Destiny (howling libraries)
This was absolutely stunning. What a beautiful theme, for a young woman to utilize her nightmares to explore her own sexuality during the time of witch hunts and Puritanical murder. The art was beautiful and I breezed through the story with a level of investment I haven't easily found in books lately. 10/10 recommending this to anyone who enjoys folk horror and eroticism, historical witch hunt stories, and/or The VVitch.
So sweet. We didn't get to see the tension build up as much between the two characters since they had known each other for a while before the story began, but that also gave it a sense of believability that I didn't mind at all. I LOVED the bits about Peyton's disability and how it affected her, especially how Joshua treated her - being unafraid to touch her stump, not treating her as a fragile thing, understanding her fears without pitying or trying to coddle her.
✨ Representation: FMC with an amputated arm
✨ Content warnings: trauma, brief mentions of shark attacks, anxiety/panic attacks, PTSD, explicit sex
I love Bree Paulsen's books so darn much, and this was just as precious and wonderful as I hoped it would be. It's definitely heavier than Bree's Garlic books, given that our sibling main characters have one deceased parent and one terminally ill parent and they are living in the aftermath of a terrible war. That said, the love that shines through this family of characters is truly something special. It's a tense read at times, but it's worth the ride. I'm forever in awe of Bree Paulsen's stories and can't wait to read whatever they release next!
I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: BIPOC and/or queer characters, transmasc side character, implied ace/aro character
✨ Content warnings: death of a parent, terminal illness, grief, war, violence
I generally enjoy all of Junji Ito's works, but this was one of my favorites of his collections! I loved the fact that these were all adaptations of a person's actual, true life stories, so they didn't typically wrap up neatly or end with any sort of explanation. I found each story to be at least slightly unsettling, with a few legitimately creeping me out. I'd be interested in reading the source material at some point in the future, perhaps, though Junji Ito did admit that he took some liberties, so they might not be as captivating! 🤣
I'm leaving a review without a rating because I think I would've enjoyed this as a young teen, maybe even loved it. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me, but I'm not the target audience here, either. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I struggled with the levels of angst and how romance-heavy the story was (despite not personally feeling like the characters would be a compatible pairing in the first place). I also found the villains to be very over-the-top and I predicted the twists very early in, which left me feeling irritated with the main character's total lack of awareness.
I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Andrew is asexual and gay; Thomas is bisexual/pansexual; multiple side characters are queer
✨ Content warnings: violence, gore, death, body horror, grief, bigotry, homophobia, transphobia, verbal abuse from authority figures, physically abusive parents, mental illness, anxiety/panic attacks, disordered eating, self-harm
He’d dragged me out of the gray world I’d been living in and taught me how to see colors again.
Look, I didn't know what to expect going into this book because honestly, it felt like there was a really good chance it wasn't going to live up to the hype for me. I didn't even think I liked stalker romances that much! I guess Aly and Josh weren't the only ones learning new things about themselves here. 🤷♀️
Lights Out is literally one of the funniest, most delightful books I have ever read. There were times where I was listening to the audiobook after my family went to bed and literally was sitting there in the dark with TEARS streaming down my face from how hard I was trying to stifle my laughter, and I honestly don't know if that has ever happened to me with a rom-com. 10/10, no notes. I can't wait for book 2.
I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Content warnings: graphic sex, BDSM, kinks, stalking, voyeurism, violence, murder, discussions of rape/assault, home invasion, spying, hacking, death of a parent, grief, mentions of serial killers, mentions of cannibalism, vomit, medical content/settings
I always love Kealan's work, so I figured I'd celebrate St. Patrick's Day by picking up a new-to-me read from my favorite Irish author! It was a damn good choice. I loved this collection. I'm fascinated by the idea of haunted pieces of art anyway, but also, I enjoyed that it wasn't only about paintings - the final story was even about music, which I wasn't expecting but really loved.
My favorite story of the collection was the first one, which was so sad and lovely, but all of them were fantastic! I highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys short horror stories, especially if you're looking to get into Kealan's work.
"I'm someone who hurt you and I'm despairingly in love with you and I canna bear to be both those things at once."
I loved this book so much. Lochlann has such a special place in my heart! His rage and anguish over the way his holiday was being treated, both from within and by outsiders, had me so deeply in my feelings. Don't even get me started on how hard he fell for our little anxiety baby Kris. 😭
Kris, on the other hand, frustrated me in the beginning, but then I realized that it was because his lashing out and depression hit TOO close to home. Once I set that aside, I loved him almost as much as I loved Coal in book 1. 🥺
Sara Raasch, PLEASE give us a 3rd book from Iris' POV! I need it! 😭♥️
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: bi/pan MC, queer love interest, queer side characters
✨ Content warnings: emotional/verbal abuse from parents, neglectful parents, alcohol, loss of parents, grief, explicit sex, anxiety/panic attacks
... I should have read the spoiler reviews.
I went into this book totally oblivious, knowing nothing about it except that it was very controversial. I'll admit that it piqued my interest and I bought the ebook from the author's site on a whim, wondering, "How bad could it be?" Well, friends, how bad it could be was that this entire book is a romance story between a 16/17-year-old girl and her dad.
Honestly, I think the worst part was killing off the mom a chapter in just to fridge her character and make room for these two to hook up, but really, there's a lot of stuff to choose from here that's frankly even more offensive than the incest. The entire book was a shitshow stacked on top of a trainwreck and I'll probably never reach for a K. Webster book again.
This odd little book has been a real source of discussion lately, and after reading it, I can see why. Told through the perspective of a child, there's a devastating sadness and unsettling nature to her upbringing that claws its way under your skin and remains there. I wanted to take Margot right out of these twisted pages and hold her, but she's far from an innocent little girl - and, somehow, her own terrible behaviors and thoughts about the world made me love her that much more. The ending of this book is going to stay with me for a long time to come, and despite how much heartache the entire story brought me, I'm already itching to read it once more.
I loved this. I'm suffering, but I loved this. 😭
I have to say I enjoyed this more than Iron Flame. I'm genuinely at a bit of a loss as to why so many people hated this installment or chose this moment to DNF the series. I respect opposing opinions, don't get me wrong... 😅 I just thought it was a really fun, likeable continuation of the series. It wasn't the best writing I've ever read or anything, but that's not really what I love this series for. I'm here for the characters and dragons I love and the fun battle scenes, and this one provided all of that in droves!
Buddy read with Misty! ♥️
This was adorable. I love a good, cute, gay rom-com and this definitely delivered! The holiday fantasy elements were a great backdrop to this sweet 'star-crossed lovers' romance, but what really stole the show for me was Hex's character. I mean, anyone who knows me at all would NOT be surprised to hear that I adored the Prince of Halloween, but that's beside the point. 🤣 He was SO funny and precious and soft, and I just loved him to bits! I can't wait to continue the series and I really hope we get cameos of Coal and Hex in future installments.
✨ Representation: bi MC, queer love interest, queer side characters, Mexican love interest, Black side character
✨ Content warnings for: loss of a sibling, loss of a parent, abandonment from a parent, grief, insecurity, emotional and verbal abuse from a parent, mentions of physical abuse, mentions of toxic relationships, alcohol, vomit, blackmail
dnf @ 20%
I don't know what it was, but the writing wasn't working for me at all. Also, I'm hesitant to say this since I didn't finish the book, but by the point I reached, there were no horror elements AT ALL. I've seen a ton of negative reviews saying this was poorly marketed and miscategorized, and my first impression left me inclined to agree.
This was mostly a pretty cute read, though it definitely wasn't perfect. I picked up this one out of the middle of the series, so there were a lot of characters that I didn't know but I assume I would have; that said, it functioned well as a standalone and I didn't feel like I was missing anything important by not starting at the beginning of the series.
Farrah was a likable enough FMC, though she suffered from the same problem all of the other characters did: she felt flat and one-dimensional at times. I enjoyed her most of all when interacting with her kids, because I felt like Hoss' writing shone in the motherly love depicted there. Gage felt pretty flat at times, too, but like Farrah and her kids, I enjoyed him most when spending time with his family.
I had a handful of minor problems throughout the book, like stilted bits of dialogue, but my biggest problem definitely boiled down to the third act breakup. It absolutely enraged me and I had a hard time forgiving Gage for his actions, even though the story tried to force in this ideal that he was doing it "for the greater good". It was so aggravating and ultimately led to my being unable to care much at all about the end of the book, even though the breakup was such a short portion of it overall.
Contains spoilers
Is this the feeling of being broken? He wonders. Or is it the process of breaking?
I've heard a lot of hype surrounding this novella, and I can certainly see why. It's a gruesome, suspenseful little thing with lots of fangs and pincers (literally and metaphorically), and I really enjoyed it. There's a dark humor to the whole thing, but moments of long-standing generational pain and cynicism are woven throughout it in a way that tugs at your heartstrings. The ending left me reeling a little bit, and I'm probably never going to look at gas station restrooms the same way.
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Jewish MC and author
✨ Content warnings for: violence, gore, murder, death, insects, snakes, brief mentions of antisemitism, emotional abuse of a child (flashbacks), religious doubts, brief mentions of cancer and terminal illness
Like most anthologies, this was definitely a mixed bag for me. While there were some real gems, there were also an unfortunate number of stories that left me wanting more. I'd rather focus on the standout pieces, though, so I have to shout out a few favorites: 'Mr. Butler' by Clay McLeod Chapman, 'Nice' by Nat Cassidy, 'Thaw' by Rachel Harrison, and 'Ghosted' by Mercedes M. Yardley.
I'm not sure this anthology will stick out in my memory much overall, but I enjoyed my time with it enough to recommend it to any readers looking for some chilling, wintry horror tales.
I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.
Contains spoilers
My entire review can be summed up with: *massive, whimsical sigh*
Really though, this was so wonderful. The chemistry between Scarlett and Lukas was incredible, I loved the mental health and trauma discussions, and most of all, this was perhaps the single best portrayal of kink discussion I've ever read. While I don't personally feel like this book was as explicit or kinky as I expected it to be based on the general reception (lol), there was SO much emphasis on consent, aftercare, and (best of all, imo) even delving into why submission is so comforting for a lot of people. I loved it so much. ♥️
Buddy read with Malli!
Thank you to the publisher and LibroFM for the gifted audiobook! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: casual queer rep (love interest and multiple side characters)
✨ Content warnings for: dom/sub dynamics, discussions of BDSM and consent, sports injuries, trauma, brief mentions of emotionally/verbally abusive parents, brief mentions of parent loss and grief, kink-shaming (challenged), anxiety
I hate being negative about indie romance books, especially ones that don't have a ton of ratings, but I didn't enjoy the writing in this at all. It was a classic case of an author attempting to cram a full novel's worth of back story, angst, and personal traumas into a 50-page short story and it did not work.
I think Jon Athan's books and I probably don't get along, and I need to accept that and stop trying them out. The plots always intrigue me, but the writing is less than ideal (and riddled with a heavy overuse of metaphor and simile), the characters are flat and self-contradicting, and the suspension of disbelief required to buy into literally ANYTHING that happened in this story was too much for me to handle. I like over-the-top gore and violence, but it has to be at least a tiny bit believable. Don't even get me started on how stupid literally every single character in this book was, either. 💀
Lucas is happy. This is a very provoking thing to the world. Because people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?
I absolutely adored this. It was my first time reading anything from Fredrik Backman after years of having his books on my TBR and hearing people rave about him, and now, I can understand why. This story made me laugh, and then it made me cry, because it so succinctly nailed down several elements of loneliness, grief, personal growth, letting your walls down, and just... the human existence in general. I never expected this funny, odd little story with its incredibly bizarre premise to leave me weeping into my pillow near the end (in a good way, somehow?), but here we are.
Lucas is happy. It’s not as hard as one might think to become, the hard part is just to keep being it. It’s hard because it’s so easy to get in your head that if you are to be happy, you have to be happy exactly all of the time. And who in the world has the energy for that? Happiness can be exhausting. Honestly, it’s most often enough to just not be the opposite. So, Lucas isn’t unhappy. That’s the secret.
As soon as I saw the title of this collection, I was intrigued, because wow, what a title. 🤣 And no spoilers, but the title came into play in the BEST way at one point and it put the biggest smile on my face. If you don't mind reading stories mostly revolving around evil little kids doing terrible things to people (and sometimes getting punished for it), this was a really fun collection that I enjoyed a lot!
Okay, this was SO CUTE and I really need to continue this series and check out Shannon Mae's other work soon. Dex and Toby were adorable together and I genuinely enjoyed the mystery/thriller subplot! I love suspenseful rom-coms like this, where enough of the book is happy and cutesy that I can get invested in the worrisome events without ever having any doubt that the characters will get their HEA.
I'd 100% recommend this for Alice Winters fans (and it reminded me that I need to read more of her books too) as well as fans of Onley James' Necessary Evils series!
