February Book Reviews

Let's get one thing straight.... There's no such thing as too many demigods! This is the third Heroes of Olympus book which sees Jason, Leo, Hazel and Frank unite with our fave greek demigods Percy, Annabeth and Piper! Their mission... to save the world, no biggie! 

Annabeth has a mission of her own, evoked by her mother Athena she must find the sacred mark to stop the world imploding whist Roman and Greek Gods fight against each other and themselves. With monsters and enemies galore the group of 7 try to fulfil the prophecy laid out before them whilst stepping over hormones, emotions and angst worthy of any teenager. Another brilliant episode... do I have to wait two years for the next one?

A contemporary case for the amazing Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Doctor Watson. Reading this with the dramatisation of Benedict Cumberbatch in my mind got a bit confusing as Horowitz sets his case in Victorian Britain but he does brilliantly in capturing the essence of the main characters with cameos from Lestrade and Moriarty.

The case of The House of Silk has a slight contemporary twist which was shocking in a historical setting and although I haven't read any original Conan Doyle I felt that this focussed more on the intrepid detective and his sidekick than the case in question. Has definitely made me want to read some of the original chronicles though.



An interesting twist on the normal secondary school teen drama. It's the week  of Xanthe's  thirteenth birthday and the first week back at school. Her best friend is amazing, the boy she likes finally likes her back and life is pretty sweet but Kelly has it out for her and things are about to take a turn for the worst.

As accidents begin to happen and Kelly keeps getting Xanthe in to trouble  she begins to think this isn't going to be her year but a frank conversation with her great grandmother changes her whole world. A funny and realistic portrayal of school life with a bit of supernatural thrown in.. a brilliant page turner for 9yrs+

An ironic choice of book over the Valentine's week... A comical and contemporary look at women over 35 who haven't managed to find 'the one' yet. 

Amelia Lockwood is 37, has friends to die for, a high-flying job in TV but no-one to wake up. That is all going to change when she goes on a night course guaranteed to find her a man to marry before the year is out. What ensues is a plotted history of Amelia's disastrous exes who she has to track down and ask 'what went wrong?'. With a monk, an out-and out gay guy and a mental patient in her history what will Amelia's dating future bring and will she be able to handle it? 


The spell has been broken - I have found a William Nicholson book I did not fall in love with... ironic really given it's title. This is one of Nicholson's earlier offerings which left me feeling very little of anything. Bron is nearing his thirtieth birthday and has never found the woman to who he can say those three little words .. so what does he do? He writes a book about it naturally! Bron's research into love at first sight sets him on a journey with the femme fatale Flora who doesn't believe in love but he is desperate to change her mind. The writing is classic Nicholson but I felt that something was missing. He does ensemble novels so well and yet this one plot just didn't have any heart in it. Bron is a likeable enough character but you just feel the need to shake him and tell him to get over it... mind you haven't we all wanted to do that to one of our friends at one point or another?