The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkein

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937) (Collins Modern Classics)
J.R.R. Tolkien
Grade: A+
Genre: high fantasy
Source: own

Bilbo Baggins is your ordinary Hobbit from the Shire: he enjoys his food, his comfortable lifestyle in his own hobbit-hole, and the prospect of a leisurely life to the end of his days. Bilbo is descended from the respected Bagginses and the slightly less-respected Tooks – the latter of whom have a great sense of adventure ingrained into them. At fifty years of age, Bilbo has never felt the urge to go off and have jolly adventures of his own – until now.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star (2011) (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Maureen Johnson
Grade: A
Genre: YA
Source: own
Shades of London: (1) The Name of the Star, (2) The Madness Underneath

Aurora 'Rory' Devereux is an American in England and about to start school during the worst time to be in London. Someone is committing Jack the Ripper-style murders, replicating the scenes almost down to the name of the victim. Wexford is bang in the middle of the crime scenes, and Ripper tours are passing by the gates every day, with everyone on the edge waiting for the next date of when the second murder took place.

CHANCE TO WIN: Through the Looking Glass by Gena Showalter

Isn't the cover beautiful?

I waxed lyrical in my review of Gena Showalter's Alice in Zombieland and how much I couldn't wait for book two in the series, Through the Looking Glass. It's due out in September, and you have the chance to win a signed ARC from the author herself here! This is my entry and good luck if you're entering too!

The Secret by Julie Garwood

The Secret (1992) (Simon and Schuster)
Julie Garwood
Grade: A-
Genre: medieval romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: eBay
Highlands' Lairds: (1) The Secret, (2) Ransom

Judith and Frances Catherine became best friends before they even knew they were natural enemies. The English and Scots don’t mix, but four-year-old girls aren’t ones to understand such feuds and by that point, their friendship is too firm to break. Judith lives in England: six months with her wonderful aunt and uncle near the Scottish border, and the other six months with her unloving mother and drunk uncle Tekel. Her time with Aunt Millicent and Uncle Herbert is the time of year she gets to see Frances Catherine, and the happiest time of her life.

About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk

About a Girl (2013) (Harper)
Lindsey Kelk
Grade: A
Genre: chicklit
Sex scenes: kisses
Source: own
About a Girl: (1) About a Girl, (2) What a Girl Wants

Tess Brookes needs a new Life Plan. All her life, she’s been the good girl with a City job, constantly working overtime to get that promotion she deserves. When she’s fired out of the blue, no one’s more shocked.

After a week moping about her flat, receiving rejection after rejection, she answers a phonecall meant for her flatmate-from-hell, Vanessa. It’s Vanessa’s agent, Veronica, who has a photoshoot lined up for her in Hawaii. In the first moment of spontaneity her whole life, Tess accepts and finds herself in Paradise, pretending to be the world class bitch, Vanessa.

Angel & Faith Volume 3: Family Reunion by Christos Gage

Angel & Faith Volume 3: Family Reunion (2013) (Diamond Book Distributors)
Christos Gage (script), Rebekah Isaacs (art)
Grade: B+
Genre: graphic novel / Angel & Faith / vampire
Source: NetGalley / own
Angel & Faith: (1) Live Through This, (2) Daddy Issues, (3) Family Reunion 

Willow is in town and pledges to help Angel with his mission to bring Giles back to life – if he’ll help her with hers. After Buffy destroyed the Seed, thereby eliminating all magic from the world, Willow has been desolate. Magic was her life and now she’s on a mission to get it back. It’s crazy and dangerous, but Willow has to do it – for the good of the world.

The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz

I received The Prince for review on the basis that I didn’t reveal any spoilers; there wasn’t any such condition on receipt of The Mistress, but I’ve decided to keep my summary and review spoiler-free anyway, just because I enjoy being cryptic. Plus, you need to buy this and read the series for yourself.

The Mistress (2013) (Harlequin MIRA)
Tiffany Reisz
Grade: A+
Genre: erotica and so much more
Sex scenes: will blow your mind
Source: NetGalley
The Original Sinners (The Red Years): (prequel) Seven Day Loan (1) The Siren, (2) The Angel, (3) The Prince, (4) The Mistress

This was the perfect answer to end the mindfuck of all mindfucks.

The Siren saw Nora Sutherlin use her Siren’s call to bewitch her uptight English editor as he hones her book to perfection while estranged from his wife, Grace. In The Angel, Griffin, one of Nora’s many lovers and a Dominant of the New York Underground finds true love in Michael, a damaged teenage submissive, who becomes the Angel that saves him. In The Prince, Nora and Wesley escape to Wesley’s home in Kentucky where Wesley is the Prince of his world, richer than beyond even Kingsley’s dreams. And as they have their fun, Søren and Kingsley are on the trail of an enemy who knows too many of their secrets, that if exposed, could destroy them all …

The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James

The Duke is Mine (2011) (Piatkus)
Eloisa James
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance / fairytale re-telling
Sex scenes: mild
Source: library 
Happily Ever After: (1) A Kiss at Midnight, (2) When Beauty Tamed the Beast, (3) The Duke is Mine, (4) The Ugly Duchess

Miss Olivia Mayfield Lytton was betrothed to Rupert, the Marquess of Montsurrey and future Duke of Canterwick before she was born. Their respective fathers made a pact at university that the Duke’s eldest son would marry Lytton’s eldest daughter and as a result, twins Olivia and Georgiana have been duchified all their life. The Lyttons don’t seem to understand that there aren’t that many spare Dukes hanging around, yet both daughters are trained equally for the task, with The Mirror of Compliments: A Complete Academy for the Attaining unto the Art of Being a Lady as their bible.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland (2012) (MIRA Ink)
Gena Showalter
Grade: A
Genre: young adult / paranormal
Sex scenes: kisses
Source: own
White Rabbit Chronicles: (1) Alice in Zombieland

Alice Bell has been brought up to be scared of the monsters. She has always thought that her father should be certified insane, what with his incessant drinking, irrational fear of things only he can see, and absolute rule that no one leaves the house after dark – but it turns out Alice was very, very wrong. It’s Alice’s birthday and after much fast-talking, pleading and guilt-tripping, she has managed to persuade her parents to leave the house for her younger sister Emma’s evening recital. Ordinarily, they would have never ventured out of the house, and while it was a brilliant performance on Emma’s part, the aftermath wasn’t nearly as pleasant.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Eyre Affair (2001) (Hodder and Stoughton)
Jasper Fforde
Grade: A
Genre: the rag-bag of genres as described below
Source: own, World Book Night edition
Thursday Next: (1) The Eyre Affair, (2) Lost in a Good Book, (3) The Well of Lost Plots

The year is 1985, the Crimean War is still waging on, dodos are in fashion, the public have a fascination with all things literary, and characters from Great English works of literary fiction are in great peril …

Thursday Next is a Crimean War veteran and a member of Special Ops 27: Literary Detectives. Her speciality is Shakespeare and her idea of an exciting day at work would be apprehending a group of literary fraudsters. When a first-edition of Martin Chuzzlewit goes missing, Thursday is put on the case as she designed the security designed to protect the work in the first place. She’s on the trail of Acheron, her former English lecturer at Swindon and a man whose name her superiors don’t dare to even utter. It is said that he knows whenever his name is said, and that no bullet can stop him …