Let the Right Book In

Well, happy Christmas to me... this box was awesome! This is the only instance in which I will allow anything bearing a ouija board on it into my house. I can be a bit...uneasy when it comes to potentially inviting demons into my house. I have enough issues. ANYWHO, enough of my deep-rooted issues with demonic possession, let's look at this month's box! I'm really excited about this month's books! I already had my eye on Tales from a Talking Board after seeing it a couple of times on bookstagram, because, come on, that book was made to photograph! It's this month's new release and synopsis is as follows: "Can we speak with the spirits of the dead? Is it possible to know the future? Are our dreams harbingers of things to come? Do auspicious omens and cautionary portents affect our lives? Edited by Ross E. Lockhart, Tales from a Talking Board examines these questions - and more - with tales of auguries, divination, and fortune telling, through ...

You know the drill - Sam and Frodo are on their way to Mordor to try and destroy the ring, but not without a companion lurking in the shadows... The armies of the Dark Lord are massing in an epic battle for Middle Earth... it's all come down to this! "I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil." And so my journey through Middle Earth has ended *cue hysterical crying*. Revisiting both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings this year was a great decision - I'll be revisiting Hogwarts in a similar way in 2018. There is always time to reread your favourite books because you will honestly pick up or learn something different each time. This time around my overriding experience has just been an appreciation of the friendship found within these pages. It has also solidified Samwise Gamgee's position as one of my fave characters of all time. Aragorn may get all the heart eyes, but Samwise is truly special. I thought at the end of my reread I would h...

Having been suspected of being involved in the death of her rich employer, Dolores Claiborne tells the story of her life to the police, from the disintegration of her marriage and suspicious death of her husband to the relationship she had with her employer, Vera Donovan. "Sometimes you have to be a high riding bitch to survive, sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on to." Wow, this book is pretty unique - it's in the form of a monologue given by Dolores herself detailing the events leading up to her husband's death a number of years previously, as well as the more recent death of her employer, Vera Donovan. There's no chapters, no breaks, nothing. Just a continuous narration from our protagonist. It blows me away how, not for one second, did I feel like I was reading King's writing - I felt like I was reading Dolores' confession. King's ability to perfectly encapsulate and get into the head of a middle-aged woman astounds me...

In 1950s suburban America, two teen girls are left in the care of their aunt following the death of their parents. The story is told through the eyes of David, the boy who lives next door and who is witness to the escalating abuse and torture that these girls endure at the hands of the aunt and the rest of the children in the neighbourhood.  "My mom says Meg's the lucky one," he said. "My mom says she got off easy." First of all, I need to explicitly warn potential readers that this book is very graphic and detailed, and it is NOT for the faint of heart. That being said, I can categorically state that this is the most brutal, disturbing, upsetting, traumatising book that I have ever read. I did not enjoy reading this book, it made me angry, upset, and downright incredulous that people are capable of such inhumane actions, because this is not just some sick and twisted idea that Ketchum came up with, it it based on a true story. For those who are n...

Under the influence of a captivating aristocrat, Dorian Gray sells his soul in exchange for prolonged youth and vitality. Part of the deal is that a full-length portrait of Dorian will age and record his sins, whereas he remains unblemished.  "Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic." Picking one quote from this book was like being asked to read just one book for the rest of your life - nigh-on impossible. I hadn't even thought about how difficult it would be until Tes (instagram @paperbackbones) pointed this out and then I got sucked into a vortex of reading different Wilde quotes online... that man was a goddamn genius. This book has achieved a significant title in my reading life; the title of "Favourite Classic". It totally blew me away. To be honest, I only vaguely knew the storyline before picking this one up having encountered Dorian Gray in the TV show Penny Dreadful, but not the specific story that Wilde ...

As Joseph Bateman awaits his execution, he looks back over the events in his life that has led him to death row. However, during the execution, as the electricity runs through his body, he finds himself thrown into a foreign body and into an era over a hundred years before his own. His final challenge is to find redemption for his damned soul. "Scars, no matter how long you give them, never heal." When Jason Pellegrini contacted me about sending me signed copies of his books in exchange for an honest review, I was pretty excited about it! My bookstagram buddy, Sadie, had read this book Booth earlier in the year and had said it was a really great story, and pretty brutal at times. So suffice to say, I was looking forward to it. The premise is really interesting - a guy who is on death row looks back over the events in his life that has led him to his current position. However, there is a chance for redemption - through going back in time and preventing one of hi...

In Oceania, the Party scrutinises human actions with the ever-watchful Big Brother. Winston Smith, however, struggles with this oppression and the ban on individuality, leading to him disobeying the government by writing a diary in secret and pursuing a relationship with Julia. "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." What else is there that can be said about a literary classic such as 1984? A lot of people rank it as one of their all-time favourite books, and although I really enjoyed it, it won't be held in such high esteem for me. I flew through this book in a number of days, which often represents how much I'm enjoying a book - so yes, it was certainly an addictive and captivating read, but I had a couple of issues.  In my opinion, this book could have been a bit shorter - there were particular parts, especially in the middle of the book, that could have been edited down a lot. There was a lot of re...