Sandra

I don't like rating memoirs but I am putting 5 stars because many should read it.

I... I don't even know what to say. It is heartbreaking what she went through and wonderful that Britney is sharing her personal journey. Britney is a very strong person

I am still processing all of it. I finished it at 6 p.m. EST.

At this current time, I will have to say I will just stick with the opera.

I don't know about this book. It was a challenge for me to read because I was bored reading it. I think it might be a me issue. I no longer find inspiration or the motivation to read Stephen King books anymore.

Thank you, Net Galley and CamCat Books for a copy of The Man or the Monster

The Man or the Moster is a sequel to another book and this is not my typical read. I am glad that I went outside my comfort zone. I had a wonderful experience.

The Narrator: I adore her voice and how soothing and lovely it is. The narrator makes the audience feel connected with the characters. You feel the emotions that are within this book. I was consumed by this book.

I stayed up way past my bedtime reading The Man or the Monster. It's full of betrayal, drama, forbidden romance, twists and turns. It was such a good book that I felt as though I was there. I felt heartbreak and fell in love with every aspect of the book. This is a book that is not forgettable. It is one that will stay with the reader for a very long time.

Now, I need to go read the first book in this series and this author is now on my auto-buy list.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an audiobook ARC.

I normally do not read these books but the Cover of Jester alone intrigued me to give it a try and I am glad that I did because I love Jester. The narrator also did a superb job. I have no complaints about the narrator.
The characters and plot were well developed and it meshed well together. Jester felt well thought out and complete.
Wonderful story

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with this ARC audiobook.

The Woods are Waiting is a slow-burn thriller that is set in the Appalachian region of Virginia. The rhymes that warned of the monster in the woods and the lore provided a spooky atmosphere for the book. That was enjoyable and kept me intrigued.

However, the overall plot of the book did disappoint me. It was not until the last few chapters that I was truly interested again. But... Even then the end needed more. I was and was not thrilled while reading this thriller.

As for the narrator of the audiobook. I have mixed feelings about her. Her accents caught me off guard but I could tell when she would switch characters. For me, the narrator sounded monotone in areas that should have a little more... Umph. However, the narrator did have a soothing voice to listen to which allowed me to stay slightly engaged.

Thank you Net Galley for providing me with a copy of Coven by Taous Merakchi & Da Coffee Time.

This is a witchy graphic novel with a spooky setting/”vibe”. In this graphic novel, we start with four teens that dabble in witchcraft to save a tree in their city park. At first, everything is going according to the plan to save this tree. However, that quickly changes and everything starts going wrong.

Coven was an enjoyable quick read. Each character had their own story and background. We also see different communities represented in this graphic novel. I do wish it was longer so I could get to know the characters more. The illustrations were adorable but also showed the reader the personality that each character has.

I am not sure how to rate this book or how to even categorize it. Overall, it was not bad. I feel as though it is average/a little above average. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is confusing and you are left with “What did read”.

As of right now, I need more time to sit on this.

Let me just say, 3 to 3.5 stars.

Love the illustrations and a simple book to read.

Cute little book of poems from J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit. I enjoyed the illustrations more than the poems that most fans of Tolkien know.

The narrator of this audiobook was amazing!! The book had great worldbuilding and I became engulfed in the world. However, the characters needed more development and depth. I liked the magic system it was on the fun side and meshed well with the plot. The plot... Hmm, not sure how to explain it interesting but hard to follow at times.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma.

The phoenix king is an enjoyable read, with multi-POVs. The plot line is enjoyable but takes a little bit to get into. Once you do get into this book it opens up. The book is slightly flawed and fell short in some areas. Overall, it is a decent/good book. My biggest issues are, I wanted more from the characters and less world-building but for me, it sits at 4 stars.
I believe that the future books are going to make the series even better and I can not wait.

I would first like to say, thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Shebly Mahurin's book The Scarlet Veil in exchange for a review.

I did not read Shelby Mahurin's other book series Serpent and Dove. So, I went into this book blind and I do not regret that decision. The Scarlet Veil took me a total of 20 hours to completely read because I was that engulfed in the story and characters.

Scarlet Veil follows Celie Trembly, who is engaged to Jean-Luc the Captian of the Chasseurs (Hunters). We start with the background of Celie and why she wanted to be the first woman Chasseur. However, we also learn that Jean-Luc treats her differently from the rest of the Chasseurs. He treats Celie as a fragile doll that needs to be protected and safeguarded at all times. This behavior does not feel right with Celie. Celie also learns that Jean-Luc has been keeping something from her. It is not until her friend is murdered that everything for Celie starts to change. From Michal kidnapping her and taking her to a hidden island, to trying to solve murder investigations that might be connected. This is where the story truly starts for our characters.

I do not want to give away more of the story but I truly enjoyed this book. However, there are some aspects that I did not like. For most of Part 1 of the book, the dialogue was “cheesy” almost too cheesy. I do believe that this was a part of the premise of the book to show how (almost) everyone treats Celie. It was not until the final act that Celie finally has this moment of “I am worthy, I am more than a doll”. I do wish it was sooner. In my opinion, Celie's “crybaby/victim” mentality was the biggest pitfall of this book. I truly wanted her to have great character development before the book ended. It is okay though.

When it came to Celie and Michal. I wanted more. Like... A whole lot more. This makes me excited for Book 2. As for the cliffhanger. It was predictable but it will still leave one wanting more from Scarlet Veil. If all of Shelby's books are written like this then Shelby will become my favorite author of all time.


Alright with all that being said here are some twigger warnings/content warnings because “It is better to prevent than to heal” (Shelby Mahurin).

Violence
kidnapping
Slight Depictions of blood/gore
Strong language (I know some find issues with books containing cussing but I would like to let you all know there was a total of 4 times).
Death

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for providing me with an audiobook copy of Stars of Mount Quixx.

The Stars of Mount Quixx reminds me of another book titled Alice in Wonderland.


Celina Sinden was the narrator and she did a wonderful job of keeping me engaged with the plot. She brought this story to life. If it was not for the wonderful narration I do not think I would have finished this book.
The Stars of Mount Quixx has a magical and whimsical feeling about it. However, there is something missing from the story. For me, it was not the characters. I enjoyed them.
The plot was more juvenile than I was expecting it to be.

Overall, not a bad book and not badly written. I did enjoy it but I do not believe that this is a young-adult book. I would allow children of that age range to read this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook!! I am sorry this took me so long to review.
I DNF'ed this around 70% because I found it to be slow and with little character development. The plot of the book is the saving grace. However, it was not enough for me to complete this read. I did love the first book but I struggled with this one.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Last Saxon King by Andrew Varga. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was short and to the point. The plot was good and not a complex YA read. I did find Dan and his male gaze to be relatively “cringy”. The characters are somewhat lacking but it does not hinder the overall story.

A wonderful fantasy horror book. Everyone needs to take medications to stop dreaming. If one dreams you will become your own worst nightmare. The protagonist Ness has a fear of Nightmares, ever since someone she loved turned into a spider and ate her father. The plot is wonderful and fascinating. City of Nightmares is very well executed. .

Got to love plagiarized work that is turned into a book to profit off of someone else's hard work.
sarcasm

Interesting read. There are several sections of interest for me. For example, the section titled Ethical Issues in Experimental Research.

Social science experiments often raise difficult ethical issues. You have already read in Chapter 3 that Philip Zimbardo (2004) ended his Stanford Prison Experiment after only six days, rather than after the planned two weeks, because of the psychological harm that seemed to result from the unexpectedly sadistic behavior of some of the “guards.” Although Zimbardo's follow-up research convinced him that there had been no lasting harm to subjects, concern about the potential for harm would preclude many such experiments today...

I find sections like this informative that contain valuable information about important ethical issues that have been conducted during experiments throughout history. This information is something that we should be aware of to prevent future ethical violations.

There are several other sections that I would put into this review but I do not believe people want to read that type of review.

Overall, I do believe that others should read this. It is a “simple” read, a rather long - simple read but it is worth it.
I would rate it 5 stars but since it is an educational/textbook. I have to rate it at 3 stars because of the neutrality.

This is a policy I have to keep implicit and explicit biases to a minimum

Hmm, I am not sure how I feel about Tender is the Flesh. I did enjoy the idea of this book. However, the “meat” of the book was... I do not want to say boring but I was bored. The execution of the plot was maybe average for such a good concept for a book.
I... I don't know. I wish it was better because I enjoy books of this nature.
It is not the worst book I read of the year but for me, it was not perfect, impactful, or emotional.
I don't “hate” the book nor did I truly enjoy it. So, that is the reason for the 3 stars.

I have finished it but I am currently in the process of solving it.

*Edit 2024:
I guess not having a star rating on a book means that others send aggressive DMs.

So my overall rating is 1.5/2 stars.

Initial review from 2023:

Let me first start with this:

1) I will not leave a star rating mark on Goodreads. But... If I were to give this book a rating it would be a low rating, but since it is a debut novel/indie published. The highest and lowest rating I will give is 3 stars.

2) I was recommended this book by a mutual friend in the book community because she saw it on TikTok and wanted my thoughts about it. Now, I do have to say that I have a thing about reading TikTok books because 90% of the time they are over-promoted and horrible in some way, shape, or form. Then there is that 10% chance that a TikTok book is a hidden gem.
However, with this book, This was not one of those hidden gems, but... It was not the worst TikTok book I have picked up.

3) If one is easily offended by negative reviews or low ratings then ignore this review. This is not for those people.

Let us finally begin the review.

The Vivian Priestess by Katrina Calandra

Worldbuilding:

sigh

When it comes to books with 350–400 pages, I do expect the said book to have a good amount of quality world-building. In my opinion, the world-building for The Vivian Priestess is lacking immensely. We have three worlds. Three... Yet, all the information we have about these three worlds is surface-level

I do understand that this is a debut book, and a second book is on its way. But... the lack of world-building almost made me DNF this book before 20%.

The pacing of the book/characters:

This is 100% a slow burn. It was so slow that it took me months to finish this book. However, when it came to the pacing of the characters and the relationships between them, it was rushed. This was confusing and almost gave me whiplash.

I also hate to say this, but every character was... forgettable. For me, I need my characters to have depth. And these characters didn't have much of that.
I could not connect to any of the characters on an emotional level. At times, I even found myself skimming an area of pointless monologue or speaking out loud for Ferren to shut up. However, the overall interactions between characters were okay.

As for growth and development, it was almost nonexistent, but I also did not expect this book to have it because, well... TikTok “romance” books. That is why I mentioned something about TikTok books earlier.

Writing:

I don't like criticizing this area because... Well. I stink in the grammar, spelling, and sentence structure areas. However, the writing reminded me of a rough draft before you send it to an editor. However, this is not the worst writing I have seen. The worst writing I have seen comes from a traditionally published book.

Smut:

sigh

Stuff starts to happen sometime around the 62%–70% mark for like 6–10 pages. It was very vanilla and boring. However, this could be a personal issue because I come from a place that reads dark romance.

There is an audience for this book, but I am not that audience.

I will be back to write my review. Need to process the information that I have read.

I was finally able to get around to reading the ARC that I was provided with.
Overview:

We encounter an 18-year-old girl named Dylan that wakes up in an apartment that is unrecognizable to her. She is greeted by other people. However, she has no idea who they are. Dylan can get her hands on a phone to call home. This is when she learns that she has been missing for a few days. On top of that, Dylan has no recollection. Eventually, she is diagnosed with DID.
Throughout the book. She learns more about herself, how to stand up to her abuser, and how to work together with her system.

Be mindful when you read this. This is marketed towards YA but it is on the border between adults and YA. There is some material within this book that is not suitable for everyone. Pieces of Me contains mature content that relates to the following:

Sexual Assult

Self-harm

Substance abuse

Trauma/Mental health

This is the first book by Kate McLaughlin that I have read and I can say that it was enjoyable. Since I am no expert on DID I can not tell you if Dylan's experience is true or not. However, Kate McLaughlin researched this topic (I appreciate seeing all the material she looked at to create this story). She did a great job with how she handed DID within this story. It did not feel rushed, stereotypical, or demonized. However, I do wish there was more about the disorder within the book.

I have recommended this book with caution to several of my friends who have Dissociative identity disorder to see their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and perspectives. This is a fascinating book that is worth reading.

The pace in the book had little to no consistency. There were parts in the book that are fast-paced and then long periods where the scenes just went on and on. Then suddenly pick up. The plot was okay but felt generic. The lack of character growth throughout the book was dishearting for me. It took me forever to finish this book because it was just not my cup of tea.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.