David

3.5 stars (why can't Goodreads give 1/2 stars?!)

The author known for his ambiguous endings strikes again with this collection of short stories and one novella (the titular title) told in free verse of anthropomorphic animals living in an allegorical Trumpian world.
Not a fan of ambiguous endings, but somehow, Tremblay continues to draw me into his fascinating and bizarre worlds.

The title says it all...a harrowing “tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder”...and why I prefer staying on land.

The prequel to “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars” (which I loved) left me a bit disappointed. The premise is very “Alien” in its set up, but I found the story a bit repetitive as they got closer to their destination.
Sadly, it left me with more questions than answers.

It's difficult to discuss this book without spoiling the story.
With that said, as usual, I knew nothing of the story or the genre going in (I assumed it was horror. It is not.).
It is a sprawling sci-fi tale set in a dystopian world dealing with class struggle, family, love, loss and some shocking twists and turns along the way.
At times I found it confusing, but it was never dull.

I was in high school when this book came out yet never read it until now.
BEE's debut novel that put him on the literary map rings of authenticity and the sense of hopelessness that is common amongst the teenage set.
While I thought The Shards was better, this stream of consciousness tale was a quick and engrossing read.

As with movies, the original is usually better than the sequel that follows.
Unfortunately, Deathless Divide adheres to that axiom.
The plucky wise-cracking Jane I loved in Dread Nation is now this dark and brooding character with little warmth or humor. She spends the book dead set on hunting down the villain whose actions, if you look at the big picture, aren't wholly villainous, at least not to the extent that warrants Jane's obsessive desire to kill him at any cost.
Also, not a lot happens here. I felt like I was stuck on a wagon train waiting for the final destination.

In short, I enjoyed revisiting this world, but I was ready to leave.

In a revisionist history where the Civil War was interrupted by the rise of zombies, a young
black girl trained to fight zombies is sent to a frontier town where she must contend with a
mercurial and racist Sheriff who runs the town with an iron fist.

Utterly engrossing YA novel (didn't know it was YA!) that I could not put down.
Book 1 of 2!

More like Slogging Towards Bethlehem.
I would have DNF'd this book but I got Reading Goals to achieve and this was a relatively short book.
A wildly pretentious and dull one at that.
#NotForMe

I laughed, I cried, I was terrified!

This book has everything....1980's, San Fernando Valley (where I grew up and live), high school life, 80's music, sex, queerness and a serial killer! I mean, I can like...totally relate (minus the serial killer part, of course.).

This 1980's time capsule is a suspenseful and intense work of metafiction that kept me fully engaged throughout its 600+ page count. The prose is detailed enough (without being verbose) that you are able to easily picture the scenes. Of course I travel on the roads he mentions every day and those descriptions are spot on.

After reading this, my first novel by Ellis, I can now say I am a fan!

For an added bonus, check out the Spotify playlist that contains every song mentioned in the book!

(Trigger warning for extreme violence and animal death/cruelty)

Exploring themes of guilt, complicity and grief, Boyne's follow up to The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is a beautifully written and compelling tale.
Jumping between the past and the present, 91 year old Gretel (the sister of Bruno from TBITSP) finds herself befriending a young boy from a troubled household and reflecting back on the years after the war.
Boyne continues to be one of my favorite authors.

3.5 rounded up to 4.
I loved the sense of dread and the 80's nostalgia infused into this story that takes place over one Halloween night. It's stories like these though that make me wonder how we ever lived without cell phones, because they surely would have come in handy here!
I didn't love what seemed to be a story bloated with too many underdeveloped characters that, at times, I found difficult to keep track of.
That being said, it was a fun, creepy read.

I'm really torn with this one.
I picked it up because it won the Horror category (not really horror) for Goodreads Choice Awards and Stephen King blurbed about it.
All good signs.
I read the book knowing nothing of the plot and found myself thoroughly entertained.
I was set to rate this 4 or 5 stars.
Then I watched this video (SPOILER ALERT) and everything changed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EnG8_oZcu4

Set in 1959, a stage actress, after suffering a mental breakdown, escapes to a small town in New York where she rents a house in a suburban neighborhood.
This 80 page novella is basically “Rear Window” with a supernatural twist.
Fun and creepy.

Talk about a stage mom from hell!
Jennette McCurdy chronicles her life as a child actress which was imposed upon her by her dominating and manipulative mother.
As a result, she struggles with mental health issues, addiction and eating disorders.
A very candid and surprisingly funny memoir.

I had no idea what the book was about as I never read the synopsis.
Based on the artwork and the title, I thought it had a sci-fi element (it does not).
I even went to buy a copy at Bookstar but it was SOLD OUT...when does that ever happen?
It also won the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction.
With all that, I figured it must be amazing!
Ehhh...it was good. I cared about the characters (game developers) and their decades-spanning relationship.
But it didn't knock my socks off.
Had I learned that a secret highway here in L.A. actually existed, I would have given it 5 stars.

Michael Ausiello's moving and heartfelt memoir about love and loss. I laughed, I cried...I have a new appreciation for Smurfs.

I may have gone through a few tissues.

Ok...many.

Taking place a few years after the Mexico War of Independence, a young woman marries a wealthy politician and moves with him into the family hacienda. A hybrid of “Rebecca”, “The Thorn Birds” and “The Haunting of Hill House”, Isabel Canas brings us this gothic horror story about family, greed, revenge and the extent one will go to retain power.

I don't usually read YA, but I had heard great things about this book.
Incredibly creepy and disturbing, it seems much too intense for middle grade kids, it's target audience.
That said, this was a quick and engrossing read.
If you have an aversion to insects, especially wasps, find another book.

Just when you think nothing fresh can be brought to the Zombie genre, along comes this book.
Interesting examination of what is reality and how we are affected by what we “believe” to be true.
While I didn't exactly love this novella, I did enjoy it's fresh take on a familiar genre.

Its 1922 and a young woman named Sarah Piper gets hired as an assistant to a ghost hunter investigating a haunting in a small English village. The ghost named...yup...Maddy Clare committed suicide in real life and now is hell bent on vengeance and its up to Sarah and the ghost hunting team to solve the mystery.
Not my favorite of St. James's books as the mystery wasn't that hard to figure out and the romantic interludes were too many and felt like filler.
This was one of her earlier books and while it's not bad, it's nowhere near as good as her more recent ones.

This would have been 5 stars but I guessed the major plot twist by page 20, so...
If you're looking for a Halloween read this may be the book for you!
On a dark and stormy night, a dysfunctional family gathers at the isolated home of their matriarch to celebrate her 80th birthday, which of course is on...Halloween!
And then things...happen.
While a bit far-fetched, this nod to Agatha Christie, this is a fun & scary mystery with twists & turns galore.

“Miracles are not without their price, my darling.”
Another creepy page turner from Jennifer McMahon!
A story with dual timelines (1929/ 2019) set in a secluded area in Vermont, centering around two sisters, a mysterious house with an eerie pool that may or may not be haunted.
Aside from a couple of unresolved plot points, this beautiful, haunting and nostalgic tale is definitely worth reading!

A thought provoking sci-fi thriller about a man who, not by his own choice, has his genetics upgraded which enables him to do things he never could do before. And everyone lives happily ever after because, really, what could possibly go wrong?

Another irresistible page turner from Julie Clark! I knocked out the first 200 pages in one day as I could not put this down. While it didn't have as many twists and turns as I was expecting, this story of two women, one a con artist and the other a reporter, definitely kept me entertained and eager to see how this tale of righteous vengeance played out.

3.5 stars
As a lifelong fan of the Universal Monster canon (especially, Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney), I was excited to read this fictionalized take on the days leading up to the making of Frankenstein. Junior Laemmle wanted to make the movie, his father and founder of Universal, Carl Sr., didn't. Luckily Junior won out. The story dramatizes the battle between father and son as well as the two actors (Karloff and Lugosi) vying for the role of the Monster. While minor real life details irked me (i.e., Chaney is buried inside an unmarked tomb inside a mausoleum, not on a grassy hillside), the author did a good job of bringing old Hollywood back to life (see what I did there?), but unless you are a fan of the Monster genre, you might be hard pressed to enjoy it.