Rae Else's Blog

K. S. Masden’s Witch Hunter series has been on my TBR list for a while so I was very much looking forward to delving into this book. And, it didn’t disappoint![image error]

James: Witch Hunter is a prequel story to the Witch Hunter series, which can be read before or after the main series. Right away I warmed to James, the main character, who we see on his first day at Oxford University. He is a very down-to-earth, likable guy. I really enjoyed watching James, the Yorkshire lad, mingle with the...

This has been on my TBR list for ages. I now have the whole series to work through…not a bad thing! Would definitely recommend this book and have put it in my YA book giveaway that I’m running this month!  [image error]

MC, Nicole doesn’t know she’s a witch! The story is a gentle descent into the magical world. However, it was the typical setting of a high school, where the story begins and plays out – so a star off here for me.  In her new class, her teacher uses magic and Nicole discovers...

This isn’t my usual choice of read as I generally prefer urban-fantasy but I looked at one of the prequel stories that Helen Scheuerer released prior to Heart of Mist and it was so well written and the character voice so strong, that I was really looking forward to reading the full book on its release. And it did not disappoint![image error]

The beginning is gritty, visceral and emotionally-raw. “Bleak’s gut clenched as she vomited onto the dirt that spun before her.” We meet MC, Bleak, stru...

This was a Netgalley read – thanks to Netgalley, publisher and especially to the author. I put off reviewing this one for a little bit as I think it’s one that I needed to ruminate on. A truly beautiful and creative read, dealing with themes of love and loss in a tender and poignant way.

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Descent

I actually found the descent into this book the hardest part. It had lovely language and detail but there was a little bit of jarring with voice…the “I” used only twice, pedantic I know, took...

I thought this was a fun, lighthearted read. I enjoyed the fast-paced entry into the story. However, I thought putting the MC, Elena straight into school in the world of Paegeia was a little bit dull and predictable. Not to mention that it meant that there was a lot of info-dumping whilst not much else was going on plot wise. It’s fine when a character is learning about the world, and I understand you need this, but it made the middle really lag.

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Descent

As I said, entry into the wor...

My first Netgalley request! I loved this one. The blurb pitches it as possibly a murder-mystery or paranormal thriller, and it is just that. All the way through you’re left guessing whether the events that pass are caused by people or by ghostly activity.[image error]

Descent

The whole story centres around the Gustafano House, a notoriously haunted house. At the beginning, a group of teenagers meet to hold a seance here. (This was right up my street as the house I grew up in was rather large, old and...

A little bit different to my usual choice – a kind of Horror Sci-fi. Caught sight of this one when looking through Alchemy Press and what was coming out. So glad I read this one – thoroughly immersive, well-written and blood-curdling. [image error]

Descent

The story tells the tale of a teacher, Nathan Brookes who takes a group of teenagers on an orienteering field trip. However he is neglectful, and the children go missing. Only one is found and has suffered memory loss and fails to enlighten everyone o...

A thought-provoking, powerful and immersive read. [image error]

There is a fluidity in descending into this book. As Proust describes falling asleep, you fall gently into his narrative, his words cushioning you. On the other hand, we’re moving through great junctures of time and space. One moment Proust is a man reading a book, his thoughts still cycling on the words of the page, the next he’s a child, dreaming of his childish terrors about his uncle pulling his curls. We dip in and out of these p...

I started this one as well as Hekla’s Children in a conscious effort to read more books published by independent presses. I chose [image error]Urbane Publications this month as The Gift Maker caught my eye. And I’m so glad it did! It proved to be a disturbing, and yet, beautiful story. It reminded me very much of Bulgakov’s, The Master and the Margarita, with its surreal nature, as well as  its Eastern European-esque setting (the characters venture to a town called Grenze, which translates to “Border”).

[image error]A gem of a book. Loved it…a story that echoes other stories, reminding you of the books you love and making you want to visit them once again.

This was a wonderful bookish book. The MC, Margaret has been raised in a bookshop and spends her day working and reading there, having become something of an “amateur” biographer as she terms it. Books have been her school, her university, her life. Like I say it was just ooooh so bookish.