Literary Lane

  2 out of 5 stars (and that's being generous)  WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT AHEAD.  I will say that it did keep me hooked with the suspense and mystery which is always good, although sometimes only in the short-term if it is anti-climatic, which was the case here of course. However other than that I just found it all really annoying, especially with the way Maddy ends up with Adrian not long after her sister's death which just bloody infuriated me, like they could have at least gave it time and then shown them together months later if they had too, but this was just inappropriate given the circumstances. But what really annoyed me most about it was the way that a love interest just HAD to be shoehorned into the story, that she just HAD to end up in a romantic relationship, not even a nice, new true friendship to make things nicer and happier for her after having been friendless for so long (or at least without any true friends) but of course it had to be a frigging g...

  Honestly, I did enjoy this book, despite also having many criticisms about it, of things that annoyed and grated me to no end. I found it kept me really absorbed and I could simply not put it down, much like with the previous Rosie Goodwin novel I read, The Lost Girl .                                                                                                                                                              Rating: 3 out of 5 stars   It was quite an emotional rollerco aster to be honest, and quite eventful too which I quite liked. The suspense was not quite as great as ...

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD   Wow! What a gripping and moving read. Having mainly just read YA , modern-day novels for a while, I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this book at first, with my mum having just got it for me at a car boot sale, but now I can safely and happily say that I am definitely moving onto this genre of historical fiction and will definitely be reading more of Rosie Goodwin's books from now on, having already ordered three others. I realised as well that this is the genre for me after all, as I have always enjoyed fairy tales and other historical fiction books and this book definitely had a fairy tale-esque feeling it, only a bit more grown up. I found myself determined to keep on reading and find out what would happen with the suspense of it all keeping me more and more curious and hooked. I really found myself feeling great empathy for Esme and Gabriel , having felt so much pain for both of them, not only seeing but feeling...

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD: Wow, this was what I'd definitely describe as a very heavy, intense, tumultuous and even overwhelming read, with there having been so many different aspects that were covered, and was definitely a real emotional roller-coaster- even more so than the previous book, being more of an overload. Not recommended for if you want a light and fluffy read. In fact, it became too much of a drama overload with too many things being crammed in, like the author was just getting too carried away. Much like it's predecessor, this book addressed very complex themes such as sexual abuse, bullying, harassment, toxic friendships and relationships, which was handled very sensitively and was not easy to address, with there being so many different issues and elements to address and it was pretty a long book too. Honestly though, this book just made me so angry for several reasons, which may be a sign of a good book to have such a powerful...