Bogormen

Title: The Confictioner's Guild (The Confectioner Chronicles #1)
Author: Claire Luana
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 327
Date read: December, 2018

Wren knew her sweet treats could work wonders, but she never knew they could work magic. She barely has time to wrap her head around the stunning revelation when the head of the prestigious Confectioner’s Guild falls down dead before her. Poisoned by her cupcake.

Now facing murder charges in a magical world she doesn’t understand, Wren must discover who framed her or face the headsman’s axe. With the help of a handsome inspector and several new friends, Wren just might manage to learn the ropes, master her new powers, and find out who framed her. But when their search for clues leads to a deep-rooted conspiracy that goes all the way to the top, she realizes that the guild master isn’t the only one at risk of death by chocolate.

If Wren can’t bring the powerful culprit to justice, she and her friends will meet a bittersweet end.


This took me far longer to read than it had any right to. And for no reason at all! It was a delightful book, full of suspense, magic and romance. So though the first third took me almost 3 months to read, I finished the last two thirds in just a few hours one morning!

At the end of the day, I just loved it! The plot was fun, the characters well developed and (mostly) three dimensional, and it had some twists and turns I hadn't seen coming. I wish we'd gotten to see more of what was actually going on at the Confectioner's Guild when the place isn't buzzing with a murder investigation, as I think that would make for a fascinating and charming read, but it made sense that Claire Luana couldn't include too much of that in this first installment of the series, so I shall just have to hope there'll be room for it in the sequel.

Title: The 30-Day Prayer Challenge for Women
Author: Nicole O'Dell
Genre: Christian non-fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 192
Date read: October, 2018


Prayer journals are always risky, because you never know ahead of time whether it is one that will speak to your soul or not. But I ended up really appreciating this 30-Day Prayer Challenge. Each daily reading included a scripture, a devotion, questions for introspection and prayers for morning, noon and night. The readings were very specific, which I enjoyed (often they tend to be very generic), but of course that also meant that some were more relevant or applicable than others - no matter, those days I just read two! :-)

I'd definitely recommend it for women who'd like to give their prayer life a bit of a boost, or who are just on the lookout for a new prayer journal or devotional. At 30 days it's a very manageable commitment.

Title: Deadly Sweet (Spellwork Syndicate #1)
Author: Lola Dodge
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 294 pages
Date read: September 2018

Anise Wise loves three things: baking, potion making, and reading her spellbooks in blissful silence. She might not be the most powerful witch, but enchantment is a rare skill, and her ability to bake with magic is even rarer. Too bad no one wants witchcraft on their campus. Anise's dream of attending pastry school crumbles with rejection letter after rejection letter.

Desperate to escape her dead-end future, Anise contacts the long-lost relative she's not supposed to know about. Great Aunt Agatha owns the only magic bakery in the US, and she suddenly needs a new apprentice. Anise is so excited she books it to New Mexico without thinking to ask what happened to the last girl.

The Spellwork Syndicate rules the local witches in Taos, but as "accidents" turn into full-out attacks on Anise's life, their promises to keep her safe are less and less reassuring. Her cranky bodyguard is doing his best, but it's hard to fight back when she has no idea who's the enemy. Or why she became their target.

If Anise can't find and stop whoever wants her dead, she'll be more toasted than a crème brûlée.

Who knew baking cakes could be so life or death?


Why did it take me this long to get started on "Deadly Sweet"? A witch who works magic through baking? I am so there!

The book is quickly read and utterly charming. Perhaps slightly predictable at times, but that's part of its charm. It's a fantastical cozy mystery with a twist. I loved reading about Anise's joy of baking and how she slowly but surely gathered a group of friends with whom she could be herself.

First book in the Spellwork Syndicate series. I'm definitely keen to read more.

Title: You Will Be Mine
Author: Natasha Preston
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 304
Date read: December, 2017

ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
WATCH YOUR BACK
I'M COMING FOR YOU

Lylah and her friends can't wait to spend a night out together. Partying is the perfect way to let loose from the stress of life and school, and Lylah hopes that hitting the dance floor with Chace, her best friend, will bring them closer together. She's been crushing on him since they met. If only he thought of her the same way...

The girls are touching up their makeup and the guys are sliding on their coats when the doorbell rings. No one is there. An envelope sits on the doormat. It's an anonymous note addressed to their friend Sonny. A secret admirer? Maybe. They all laugh it off.

Except Sonny never comes home. And a new note arrives:

YOUR TURN


This is the second book I've read by Natasha Preston (the first one being "Awake"), and I enjoyed this one every bit as much. It's absolutely chilling, and Natasha Preston's writing is so engaging that I put myself in Layla's shoes far too much, and found it very hard to put the book down - reading it in just a few sittings.

As with almost all suspense novels, the big question is always - does the ending hold up? Far too often it will be too far-fetched or unbelievable and the resolution unsatisfying. I kept wondering how Natasha Preston would wrap this up in a suitable manner, as I could see quite a few options that would indeed fall into those traps.

But fortunately Natasha Preston delivered. Yes, I'd guessed the culprit ahead of time... but only a few pages too soon, which to me is one of the marks of an excellent suspense novel - one where the reader can follow the clues along with the characters in the book and make an educated guess, but not one where the answer is screamed from the pages at a much too early stage.

I greatly enjoyed this, and will definitely be on the look out for more of Natasha Preston's work. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars straight, is that I thought everything was wrapped up (or not) too quickly in the last few pages, and I'm left wondering if a sequel is in the works.

Title: Love and Laughter in the Time of Chemotherapy
Author: Manjusha Pawagi
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 288
Date read: May, 2017

Manjusha Pawagi, a successful family court judge, has written a not-so-typical memoir about her experience with cancer. Wryly funny and stubbornly hopeful, this is her quirky take on what it's like to face your own mortality when, to be honest, you thought you'd live forever. She describes how even the darkest moments of life can be made worse with roommates; details how much determination it takes to ignore the statistics; and answers the age-old question: what does it take to get a banana popsicle around here?


An excellent book! I'd recommend this to anybody, no matter whether or not they've had their lives touched by cancer.

It's a very poignant and real book. Manjusha allows the reader an insight into an experience they will hopefully never have to go through themselves, and while Manjusha is undoubtedly one of the lucky ones (she survived!) it still served as a chilling reminder of how cancer effects not just the patient, but everybody around.

I find it wrong to say that I "liked" the book, but I had a very hard time putting it down, and it is one of those powerful books that stay with you for a long time after finishing it.

Title: De, der vogter
Author: Claus Holm
Genre: Short-stories
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 384
Date read: March, 2017

En gruppe turister spærres inde i en underjordisk bunker uden kontakt til omverden. De ved ikke, hvor længe de kan overleve dernede - eller hvad der er sket på jorden over dem.

Dreng møder pige i en historie om at forfølge sin egen drøm, frem for andres. Måske kan man også lære af de ting, man ikke ved.

En ung mor mister på én gang sin mand og sit arbejde - men måske kan en rød cykel bane vejen frem mod et nyt liv.

En nyfødt dreng får tildelt en agent fra Oven - og en fra Neden - men hvorfor er han så vigtig?

De, der vogter er fire forbundne historier om almindelige mennesker i ualmindelige situationer; om mennesker, som beskytter hinanden, og som indimellem selv har behov for at blive beskyttet. Frygt og sorg, afmagt og tragedie, alle har de en vigtig plads i fortællingerne - men i sidste ende indtager kærlighed, venskab og medmenneskelighed de altoverskyggende hovedroller.

Fra 1950'erne til nu; fra den faderløse femårige til den fortvivlede cirkusprinsesse. Når luften er ved at løbe ud - i metaforisk eller bogstavelig forstand - er spørgsmålet det samme for os alle: Skal jeg blive hvor jeg er, eller skal jeg bryde ud?


"De, der vogter" er en samling af 4 noveller, der ved første øjekast ser ud til at være uafhængige af hinanden... og så alligevel ikke. De er meget forskellige, og derfor nærmest umulige at anmelde under ét, så jeg har valgt at anmelde dem hver for sig i stedet.

Den første novelle, "Bunkeren", var også klart min yndlings. Jeg har altid haft en svaghed for dystopiske/post-apokalyptiske romaner, og fløj lige igennem den. Der var enkelte af personerne, jeg gerne ville have hørt mere om (f.eks. overlevelsesnødden som købte al vandet i starten af bogen), men det er ulempen ved (gode) noveller... man vil altid gerne vide mere! Og egentlig syntes jeg, det var et okay sted at stoppe - alt taget i betragtning. Jeg var helt vild med Sarah :-) 5 stjerner.

Starten på den anden novelle, "Kvinden og løverne", mindede mig utrolig meget om starten på "The Night Circus" (selv her ved anden gennemlæsning, hvor jeg ved at inspirationen er en helt anden), men det er dog kun starten, og historien fik hurtigt sit eget liv. Det ville være en skam at røbe for meget af handlingen, så jeg vil nøjes med at sige at jeg absolut ikke havde forventet den drejning historien ville tage, men efter det første chock begyndte jeg at gennemskue de hints Claus havde lagt ud, og endte med at synes, at det var en fin slutning. I sidste ende er det nok den af novellerne jeg er midst tilbøjelig til at genlæse, men jeg vil alligevel give den 3 stjerner.

"Gaven" fik mig til at græde. "Big ugly tears". Mærkeligt nok ikke der hvor man måske ville have forventet det, men ved Jessicas reaktion senere. Meget vagt, det ved jeg godt, men jeg prøver at undgå spoilers. Heldigvis endte historien på en mere positiv note (ellers er jeg heller ikke sikker på, jeg ville have kunnet klare det), men jeg ville have ønsket den havde været bare lidt længere, så de øvrige siders tragedie var blevet opvejet mere. 4 stjerner.

Den sidste novelle, "Vogterne", var jeg meget splittet overfor. Som kristen havde jeg afgjort nogle problemer med den*, men handlingsmæssigt fandt jeg den meget fascinerende. Den er baseret på et interessant koncept, og jeg kunne godt lide den meget bogstavelige tilgang til skytsengle og dæmoner. 4 stjerner.

Generelt en meget velskreven bog, som jeg er glad for at have fået chancen for at læse. Og specielt "Bunkeren" bliver nok en novelle jeg kommer til at genlæse ofte. Ikke dårligt klaret af Claus Holm, når man tænker på, at jeg typisk ikke er så meget til noveller. De fleste af disse er dog også lange nok til at gå under den engelske term "novella" snarere end "short story".... hvilket jeg værdsatte!

*Ikke så meget engle og dæmoner generelt - det er der præcedens for blandt kristne forfattere også... bl.a. hos Frank E. Peretti og C.S. Lewis, bare for at nævne to af de mest kendte... men ind i mellem var der nogle fraser som skurede i ørerne. Det er dog på ingen måde sikkert, at det er ting der ville genere andre end mig.

Title: Follow Me Back
Author: A.V. Geiger
Genre: YA
Rating: 2/5
# pages: 368 pages
Date read: February 2017

Tessa Hart's world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it's like his speaking directly to her...

Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn't help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.

When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast - like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric's plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world's best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn...


Please note that this is a review of the book version only. There is also a version on Wattpad, which has some significant changes. Ironically, I believe I would have rated that one higher, but this is the version provided to me by NetGalley, so so be it.

It will be hard to review it properly without spoilers but I will do my best.

Most of the book was excellent. Well written and captivating - written in the style of a YA Liane Moriarty novel. Sure, it was kinda sweetly tacky in places, and unrealistic in a chick-lit kinda way, but it worked. I stayed up much too late to read it, and despite a few glaring plotholes (most notably the MET storyline which was never tied up... I also have questions about both Blair and the therapist) was ready to give it a solid 4 star rating.

But then came the last 5 pages. I realize they were added for shock value and to get people to read the sequel, but when I read them, I didn't know a sequel was in the works, and thought this was the end - and it basically ruined the book for me. Only the fact that I was reading it on my tablet saved it from being tossed across the room.

At that time I was ready to give the book just 1 star, but a quick look on Goodreads informed me that a sequel is indeed in the works (and spoilers are aplenty on Wattpad) and that all is obviously not how it seems. That mellowed my opinion a fair bit, and made me raise my rating from "I didn't like it" to "it was okay". Still not fond of the cheap trick though.

Title: The Last to Die
Author: Kelly Garrett
Genre: YA
Rating: 2/5
# pages: 218
Date read: January, 2017

Sixteen-year-old Harper Jacobs and her bored friends make a pact to engage in a series of not-quite illegal break-ins. They steal from each other's homes, sharing their keys and alarm codes. But they don't take anything that can't be replaced by some retail therapy, so it's okay. It's thrilling. It's bad. And for Harper, it's payback for something she can't put into words-something to help her deal with her alcoholic mother, her delusional father, and to forget the lies she told that got her druggie brother arrested. It's not like Daniel wasn't rehab bound anyway.

So everything is okay-until the bold but aggravating Alex, looking to up the ante, suggests they break into the home of a classmate. It's crossing a line, but Harper no longer cares. She's proud of it. Until one of the group turns up dead, and Harper comes face-to-face with the moral dilemma that will make or break her-and, if she makes the wrong choice, will get her killed.


Huh! I'm starting to wonder if I read a different book than the others did! So many 4 and 5 star reviews, and mine can only just sneak its way up to 2.

Because my honest opinion is that this book was absolutely ridiculous. None of the characters seemed believable or acted in an even half-way realistic manner.

A shame too, because the plot had potential, and could have been really interesting if the characters hadn't been so hopelessly exaggerated. And twist seemed completely unmotivated and was never properly resolved or explained.

Granted, it did keep me reading, and despite how overdone everything was, I did want to know how it ended. But when push came to shove, I couldn't really bring myself to care about any of the characters other than Maggie, and most of them seemed more like charicatures than anybody you'd meet in real life.

With all the awesome YA books out there, give this one a miss.

Title: A List of Cages
Author: Robin Roe
Genre: YA
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 320 pages
Date read: January, 2017

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years.

Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives.



The writing-style took some getting used to - to the point that the first 25% took me 2 months to read, and I then finished the last 75% in one sitting!

I wasn't as blown away by this book as other reviews had let me to hope I would be. As already mentioned it took some getting into, and while I loved the growing friendship between Julian and Adam and his friends (definite shades of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" there!) and found the middle part of the book captivating, the lack of communication and trust in adults was still frustrating (Adam's mother especially). Worst of all, the ending was deeply unsatisfying. The other issues I could have ignored or forgiven, but a poor ending means a poor lasting effect of a book.

It still deserves 3 stars though, as it was a very powerful book up until then. With a better ending, it could easily have been a 5-star read.

Title: I Hate Fairyland: Madly Ever After
Author: Skottie Young
Genre: graphic novel
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 128
Date read: May, 2016

Follow Gert, a forty year old woman stuck in a six year olds body who has been stuck in the magical world of Fairyland for nearly thirty years. Join her and her giant battle-axe on a delightfully blood soaked journey to see who will survive the girl who HATES FAIRYLAND.


This was... extraordinarily weird! Not necessarily bad-weird, but totally unexpected. I read most of it with my eyebrows up and my jaw down, wondering how on earth I had entered this surreal universe.

The drawings were great - although perhaps slightly too detailed at times, which could get slightly gross. The plot pretty unique, and the main character unusually unpleasant. This is definitely not a comic I'd hand to a girl who likes princesses - but very possibly to a boy who likes the unconventional.

Really not what I had expected, and as such, I have a bit of a hard time figuring out what I think of it, but at the end of the day - I think I like it.