WHSmith Zoella & Friends Book Club: Review (Books 1-4)


I have been loving the Zoella Book Club with WHSmith since it started last year. 

I was actively involved with the first round of the book club last summer and then WHSmith kindly sent me the entire book bundle for round two in October. Round one had us discussing each book in turn, via WHSmith's Twitter account, and round two gave me the chance to interview the authors, also via Twitter.

You can see my various blog posts and videos for the first two rounds of the book club here:

Zoella Book Club (Summer 2016 - Round One):


Zoella Book Club (Autumn 2016 - Round Two):




Zoella & Friends Book Club (Summer 2017 - Round Three):


  • Unboxing (video)
  • Review (video - coming soon)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I read the first four books in the order of the book club:
(You can buy the complete eight-book bundle here)

Remember, you can only get these exclusive book club covers at WHSmith.

So let's get started with the reviews!

Before continuing, please be aware that there are some spoilers ahead.

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J Maas


If you've been anywhere near me in the last few weeks - either in person or via social media - then you will have probably heard me mention these books once or twice (or one hundred times, but who's counting?)

So I decided to film a video for my YouTube channel, reviewing the books and having a general chat about them. The first part of the video is spoiler-free and then I go into talking about particular parts of the book, so there's something for everyone, whether you've read them or not. 

Please remember that these books are classed as young adult. I know I often review middle grade and YA books but these books contain themes not suitable for younger readers.

You can see the video below or watch through YouTube here:

Celebrating 225 Years of WHSmith: Our Favourite Books


WHSmith are celebrating their 225th anniversary and to kick things off this year they asked people to share their favourite books. Read the WHSmith blog post here.

I got involved and got people talking about their favourites. So, let's get on to the answers I got to the following two questions, as asked by WHSmith:


  • What is your favourite fiction book written in the last 225 years?
  • What is your favourite children's book written in the last 225 years?



Here are the responses for favourite fiction book:

Spoiler-Free Book Review: Hold Back The Stars by Katie Khan


For my latest YouTube video I did a spoiler-free review of Katie Khan's debut novel Hold Back The Stars, which you can watch below:


Buy it here: Hold Back The Stars by Katie Khan

In my video I give a brief summary of the book, talk about the characters and the plot and give my honest thoughts on the book as a whole.

My favourite part to film in my book review video was the section I'm calling "If it was made into a movie". I love films as well as reading books so I enjoy thinking about who I would cast as the main characters if it was ever made into a film.

Katie Kahn actually watched the video and sent me a lovely message through Twitter: