TL;DR: Absolutely loved the idea but this needed so much more meat on it's bones. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher! Plot: Take a twisted magical school and put a bunch of very unhinged characters inside. Fun times follow. Characters: They had a lot of potential for me! But ultimately we didn’t... Continue Reading →
Herculine by Grace Byron
TL;DR: This writing style just didn’t work for me, it was exhausting. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: Our narrator gets trapped in a cult, demons abound! Characters: A bit of a mess to be honest. We’re so trapped in our narrator that no one felt real. Setting: The cult’s headquarters felt... Continue Reading →
Vesselless by Cortney L. Winn
TL;DR: This felt very much like every Romantasy out these days. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: He needs her, he loves her and she’s not like the other girls. Characters: A bit flat for me guys. They read like every other Romantasy couple I’ve seen. Setting: Some effort was made to... Continue Reading →
The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam (Hart and Mercy #3) by Megan Bannen
TL;DR: What a fun little escape and great ending to the series. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: Rosie, Adam, and Duckers get trapped in the mist cloaked Tanria and have to get out and save the world from invasive god thorns. Characters: They’re so fun, I loved Rosie and even Adam... Continue Reading →
Spellcaster by Jaymin Eve
TL;DR: This one is entirely just for fun. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: Paisley’s dormant magic pokes it’s head up so she goes to Weatherstone College and monsters begin to appear, hunting her down. Characters: They were okay. Setting: This was nice, it’s a magical school so it has some very... Continue Reading →
Breathe in, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
TL;DR: Very fun with some unique deaths. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: Hannah is trying to recover after the death of her fiancé and agrees to go on a ‘wellness retreat’. All is not well. Characters: A cast of somewhat tropey characters but not the worst. I enjoyed hating some of... Continue Reading →
Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones
TL;DR: Surprisingly complicated with some more thrilling elements than scary ones. Source: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!! Plot: A double feature, this has a young girl hitchhiking and running into the wrong man and then a babysitter fighting a house for her freedom. Characters: These two girls felt very similar, I’m not going... Continue Reading →
The Thrashers by Julie Soto
TL;DR: A surprisingly fast paced and gripping thriller. Source: NetGalley - thank you so much to the publisher! Plot: One girl’s death rocks the It crowd clique. Characters: No one here was good, but you truly end up enjoying all of them. Setting: Not the strongest but it wasn’t necessarily needed with the strength of... Continue Reading →
The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard
TL;DR: Quite a disappointment. Source: Netgalley - Thanks you to the publisher! Plot: Randomly chosen women are made to compete for a prince’s hand in marriage, and it gets spicy. Characters: Honestly, no thank you. I didn’t enjoy them at all. Setting: We got the flavor of our inspiration here, but it was lost entirely... Continue Reading →
Laozi’s Dao Di Jing translated by Ken Liu
TL;DR: A very friendly exploration of a philosophy I’ve heard of but didn’t know many details. Source: Netgalley! Thank you so much! I also purchased my own copy after completion. Structure: This includes essays from Ken Liu about the translation and his thoughts on several of the chapters which really helped add to the overall... Continue Reading →