Paul James Bygrave

I'm a big fan of Stephen King. I've read quite a few of his books now, and I'll be posting reviews for those soon enough. Yet, out of the entire tsunami of novels by King, this is my favourite. Simply because of the character development.

I've watched the movie, didn't like it all that much, yet the book would seem more boring to those who have watched the film. Not as much ghost stuff actually happens in the book, yet due to the character interaction and monologues in their heads, the novel never suffers because of it. I'm a person who values character over action, and The Shining definitely provides that.

Not really much I can think to say about it. It was a cute little Christmas story featuring a goblin. I enjoyed the way the two communicate without directly interacting for a lot of the book, but I do wish they'd had more time to actually interact before the relationship kicked off. Still, if you're looking for a cute, cozy little love story, it should serve.

This book is a delightfully chaotic ride. As yandere love stories go, it's pretty tongue-in-cheek and doesn't take itself too seriously whilst still indulging in a lot of black comedy when it comes to Lily's own perspective of her behaviour. The tension and silliness is balanced quite well, although if you're looking for something lighthearted, you probably want to look elsewhere - played for comedy though she is, Lily is not a good person by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm pretty neutral toward LitRPG as a genre - I don't hate it or anything, but I've never intentionally sought it out and I doubt I ever will - but the worldbuilding in this one is a lot of fun and leaves me curious as to how the world will develop going forward.

On a more spoilery note, SpoilerI went into this expecting a mono romance but ended up with a yandere harem to read about. And I don't hate that, but it was jarring and slightly disappointing to learn I came in with the wrong impression, and maybe that's on me, but since the introduction of the second love interest, Gloomy, was a plot twist, I'm not sure it is. Though as two of the yanderes are technically the same person, I am very curious to see what'll keep them from killing the third that got added to the mix at the end.

If there's one thing I found slightly disappointing, it's the climax. I think fast-paced is what the author was going for, but honestly, it just felt a bit rushed to me.

The few complaints I have are purely nitpicks, though. I am very much looking forward to the sequel.

The fact that I watched the show before reading this is probably the main reason that my opinion is lower than most expect. That's not to say that the book is bad, it's just that after seeing the show do it better, I was a little bit underwhelmed by this novel.

I can appreciate Jeff Lindsay's prowess as a writer, and I can see the amount of thought that would have had to go into its plot, but with the characters in the show being so well-developed the book's characters can't help looking inferior in comparison.

But as I said, I did enjoy this book and I'm sure I'd have said more positive things about it if I hadn't seen the show first. But 3 Stars is good in my books so that's what I'll give it.

A ballroom dance instructor and a werewolf (called lycanths in this world) computer scientist fall in love after she's pushed into taking dancing lessons to improve her work-life balance.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved both main characters. Alex is very socially confident but struggling with debts and a desire to change careers when it comes to work, and Cynthia has basically made it as far as her career goes but has no social life. The contrast gives them excellent chemistry. There's also an antagonist who's very effective even if he isn't especially complex - I guarantee that you have met angry dumbasses of exactly his sort in real life - and his actions in the latter parts of the book genuinely made me feel tense.

The five-star rating probably already gives away that I don't have much to complain about, and that's true. The only thing I can really think of is that there's a certain subplot which is wrapped up a bit too fast for me right at the end. I won't say anything more than that 'cause it would be spoiler-heavy, but it felt like just a bit more time spent on that point would have gone a long way.

In short, if you're looking for a sweet size-difference romance with a bit of spice to it where the man is the shorter of the two and the woman is a very muscular monster girl, then I can wholeheartedly say this won't be a waste of your time.