Lori

I mainly wanted to read this to finally get the part of Holly Gibney’s story that I had missed. I am happy I did as If its bleed was the best story in the collection.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone – reminded a bit of the beginning to Fairy Tale. Young boy helping out an old man down the road. For the first part of the story, I forgot what I was reading as I was more then happy to read along about this friendship. It does take some time to get to the cell phone part that the story is named for. From there its good but rushed.

The Life of Chuck – Was weird but engaging. An apocalyptic slice of life.

If It Bleeds – Was the best story. This may be because I have read the other books with Holly and the gang in them and have loved them ever since. The idea of this creature and how it feeds was well done. Though out the investigation you get to build up a creep factor long before meeting the thing. It was well paced and kept you interested.

Rat – This is my second favorite story in this collection. The build up is slow but intense. The process of writing a novel is interesting along with the motivations behind it. The beginning is the best part. After making a deal with the rat the story loses its intensity. The ending is of but not a strong as some of the others in this book.

I both liked and didn’t care for this book. The way the book is written with the perspective of the dead girl in the afterlife is creative. What I don’t like is the actual writing.

The descriptions are weird and off-putting. The author often describes movements in a way that makes no sense. At the same time, the author doesn’t give enough details on this in between place. It was a fascinating part of the book that is overlooked.

With such a clever idea for the book and a strong start the book lacks personal connections to keep you embroiled with each character’s struggle. This is hard to take as the intricacies of surviving the loss of a loved one is the main focus of the book. If we got more information on each character’s feelings that would have helped develop a better connection to them. This is not to say the author doesn’t get across how this has affected each person, but we are told in a way that takes the empathy out of it.

What puts this book into the territory of not liking it was the ending. The resolution of many arcs is done terribly. Each felt worse then the last. Also, the sex scene was utterly wrong. Taking over the body of a lesbian to have sex with a boy you dated for a week isn’t right. Why is that the thing that lets he move on!

For the most part the story is good. But better descriptions and more focus on feelings would have made this a better book.

It’s a cute story but not as good as the others. There was less of a connection between the two main leads.

The author still does an excellent job of setting up the community and light cozy feel that her other books have had. You get a nice update on previous couples and a good nudge about the next couple. This has been a great lighthearted series which makes this entry a letdown. I liked the side characters more then the main ones as they had more life to them.

The personalities and romance of the two main characters is weak. They feel rushed together, and by the end I thought they need more time to work on themselves. Its not a terrible relationship but there is not enough romance it’s more lust.

It’s not a bad story and there is a lot to like. Hopefully, the next book is better.

This has been a book recommended to me multiple times over the years, and it was worth the read. Once the action starts, it doesn’t really stop. There are constant little quips, all ridiculous, that add to the humour of the book. I wouldn’t say this is as funny as Good Omens, as this book is more silly than witty. Although there are some magnificent quotes from the book.

There is not much of a structure to the book’s universe, so it is hard to guess what will happen. Not much will make sense, so I would say this is not a book for everyone. If you are willing to go with the flow, this book is a huge adventure.

It’s worth the read if you want a silly sci-fi comedy.

This is another classic that was a disappointment. I couldn’t care about anything in the book.

Most of the contrasts made in the book are simple and often played as an unfunny joke. I can’t tell if this is because the book is older and might have been received better at that time. The Jewish character was one of the hardest to read. I know older books have a casual racism to them, but this was really a hammer to the head.

Oliver himself is lifeless, which makes the idea that all these random people become obsessed with him hard to take. I found him too passive in the story. There is not enough personality to help you root for him.

The ending wasn’t bad, as it closed off all the storylines quite well. This is not a classic book that I would recommend.

It’s hard to find a good mystery series and I wanted to like this more then I did. There are good parts to the book but there is too much disappointment for me to really like it.

The author doesn’t seem to know how collector books work. Library books are used so much that the books will be well worn and have tag/stickers on them for cataloguing. This alone makes the driving force for the murder useless. It’s really not hard to guess who the murder was which makes all the main characters guessing near the end annoying.

The characters aren’t bad but the main character is a terrible friend. She immediately suspects her friend and her friend’s new boyfriend. She also doesn’t seem to care what is going on with anyone but her self. The love interest did something horrible to the MC in high school but the MC still can’t help but be week around them. Meeting again the love interest doesn’t even remember the MC and there is no apology.

I don’t think I can continue with this series. It had good parts and most of the characters are likable. Loved the cat. Its not a bad book but just not for me.

This was a fun book to read. I found it light and easy to get through although the ending felt too fast. There are a lot of small parts that I enjoyed that I kept thinking about after. This is more British humor and can be dry at times.

The books pacing and additional details are the only things that slightly bothered me. For pacing the beginning is slow but once you get to the last third of the book there just wasn’t enough time to enjoy the story. For the additional details there are good additions to the main characters back stories or side stories but it can be too much. There are characters we are introduced to that have no weight on the story and aren’t funny/witty additives.

I liked the book and decided to watch the show afterwards. The first season was great although there was of course some changes to the story. I would recommend this book to others.

I had read a short story by this author and liked their writing enough that I had wanted to pick up another of their books. This was not a bad place to start.

The story itself is captivating and gets though the suffocating helplessness that many feel when the authorities just don’t care. The main characters are interesting, and I liked the feeling of community though out the book although I would have liked to spend more time with some of them.

I feel like the book missed out on really pulling depth out of the characters. We get a lot of the main character telling us she likes to run, but it backs out of any further developments. This cuts some of the emotional connection the readers could have had to the characters. This could have been an excellent book if we got to know more about the main characters and their lives/motivations. The book does at times add too much detail. We get a lot of descriptions about what people are physically doing that aren’t needed.

Despite what the book missed the story is good and the main character was a driving force that kept me engaged. When I have time, I would like to read another book by this author.

I hated this book.

The story is mostly told as a recapping of events by unreliable narrators. This removed all emotional connections with the main characters. Being told what these characters have done does not provide enough insight to be able to empathize with them. That and the fact that they all are callous people who make intentionally stupid decisions to hurt others.

This was so hard to get though. Love was not a great enough power to make anything these characters did forgivable.

This would be a good book for kids as it’s simple to read and the morals of the story are brought up or thought about by the main character after each event. For an adult, the writing is not that great but for a kid or young adult its themes are shown and then told for reinforcement.

I don’t have much to say, it’s a good and simple story that’s effective at getting across its ideas.

I had seen the film before reading this book so I went in with some high expectations and ended up finding the book incredibly boring.

This book just misses the mark on its horror elements. The film does better at creating an atmosphere of unease which could be because the book spends a lot of its time on the mundane parts of moving into and decorating an apartment then the film. We spend a lot of time with Rosemary but not with her pregnancy. Even the cult is mainly background noise.

It has all the elements to make a suspenseful supernatural cultish horror novel and while there are some good scenes it doesn’t follow through with them. Most of the book is light in its suspense and even in the last part of the book when tension is ramped up it didn’t have the impact it should have. That is the biggest detractor of this book it doesn’t hit hard on horror.

This is not a bad book and overall it is a good story it just doesn’t have that weight truly to horrify you.

This book reinforces how good the author is at making characters come to life with internal monologues, dialogue, and pop culture. Go Jade Go! If there’s a team, I want to be on hers.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first book but the farther I got in the series the fonder I look back on the first book. This span of history and experience makes the growth of the community and main character more impactful. It's worth reading each book just because of this.

Its hard to say what makes this book so good. It could be the connection you build to the characters or maybe because it fills all cravings for slasher culture that you can have. Each book gets progressively better, and this last book is just that last touch of perfection rounding out the story.

This book started of so well. Independent, resourceful, and confident businesswomen are great to see in romance books. What I don’t care to see is love triangles. Simply because it’s hard to get right and this book does not get it right.

It's noticeably clear which person the main character should pick. How many times should you get a gut feeling that the person is off or lying for you to trust it? This stupidity on the MC's behalf puts us through two terrible night scenes with the wrong guy. Her best friend was right never giving bad nights a second chance. It was nice in a way to see this happen as it reinforces standing up for yourself and getting what you need. Something you don’t always see in romance books.

The wrong guy is too clearly the wrong person for our main character and her continuous doubting of her instincts is a little annoying. The right guy is so clearly right that I felt a little bad for him being strung along while she took her sweet time to realize the wrong guy is just awful. She gets so much advice on how to choose the right person and even says the right guy fits most of the advice but still wants to wait on the wrong guy. It’s awful that she only picks between them after having another bad night with the wrong guy. This led to bumbling the relationship with the right guy during and after the big confrontation.

What the book did right was the making the main character a strong businesswoman, setting up good familial bonds, and real friendship ribbing. The writing of the book is good, but the romance story is not.

Oh, that child is so evil! I will say this book is a little slow and is mostly internal dialog which can be hard to get though. Although I like the slow escalation of events and reveals that story presents.

Throughout the book, I did question why the mother wouldn’t use her phone to record the daughter or even have more security cameras in the house. All this aside I enjoyed being creeped out by a child because my goodness is she just evil. The back and forth of narration from chapter to chapter is well done. The daughter’s point of view is gradually expanded to encompass her true thoughts and motivations while the mother's view develops her past trauma and disconnection to the thing that she must call daughter.

I thought this would be a little more messed up than it was. Most of the horror comes from the thoughts of the characters and then actions until you get closer to the end. It is had to get through the beginning as it's just a bit too slow and a bit frustrating. With the mother not communicating more with the father and the father not listening or just ignoring all issues you get tired of this quickly.

I did like the story and the ending was good but since this was a modern story it’s hard not to ask why the mother or even the schools didn’t get any video evidence of this child’s behaviour. I found out there is another book after this, and I am looking forward to reading it.

I picked this book up because I like the writing of the author but not quite the storytelling. I was hoping this book would be an improvement to the last story and there was some improvement. This book does better with introducing the characters and the fictional country the story takes place in. The pronouns are introduced and quickly explained more naturally than in the first book.

The story is just a little slow and not much happens. If I were to describe the story to someone else, I know I wouldn’t have much to say. The whole story is a bit tepid as there is not much pulling you in. The writing is good, but story could have used more work. It almost felt incomplete.

I can’t tell if I am going to try other books by this author since I have heard such good things about them.

I have no plans to start running so I might not be the best person to write a review on this book. I picked this up since I need a book about a run club for a reading challenge and this book looked interesting.

I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by the author and must say this man had me ready to run out the door. From what I understand this book has a good basic running guide. I liked that the author slowly guides us in what you need for running, how to run, and what to expect

interspersed with motivation and life lesson stories. It made for an easy introduction to running that didn’t feel overwhelming. You aren’t laden down with technical jargon and I was almost looking forward to getting out there despite not wanting to run.

The authors honesty with lessons learned really gives this book heart that I haven’t always felt with other guides. His motivational speaking is something I will take into other activities I am learning and working on.

This is worth a read even if you are not into running.

I was disappointed with this book. I have already read the first two books in the series. This one felt different and slower. The romance between the characters had me trying to talk to the main character and tell her to move on. I just didn’t like the two of them together.

The main character spends too much energy thinking about her ex. The betrayal and reason for the divorce in the first place can’t be overcome in my view. I was hoping this book would end up with them getting over what happened, becoming better people and realizing they should move on with someone else. I am disappointed that they stayed together.

The quality of this book was lesser compared to the others in the series. It’s sad, as I had liked the other ones so much that I ordered them and even got this one on pre-order. The pacing is sluggish since you spend such a large amount of time listening to the character's inner turmoil. I also hated the number of times the MC described how hot the guy was. This is somewhat common throughout the other books as well, but in this one, it's just over the top. I get it; he’s attractive. Please stop!

The witchy vibe in this book are great and have built up nicely since the last book. It felt quite natural when brought up. Also I loved that the MC learned to stand up for herself and her business. Although I do wish we saw more of her standing up in business negotiations. We only get the one good scene.

There is a lot I like in this book, but the romance holds it back and given that it’s a romance book, that’s not great. It's not a completely bad romance, but it's also not as good as what I know this author can do.

I watched the movie before reading this and it was a great companion to the book. Finally having read the book I must say it was worth the read. Even though I knew what would happen in the book, because of the film, the writing and stirring storytelling had me in tears by the end.

I will say that this book is written for adolescent kids. The wording and gentle way it brings up major topics is fit for a school room. I found that I liked the movie a little more as some of the descriptions were a little odd, more child like. With this in mind I did enjoy the story, and it was worth reading at least once.

I will say that I did see the show before reading this book. The show on its own is great. I had also heard bits and parts from my partner who had read this series before me and they highly talked up the books.

This book takes you right into the thick of the story and builds from there. The story picks up immediately and sets a fast pace followed throughout the book. I did find that it was sometimes too fast and there are some characters that I wanted to see more of. On the other hand, the quick pace was nice as we didn’t spend too much time on one scene or on the character backstories allowing the main story to flow. I do hope we learn more about the characters in the next book as they are very interesting.

The characters are written in a captivating way. Miller is my favourite. He has great lines throughout the book and is just a scene-stealer. The world-building can be a bit much at first but you get into it. Each of the factions/Societies (Earth/Mars/Belters) is unique. Reading the Belter speech can be a little odd but if you listen to the audiobook or have watched the show it's easier to get into the rhythm of it.

There is a good mix of action and politics. You don’t feel cheated on the fight scenes as you do with some books. They are descriptive, fast-paced, and well-thought-out. With the political side, once you have a grasp of the societies it becomes easier to pick up the build of what will

become a massive political battle. There are a lot of questions the book opens up but doesn’t finish but this only makes me want to get to the next book.

I can’t wait until my hold comes up for the next book.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little different from what I thought it would be but that is not a bad thing in this case. The friend group is no longer together and what haunts them is a little different. But all this is what makes this book good. I think I am really getting into this author’s style of writing. The more I read, the more I like them.

The author does well at writing the inner rambling monologues people have. When this is added to the story, it does well at showing the unease the characters feel. Overall, the characters feel like real people full of confusion, stupid thoughts, and pop culture.

I will say that this book talks a lot about basketball. Parts are good for me, but it is a lot. The first half of the book is very good, but the second half is a little weird and a touch silly. The basketball game was just unnecessary. I do wish the book kept up the quality of the beginning. It would have made this a great book.

From the start, the writing pulled me into the story. It is a typical story of opening your perspective and acceptance. You know what will happen in this story but the writing is good at being light-hearted and easy to understand. I had to look up the age range for this book as it does talk down. I really thought this book was for elementary school kids but it's listed as a young adult novel.

The story itself was ok and reminded me of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna. Although I did like that book better as it had better characters and did a little more with the story. The story brings up serious subjects like child abuse and children being taken from their homes. It is understood that this is not to be accepted but it only focuses on a small group of kids when it mentions multiple cases.

I watched the film many times before reading this book and I wish I had read this earlier. I found the book to be better story wise compared to the film although the films visuals fit the story so well.

The book is not quite magical despite having magic in it. It felt more cozy and whimsical. The author made multiple storylines, each interesting on their own, and brilliantly combined them near the end. I often found myself smiling at how cute or funny the story is. I loved the main character. She went from someone passive to someone more commanding. She does make some mistakes along the way to becoming a stronger person but it’s nice to see a female character be more assertive.

This would be a great book for any kid to read. I enjoyed this so much.