Books of Amber

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley | Book Review

03/05/2022 3 Comments

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
Release Date: 22nd February 2022
Genre: Thriller
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Goodreads
Rating: DNF

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

This review isn’t going to be the most in-depth, informative, or entertaining review I’ve ever posted, purely because I don’t have a lot to say about this The Paris Apartment.

The Paris Apartment was sooo boring, oh my god. I have loved previous books by Lucy Foley – The Hunting Party and The Guest List are excellent – but I was bored to tears by this one. I couldn’t tell you anything about any of the characters or the plot because by 50 pages in I had already stopped caring. I have no idea what the mystery was supposed to be, who I was supposed to be cheering for, and who I could have suspected.

I am SAD because I wanted to love this one (it was one of my most anticipated books of the year) but I feel so let down. Nothing about it was compelling. I’m hoping this was just a blip from the author because I want to read and love her future books. Her thriller settings are normally incredible, so I’m hoping this was just a one-off!

April 2022 Reading Wrap Up and May 2022 TBR

02/05/2022 3 Comments

Two wrap ups in a row? Am I ok?? I’m back to talk about the goings on in April (spoiler: there weren’t a lot of them) and to talk about the books I read. April was a pretty great month all round, and I’m excited to be able to share it with you!

Life in April

Like I said, there weren’t many goings on in April. Quill and I purposefully kept our time free because the first quarter of the year was busy and stressful. I went to dinner with a friend one evening, which was lovely, and I saw some family for Easter, but otherwise it was all very chill.

We did book our tickets to Iceland, though! All being well, we’ll be going on an eleven day trip in November for our 30’s, and also for our anniversary. We still need to book the car and some of the hotel rooms, but it’s so exciting to finally be able to plan a trip and travel again.

Work-wise… I don’t want to talk about it. It’s honestly horrible right now and I feel a bit lost about everything.

Books I Read in April

April was such a good reading month! I got back into the reading groove after the slump in March, and Dewey’s Readathon topped things off at the end of the month. I love Dewey’s, and having that to look forward to at the end of the month really spurred me on.

~highlights~

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
★★★★

I picked up The Love Hypothesis because it was on sale for £2 and I had been seeing it around everywhere, so I thought why not? It ended up being a really fun romance book that I flew through. It was a nice surprise, and an entertaining break in between some non fiction and fantasy!

I found The Castaways at the library and picked it up because I’m really into island settings at the moment. Probably because I haven’t been able to go abroad in a while. I really enjoyed this thriller book about a plane crash and an isolated island setting. It was a lot of fun!

I have had this one on my wishlist since the whole controversy happened before its release and oh my god?! I really enjoyed it! It’s a fast paced YA fantasy, based around the myth and rumours surrounding Anastasia. I’m excited to read the sequels soon, as I think I’m going to fly through those too!

I had to give a shoutout to this non fiction book! I learnt a lot about rental properties and landlords and poverty in the USA. It made me very angry, but it’s an excellent book.

Movies & TV

I’ve been watching a few things since we last spoke! Quill and I went to see The Lost City, which was a fun, mindless rom com. I was thoroughly entertained the entire time, and I thought Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum had weird, awkward chemistry that I totally think a historical romance author could have with her cover model.

Recently we decided to start doing documentary date nights, and we’ve started with Wild Wild Country, which is about a cult that used to exist in Oregon. It’s unbelievable that I’ve never heard of all of this before, and the things that these people got away with… We’re on episode 5 of 6 now, so I’m expecting to finish it in the next couple of days and then we’ll pick another documentary to watch!

I’ve also finished watching the first season of Narcos, which I loved. It was so intense. I think I need to go back and rewatch it at some point to really get a grasp on who all the characters are because there are so many of them.

Plans for May

The most exciting thing about May is that our porch is finally getting built! Our overhanging porch has been falling apart for months now, so I’m very excited for the building work to start. We’re getting a small porch extension and a downstairs w.c. built, and our builder expects the work to last about three weeks. I think it’s going to be tiring and stressful for me, but I’m excited for the end result!

We’re going to be buying Odeon Passes in May because there are lots of summer movies coming out soon and we figure we’ll save money this way. I’m hyped for Doctor Strange 2 (because of Wanda), and Jurassic World 3 is going to be AMAZING, I know it.

May TBR

I’m writing this on the 2nd of May and I’ve already finished two books, so I’m expecting May to be an incredible month for reading. I’m planning on reducing my TBR pile by a LOT, and in order to do so I’m reading the smallest books on my TBR. And mood reading, of course!

Tell me about how your April went! What will you be reading in May?

Book Review: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

25/04/2022 3 Comments

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Book Review

Alex Finlay is writing such digestible thriller books at the moment and I’m thoroughly addicted. I read his first book (the first one under this pen name, anyway), Every Last Fear, last year and very much enjoyed it. So I was thrilled to get my hands on The Night Shift, especially after I realised that the fast pacing and the intriguing characters were a match for Every Last Fear.

I was most intrigued by The Night Shift because it mentions Blockbuster in the synopsis. I feel like the description is crack for all us 90’s babies who remember borrowing VHS tapes from a physical store and the whole “Be Kind, Rewind” era. It really shaped us.

Unfortunately there’s not much time spent in the 90’s or early 2000’s, so I did feel a little let down by that. The Night Shift is mostly set in present day, where an almost identical murder spree has happened in the same town as the first. I love reading about such things as I like trying to figure out the connections and threads that run between the two (or more) events. I didn’t mind that there wasn’t much focus on the first event, although I would have liked to have seen a bit more of that era. Mostly for my own nostalgia, of course.

I feel like Finlay’s characters are always his weakest point, judging by the two books I’ve now read from him. They didn’t particularly stand out to me in his first book, and the only things I can remember about the characters in this one are the killer(s), the pregnant lady, and one of the teenage girls. I suppose that’s all I really need to remember, but I think I’ll even forget about those in a couple of months’ time.

That said, I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of this and I really enjoyed my time. As a mystery thriller, it’s pretty solid, and Finlay managed to weave a plot that kept me on my toes. I’m excited to see what he comes out with next.

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Book Review: The River of Silver by S. A. Chakraborty

05/04/2022 Leave a Comment

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I received The River of Silver from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I’m so, SO HAPPY to be back in Daevabad! This series is my absolute all time favourite and I have
missed the characters so much since the main trilogy ended a couple of years ago. I’ve been craving
more Daevabad stories ever since, so I’m thrilled that this short story collection is now out.

I listened to this as an audiobook as it’s currently the only way to consume the stories, but if you’re a
long time Chakraborty fan then you may recall Shannon releasing a PDF of short stories just after The
Empire of Gold came out. A lot of these stories were in that PDF, and so I had – of course – already read
them before. But I still loved listening to them and getting back with my favourite characters.

Dara and Muntadhir’s stories were obviously my favourites, but I’ve missed Nahri a whole bunch as well.
I also loved the prequel stories that showed other Daeva generations. I adore them so so much.

I can’t gush about this book enough. I absolutely CANNOT wait to get my hands on the hardback to add
to my collection. It’s not out until the autumn but I’ve obviously saved up for it and have preordered it.
How could I not??

March 2022 Wrap Up and April 2022 TBR

01/04/2022 1 Comment

Hello my friends! I’m back. Again. While it’s true that I keep forgetting about this blogging thing (which is
quite difficult considering I’ve been at it for more than a decade now), this time it wasn’t really my fault.

First of all, I was promoted at work, and then the company decided to go through some major changes
and that has been taking up most of my time. Secondly, my hosting service announced they were
shutting down in December and I had to rush to try to find a new host for my website – or decide to let it
just die. I didn’t want to give up on eleven years of work though, so I found a new host. Which didn’t like
my certificate and made my website difficult to access. It was a whole thing.

But! Here I am, back to tell you what I was up to in March and all about my plans for April.

Life in March

March was HECTIC. Like I said before, my company is going through major changes. I was promoted a
month or so ago, which was good, but along with the promotion is a whole load of stress and a lot of
tasks to do.

Two of my closest friends came to stay towards the end of the month. One flew over from the US, and
we ended up doing ALL the tourist things that you HAVE to do when you visit the UK. We spent some
time in London and went to the Dungeons, we walked past Westminster, Number 10, Buckingham
Palace, and through Piccadilly and Trafalger Square and Camden Market.

We also went to see Six at the theatre! It’s Quill’s and my second time seeing it, and it wasn’t as good as
the first time with the original cast, but I very much enjoyed it. We’re hoping to go and see it on tour again
in a few months!

Lastly, we spent a bit of time in Birmingham and went to visit Warwick Castle. There was so. much.
walking. Thankfully I quite enjoy walking and exercise but my calves were SORE.

Books I Read in March

Because of how busy March was, I didn’t have the best reading month. Don’t get me wrong, I read some
REALLY good books, but I read half the amount that I normally would. April should be better for that,
though. I read 8 books in total and here are my