Review: The lost ones by Anita Frank

Title: The lost ones

Author: Anita Frank

Genre: historical fiction – Mystery – Paranormal

Pages: 464

Goodreads rating: 4.01/5

My rating: 5/5

Synopsys:

Some houses are never at peace.

England, 1917
 
Reeling from the death of her fiancé, Stella Marcham welcomes the opportunity to stay with her pregnant sister, Madeleine, at her imposing country mansion, Greyswick – but she arrives to discover a house of unease and her sister gripped by fear and suspicion.

Before long, strange incidents begin to trouble Stella – sobbing in the night, little footsteps on the stairs – and as events escalate, she finds herself drawn to the tragic history of the house.

Aided by a wounded war veteran, Stella sets about uncovering Greyswick’s dark and terrible secrets – secrets the dead whisper from the other side…

Review:

I won a copy of this book through the author’s Instagram profile, which has not influenced my opinion. I’m pleased to had the opportunity to read such a great book!

I love reading stories about ghosts or/and haunted houses, I think it is my fave genre, best if it’s also historical.

The lost ones can seem very long with nearly 500 pages, but I was completely drawn by it, even if sometimes the plot was a little predictable. The style of the author’s writing and the revelation of the past of Greyswick mansion is captivating, and I love Stella, the main character, alongside her maid, and a secondary character I can’t reveal for spoilers. The entire plot has reminded me a little of In the shadow of blackbirds by Cat Winters, one of my fave books of all time. The lost ones have quickly become one of them too.

I recommend it to the lovers of gothic historical fiction with a touch of the supernatural.

The time hunters saga: review

Hello readers! I’m finally back with a review!

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This will be a general review of the first five installment in the series. There’s a sixth book that I didn’t read yet.

Title: The Time hunters

Author: Carl Ashmore

Genre: Sci -fi/Time Travel/Young Adult

General rating: 5/5

Add on: Goodreads

The time hunters is a great series, and even if GR says that’s young adult, an older middle-grade reader will find it really entreating.

I found it by chance on Amazon unlimited, and quickly became addicted, I easily gave all the first 4 books in the series 5 stars on GR, except for the fifth, with a solid 3 stars.

The plot is simple, at the beginning: Joe and Becky, brother and sister, are invited to spend the summer holidays with their Uncle Percy, an eccentric man who lives at Bowen Hall. They didn’t know that Uncle Percy is a time traveller!

Each book is set in a different era, a bunch of characters are a costant in every story, and it’s fascinating to read all their adventures. The reader will encounter a lot of famous character and creatures (yes, even dinosaurs!) during the time travels.

There are the villains, and they are really mean. There’s a great sense of family and friendship, to try to being kind and do the right things, but the books deal also with some darker pages of our history, like the Olocaust. Keep that in mind for younger readers.

I found myself crying and laughing and hold my breath during my reading sessions, and with the progress of the series, the plot became more violent, and darker and complicated, that’s why the fifth book hasn’t reached the 5 stars for me.

I still reccomend this underrated series, if you have read it or plan to, feel free to comment below! I would love to hear your opinion!

Wrap Up: July 2020

Hello readers, how are you?

How’s your reading? I’m pretty satisfied with my readings, even in this hot summer days! I will take a brief holiday in the next two weeks, with extra attention to the Coronavirus emergency.

I managed to read 12 books during July (HOW??) and no DNF on the horizon!

5 stars:

Saiyuki reload blast 3: I need to say something?! It’s Saiyuki, you know? My favourite manga and anime ever, we have a new volume every 3 years, more or less.

The apple orchard is a short story I found for free on Amazon. It’s heartbreaking, so be prepared.

S.C.R.E.A.M. The mummy’s revenge is an amazing middle-grade historical fiction with a lot of action, monsters and a main character with a disability! This is my new favourite series!

4 stars:

The second book in the Hunchback Assignments series, The Dark Deeps has a strong steampunk setting and a lot of emotions involved.

3 stars:

Lost London is a non-fiction book really interesting, but sometimes too much fixated on pubs or shops, and less on historical places.

I received an E-ARC of The Candlelit menagerie: the cover is gorgeous, the story is tragic and full fo death, it’s not an easy book to love.

The wish tree is a lovely illustrated book for younger readers.

A horror novella about a blanket…Blanky was a little disappointing to me.

A deadly affection has a beautiful cover and an interesting main character, too modern for the setting of the book.

1 star:

I’ve loved the first series of Kill the granny, a comics about a cat who want revenge for his… against the granny, but this 2.0 volume it’s dull and not funny at all.

Another Italian book: Il diavolo ai giardini Cavour is a crime book set in my city, Turin, but all the characters are so negative and unbearable!

Helltown is definitely the worst volume of the world scariest places series. Sexist and ableist, please pay attention to all the trigger warning of this book.

And that’s all for my reading during July!

Have you read some 5 stars books this month? Tell me in the comments below.

Best books I’ve read so far (2020)

Hello readers! I began, a couple of weeks ago, to write the Mid-Year freak out book tag, but then I decided to change it to a simple best/worst books I’ve read so far, mostly because I’m not the tyoe of reader to know every single release of the year, and because I totally forgot nearly all the characters names of the books I’ve read.

So there you can find all the magnificent books I’ve read in the first half of 2020.

A lot of blue in those covers! We have historical fiction, middle grade, non-fiction. I’m gklad to have found new favorite authors (like Carl Ashmore) and to have the possibility to talk about these underrated titles.

And you, have you read great books during these months? Tell me in the comments!

Wrap Up: June 2020

Hello readers!

I’m a little late with wrap up post, I’m sorry, but I’m still in and out of the hospital, so life is a little complicated right now.

I managed to read 10 books in June!

4,5 Stars:

Stitch Head: a lovely gothic story, with a remarkable main character.

The Titanic detective agency: I’m obsessed with the Titanic, and this is a middle grade about a girl of the second class and a boy in the third class.

4 stars:

Big Mushy Happy lump: why it was so relatable? So funny!

3 stars:

Adulthood is a myth: a little less funny (for me) than the second one.

The medium: a historical m/m romance so cute. Attention to the trigger warnings about the supernatural aspect of the story.

2 stars:

The black country: The Yard, the first one in the series, was so good, but this second book not so much. The characters are flat, the mystery is really strange and unsettling.

The laughing cherub guide to past life regression: sooo bored!

Angelfall: the second book ever that I bought in English, many years ago. (The first one was Fangirl). I liked Raffe, but not Penryn.

Confessions of a funeral director: interesting for the first two chapters, then it became so religious and God centred. It’s also confusional when it talks about the family.

Ace, what asexuality reveals about desire, society and the meaning of sex: I received as an ARC via Edelweiss, but I don’t find it ispirational, only confusional or predictable.

 

And that’s was my reading month!

How was your reading month? Have you read some good books?

 

 

 

Wrap Up: May 2020

Hello readers, sorry for the late post!

How are you? I would have the time to post more during May, unfortunately I had severe illness coming back, and I’m still not feeling really well, so I don’t know how much I will posting during the next month.

Rest assured that I tried to read all your blog posts, even if I didn’t leave a comment so often.

In May I’ve read 10 books plus one DNF.

5 stars:

The time hunters and the box of eternity: the second volume in the Time Hunters saga is even better than the first one! A great group of characters, actions and really evil villains. And have you seen the cover?

The adventures of Sophie Mouse, a new friend: I’m totally in love with this series, the illustrations are beautiful!

4 Stars:

And then you’re dead:well, that was funny! Don’t read it if you’re hypochondriac or really anxious!

3 stars:

Real haunted cemeteries and graveyards: good to know just a little fact here and there, mostly American cemeteries, but without real information or names of the witness.

The heiress of Linn Hagh: it’s not worthy of Agatha Christie, I’m sorry. The mystery is good but not excellent, the characters are not likeable, especially the detective.

2 stars:

The clockwork crow: beautiful cover, poor and predictable plot, the crow is the only character that I liked.

All my friends are dead: I was expecting more. It wasn’t so funny.

1,5 star

Two gothic/supernatural historical fiction that both disappointing me. The seer of shadows is, in fact, a middle grade (and I love middle-grade books) with flat characters and a rush ending. Odd & True is my biggest disappointment of the year so far: Cat Winters is the best to write women in a historical context, but this book is just boring and the sisters are annoying.

DNF:

The honjin murders

 

And that was my reading month, how was yours?

Tell me in the comments!

Wrap Up: April 2020

Hello readers, we are back again with a recap of my reading this month.

How are you doing with the lockdown?

In April I participated in the Magical Readathon (O.W.L.s) so I managed to read 11 books!

Unfortunately, 4 of these are 1-star books.

5 stars:

The Hunchback assignments is a great historical fiction/steampunk with a really unusual main character. Modo is a hunchback rescued by a freak show who is also a shapeshifter. He became a spy, and this story is full of action.

3 stars:

The Romanovs: the final chapter is about the final days, the murder and the research of the bodies of the Romanov family. Is really gruesome at the beginning, but it became boring with the discussions about DNA and the investigations.

The transatlantic conspiracy has an amazing idea (a train who runs underwater between Europe and America!!), a beautiful cover and a really good description. The mystery is a little bland.

Goddess of the hunt is a collection of poetry, I enjoyed it because it’s about asexuality, even if poetry isn’t my cup of tea.

Clockwork gold is a short story set in Australia with a little bit of steampunk, but it’s a love story, in the end.

2 stars:

Il quarto fato (sorry, it’s only in Italian!) is a retelling inspired by One thousand and one nights, written really well, but I can’t stand the main character.

Unfortunately, I’ve read Greenglass house only months ago, and my rating is influenced by this. The last chance hotel is basically the same story, but less captivating.

1 star:

Mountain of the dead: fourth book (for me) of this series, it became more misogynist every book I read. But I made a promise to finish it, and there’s one last book.

Convenience store woman was interesting in the beginning, but I can’t stand the MC or her lifestyle during the story.

I had great expectations for Incarnation, a sort of retelling of Dracula where Lucy tries to find who transform her in a vampire, but as always, the author treats Bram Stoker very badly, and I can’t accept this.

Readers, I present you the most boring, the worse advertised, the most helpful if you suffer by insomnia book of all the time: Bellman & Black.

And that’s all for this month!

Have you read some good books in April?

Tell me in the comments!

 

Wrap Up: March 2020

Hello readers, how are you?

I’m writing to you from northern Italy, so we are still in lockdown, but today begin the Magical Readathon, so I’m pretty excited!

In March I managed to read 9 books, and I DNFed only one book. As always, if the book it’s in my first language (Italian), I will write the translated title too.

5 Stars:

It’s insensitive to read a book about a woman who carries a disease during a pandemic? Probably, but I’ve learned so much thanks to Fever, that’s inspired by real events.

Edelweiss sent me this super cute children book, and Little Ghost is definitely the cutest ghost I ever saw.

Thanks to Kindle Unlimited I discovered the Time Hunters series, and it’s incredible, I can’t wait to read the other volumes!

3 stars:

The adventures of Tom Finch, gentleman, is a surprising historical fiction about a blind musician. I’ve loved the ending.

Do you know that I love books with weird/long titles? Keep smiling, your teacup is levitating is the perfect example, a non-fiction book about ghosts, strange scream in the night, etc…

I’ve heard a lot of things about Jackaby, and at first, I enjoyed it, but I prefer books with the same situations, but with more deepness, darker characters.

2 stars:

If you ask me what’s my favourite seaside city in the world, I probably will answer Whitby, UK, so I was pretty excited about Never the bride, set in Whitby with monsters and the bride of Frankenstein who runs a B&B, but it was disappointing.

The confectioner’s guild has a beautiful cover, a lot of YA clichès (love triangle, love at first sight, special snowflake syndrome, I love you but I can’t be with you…) and even if talks about cakes, sweets and food a lot (YEEAAH), I found it fatphobic, and I didn’t like it.

I colori delle stelle (sorry, no translated title) talks about the months Gauguin and Van Gogh has spent together in Arles. I love Van Gogh with all my heart, and I enjoyed the second half of the book, unfortunately, it’s not well written.

DNF:

Another beautiful cover here, but Eyelet is a whiny, spoiled ungrateful main character. I couldn’t stand her, so Lumière is my DNF of this month.

 

Wrap Up: February 2020

Hello readers! How are you?

We have finally the rain back, after 70 days without a single drop from the sky, sigh.

In February, thanks to the Demonathon too, I manage to read 11 books!

5 stars:

This is going to hurt is a solid 5 stars for me! I laughed, I cried and I learned a lot of medical things that scared the hell out of me.

Ella, The slayer surprised me! It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in 1918, with Ella who slays “zombies” with a katana. Weird but interesting and funny, I’ve loved the relationship between all the characters!

3 stars:

Midday Moon 1: thanks Kindly Unlimited for all this yaoi manga! This has a lovely (and angst) story, and look at the cover!!

L’origine delle specie (On the origin of the species) well… I’m happy to have read another classic, but honestly, it was too long.

Guns of liberty is the first ARC I received through BookSirens. I fell in love with the cover, but was boring in fact.

Don’t go there: I didn’t know the Dyatlov Pass Mystery until I discover the series by Jeremy Bates. I began with this book because it’s non-fiction written by a Russian author. It’s interesting, but in needs of a good editor.

Greenglass House is a middle-grade mystery, set in a beautiful house full of secrets, it caught my attention but then was predictable.

2 stars:

Replay: An ARC of a yaoi manga I received thanks to Edelweiss, it was cute, but with a serious problem of format.

Paved with good intentions: it’s so similar to Good Omens, in particular to Aziraphale and Crowley, but without all the English humour and with chapters more suitable to a tv show.

Ready player one: well, surprise, I didn’t like a superhyped book! I didn’t understand most of the references, but I admit that the world was interesting.

1 star:

Ally Rose la quinta vittima (sorry, they didn’t translate it!) it’s an urban fantasy full of s*x scenes, love triangle, love/hate relationship and, unfortunately, with a lot of typos.

And that was my reading month!

How was yours? Have you read some good book?

Tell me in the comments!

 

 

 

 

 

Wrap Up: January 2020

Hello readers, how are you?

Welcome to the first wrap up of 2020! In January I managed to read 9 books, with one DNF.

As always, I will include also the books I read in Italian, with the translated title, if exist.

5 stars:

Look, 2 books with 5 stars rating! How it is even possible?

Arbrook Huxley & the star crossed lovers is another short story from The Celestial Isles series. It was so funny and delightful!

Bewitch me: I love this cover so much, even if it doesn’t suit well for the story, a funny and supernatural adventure with witches and demons.

3 stars:

Ok, also the cover of The strings of murder is beautiful, right? Every single cover of this series is amazing, unfortunately I couldn’t stand the main character.

I’ve found The book of general ignorance in the house I rent in London, and it was a light read.

I didn’t know the history of Belle Gunness, so it was interesting to read Hell’s Princess, my first book finished in 2020. It became a little boring past the middle.

2 stars:

I discovered that also manga, comics and yaoi manga (m/m) are included in my Kindle Unlimited, so now on you will see it more frequently on this blog. Tricky Prince 1 is yaoi, but was pretty plain for me.

How disappointed I was when I finished The boy, the bird & the coffin maker! I don’t know if I am too old or too cynic, but it gave nothing to me.

1 star/DNF:

See what I have done is my first DNF of the year. I’m really interested in the Lizzie Borden story, but the writing style was awful and so weird.

Please, don’t hate me, I’m not a bad person, but I don’t comprehend and don’t like the kind of story where you can’t identify if there’s really something paranormal or not. Also, the ending of The boy who could see demons was terrible.

And that’s all, have you read some amazing books in January?

Tell me in the comments!