Corey Harris
Not sure what I was expecting out of this story. I did enjoy it, I just felt overall that for me it was missing something. As the title suggests, this is a mermaid tale where we follow Amelia and her story from her human love to her desire to travel the world.
It was a good read, I had originally DNF'd but wanted to give it another go. The chapters are a bit long, but I feel like once you get out of Maine the story picks up. I probably won't reread this again, but never say never.
Well, that was something else. I have to say, going into this I was worried because of all the hype around this book, but I was thoroughly surprised. I don't often read a book in just 4 days, but I struggled to put this down. Honestly I probably could have finished this sooner if it weren't for the fact that reading makes me sleepy.
I'm a 5 star slut, and I'm giving this 5 stars. The whole time I was on the edge of my seat and I don't want to give away any of the plot, so you get my incoherent rambling, you are welcome.
I know that most people rank Wayward lower than Pines, but I don't get it. This is a great continuation of the story of Wayward Pines and seeing how the town came to be, how it is ran and the operational side of it was so intriguing to me. Ethan is not the most likeable character, but seeing his struggles with his new role, having to walk the line, but also not wanting to shift from his ideals had me just gobbling this up. I can't wait to dive into the last book of the series.
Actual Rating 3.75
Dean is fresh out of EMT school and ready to start his career. Little did he know he was going to be placed in a very specialized unit where all of his patients were more of the super natural type.
I went into this not expecting to like it as much as I did. Is it an award winning story? No, but it is fun. While overall it can get a bit repetitive, it is a good time. Dean has waves of being likeable and unlikeable, same with his partner. Gibbie might be my favorite character and I really hope we get more of him and his love drama in the other books. If you want a fun pallet cleanser between some deeper reads, I'd say give this a go, I don't think you'll regret it.
As I slowly make my way through this series, every time I pick up one of these books I'm reminded of how much I love this world. We get to see the aftermath of the last book still weighing on Mercy, Adam and the rest of the pack. Samuel gets some spotlight and we see his struggles and I'm always here for more Zee. Mercy always seems to be getting herself into some kind of trouble, and that is no different in this installment.
Actual Rating 3.75
It took me a bit to really start getting into this book. But I am glad that I pushed through my struggles. In the Body we follow Mavis, and mysterious incidents keep following her around. My biggest struggle with reading this was Mavis, she is an extremely unlikable and annoying character. Though after you meet her parents, you kind of get it as they are pretty unlikable as well. The overall concept of the story is really good, I would have just liked to have liked our main character some. Mavis does improve a little as the story goes on, but then goes right back to being unlikable towards the end. I do however really like the idea of the choices you making coming to haunt you in a physical way.
I think if you enjoy horror and don't mind your main character being annoying/unlikable, you should pick this up. The last 50% of the book is pretty great.
ARC Review
An oddly fun story of a broke vampire named James. Down on his luck, James resorts to a bit of self mutilation. After getting an idea thanks to wandering into a comiccon, his eternal life is about to change.
I had so much fun reading this story. The first couple of chapters felt a little repetitive, and I was worried the entire story was going to feel that way, but once we get passed Comicon things really get moving. Going into this I wasn't sure what to expect, the description gave me some cringe feels, but I wanted to give it a shot. And I am so glad I did. The last few chapters feel like they sped on too quickly, but overall a really good solid bit of writing. Recommended if you are looking for a bit of a pallet cleanser and a bit funny.
ARC Review!!
Body Count - Double Meaning - How many sexual partners you have had. - How many dead bodies at a scene of a crime. -
We get both in this rollercoaster ride of a book. While I will admit that I am likely not the target audience of this book, I had a really good time reading this. We follow Sundae as she returns to a place on prom weekend, that she has a traumatic past with. While on this weekend trip, the Slut Cup is in full effect. Also coming into town is Lia and her band, and this is Lia's first time preforming since the “Incident” in Philly.
Overall I really enjoyed the story, it was pretty fast paced after getting a few chapters in. I did get a little annoyed at a couple of scenes that had some buzz phrases, and that did bring my experience down some. Once things kick off, the action is pretty non stop. I felt the panic with the characters as they navigated this brutal story. I wouldn't say that I loved any of the characters with the exception of Neeli, Edison and Dallas, and they aren't even main characters. The way the entity in this is crafted is really well done, and a fun idea at that. I also love so much of the craziness taking place at the boardwalk.
Great fun story, a lot to keep you interested and the last 60% becomes very hard to put down. Highly recommend.
I haven't read anything from this author since the original Thrawn Trilogy back in the 90's.
This short story was super addictive and who would have thought that astral projection would be so interesting. The entire time I imagined Toby being like the littles from that old cartoon. Super enjoyable, super fast read, would love some kind of follow up on it.
Back into the Expanse and another banger. Not my favorite in the series, but a very satisfying read. I truly love this whole series and this book feels like a perfect wrap up, and we still have 3 books left!
We have our usual cast of characters, some returning characters and a lot of chaos. We follow Holden and Crew as we are dropped into the war that we started in the last book with Marco as the head of the Free Navy. This book also has a ridiculous amount of POV's this time.
As always Avasarala leaves us some great quotes that make me laugh out loud while reading.
Actual Rating 4.5
What can I say, I liked this one more than the first one! I know, that's very controversial to say, but I was all in and so into the story.
This books starts on Level 3 and we stay there the whole time. Things start off right from the beginning with a bang. We get more Mordecai, and meet a few other crawlers along the way. And of course we have Carl, Donut and Mongo! Can't wait to get to book 3.
ARC Review
This story was a pleasant surprise for me coming out of October. We follow Oliver as he returns to Providence Falls to sell his fathers house after he passes. A town that he wants to get in and GTFO. But in the time trying to get everything in order, he meets Lili at the local diner.
While reading this, I got Blake Crouch vibes from almost the beginning. As you are progressing through you get the feeling that something isn't quite right with this town, and the only normal person here besides Oliver is Lili. Throughout the entire story you just have this unsettling feeling, knowing that something crazy is going to happen. And let me tell you, this book is already hard enough to put down, but that last 30% is just non stop WTF moments back to back. We go from “This is kind of sweet” to “Holy crap, WTF is happening right now”.
Highly recommend if you like horror with some twists, and it's a quick read, though I do recommend taking your time and really enjoying the journey.
Actual Rating 4.25
I had no idea how I was going to rate this when I got started. I love SGJ and his writing, but this book was really hard for me to follow and get into. When is first started reading this, I would have rated it a 2.5 ⭐, I even at one point worried that I was going to DNF it. I didn't find Jade very likable, her mind is way overactive when it comes to slashers and made me wonder why she hadn't been committed to a state hospital yet.
For me it's the last 40% of the book that really shines. While I struggled in the beginning and not being hooked, the last nearly half of the book I was hooked. Where I usually only read about 30 pages a day, I sped through the last bit. Jade gets more tolerable and we get Letha that really helps with getting the story moving. I don't want to spoil anything, but the last 3 chapters were chefs kiss!
This review has told you nothing, you're welcome.
What if one of the largest most successful companies had a dark, evil mysterious secret contributing to its success? Fiend is pretty much just that. A phenomenal story following the Birisha's that run one of the worlds must successful companies. Though with that success comes years of rumors of covering up deals and bribing officials to competitors not being around to compete. Our main focus is on Maris, the oldest daughter and middle daughter of the head of the Berisha Clan Zef.
I loved this book and struggled to put it down. I enjoyed all the characters and the past and present perspectives. Fiend is well written and it flows so smoothly that you don't even realize that you have been sucked into the story. A lot of time for me as much as I enjoy reading now, I find myself bored, and with Fiend I didn't have that, I just wanted to keep going and finish the story. I also did not see the ending coming and was totally caught off guard.
This is the first thing I have ever read from Alma Katsu, and cannot wait to read more from her.
ARC Review
I went into Salomé pretty blind. I had no idea what to expect. Judging the book solely by its cover I got a bit of a horror vibe from it, but the book is more thriller.
We start with our main character Courtney on a flight to Paris for the last time for a while. There on this flight she meets a French girl flying back home for the states named Salomé. They hit it off during the flight and Courtney is invited to come and stay with Salomé for a few days of her trip.
This story started off a bit slow and I couldn't relate to talking to a stranger in a flight as I don't want people talking to me ever. But as the reader you are pretty quickly drawn into Salomé, though I don't know what Courtney was thinking. As you progress strange things begin to happen and Courtney starts having some weird dreams. The first half of the book is like this, though the story really starts to pull you in.
It's the second half that things really pick up where I personally struggled to put it down. We find out more about Salomé's father and his work and about his predecessor and what he is really up to. The last few chapters where pretty intense and honestly I have never read a premise like this before.
Overall this was a super enjoyable read for me, even though I may not have been the target audience. All while reading the last half I kept thinking this could make for a pretty interesting limited television series.
Definitely worth the read
Was nice t expecting this to be a 5 star for me, but here we are.
In this story we follow 3 women throughout 3 timelines, though for about the first half of the book it is only Maria and Alice that we follow. We get Charlottes story about half way through. This book has been described as a Toxic Lesbian Vampires, but the toxic doesn't happen really for quite a while. But when we get toxic, it sticks around.
I actually liked all the characters, even when it turned toxic I didn't hate anyone. I would say for me personally Alice was a little annoying. Charlotte was my favorite. And I really enjoyed Maria's intro and backstory.
This was such a a fun and enjoyable read. I could see myself re-reading this in the future. I would also like to get some backstory on a few other characters in the book that we barely get anything on.
Actual Rating 4.25
These Bodies Ain't Broken is an anthology collection of 13 stories. What makes this collection so unique is that each story has some kind of disability representation. These representations can be from something as simple as ADHD to much more severe things that people live with every day. These stories are also targeted more towards young adult, but I feel like and age can enjoy this book. I thoroughly enjoyed every story in this collection. The only story I had trouble with was called “Kissed by Death”, the story was very good, but the main character is agender and it kept switching the pronoun use throughout the story making it a very jaring read. Even in the same sentence it would use they and she. It kept pulling me out of the story. I think that one would have read much smoother with just sticking to they/them, but that's just my personal opinion. But all that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology series and would highly recommend it.
Actual Rating 3.75 Stars
Wow, just wow. I am left a bit confused on my feelings of this book. While I did enjoy Memory Lane for the most part, it had me so confused. Maybe that is the intention of the author here. In Memory Lane we are following Alice that has suffered something tragic in her life and is now in the care of her childhood best friend Jasmine. Strange things begin to happen to Alice and she can't discern if all of it is real or in her head.
There is a lot of jumping around, and sometimes it isn't clear where you are in the story, again I can't tell if that is intentional or not. It almost has a groundhog day feel to it in book form. The characters are pretty well thought out. Personally I didn't love any of them, I found a couple of them to be pretty annoying, but they way this is written you can kind of jump back and fourth depending on when you are reading them.
I would also say that I think the first half of Memory Lane is my favorite bit, but as you read you start seeing things kind of open up in the world. Memory Lane does open itself up to a re-read as on a second read through you are going to pick up on things that you didn't get the first time around.
Again, I was confused reading it, but I did enjoy it.
Here we are 5 books into the Expanse series and still always a fantastic read. In Nemesis Games we get the POV of all our crew for the first time as they split up and go off on their own. We see how Holden struggles without his crew, and the chaos that takes over the galaxy as team Roccinante are all in very different parts of the Sol System. We also get a couple of returning characters in Bobbie and Avasarala and a look into the past of Naomi.
This may be my favorite book in the series so far and I'm excited and sad that I am approaching the end of the series. What started off as intimidating with being a 9 book series has been such a joy and such an easy read.
The more SGJ I read the more I want to read. Killer of the Road/The Babysitter Lives is a great double feature for horror fans. I would say I liked Killer on the Road the most out of these two stories. Staring off with the ver first chapter you are drawn in and wanting to hear more about “Bucketmouth”. The twists and turns this story takes keeps you in the edge of your seat. And if you've ever driven through Wyoming, you may be familiar with some of the he places mentioned. This is also the first book I've read thatade me have a panic attack.
The Babysitter Lives was really good as well. Charlotte is just trying to babysit a couple of creepy kids and study for her SATs, but she has another thing coming. The story can get a little confusing, but it's pretty easy to get back on track.
If you have never read anything from SGJ, I will say that his writing style does take a little bit to get into, but once you get his rhythm you will be speeding your way through.
The 4th book in the Expanse series and I still can't get enough! Cibola Burn brings back our consistent cast from the past, new characters and some possibly forgotten characters.
In this book we see James Holden and cre make their way out to a new earth like planet that is already being settled by a group, but the RCE wants to stake clame to the new planet and have brought a group of researchers with the. Right from the start the chaos begins as the locals and RCE are at odds.
For myself having started off really disliking Holden, he has become on of my favorite characters. The hole crew of the Roci are up there for me. The family feel you get with the crew still after 4 books feels so genuine.
Before starting Black Mouth, I had heard so many compare it to Stephen King's IT. While I enjoyed IT, it wasn't one of my favorites. Now with Black Mouth, I fully get the comparison. This is a great coming of age story where we get a back and forth from our main characters as children and Present day. Jamie has a slew of struggles with alcohol addiction, and as you get into the story it starts to make sense from his childhood and that summer when Jamie, Clay, and Mia come across a strange Magic Man in the woods.
I really enjoyed Black Mouth and am already looking forward to reading it again. I cannot wait to read more Ronald Malfi.
I went into this read so excited. Everything that I had heard was nothing but positive. But then I actually read the book. This takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in case you forget, don't worry you'll be reminded constantly. Very poor writing. Cora is so unlikable in so many ways, it's no wonder that she doesn't have any friends. The story is pretty boring until you get to about the 70% mark, so honestly you can skip the first bit.
I went into this expecting to really dislike it. It was finally after a lot of badgering from my wife that I finally caved and read it. I'm very happy that I did. I loved how it started and that it wasn't a weird getting sucked into a video game at an arcade scenario. Princess donut had her moments, but I really like the AI's fetish. All around this was a really fun read and I'll be continuing the series.