Book Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

We all know by now, how obsessed I've become with reading and buying books this year and one of the main genres that I've been reading is 'young adult' which after being out of the reading game for years, I think is a relatively new genre composing of books targeted towards teens to early twenties. I've read a few books from this genre such as The Shadow Queen, Dorothy Must Die and I think the Harry Potter books could be considered part of the young adult genre; now Truthwitch can be added to be list of finished young adult books.

Today's post is a review of *Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (£12.99, hardback) which I was SO excited to receive as I've heard so many amazing things about this book from American booktubers and bloggers. The book is 412 pages, it is published by Tor and the cover is so damn gorgeous!

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home. 

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself. 

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch. Amazon UK

I had really high hopes for this book as it is a genre that I'm loving, it has so many positive reviews and it has so many elements that I love such as fantasy/magical realism, action and adventure, political power play (or softs) and an interesting range of characters. The book is action packed and suspenseful from the beginning and it doesn't really slow down from that initial pace which I love as it made me not want to put the book down - I ended up reading it in about three days, maximum.

The main characters, Safi and Iseult, were fantastic and their girl power and friendship is such a dominant and endearing theme throughout the book. I also loved Merik in the story and I wanted a certain two people to have a happily ever after; surprisingly I also loved the 'bad guy' in the story Aeduan who was such an interesting and unique character. It's so easy to read, the world is vivid and memorable and I think it would be a great movie or TV show!

The most interesting and unique aspect of this book, to me, was the magic - it's a magic unlike any other I have read about; whereby magic isn't very common and the people who do have magic are sectioned into groups such as threadwitches, firewitches, bloodwitches, truthwitches and so on; I found the threadwitch abilities the most intriguing as they can see the threads that bind people together or emotions as threads/lines of colour.

Overall, I want to write so much more about the book but I don't want to spoil it for anyone and I always think it is best to go into a book without knowing much about it. I loved the world, the writing, the unique cast of characters, the magic system and the strong female characters, of which there were many, throughout the book. Although I was a tiny bit disappointed about the ending (just because a lot of questions were kind of left unanswered but I guess that is why there will be more books) but overall I loved this book! Highly recommend! Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5!

If I had to summarise the book in a sentence or two it would be: A fast paced magical adventure, where peril and power mix and at the centre, two strong witches with everything to gain but also everything to loose.

Have you read Truthwitch? What have you been reading recently? 

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Book Review: Not Working By Lisa Owens

If you've been following my blog for the past few months (or my Instagram/Twitter) you will notice that I've been obsessed with book buying and reading recently so when I received this book from the lovely people at Pan MacMillan I was so so excited! I have *Not Working by Lisa Owens (£12.99, hardcover) and I couldn't wait to start it!

Firstly, the cover is gorgeous; it looks so pretty on my bookshelf! Although I have to say before I start my review that I rarely read contemporary books (I'm more of a fantasy, mystery, crime or horror book lover) but I definitely wanted to give this a go particularly because it has so many positive and rave reviews!

Claire Flannery has quit her job in order to discover her true vocation - only to realize she has no idea how to go about finding it. Whilst everyone around her seems to have their lives entirely under control, Claire finds herself sinking under pressure and wondering where her own fell apart. 'It's fine,' her grandmother says. 'I remember what being your age was like - of course, I had four children under eight then, but modern life is different, you've got an awful lot on.'

To me, this book is a mixture between poetry, Bridget Jones's diary and Sophie Kinsella books. It is told in a snippet of thoughts kind of way which makes it feel a little bit unstructured but it also makes the book seem quite lighthearted and interesting. I haven't read a book before with this kind of structure or layout.

I really liked the main character, Claire, and I definitely got a Bridget Jones's diary feel from this book which I loved! It's entertaining, funny and very, very relatable. It isn't quite as laugh out loud funny as I thought it would be but it was still an interesting and super enjoyable read – a perfect summer/holiday read. I did find a couple of the characters a little bit annoying and even though the majority of the book is fun and light-hearted; there are some more deeper and melancholy themes throughout the book, in my opinion but even so I was very happy with the ending and the book as a whole.

I love the writing style and the layout of the book – it's really unique especially compared to all the other books I've been reading recently. If you're not really a fan of contemporary books, I'd still definitely give this one a go! If you like Bridget Jones's diary or any of the Sophie Kinsella books then you will probably love this too. It's quite a short read and it's easy to get through but it still has an impact! Overall rating: ★★★★☆, 4/5. 

Will you be picking up this book? What are you currently reading? 

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