Oh boy, did I ever struggle to get through this book and not just DNF. When I say struggle- I mean I literally sighed, bitched, complained and dreadedOh boy, did I ever struggle to get through this book and not just DNF. When I say struggle- I mean I literally sighed, bitched, complained and dreaded each time I picked up this book. I can't remember the last time I looked at my progress percentage so often in a book and damn did it move incredibly slow. I thought it was never going to end.
Had it been an epub copy and not an audio- I would have given up for sure.
This was such a cool concept for a book. In all of the time that I've been reading thrillers, I honestly don't think I've ever read anythi 3.75 Stars
This was such a cool concept for a book. In all of the time that I've been reading thrillers, I honestly don't think I've ever read anything like this before.
╰⪼ I think part of the extra enjoyment was that I didn't read the blurb going into this one- I just saw that a few of my friends loved it. That it was a thriller and I liked the cover. Oh, and it's a quick one - just under 300 pages.
I was immediately pulled into the story as we follow three victims of the match strike killer as they tell us their stories after their murders. This match strike killer is just going around plucking off random women he meets on a popular dating app and no one seems to be the wiser.
Imagine if your victims were haunting you from beyond and helping the police without you knowing it? Tick tock mf. LOL. Revenge is so sweet.
I really enjoyed this book and it kept me engaged for the most part. I had just a couple of issues with the alternating POVs - there was three of them and I had a hard time remembering who was who and who I was hearing from as the chapters changed.
I also felt that the timeline was a little confusing considering we are thrust right into the thick of it. Once I got my bearings though it was off to the races.
Meghan, Skye and Brecia are such fierce and strong female characters while still remaining compassionate and empathetic - loved them....more
This was actually pretty cute, I even got a little choked up a time or two. But other parts are really cringe. The making love scene was giving major This was actually pretty cute, I even got a little choked up a time or two. But other parts are really cringe. The making love scene was giving major second hand embarrassment- and the obsessive stalking was a little... [image] -ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ Last min decision to start this next. It's giving me The Dead Romantics/The Seven Year Slip combined type vibes? Idk- guess I'm about to find out... ...more
" A million sensations reverberate through our skin. The sort of union between two people that comes from knowing the pain in one another's eyes. " A million sensations reverberate through our skin. The sort of union between two people that comes from knowing the pain in one another's eyes. When you touch them your soul turns to fire, molding and dancing in their wicked flames, searching for the broken pieces of one another until time runs out and you're damned, burning together forever. ...more
These are freaking addictive. And oddly enough, a comfort type of read? Lmao. Even though there’s a serial killer on the loose.
I was just as hooked i These are freaking addictive. And oddly enough, a comfort type of read? Lmao. Even though there’s a serial killer on the loose.
I was just as hooked into the story as we continue in book two as I was in book one. Which is pretty uncommon these days. I find myself falling victim to second book syndrome more and more these days. Maybe that's a good reason to go digging in the depths of the tbr from time to time?
Anyway, we pick up right where we left off in book one but this time from Millie's POV. She's a psychic and a hedge witch who is now the focal point of a serial killer. Danger is quite literally lurking behind every shadow and darkened corner.
Our MMC ✨ LUCIEN ✨ is a warlock who has lived multiple lives that are intertwined with Millie. These two are couple goals! I'm talking about non toxic, full green flags flying, support you no matter what, let's *communicate* and never keep secrets from each other - our magic is stronger when we're together type of relationship.
Again, not a perfect book - the dialogue comes across a little campy sometimes? That might not even be it, trying to put my finger on it. The sisters definitely come across a little quirky and small townish from time to time, it's not a bad thing at all. It just makes for a not as fleshed out character.
I think the thing to keep in mind though, is that these books are on average 300 pages. They're fun, fast paced, a little chilling, the sisters despite what they're going through are good natured and light hearted. They have a good amount of humor, good times, fierce loyalty and love.
The romance in this one - ugh. I loved it so much. Lucien is so tender and sweet with Millie. The way he magics away her pain when a headache starts to come on and takes it on himself. The way he heals all her little scrapes and cuts. ...more
'My light died a long time ago—flickering with the many exhales of disapproval until finally, with one big breath, it was blown completely out. Like a'My light died a long time ago—flickering with the many exhales of disapproval until finally, with one big breath, it was blown completely out. Like a withering candle left out in the cold, surely to hush and diminish as expected.'
'This lovely phantom is the very image of tragedy. She is a ballad of mournful movements, bones, and tattered lace—a symphony unlike any I’ve endured.'
"I want my love to haunt you. Until the stars die-until all the water in the ocean dries and we're all that's left in this cruel, dark world."
: ̗̀➛ Alexa -Play Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey
A dark and immersive post-apocalyptic debut novel about two teen girls who loved each other before the end of the world — and before one of them beca A dark and immersive post-apocalyptic debut novel about two teen girls who loved each other before the end of the world — and before one of them became infected with the virus that turned her into a monster.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. There is something about Olivie Blake's pro“Hello children. It’s time for death.”
5 Brilliant Stars!
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. There is something about Olivie Blake's prose that is so incredibly captivating and alluring that it demands attention. Her words live in my mind long after I finish one of her books and I find that I can't stop thinking about them. She's brilliant.
In Masters of Death we follow Viola, a vampire and a struggling real estate agent. If she wasn't already struggling, the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house was murdered and in order to move on, he needs to solve his murder.
We have a lively bunch of characters that are a hysterical motley crew if you will - including a cranky ghost, a well-meaning vampire, a pair of annoying angels, a sly demigod and the godson of Death. Death with a capital D. While the characters are all supernatural and for the most part immortal, the book is really about humanity. They re all longing for feeling and human connection and the sensitivity of time.
There is just something very interesting regarding discussions of morality within Masters of Death. The discussions around pain and how it ends up that it's life that allows us to feel anything at all was something that I really enjoyed reading about. Every theme explored was done so brilliantly, in beautifully constructed moments and captivating conversations.
“I wish to feel something much, much larger than I am, the girl’s heart replies. I wish to stand on the edge of ruination and defeat, to leap into a chasm full of danger. I wish to feel my blood turn cold with fear and my cheeks burn bright with shame; I wish to feel joy that fills my lungs, and sadness that swells within me like a current. I wish to feel so much and so deeply that it washes over me in waves. I wish to drag myself towards something; I wish to lose pieces of myself along the way. I wish for hunger that drives me, for passion that fulfills me, for sensations of taking and having and losing and wanting, and I wish for all of it to come with a price, and a steep one—and then I wish for the courage to pay. Isn’t it all good because it’s something? she asks. Isn’t it all bad because beneath it—any of it, her wish sighs—I may collapse? Mayra”
“But two centuries of anger had not served him nearly as well as one day of honesty.”
“To love, to forgive, to lose, to live - it was always a choice, and thus, the fact that he was a mortal was finally one worth celebrating. Because it would end! Maybe that was the entire secret, and therefore the whole thing was actually astonishingly simple. That over and over, he was presented with the same impossible decision - live and suffer, love and grieve - but still, every time, with all his being, his answer was and would always be yes. It would be difficult and painful, and however it ended, it would end - but still, he could choose it. To live, to love; it was always a choice, and inherently a brave one, to face down certain doo, with open arms.”
“Things are so much sweeter when they have an ending; things are so much more painful when they can be ripped away.”
There is just something about supernatural and immortal creatures being thrown into the modern day world that, when done masterfully -I enjoy a lot. Masters of Death is a masterclass in showing, not telling, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
OMG- THIS COVER! - It's a whole vibe.. fingers crossed the story meets the vibe check. OMG- THIS COVER! - It's a whole vibe.. fingers crossed the story meets the vibe check. ...more
“Some people go missing because they want to; some go missing because they’re taken. And then there are the others—those who go missing because the“Some people go missing because they want to; some go missing because they’re taken. And then there are the others—those who go missing because they fall through a gap somewhere and can’t claw their way back.”
“My sisters. My blood. My skin. What a gruesome bond we shared.”
Iris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. They have insatiable appetites yet never gain weight. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful, and inexplicably dangerous.
But now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school on time--something her two famously glamourous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing without a trace, leaving behind bizarre clues as to what might have happened, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her though. As they brush against the supernatural they realize that the story they've been told about their past is unraveling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home.
So, just some brief thoughts - I was a little underwhelmed with the story. It definitely has a spooky/dark fairy tale vibe but I was left wanting more.
For one, I was most intrigued by Grey Hollow and wanted to know more about her, but was left out in the dark because we follow Iris Hollow her goody two shoes sister instead. All of the key plot points were happening to Grey and it was frustrating being told instead of shown what was going on with her. I think the story would have hit different if told from Grey's POV.
"I wanted to live in her skin, to know what it was like to be as beautiful and mysterious as Grey Hollow."
Aside from Grey, the only other character that I was invested in was Tyler - IYKYK.
I really just felt all of the characters were a little flat and never really evolved.
In the beginning of the book, the setting was fairly creepy and eerie but as the story progressed the descriptions felt repetitive and a bit redundant to the point it lost it's intrigue for me. I'm not saying the writing was bad, just a little overdone which had my mind wandering off to other things and not staying as engaged as I would have liked.
The twist at the end was pretty predictable to me and I saw it from the beginning, it still worked well within the story but I just wished there was more mystery and more lore....more
I read a couple chapters last night and this book is so cute - a small little town filled with witches, vampires and other creatures. Tourists and othI read a couple chapters last night and this book is so cute - a small little town filled with witches, vampires and other creatures. Tourists and others that visit that are not supernatural don't have the ability to see the magic around them due to an old spell put on the land by the witches.
Of course the lady who actually owns the bakery and apt above that our FMC lives and works in has passed away.
Her estranged grandson who's trying to make partner at his high powered law firm is now in town - guess who is left everything in the will? ANDDDD the law firm wants to acquire land that's in the small town for a client to build some tourist attraction.