Arsenic For Tea by Robin Stevens

Series: Wells & Wong, Book Two

Publisher: Corgi Childrens

Format: Paperback

Published: 29^th January 2015

Number of Pages: 352

Book: Bought

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Murder Mystery, Historical, Suspense, Thriller, Action-Adventure, Middle Grade, YA, YA-Child Crossover

Recommended Age: 9+

Contains: Death, Mild Swearing and Alcohol References

Author's Site: Robin Stevens

WARNING: COULD CONTAIN SPOILERS…  WILL DEFINITELY INCLUDE LOTS OF FANGIRLING.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…

I looked at Daisy.  Her eyes were glittering and her cheeks were pink.  This was Daisy with a Plan.

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays.  Daisy’s glamourous mother is throwing a tea part for her birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix.  But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t about Daisy at all.  (Naturally, Daisy is furious.)

Then one of the guests falls seriously, mysteriously, fatally ill – and everything points to poison.

Suddenly, Fallingford feels like a very dangerous place to be.  And when someone close to Daisy looks suspicious, the girls must reveal the truth… no matter the consequences.

                                                                   Review:

“Daisy and I will both need to think like detectives again.  You see, just now we overheard something quite awful; something that proves that what happened to Mr Curtis was not simply an accident, or a sudden illness.  Someone did this to him, and that can only mean one thing: the Detective Society has a brand-new case to investigate…”

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong's Detective Society have already solved one huge mystery – the Murder of Miss Bell.  Now, on holiday from school at Daisy's home, they plan to attend the tea party Daisy's mother is throwing for Daisy and eat cake and deal with the extended Wells family.

Of course, this isn't what they end up doing, not when a guest mysteriously and suddenly becomes ill – the deadly kind of ill...

When Daisy and Hazel discover that his death wasn't accidental but was, in fact, murder – poison, to be precise – they of course have to investigate.

With everyone present turning from guests to suspects, Daisy's home Fallingford seems deadly dangerous...

It seems the Detective Society has a new case – one a little too close to home...

I absolutely adored Murder Most Unladylike, so of course I had to pick up a copy of Arsenic For Tea the moment I laid eyes on it in WHSmith.  I began reading the book in Costa, as you do, and was a hundred pages in before I could came up for air.  Oh, how I love this series!  It's the most fun, exciting and brilliant thing to read – I would happily read both Wells & Wong books back to back, over and over for a whole year.  And speaking of this year, a third book is coming out later in 2015!  I knew this was going to be the best year ever! 

Hazel has become a lot stronger since the events of MMU – and a much better detective too.  She's still the calm to Daisy's crazy, the emotion to Daisy's logic and the one who narrates the Detective Society's exploits.  I love Hazel!

I really don't know how Daisy kept it together for so long in Arsenic For Tea!  Poor girl.  But she was her smart, sneaky, cunning, witty, bossy self – and I loved it.  I also loved seeing more emotion from her, seeing her vulnerable side.   

This time Kitty and Beanie were allowed to join in with the detecting, something that added new depths to Hazel and Daisy's little partnership.  It showed just how brilliant the President and Vice President of the Detective Society are – and added extra mayhem to the mystery!  Kitty was funny and Beanie was sweet – and it was nice to get to know them better.

Now, I really don't want to say too much about the other characters – can't give away any spoilers! – but I will say they were a varied, bizarre and intriguing bunch!  Some were hilarious (Lord Hastings), some were curious (Miss Alston) and some were irritating (Lady Hastings).  But I felt each and every one of them were unpredictable, mysterious and intriguing.  I also had no freaking clue who the murderer was – like, no clue.  It's embarrassing... 

Oh, and it's cool – the Inspector had the same name as the author of An Inspector Calls – Priestley.  Great play – great inspector.  Although this isn't really anything to do with Arsenic For Tea.  Just noting it...  

Moving on from that, I absolutely adore Stevens' writing – it's so 1930s, so addictive and so brilliant.  I love Hazel's voice, the suspense, the humour and the heart.  It’s so brilliant!

Now, because the death in Arsenic For Tea happened in Daisy's own home, the plot was a lot more complicated than in Murder Most Unladylike, because the majority of the suspects were related to Daisy.  This, obviously, made the detecting feel much more urgent.  Letting Kitty and Beanie in on the secret on top of the personal angle made for an infinitely intriguing and exciting plot, one that kept me hooked and guessing from the first page to the very last.  Robin Stevens truly is a master of the whodunnit – and at making me scratch my head!  Bravo!  And I also like how the plots aren't as open-shut as they first seem.  The motives behind the murders are real – believable.  Like in this one... I kind of totally got it.

How I adore the Wells & Wong series!  It is just so much fun!  It makes me feel younger, smarter and more interesting – and I just have so, so much fun reading it!  I literally love everything about it and cannot wait for First Class Murder!  It can't come quickly enough!  I can't be without my two favourite detectives for too long!  I'll lose my detective-ing edge!

If you've deduced by the end of this review that I absolutely, totally and completely adore the Wells & Wong series, bravo!  Brilliant detective-ing!  If you've listened to the facts and done the smart thing, you will decide to go out right now and buy both Murder Most Unladylike and Arsenic For Tea and read them on the floor in the bookshop.  Which is a brilliant idea – one I wholly support and one you won't regret!  

But I've talked your ear off, haven't I?  I apologise – I just loved Arsenic For Tea so much!  Before I go (and because Hazel is so fond of lists), I feel I should end this review with a little list of why EVERYONE EVERYWHERE must read the Wells & Wong series ASAP!  Here we go...

• Murder mysteries have been proven to be good for the brain – especially murder mysteries set in the '30s in England following two brilliant school-girl detectives.
• The girls are hilarious – mischievous, devious, sneaky, brilliant, clever, a little bonkers.  Basically, they are all such bricks!  (Read Wells & Wong to find out what brick means.)  You'll love the girls and will hold your breath as they sneak around, finding clues and questioning suspects without them even realising!
• Arsenic For Tea is marvellously gripping!  It will suck you in, hold you tight and not let you go 'til the very end.  It is more addictive than bun breaks!
• You never know who the murderer is – you literally suspect everyone and are left on the tip of your toes like Hazel and Daisy, watching everyone and trying to detect their secrets.
• Reading a Wells & Wong book is more fun and more addictive than watching Scooby Doo while drinking tea (arsenic-free), eating chocolate and reading a good book.  Which is one of the most addictive scenarios I've ever encountered.  Which means this book is seriously hardcore.
• It's set in the '30s!  This leads to all kinds of awesome words, (occasionally) wonderful manners, Lords, Ladies, butlers and lots of other awesomeness that's enough to make a girl want to invent a time machine, hop inside, and pop back in time.  Trust me, if you read it, you'll want the exact same thing!
• Now, who here didn't want to be Sherlock Holmes as a kid?  Exactly!  Everyone wanted to be Sherlock!  Well, this book lets you live your dream and have so much fun doing it!
• If you don't read the Wells & Wong series, you'll be a dreadfully bad sport – and you wouldn't want that.  If you read it, however, you shall be a brick!
• Reading Murder Most Unladylike and Arsenic For Tea is the most fun you'll have in any murder mystery!  Just clear an afternoon before starting – you won't want to put it down.  I stayed up 'til the wee hours to finish – and didn't care one bit, because it was just so marvellous!
• Because... just because!  I've been rambling for this long!  Because I read both books in one sitting!  They are too freaking addictive!  They are so much fun!  They are amazing!  Because I've just used a billion exclamation marks in a row – something that means this is deadly serious!  Just trust me and read them now!  Like, right now.  I'll be waiting!

And that's my list.  I hope I've convinced you!  I can't recommend Wells & Wong enough and have already pushed the book onto my family and friends.  I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of the books! 

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan

Nancy Drew by Kathryn Keene

Young Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lane

Happy Reading

Megan

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Series: Study, Book Three

Publisher: Mira

Format: Paperback

Published: 16^th January 2009

Number of Pages: 448

Book: Bought

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Romance, Mystery, Suspence, Action-Adventure, YA, YA-Adult Crossover

Recommended Age: 14+

Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing, Alcohol, Sexual and Sexual Assault References

Author's Blog: Maria V. Snyder

WARNING: COULD CONTAIN SPOILERS... AND FANGIRLING.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…

The apprenticeship is over.

Now the real test has begun.

When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder – able to capture and release souls – spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy.  Already Yelena’s unusual abilities and past have set her apart.  As the Council debates Yelena’s fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before.

Honour sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward.  Her journey is fraught with allies and enemies.  Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself – and save the land she holds dear.

                                                                   Review:

Finally, I've finished my review!  And just in time for Shadow Study!  Enjoy...

"Fire is your downfall, little bat.  Can not call it.  Can not control it...."

It seems things were never intended to be easy for Yelena Liana Zaltana.  Having escaped her homeland to seek magical training in birthplace of Sitia, she soon found out that she is a Soulfinder, a rare kind of magician with the ability to control souls.

Sitia has had an unhappy history with Soulfinders: the last one raised an army of the dead and was burnt on the stake.  So when word gets around about what Yelena is, the reaction is not positive.

As the Council decide what to do with Yelena, she and her brother Leif go in search of the outcast magic clan Daviian and the wannabe King of Ixia, Cahil.  They soon discover that the Daviian Vermin are using an ancient and brutal form of blood magic – and have a very powerful magician amongst them: a Fire Warper.

But quickly the Vermin grow in strength and become infinitely more deadly.  So deadly, in fact, that they spark a plot to destroy Ixia, Yelena's former home.

With the Council turned against her, and with no way to help save Ixia, Yelena flees with her brother Leif to the one place they can be safe.  There, she will have to prove herself to both kingdoms and stop the Fire Warper and the Vermin clan – before they destroy them all...

I love the Yelena Zaltana series and I was so sad that Fire Study would be my final Yelena-centric novel...  And then along came Shadow Study and I was overjoyed!  Still, I can't help feeling a sense of loss after finishing Fire Study, as it is the end of a trilogy I adored.  And it finished so brilliantly, I think.  We saw Sitia and Ixia, saw friends from both books, were taken on a series of wild adventures that constantly had me on the edge of my seat.  I read Fire Study in a single sitting and loved every second – even though Yelena managed to get herself in a million scrapes!  That girl is a trouble magnet!  But, personally, I think that it is just... the perfect end to the original trilogy.  And after reading it, I am itching at the collar to read Shadow Study – NOW!

Yelena, I think, was perfect in this one.  She was looked to as a leader, but she worried about whether she was doing the right thing, like all young people.  She was strong and vulnerable, funny and scared and real.  She planned a lot more now – sure, she did her rush-in thing too, but she took charge more.  She made a few mistakes early on, but I really admired how she grew.

Valek: oh, how I adore Valek.  Every time he says 'love' I swoon a little.  He is just... perfect.  I love him so so much.  I also love how he's protective but not overbearing: he lets Yelena do her Yelena thing and doesn't try to stop her.  He's the best heart mate ever – I wish he was all mine.

I quite liked Leif, Yelena's brother, by the end of Magic Study.  By the end of Fire Study, I loved him.  He is so funny and sarcastic – and a real brother too.  And I loved how close Yelena and Leif became by the end of this one – it was so cute and so funny.  Their sibling-bantering was hilarious, and when they fell out it felt real, like something siblings do (God knows I've ticked my brothers off a few times, and vice versa).  

Onto the other characters.  Firstly, Janco and Ari, who are the best things since sliced bread in my opinion.  They rock: every time they're in a scene, they kill me.  Janco with his craziness and big-talk, Ari with his attempts to tone Janco down...  I love them.  Love them love them love them.  Then there was Moon Man, who was a bit mixed in this one, but by the end I loved him.  And it was great to see Opal again – and it made me even more excited to read the Glass series!

But the animals in this series are awesome.  Kiki, Yelena's horse, I love: she's hilarious.  And Yelena also got a little bat buddy (a LBB) in this one too – love him!

As always, Snyder's writing was flawless and beautiful.  I love her lyrical voice and the beautiful way she describes the lands and people.  You can really feel Yelena in the words – stubborn and scared, strong and uncertain.  It was perfect.  The plot, too, was perfect and just nonstop – like all of the Study plots!  But, out of all of them, this felt the most fast-paced and also the most... choppy.  I have no better word.  There was just so much going on so fast and it felt... I don't know.  Not as flawless as the previous two books.  Don't get me wrong – by most book standards, Fire Study is a work of pure magical art.  But by the standard I hold Snyder to (which is probably unfairly high thanks to her amazingness) it fell a little short.  

Nonetheless, I was hooked start to finish and was left thinking: 'Yeah.  That was awesome – and a worthy finale.'  Of course, I'm even more excited that it isn't the end, that the adventure isn't over, but it was still a good ending!  And I really was shocked by that last twist, and terrified by one before it!  

I've said numerous times that I adore this world – both the Ixian and Sitian sides.  I love how both were visited in Fire Study – along with a few other worlds!  The mythology Snyder used, on top of the existing magical Sitia and military Ixia, was so brilliant – she took the notion of heaven, hell and purgatory and made it so unique.  Loved it!

I've loved every single moment of this series (even all the rush-in moments that ended with capture) and am sad it's over....  But it isn't over anymore, is it!  Because we have a new Yelena trilogy!  Excuse me while I do a crazy happy dance.  

I'm back.  I absolutely adored Fire Study; it was exciting, thrilling, magical, addictive and totally epic.  I love all the characters, the world and the magicness of the series and can't wait to continue it with Shadow Study!  Yay!  I love you, Maria V. Snyder!

Star Rating:
4¼ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Grisha by Leigh Bardugo

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Happy Reading

Megan

Half Wild Insider!

I read and loved Half Bad - I've read it twice now actually!  And now Half Wild is coming out - later this month, in fact, on the 26th!  It's brilliant: there's more powers, more fighting, more Gabriel and more excitement!  To get ready for Half Wild's release, the author Sally Green has made a few videos, answering some of the fan's questions.  Today, we are lucky enough to have one of these videos - an exclusive Half Wild Insider!  I don't know about you, but I'm so excited! 

Enjoy!

Oh, and keep an eye on the Half Bad World website!  There's going to be some cool things going on there soon!  Things a certain blogger might be taking part in...  ;)

While you're waiting for Half Wild, don't forget to follow Sally Green on Twitter!  

Happy reading, guys!  :)

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

 Publisher: Picadilly Press

Format: Paperback

Published: 1^st January 2015

Number of Pages: 352

Book: For Review

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Murder Mystery, Historical, Suspense, Thriller, Action-Adventure, Middle Grade, YA, YA-Child Crossover

Recommended Age: 10+

Contains: Death, Mild Swearing and Alcohol References

Author's Site: Julie Berry

At Prickwillow Place, Disgraceful Mary Jane, Smooth Kitty and their fellow students are keeping a deadly secret. 

When the headmistress of Saint Etheldreda’s School for Young Ladies drops dead at Sunday dinner, her seven pupils agree on a clever scheme: to bury their teacher in the vegetable garden, dress up Stout Alice to pose in her place, and educate themselves.

This is tricky enough in a small Victorian community, but when the girls deduce that their teacher was poisoned – it was the veal! – they realise there is also a murderer on the prowl…

An outrageous plot of villainy, farce and friendship starring seven brilliant young girls.

What’s Inside?  Cyanide. Manners. Danger!

                                                                   Review:

"Killed?" she squeaked.  "Did you say killed?"

"Killed," Dour Elinor said.  "Murdered."  She savoured the R's in her pronunciation: murrrrderrrred.

"Oh.  Oh my…"

The seven girls of Saint Etheldreda's School for Young Ladies have been sent to the school for various reasons, mainly for the strict traditional teachings of its headmistress Mrs Plackett.  Who mysteriously dropped dead, along with her brother, at Sunday dinner.  Poisoned, the girls deduce, by the veal.

Faced with the possibility of getting sent home to their families, and away from the sisterhood the seven have formed, Smooth Kitty declares that there's a way they can stay at Saint Etheldreda's: if they pretend that their headmistress is still alive, bury the bodies in the garden and dress Stout Alice up as Mrs Plackett.  All the while, of course, teaching their own lessons and trying to find out who murdered their headmistress.

There's a murder loose in their village and the seven will need to keep their wits about them to catch the killer before they strike again!

The Scandalous Sisterhood had a tough act to follow when I picked it up: I recently read Murder Most Unladylike, which I loved to pieces.  And so, despite the amazing things I've heard about The Scandalous Sisterhood, I was worried for it.  But as soon as I opened the book, saw the portraits of the seven and began reading, I realised I'd been worrying in vain: The Scandalous Sisterhood is brilliant!  I adore the Victorian era and loved the quirkiness and mischeviousness of the seven girls – and the fun, interesting plotline too!

None of the girls were stereotypical of the Victorian era – or any era, really.  Since there were seven main characters, it was only natural to prefer some and to find the others a bit flat, but I must say that I liked all of the girls.  I found keeping track of them easy, thanks a lot to the cute, beautiful illustrations of the girls at the beginning and the little characters' relations summaries.  I found this just too cute and very helpful! 

I think my favourite character was probably Pocked Louise: she was very clever, determined and rather unique for the era as she was a girl obsessed with science.  The strangest character was the odd and spookily funny Dour Elinor: her obsession with death was disturbing, but the character's little one-liners were very amusing!  Smooth Kitty and Disgraceful Mary Jane were, I think, the two ring-leaders of the sisterhood.  Kitty was clever and funny, if a little bold at time.  And Mary Jane was scandalous and hilarious – even if a little painful!  Stout Alice was brilliant – poor thing, though, dressing up like a dead old woman!  She was funny and clever though.  And I loved Dear Roberta and Dull Martha: bless them, they were so sweet!  

Whilst all of the characters were pre-or-early-ish-teens, a fair few felt older than they would feel these days.  After all, girls were expected to grow up fast in the Victorian era!  I think some people might get put off by the fact that there's an adjective in front of each of the girls' names, but I thought it was cute and funny – it also helped in the beginning to keep track of the girls' personalities!

Berry's writing was absolutely perfect for the time period – and utterly addictive!  It was a little confusing, admittedly, because the perspective switched between the girls quite a bit, but it was exciting and hooking nonetheless.  It was also witty, funny, suspenseful and at times painful – those girls really got themselves into some dreadful scrapes!  Which was so funny!

I love a good murder mystery, as I may have mentioned once or twice in previous reviews, and I'm generally pretty good at solving the murder.  Call it too much CSI or psychicness (the answer is obviously psychicness – is that even a word, though?), but I'm not half bad at finding killers.  And yet, for most of The Scandalous Sisterhood, I was just completely in the dark.  I saw a few things coming a mile off, but the killer... I did not suspect that one!  I loved all the twists – the plot turned out to be way more complex than one would originally think and it was awesome!  Oh, and I liked the romance-aspects of the book: it was really subtle and used brilliantly to move the plot along.

The Scandalous Sisterhood was a brilliant book and such great fun!  I read it in one sitting and was left desperate for more scandalous adventures!  I loved the ending, how everything finished perfectly, but that it also left lots of scope for more adventures for our sisterhood of seven!  I really hope there's another book!

Star Rating:
4 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Wells & Wong by Robin Stevens

Nancy Drew by Kathryn Keene

Young Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lane

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Picadilly Press in exchange for an honest review

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: The Lynburn Legacy, Book One

Publisher: Simon&Schuester

Format: Paperback

Published: 13^th September 2012

Number of Pages: 384

Book: Bought

Genre: Paranormal, Supernatural, Urban Fiction, Mystery, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Romance, Action Adventure, YA

Recommended Age: 13+

Contains: Swearing, Violence, Death, Some Alcohol References, A Few Misdemeanours... 

No Drug References

Author's Site: Sarah Rees Brennan

WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN FANGIRLING.  A LOT OF IT.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Blurb From Goodreads:

Kami Glass loves someone she's never met... a boy she's talked to in her head ever since she was born. Having an imaginary friend has made fitting in hard - but that's never bothered Kami. She has her best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is just the way she likes it.

But all that changes when the mysterious Lynburn family return to Kami's village, along with teenagers, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami...

As life as she knows it begins to unravel, Kami is determined to get to the bottom of every mystery. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him?

And can she trust him?

                                                                   Review:

“After seventeen years in America, Marigold Lynburn's daughters have returned to Sorry-in-the-Vale.  If the family does have any dark secrets, dear readers, you can have faith that I will uncover them.”

In Sorry-in-the-Vale, everyone knows the Lynburns.  They are the founding family, the ones everyone regards with fear and intrigue.  They've been gone for years.  

But now they're back and people aren't overly happy about that...

Kami Glass has lived in Sorry-in-the-Vale her whole life and has always heard Jared's voice in her head.  She's never been without him.  This was cute when she was a child – at the age of seventeen, imaginary friends aren't considered normal.  But she needs Jared – he's part of her, even if he isn't real. 

And then the two Lynburn boys, cousins Ash and Jared, come to school.  Jared... he's the dangerous, badboy type.  He's also crushingly and impossibly familiar...

Why does this bond exist?  Does it have anything to do with the slaughtered fox Kami found – a fox she's sure was sacrificed...?

Everyone in this town has secrets and Kami, as a reporter, has an overwhelming need to solve all the mysteries.

But with the impossible suddenly coming true, who can Kami trust?  The boy who knows everything about her, the boy who is utterly impossible himself, the boy she has longed for and loved all her life, the boy she knows better than anyone else?  

Can she even rust her closest friends anymore...?

I think I must have read Unspoken like four times now.  I just can't get enough!  Sarah Rees Brennan is a freaking genius and I adore her and worship the ground she walks on, even if she breaks my freaking heart very, very often!  But Unspoken has all the glorious gothicness a girl could possibly want, alongside a plucky girl detective, bundles of humour and two – maybe even more – very hot guys and hot, lovable girls too!  Yay!

Now, one of the many times I was reading this was while everyone else was watching TV.  To begin with, they were interested, asking, ‘So what's funny now?’  And I, nearly dying from laughter, would try to explain.  By the end, they'd given up on me and simply stated, ‘God, she's annoying.’  I was enjoying Unspoken too much to be offended by this at the time.  Now I'm thinking I should go glare at a few people...  Maybe I should play the favourites game, Sarah, teach 'em a lesson!

Let’s start with my fave girl, Kami: she was awesome and so so funny.  She literally cracked me up every time she spoke and I ended up in absolute fits and absolutely in love with her.  She was just so wonderfully odd and bizarrely brilliant.  Like a snarky Nancy Drew only a million times more awesome.  Kami, you rock!

Jared...  Oh, Jared.  I see why Holly Black and Cassandra Clare are obsessed with you.  I am now obsessed with you.  You can be inside my head any day of the week.  I adore Jared.  Hs just... God, I love him.  And I get why Holly and Cassandra have all kinds of backstories for him that Sarah doesn't really agree with - Jared is just that irresistable.  Even for two brilliant-swoonsworthy-marry-me-boy writers such as these.  I mean, how can you not fall head over heels for a guy who says this?

Swoon.  Sigh.  Love him.

Oh, and I absolutely freaking adored Angela too, Kami's best friend.  That girl killed me on a regular basis!  Her obsession with napping and general hatred of the world was brilliant and so hilarious!

And Ash...  Well, at least one person in this darn book had manners!  But when it comes to Lynburns, I’m a Jared girl through-and-through.  Sorry Ash.

Oh, and Holly: I have to mention Holly.  I love that for once the drop-dead-gorgeous, blonde, boys-like-her-like-a-lot girl was so sweet and funny and lovely.  And, of course, that she wasn't afraid to use her beauty for the good fight – or is it actually for evil?  I get hazy on the legality of the details...

But despite my love for so many of them, I could just never judge any of the characters.  They were never, ever what they first seemed to be. I liked that a lot.  A lot a lot.  Even if this will all very likely end in heartbreak for me – I just have a feeling... 

Now, Sarah, you are a goddess with words.  You had me laughing my head off, being scared out of my mind and making my heart ache like hell all in the space of a few pages.  Freaking genius, Sarah!  And there are just so, so many quotes to love to death, to memorize and obsess over.  I just… I love it.  All of it.  Sarah is a master of the pen and a comedian and a heartbreaker and just… amazing.  I love this book!

And the plot: damn!  This was by far the coolest ever gothic mystery I've ever read!  EVER!  I loved how everything built so slowly, how we were given teasing little clue by teasing little clue.  It was all so addictive, so exciting, so much fun and so painful!  Sarah really isn’t afraid to totally tear you apart.  But she’s also amazing at crafting mysteries, at keeping you glued to the page.

Still, that ending.... Oh my God, Sarah!  Why must you break my heart like this?!  I mean, I was like this close to tears.  I am not good with endings like this.  And it hurts even more each time I read it.  Why Sarah, WHYYYY?!?  Now excuse me while I go have a breakdown.  No lie, folks.  Sarah has broken me and ruined me for everything else. I'm still broken, damn her. 

Yeah, even the fourth time I read Unspoken the ending breaks me.  Sarah truly is amazing – and evil.  I love her characters, her words, her plot (ending aside) and her sense of humour.  This book kills me – in so, so many ways!  And I just… I honestly can’t recommend it enough.  You seriously cannot miss this book – it is a must-read.  If you only read one book ever, read Unspoken!  You won’t regret it! 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to reread Untold for the fourth time!  See how hooked I am to this amazing series?  Now go read Unspoken and get hooked too!

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

The Curse Workers by Holly Black

Lux by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Demon Trappers by Jana Oliver 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Supernatural

Lynburn Legacy Team Pictures:

Happy Reading

Megan