Abby
This book took me almost two months to read because I could only manage it a few pages at a time.
I was excited for a spooky ghost story and it did not deliver. Sure, there were moments that were spooky, but they were overshadowed by painful dialogue, terrible investigative work (“He must have died in the fire!” as the ghost appears soaking wet and all the hauntings involve water), and unbelievable children.
It took me until about halfway through the book to realize one of the things bothering me was that the characters do not act their age. Claire and her friends are supposed to be 12-year-old 7th graders, and her brother Sam 15. How they all act and talk fits more if they were all 3 - 5 years younger than their actual ages.
I did appreciate the history of Chicago woven into the story, and it spurred a few Wikipedia binges, but other than that I have nothing positive to say about Scritch Scratch and won't be recommending it to my patrons.
The Divines was not my usual cup of tea, but overall, I did enjoy it.
I don't often tip my toe into the land of literary fiction, mainly because it ends up depressing me more than I like. The Divines was definitely depressing, but it had enough to balance it out.
The story relies heavily on hints of A Very Bad Thing That Happened in the Past. Sometimes this method doesn't work, but I felt The Divines pulled it off well. There was enough substance in the school-era timeline and Josephine's current life that it didn't feel like the story purely relied on suspense.
I added The Divines to our library collection, and it's been popular so far!
Audiobook Review: The voice actor, Imogen Church, was amazing. She truly brought the story and characters to life and was pleasing to listen to! I look forward to listening to more of her work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
It took me a couple of months to make it through the audiobook of Bones of a Saint, and I can't quite put my finger on why.
I enjoyed the story well enough but was never truly engaged in it or felt deeply about any of the characters. It was still entertaining, however.
The narrator gave a good performance, but, in my opinion, I don't think he was a good fit for the book. This is based purely on the fact that RJ, the protagonist, is supposed to be 15, and the narrator sounds like he's in his thirties. It brought me out of the story; I was always aware that I was listening to someone read this book – never genuinely engaged in the narrative.
The ending did not satisfy me. Again, maybe it's because I never really connected with the book. But I was left with the feeling that I will not remember this book at all in a month.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I frickin' loved this book, and I want the next one now.
It took me a couple of tries to get into it the story – mostly because I kept starting the audiobook as I was going to bed and didn't make it very far. (I'm very familiar with the first chapter now).
Ropa is a wonderful, badass, caring main character, and I want 20 more books about her.
The magic, ghosts, and other realms were fascinating, but they weren't the book's main focus. I'm looking forward to more of the worldbuilding in the next book! It may be the librarian in me, but I was slightly disappointed that they didn't spend more time in the library...
Audiobook Review: I think listening to the audiobook made the experience of the book 10 times better. Tinashe Warikandwa is absolutely perfect as Ropa. I will only listen to the audio version of this book and its sequels, I loved it so much.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The good:Leave the World Behind makes a great book club book. It spurs so many discussions – not necessarily about the book itself, but some of the more significant topics it touches on.
The not great: I honestly don't know if I liked it?
I started off reading the book but was so annoyed by the try-hard writing that I stopped after a few chapters. Since I needed to read it for book club, I switched to the audiobook (If not for book club, I think it would have been a DNF). Marin Ireland does a splendid job narrating, and I enjoyed her performance. It made it easier to overlook the aspects that I was hung up on while reading.
One of our group's main discussions was about the genre of the book. We felt like the book had been misrepresented as a thriller but did not feel like one. It was much more about introspection, character relations - there's a lot of nothing happening while also having a lot of stuff happening?
So, I'd recommend Leave The World Behind if you're looking for a book to discuss. It is sure to spark conversations and polarize your book group!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Cute, simple story. I think the book would have benefited from being longer, though. The characters were flat – they were quirky, but there was nothing more profound. The plot jumped from one thing to the next without exploring the ideas and emotions that were happening. I know there's a lot of suspension of disbelief that's needed – buying an elephant at the grocery store, the casual use of carrying pigeons, teenagers that try to kidnap an elephant – but you can still have that fun, ‘quirky' story and dive a bit deeper. It felt like the story was stuck in between being a picture book and a chapter book.
I loved the illustrations, but the text font within them was a weird “computer” font that did not jive with the pictures or the story. I hope that's different in the final copies.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely adore McFarlane's books, and Just Last Night is no exception.
My favorite part of her novels are always the supporting characters – the friends, the family, the MC's support net. So obviously I loved that Just Last Night is about those deep friendships and explores what happens when long buried secrets come to light.
Just Last Night was also a beautiful exploration of grief. I full on bawled through about a quarter of the book because it resonated with losses I've had in my life, but also because it made me think about what it would be like if my best friend died. The author did such a wonderful job of illustrating the myriad of emotions, the small moments when the grief hits you unexpectedly.
My one and only complaint is that I would have liked to see more interaction and development between Eve and Finlay. I loved what was there! It just felt like things were a bit rushed at the end, and that there wasn't a strong foundation for their relationship. The book focused more on friendships than the romance.
Spoiler: I am conflicted on how things turned out with Ed. On the one hand, friendships are complicated and the history and relationship after over 10 years of friendship is hard to ignore. On the other hand, I feel like he got off way too lightly after years of the ‘nice guy' routine.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is my jam. Right up my alley. My cup of tea.
Every cliché about how perfectly this book includes all my favorite things and how even though I didn't think it was possible, I loved it more than the first book.
Namesake, while still having plenty of seafaring adventure, delved into the characters and relationships that were introduced in Fable.
While I'm disappointed it's only a duology, it also had a wonderful ending. I'm sure I'll be rereading the books many times!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
There were a lot of things I didn't like about this book that just made it a chore to listen to.
The plot was basic and straightforward. If the book has strong characters and writing, it can be a simple, predictable story and still be entertaining. This was not. All the characters were borderline (or outright) unlikeable with no development whatsoever. The world itself seemed complex on the surface, but there was little explanation of how things actually worked (i.e., the magic system, which is also the central plot point).
To be fair, I listened to All the Stars and Teeth immediately after finishing Fable by Adrienne Young. I absolutely loved that story, so I may have had unfair expectations. Perhaps if I were in a different reading mood (and didn't listen to the audiobook with poor narration), I would have enjoyed it more.
I received the sequel as an ARC from Netgalley, and I plan to still give it a try! I'll just go in with different expectations.
The Stolen Kingdom didn't seem like it'd be a stand-out book just from reading the summary. The plot sounds like hundreds of other books. And yet, it's its own story, and I absolutely loved it.
It took a few chapters to grow attached to the characters. Still, the action starts right away when Mara is kidnapped and coerced into joining the plot to overthrow the throne.
I'll admit I didn't like Alac for a while, but I liked him more as we saw him through Mara's eyes. His chapters had a little too much, “She's not like other girls” at first. By the time we really hit the action halfway through the book, those sentiments were in the past, and I was fully absorbed in the story.
I could not stop listening for the last third of the book. I just wandered around my house, listening to the rest of the story unfold because there was no way I could stop at that point.
The Stolen Kingdom is a standalone, which I'm sad about because I absolutely want to read more of Mara and Alac. Still, I also think was the best choice for the story. (So much character development and not dragged out over three books)
To sum it up: I absolutely recommend and will definitely read more of the author's work!
Audiobook Review: Both narrators were great, but it took a while to appreciate the male performance simply because Suzy Jackson was so good. She fills her chapters with emotion and is the perfect voice for Mara, while Alec's chapter just ended up feeling... flat. By the end of the book, there's more passion in the performance, which mirrors the story's arc. He does wonderful voices for characters (except the women, which is a common failing for male narrators).
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I knew I would love Fable, yet I put off reading it for months – maybe out of fear it wouldn't live up to my expectations?
Well, that was a stupid thing to do because I absolutely loved Fable.
The short and sweet summary: Fable is trying to prove to her father that she's capable of living the trader life and the ship is where she's meant to be – she just has to get herself off an island and find her way to him.
Sea adventures, a touch of magic, found family, and romance-but-not-too-forced romance? Check. Well-written characters that develop throughout the story? Check. Frustrating cliffhanger that makes me a little glad I put off reading the book because I only had to wait a few weeks for the second book? Check!
Fable had everything I love in a book. It might be too slow-paced for some, but I thought the action to plot ratio was perfect. I'll absolutely be rereading in the future!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Audiobook Review: At first, I wasn't sure about the narrator, but I quickly grew to love
Emma Lysy's voice for this story. She did a fantastic job of bringing Fable to life and had great voices for all of the other characters. I had to laugh at the beginning of each chapter, though, because of the very forceful declaration of the chapter numbers – it always managed to startle me.
I loved the Gilded Ones and cannot wait to read more. The story and world were utterly unique and kept me guessing throughout.
My one and only complaint was the pacing. This is a personal preference, obviously, but I prefer books that are more character-focused than having non-stop action. The Gilded Ones is definitely in the non-stop action category. I would have liked the book to be split in two and spent more time with the characters. The reader is told the girls have bonded and are a ‘found family,” but I honestly didn't feel that connection except between Deka and Briseis. Even Keita, who is the romantic interest, doesn't feel like a fully fleshed-out character – we barely know him. (I still liked him, though, it just felt like missed potential).
That said, hopefully, there can be more character development in the next book! And hopefully, that book comes soon!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was frustrating.
There were parts, whole sections even, that I liked. And then it'd come back to Caroline's perspective, and I'd have to restrain myself from yelling at her.
Caroline drove me up the wall. She's in London by herself on what's supposed to be her tenth anniversary trip with her husband. Caroline just discovered he's been having an affair. Still, she decided to make the trip anyway to have space to sort through her feelings. Caroline comes across an old vial while on a mudlarking tour of the Thames. She dives into researching its history, partly as a way to avoid her problems at home. What follows is a former history student breaking into a historic site, disturbing it, hiding it from people with actual knowledge of the period and how to process sites (not to mention her new friend that works for the British Museum) and manages to be suspected of murder because she's so protective of this site she won't explain why she was researching poisons. Or hey, maybe showing the cops THE PICTURES ON YOUR PHONE OF THE REGISTER WITH THE SUSPICIOUS INGREDIENTS YOU WERE GOOGLING (Oh, sorry, not googling. Or searching. Navigating to the phone's web browser).
My issues with the story that aren't based on my dislike of Caroline:
• There were attempts to create suspense and mystery when it wasn't there and just made the story lag. Honestly, if I had been reading the book instead of listening, I would have skimmed large chunks of the text because it just wasn't necessary.
• The descriptions around any use of technology were weird and just too descriptive. For example, Caroline would navigate to her camera app. I'm not planning on visiting the British Library and replicating her archival searches, so I didn't need a step-by-step guide on using the filters.
I did not like the ending whatsoever, but perhaps my biggest problem with it is that Caroline throws the vial back in the river. The vial that led Caroline to this whole journey of uncovering the apothecary, which she'll be writing her dissertation on at Cambridge. And she threw it away because she was keeping Eliza's story to herself? Was this a purposeful juxtaposition to Nella keeping a register of customers so history wouldn't forget those women? At the same time, Caroline quite literally throws a record away? Either way, it was a stupid and unnecessary ‘symbolic moment.'
Audiobook Review: All of the narrators did a good job, but I'd sometimes up the speed during Caroline's sections to get through them faster. Perhaps that's because I'm from the US, and the accent sounded bland and neutral compared to Nella and Eliza's sections. Perhaps it's because the character was annoying. Who knows. I especially loved the performance for Nella's sections – the raspiness and the slowness just felt perfect for the character.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest, the only thing I really took away from this book was confusion.
I didn't get much (read: any) of the science stuff, but I loved how the narrative was woven into real historical events. It could feel a bit like an info-dump at times, however, which felt like reading a textbook instead of a novel.
I didn't have an emotional connection with the characters, which made it feel like: why am I reading this book? But then something interesting would happen and keep me reading a little more. The cycle repeated until I eventually finished the book.
I wouldn't necessarily say I recommend this book, but I'll probably read the second book just because I'm curious.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A fun story with adventure and magic!
Cordelia's family are the Hatmakers – they make hats imbued with magic to help the wearer sleep, be brave, hold peace talks – whatever is needed.
The Hatmakers has the hallmarks of any middle-grade book: quirky characters, a deceased parent, strong friendships, and standing up for what's right. It's still a unique and fun story, and the magic system is so interesting. I'd love to see even more exploration of that in more books!
I'll definitely be adding The Hatmakers to the library's collection!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed Dearest Josephine much more than I expected!
Josie De Clare's father recently passed away, and she's still reeling from his loss. After finding out about a house he bought to renovate, Josie retreats to the secluded manor to try to fix it up and figure out her next steps.
The story unfolds through emails, texts, letters, and excerpts from a novel by one of the manor's previous tenants. Not my favorite format for a book, so it's extra impressive that I enjoyed it!
Throughout the book, Josie is working her way through grief. She's fixing the house, reconnecting with her friend Faith, making new friends, and falling in love with a man who lived 200 years ago. Did she have the healthiest coping mechanisms? No. Were they heartfelt and authentic? Yes.
I was most invested in Josie and Faith's relationship and the rocky path of mending it again because that was the relationship I could relate to the most.
Did I swoon at some of Elias's letters? Yes, yes, I did. I adored the Pride & Prejudice references, and the beautiful, pure emotion of the letters got to me a little more than I expected (even considering they were written to a woman that he only knew for a few hours). Honestly, I can't blame Josie for falling in love with him because I would have too.
I enjoyed the little bit of mystery, as well: is there actually time travel? Do they somehow end up together? How does Elias know so much about Josie?
Audiobook Review: I enjoyed the narrator! She did a great job considering the book's format, which seems like it would be awkward for this format. I liked the addition of text chimes, which helped differentiate the communication type as you're listening.
My only complaint is Faith's emails. The American accent was just not quite right. It sounded Australian most of the time and “Emma Watson in Perks of Being a Wallflower” the rest of the time.
Second Complaint: The over-emphasis of LOL. It always felt very forceful, plus I tend to make fun of people who say it out loud, not to mention if they pronounce it as “lull” instead of saying the letters – that's probably more of a personal nitpick though.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
So, I don't particularly appreciate reading a summary of a book right before I start it. I like to go in with some vague knowledge – genre, period, etc. – but I don't want to know much about the plot.
That backfired with Crow Court. I was so flipping confused as each chapter seemed to have nothing to do with the previous, aside from a brief mention of a character that appeared earlier. Or I'd think I knew who the chapter was about, but I couldn't remember any character names. It's more of a collection of short stories with a deep, deep underlying connection that I do not understand. I know some of them were originally published as short stories. Still, the book seems like it's caught in a strange in-between novel and story collection that I didn't necessarily dislike, but I wouldn't go searching out.
I did enjoy the stories, but since it claimed it was a novel, I kept waiting for everything to come together. It didn't.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This would have been a thousand times better without the weird, forced sexual tension between Zafira and Nasir.
The story's basics were interesting - a mysterious quest to bring magic back to the world - but the characters were not engaging. At all. The people I did like and wanted to see more of were side characters. If I read the next book, I hope that we have more perspectives.
Also - smallest of annoyances, but I couldn't trust Zafira after the scene at the beginning of the book when she says she doesn't want ice cream because the area they live is always cold. Ice cream is delicious year-round, but especially in the winter.
I hated Nasir. All of his chapters were overly broody and dramatic and full of manpain (Yes, his backstory is explained later on, but he's still annoying)
I went in blind Lava Red Feather Blue and was greatly rewarded.
In the first chapter, you have zero idea what's happening or what kind of world you're in. You're just starting to understand what's going on, and then you're thrust two centuries to the future.
Merrick is not a perfect protagonist, and I love him for it. Larkin, too, makes a few questionable choices. But they both learn and grow. Their relationship evolved through the story, and it felt natural.
Every once in a while, the dialogue felt a bit stiff, but it wasn't enough to truly bother me.
I love the world that the author built and looked forward to coming back to it every evening as I read. And really, that's one of the best things you can find in a book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have mixed feelings about The Mermaid from Jeju.
The storyline was compelling, but I didn't connect to the characters at all. There were so many would-be heartbreaking moments, but I didn't feel anything. I'm usually not a fan of first-person narration, but I think that would have been a better fit for the story.
I added it to our library's eBook collection because it was an enjoyable read. It just wasn't memorable, which is disappointing because it had the potential to be.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.