Normally, I love historical fantasy. Normally, I absolutely love historical fantasy set in Italy (whether it’s supposed to be our Italy or if it’s jusNormally, I love historical fantasy. Normally, I absolutely love historical fantasy set in Italy (whether it’s supposed to be our Italy or if it’s just inspired by our Italy). Normally, I love coming of age fantasy. Despite all this book should’ve had going for it, this book just wasn’t my cup of tea.
If you don’t mind books that don’t even seem to commit to a solid plot until halfway through the book, then you’ll like this book. If you don’t mind a lack of worldbuilding and atmosphere, then you’ll like this book. If you like a protagonist who’s a bit of a supercilious dullard, then you’ll like this book.
I, however, didn’t like this book. Which is sad, because I went into it thinking I would. Paolo Bacigalupi isn’t a bad writer, I just don’t think he’s the writer 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. This review is rated three stars or under and will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Fantasy/Historical Fantasy ...more
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
Before you ask: Yes, this is a kissing book. It also has a brave maiden, true friends, lecherous royals, malicious intentions, a king of legend, a draBefore you ask: Yes, this is a kissing book. It also has a brave maiden, true friends, lecherous royals, malicious intentions, a king of legend, a dragon with a treasure, a curse, magic, battle scenes, betrayal, and true love.
I’m surprised this wasn’t marketed as a YA book, because it definitely could’ve found a great niche in that market. Our FMC, Fryda, is the daughter of her clan’s chieftain and kin to King Beowulf. Even though she is about twenty and should have been married by the time the book starts in earnest, she remains unmarried because seven years prior to the present-day events of the book she fell into a chasm in the earth and mangled one of her hands, which caused her intended to break off their engagement. She’s been deemed unmarriageable ever since. Not that she really wants to be married off, considering she holds a deep affection for one of the clan’s slaves, Theow, a Celt who was stolen from his homeland as a child.
This is Sharon Emmerichs’ debut novel, and as debuts go it was a terrific effort. The characters may be tried-and-true formulaic, but they are vibrant and have flaws and vulnerabilities. There are surprises hidden in some of the characters, both good and bad. Emmerichs’ definitely did her due diligence in the research department, even if some liberties have been taken with linguistics for the time period (I’m not an expert on 6th century Sweden demographics, though). To this day there is academic debate as to whether or not Beowulf originated as an oral tradition with pagan roots, a tale written by Christians, or if the truth is a happy medium. Emmerichs’ seems content to go with the happy medium route and not to try to deviate and for the purposes of Shield Maiden that seems to fit just fine.
The book really is enjoyable, with multiple POVs (but not so many that you go dizzy with them). The pacing is nice and brisk without any filler material. The only true downfall to this book, in my opinion, is that it’s rather shallow. It’s so fast-paced and determined not to be slow that none of the emotions invoked by the book have time to settle in and be processed by either the reader or the characters before all of a sudden we’re off to do something else. As a result, the highs don’t get to shimmer as much and the lows don’t get to sink so much. You don’t get a chance to feel any of it.
It is an enjoyable read though, especially for the YA set. I liked it a lot.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Epic Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Historical Fantasy/Mythological Retelling ...more
I read the first book in this series back when I started doing this whole ARC reading/reviewing thing and it was an unexpected treat, so when I got anI read the first book in this series back when I started doing this whole ARC reading/reviewing thing and it was an unexpected treat, so when I got an invite to read and review the sequel I jumped on it right away and I’m glad I did because not only is The Devil’s Promise an even better novel than The Ghost Tracks, but Celso Hurtado has really grown as a writer in the two years since The Ghost Tracks was published and it shows.
I’m not going to explain the plot of The Ghost Tracks for those who aren’t familiar with it. You can go and look up the blurb or something. An even better suggestion is to go read it! I can’t emphasize how much you really can’t read The Devil’s Promise and understand it without reading The Ghost Tracks. You’ll be extremely lost and won’t understand Erasmo, the book’s main character, in any way unless you do that. Then come read this book. Also! I don’t know if the final, published version of this book will have TW/CWs in place, but there is a lot of material in this book worthy of such warnings, so you may want to go look them up if you’re a person who needs such warnings.
The Devil’s Promise picks up a few months after The Ghost Tracks left off. Erasmo’s grandmother is in the hospital and they don’t know if she’ll make it. He and his ex-bestie still aren’t speaking. Erasmo is trying to work as much as possible to pay hospital bills but he’s hardly making a dent as more and more come in. He’s not good. Then he gets an email reply to his Craiglist ad from a man who claims to have just realized he may have made a pact with the Devil when he was a teenager and now the payment has come due.
I don’t want to go any further with explaining the plot itself than that because of spoilers and because letting the plot unfold is one of the best things this book has to offer. It’s layered, surprising, depraved, seductive, and dark. It’s also nasty and very violent in some parts.
The Ghost Tracks had a lot to say about friendship. This book has a lot to say about family. Erasmo spends most of this book in a dazed and confused state, full of inner musings about the parents who abandoned him when he was small, the grandmother who loves him unconditionally and could quite possibly die before he becomes a legal adult, the grandfather who’s passed but looms so large in his memory, and the envy he feels constantly toward anyone and everyone who has a family and everything they want when he just feels lost, alone, and broken.
This book is marketed as YA, but it honestly shouldn’t be pigeonholed like that. Erasmo may only be 17, but he’s lived more than some adults have and has had to shoulder more responsibilities and see more things than most adults have. I think supernatural and occult horror fans would be surprised by how much they might enjoy 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.
File Under: Amateur Sleuth/Body Horror/Book Series/Coming of Age/Cult Horror/Horror/Occult Horror/OwnVoices/Supernatural Horror/YA Book Series/YA Fiction/YA Horror...more
This isn’t your standard fantasy. It’s more like if someone wrote fantasy in the style of literary fiction, which is somethiReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
This isn’t your standard fantasy. It’s more like if someone wrote fantasy in the style of literary fiction, which is something I normally eat up with a spoon and ask for second helpings of. It just didn’t happen with The Book of Love, though.
The Book of Love is lovingly crafted and intricately woven. The story is compelling enough to start and engaging enough to keep reading until somewhere in the third act where I found myself losing steam. I finished the book and I liked it but I can’t say it’s something I’d read again.
Kelly Link is a brilliant writer, but this book should’ve been shorter. I fell in love with the story, the characters, the world building, and the dialogue, but nothing can save a book from a plodding pace.
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/Fantasy/Occult Fiction/Supernatural Fantasy/Urban Fantasy ...more
I went to a writing workshop taught by author Christian Kiefer once and he said something along the lines of, “Every story is basically The Odyssey toI went to a writing workshop taught by author Christian Kiefer once and he said something along the lines of, “Every story is basically The Odyssey told over and over again in different ways”.
A Short Walk Through a Wide World (to be known as ASWTAWW from here on out) is, essentially, an Odyssean story, save Odysseus starts the journey in 1885 as a nine year-old girl named Aubry finds an enigmatic wooden puzzle ball on the ground in front of the house of a neighbor who has died in her home city of Paris. Very shortly after Aubry finds this ball, she becomes struck with some sort of weird affliction that keeps her on the move: She can’t stay in a city for more than a couple of days without starting to die, and she can never go back from whence she came.
This is a wonderfully written book: It’s engaging, interesting, emotional, insightful, and incredibly intriguing. The book is informally broken up into three acts: The beginnings of Aubry’s journey and some of her lessons in love, her adventures in friendship and the beginnings of discovering what the book calls the “Terra Obscura”, and then the book gets more retrospective and sentimental as Aubry grows older and more forgetful after wandering the Earth for almost her entire life before starting to tie some things together for the ending.
It’s a thoughtfully crafted story, written by an author who obviously treasures knowledge in all forms and put a lot of care into his story.
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/Historical Fantasy/Literary Fiction/Magical Realism ...more
Women’s fiction is one of those genres I’m picky about reading. Most of the time it doesn’t appeal to me; However, when Rachel Kapelke-Dale writes it Women’s fiction is one of those genres I’m picky about reading. Most of the time it doesn’t appeal to me; However, when Rachel Kapelke-Dale writes it I’m guaranteed to read it. I’ve been a fan since The Ballerinas. In my opinion, The Fortune Seller is her best book yet.
In The Fortune Seller we go back to the familiar ground of important female friendships, like in The Ballerinas. Those important friendships had been formed in youth, while these were formed at Yale. As in The Ballerinas, these ties of friendship are also based on an expensive and focused talent: EQ, or equitation. They are all equitation riders for Yale University and everyone knows horse girls are a special breed of girl.
But there are horse girls and there are girls who have horses. Our protagonist, Rosie, is a horse girl. Born in Illinois to veterinarian parents and brought up on 4-H and helping hands from charities who help kids get into horse riding, Rosie is talented enough to get onto Yale’s team but not rich enough to ever go pro. Her three friends are all girls with horses. And then there’s Annelise. Annelise rides like a horse girl, swans about like a girl with horses, but what is she really?
This book is predictable, yes, but I have gotten used to putting that out of the way because I’d never enjoy a book again if I let that get to me at this point. So, putting that aside, this book is fabulous. As always, Kapelke-Dale writes female friendships so well. The complexity, vulnerability, wickedness, beauty, tragedy, and the seeming obliviousness of it all. How it seems like we think we know our friends so well when we don’t know them at all. How female friendships, especially at college-age, can turn on a dime. How vicious we can be.
The story is great because it’s about self-fulling prophecies and the little lies we need to tell ourselves to get through the day that end up leading to larger lies that have the potential to rule us. It’s about complacency in our lives and our silence. It’s a terrific read for sure.
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/Suspense/Women’s Fiction ...more
This book was amazingly diverse in so many ways: Native American representation, socioeconomic representation, ethnic representation, mental health reThis book was amazingly diverse in so many ways: Native American representation, socioeconomic representation, ethnic representation, mental health representation (I’ll get back to that), and so much LGBTQIA+ representation I was absolutely giddy for the queerness of it all.
I only have one huge gripe with this book: Did it have to be so predictable? That’s what lost this book a star. Well, that and the fact that I didn’t love the book enough to need it on my own bookshelves.
Don’t get me wrong: I truly enjoyed the book. I was hooked on it from the beginning and engaged from start to finish (in spite of the predictability). The story is compelling, especially with the added diversity and representation angles that aren’t simply thrown in for the sake of marketing appeal. Edgmon is definitely using fantasy’s ability to comment on sociopolitical and sociocultural issues to full potential with this book and I was living for all of it.
I can’t tell anyone reading this or the author in the length of a book review how much the mental health representation in this book meant to me. I may be cisgender, but Gem’s mental health struggles in some ways feel so much like the ones I’ve dealt with my whole life as a bipolar and having BPD. That feeling of needing to do whatever I can to keep people’s love, attention, and to keep myself safe. That feeling of sometimes not knowing if you’re real (I call it “my meat suit doesn’t feel right”), saying things you don’t mean, acting out even though you don’t even want to and then having to face the aftermath of your destruction once the episode passes? Yeah. I’ve been there. When I was a teenager I would’ve given anything for a book like this to identify with. I’m glad teenagers today have books like these to identify with.
So even though this may not be something I want to live on my bookshelves, I highly recommend it to all of you. Please, go read it. It’s everything diverse and important fantasy needs.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was written without compensation. Thank you.
File Under: Book Series/Coming of Age/Disability Rep/Fantasy/Romantasy/Fantasy Series/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/OwnVoices/Psychological Fiction/Supernatural Fantasy/Urban Fantasy/YA Fantasy/YA Romantasy ...more
If you take Alice Hoffman, Rachel Griffin, Erin A. Craig, and Krystal Sutherland I think that’s how you come up with Kate Pearsall and Bittersweet in If you take Alice Hoffman, Rachel Griffin, Erin A. Craig, and Krystal Sutherland I think that’s how you come up with Kate Pearsall and Bittersweet in the Hollow. The strong familial feel and solid community setting remind me greatly of Hoffman, while the atmosphere, imagery, and strong ties to geography reminds me of Griffin. The dark, folk magic and horror of the book definitely reminds me both of Craig and Sutherland. Whatever the influences, though, this was a fantastic read that snagged my attention from the first sentences and didn’t let up until the last page.
Bittersweet in the Hollow takes place over the course of a single summer. It starts with the disappearance of the previous year’s Moth Queen, which happens to occur on the anniversary of the day our protagonist, Linden, disappeared on the night of the Moth-Winged Man celebrations (also known as the Summer Solstice) and then reappeared the next morning with no memory of what had happened the night before. The Appalachian mountains are full of missing people, but in the small town of Caball Hollow, she’s the second of what’s now three known people to have disappeared on the night of the summer solstice and the only one to have come back. This fact doesn’t help matters when everyone knows that Linden and her family aren’t exactly the same as everyone else, though not everyone is exactly aware that the women of their family are witches.
Pearsall writes absolutely lovely narrative prose. It’s at turns dreamy, cozy, soft, and warm when Linden feels safe, loved, or content. When Linden was baking, this book made me so dang hungry! I mean, I love lemon lavender shortbread, but I started craving a batch while reading this. I loved all the root and herb lore woven into the cooking and baking passages in this book. It suited the plot and added another worldbuilding layer that helped deepen the atmosphere. I also loved how Pearsall wrote about Linden's particular magical talent, because it reminded me so much of synesthesia (even though I don’t know if that type of synesthesia has been uncovered).
The book also played a good game of whodunit, in more ways than one. Not only because we had to guess “folktale or reality” and “who attacked Linden last summer” (or were they one and the same?), but because even then we had a few different candidates for the win and I was down to three until the turn. It’s rare for a book to catch me like that, so I was pleased. It’s no fun guessing the perp early on.
This was a great read for a cloudy, fall day, but it was simply a terrific read overall.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Coming of Age/Folk Horror/Supernatural Fantasy/YA Fiction/YA Horror/YA Mystery/YA Thriller ...more
I don’t think I’ve loved an installment of the Singing Cycle this much since the first one. To be clear, every installment of this series is excellentI don’t think I’ve loved an installment of the Singing Cycle this much since the first one. To be clear, every installment of this series is excellent in their own way, but this one was absolutely captivating and consuming, with Vo’s signature, elegant prose and the unmatched mythological worldbuilding she’s become so well-known for.
Nghi Vo’s become an auto-buy author for me. I honestly can’t take criticism from people about her books. She’s not only one of the most well-read authors in the SFF game, but she’s one of the best researchers and her body of work reflects that. Her sentence structure is dreamy, her pacing is impeccable, and in The Singing Hills Cycle works, she’s a master of the art of economy of words. This carries over into her full-length novels, where she knows that filler and fluff are not appreciated.
The story in Mammoths at the Gates is timeless: Grief and how different people grieve in different ways. Cleric Chih has been gone for four years doing what they do best, which is gathering stories for the abbey’s records. Sadly, during their time away, many events have unfolded quickly, chief among them is the passing of their beloved mentor, Cleric Thien. Cleric Thien had not always been Cleric Thein, however. They had a life before the Singing Hills Abbey, and now the Cleric’s family has come to demand the body be surrendered to them so it can be laid to rest next to the Cleric’s once-wife. Of course, this isn’t something that can be allowed, but there are literal huge mammoths at the gates threatening to break through and take the body by force, if needed. Not only that, but most of the Abbey’s staff is currently away on an archiving mission, leaving Cleric Chih’s old friend, Ru, in charge.
It is a time of change and tumult, and the abbey is vulnerable. It’s up to Chih, Ru, and the abbey’s beloved neixin to try and solve this issue without bloodshed and without having to surrender their beloved mentor’s body.
What I appreciate the most about this book is that it doesn’t go heavily into the psychological aspects of grieving. Instead, it focuses on memories and stories of the deceased. When the people we love are gone, that’s all we’re truly left with. That would’ve been even more important prior to the time of photographs or video. That’s why storytelling was such an important part of life for so long: it was the only way to remember. Nghi Vo showed that, in this case, one side only had old stories told from one person and the other side had both stories and memories. The issue was finding a diplomatic way of giving the side with the disadvantage something to make up for the stories and memories they missed out on without violating the tenets of their order.
This is a touching and emotional book that’s sensitive to the subject matter while not beating around the bush. I loved 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. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Coming of Age/Epic Fantasy/Fantasy/Fantasy Series/Historical Fantasy/Mythological Fiction/Novella/Supernatural Fantasy ...more
In 1998 (stay with me, here), a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd came out called “The Object of My Affection”. In a rough nutshell, it’s In 1998 (stay with me, here), a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd came out called “The Object of My Affection”. In a rough nutshell, it’s about a woman who gets pregnant and decides she’d rather raise the baby with her gay best friend than with the father of the baby and the gay best friend agrees. The issue is, of course, that committing oneself to being a surrogate parent and platonic significant other at the same time is a lot to ask of someone who comes to realize they want to fall in love for themself.
I thought of that movie while I was reading The Rachel Incident not only because they both involve a straight woman and a gay man being platonic besties, but also because their friendship is also as codependent as the one in the movie. And there’s a quote in “The Object of my Affection” that serves The Rachel Incident well:
“Don't fix your life so that you're left alone right when you come to the middle of it.”
This quote, I think, sums up part of the problem and the solution for besties Rachel and James in O’Donoghue’s dramedy, set largely in Cork County, Ireland, starting in 2009 and goes on into the late 2010s but ends somewhat nebulously prior to COVID. Rachel and James meet one day when she comes into work at the bookshop she’s worked at for two years and James is a new employee. They hit it off and become roommates. He tells her he’s straight, she thinks he’s lying but lets it go. She has a crush on one of her English professors anyway. One night at the bookstore after a book signing, she finds out for sure her roommate is gay when she sees him in the arms of someone unexpected. That night sets off a chain of events that deeply affects both of their lives for the next two years at least, sometimes testing their friendship to the breaking point. In the end, it’s Rachel who ends up paying the most for that sequence of events, even though she ultimately had nothing to do with it except keep a secret for her best friend who wasn’t ready to come completely out of the closet yet.
O’Donoghue has a great talent for dialogue. I found myself swinging from laughing to tearing up at some of the dialogue passages in this book. Her talent for writing Rachel’s inner narrative and keeping the character consistent while allowing for growth and development was also very nice. What I found myself not liking was how the book swung back and forth in time and tense without warning, since it was being told like Rachel is telling someone a story. That particular narrative structure just doesn’t fit the book well, especially when O’Donoghue doesn’t always tell us readers what year it is when she goes back to talking about the past.
There’s also somewhat of a cultural barrier, due to this book being based in recent Irish history not many international readers (like this US one) would be familiar with. I can keep up with the Irish and British slang just fine, but I know nothing of Irish politics because I’ve been too busy worrying about the mess we have over here. So a lot of the nuances of what the characters are talking about when it comes to laws and referendums was lost on me. Now, the debate about abortion and birth control is something that’s timely no matter where you are in the world, I think, because those are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Human rights are a global issue. So I definitely picked up on all of that, but when it comes to anything else political in Ireland I’m pretty much useless. That could’ve affected my reading experience, I’m sure.
If you want to read about everlasting friendship, unrequited love, loving the wrong person, loving the right person at the wrong time, second chances, how English degrees don’t prepare you for a career in which you can use it, and how people grow into becoming the people they’re meant to be, this is a great book. Just beware that if you don’t know that much about Ireland you might either need to just accept that for what it is or look it up.
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/ Literary Fiction/LGBTQ Fiction ...more
Okay, so, I didn’t like this book as much as I liked Ralph’s prior offering, Lock the Doors, but I did enjoy it. I just enjoyed it on a different leveOkay, so, I didn’t like this book as much as I liked Ralph’s prior offering, Lock the Doors, but I did enjoy it. I just enjoyed it on a different level. I found myself enjoying it like one enjoys a slasher flick or a fun horror film that you watch for kicks (yes, I’m one of those people who adores horror films and doesn’t get scared): You just lay back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Suspend your disbelief, beware the red herrings, and be aware this book can be extremely derivative at times. Because it is. I’ve seen more than one review comparing this book to one of my favorite horror films, “Scream”, and while that’s not totally on the mark it’s not totally wrong either.
Things I loved:
1. How each main character has trauma. They may almost all be in high school, but if any parent thinks their teenager hasn’t dealt with some sort of trauma by the time they get to their senior year of high school then they haven’t been paying close enough attention.
2. Flawed parents. I can’t count how many YA books I’ve read where there has to be one set of parents who are perfect. None of the parents in this book are perfect. If any kid gets to be 18 and thinks their parents are perfect, well, see above: you haven’t been paying enough attention.
3. The ending. I can’t spoil it, but I liked it.
4. Our main protagonist, Sam Hall, and his dynamic with his little sister, Molly. If only all big brothers loved their little sisters that much the world would be a better place.
5. The friendship between Sam and Haran. Their friendship is GOALS.
Things I didn’t love:
1. How many loose ends were left. Spoilers there be, so I’ll leave that there.
2. There were just too many twists, turns, and convolutions. The writing could’ve been tighter.
3. Did it really have to be so derivative? Or could Ralph have gone a little darker or deeper instead?
4. The book as a whole felt rushed because there was so much stuff packed into it. It felt a little green, like it could’ve used another editing round or two.
5. As much as I loved the teen horror-flick feel, I would’ve loved to have seen this topic taken on as a more deeper, darker, tone.
All that being said, Vincent Ralph is an incredibly talented and entertaining writer. It’s a fun book to read, even if it’s not something that’ll keep you guessing or have you quaking in your fuzzy socks. It’s a great bit of fun.
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/YA Fiction/YA Mystery/YA Suspense/YA Thriller ...more
While I’ve been reading this over the last 1.5 days (in my bed, in the ER waiting room while my dad gets his heart checked out, while at home relaxingWhile I’ve been reading this over the last 1.5 days (in my bed, in the ER waiting room while my dad gets his heart checked out, while at home relaxing after, and then I finished it while lounging in bed this morning) and I’ve tried talking to anyone about this book, the first question I’ve gotten when I tell them the title is, “Wait. Like the song?” The second question I get is, “It sounds like that’s gotta be corny. Is it corny?”
My friends, as someone who totally dislikes The Chicks (I can’t listen to Natalie Maines because her voice grates on my nerves–it’s not about their music), I gotta tell you this book isn’t corny. I came into this book justifiably skeptical but willing to take a chance because I really loved the cover, and I ended up unexpectedly not only liking it, but loving it. It’s split up into three acts, takes places in two different story timelines (2004 when the four protagonists are seniors in high school and 2019 is the present day time in the book), and is told in turns by all four main characters (the author chose to use third person limited with each character when it’s their chapter instead of going with third-person omniscient for the whole novel).
But first, let’s get the two reasons why I didn’t rate this five stars out of the way really quick before I get into everything I did like.
One reason I had to dock the book some points: In the back half of the book (the book is split into three acts, so it might even just be in the third act), the 2004 and 2019 timeline narratives first have to make way for emails between all four of the girls as two of them have moved away after high school and two have stayed in their small hometown; and then the main storylines and those emails have to make space for transcripts of police interviews from various town citizens who come in to give voluntary statements. That’s a whole lot of stuff going on all at once, and it makes the book too busy and also too long. I would’ve recommended greatly reducing or even just removing the emails between the girls to reduce the length of the novel. I was ready for the book to end at least 50 to 75 pages before it did. That’s not much, but it’s enough to affect the reading experience.
The second reason I felt some points needed to be docked: Devon. What the heck was the point of all of that? It was confusing and then anti-climatic. I’m not going to spoil it. If you read this then maybe you’ll understand.
Now we’re onto the good stuff!
I don’t put stock into how companies like Amazon categorize a book, because it feels unfair to cage in books that are so many things down to only three categories. This book can’t just be pinned down to one thing. It’s part coming of age tale, part crime fiction, part revenge tale, and part “I will do anything for my family” story. It’s also a story about found family, abusers, victims, survivors, addicts, the patriarchy, the south, absentee parents, white privilege, racism, loss, grief, running from your problems, grief, first loves, trauma, sisterhood, misogyny, music, tradition, falling in love, the sweet cowboys, watching a lot of Dateline, and promises you keep no matter what.
These four girls became sisters from another mister at the age of five while playing in a church basement in their small southern town of Goldie, population just a little over 2,000. Kasey is biracial and being raised by a single mom. Ada has two loving and wealthy parents. Rosemarie is black and has two parents who are total hippies. And Caroline has two parents who divorced and then abandoned her to the care of her grandmother, Mimi. Four girls walking four totally different paths in life, but always stepping together, in sync, hand in hand with one another and never forgetting one another or leaving one behind. They make promises to one another and to the whole of them and they don’t break them. Kasey and Rosemarie left after high school but came back eventually, and with them came a reckoning.
I very obviously recommend this book. I laughed, I cried (it’s hard to get me to cry while reading), I felt touched, and I’m so happy I gave this book a chance.
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/Crime Fiction/Found Family/General Fiction/LGBTQ Friendly/Vigilantes/Women’s Fiction...more
And Break the Pretty Kings, the first first book in the Sacred Bone series by debut author Lena Jeong, was a book I was really looking forward to thatAnd Break the Pretty Kings, the first first book in the Sacred Bone series by debut author Lena Jeong, was a book I was really looking forward to that unfortunately fell well short of the target. Sadly, not every new YA fantasy series can please everyone straight out of the gate.
The market for folklore and mythological retellings from cultures and nations that aren’t European has been going through a golden age for about three years now, with no signs of stopping. Due to the large amount of interest coming from America in Asian cultures, that’s where the most adaptations, retellings, and remixings are coming from. So, in order to shine bright in the YA Fantasy Asian Folklore Retelling Book Series market, you need to make sure your book stands out from the crowd in some way and that the writing is polished until it gleams.
Sadly, neither one of those things is true about And Break the Pretty Kings. The book is poorly paced: the beginning is messy and confusing, and up until almost the 50% point of the book the whole thing feels like a bunch of what a lot of people call, “Hurry up and wait”. This stutter-start-stutter-start feeling has all the hallmarks of poor story mapping, down to including the dreaded exposition dumps. After the 50% mark all you have is bad writing, scenery, and a poorly thought-out climax and rush to a cliffhanger ending that reminded me of a great many episodes of Dragonball Z.
It would’ve helped if I’d liked any of the characters or if any of them had stayed consistent. Mirae, our protagonist, is naive and obviously has a case of selective hearing for the sake of the plot. She’s also clever when the plot calls for it but ignorant when the plot calls for it too. She’s utterly clueless, but everyone treats her as if she’s totally fierce. I didn’t understand anyone in this book. No one.
This book could’ve been made a great many pages shorter if less time had been spent waxing eloquent about every shiny thing in every room or table Mirae came across. This isn’t necessary, people. This is called purple prose. This level of description and how many pages it takes up doesn’t have anything to do with the plot. If you need to fill pages gushing about fabric or pottery in the middle of what is supposed to be an urgent quest, then you’re doing something wrong.
Everyone else seems to really like this book, and I don’t know why, but I’m not going to yuck their yum. This book just wasn’t for me and I won’t continue the series. If you did enjoy it, many well wishes to you and to Ms. Jeong as you continue the adventure.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas are mine and mine alone. Personal policy dictates that since this title received a rating of three stars or lower from me as a reviewer that it will not appear on any social media or bookseller website.
File Under: Coming of Age/Folklore Retelling/Historical Fantasy/Just Not For Me/LGBTQ Friendly/YA Book Series/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction ...more
I was trying to think of which of my March ARCs I should read before I start my April ARCs, and I decided on this book, feeling like I needed somethinI was trying to think of which of my March ARCs I should read before I start my April ARCs, and I decided on this book, feeling like I needed something fun and purely escapist as a palate cleanser before I started a pretty thriller-heavy month for me. Plus, I’ve never read a Marie Lu book before (I know, late to the game, right?) and I just wanted to give her writing a try, even though I know this isn’t her usual game.
While not perfect, this book is a ton of fun! Is it absolutely over-the-top ridonkulous? Yes, yes it is! Is it, as described inside, Kingsmen meets The Bodyguard? It totally is! Do I care about how much I had to suspend my disbelief? Heck-to-the-NO!
Marie Lu is an admitted fan of BTS, and when I sent my bestie (who is also a BTS fan) the summary of this book, my bestie said, “OMG I know exactly who she based Winter Young on!”. I could only laugh, because I am an occasional BTS listener and don’t know the difference between any of them. Winter Young, the male protagonist in this book, may be a pop superstar on par with the Taylor Swift’s of the world in this book in terms of stardom, but he’s much poorer in terms of family and the people who truly know him and love him. His brother died when he was a kid, his dad didn’t want him, and his mother hasn’t been able to really look at him or be around him since his brother passed. The three people closest to him, his manager and two main backup dancers, don’t even know about his brother. So really, no one truly knows him completely.
If you know me and have read a good deal of my reviews, then you know how much I love female spies and assassins. Our female protagonist is Sydney Cossette (also known as The Jackal), who works for The Panacea Group, the secret black ops company who recruits Winter for a secret mission to help take down one of the richest men in the world by having him perform at his daughter’s massive, private birthday gala while Sydney does her dirty work behind the scenes. She’s to pose as Winter’s bodyguard while Winter gets to know and distracts the birthday girl. Sydney was recruited by The Panacea Group at 15 when one of their agents was accompanying the CIA on a recruitment mission at her high school. The CIA couldn’t use her, but she was perfect for The Panacea Group. Eager to escape her nightmare life in her small town, Sydney left that day to become an international spy and never looked back. She feels alone too, clinging to her handler almost like he’s her father and keeping a great deal of secrets. (And can I just tell you how tickled I was that the girl from the poor side of the tracks had the last name Cossette? Shout out to Les Mis fans.)
Beyond these two protagonists, this book is like a popcorn movie hyped up on coffee, fandom, BAMF females, pretty boys, shiny toys, and glittering fun. It’s a quick, page-turning read that might actually make a solid movie or animated film. If you just want some escapism in a world less ordinary, pick it up!
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All views, ideas, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Contemporary Romance/YA Romance/YA Fiction/Book Series/Coming of Age/Espionage Thriller/LGBTQ Friendly/YA Book Series/YA Drama/YA Mystery/YA Suspense/YA Thriller ...more
This book has the suspense, the characters, the plot structure, and that great dark academia vibe we’re all going ga-ga for right now. Sadly, what it This book has the suspense, the characters, the plot structure, and that great dark academia vibe we’re all going ga-ga for right now. Sadly, what it doesn’t have is charisma or any ability to hold my interest. I saw the bones of a great book, but the book itself was boring enough to me that I had to keep asking people in the house to stop bothering me because I kept looking for excuses to put the book down and be diverted into something more interesting.
Maybe it’s my age. Maybe it’s how many suspense novels and thrillers I’ve already read this year. Maybe I’m simply too picky. Who knows? Simply put: There are so many great authors out there doing this same thing right now and they’re doing it better that this book just came across as a wet noodle, save that author Jessica Goodman has a knack for building suspense and knowing when to stop with one character’s POV and move onto another’s in order to keep that suspense blooming (this book has three present-day narratives told from first-person POV and then small interludes interspersed from third-person POV that occur after the book’s climatic events).
I wished for something more, since books like these are usually my jam. I just didn’t get what I had hoped to get out of this 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. Thank you. Personal policy dictates this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website due to receiving a rating of three stars or lower. ...more
For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you how Eve and Wren end up permanently escaping Compound Eleven and arriving in the camp full of compound outcasts For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you how Eve and Wren end up permanently escaping Compound Eleven and arriving in the camp full of compound outcasts in worse for wear conditions, but this is where we are at the beginning of Ending Eleven: Eve and Wren are injured, broken in mind and body, traumatized, and (in Eve’s case) suspicious of everyone around them. It’s not like she has it in here to trust easily.
And while Eve loves the outdoors, is trying her best to make allies and friends among the outcasts, and loves exploring the man-made constructions that once covered the world, she knows she has a mission to complete and promises she needs to keep. There is more than one obstacle standing in her way, though, and she needs those resolved or removed before she can make good on freeing everyone inside Compound Eleven and ensuring the “leadership” pay for their reign of terror.
So, listen to me.
I’ve enjoyed reading this trilogy so much because Jerri Chisolm is an underrated and talented as heck writer. Her world building is spectacular and her characters are terrific. She writes terrific, thought-provoking, and intelligent dialogue for the YA set.
There is an inherent issue with the Eleven trilogy, though overall it’s a terrific read in the YA dystopian genre. The issue? It’s too optimistic for its target demographic. Please take into account this is my opinion, and I’m middle-aged, but I found the ultimate ending (AKA, the epilogue) to be too optimistic for the events of the trilogy as a whole. As a matter of fact, I found most of the characters to be in too high of spirits in the last act of this book for the events that were happening and had happened.
But, I’d like to directly thank Jerri Chisolm for writing this trilogy, because it was a terrific read in a genre that often doesn’t take the time to hit all the beats or check all the boxes. I hope you go on to write more, and to write just as great.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All views, opinions, and thoughts expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: YA Fiction/Young Adult/YA Dystopian Fiction/YA SciFi/YA Science Fiction/YA Political Fiction/Part of a Fantasy Series/YA Romance/Kindle Unlimited/KU/Coming of Age/YA Book Series ...more
It’s so unfair that I have to give this book (which is by all rights an entertaining slasher film romp where the frat boys aReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
It’s so unfair that I have to give this book (which is by all rights an entertaining slasher film romp where the frat boys are the ones in danger and not sorority girls for once) 3.5 stars. I would’ve loved to have rated it higher; but as it was, if it weren’t such a fun book to read (and I didn’t even manage to guess whodunit!) I would’ve rated it lower because this book has enough plot holes I felt like I might need to send for a work crew to come patch them all for author Cale Dietrich.
Why didn’t I guess who did it? Well, because it didn’t make any sense. If anyone else who has read this book can look back at any point in the book and tell me there was any hint that made you realize in hindsight the murderer was at least slightly suspect, then I’d like to know, because it’s driving me nuts.
And as for the leading suspect for the murders for the majority of the book: If Sam (our MC) was so skeptical, why didn’t he find a way to contact that person’s family and find out if they knew anything about where he was or what happened to him? Moreover, if said person had indeed disappeared suddenly, wouldn't law enforcement have contacted Sam as a matter of course, considering their shared history? I just felt like I kept stumbling into plot holes and if I was watching a horror film I’d be asking Sam out loud as I was watching the television, “Why don’t you make one simple phone call?”
I loved that this was a YA horror novel in the slasher genre with prominent LGBTQ representation and a LGBTQ main romantic relationship but that Dietrich never made this book about being queer. This wasn’t a slasher novel about being gay, this was a slasher novel that just happened to have a heavy amount of queer representation that was presented in a positive light. These young men are simply fresh meat in the college market, trying to find their people and their way in life. Yeah, they’re gay, but that’s never the point. And that’s not the motive for the murders, either.
It really is an entertaining, diverting, fun, and slasher-iffic read that’s good for when you just want to take some time to sink into a book that has the feel of a 90’s slasher film.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in conjunction with the author. All thoughts, views, and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
This 90-page fantasy novella is author Moses Ose Utomi’s way of introducing readers to the world of the Forever Desert, ostensibly making it the firstThis 90-page fantasy novella is author Moses Ose Utomi’s way of introducing readers to the world of the Forever Desert, ostensibly making it the first title in what will be a epic fantasy book series set in North Africa (the first full-length novel in this series, The Truth of the Aleke, is set to be published in 2024). In many ways, the purpose of this novella is to give eventual readers of the series a primer, if you will, on the world of the Forever Desert; but Utomi has served this primer up as an intriguing, tragic, entertaining, sometimes violent, often emotional, and well-written story that reads almost like folklore or a fairy tale.
I didn’t know when I went into it that I was reading the intro to a fantasy book series, but I don’t really mind. I can take it on its own even though it’s not meant to be taken that way. It’s simply a great little bit of fantasy storytelling about lies and liars and resource controversies that have been a part of Africa’s history for as far back as anyone can remember. I’d pick it up for a quick look-see if you are interested in fantasy books based in Africa.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, views, and ideas contained herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Novella/Coming of Age/Fantasy/Fantasy Series/Historical Fantasy/OwnVoices ...more
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