While having various points of views and different angles of storytelling can be really interesting and really effective in some thriller novels, therWhile having various points of views and different angles of storytelling can be really interesting and really effective in some thriller novels, there is such a thing as too much. Watch It Burn is truly an example of too many and too much: too many POVs, too many angles, too much shifting, too many characters, and a major POV character I just wanted to glaze over every time she came on the page.
Some may call this book timely. I call it tired. It was really just below average on every level for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to a three star or lower rating this review will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you. ...more
Do you ever think about just getting in a boat and sailing away from it all? Living on a boat, just the water, wind, and s✨Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars✨
Do you ever think about just getting in a boat and sailing away from it all? Living on a boat, just the water, wind, and sky for your most dependable company as you hop from port to port all around the world?
If you loved Gone Girl but also the drama and suspense of at-sea thrillers, then I think you might love Rachel McGuire’s On the Surface (which has such a pretty cover, perfect for a summertime beach read). This releases on July 9th.
The first half of this book isn’t as solid as the back half, but I’m telling you that the back half practically flies by. I also had some issues with the character building of the law enforcement officers in this book because it seemed a little forced, as if McGuire didn’t completely believe in the veracity of her own characters, but when it came to the rest of the cast the character building was absolutely fascinating.
I’ve been waiting for Sean’s story since the first Elite Escort’s MM book because there’s nothing quite like seeing what happens when a playboy falls I’ve been waiting for Sean’s story since the first Elite Escort’s MM book because there’s nothing quite like seeing what happens when a playboy falls in love. When the hints dropped in Two Chances that Sean was going to go back to college, I was happy la-la at the idea of Sean in a forbidden professor-student romance. The terrific news is this is one hot romance.
Sean has decided to go back to college to get his MBA mainly because he wants to stick it to his old man that he can put in the work and dedication to things just like his big brother, Micah. He sees Micah as the golden boy of the family and he longs for acknowledgment and praise. (I totally feel Sean on this, considering I went to college at 30 specifically to prove I could–but my fuel was spite not affirmation). On the first day of classes he meets Professor Matteo D’Angelo, a widower, who finds himself inexplicably drawn to Sean even though he’s never looked at a man at any point in his entire life. Sean’s thrown deep into the biggest crush of his life and Professor D’Angelo finds himself racked with guilt over being attracted to someone for the first time since he lost his wife (not to mention the terror that comes from finding yourself attracted to one of your students).
I love forbidden romances, and the professor/student dynamic is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to the forbidden tropes. The fact that Sean is an older student and there’s a 10-plus year age gap between him and Matteo doesn’t lessen the hotness of it at all. It’s not quite grumpy-sunshine, but Matteo’s more stoic and mature nature does contrast nicely with Sean’s effervescent and sunny spirit. Matteo needs someone to lighten up his life and Sean needs someone to ground him. They each bring something to the relationship and that’s always a good thing.
I enjoyed the subplot in this book, as well as catching up with Micah and getting to know a couple of the other Elite MM escorts as well. It’s always nice when we get to meet some side characters. It was a great read!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Age Gap Romance/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Forbidden Romance/Gay Romance/Kink Friendly/LGBTQ Romance/MM Romance/Romance Series/Sex Worker/Spice Level 3 ...more
I think it may finally be time for this reviewer to admit, fully and truly, that anything “cozy” just isn’t a good fit in temperament and style.
Yes, I think it may finally be time for this reviewer to admit, fully and truly, that anything “cozy” just isn’t a good fit in temperament and style.
Yes, it may be true that this book ramps up a bit in pacing, action, and thrills toward the end. However, waiting until after the 60% mark to grab enough of my attention that I can keep my eyes open for more than an hour is far too long.
Make no mistake: This is by no means the fault of Sarah Brooks. Brooks is an immensely talented author with a great sense of style, a terrific imagination, and this is one heck of a story. I loved the premise, the characters, and the world building. It was simply the pacing and how sedately this book moved that made me disagreeable. My brain just doesn’t like books that move at a more stately pace like this one does.
I’ve had a lot of similar experiences with cozies this year: I love what they are saying they offer, and often like many other aspects of the book, but they just put me to sleep.
So while I may be rating this three stars because I was ultimately very bored for the vast majority of the book, you may very well love it if you love cozies.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to a rating of three stars or lower this review will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
We Used To Live Here is very hard to describe because it’s a patchwork of influences and genres that ends up making a fast-paced and completely intrigWe Used To Live Here is very hard to describe because it’s a patchwork of influences and genres that ends up making a fast-paced and completely intriguing quilt of vibes that ends up being a terrifying and entertaining read. It’s part House of Leaves (but not quite as gonzo), part Backrooms (but not as desolate), part “Parasite” (like the blurb says, but make it even creepier), and add some gothic sprinkles on top for extra atmosphere.
(If you don’t know what Backrooms are, just look it up on Wiki. Seriously intriguing Creepypasta stuff).
What do you end up with? A book that managed to freak me all the way out (few books do that) and kept me completely engaged all the way from start to finish. I can completely see why this is being made into a film because it’ll make a great one.
It’s not perfect. I felt there were a couple of plot holes and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending, but I could live with the ending as it is. I loved the LGBTQ couple versus the traditional couple aspect and I wish that theme had been explored more, but not exploring it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
It’s a freaky fun time and I think if you want your brain bent for about 320 pages, this is the book you want right now.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
All This & More was one of my most-anticipated novels of 2024 and I have never been more sad to be let down by a book. I loved Choose Your Own AdventuAll This & More was one of my most-anticipated novels of 2024 and I have never been more sad to be let down by a book. I loved Choose Your Own Adventures books as a kid, I am absolutely fascinated by physics, and I love Peng Shepherd's writing. I should never think, “How could things go wrong?”
Where did it go wrong? It’s not the plot. That’s actually pretty solid. It’s not the storytelling device, either (though I will tell you that reading this on a Kindle Paperwhite wasn’t very fun in it’s eARC format, so this might be one of those books where a physical copy might be the preferable format). No, the issue with this book was the protagonist, how poorly-written she was (in my opinion), and how I couldn’t connect with her at all.
I understand speculative fiction. I understand the premise of this book necessitates a plot-forward approach. But some readers need to connect with the protagonist in a story in order to stick with it. I’m one of those people. On the surface, you’d think I would connect with Marsh: I’m in my 40s, I’m a mom, I’m divorced, I have a lot of things I wished I’d done better or different with my life. But it stops at the surface, because I didn’t connect with her at all beyond those superficial traits. As the pages went on I just found myself more and more annoyed with both her and Talia, the main supporting character in this book.
I wish I could tell you I liked this book more, but I didn’t. You can have the best plot and the best idea for a story, but if the characters aren’t the least bit appealing then some readers just can’t vibe with it.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the fact this review is rated three stars or under it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
Shattered Omega part three picks up almost literally where the previous book in the series left off, with everyone absolutely devastated by what damagShattered Omega part three picks up almost literally where the previous book in the series left off, with everyone absolutely devastated by what damage the Lincoln Pack has truly wrought–not only to their apartment, but also to their lives.
And even though Umbra is losing it, Dusk is struggling, and Ransom is panicking…Shatter is dressing for revenge. This time it’s not in the form of a dress, though: It’s in the form of knowledge. The Kingsman Pack is hers, and the Lincoln Park hurt them. Shatter is going to arm herself with as much knowledge as she possibly can in as fast a manner as possible to figure out how to save her alphas and get the Lincoln Pack out of their lives for good.
If her alphas can keep their sh*t together. If the weird mercenary dude the Lincoln Pack has following her around doesn’t straight-up kidnap her first. Just another day for Shatter, right?
This being the last book in the series you can really feel the payoff in so many ways. Shatter is such a unique and creatively-written omega that I find myself almost predicting her reactions and when she does something I’ll say, “That’s just so Shatter”. She’s the cutest, most feral little omega I’ve ever read and I love her to bits. (I don’t know if anyone who reads this review has ever seen the anime Toradora!, but in my mind, Shatter looks a little like Taiga). There are scenes in this book that make me love her so much I want to crawl in the book and be her omega bestie (we can rent a rage room).
The alphas are just as bad, with their insanely cute gestures and endless love for Shatter just the way she is. It’s just the right amount of marshmallow-cute to combat the trauma and darkness that permeates this series.
While I think the ending got a little muddled, I’m not mad about it. I was just so happy to finally read this book and see Shatter and the boys get what they always wanted and really deserved.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Fasten your seat belts, hang on to your hats, and watch the steep drop at the end. Just like Shattered Omega part one, this installment of the ShatterFasten your seat belts, hang on to your hats, and watch the steep drop at the end. Just like Shattered Omega part one, this installment of the Shattered Omega trilogy is a bumpy ride that will leave you (and Shatter!) bruised, love sick, and feeling dizzy from being thrown to and fro as Dusk, Umbra, Ransom, and Shatter try to puzzle out their pasts, how it’s tied to their present, and what that might mean for their futures.
This installment of the series is thick with plot and story, with spice taking more of a backseat this time around. That’s not a bad thing at all! We got to see a whole lot of Shatter’s true personality come out, got to meet and spend time with Ransom, got to spend time with Umbra, and got to see some more of Roxy (in her role as Shatter’s nestie bestie).
There are some truly great scenes in this book that not only show off Mackay’s trademark sense of humor but also show us Shatter’s cute and feral omega side. I lived for those scenes in this book. They made me absolutely goofy. There are also scenes that will both break your heart or grow it three times in size regarding how ignorant Shatter still is about how omegas who were raised in “regular” homes behave or what they instinctively know that she doesn’t.
Did I like it as much as I did part one? No, but I honestly didn’t need to. The middle part of a trilogy tends to be the weaker link. There’s a lot of exposition, a lot of character work, a lot of moving pieces, and so the pacing had to suffer some for it. This isn’t a huge deal to me but it does take a little of the shine off.
But then Shatter gets a revenge dress and the world is good.
Please be aware you will really want to read the warnings and triggers for this book before you begin reading it. Take care of yourself.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. No compensation was offered or accepted in exchange for this review. Thank you.
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up?
Camille’s daughter, Georgie, has two. Bestie isn’t too much of an issue. Her other one, ImagDid you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up?
Camille’s daughter, Georgie, has two. Bestie isn’t too much of an issue. Her other one, Imaginary? Now, that one’s an issue, because it quickly becomes clear that Imaginary isn’t an imagined friend at all, but rather a teacher’s aide at Georgie’s school who somehow knows things about Camille’s past that she’s never told anyone involved in her life about and has taught them to her daughter. Camille has kept her past buried for a reason, and now she’s afraid it’s caught up to her.
The first and third acts of this book are fast-paced and smartly-written. The beginning of the book really hooks you, with an attention-grabbing opening sequence before slinging you into the present day and the frightening start of the main story. The third act is well-written as well, with an even faster pace than the first act as it careens to a really engaging and captivating ending.
It’s the second act where this book suffers a little. It’s not much, mind you. It’s just the pacing that suffers from some stuttering and a little meandering that feels like it could’ve been tightened up a little.
The timeline on this book is non-linear as it switches between the present and back to Camille’s therapy sessions a few years prior to the events of the book. Normally this might feel like a manner of expositional dump and I’d deride it as such, but in this case it really mutually informs and is informed by the plot, so it fits perfectly without feeling plopped so Kent doesn’t have to explain things.
Kent apparently got the idea for this book after reading something about how 1 in 25 people are sociopaths, and that might be true, but it’s important to remember sociopathy is a spectrum of antisocial behaviors and disorders. Camille is a made sociopath, and that’s part of the reason why she resonated with me so much as a character and why this book works so well. Camille still remembers a time when she wasn’t a sociopath. There is an echo of those years in her, a memory of those days and what she wanted and what she went through. She remembers what it was like to want to be loved and seen. This book works because she doesn’t want that life for her kids and will do anything to protect them from it. She’s beyond a mama bear: she’s a mama bear without restraints.
The ending of this book is fantastic, with a great twist. I saw it coming but not until late in the book. I thought I had the whodunit called two other times before I finally called it correct. I always like when I can be surprised by a book these days. I enjoyed it a good deal.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Book Series/Kidnapping/Psychological Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Women’s Fiction ...more
Sometimes you just know, as soon as you start a book, that it’s going to be a five star read.
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books was one of mySometimes you just know, as soon as you start a book, that it’s going to be a five star read.
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books was one of my most-anticipated books of the year. Miller’s previous novel, The Change, was one of my top ten reads of 2022. Some call her writing too on the nose. Some say she beats you over the head with the moral of the story. I say she’s brilliant and they’re wrong. Come fight me.
If The Change was magical realism mixed with literary fiction, then Lula Dean is dark satire mixed with literary fiction. (I won’t even pretend that these two mixtures aren’t two of my favorite genre blends in all of fiction). It’s an exaggerated portrayal of a Hollywood-stereotype small town in Georgia that’s suddenly been plagued by a group of “concerned parents” who want to ban books for the “good of the children”. Too bad knowledge always finds a way, right? Because “banned books” find their way into the community through unlikely means, into unlikely hands, and those books are like pebbles in a pond, creating ripples that start to shift everything in the community.
You want to read a book that includes issues plaguing America right now? It’s in this book. All that hate, all the fear, all the ignorance, all of the shame, and all of the misplaced pride. There’s history, cruelty, and tragedy. Kirsten Miller somehow manages to weave it all together with a dextrous panache that never makes the material feel so heavy you can’t lift the next page.
It’s an absolutely fabulous read that pulled me in, hooked me, and I couldn’t put it down.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Literary Fiction/Satire ...more
Sometimes I just don’t vibe with a book. I can see this book has appealed to a number of readers and has made its way onto a number of “best of” and “Sometimes I just don’t vibe with a book. I can see this book has appealed to a number of readers and has made its way onto a number of “best of” and “must-read” lists. I was looking forward to reading it until I was about 30% of the way through and found myself underwhelmed.
The pacing was slow. The writing was average. The story wasn’t forging a new path or tackling standard paths with new approaches. The characters were interesting but I didn’t find myself getting invested. The science involved and its implications isn’t shocking and is old news in literature.
It was just below average for me. It’s not something I would recommend to people and it’s going to be easy to forget.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the fact this review has a three star or lower rating it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
The Hunger Games book series (like the HP book series) influenced not only a slew of contemporaries at the time of their release but the tweens and teThe Hunger Games book series (like the HP book series) influenced not only a slew of contemporaries at the time of their release but the tweens and teenagers who read The Hunger Games growing up have carried their love of those books through the last 13 or so tumultuous, anxious years since its release to write their own YA dystopian novels in which it’s teenagers against the system. Some of them have brilliant writing and excellent takes on the genre, and some of them just reach a little too far and don’t exactly pay off in the end.
The Kill Factor feels very much like The Hunger Games in a lot of ways (in more ways than not, in my opinion), but it just didn’t touch me in any meaningful or emotional way. The book wants to go deeper and philosophical, and that was actually a great plot choice for author Ben Oliver, but in the third act it felt a little like going “deeper” was switched out for going “brutal” and those aren’t the same thing.
It’s not a bad read, just an average one.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to a three star or lower rating this review will not appear in my social media. Thank you.
Is there a day in your childhood that sticks out in your mind like it happened only yesterday?
For the Finch sisters, it’s the day a boy in town showedIs there a day in your childhood that sticks out in your mind like it happened only yesterday?
For the Finch sisters, it’s the day a boy in town showed them an abandoned house that had a seemingly endless amount of doors and three specific keys, one for each sister. That day changed all three of them, leaving a sort of stain on their souls they were never able to cleanse or forget about. Then, one night, the youngest of the three sisters hangs herself inside the house, an event which opens up old emotional wounds and wakes up memories long since laid to rest. The darkness that claimed one sister permeates all three of them, and now it’s up to the two that remain to keep one another safe and find out what really happened to their little sister.
I felt the same way about Through the Midnight Door as I did about Monroe’s last book, Graveyard of Lost Children: Everything about this book is fantastic except for a single plot point that somehow is just sticking in my craw. Can I tell you what it is? No. That’d be a huge spoiler. All I can tell you is that when this plot point was revealed I felt like a rapidly deflated balloon. That’s how disappointed I was. It’s the kind of disappointment that makes me feel like an author didn’t have the gumption to take a subject or a point to a certain level, to really go for it and write something large. (To be clear, I’m not saying that was Monroe’s intention at all.)
Monroe has done a spectacular job at weaving characterization, worldbuilding, plot, and story in this book. To understand the characters of this book you have to understand the world they grew up in and currently live in, which is a post-2000 American Rust Belt. During the 2000’s, the Rust Belt saw a drop in employment of around 35%, which was over a million jobs. This drop was due to companies in the area not growing along with their rivals in industry and the amount of jobs that were being moved overseas. An unfettered and unchecked pharmaceutical industry was also far too willing to dole out prescription painkillers to white men and women, who sometimes became addicted and then also became dealers and users of other drugs.
Industry towns in the Rust Belt used to be ripe with Boomers working at the plants and sending their Gen X and Millenial kids to university in the large cities, but as the years went on it became harder and harder for parents to send their children anywhere or for children to leave. This is how the family circle of the Finches works and how it informs both the characters and the story. Dad works at a plant, but work has been getting scarcer over the years. Mom has always stayed at home. Their daughters had run kind of wild when they were smaller, but they were as happy as they could be when they knew their parents were struggling to make ends meet. But then there was the boy, and the abandoned house that was somehow creepier than all the other abandoned property around town, and then nothing was ever the same between the three of them.
Poverty, mental illness, child welfare, substance abuse, crime, suicide, strained relationships, secrets, family trauma, gun violence, small town gossip, personal demons, things you wish you could forget, and more are all themes that intertwined at the heart of this book. If you like a book that can bring all of that home tied in a bow, you’re going to like this book.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The Query brothers love layers: Layers of meaning to their book titles, to names, to themes, to characters, and more. Maybe that’s Harrinson’s influenThe Query brothers love layers: Layers of meaning to their book titles, to names, to themes, to characters, and more. Maybe that’s Harrinson’s influence from being a screenplay writer? Who knows. All I know is that the layered meanings in their books is one reason why I absolutely love a Query brothers book. The other reason comes down entirely to the influence of Matt Query on the plot, worldbuilding, and writing: His depth and breadth of knowledge concerning wilderness and nature makes these books not only breathtakingly imagined, but wholly realistic in their scale and terror. When I was reading this book I absolutely knew I wasn’t reading an exaggeration of how dangerous or beautiful the Northern Rockies are, because I bet Matt Query backpacked those mountains before he and Harrison wrote this book (heck, they both might have).
A huge theme in this book is how adults not acting as they should, caring for the children in their communities and fostering their talents, leads to them having to scramble to make their own way in the world and run wild. That’s how our main character, Ben, gets sent to wilderness reform camp for the summer. It’s there where he finds adults are the same everywhere: they’re not truly invested in what’s best for the kids. They’re invested in what’s in it for them. So Ben has no choice but to make his own way and hopefully save a few other souls while he can.
I was really invested in the plot of this book and I actually love the Query way of slow-burn horror. The horror of it all is always made clear pretty early on–it’s just the intensity of the horror that keeps ratcheting up, and it gets so much worse as time goes on. The main issue I had with this book was the narrative style. It was a little too clunky for me, sometimes abruptly switching from third-person omniscient to third-person limited to head jumping. I still highly recommend it, but just be aware of the narrative.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Horror/Supernatural Horror ...more
Cuckoo is one of those books that makes me wish I had: a) Worked out how to actually build my website that I paid for so I could write a long essay abCuckoo is one of those books that makes me wish I had: a) Worked out how to actually build my website that I paid for so I could write a long essay about this book and all its themes and other stuff; or, b) Wish I still wrote really long book reviews that I then had to slice and dice in order to fit them into my social media spaces. In my opinion it’s really that good, that captivating, and that intelligent.
It’s giving me Stephen King’s IT, but make the protagonists all queer in one way or another. It’s giving me “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, but make it body horror to the extreme. It’s giving me cosmic horror, but putting it in the form of brood parasitism (which is a real behavior of cuckoo birds, leading to the metaphor “cuckoo’s egg”).
Why do I love this book other than it’s a queer conversion camp cosmic horror? It comes down to Felker-Martin’s writing, really. Her writing seems to come at you from all sides, all at once, with no quarter given. It’s a full-on assault to your brain in the best way: brutal, gory, inelegant, raw, terrifying, visceral, sensual, erotic, emotional, romantic, heartbreaking, nauseating, and more. When I was reading this book it sometimes felt like I was on an emotional and reactional ride, being carried away with the words on the page almost without consent (but it’s not like I’d have fought the tide anyway).
This was just a terrific read I know I’m going to be recommending forever.
(Be sure to check your TW/CWs thoroughly before reading if you think you’ll need to.)
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Cosmic Horror/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/OwnVoices ...more
I knew as soon as I read the synopsis for this book I needed to read it.
“On Capitol Hill, they work you to death,” is the sentence the blurb leads wiI knew as soon as I read the synopsis for this book I needed to read it.
“On Capitol Hill, they work you to death,” is the sentence the blurb leads with, and how was I supposed to resist that? I love a good political thriller–the more ruthless and scheming the better. One in the Chamber has it all: Corrupt and incompetent lawmakers, nepo babies, racists, limousine liberals, baby interns who will burn out before they ever get a chance to shine, baby progressives who have no power behind their seat, senior centrists who have too much power with too little wits left with which to wield them, a bunch of people telling lies to do what they think is the right thing, and a bunch of people living in a land of delusions.
The thing is, I was really with this book, all the way in with it, until very close to the end. We’re talking maybe around 85% of the way in. Then this book quickly unraveled for me. My unraveled, I mean unspooled. Fast. I felt ripped out of the story I was reading and cast into another. While I understood what was happening and why it was too abrupt and it happened too late in the book for it to feel organic or anything but mocking by that point. It felt…performative. It didn’t feel like it belonged. It felt poorly stitched on, like an afterthought or something badly mended because it was done last second. It was a mess.
The book, up until that last part, was a complicated but masterfully woven quilt of manipulations, strategy, false sympathies, playing to people insecurities, knowing when to push and/or pull, knowing when to back down or when to move ahead, knowing which buttons to push or which levers to pull. We knew we were dealing with an unreliable narrator, and it was fascinating to read as he wove his deceptive web. I just wish that ending could’ve been cleaned up. Then maybe this book would have earned the five stars it originally was headed towards.
I was provided a copy of the physical ARC of this title by the Novel Suspects Insider’s Club (thanks, you guys!). All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Political Fiction/Political Thriller ...more
If Katy Brent writes a third brilliant book I’m going to declare her an auto-buy author, because I loved this book almost as much as I did her 2023 reIf Katy Brent writes a third brilliant book I’m going to declare her an auto-buy author, because I loved this book almost as much as I did her 2023 release, How to Kill Men and Get Away With It. Though the two books are as different as night and day, they’re both flavored with Brent’s distinctive feminist prose and sharp, satirical sociocultural commentary.
This book is smart, thoughtful, emotionally provocative, and morbidly funny. Molly Monroe wakes up one morning after a work party with a strange man in her bed. She doesn’t remember much of anything from the night before. The guy’s name is Jack and he tells her he rescued her after he found her crying and wailing but not able to tell him why somewhere near his house in Vauxhall the night before. He brought her home in an Uber and just stayed with her because he was afraid she’d choke on her own vomit. She’s fully dressed. So is he. She feels fine, except she feels mostly dead from a hangover. He leaves her his number in case she needs to get in touch with him and she reluctantly goes into work, despite the strange looks and weird name-calling she gets from people on the way.
But that’s just the start of a few weeks of the weirdest and most heartbreaking weeks of her life.
The sociocultural commentary is hard and fierce in this book: social media and how it automatically focuses on fetishizing and shaming females who obviously are out of it when they are unknowingly filmed or papped, wives who automatically go after the other woman when they should go after their husbands first, best friends who scream at one another over their habits instead of just automatically helping, and mostly all of the men who dismiss and deride women whenever they have the chance of taking an out.
Katy Brent has more talent in her little finger for straddling that fine line between satire and mockery than most authors in the business. It would be easy for her to dip a toe fully into blaming men for everything, but Brent fully acknowledges that women can sometimes be just as awful. Internal misogyny is a beast and sometimes even the best of women can succumb when they’re weak.
It was brilliant, quick-witted, and sharp. Watch out for TW/CWs, please.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Have you ever felt like it took you a long time to get to where you were meant to be? Like you didn’t mean to take the scenic route, but you did and nHave you ever felt like it took you a long time to get to where you were meant to be? Like you didn’t mean to take the scenic route, but you did and now you know you were meant to take that route the whole time? Like you would have missed something vital if you hadn’t?
That feeling, combined with an oversaturation of Gen X nostalgia, makes up the majority of the sentiment, story, and romance of Slow Dance.
(Yeah, I can say that because I’m Gen X and I not only had friends just like these characters but I could’ve lived lives similar to theirs if I didn’t grow up in a town smaller than even Omaha (though I don’t live in Nebraska)).
I’m normally a huge fan of Rainbow Rowell. I’ve read almost everything else she’s written and I own most of it, too. Her strengths tend to be dialogue, character building, character arcs, and emotions. These are all things I have always loved and admired about her writing. Everyone in her books is messy, vulnerable, and terribly human. No one looks perfect and no one’s okay. I love how Rowell isn’t afraid to write incredibly mundane people falling in love in the most haphazard, dazzling ways. The issue I had with Slow Dance was that I really disliked Shiloh and Cary read much like her other male characters from her contemporary novels.
So while the dialogue was sharp and witty and the emotional messiness was alive and well, I just wasn’t invested in the romantic relationship between Shiloh and Cary. I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed and left a few loose ends flapping.
What I do think is that this book might be a lot better in audiobook format. This seems like the type of book that would read well that way. I don’t listen to audiobooks, but for some reason I kept coming back to that thought. I also think if I had liked Shiloh more I would’ve rated this book higher.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. A rating of three stars or lower means this review will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Contemporary Romance/Spice Level 1/Women’s Fiction ...more
I was invited to view this after I had already sworn I wasn’t going to accept any more January ARCs. Then I saw the blurb for this book and I just couI was invited to view this after I had already sworn I wasn’t going to accept any more January ARCs. Then I saw the blurb for this book and I just couldn’t pass it up because of my grandmother and great aunts. My grandmother was a regular Rosie the Riveter, helping to build war planes during WWII and my two great aunts ran a diner on a local airfield where they trained troops while their husbands were abroad fighting (my grandmother wasn’t married yet, not that she stayed married for long (I miss her so much)). I was extremely close to my grandma and I adored my great aunts. They were a hoot and a half. I just couldn’t turn this book down.
I’m so glad I didn’t, because this book is just like my grandma and great aunts: a hoot and a half, with quite a lot of story to tell. I laughed a lot and loved the story from beginning to end.
CJ Wray did an impeccable job crafting a story that straddles the past and the present (well, the past and 2022), telling the story of Josephine and Penny Williamson, two elderly women who served England in WWII. In the present timeline they’re traveling with their beloved and loyal great-nephew, Archie, to France so they can receive a medal for their service during the war. The past is the stories of their youth and their adventures in the service and out. These two old ladies had once had quite a number of adventures–good, bad, illegal, legal, sad, mad, amorous, and more.
All of the characters are colorful and well-written. The dialogue is absolutely delightful. Archie is a darling and his great aunts are the kind of great aunt I always wanted to be one day. The story reminds us of just what our elderly went through and how little of them are still left now. It’s a great story all around.
I was provided access to this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Historical Fiction/Military Fiction ...more
After so, so, so so so long, we finally get Toby and Blaise’s story. Something has been brewing between these two since the end of the Reckless DamnedAfter so, so, so so so long, we finally get Toby and Blaise’s story. Something has been brewing between these two since the end of the Reckless Damned series and through the first two of the books in this Damned Connections series. By the time author Lark Taylor got to the end of the previous book, Justice, I was positively foaming at the mouth for this book and I can’t help but wonder if that’s where I went wrong, because I loved this book but it just wasn’t the story I thought Toby and Blaise deserved.
This has nothing to do with Taylor’s talents as a storyteller: As per usual, Lark wrote a great story that stands up to most criticism. The problem I see is that it’s standing up against her other works and the background story arc between Toby and Blaise and this book just falls a little short of doing either justice. We have waited a long time for this story and that deserved a big payoff, but there was just too much going on in this book to devote it all to Toby and Blaise’s love story.
It has a rough, if sexy, take-off, but an amazing landing. The pacing seems stuttered because this book covers a longer time period than most of Taylor’s books and there’s a lot of things that need to happen and a lot of stuff to work through, as well as many sublime spicy scenes written in (and they’re hot, trust). New characters are introduced and we see newer characters again in preparation for the next book in this series and the new series that’s coming up.
It’s just a lot of material for a book I felt should’ve been dedicated almost entirely to the romance between Toby and Blaise, because if anyone deserves that treatment it’s these two. They have had an epic story behind the scenes and I just wanted more of them. That doesn’t mean this book isn’t fantastic, because I’ve yet to read a Lark Taylor book I didn’t love, but it does mean I couldn’t have loved it more.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
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