KJK Reads

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Romance, Fantasy, Witches, Second Chance Romance Thoughts: What a cute witchy romance this book is. I instantly fell in love with the Toil and Trouble trio (which makes me so glad that there are more books for me to move onto in this series), their personalities and friendship blend so well. Bastian took a little longer to warm up to, since we know how much he hurt Emma but once I understood his motives I melted to him too and I suddenly 100% understood him. The development of their relationship and the friendships felt realistic and showed real character development, especially for Bastian with Tia and Kole. Overall, this was a great and cozy witchy read for my October reading. Favourite Quote: “That's what you don't get. You shouldn't have to be a certain way to have somebody love you. Love isn't love if it isn't freely offered. Love isn't selfish."

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Folklore  Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I learnt so much from this book. I knew some of the things such as the First Footing and crossing on the stairs but thought I’d have a go with this book to see if there’s any more I needed to know. Although some of the points are a bit archaic there are some points that are easy to apply in our daily life and ones like th eFolklore First Aid Kit can be great ideas for first points of call for sickness (especially helpful as coughs and colds are specifically mentioned and I can’t take cold and flu tablets so they will be really helpful for me going forward.The illustrations were complimentary and I really liked the dates for your diary but at the end of each section making it easier to mark out things we want to observe going forward. Favourite Quote: “Yet despite (or maybe stubbornly because of) interference from those who naysay, who psycho...

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Supernatural Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a great first introduction or basic guide to the different types of ghosts around the world. I am interested in the supernatural but am just starting to look deeper into it so I learned a lot of different creatures here. There are some interesting facts here such as being raised in the North East we used to say The Grey Lady ghost was in the school toilets if you called her 3 times in a mirror so it was very interesting to learn that one of the original Grey Ladies is actually from somewhere close to other family members. The images are awesome as they show what these new to me creatures look like and there were quite a few beautiful ones in there. However, I would have liked a pronunciation breakdown after each title.

Rating: 2 Stars  Themes: Retellings Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I have mixed thoughts on this one. On one hand I do appreciate what Birss was trying to do here and some of the stories such as the twist on the Little Mermaid worked quite well in my mind. But others seemed to be too short to have much of an impact with their message and felt a little forced. While I do usually love a good feminist retelling this collection fell short of the mark for me. However, the illustrations were beautiful and it was great to mostly have an original one for each story, with just two sharing an image. Favourite Quote: “I watched my younger sister die in inches, as most women do for the love of an undeserving man. She molded herself in his image, and I lost her for a time.”

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Children's Fiction Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book is soo cute and a great way to help teach children about resilience in the face of any of life’s changes. Kit and Amal are both so curious about their new surroundings and apply determination, resilience, and hope to the things around them in an interesting way. The illustrations are great, they’re pretty and vibrant enough to attract children's attention to the details without becoming overwhelming and add to the overall effectiveness of the story.  Favourite Quote: “If you kids can find determination, resilience, and hope, you can handle any change. Good or bad. Big or small"