January Book Round-Up | 2022

I know it’s nearly March… (oops!) but here is my book round-up for January 2022!

1. The Prison Doctor – Dr. Amanda Brown

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Star Rating: 4/5 ✨

Format: audiobook

Quick Review: this book follows the career of an English GP who leaves her successful village practice and takes up working in a boys correctional prison.

Dr. Brown talks about trying to make a difference in the inmates lives, but also the scary moments; being threatened and harassed by dangerous prisoners.

If you’re a fan of true crime books, true life stories, and factual tales from medical staff/prisoners/criminals etc, this is the book for you.

2. The Secret Barrister – The Secret Barrister

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Star Review: 4.5/5 ✨

Format: audiobook

Quick Comments: an anonymous investigation into the life of a UK barrister and the fundamental flaws in our legal and justice systems.

3. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister

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Star Review: 4.5/5 ✨

Format: audiobook

Another really interesting dive into British Law. An educational read without feeling like you’re being lectured to.

4. Talking with Serial Killers: Sleeping with Psychopaths – Christopher Berry-Dee

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3.75/5 ✨

Format: audiobook

Quick Review: It’s an interesting read, hearing his theories behind why people sleep with, stay with and even marry serial killers. However, Berry-Dee doesn’t put much stock in psychology, so he doesn’t delve far into the true reasoning.

Wilde Women – Louise Pentland | quick book review

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Star Rating: 10/10 ✨

Once again, Louise Pentland has made me cry! 😅😳

Wilde Women is such an amazing book in the Wilde series, and I really hope we get to see more of Robin, Lyla, Kath and Lacey, but if we don’t; then Wilde Women was the perfect ending.

Book 46 of 2020 📚

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The King’s Sister – Anne O’Brien | Quick Book Review 👑

‘𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚…’ 👑

The King’s Sister – Anne O’Brien

Book 39 of 2020 📚

Rating: 7/10 ✨

This book covers the first two marriages of Elizabeth of Lancaster, and her disastrous marriage to John Holland. Their relationship is carefully intertwined with the curtailed reign of Richard II (John’s brother) and Henry IV (Elizabeth’s brother).

I have this one a 7/10 as I felt the story-telling wasn’t as strong as O’Brien’s other books. However I also think that is heavily influenced by the fact that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters (who are real people, so that’s quite out of the author’s control)

The King’s Concubine – Anne O’Brien 👑 | Quick Book Review

• Book 38 of 2020 📚 •

Quick Review:

Alice Perrers, an abandoned child, raised by dull nuns, finds herself swept up by the gracious and dying Queen Philippa and set to a very specific task: to keep King Edward happy.

And thus begins the turbulent life of Mistress Alice, the King’s Official Concubine, at the side of an ill, ageing king.

Oh, god I cried. And laughed. If you like Anne O’Brien’s work, I think this is one of her best works and would highly recommend.

The Shadow Queen – Anne O’Brien 👑 📚 | BOOK REVIEW

Quick Rating: 7.5/10 ⭐️

Quick Review:

A misjudged Countess Joan of Kent, princess royal is marred by rumours, questionable choices, and three husbands, who ends up mother to the next king of England.

I found Joan of Kent a really interesting woman – she made the decision to marry as a 14-year-old and when her mother forces her to pretend she never married and wed her friend Will, she fights it as best as a woman in the 1340s can, and spends years fighting to regain her marriage to Thomas, a knight in the king’s army. She faces so many rumours, so many tests in her life – mostly to do with consanguinity (marrying a relative within the fourth degree) – all to keep her head held high and protect not only herself, but her children.

Book 34 of 2020 📖

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 – 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐎’𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧 | book review

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 – 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐎’𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧

This is my first read of any of Anne O’Brien’s work (I’ve only ever read Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction books), and I must say I really enjoyed. It goes much further back than any of Gregory’s books and I learned about a whole new European royal family.

Synopsis:

Devil’s Consort starts out in July 1137 and follows the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, a duchess at 15, then married off to the second prince of France, later King Louis VII for an alliance. Eleanor finds herself in a loveless marriage with a boy king who would rather be a monk.

Quick Review:

I really enjoyed listening to this on BorrowBox, it was well-read and I was quick to get into the story (of which I am completely unfamiliar). I have mixed opinions about the leading characters – but I think that is sort of the point; a monk forced to be king, a duchess forced into a marriage because the law won’t let her remain duchess whilst unmarried, but equally – they are both quite selfish in their own way.

Star Rating: 8/10 ⭐️

Book 31 of 2020

(image is edited as I only had the audiobook version and I’m rubbish at taking photos of my tablet!)

2019 Book Challenge Summary

I did it! I hit my small little goal of 12 books to read in 2019. And not only did I achieve it, I surpassed it (by one book!)

Books Read in 2019:

(All photos are my own from my Instagram @melholdenwrites)

1. Let It Snow – John Green

2. Turtles All The Way Down – John Green

3. Billy and Me – Giovanna Fletcher

4. Doctor Who’s Time Lord Fairy Tales

5. Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert

6. Scarlet – Marissa Meyer

7. Wilde Like Me – Louise Pentland

8. Some Kind of Wonderful – Giovanna Fletcher

9. The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan

10. Always With Love – Giovanna Fletcher

11. Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King

12. The Christmasaurus – Tom Fletcher

13. The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles Book 4) – Marissa Meyer | BOOK REVIEW

“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚝.” 👑 🍎 📖

🚨 𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣 𝔸𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕥 ⚠️

Quick Synopsis:

The fourth and final book of The Lunar Chronicles follows Cinder and her friends on their crusade against evil Queen Levana of Luna. As with every LC book, we are introduced to a new protagonist, the beautiful and crazed Princess Winter – driven mad by her refusal to use the powers of manipulation every Lunar is born with. Winter joins the fight, accompanied by her loving and loyal guard, and helps begin a revolution against Levana, but will they succeed?

Review:

It’s been a very long time since a series has drawn me in like this. Despite the last book being 823 pages, not a single word felt unnecessary. The characters develop realistically, there is even a magical version of mental illness, and to top it all off – a lost princess with a cybernetic gun-arm. What more could you want from a book series?

Marissa Meyer has a brilliant approach to this fairytale sci-fi, using every new book to develop her existing characters, whilst giving us a few new core ones to fall in love with. Winter is no different.

In Book 4, we are introduced to Princess Winter; step-daughter to the tyrannical Queen Levana. We see how Winter has become weakened and abused by her step-mother, and yet – despite never using her glamour – is still cherished by the Lunar people.

Marissa Meyer is also brilliant at approaching relationships in a loving yet realistic way. She acknowledges Captain Thorne’s floozy past. She writes of deep first loves, experienced by a petite Rapunzel character (Cress) who falls in love with the mere idea of the Captain.

We see Emperor Kai and Cinder deal with the complications of living on two different planets, and we finally get to see how a red-headed farm girl and her mutant wolf boyfriend cope with the reality of being together.

Ratings:

Overall Series Rating > 5 🌟
Book 1 Rating > 5 ⭐️
Book 2 Rating > 4 ⭐️
Book 3 Rating > 4.5 ⭐️
Book 4 Rating > 5 ⭐️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐮𝐝𝐨𝐫 – 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐚 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲 👑 | quick book review (spoilers!)

’𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒕𝒚𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕’𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚.’

Quick Review: 4.5 ⭐️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐮𝐝𝐨𝐫 – 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐚 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲 📚 👑

Despite only having read a third of the Tudor & Plantagenet novels, even I can hear the author’s finality in the way she writes the last book of the series. Another story of sisters hindered by their births being so close to the throne; so hindered by the ambition of others.

Lady Jane Grey – the Nine Day Queen, Lady Katherine – imprisoned for marrying without permission until she died of heartbreak, and the Lady Mary, the most resilient of all the Grey sisters; a born dwarf struggling against life as a courtier.

You can not help but feel sorry for them and for the lengths at wish they suffered just for being cousins to the infinitely jealous Queen Elizabeth I.

📖 Book 26 of 2020 📚

𝑺𝒆𝒂 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 – 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 🌊 🧜‍♀️ – Quick Book Review

Quick Review: 4.5 ⭐️

I found this take on the original The Little Mermaid really interesting. The author is clearly aware of both the original story, and the Disney adaptation as there are elements of both weaves throughout.

I won’t spoil it – but I was pleasantly surprised by this retelling, and there were definitely some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

I will say that I found the use of a present tense first person narrative a little confusing at times, as the book covers two main characters POV, and also goes back and forth in time. This May be because I was listening to it as an audiobook and there is only one voice actress (who does a brilliant job).

I would highly recommend for anyone that enjoys a mermaid or a fairy tale twisted retelling. It’s a little bit gory, so I wouldn’t advise for children under 12.

QOTD: how do people take beautiful photos of their tablets and e-readers on IG? I can’t get the glare off mine 📸 🤦🏻‍♀️

Book 27 of 2020 🧜‍♀️ 📖

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