Review - Making the Play (Bennu Firebirds Book1) by Cait Marie

 

5 in 5 star rating

I follow this author in Tiktok and decided to have this series after a promo video of her books. 

I'm not a big fan of romances but I need to give a try as I can miss a very good story. 

This ended up being my first book written by her and it was more than a happy choice to make!

This is a vert sweet contemporary romance where not everything seems so wonderful as you can expect! 

We get this story from 2 POV's: Jax and Keyley (the MCs) and it's very good and easy to follow this kind of writing if well done (like here) 

I loved the fact that you have serious topics that are talked about and not only mentioned without having more information: we have topics as: death of parents, siblings "fights", homosexuality,.... As I was reading I noticed that some parts was so sad that I was sad too and I was really hoping for a happy ending as they everyone in this book deserved! 

Jax is a baseball player with a very complicated home situation but he like to be free and have a female company only for 1 night... until he met Kayley. Kayley that look like the kind of girl that is to keep and be for a long time relationship AKA the opposite of Jax wants

Kayley is not only Kade little sister (another baseball player) but also the daughter of the Coach! 

As you can read, this love is not meant to be but we can't choose this kind if stuff correct?

How this romance start? Well destiny make sure that they see each other again and they start as Jax helping Kayley in Statistic classes as she can fail the exames. Attraction make the work and when you realize they are a secret couple. 

But family situations, friendships and a cyclone of emotions make this complicated to Jax. 

Do his reputation will make lost the girl he love? Well I'm not going to give you a spoiler for sure! 

My biggest question in the middle of all the family drama was why Kade was not talking to his sister all along and I was trying to figured out until something make a click in my head: was because of his sexual orientation that he was not talking to her anymore or was the shame to be associate with her? (not that was easy to make a secret because of their father) 

Jax is the perfect book boyfriend that deserve all the hype for trying and not resisting to his feelings while fixing all mistakes an Kayley? well Kayley really deserve an happy moment in her life that can last a very long time! 

Resuming: all characters in this book are easy to fall in love with and deserve it for sure!

Review - The Beating of His Wings (The Left Hand of God Book 3) by Paul Hoffman

 

4 in 5 stars rating

Last book of the Trilogy of The Left Hand of God this books take action after Redeemer Bosco become Pope and Redeemer Gil order 2 persons to kill Cale for good. At the same time Cale is trying to find a way to be free in the Spanish Leeds where is late lover (now married and pregnant) with the rest of the Materazzi are also in that lands and where everyone made clear they don't like him at all. To add to this Kleist is in his way to the same lands and it feels that it will not end very good to have everyone in the same place again. 

I reach that part of the trilogy where I expect already a lot of information regarding any kind of battles and also I'm used of Hoffman writing style. 

The book all itself is about Cale make an army and attack the Redeemers but we have more space regarding Kleist and Henri Vague.

To my surprise we have a lot of dialogue in this volume and it was more easy to follow each POV when it change. We clearly can see that Cale, Kleist and Henri are still kids and even with a dark humor, they make jokes and try to find an happy ending. 

The fact everything turn around Cale being successful is more at the same but now the side changed and it's the Redeemers that need to survive to each attack of Cale. The way they all see him only as a weapon is clear that he will not have an happy ending at all but at least in this volume we have the opportunity to have more side characters emerging and having parte of the action. 

The frustration about this book is about the fact that Kleist and his wife are in the same lands and only at the very end of the book they found each other. It was very annoying to see that they was literally 2 steps from each other and didn't notice the other at all...

Nothing new about the hate state Arbell and Cale are but I was thinking about more action between them or at least a decent end... it was very but very vague how they settle their differences. 

The Sanctuary battle scene was more than expected and I was very curious about it. Not only to see what the Redeemers and Bosco will do but also about how the 3 friends will deal to be back there where everything is linked to bad memories and pain. 

I was not excepting at all the resolution they found to deal with Cale. It was a real scene that a cult ask for you: massive suicide

It was only at that moment that I understood the extend of the craziness of Bosco but in another hand I can't say it came from nowhere and wasn't expecting it. It was more than obvious that Bosco was not full mind regarding Cale and to interpret the messages of his God.

The ending? It was too short and was not as complete as expected: 1 paragraph about Cale, 1 line about Arbell and nothing more about the rest of the world.... sad ending actually

Review - Big hole by Puleng Modupe

 

3 in 5 Star Rating 

I got contacted by the Tweeter program Booktasters to read and review this book. 

The author was very sweet in sending me a free copy for that! 

This book is very small: 87 pages only and it took me a while to put it in the correct category but finally Fiction is the best to leave as fantasy sound not correct neither dystopia. 

The locals of this book are real so if you need to be familiar with the map just google the name of the village or city and it will show you what you need to have in mind. 

This story is based in South Africa where Shaina discover that she have a big mission: Save the world from a massive destruction caused by the Big Hole in Kimberley.

The mission is quite simple: find the stolen stone and put it back where she belong. 

The problem? Time is running out and fast and no records are founded regarding that stone, what it look like or who was the original person that found it. 

Shaina is really lovely and easy to like: she is a young adult with a dream job, she have determination and an open mind and she is stubborn and that make her a very good hero in this story. 

Her determination and courage keep her moving and trying to reach her goal: not only to save the planet but also to let people know about what is happening. 

Sadly people try to ignore the warning as always and she need to ask almost as a lunatic but she never lost her cool. 

During this 87 pages you can see she try hard and that she find always a way to reach the person she need: the radio, the Premier, CEO of the Mines Company,.... I mean how remember the address of the CEO and go there directly and by herself to explain once more the importance of that stone when visibly no one is paying attention?

Luckily we have side characters that make the link with the MC and the plot can advance without major turn around time! 

It was also interesting to see that many side characters have tangled pasts but it was disappointing to not no more about them to better understand how they ended up all in the same circle. 

Not to mention that we have a TW very dark even if only mentioned and not described. Glade I don't get made with the lake of information about TW but it's a must that authors need to include. 

 

Sadly I really hated the epilogue and didn't made sense for me bringing a love interest story. I didn't saw why it was there.... Happy ending? I mean after all Shaina endured I was hoping a epilogue after 4 years where she is graduated, at home or on the way and then MAYBE bring her love life to show that it was all coming natural. 

The Jones/Shaina love made me think that he don't love at all... he just need someone next to him with something new for his life as he want to repeat what he did with is current wife. 

If we stop in the last chapter and don't read the epilogue it will come to the 3.5 / 4 Stars review but epilogues are important if they are there and this one was not as expected.

Review - The Last Four Things (The Left Hand of God book 2) by Paul Hoffman

 

3 in 5 stars Rating 

This is the sequel of The Left Hand of Good and if you remembered my review I was not impressed at all by that book and ended up with more questions and a confused face each time the POV changed. 

Well this book was better in a way but worst in another. 

This book start right after Redeemer Bosco take back Cale to the Sanctuary to follow his plan. The plan itself is to become the Pope and start to "clean" the Earth from humanity so God can start again.

Cale is now under the Redeemer control and need to prove to everyone in Chartres that he is the Wrath of God and came to help the Redeemers against the Antagonists and everyone that don't follow the same faith

I still feel that we have so much ground for Cale to explore that it hurt that he is still making the same again and again: he make fights, don't make friends and seems to want to destroy everyone and everything. 

His actions are all mixed like a fight is inside him for Good and Bad: he can kill and be the most cold person in the world and 2 seconds after he is the most devote friend ever wanting to save as much as possible. Well... he is a teenager with the burden of being a Death Angel so it is only normal this fight but sometimes it feels like he is not even opening with himself. 

While the first book was a complete mess to follow who's POV is in this one it's much better! We can understand more easily with who we are checking the events. However.... we have pages and pages of war description and without dialogue and for me it was the worst ever as personally I like description but not for 5 or 6 pages in a row! 

We have also a lot of new characters here that became important and it was more easy to follow them and there actions than in book one. Every character have something that will link to Cale: Redeemer Gil, The Materazzi, Kleist and the Clepto Clan,.... you may think at the beginning why it is important to follow Kleist POV until you understand where they are going and the same apply to the Redeemers. We have old characters coming back to the plot with a little bit of information of what happened to them but even that was not very well explored for me: The Materazzi situation was vague and letting go some suspense but not explaining a lot for example . In another hand we have a complete focus in Kleist situation after leaving Henri Vague alone with IdrisPukke and that part seems to be very important as I feel they will all see each others and that can make a big difference in the storyline of book 3.

We have more twists and turns that make it more easy and passionate to read but we need to take special attention all the time to better understand why that event was happening. 

The Redeemers part of the story was very good and made my day while I was reading the scheme of Bosco: it was intriguing, fast action with the good amount of description and suspense. 

In general this book was better in therms of action and plot and action but the massive description took away stars for my rating. I don't mind the author describing stuff to make it clear and easy to the reader imagine the surrounding but when is too much it feels like we are reading a war book for History Classes. 

Again not very impressed in overhaul by this volume but hope the last book if this trilogy will save the storyline and explore finally all the potential of Cale 

Monthly Summary #1 of 2023

 

January already ended and it was so fast! 

Hello readers! 

How was your month? Mine was busy with a lot of work, readings, watching series and making diamond painting. 

Oh... sound like I have no social life or spend time with family but I have (family at least). 

I noticed that you only know a little about me and it's really a little (sorry about that!) so before coming with blog updates let me make write a little bit more: 

My name is Mary (full name Maryline) 

I'm 31 and live in Portugal even if was born in Switzerland

I'm brunette and should use glasses all the time but since I can still see what I'm doing I forgot a lot to use them 

I work from 8am to 5pm in a job that a really like: Team support for an online customer service. And I'm in this area since I'm 20 yo (not same client but same procedures and assistance) 

For the private parte what can I tell you? I love reading (obvious), spend my time between books and watching series and last year I reconnected with the diamond painting craft hobby making my last year a really bad one for reaching my goal of read books but in my defense I was also very tired from work and didn't want to read anymore for hours. 

I'm also a book collector as I own more books than I can read and the same apply to the diamond canvas: I own enough of them to be making them until 2025 without adding more in the basket. 

I'm not social at all... All my friends know that I can be silent for months without being mad or anything but that a reach out everything they need

To make friends it's actually very gradual and the same apply to love.... I don't open my heart and always have shield to be protected in case they ghost me. Glade to know that my few friends are aware of that and they don't mind at all

I have several planners to make sure everything is there and to take track of days and all f them are diferente: 

• Planner for work: where I put what a need to do and when as well as deadlines 
• Weekly planner with color set for the different activities to that week
• Yellow for reading
• Blue for work meetings
• Purple for diamond paintings
• Orange for Tiktok posts 
• Pink for Blog posts/checks
• Planner of reading where I plan in advance all the books I will read during the year as well as per month and also with a schedule 

Look like cray stuff but the true is that if I don't settle stuff I will pass them easily and after is a mess. (it happens already but without massive impact)

I really like to work with everything planner to make sure that I have time for all my hobbies in equal but let's continue to share personal stuff... 

And I think it's ok for now about me and we can move for the next topics: 

January wrap up

February expected posts 

So January was very busy for me and it wasn't reflected here properly as I was very lazy in posting the reviews in time.

• I read a total of 10 books this month with a total of 3000 pages
• 4 of them was written in Portuguese and 6 in English
• 5 was in Kindle and 5 was physicals 
• I reached 10% of my goal
• I've written the review of all of them but only publish 4 (sorry about that)

This is what I've read this month

For February you can expect a post of the Fairyloot January boxes (still waiting for 1), pictures of diamond painting already done as well as a Saint Valentine post and of course the reviews of this books from last month for sure: 

For February I will read the following books and hope to publish the reviews this month as well:

1. A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair (kindle)
2. A Touch of Ruin by Scarlett St. Clair (kindle)
3. A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair (kindle)
4. Big Hole by Puleng Modupe (still waiting from the author to receive the book)
5. I am watching you by Teresa Driscoll (kindle)
6. Touch the Dark by Karen Chance (Cassandra Palmer Series book 1)
7. Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance (Cassandra Palmer Series book 2)
8. Embrace The Night by Karen Chance (Cassandra Palmer Series book 3)
9. Everything Led me to You by Sara Kate (kindle)

(please don't forget to hit the follow button)

Review - The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman (The Left Hand of God Series Book 1)

 

3 in 5 stars rating

This is a re-read book. Do I remember when I read it and if I like it or not? NO 

I only remembered the name of the MC and the city! But in my defense I'm not a big fan of Dystopian or Si-Fi genre in general. 

Let's talk about this book: 

In the hellish Sanctuary of the Redeemer, young boys are trained from the age of five to be unthinking soldiers. Cale, the most promising, is singled out for punishment for the most trivial offenses but one day, Cale stops a Redeemer from dissecting a girl and he and his two friends, Vague Henri and Kleist, escape the Sanctuary with the girl named Riba and go on the lam with the destination of Memphis.

The Redeemers believe life is sin and salvation only comes through blood and pain. Thus, torture is a common form of discipline and the methods used made me uncomfortable as well as how they brainwashed the boys as well as how the conditions they where. 

While Cale is in Memphis learning about everything, Bosco (his Redeemer Tutor) believe that Cale is the most important human being in the world and will stop at nothing to secure his return. Cale has a destiny that is not revealed until the end, but we do learn that, as the result of a particular “talent,” he’s virtually unbeatable in combat. And here comes the bigger hole ever: Bosco decide to attack the city with the only purpose to have Cale back.

Where is the logic of that? I mean I understood that the information from the spy was that the 3 boys was in the city but even... how to make sure that they was still there during the attack or that they will came back for any reason? How to confirm that Cale was not dead when he run to save Simon? Or that he didn't run away with his friends as so many times they talked about? 

Bosco got lucky as Cale found a correspondent love and he didn't got killed by the Mond during is stay in the city!  

Also the violence is extreme and well described but the story is told through multiple viewpoints with clumsy transitions as look like the author remembered an idea and follow it. 

We jump from Cale to a Redeemer without notice in the same chapter where we pass from a friendship to a plot to conquer the city. And the same happens when we talk about Riba... she appear from nowhere with an update of her new life and then it get suspended in the middle to come back to Cale and his friends trying to understand everything.

We have very good aspects to the story and very good charactes with tons of room to develop and to connect with the MC so I hope the book 2 will be better but I'm not impressed at all so far

 

Review - The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

5 in 5 Star Rating

Nothing is what it look like in the last house of Needle Street and if you think something is real maybe is not. 

Everything started with the case of the Missing Child 11 years ago and Ted was a suspect but nothing was found against him. He was just fitting into the profile of the raptor. Dee lost her baby sister that day and want to find the true by herself. Olivia have a mission that is to help Ted, Ted have problems and blackout during hours or days without remembering what happened or have done during that period and Lauren is... well a problematic teenager

It was not east to follow the events as I was finding "errors". At first I though about a a different timeline when it was Ted and Olivia but only at the end it was explained and I was hooked by the explanation! 

During the full read my mind was trying to understand the motives of Ted and the connection between him and the missing child. 

If you think he is connected well you are half correct! But not in the way you think he is. 

Twists one after the other will keep you hooked to the pages wanting to go the the center of the situation and solving the mystery of the missing child, Dee and Ted. 

It was 1am when I finished read and I can tell you that I jumped from my bed when all pieces started to fit together. 

I think my expression was like this after reading all the explanation of Ted to his new-to-be friend:

I can only says this without causing spoilers: The brain is a great machine capable of everything.

It was really something to read! And if you like thrillers and crime books with a challenge for you then pick up this book as it deserve your attention! 

Unboxing - December 2022

 

Hey Readers! 

Today I want to share my newest box from Fairyloot.

What is Fairyloot? It's a monthly subscription group that will provide you fantasy books for YA and NA! 

At the moment Adult box is only for the book but the YA one have also cute stuff coming with. 

If you want to know more click HERE and subscribe! 

And now let's go to the unboxing! 

The YA Box came with: 

• Book Sleeve inspired from the Book Caraval
• Carousel Bookends inspired from the theme of the month (Come one, Come All)
• Mythology Bookmarks: Aphrodite and Ares 
• A Face Towel inspired by The Night Circus
• Tarot Cards set features Lei as the Sun and Wren and the Moon (characters from Girls of Papers and Fire)
• YA Book of the Month with redesigned cover, sprayed edges and artwork on the endpapers + signed

And the book is Cruel Illusions! 

For the adult book the subscription is only for the book and the theme was Faerie Lore and this is the book: 

January themes are:

• YA: Hidden Worlds
• Adult: Sinister Secrets

 

Review - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

 

5 in 5 star review book

TW: this book have several triggers so please make sure to read them before reading the book: rape (mention of) and extreme violence described) are 2 of them

Ok after 3 chapters done I had 4 questions: 

Who is Anna? 

Who and why Aiden is there? 

Who is the Footman? 

The Black Plague Doctor is an ally or an enemy?

In the first 30 pages of this book I got very confused as I was expecting that Aiden was introduced as a guest and only after the host situation will start... but to think that I was as confused as Aiden itself was something that the author took time to plot and I simply loved it! 

Aiden (that have no memories of his life) need to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle in 8 days otherwise he need to start over and without the information he collected so far. But the Plage Doctor advise him: 2 more persons also are trying to solve that mystery.

While Aiden start his journey he want to know who is Anna and if she is a friend or not as it's the only name that he remember so far. 

He will make allies and 1 big enemy that have also a say so to the infamous Footman (who's mission is making sure Aiden's hosts dye)

During my reading I was certain that the killer was one person and BAM a twist making sure it was not that person.... change my mind to point to another suspect and BAM another twist! So after a while my mind started to work to find answers and to seed if a new clue was there but always with the theory of a suicide going wrong.

I was grabbing my book and my mind was like this: 

I was thrilled by all the information and was trying to find answers but some mentions in the book was like clues to solve this mystery and the biggest question was indeed why the guns was different! 

I can tell that the last 10% of the book was not easy to follow as it was so much information that I needed to re-read some parts because I wanted to know the true! 

Not only we can finally understand who is the killer of Evelyn Hardcastle as we uncover the truth about Thomas death, a missing boy, why Helena Hardcastle went missing the full day and some more mysteries.

Also I got under the impression that the Plague Doctor will simply accept any proof and name from Aiden as it was clear that he wanted him out of that situation.

Did the Plague Doctor got his hand all over this situation to make sure Aiden's wish came true?

Also the last information given from The Plague Doctor suggest that this never happened and that actually events change according with what Aiden decisions was.  So my biggest mystery question is: The killer is anyone that Aiden's events lead on and any name could have free then at any moment?

Simply Genius! 

Review - Next Door by Blake Pierce (series Chloe Fine book 1)

 

4 in 5 Stars 

This is my first read of 2023 and it was a Kindle one 

I'm familiar with Pierce writing and the genre she use in the books so I knew it will be a good book and a good start for 2023.

Blake have severals series of and this is the one of Chloe Fine (they are 6 books) 

Chloe Fine, intern of FBI Evidence Response Team, finds herself forced to confront her own dark past when her troubled twin sister needs her help and that happens when Chloe think that her life if perfect: engaged to the love of her life, moving back to her town, being closer to her sister and having the chance to start her carrier in the FBI.

As she begins to see the underside she finds herself haunted by her own demons and Danielle situation force her to deal with them. 

As this is the 1st book of a series it's kind of slow as you need to understand all the MC point and also the connections from past to present. 

I was about 30% of the book when something hit me about the twin sister: she admit to be paranoid, not liking to go outside, antisocial, need meds to control the moods.... and if we join the way she act sometimes my mind was screaming 2 words about Danielle: Depression or Bipolar

But you know it's not  hard to understand that she is depressive and worst: that Chloe only cope better the symptomes. 

What look like a passion crime turn out to be a most dark crime: a conspiracy one and all in the name of true love! Yes because it's a 17 years old secret love that started everything and want to end everything! 

At that point of the book I was processing all the information and trying to link the real killer

I knew that it was someone form the past life of Chloe and Danielle. 
The letters was a clear evidence that that person was not happy with Danielle and knew too much about her life! Plus! The last letter show that the person knew what happened in the party few hours before so it the name of the killer was there! 

The creepy fact about everything in that book was to see how manipulative the person was to make that conspiracy plan and that perfect towns are full of gossip

Not to mention how easy they point fingers....

Like it's in the book: "it’s sometimes better that we don’t understand why people kill"  and the reason of this one was pretty as the picture show

But I was more than happy to see that the red flags with Steven was not only for my mind but for real (happy because the actions in the book ended up making me be proud of Chloe) but since I know Pierce, I'm certain that if I pick up the volume 2 that I will hear more about that fiancé and that I will not be happy with it 

As it was in Kindle you can find my highlights of the book HERE

Don't forget to follow me! 

Welcome 2023!

 

Hope that 2022 was good for you and that 2023 will be better! 

If you got a hard 2022 don't worry! 2023 will be your year of victory and everything will be better with a sunshine just for you 💗

Now.... 

What BeBookHooked will do in 2023? 

A lot more than in 2022 and without a burnout! 

You will be still expecting to have a lot of reviews as this year as my challenge will be to read 100 books! 

And more! 

This year I want to include unboxing posts of my Fairyloot monthly boxes and also glimpse of my personal life... It's hard to me to "expose" myself online but it's a work in progress and I promise that you will see the blogger more often! 

In 2023 you will have posts with more images than last year too... 

My goals are normals and boring but if you are curious about them feel free: 

• I want to save money
• I want to take care of my mental health 
• I want to eat less junky food and drink more water
• I want to be less multitasking at work 

See? nothing special... apart the reading goal AHAH

And you? what are your goals for 2023? Did you reach the ones in 2022 or failed some like me? 

Oh and please don't forget to click in "follow" so you can check any new post :)