Lotte's Shelves

KAREN M. MCMANUS COLLECTION 29/12/22 Over the last month I read 5 books by Karen M McManus (including the sequel to a book I read in 2021) so I thought I would just do one big review. It may go without saying here, but I think I may have a new favourite author! I read "One Of Us Is Next", "Two Can Keep A Secret", "The Cousins", "You'll Be The Death Of Me" and "Nothing More To Tell". They were all very different but Karen's vivid story telling is consistent throughout. I loved "One Of Us Is Next" as it brought back characters from the first book and introduced new ones; I liked the familiarity. "Two Can Keep A Secret" may have been my favourite of the 5 I read. It was kind of 2 mysteries in one and with old secrets cropping up occasionally, it really kept me on my toes. "The Cousins" was very good, one thing I love about Karen's books is the chapters are separated by which character we're fol...

  TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD DAY BY CAPTAIN TOM MOORE 9/12/22 I don't know how else to describe this book other than "heartwarming". What an amazing man Captain Tom was. His story from early childhood to his 100th birthday was gripping honestly, with his war days being a centre part. I don't want to give too much away of course but I especially loved him talking about his passion for motorcycles, either riding them or fixing them. I also liked some of the more raw moments when he talks about deaths of loved ones and his marriages. He talks in such a positive way, about how things happen for a reason and whatnot. Captain Tom looked onto life is such a wise way it seems and to think about how much changed in his lifetime too, good and bad, it's a really inspiring read. Overall I just want to urge you to read this story.  Thank you and God bless Captain Tom Moore Happy reading! Lotte :) xxx

NEEDFUL THINGS BY STEPHEN KING 20/06/21 I don’t quite know how to begin my review for this book. What I will say to start with, is you’re almost halfway through the book and you realised all that’s happened is a set up of all the characters in the town of Castle Rock, as there’s so many characters with so many stories but it didn’t feel like a slow start at all. Over the course of the story, things do get pieces together one by one. I love the character of Leland Gaunt as he slowly creates more and more carnage, without any of the characters realising until the very end what is going on. It’s hard to talk about this book without giving it away so I just highly recommend you reading it, I don’t think anyone will not like this book (unless you don’t like gruesome content and then maybe you won’t like it, but I still suggest giving it a go anyway!) Happy reading! Lotte :) xxx

 BOOKTUBE 29/01/21   Hello everyone! I have almost finished reading the Harry Potter series, so I shall soon be back to writing my reviews. However I just wanted to pop on here to say that I’ve created a BookTube! I’m going to be doing all sorts on there including tags, talking about reading goals, favourite and least favourite books and all that fun stuff! I thought I’d leave my blog just for reviews, and do all the fun stuff in video form! So here is the link, I hope you enjoy the videos and subscribe for my fun bookish content. https://youtube.com/channel/UCBdDI7oTEu4-5sxs0yBM-FA Happy reading! Lotte :) xxx

HERE COMES 2021! 01/01/21 Hello lovely people! Wow it’s been one heck of a year, hasn’t it? But I feel like it’s been a successful year in terms of reading. I only re-read one book that I’d read before. Other than that, all new books for me! I’d have to say my favourite book of the year was “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” by Holly Jackson, closely followed by the sequel “Good Girl, Bad Blood”. I thought I’d make a post to say that I will be continuing the read new books in 2021, however right now, I’m re-reading Harry Potter because I miss it okay? It’s been a few years since I last read it. So I hope you all have a wonderful new year, and I shall see you when I’ve finished Potter. Lots of love, Lotte :) xxx

JENNY’S WAR BY MARGARET DICKINSON 06/12/20 It’s hard to write about this book, because I read it so quickly! The author builds suspense very well and there’s lots of twists and turns that make it so fun to read. I literally could not put it down! I like that there’s one main love plot point that just pops in every so often but it doesn’t take up the entire story. It’s not your usual love story, that’s for sure. It’s easy to forget that this is based on true events in the sense that evacuees were sent to the country and there was a war on. I found myself thinking “oh I hope this war ends” and then would realise that I know how it turns out. Happy reading! Lotte :) xxx

  HOW TO HANG A WITCH BY ADRIANA MATHER 07/11/20 The main thing about this book that I love is that it’s not a classic teenage book. Yes there is romance, but the whole plot doesn’t revolve around it. There’s not the usual drama you have in many teen books which can often be cringe-y. It’s an easy story to sink into, with no laborious introduction, it just gets straight into the story. This may be because most people have heard of the Salem witch trials, so there is no need for a massive explanation in the beginning to set the tone of the story. Whatever it is, it made the book impossible to put down from the get-go. It reads at a nice pace, you find out information as you go, not all rushed at the end like a lot of teen books. The author gives you time along the way to figure things out for yourself rather than just springing everything on you at the end which I thought was nice. I would love to see a movie adaptation or a TV show of this book, I think it’d be amazing and somethin...

  GOOD GIRL, BAD BLOOD BY HOLLY JACKSON (Sequel to A Good Girl's Guide To Murder) 29/06/20 I like that the structure of this book is similar to the first one but a little bit more "updated" as the girl now has a podcast and there are pictures which brings the story to life a bit more. Something I find fun about these kind of investigative books is sometimes you the reader come up with ideas that the character hasn't thought of yet and it's fun to find out who's right because the author may lead you/the character down the wrong path before finding the right one. I think there were a lot more twists and turns in this one than the first book but I like that the story was a lot different. Different in a good way though, if you liked the first book, you'll like this one. In the first book you're getting to know Pip and how her brain works but with this one you know her though process well enough that I found you kind of end up thinking a bit like her... Jus...

 A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER - HOLLY JACKSON 13/06/20 Innocent until proven guilty? I really enjoy mystery books like this because it makes you price up the clues and come.up with your own theories as to who did it, as well as following the ones that the characters come up with. And I love when things are suddenly thrown at you, that make your theories impossible. That being said, I've never read a book quite like this one where it's trying to prove innocent the murderer who the police believe was guilty. It's a very interesting concept for a book. I like the way that the pages are set up, some text conversations, some emails, some reports from.the investigation and then sort of "main story" pages where it's more of a narration of the character rather than in first person. It keeps the story very fresh and makes it easier to read. I could not put this book down, if I hadn't had any plans for the day, I definitely would have read this in one sitting! ...

 CARRIE - STEPHEN KING 21/01/20 I like that the book is based round an event that happens at the prom, but you don't know what happens until the very end, however over time you get more and more details added for you to kind of piece together the story for yourself. So it makes you want to continue reading to find out what happens. The way the book is set out is like a series of police reports and interviews and people telling different stories that all build up to the prom night. And it has an ending that definitely will make you think... It's a very cleverly written book, but do we expect anything less from Stephen King? I found it a fairly easy read. I would pick it up and in half an hour I will have read 30 odd pages. But it was a fun read to. The way King sets a scene will always fascinate me, you always feel like you're actually there in the heat of the action. Carrie is such an iconic story too, so I'm very glad I've read it this early on in the year. It'...

 2020- THE YEAR OF BOOKS 12/01/20 Dear reader, Welcome to my blog! I should probably introduce myself, let's do a quickfire of random information shall we? Name: Lotte Bowbrick Age 19 Job: Front of House at the Sondheim Theatre, London Biggest loves: Musical theatre, Books, Crafts, Writing, Films, Green Tea I feel like that's enough of an introduction for now. So 2020, new year, new decade, new books to read. Last year I only read 5 books which, for me, is not very many compared to previous years. (Although, one of those books was It by Stephen King and at 1116 pages, took me 3 months to read). My "to read" pile in my room is now actually a whole bookshelf and several piles on the floor. Exhibit A: I know, it's embarrassing. Now I work in London, I have a 90 minute commute every day which means more time to read so my aim for 2020 is to get through a chunk of these books. There are some here that I've had for years and there are probably a lot here that I won...

RESTARTING THE BLOG 15/03/21   Hello everyone, I hope 2021 is treating you all well, we had a bit of a rough year last year didn't we? And unfortunately it's not all over yet but there is now a small light at the end of this very long tunnel. Fingers crossed for the 21st June hey? I am restarting this blog which was originally named "Fully Booked". Google was being weird with the ads and stuff and wasn't letting me connect to adsense and I didn't know what to do so I'm starting afresh. Of course I’m not doing this for the money, more of a tracking of the books I’ve read but it was frustrating that Adsense wouldn’t work on the old one.  But I shall be reposting all of my book reviews from last year onto this blog as I have now deleted the old one. Happy reading! Lotte :) xxx