Tag: fiction

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [BOOK REVIEW] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling [BOOK REVIEW]

innah962 Comments
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 766

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format I read it in: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★★★

Get your copy

My Thoughts:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the largest book in the series. With the movies, you will notice how with every movie, the theme gets darker and darker. For the books, it starts with the Goblet of Fire, and continues into the Order of the Phoenix. The dangers they are in are getting graver by the second and death is looming in every corner.

I have realised that the older I get, the more I love this book. This is the book where we meet Luna Lovegood, a character that is impossible to forget. She lives in her own little weird world, unaffected by others, and I love that so much.

“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure”, said Luna in a singing voice.

We also find out more mysteries inside Hogwarts, such as the Room of Requirement – a place that will become incredibly important to Harry, Ron and Hermione. A place that will serve as the starting ground to a group Harry will create – called Dumbledore’s Army. I couldn’t help but admire their togetherness. Everyone in the DA was there for the same reason, all of them practising magic spells and getting ready for an inevitable battle that no one wants to be part of, but seems imminent.

We also get to see the dark side of things – Voldemort now gaining power and blindly going for what he wants. We also get to meet another horrible person – yes, you guessed it – Dolores Umbridge. I think it’s impossible to find a Potterhead that doesn’t hate the guts of this woman, and I am no exception. The challenges Harry goes through in this book are extremely hard. He faces danger, pain, huge loss and the constant reminder that he’s being chased by the same person who killed his parents.

I feel like this is the book in which we see Harry really mature as a person.

After Cedric’s death and Voldemort’s comeback, something in Harry changes greatly and we can instantly notice it. The ending is incredibly sad and I felt for Harry and the whole crew. However, a lot of things became clearer in the story and I am looking forward to seeing what the next one brings.

On a lighter note, I will leave the below excerpt from the ever-funny Mr. Weasley. It never gets old:

“Third regurgitating public toilet reported in Bethnal Green, kindly investigate immediately.” This is getting ridiculous…

“A regurgitating toilet?”

“Anti-muggle pranksters,” said Mr. Weasley, frowning. “We had two last week, one in Wimbledon, one in Elephant and Castle. Muggles are pulling the flush and instead of everything disappearing – well, you can imagine. The poor things keep calling in those – pumbles, I think they’re called – you know, the ones who mend pipes and things.”

“Plumbers?”

“Exactly, yes, but of course they’re flummoxed. I only hope we can catch whoever’s doing it.”

About the Author:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling [BOOK REVIEW]

J.K. Rowling is a British author born in Yate, England, on July 31, 1965, who gained worldwide fame for writing the Harry Potter series. After conceiving the idea for the series on a delayed train in 1990, she wrote the books while on public assistance in Edinburgh, Scotland. The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in 1997. She also writes the Cormoran Strike crime fiction series under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Website

Social Media:
| Wishlist | Ko-fi | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest |

Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW] Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW]

innah96Leave a comment
Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 256

Genre: Literary Fiction, Romance

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format I read it in: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★★

Get your copy

My Thoughts:

“You knew I’d write a book about you someday.”

I adored “Heart the Lover” for multiple reasons. The first one is reading the book as a readalong. Thanks to the team at Adventures With Words, around 20 of us read the book over a week and discussed it as we went on. I would definitely recommend this book as a book club pick! The second reason was the writing itself. Even though I didn’t always agree with our narrator, the story was so beautifully written. It was emotional, raw and lyrical and I kept wanting to read more after reading the daily pages. 

“And still, there is this sense that I could express it all in just one nonexistent word and you would understand exactly what I mean.”

We don’t know the name of our female narrator, but she is very honest and vulnerable with us. At moments, it felt like I was reading someone’s diary. It also pained me to see how gullible and too trusting she was in certain situations. 

I liked the other characters as well.

Sam maybe not so much. I didn’t like his actions and behaviour, but I liked his depth and how good of a friend he was to Yash. When it comes to Yash, I liked him from the very beginning, but started to lose trust later on. I liked his funny, caring and polite sides to him. The relationship our narrator has with them is very complicated and tangled. It annoyed me that the lack of communication seemed to be a common theme in the book and the biggest downfall. 

“I couldn’t trust you again with my heart.”

As the time goes on and years pass, the book becomes way more emotional. All the feelings people have seem to come to the surface at one time and they cannot run away from them. Without revealing too much, I will only say that the mood shifts significantly and the pages ooze with nostalgia, regrets, secrets kept and truths left unspoken. 

“You have your regrets and I have mine. I sit on the porch step for a while, thinking about life’s tricks, the ones we see, the ones we don’t.”

“Heart the Lover” is a beautifully written book that will take you on an emotional journey and make you nostalgic about your college days. Get your tissues ready and give this book a go!

About the Author:

Heart the Lover by Lily King [BOOK REVIEW]

Lily King is the award-winning author of six novels. Her most recent novel, Heart the Lover was published on September 30th, 2025. She has also published a collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her 2020 novel, Writers & Lovers, won the New England Society Book Awards and was a New York Times Notable Book and chosen as a top-ten best book of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, People Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, the New England Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME’s Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon’s Best Books of 2014.

Website

Social Media:
| Wishlist | Ko-fi | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest |

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW] The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

innah96Leave a comment
The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 416

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher: Bonnier Books UK

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

Get your copy

My Thoughts:

Reading “The Shelf” was so fun. It’s a “make you feel good” book, focusing on inner happiness, with or without a partner. 

Despite reading the synopsis, I went into this book blind. I blame this on my forgetfulness – I tend to read 10 synopsis of books, and then choose 1 book to read out of them all. I’ll be honest – I did not connect with Amy at all in the first chapters. It was hard to read about her current life and relationship. Then the surprise event happens and Amy ends up being dumped live on TV, and entering this new TV Show – The Shelf!

It was at this time when I instantly sided with her, and loved reading about her journey.

“The Shelf” show has to be the worst, most hectic, most sexist show I’ve ever come across in my years of reading fiction. Basically, you get to win the show if you can prove that you are the best “housewife material” out there. And I have nothing against housewives. My favourite person in the world – my late grandma – was a housewife, and I know her life wasn’t easy at all. It was busy and filled with manual work, house work, gardening. But it was a house that was always filled with lots of love. Some of my fondest childhood memories I have are connected with that woman.

And to see the “housewife” term used as a TV-show concept in this way was not the nicest thing to see, is all I can say. I just believe that this should be a woman’s choice of life and not a decision made on her behalf, or a mandatory tick box when finding a partner, as portrayed in this book. In this show, you could only win the game if you are the perfect housewife material. The show was full of men treating women in a way they shouldn’t ever be treated.

“We’re all so busy trying to find the right person, we aren’t trying to be the right person.”

All the other women are in the same boat with Amy (dumped and left on the shelf), competing for one million dollars and being crowned “The Keeper”. I know, the show is a huge red flag. But the contestants are here to save the day. Aside from Amy, we’ll meet Jackie, Gemma, Hattie, Lauren and Flick – all of them very different and with their own stories. And most important of all, all these women make their lives a priority, despite their environment telling them otherwise.

I devoured this book in just a few days.

It was heart-warming, fun, uplifting and powerful. It spoke to my younger-self, that it’s okay to be single and happy on your own until / if you meet your person. And it spoke to my present self that it’s okay to have your person and share experiences and work things out. And that if something suddenly goes wrong – you’ve still got your person – yourself! I can only warmly recommend “The Shelf” for you. I hope it brightens your day like it did mine.

About the Author:

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

Helly Acton is a copywriter from London with past lives in the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Born in Zimbabwe, Helly and her family emigrated to the East Sussex coast when she was 15 years old. Here, she finished school and spent her holidays in Saudi Arabia, where her father had been placed with work. She studied Law at King’s College London before following a more creative path into advertising.

Social Media:
| Wishlist | Ko-fi | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest |

Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW] Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW]

innah96Leave a comment
Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 224

Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: John Murray

Format I read it in: Uncorrected proof (e-book)

Rating: ★★★★

Get Your Copy


There are many ways to die on Mars. Only one way to find the truth.

The human crew sent to prepare the first-ever colony on Mars arrives to find their brand new base half-destroyed and the three robots sent to set it up in disarray—the machines have formed alliances, chosen their own names, and picked up some truly disturbing beliefs. Each must be interrogated. Their stories analyzed. But one of them is missing.

In this barren, hostile landscape, even machines have nightmares, and the line between human and artificial intelligence blurs. The astronauts will need to examine their own stories and wrestle their own demons before it’s too late.

In this wicked, taut, one-sitting read, Mason Coile blends science fiction and psychological horror in a story that terrifies and unnerves as it engages some of humanity’s deepest questions.

My Thoughts:

“Exiles” was my first book by Mason Coile. Only after I finished the book, I realised the name is a pseudonym for Andrew Pyper, and he unfortunately recently passed away. I had a look at the books he had written and was intrigued by some of them, and will definitely be checking them out soon.

If you know me, you’ll know I almost never pick Netgalley copies nowadays. The main reason is because I prefer printed copies. I like to hold the book, pencil and tab into it and it’s easier for me to share it on social media this way too. I also have too many books on my TBR at the moment, that I very rarely accept a new upcoming book. That being said, I can’t help myself and always browse the upcoming releases on Netgalley, to see what’s coming soon.

And when “Exiles” showed up, the synopsis stopped me in my tracks. A story about a woman, Dana, who joins the mission to be the first human on Mars, alongside two male astronauts. And on their way to Mars, right before they are supposed to land, something is not right – they cannot get comms. The three robots that have been on Mars for a while, setting up the station and ensuring everything is running smoothly, have gone incommunicado. When the team manages to land safely, there are only two bots left, and their stories of what happened are not adding up.

It’s obvious that something has been going on before the humans arrived. But with their conflicting stories, it’s up to the astronauts to investigate and make a decision. Is there really an alien who tried to harm them, or has the third bot turned evil? And with these conflicting stories, there’s something else that is becoming obvious to the astronauts – these machines are very capable of lying and definitely cannot be trusted with anything now.

The story is very fast-paced and breathtaking.

I never knew exactly who I could trust at any given time. Truthfully, the book kept delivering plot twist after plot twist, despite me anticipating them. I could relate to Dana’s story, her fear and her motivation for joining such a permanent mission. Taking a one-way ticket to Mars is not a small decision to make. It was also interesting how the crew’s opinion about the bots differed. The captain treated them as machines, as slaves, only there to set up a station and run errands. Whereas Dana had a relationship that bordered on friendship. It was intriguing to see the bots have consciousness, they chose their names and genders, and they started to experience boredom and loneliness on the planet, whilst waiting for the humans to arrive. 

The ending was brutal and raw. Despite a small part of me actually anticipating that ending, I still did not see it coming. There was also something briefly unfinished there. A few crumbs of regret and sadness loomed, and all ending in a very poetic way. If the author knew he was dying, this feels like the perfect ending to his last book. In a morbidly beautiful way, very fitting. I will always praise this book. I am curious to see how it will age in the next 20-30 years, if I am lucky to still be alive to witness that. And I will always recommend it to anyone that asks for a good book set on Mars.

About the Author:

Exiles by Mason Coile [BOOK REVIEW]

Mason Coile is a pseudonym of Andrew Pyper. Andrew Pyper was a Canadian author. He published over ten fictional books, including The Demonologist, which won the International Thriller Writers Award, and Lost Girls, which was a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year.

Social Media:
| Wishlist | Ko-fi | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest |

Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW] Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW]

innah96Leave a comment
Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 419

Genre: Young Adult, YA, Fiction, Science Fiction

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Format I read it in: Uncorrected Proof

Rating: ★★★


Silver has been trained since birth for her collect data on the humans to test if Earth is viable for her home ship, Charybdis, to colonise. The only rules are that she must feed back the data she collects to the ship, and at all times follow the To touch is agony. To feel is pain.

So when Silver inhabits the body of a young woman and infiltrates the house she is staying in, she must learn to pass as a human without revealing her true identity. But she isn’t prepared for how the humans will get under her skin. And she definitely isn’t prepared for Finch, the boy she starts to fall for. Especially when he touches her – and it doesn’t hurt.

It is not how Charybdis said it would be.

Have they been lying all along?

Conflicted by the war between her growing feelings for Finch and her allegiance to her ship, Silver must decide who to stand by and who to betray.

My Thoughts:

I was very intrigued by the story of Silver. She is an alien and is sent to Earth for a mission – to collect data on humans and test if Earth is viable for her mother ship, Charybdis, to colonise. All her life, she has been taught that she must follow the Mantra, a set of rules that her ship stands by. To stay away from humans. To not touch them, for touch is agony, and to feel is pain. 

When Silver joins a family as a pet-sitter, she has to inherit the body of the young Polish girl to do so. The more time she spends with the family, the more human she becomes. The book is also set around Christmas time, so she feels extra included and excited about all the festivities. She starts to develop a crush for Finch, and when they touch by accident, she expects to feel pain. But instead, all she can feel is warmth and funny feelings about this boy, which is extremely confusing to her.

Every so often, Silver has to go back to the mothership to “shield”. When she shields, the founders gather all the data she has collected. They are not impressed with her, as she has gotten too close to the humans and she is also starting to defy them by visiting much less frequently.

The story of Silver is very fast paced and addictive.

I read it in two days. But I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. There were a lot of discrepancies with the characters. Stella, for example, kept coming in and out of the picture. It felt convinient, when it was needed to fit the story and plot. Silver’s character had many flaws too. She showed empathy, but then was brutal the next second. For example the scene where she tells Finch the truth about his dad.

Also, there are some things that didn’t add up with her powers. On page 94, she scanned “Brave New World” in a second, and in the next chapters she does that with other books too. But on page 122, it takes her “seventy-seven minutes” to watch some cooking videos. Surely, if she had an ability to inhabit humans, scan books in seconds, morph into anything, she can also process cooking videos at a crazy speed?

For some reason, I couldn’t relax enough to enjoy the book. As a whole, I really loved the idea behind it and the story about the world/the ship/Vortex/Founders. But personally feel that it may have been slightly poorly executed. I would still recommend it if you are after a unique alien story with a romance twist to it. 

About the Author:

Silver by Olivia Levez [BOOK REVIEW]

Olivia Levez divides her time between teaching English and binge-writing in her caravan by the sea. Olivia likes hula-hooping, yoga and real ale, but not at the same time. She lives in Worcestershire with her husband, two sons and her real life Dog, Basil.

Social Media:
| Wishlist | Ko-fi | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest |