and sexual assault in a way that impacted without sounding false.

Spoilers!

I did have a theory around page 160 where I wondered if maybe Ziggy had choked Jane before, or maybe an ex, and it turns out that I was right about the ex -- in a weird, twisted sort of way.

At one point I did also have a theory that maybe Juliette choked Amabella and that she blamed Ziggy as Juliette may have had a child with Saxon and seen the resemblance between her own child and Jane's -- but luckily that wasn't true.

I was surprised when we found out that Perry was Jane's Saxon Banks though -- that he'd used his cousin's name as his own when dealing with 'one night stands'.

End Spoilers!