Under My Skin - Juno Dawson

55%

04.10.26

While schlockily confirming my view that tattoos are a bad idea, this was oddly paced, with a confusing ending that explained little and left many of the storylines un-inked. 

Ravenous Beasts / Savage Daemons - Lauretta Hignett

59%

10.09.26 / 12.09.26

Just as crazy and confused and surprisingly feminist as the first two in the series but just as much fun, especially the last book, which went off in all sorts of unexpected directions.

Vicious Creatures / Fractured Gods - Lauretta Hignett

59%

04.09.26 / 06.09.26

More dark fantasy fun, this one even more violent than usual. There was, however, just as much need for a proper proofread (e.g. using 'little' five times in one paragraph and the constant focus on a particularly 'masculine jawline') but Hignett's irrepressible heroines and wry humour mean she is one of the few authors for whom I can overlook her lack of editing.

Immortal Death / Immortal Life - Lauretta Hignett

57%

18.07.26

I'm reviewing these two books together because the whole series might as well have been a single, continuous story, and there's not much to tell them apart anyway. Because it's fun, fairly feminist, vivid (if with slightly stereotyped characters) and has a not-entirely-predictable storyline, I'll overlook the lack of editing in places, and how some parts didn't really make sense.
 

Immortal World - Lauretta Hignett

58%

12.07.26

This was slightly messier than the previous book in the series and could have done with a slightly more thorough edit at times but was still good violent fun with some deeper messages in amongst the craziness.

Immortal Games - Lauretta Hignett

60%

09.07.26

Since I have free Kindle Unlimited again, I couldn't resist returning to Lauretta Hignett's urban (well, smalltown) fantasy world. I was right about the first in the series just acting as a springboard as this was much better. The humour is balanced with a fair helping of violence, darkness and angst, along with strong character development. 

Edith Holler - Edward Carey

68%

21.06.26

This was marvellous in all senses, with the added bonus of featuring my local city Norwich and its Theatre Royal. It's a strange, hypnotic, poetic fever dream that's certainly a fresh take on, well, everything. But it's let down by wandering too far into the grotesque, and the author's ugly drawings don't do it any favours either.

Tib Street Ballroom - Keira Willis

43%

26.05.26

This was... exuberant, with strong sense of place (Manchester) and time (the 1980s), although the pop culture references were rather shoehorned in. And that was the problem - a better edit would have sorted the awkwardness, poor pacing and repetition. In particular, characters rolled their eyes on almost every page, which must be as tiring for them as it is for the reader.

An Education in Malice - ST Gibson

42%

23.03.26

An education in overwrought, badly paced, over-adjectification. Yet another book very loosely based on Carmilla (in the sense of there being some vampires, girls in love and a character called Carmilla) but it didn't seem to make any particular point. Although if I'd drunk a shot of blood every time I read the word 'delicate', I'd be immortal by now.

The Grapples of Wrath - Alice Bell

53%

17.03.26

I enjoy Alice Bell's idiosyncratic and effervescent style of storytelling so much that I was uncharacteristically willing to pay more than 99p for the ebook. Yet the little asides and esoteric cultural references, and even the relentless Britishness of it all, quickly become confusing and, ultimately, irritating, to the extent that this reads like a parody of her previous books. Another novel that would have benefited from another edit and proofread before publishing.

If You Could See the Sun - Ann Liang

52% 

11.03.26

This has a great premise and (slightly) unusual setting but it doesn't explore either enough. The tediously self-involved protagonist can turn invisible - so many possibilities! - but most of what she gets up to is skimmed over. Also not interrogated was the love interest letting her take the fall for something he was also involved in. But it's fine, as long as they're together, right?

The Thrashers - Julie Soto

60%

10.02.26

A fun and thoughtful high-school supernatural thriller that leaned into the ridiculous horror tropes while also tackling the universal desire to belong. It could have been developed a little more - there were parts that needed more (and others that needed less) focus, and the protagonist didn't really have enough conflict, but generally it was engaging and mostly unpredictable.

Insomnia - Sarah Pinborough

50%

01.12.25

Well, this certainly didn't keep me awake at night, in fact, quite the opposite, what with the slow pace and boring characters.

The Warbler - Sarah Beth Durst

52%

14.11.25

This had an unusual and intriguing premise that was unfortunately fumbled in the execution. Readable enough but too many 'but whats?', 'but whys?' and 'but hows?' to feel like a final draft.

They Own the Night - Amy McCaw

49%

06.11.25

This inexplicably has an almost-perfect Amazon score but I found it dull, confusing and poorly structured. With updates like this, no longer Dracula won't die.

Grave Birds - Dana Elmendorf

43%

19.10.25

There was an atmospheric Southern Gothic thriller fighting to free itself from this poorly paced, poorly edited book. I'm all for genre fluidity but it didn't know what it was (Romance? Apocalyptic horror? Murder mystery? Not enough of any of those) and so ended up as an unfocused muddle.

Behind Her Eyes - Sarah Pinborough

60%

09.10.25

All talk of this book is about the twist - or rather, twists - the first of which I guessed and the second I didn't, because it was, frankly, crazy (if not, on reflection, particularly surprising or original). But maybe I should have, as it was a crazy story in general, with so much booze consumed that it's no wonder it ends up like a fever dream. Although some of the weirdness never quite works, and characters are frustratingly inconsistent, the genre-bending approach worked for me and it was, in the end, simply entertaining.

Carmilla - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

52%

01.10.25

Predating (ha!) Dracula by 25 years, this is celebrated as the original queer vampire story. But that's misleading - the lesbian implications seem mainly a metaphor for power imbalance and a blunt condemnation of 'unnatural' behaviour. The story, atmospheric as it was, didn't make much sense and rushed the ending.

A Cruel Thirst - Angela Montoya

52%

22.05.25

The sense of place (and therefore, I suppose, the worldbuilding) was strong, but it read like a stilted translation. And the main male character had a fatal flaw - well, yeah, he was a vampire, but, more significantly, he was so incredibly boring that he was defined only via his beauty. Which, while a nice change from women being characterised entirely by their looks, didn't create much empathy in this reader.

Immortal - Lauretta Hignett

56%

01.05.25

This'll be the last Hignett for a while, promise as I have many, more literary, novels to read. That said, while there's no doubt her books are entertaining, she also sneaks in more serious political or emotional messages, adding a little depth to what could be cliched wish-fulfillment stories. This series starter was better than Susan's and Prue's but still seemed a little transitory - on its way to somewhere else later in the series, where I don't feel very strongly about going.