KJK Reads

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Classics, Historical Romance, 19th Century, Romance Thoughts: Austen’s works are classics for a reason. Not only Mr Darcy and Lizzy but also the other characters such as Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Georgiana Darcy and even the younger Bennett girls are fully realised and developed individual characters which is often overlooked for more background characters in more contemporary works. The romance element of a slow burn and enemies to lovers fight is also very well written and has readers cheering at the end.  Favourite Quote: "There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense."

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: Mental Health, New Adult, Family, Contemporary Fiction, Romance Thoughts: This book despite being billed mainly as a romance book was much more of a psychological fiction book than I expected, which I enjoyed. The descent into worsening mental health went through was interestingly portrayed and although I personally had an issue with the messy girl note Merit tried to leave I am aware it is representative of what some individuals go through.   Favourite Quote: "A lot of people who suffer from depression don’t even know they have it. It’s a gradual change. Or at least it was for me. I used to feel like I was on top of the world. Then one day, I noticed that it felt like I was no longer on top of the world. I was just floating around inside of it. And then eventually, it felt like the world was on top of me."

Rating: 5 Stars  Themes: Memoir, Holocaust, Non-Fiction, Classics, History, Biography  Thoughts: A heartbreaking memoir of a holocaust survivor who survived so long with his father only to lose him to death right at the end of the concentration camp journey. The end of this copy also contained a copy of Elie’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech which is also important with his acknowledgement of the current day horrors (at the time of the speech) such as the Israel/Palestine conflict with compassion for both sides.  Favourite Quote: "Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere."

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Romance, New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Dual POV Thoughts: This book is an interesting read with Owen and Auburn developing a fast but intense relationship. Trey creeped me out from the start but I must admit overall so did Owen with his continuous hinting at a prior knowledge of Auburn that she didn’t share. The book was quite tropey but the confessions as paintings and including reader confessions was a new and interesting idea to me.  Favourite Quote: "Every day of my life it feels as if I'm fighting my way up an escalator that only goes down. And no matter how fast or how hard I run to try to reach the top, I stay in the same place, sprinting, getting nowhere."

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Mystery, Suspense Thoughts: Another chilling thriller by Lisa Jewell. The beginning initially felt like it was dragging on a little as it focused on the after effects of Olivia’s disappearance on the rest of the family but later on it becomes obvious that its actually important to the development of the story. I was able to guess the Poppy twist but that is the kind of thing I enjoy and feel accomplished to guess.  Favourite Quote: "The blame game could be exhausting sometimes. The blame game could make you lose your mind . . . all the infinitesimal outcomes, each path breaking up into a million other paths every time you heedlessly chose one, taking you on a journey that you’d never find your way back from."

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Regency Romance, Historical Fiction, Romance, Forbidden Love Thoughts: A beautifully written forbidden style romance with a Cinderella style twist. An illegitimate daughter to a Duke is turned into no better than a maid but in one night of fashion, she falls for a Bridgerton boy, and after a very slow burn they finally get their happily ever after. Sophie herself is such a sweet and loveable individual who remains strong despite what she is put through. Bennedict, however, is a lot more problematic than I expected he would be. The night of the ball he is a loveable character and I loved the chemistry between him and his mystery woman (who we know is Sophie) and seeing him rescue her from assault years later reinforced this. But his later actions not so much, he is imposing to Sophie when they're both in My Cottage willingly blurring boundaries, he then continually propositions her to be his mistress after multiple refusals, threatens her to get her back to L...

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Regency Romance, Historical Fiction, Romance, Enemies to Lovers Thoughts: This book is a beautifully written historical enemies to lovers romance book. The banter between Kate and Anthony is extremely entertaining and the slow burn into love is wonderful. In terms of characters, Kate is easily loveable with a spirit that cannot be broken and such strong sisterly love guiding her actions. Anthony, on the other hand, though fairly well redeemed at the end was somewhat problematic in his pursuit of a partner who was perfect for the role of Viscountess but he wouldn't love and didn't seem to mind whether he hurt the sisters along the way.  Favourite Quote: "Love's about finding the one person who makes your heart complete. Who makes you a better person than you ever dreamed you could be. Its about looking in the eyes of your wife and knowing all the way to your bones that she's simply the best person you've ever known."

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: Psychological Fiction, Coming of Age, Feminism, Contemporary Fiction Thoughts: This is a beautiful book, both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Although Adunni has suffered through so much throughout her story, the people who were kind and helped her throughout give the reader a restored faith in humanity. Adunni is the kind of character that despite not always being the easiest to read (she is Nigerian so her English isn't supposed to be perfect) is still so easy for us as readers to root for and fall in love with.  Favourite Quote: "In this village, if you go to school, no one will be forcing you to marry any man. But if you didn't go to school, they will marry you to any man once you are reaching fifteen years old. Your schooling is your voice, child. It will be speaking for you even if you didn't open your mouth to talk. It will be speaking till the day God is calling you come. "

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Regency Romance, Historical Fiction, Romance, Fiction, Adult, Fake Dating Thoughts: A regency era romance with a Gossip Girl twist. Each chapter starts with an article from the Lady Whistledown newsletter which to me has a hint of the old Gossip Girl series before jumping back into the action from the characters world. It can be a difficult read for many as there is a nonconsensual ending to a sex scene which is a central part of the last quarter of the book so cannot be skipped.  Favourite Quote: "He was coming to realize that he needed to hold on to something in life, and maybe she was right—maybe anger wasn't the solution. Maybe—just maybe he could learn to hold on to love instead."

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Dystopian Fiction, Feminist, Politics, Speculative Fiction, Contemporary  Thoughts: The Community in this book shows how easy it can be to fall prey to a cult. Emilia knows exactly how difficult the Community is through her experience as her mother first started her silence and as the Community started and grew before the event. But despite this after the event she was left in a vulnerable state to become easy prey to them and their distorted views.  The book is written in a strange sort of way to me as it is as if Emilia is writing the book herself but with extracts of emails, letters and newspaper articles aswell as sections of ‘Rachel of Chalkam's’ diaries and notebooks.  Favourite Quote: "We don’t hear each other. To hear you must listen. To listen you must be silent. Everyone is shouting. No one is listening. People are angry, but no one is listening. People are scared, but no one is hearing. We believe our voice must be heard above all others...

Rating: 3 Stars Themes:  Non-Fiction, Self-Help Thoughts: I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This book aims to redefine the term seduction from the purely sexual nature we associate it with and draws the difference between the positive and negative forms of seduction and their intended outcomes. It also details the ingredients of seductiveness through highlighting intent, intellectual magnetism and emotional seductiveness with chapters on them to both explain to us what they mean and with exercises we can do to test our own qualities and improve them.  There is also a chapter on types of seducers which contains explanations of each type along with famous examples to help us better understand them. It also contains the problems that can be associated with and ways in which to grow in a relationship with that type of seducer. 

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Relationships and Breakups, Heartbreak Thoughts: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Initially the book highlights the many different types of break ups that can be experienced and how to know which one applies to you, this is more modern than many breakup books as it includes the ghosting breakup which is a more recent phenomenon. This book takes the stages of grief established by Elisabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler and has been used since 1969 in relation to death and grief and has applied them to the grief of a lost relationship. Onica explains how each stage is applied in relation to a breakup and the different ways it may manifest in different breakups/relationships. Toxic and dangerous behaviours that may occur in each stage to be cautious of and try to avoid are also highlighted. There are also different ways for us as readers to cope with and move through each stage as well as covering when to mov...

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Mental Health, Healthy Eating Thoughts: In all honesty, though I had seen good things about this book before I was slightly apprehensive after reading the introduction. As someone who had previous experiences with disordered eating and has since become disabled I became a little concerned after the introductions comments on the author's illness and overcoming it through her eating habits. However, my concerns were happily misplaced. Onica has been conscious about the risks of disordered eating and eating disorders throughout the book, instead placing a healthy emphasis on not labelling and restricting and instead being more aware. The book also explains the healthy benefits and approaches to mindful and intuitive eating which I did learn about back in university as a useful technique but haven't seen too much of in more popular culture which is a real shame with all the toxic food and diet myths that seem to be so commonly known. ...