My Auto Buy Authors!!

Hello!

I saw a bunch of people posting their auto buy authors on here yesterday for a ‘top ten Tuesday’ thing, but I didn’t see it until really late so I thought I would do it today instead!!

I’m pretty broke, so to me ‘auto-buy’ means more like auto add to wish list and buy when I have money!! But I hope you enjoy this list, and maybe you will even find a new author to read!

1. Laura Purcell

I love this author SO much. Her book ‘The Silent Companions’ is one of my absolute all time favourites. It is so so spooky, but not so much that it gave me nightmares! It was just perfect! I adore the last minute plot twist she always does, and how I never see it coming! ‘The Corset’ was pretty different to The Silent Companions, it was a lot gorier and it felt like there was more going on. I love all the characters in both books, especially Elsie in TSC! I literally cannot recommend this author enough!!

2.Holly Black

Holly Black wrote The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King among others, but I have only read the two! Her writing is just so smooth, and the story is so captivating that I finished both these book in less that two days!! I am in love with Jude and Cardan and their story, I love the world of Elfhame and I cannot wait for The Queen of Nothing to come out!!! Jude Duarte is such an amazing character, being human in a land of Fae has her at a major disadvantage, but she doesn’t let that hold her back and she is so determined and strong willed she achieves amazing and seemingly impossible things! I am so excited to read her other books!!

3. Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare writes all the Shadowhunter books, and I would just like to thank her. The Mortal Instruments series was the first series that really got me back into reading in a Big way! The characters became so important to me because I was pretty down at the time, so they became almost like both an escape and a support group!

Alec Lightwood will always be one of my favourite characters, because he game some the courage to discover who I am, and the confidence to admit it to myself. Magnus Bane is just so magical (literally and figuratively!), and the fact that he’s canonically bi?? Amazing! And I feel like no one really talks about him but Raphael is the first asexual character that I encountered and he made me feel so seen! And now reading The Infernal Devices I get to read about Shadowhunters in the victorian era!!! I can never thank Cassandra Clare enough for all that these books have done to me!

4. Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater was my first ever favourite author as a teen. I read her ‘Shiver’ series when I was about 13/14 and I loved it so much! I loved the twist on the werewolf legend mixed with romance and teen drama! It was just such an amazing series! And then The Raven Cycle!!! I read these books over one summer, during which I actually went on holiday (complete coincidence) and got to read part of one of the books sitting at the base of Cadair Idris!!

I saw castles that mentioned Glendower and we went into caves learning about old kings. It felt so magical, and doing that alongside reading the books was almost mind blowing. I really felt part of the adventures of the Gangsey! I am literally dying in anticipation of the the release of ‘Call Down the Hawk’!! It’s going to be AMAZING!!!

5. Kerri Maniscalco

Kerri Maniscalco has me completely enthralled with the ‘Stalking Jack the Ripper’ series! The first book drew me in because I am completely fascinated the Jack the Ripper, so I wanted to see what a fiction writer thought, and how they adapted it! I was so impressed, she really puts your into the time period and makes you see things as though you are there! She writes about things you don’t get in non-fiction. She wrote about how London felt, she wrote about the fear wandering through the streets after dark. She wrote about individual lives that were effected and relationships that strengthened due to the shared trauma.

The second book, Hunting Prince Dracula, was just as amazing! The setting moved countries and was set mostly in a castle that held a medical school! This book was probably creepier to me than the first one, I think because I already knew a lot about Jack the Ripper so none of the gory details shocked me! But Hunting Prince Dracula was just insane! It was gory, creepy and felt like a fairytale in a weird way!! I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!!!

6. Mackenzi Lee

Mackenzi Lee is amazing. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was another book I read so quickly because I was so sucked in! I absolutely adore all the characters, the whirlwind adventure across Europe and the LGBT rep!!! Monty and Percy are my favourites, their love is super taboo for the time and they have to fight against so many things (including themselves a bit), but that just makes me love them more! And Felicity!! I love her son much, I was over the moon when I learned she was getting an entire book about her!!

This is bold of me to say, but I think I like The Lady’s Guide of Petticoats and Piracy better….? I think it’s because of the girl power, the women, the feminist tones, the actual Lesbian, asexual rep and the PIRATES!!! Also the dog, the dog helped! But seriously, I feel like Mackenzi Lee includes diverse characters in her books so seamlessly that they don’t feel forced at all! Even in a historical setting, we’re LGBT people weren’t public with their identities, it felt completely natural! I’m also in love with the ‘3D-ness’ of the character, none of them are just their LGBT or POC identity, they have thoughts and dreams and feelings and they are all proper fleshed out characters! Not a single character feels thrown in just to add diversity, and I love that SO much!

7. Miranda Hart

I don’t have much to say about Miranda, but her book ‘Is It Just Me?’ really helped me feel better about a lot of things! Miranda is so don’t and she talks about a lot of insecurities and worries in this book, but she does it in a way that reassures you! She won’t just tell you what went wrong or what she was worried about. She will the tell you about how maybe it’s not so bad after all! I also love the format of her talking to her younger self! It felt so natural and light hearted, I think that helped to create that relaxed atmosphere of the book!

8. Christopher Pike

I read a LOT of Christopher Pike books when I was 13, my favourite being ‘The Last Vampire’!! I literally modelled myself after the girl on the cover for a good six months! It was the first book I read that was YA instead of the 9-12 section at Waterstones (i think), and it was the first book that included murder, romance and female sexuality! I loved the main character, Alisa so much, I think she was my first book crush! The way she was described, slight with blonde hair but super strong was just the most amazing thing to me!! I love the historical aspects to this book too, how it talks about Alisa’s beginning and her life before she was a vampire! I also read some of his other books including Remember Me which was incredible, and a couple of other stand alone stories too!! I loved everything I read of his, and I truly believe that he was what got me into horror!!

9. Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is INCREDIBLE! I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of this wonderful man, but in case you haven’t; I LOVE HIM! My favourite of his is the book on Norse Mythology! It taught me so much, but in such an easy going and fun way!! I read it so fast, and I’m tempted to re-read it because all the stories are so interesting! I haven’t read it yet, but I also love Good Omens with all my heart! Aziraphale is a babie, I love him and I want to protect him and Crowley is just incredible😍 I have got all editions of the book, and the TV show script book on my wish list because I’m so obsessed!!

10. Katie O’Neill

Katie O’Neill is an illustrator and writer who has put out a couple of books now! my favourite is ‘A Tea Dragon Society’, the art style is so cute and the story is so wholesome and I cannot wait for the release of the new Tea Dragon book!!! I also loved her book ‘Aquicorn Cove’!! It has such a good message in it about protecting the ocean and it’s wildlife, while still being just as magical and adorable as the Tea Dragon story!! I haven’t had the pleasure of reading ‘Princess Princess Ever After’ yet, but it’s about a couple of lesbian princesses and I really hope I get to soon!! Katie O’Neill is my biggest inspiration as an artist! Her style is amazing, and she’s one of the only other people I have found that uses gouache in a similar way to me!! Her carter is where I wish mind could go, I dream of writing books and illustrating them, and creating adorable characters that people love! If you love cute art and even cuter stories, you will LOVE Katie’s books!!

I hope you found some new authors to love, or at least enjoyed reading about authors you already love!! Let me know about any authors that are auto buy for you!!

See you next time!

Elizabeth

The Corset Review

Hello!

If you have come over here from my Instagram, you will probably know how obsessed I am with Laura Purcell’s books! I read the Silent Companions last summer and loved it so so much! And last week, Bloomsbury were kind enough to send me a copy of ‘The Corset’!

I will try to avoid posting any spoilers, as Laura Purcell’s books are definitely ones you need to read knowing as little about what happens as possible! However, if anything is mentioned, I will make it extremely obvious so you can choose to stop reading!

Anyway, without further ado, my first proper book review!

‘The Corset’ by Laura Purcell

Is prisoner Ruth Butterham mad or a murderer? Victim or villain?Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor and awaiting trial for murder. When Dorothea’s charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she finds herself drawn to Ruth, a teenage seamstress – and self-confessed murderess – who nurses a dark and uncanny secret. A secret that is leading her straight to the gallows. As Ruth reveals her disturbing past to Dorothea, the fates of these two women entwine, and with every revelation, a new layer of doubt is cast… Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer?

From the very first pages, I was completely drawn into Ruth and Dorothea’s respective worlds! Both young women lead very distant, yet strangely interwoven lives. Ruth is a prisoner in a newly built penitentiary, locked up for a weirdly mysterious crime, and Dorothea is a frequent visitor who is fascinated with reading people’s skulls.

Over the course of the book, we are told Ruth’s story from her perspective, as though we are Dorothea, listening to her tell it whilst visiting her in her cell. We are also told Dorothea’s story, about her personal life and struggles. I really enjoyed seeing the two different women’s perspective, reading about Dorothea’s struggle to believe Ruth’s story whilst also dealing with her own problems and how they begun to become intertwined throughout the book!

Up until the ‘big reveal’ at the end, I literally had no idea how the book was going to end! Without spoiling too much, the people that turned out to be the bad guys didn’t give anything away! The way the story was written really made me trust these people, and made me feel almost as foolish as Ruth did when she found out!!

There really wasn’t anything I didn’t like about this book, however I will warn you that there a quite a few scenes that are pretty gory! So if you aren’t a fan of reading about scenes like that, this may not be the book for you!!

The Corset is definitely a book I would recommend if you like Laura Purcell’s other book ‘The Silent Companions’ or anything with a little bit of mystery!! I rate it 5/5 stars!!

Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of this amazing book!!

Elizabeth

May 2019 TBR List

Hello lovelies!

So I decided, as it is only the 3rd May that I would post my TBR list for the month!! This list will be a bit of a continuation of my books from April, as I am still reading one of them, and have included it in this list!!

The first book is ‘The Corset’ by Laura Purcell! If you have been on my instagram even once, you probably know how obsessed I am with Laura Purcell and her work, ‘The Silent Companions’ is literally my favourite book ever! And I have to say, The Corset is just as good! This book I started last month, and I am currently just over half way though and I love it! The characters are so interesting, and I absolutely love the chapter format, and how each chapter switches between the different viewpoints of the main two characters! I don’t want to post any accidental spoilers, and I will wait for the review to say too much more about what I think!! Here is the blurb:

The second book on my TBR list for May is ‘The Wicked King’ by Holly Black! I read the first book in the series, ‘The Cruel Prince’ last year and LOVED it, and I am beyond excited to read this book! I absolutely loved Jude Duarte and her crazy determination and horn hairstyle, I can’t wait to see what she gets up to next!! Here is the blurb:

After learning that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her, even as his fascination with her remains undiminished. Someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves. Now she must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan, in order to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

The third and final book on my May TBR list is ‘The Lady’s Guide to Vice and Virtue’ by Mackenzi Lee! Again, another sequel, and another book I loved the first one of!! I loved Felicity in the Gentleman’s Guide and I was so excited to hear she was going to have a whole book dedicated to her!! And I have heard a rumour that there is a super cute dog in it… colour me Excited!!!! Here is the blurb:

A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.

In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

I decided not to set my goals too high at the beginning of the month, as I want to leave room for any additions!! I’m also planning to read and review a few history books too!

What is on your TBR list for this month?

See you next week!

Elizabeth