Top 10 Tuesday – Books With Single Word Titles

Hey booknerds! I’m taking part in another week of Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was created out of a love of lists and books. You can find more information here

I thought that I wouldn’t be able to think of enough books for this post but turns out there is a lot more than I thought!

I’m going to share books that I have read and loved that have single word titles in this post.

1 Viper by Bex Hogan – Pirate assassins! What do you need?!

2 Nocturna by Maya Motayne – Love the magic system and the characters so much and I cannot wait for the second book!

3 Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly – This book actually made me root for the stepsister.

4 Highfire by Eoin Colfer – This book will take you on a wild ride and there’s a vodka drinking, Netflix watching grumpy dragon too!

5 Postscript by Cecelia Ahern – PS. I Love You was one of my favourite books as a teen and this book was just as amazing! Be warned you will sob reading it.

6 Jinxed by Amy McCulloch – Girls in STEM kicking ass. I love it!

7 Otherworld by Jason Segal & Kirsten Miller – This took VR games to a whole new level.

8 Flashfall by Jenny Moyer – I read this book because it was in a FL box and loved it so much!

9 Sanctuary by V.V James – This book is dark and absolutely terrifying at times and I loved it.

10 Spellhacker by M.K. England – Tech combined with magic and a group of misfits. Such a fun book!

Have you read any of these? Tell me some of your favourite books with single word title.

Unleashed by Amy McCulloch – Book Review

Last year I read Jinxed by Amy McCulloch and absolutely loved it and it ended on a cliffhanger so I had been waiting for Unleashed to release ever since and the sequel did not disappoint! I loved it as much as Jinxed!

You can read my review for Jinxed here

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Lacey Chu wakes up in a hospital room with no recollection of how she got there, she knows something is up. But with her customizable smart pet, Jinx, missing in action and Moncha, the company behind the invention of the robot pet, up to something seriously sinister, she’s got a lot of figuring out to do. Lacey must use all her engineering skills if she has a chance of stopping Moncha from carrying out their plans. But can she take on the biggest tech company in North America armed with only a level 1 robot beetle … ?

Once I started reading Unleashed I could not put it down and basically read it in two evenings. These books deserve all the love and I need everyone to go read them. It’s STEM girls saving the world, what more could you want?!

The story starts a month after the ending in Jinxed and there is a lot of mystery and intrigue because we don’t know exactly what’s happened and we are slowly given the information through Lacey trying to find out what has happened. It kept me hooked because I just needed to know what was happening and what had happened to Jinx.

This book was a little different to Jinxed because while Jinxed took place mostly in the school with the battles and classes, this book happened mostly outside of school. It gave the sense that the situation was bigger than just school, it was a community problem and could become an even bigger problem if it wasn’t dealt with.

One of my favourite things about this duology was the focus on friendships over romantic relationships and especially female friendship. Lacey and Zora are both smart, capable badass young women in their own ways. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses and they work together so well, encouraging and supporting each other. It was so great to see such a beautiful friendship. In the end it was the both of them who found out what was happening was able to put a stop to it. They did get some help from their other friends but it was two young women who saved everyone!

And lets not forget my favourite baku, Jinx! I love him so much! His sassy and sarcastic remarks and I adored his relationship with Lacey! They really looked out for each other and cared for each other. Honestly I just want my own baku like Jinx!

The ending was really great too, it wrapped up the story but also left it open in a way that we can imagine what these group of teenagers will do next. I really loved the message that the youth shouldn’t be dismissed because they’re young. They are capable of bringing about change and fighting for justice and a better world.

You should all read these books, they’re such great reads and will leave you with a lot to thing about and crying about baku’s not being real and so you can’t have one of your own.

Books I Love By Authors In The UK – Part 1

In this post I want to share some of my favourite books by authors in the UK. I feel like several of these authors deserve more love and that you should all go read their books!

1 The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – I am impatiently waiting for the next book because I love this series so much!

2 The Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton – I adore this trilogy! And Alwyn has recently announced that she will be releasing a new series set in the same world!

3 The Summoner and Contender series by Taran Matharu – I loved the Summoner books and I recently read the first Contender book and loved it too! It’s also ownvoices! You can read my reviews of The Outcast here and of The Chosen here

4 All the Things we Never Said by Yasmin Rahman – A book dealing with mental health and suicidal thoughts and how important friendship can be. You can read my review here

5 Viper by Bex Hogan – Pirates and Assassins and a bloodthirsty and violent world and I loved it! You can read my review here

6 Darren Shan Saga by Darren Shan – A childhood favourite about vampires and I really loved the whole series!

7 Gilded Cage trilogy and Sanctuary by Vic James – A dystopian UK where those who don’t have powers must serve those with powers for 10 years and are effectively slaves for that period. Sanctuary is a dark witchy book and I loved all of her books! You can read my review of Sanctuary here

8 She Wore Red Trainers by Naima B Robert – I really love all the books Naima rights but especially this one as it’s a Muslim love story! You can read my review here

9 You’re Crushing It by Lex Croucher – I really loved reading through this book. It’s about mental health, building your self-esteem and so much more.

10 I Am Thunder and Kick the Moon by Muhammad Khan – Both deal with very relevant issues and I highly recommend reading them! You can read my review of Kick the Moon here

11 A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby – I really loved this book that deals with growing apart from friends, being true to yourself and standing up for what’s right. You can read my review here

12 Jinxed by Amy Alward – This book was one of those books that I came across accidently but I ended up falling in love! It’s a dystopian sci-fi with unapologetically nerdy, smart female characters who excel in STEM areas. You can read my review here

So when I started writing this post I actually realised I knew a lot more UK authors than I thought so there will be a part 2 posted in a couple days!

National Cat Day – Books That Feature Cats

Today is national cat day in the US and as I am a crazy cat lady and proud and as I love books that have cats in them I thought I would share some of the books with you all. Even though it’s a US holiday (in the UK national cat day is in August) I just need any excuse to talk about books and cats.

Books. Cats. Life is good.

I found that having a cat greatly increased in love for these books especially ones that discuss the relationship of a cat and their owner. I love that these books have incorporated cats into the story! Most of these I’ve read or they are on my tbr and I definitely recommend them all and they range from fantast to sci-fi to contemporary fiction.

So these are the books I have either read or will read and highly recommend them all:

1 The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa – I read this back in January and I still think about it. It was a heart warming and heart breaking book. It really made me appreciate my cat even more and cherish the relationship I have him. I cried so much reading this book but still I highly recommend reading this.

2 A Friend Like Ben by Julia Romp – I picked this book up initially because of the cat on the cover but it sounds like such a lovely book that talks about the relationship between a child and his cat and how they helped each other so I’m looking forward to reading it

3 A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen – this has become popular book and been made into a film too so I’m looking forward to reading it

4 Jinxed by Amy McCulloch – I loved this book! It’s a wonderful blend of sci-fi and dystopia where customisable smart pets are a reality and the baku of the main character is a cat!

5 Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – Obviously Crookshanks wasn’t a main character but their pets did have an important role in the trios lives.

6 The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide – this is another book high on my tbr as it sounds like a book that will be like The Travelling Cat Chronicles. I am really looking forward to reading it

7 The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – One of my favourite childhood books and of course we have Aslan who is basically a big cat. I love Lucy’s relationship with him.

8 I Am A Cat by Natsumi Soseki – another book high on my tbr although I feel like this book may be a sad book I’m hoping I will still enjoy it.

9 If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura – I read this revently and although it had a sad tone there was plenty of humour and very thought provoking

10 Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – another book from my childhood and I loved the Cheshire cat! He was fun and mysterious and I loved him!

11 The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan – inspired by Egyptian mythology where the Carter and Sadie are protected by Bast who often takes the form of a cat.

12 The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare – Church is found by Jem and taken in, because of some sort of magic Church has a long life and seen in The Mortal Instruments and in The Dark Artifices.

There’s actually plenty more books that have cats, I didn’t realise how many until I started writing this blog post! Let me know if you have read any of these and what you thought!

P.S. My cat, Sherlock, has to be bribed with plenty of treats to take these photos. He’s a total diva! If you want to see more of him, he appears regularly on my bookstagram @thetsundokuchronicles

Do you look out for books with cats in them? Or another animal?

August Monthly Wrap Up

Hey booknerds! Another month is over! So that means it’s time for a wrap up. This month has been crazy busy for me with my family staying over and me going to my parents and it’s wedding season so with so much going on my reading has been neglected and so has my blog. But I will be a lot more active next month! And also why this wrap up post is super late!

So I think because I have been so busy I think my enjoyment of what I read has also been affected. I felt like I wasn’t able to enjoy the books as much as usual. Although I did read a few books I really loved.

But here is what I did read this month:

1 A Treasury of Ghazali by Abu Hamid Ghazali – I read this book slowly over a few month as it’s a book to read and reflect and I really did enjoy this book.

2 Jinxed by Amy McCulloch – I picked this up at a book event and I absolutely loved it! It is such an interesting story and I adored the characters. You can read my full spoiler free review here

3 Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi – I enjoyed this book a lot more than Shatter Me so i’m looking forward to continuing the series.

4 The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – This is a reread as part of a readalong and I really loved being back in this world

5 Cress by Marissa Meyer – This was a reread via audiobook and I loved it even more the second time around!

6 The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green – I got an ARC of this in an illumicrate box and I’m so glad they included it! I really enjoyed the book and I’m excited to read the next one! You can read my full spoiler free review here

7 The Golden Child by Wendy James – this is such a thought provoking book! I really enjoyed reading it and I highly recommend picking it up. The story is about bullying amongst children. You can read my spoiler free review here

8 Moonrise by Sarah Crossan – This book was a quick read but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as other people. I think partly due to the way it was written.

9 Sea Witch by Sarah Henning – I had heard a lot about this book before it was released so I was excited to read it and I really loved it!

10 Fairest by Marissa Meyer – another reread via audiobook and I just loved it! Levana’s backstory is so interesting and I really enjoyed hearing it again

11 A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan – A story based on King Midas and has pirate adventures?! I seriously needed to read this book! And I really loved it! I really loved the characters and the story!

I also DNFd Mister Monday by Garth Nix as I just could not get into the story at all. I didn’t find it interesting and just made me feel slumpy so I gave up.

So here are all the books I read in august! Let me know if you read any of these and what you thought!

I also posted a review of:

The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar. You can read the spoiler free review here