This Is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller REVIEW

Summary:

Gay single mom Brigid always thought that cutting ties with her extremist Catholic family was the best thing she could have done for her daughter, Dylan - and for herself. But when Dylan starts having terrifying fits of unnatural violence, Brigid can't shake her memories of a girl from her childhood who behaved the same way . . . until Brigid's uncle, Father Angus, performed an exorcism.

Convinced that Dylan is suffering from demonic possession, Brigid does the thing she told herself she'd never do: she goes home. Father Angus is the worst person she knows, but he's also the only person who can help her daughter.

But as Brigid starts to uncover secrets about Father Angus, that long-ago exorcism, and her family's past, she realizes that she and Dylan have never been in more danger.

My Thoughts:

This is by far the best exorcism book that I have read so far. When Brigid grew up, she cut all ties to her family and moved to the mountains to escape her trauma. Now a single mother, she runs a witchy store that she doesn't believe in either. When her daughter gets suspended from school for violence, Brigid is not sure what to do or believe. But when the demon reveals itself to be the same one she encountered as a child, she rushes Dylan to her uncle's house to get the demon exorcized. But secrets and truths from long ago start to surface, and Brigid doesn't know who or what to trust.

I do really like the author's writing style. It's part comedic, but also very real. Brigid is a character that a lot of people with religious trauma can relate to, especially those who are gay. I enjoyed the twists toward the end, but I do feel like everything could have been explained more and the book could have been longer. That being said, out of the two exorcism books I have read, this is the best by far and I would recommend it.

My Rating: 3 stars 

Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver REIVEW

Summary:

Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colorful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. But with tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won’t let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary at any cost—especially for her aging mentor with a fading memory.

Troublesome tourists don’t check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper’s award-winning flowerbeds. But Nolan Rhodes isn’t your average tourist. Devilishly handsome, disarmingly charming, and skilled with a blade, Nolan is relentless in the pursuit of revenge. On every anniversary of the hit-and-run accident that fractured his life, Nolan slays another target. And he’s saved the best for last: the undeniably beautiful Harper Starling.

The problem? Harper isn’t the monster he expected. And she won’t go down without a fight. When an amateur true crime investigator comes to Cape Carnage on the trail of a long-lost serial killer, Harper and Nolan strike an uneasy truce. If Nolan helps Harper protect her town, she’ll keep quiet about his hunting habits . . . for now. But their alliance soon spirals into obsession, one that threatens to shatter every secret in Carnage—including their fragile love.

My Thoughts:

As a huge fan of Butcher and Blackbird, I had to pick this up. Harper Starling is a serial killer who goes after terrible people and puts them through her woodchipper while taking care of an elderly man with Alzheimer's. Nolan Rhodes is on a revenge spree going after those who got his brother killed - and Harper Starling is next on the list. What they don't expect is to work together and find love in each other along the way.

As usual, the writing is very well done and the tone is darkly comedic. I love that even we as the readers don't know the full context of any of the characters' pasts, and the twist at the end was earth-shattering to me. My only complaint is that they seemed to have fallen in love a little too quickly, considering that they are enemies and Nolan's entire reason to being there is to kill Harper.

My Rating: 4 stars  

Quinto's Challenge by Peter McChesney REVIEW

Summary:

On the 100th anniversary of JFK's challenge to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth, visionary US President Vince Quinto challenges America with an even more audacious goal: finding a way to conquer death before the century is out - by developing the scientific means to achieve resurrection.

As the 21st century draws to a close, advances in genetics, quantum physics, and artificial intelligence converge to make Quinto's Challenge possible. The final breakthrough - hailed as the Theory of Everything - is made by Deeley Carr, a young, shy, quantum physicist recruited to work on a top-secret US government project.

However, those privy to this highly classified science quickly realize that the power to restore what once was is a double-edged sword - if it falls into the wrong hands, it could be wielded as a superweapon of surveillance and control, inevitably used for the subjugation of all.

My Thoughts:

This book is such a treat, I love it when books talk a lot about science, especially when it is central to the plot. Deeley is hired by CAPR, a top-secret government agency to assist with making Quinto's challenge of resurrecting the dead to come true. Working with two androids, Xina and Xara, Deeley is able to have a breakthrough that will change everything. But despite this, the real challenges lie ahead. President Gates' term is coming to an end, and if Benson succeeds him, all research will be put to an end. And in order to start attempting resurrection, they must upgrade Xara - which is currently illegal.

Deeley is such a lovable character. She is very shy and introverted yet extremely smart. I also love the characterization of the androids, who feel like they could be human, which helps this book in making it truly feel like the future. All of the characters in the book are very well developed and seem like real people that could exist. While I am not a science buff, this novel was truly enjoyable to read and I would definitely recommend reading it.

My Rating: 5 stars 

Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh REVIEW

Summary:

Bata, a young girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin's door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.

A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost-bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.

My Thoughts:

Bata, at eleven years old, is chosen as a bride sentinel. When her family learns of this, her father takes her to medicine man Dibia, who helps her connect with the spirits to gain her powers. But when something goes wrong and Bata is in Ibaja-La for longer than supposed to be, she comes back to the mortal world with different eyes and speaking a different language. While this is going on, one of her mothers is planning on running away with another man. But the man plans to kill her mother and take her money. When the mother dies, the man's fiancee is plagued by a vengeful ghost-bride, and Bata must save her.

This was a very interesting concept, but the book dwelled a bit too much in the land of the ghost-brides and not enough time in the mortal world. Once Bata returns to the mortal world, she doesn't really use her abilities until the end of the book, which was different than what was advertised on the summary of the book itself. However, it was a quick and fun read, as well as a look into African culture.

My Rating: 3 stars 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters REVIEW

Summary:

Nan King is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head to London, where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing-and-dancing double act. Behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.

My Thoughts:

While the writing was somewhat difficult to get used to, I think this was a really interesting read. We follow Nan, a closeted lesbian in the late 1800s who falls in love with Kitty, a male impersonator. After getting to know each other, they go to London and star in an act together. But Kitty's fear of being outed is what makes her lose Nan, and Nan runs away after learning of Kitty's affair and engagement to Walter. After another failed attempt with a rich woman named Diane, Nan finds her true love and a circle of women who are just like her.

This book was a roller coaster ride of emotions. Nan's sister Alice was probably my least favorite character, as she was really terrible toward Nan when she found out her sexuality. I both loved and hated Kitty, and the same for Diane and Florence. Despite the large time distance, I do feel connected to Nan in some aspects, with some of my family not being happy about my sexuality.

My Rating: 4 stars

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson REVIEW

Summary:

Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.

My Thoughts:

This was an interesting read. From the beginning, we know that Wendy wants to kill Thom, and she does, but the novel takes us back in time to the reason they were together in the first place. Wendy and Thom dated in middle school until he moved away. When they meet again years later, they hatch a plan to kill her husband together so that she can get his money and can marry Thom. Years later, Thom is struggling with the guilt of what he did and not being able to talk about it with anyone else, prompting him to write a fictionalized version of what happened, which sends Wendy over the edge.

I enjoyed the writing and the story, but it is a bit lackluster when it comes to Thom's character development. He seems like a one dimensional character despite being important in the overarching story.

My Rating: 3 stars

Out by Natsuo Kirino REIVEW

Summary:

This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot's ringleader but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the underbelly of Japanese society.

My Thoughts:

While slow at first, it quickly picks up the pace. Yayoi, a young working mother finally strikes back at her abusive husband and kills him. Not knowing what to do, she calls Masako for help, who enlists Yoshie and Kuniko to help dismember and dispose of the body. But after the work is complete, everything seems to fall apart. Parts of the body were found, as Kuniko dumped them in the park instead of somewhere where they wouldn't likely be found. A man in charge of a club is arrested due to a previous altercation with the deceased, but is later let go. And the man is out looking for revenge on whoever actually did the crime.

The writing is slow but suspenseful, and I really like the characters of Masako and Yoshie. However, the ending seemed abrupt and disjointed from the buildup. If the ending was different, I likely would have rated it higher, but it felt out of place. Despite that, I would recommend reading this, as it was very suspenseful and entertaining up until the end.

My Rating: 3 stars 

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly REIVEW

Summary:

For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it; but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife against his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was spared, becoming infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter.

Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can't remember. So when her childhood home goes up for sale, she sets aside all reason and moves in. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly begin to take up residence in the house that was once theirs, Dixie starts to question her sanity and wonders if the evil force menacing her is that of her father or a demon of her own making.

In order to make sense of her present, Dixie becomes determined to unravel the truth of her past and seeks out the detective who originally investigated the murders. But the more she learns, the more she opens up the uncomfortable possibility that the sins of her father may belong to another. As bodies pile up around her, Dixie must find a way to expose the lunacy behind her family's massacre in order to save her few loved ones who are still alive - and whatever scrap of sanity she has left.

My Thoughts:

This book, while slow to get into, became very intriguing to me. Against the advice of her loved ones, Dixie decides to buy her childhood home where her family was butchered. When she finds the police file on the murder hidden in her late uncle's desk, Dixie contacts the detective who was investigating and forms a friendship while trying to make sense of the disaster of her past. As the house begins to feel haunted, Dixie starts experiencing black outs from her memories and is unsure if she may be responsible for the recent murders.

The writing and character building was fantastic here, and I love all of the side characters because they were also developed well. The twists toward the end were shocking and I did not see any of them coming. Writing a haunting atmosphere for a non-haunted house book is probably very difficult, but the author pulls it off very well. I would definitely recommend picking up this book.

My Rating: 5 stars

Shine by Jessica Jung REVIEW

Summary:

What would you sacrifice for a chance to live your dreams?

For eighteen-year-old Korean American Rachel Kim, the answer is almost everything. Seven years ago, she was recruited by DB Entertainment - one of Seoul's largest K-pop labels, known for churning out some of the world's most popular stars. The rules are simple: Train 24/7, be perfect, don't date. Easy, right?

Not so much. As the dark scandals of an industry bent on controlling and commodifying beautiful girls begin to bubble up, Rachel wonders if she's strong enough to be a winner, or if she'll end up crushed . . . especially when she begins to develop feelings for K-pop star and DB golden boy Jason Lee. It's not just that he's charming, sexy, and ridiculously talented. He's also the first person who really understands how badly she wants her star to rise. 

My Thoughts:

This was so much fun to read, especially as someone who is a fan of Jessica and Girls Generation.

Rachel is only allowed to train on weekends, and her dad is struggling with his business. Her fellow trainees are nice for the most part - except for Mina, who hates her for seemingly no reason at all. When they all get a chance to audition for a feature in Jason Lee's new song, Mina sabotages her by inviting her to a party (under the pretense of practicing) and drugs her so that she is late to the audition. Rachel's audition ends up being terrible, but she finds a way to get a second chance - she sings karaoke with Jason one night and the video goes viral. She is finally able to see a future as a star, but her growing feelings for Jason and Mina's constant sabotage are starting to get in her way.

I love the huge part Rachel's family plays in the book, especially her dad and little sister. I really enjoyed getting to know them. That being said, the character of Mina is very one-dimensional so far. We'll see what happens in the sequel, but here she just seems like the typical one-dimensional bully. However, I would definitely recommend giving this a read.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Wilder Girls by Rory Power REVIEW

Summary:

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

My Thoughts:

I had high hopes for this one, but sadly they were not met. The book takes place after the breakout and after the quarantine was put in place. We barely know anything about the girls' backgrounds, not even the main character. The novel took about halfway through to get interesting, but even then it was lackluster. We get hints of answers throughout the second half, but barely anything is truly revealed. There are almost no flashbacks to pre-quarantine to know what it was like before. The CDC is trying to find a cure by experimenting on infected students, but we barely know any details about that. I think there should have been a section of the book from the point of view of the CDC scientists and another section from the remaining adults in charge of the school. Staying mysterious about the origin of the disease would be fine if the characters were developed well enough. 

My Rating: 1 star

K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee REVIEW

Summary:

Candace Park knows a lot about playing a role. For most of her life, she's been playing the role of the perfect Korean American daughter. But she has a talent that she's been keeping from the world: she can sing. Like, really sing. And when she's chosen from thousands to train for a spot in the biggest K-pop label's first-ever girl group, she'll have her chance to show the world.

But plunging into the grueling life of a K-pop trainee will be tougher than she ever imagined. In the label's headquarters in Seoul, Candace must hone her performance skills to within an inch of her life, all while navigating the complex hierarchies and rules. Rule number one? NO DATING, which soon becomes impossible to follow. And the closer Candace gets to the limelight, the closer she gets to a scandal lighting up the K-pop fandom around the world.

Is a spot in the most hyped girl group of all time really worth risking her friendships, future, and everything she believes in?

My Thoughts:

This was a blast to read and I love all the different references to real K-pop artists along with the fictional ones in this book. Candace wants to do something with her voice, but her parents insist she play viola and work on getting good grades in school instead. When she skips study prep to audition for a K-pop agency, Candace doesn't think she'll be picked. After all, it will be difficult to convince her parents to let her travel to Seoul and have a music career before graduating high school. But she does get picked, and narrowly convinces her parents to let her go - at least for the summer. While training, she develops new friendships, and even starts to have feelings for a male trainee.

I loved the development of the side characters that Candace trains with - they aren't just one-dimensional characters that exist for the sake of the main character and plot. The writing is simple and easy to read, especially if you are already into K-pop and know the lingo. But even if you don't, there is a dictionary at the end. This was such a fun read for me.

My Rating: 5 stars 

Our Dead Girlfriend by Jon Athan REVIEW

Summary:

While walking through the woods, a group of boys - Daniel Burke, Gavin Graves, and brothers Connor and Tyler Parker - discover the abandoned body of a female high school student. The body is bruised but clean, lifeless but fresh. Torn between fear and fascination, the boys decide to keep the corpse hidden in a ditch in the woods in order to keep her as their girlfriend - to converse with her, to flirt, to practice, to love.

What follows is a story of adolescence, friendship, love, envy, hatred, and extreme horror.

My Thoughts:

This was my first Jon Athan book and I am now pretty excited to check out his other work! This book follows Daniel, Gavin, Connor, and Tyler - all outcasts in school who happen upon a dead body and decide to pretend it is their girlfriend as a way to practice for when they get to high school. Connor is very hesitant, but goes along with it for everybody else. After a while though, Gavin, Connor, and Tyler grow tired and increasingly guilty about not reporting the body to the authorities. Not to mention, Daniel is acting weird and pretends to have full on conversations with the corpse - as well as intimate relations.

As a fan of the extreme horror/splatterpunk genre, this was a lot of fun to read. While it does start off kind of slow, it ramps up - especially the last few chapters. I enjoyed getting to know the friendship dynamic of the four boys, and watching it fall apart due to their decisions. I appreciate the worldbuilding and depth of the characters, and I absolutely love the unhinged ending.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Piercing by Ryu Murakami REVIEW

Summary:

Kawashima Masayuki is a successful graphic designer living in Tokyo with his loving wife, Yoko, and their baby girl. Outwardly, their lives are a picture of happiness and contentment, but every night while his wife sleeps Kawashima creeps from his bed and watches over the baby's crib with an ice pick in his hand and an almost visceral desire to use it.

One particular night, as this struggle unfolds once more, Kawashima makes a decision to confront his demons, and sets into motion an uncomfortable chain of events seeming to lead inexorably to murder.

My Thoughts:

This book kind of reminds me of American Psycho. Kawashima has the intrusive thoughts to use the ice pick on his baby, but is able to refrain from doing so. In an effort to make those thoughts go away, he decides to leave town and use it on someone else. Kawashima has stabbed someone before, which is what lead him to this conclusion. However, the person he selects to be his victim is just as twisted - if not more - than himself.

The novel starts off a bit slow, and it shows the main character's descent into madness throughout. Halfway through, it does switch to the point of view of the would-be victim. I think it was a good move to make them a similar level of crazy as the main character instead of just the cookie-cutter victim. It made things a lot more interesting, and it's what sold the ending for me.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle REVIEW

Summary:

 Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed "most effective" gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy . . .

My Thoughts:

 This book is kind of perfect. Uneasy atmosphere, body horror, spiritual horror (if that's a thing?), and good writing. This is my first Chuck Tingle book and I am extremely impressed.

Rose and her family are a part of the Kingdom of the Pine Church (*cough* cult *cough*). Her friend Isaiah is into her, but she doesn't really feel the same, and after he kisses her, she gets sick - but what comes up isn't normal. When Rose's friend dies in an inhuman way, she starts asking questions about Camp Damascus and seeing demons. But she gets nowhere until a deeply buried memory comes back to her - she had gone to the camp and was strapped to a machine. Horrified, she runs to Saul, another survivor of the camp. They figure out what's going on behind the scenes at the camp and come up with a plan to shut the place down for good.

As someone who is gay and was raised religious, this book hit me hard. While there are a lot of differences between Rose's experiences and mine, there are those scary similarities, which I think is why I loved this novel so much. I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.

My Rating: 5 stars

Saha by Cho Nam-Joo REVIEW

Summary:

In a country called Town, a doctor named Su is found dead in an abandoned car. There is only one place the police intend to look for her killer: the Saha Estates. Town is the safest, richest nation in the world. But it is a society clearly divided into the haves and have-nots, and those who have the very least - who aren't even considered citizens - live on the Saha Estates. No one is shocked when a lowlife Saha like Do-kyung becomes the main suspect in Su's - a citizen's - murder. But then Do-kyung disappears, and his sister Jin-kyung is determined to find him. To do so, she must rely on her tightlipped neighbors, from a mysterious janitor to a reluctant midwife and an unwitting test subject at the local clinic.

My Thoughts:

I have never read a book quite like this before. It's part murder mystery, part what is the government hiding from us. The people native to the land were not given citizenship when the country was taken over, banishing them to the outskirts to live in an abandoned building. They are treated like dirt, and most cannot get jobs because most jobs require citizenship. The city is run by the Council of Ministers, whose faces are never seen by the public, and crimes are punished often by execution.

The novel is split into narratives by many different Saha residents, which accumulates into the information Jin-kyung needs to find her brother and try to save him from a crime he didn't actually commit. But what Jin-kyung is told at the end turns everything she thought she knew on its head.

I liked the way this book was written, and I was surprised at the reveal, but it kind of left more questions than answers for me. Thus, I still don't know how to feel about it. I liked the different stories of the different characters and how they blended together to push the plot forward though. I think that was very well done.

My Rating: 3 stars

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo REVIEW

Summary:

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory - even if it endangers her future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can't call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies' most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it.

My Thoughts:

I flew through this book. After being told they were not allowed to rescue Darlington from hell, and Michelle not being willing to help either, Alex and Dawes throw themselves into researching a way to help him. After finding out how, they need to recruit two other people who have had blood on their hands - not an easy task. Turner and Tripp reluctantly agree to join them, and Mercy agrees to watch over their bodies during the attempt. But after being forced back before being able to reach Darlington, they find that demons escaped back with them. In order to send the demons back and successfully rescue their friend and mentor, the team needs to make sure their ritual isn't interrupted again.

I loved this. Maybe not as much as Ninth House, but I loved the character development and the look into the pasts of other characters that we didn't know much about in the first book. It was fast paced, entertaining, and very well written. I would definitely recommend giving this a read.

My Rating: 4 stars 

The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem REVIEW

Summary:

Held deep in a mountain refuge, Sylvia has been captured by the Urabi, who believe the Jasad Heir can return their homeland to its former power. But after years of denying her legacy and a traitor's bargain with Jasad's greatest enemy, Sylvia must win the Urabi's trust while struggling to hide the dangerous side effects her magic is having on her mind. 

In a rival kingdom, Arin must maneuver carefully between his father's desire to put down the brewing rebellion and the sacred edicts Arin is sworn to uphold. He is determined to find Sylvia, but Arin's search unravels secrets that threaten the very core of his beliefs about his family and his kingdom.

War is inevitable, but Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she's fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life, Sylvia doesn't just want to survive. She wants to win.

My Thoughts:

I really wanted to throw this book out the window after that ending. Sylvia is forced to face the reality of who she is after years of hiding, as well as gain the trust of her people. They want her to raise the fortress, which will either kill her or make her go mad. Arin learns the truth behind his heritage and what his father has been doing. He is actually half-Jasadi, and he has no magic due to his father magic-mining him when he was very young. His father keeps the magic in his scepter, and is also part of the reason that Jasad fell. I loved learning all of these revelations and getting the full history of what happened to Jasad piece by piece. I could not put the book down, but I hate the ending. Sylvia dies and never sees those she loves again? While I understand not having a completely happy ending, this seemed like a bit of a cop-out. I think that it would have been better if she was consumed by her magic and everyone had to try to bring her back.

My Rating: 4 stars

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by Josh Wiswell REVIEW

Summary:

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.
However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.
Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?
Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk.

And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life. 

My Thoughts:

This is such a cute, cozy story. When Shesheshen is attacked, she outruns them but falls from a great height. Homily finds her and nurses her back to health. Kindness isn't something she's used to, especially from humans, so she is wary. When Homily confesses that her family is hunting a monster that cursed her family, Shesheshen is confused - she has never cursed anyone, and while the cure demands her blood, she has no blood. She follows Homily to the town, partly out of self-preservation and partly out of love for her. But when the hunt starts, truths unknown come out of hiding.

I think it's really cool that Shesheshen's way of shapeshifting is in eating someone's remains and using some of their bones to imitate a human body structure. And while this is a romance, they don't immediately fall in love. It takes spending time together and learning about each other for feelings to form. The twist at the end I did not see coming, which was amazing. I do wish that there was more worldbuilding though. We mostly only see and know one area of this world, which is fine, but it would have been nice to know more about the area that the novel spends its time in, as well as to know more about the history of Homily's family.

My Rating: 4 stars

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata REVIEW

Summary:

As a girl, Amane realizes with horror that her parents “copulated” in order to bring her into the world, rather than using artificial insemination, which became the norm in the mid-twentieth century. Amane strives to get away from what she considers an indoctrination in this strange “system” by her mother, but her infatuations with both anime characters and real people have a sexual force that is undeniable. As an adult in an appropriately sexless marriage—sex between married couples is now considered as taboo as incest—Amane and her husband Saku decide to go and live in a mysterious new town called Experiment City or Paradise-Eden, where all children are raised communally, and every person is considered a Mother to all children. Men are beginning to become pregnant using artificial wombs that sit outside of their bodies like balloons, and children are nameless, called only “Kodomo-chan.” Is this the new world that will purify Amane of her strangeness once and for all?

My Thoughts:

This is a strangely horrifying concept. Amane is growing up in a world where most people don't have sex anymore, and babies are created scientifically. Brainwashed by society's current norms and beliefs, she strives to integrate perfectly into this new world and holds strong distaste for how she was conceived. Married couples don't have sex, and when her first husband attempts to assault her, he is arrested by police and she divorces him. Her second husband becomes her best friend, but Amane still doesn't feel comfortable sharing certain details about herself with him. She wants sexual relationships, but she also doesn't want to turn into her mother. Things take a turn when they decide to move to the experimental city. Families aren't considered to be important, and Amane struggles to let go of those close to her.

The concept is very interesting, but the book doesn't really do much with it. I would have loved to learn about how this became the new normal for society, but there are only vague mentions of a past war that started the new system. Amane is a great character though, and I like that she goes back and forth with her opinions, not knowing yet what she really believes and wants, which is the driving part of the story. However, the ending seems abrupt and leaves more questions than answers.

My Rating: 2 stars

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

Summary:

Times have been tough for twelve-year-old Junior, his mom, and especially for his younger brother, Dino. When his dad makes a surprise visit late one night, Junior is desperate to make him part of their family again. The only problem is, Dad drowned eight years ago.

And bringing back the dead always comes at a cost . . .

My Thoughts:

Books by this author are either hit or miss for me, and this one happens to be a miss. Junior lives with his mom and brother off the reservation, and misses his dad a lot. One night, while Junior is sleepwalking, he awakes to see his father. Fueled by the need to see him again, Junior checks every night - only to find that in order for his father to stay, he has to take some of his brother's life force. Horrified, Junior decides to get rid of the shadow that looks like his dad to save his family.

This novella goes back and forth between past and present to tell the story, and we only really get to know Junior out of all the characters. However, even the character of Junior seems flat, and this shows in the time-jump epilogue to when he is an adult. And the decision he makes at the end seems contrary to the character we got to know - he's willing to sacrifice his brother to bring his son back. It makes no sense to get all that character development only to throw it away at the end.

My Rating: 1 star 

Cold Eternity by S. A. Barnes REVIEW

Summary:

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth's most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago.

The cryo program created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld is long defunct, and the AI hologram "hosts", ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld's three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there's a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It's not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from . . .

My Thoughts:

This was so good but too short. I wish some things were expanded on because a lot of it was intriguing.

Halley is on the run from her previous life as someone who helped a political candidate in their campaign. Her ex-boss used her as a scapegoat for the actions of an ex-employee, who started a riot to try to turn the public in their favor. Working on a ship full of bodies is a good way to hide - until it becomes clear that things are not what they seem. Celebrities' frozen bodies have been swapped out for lookalikes, and one of the AI hosts seems to be sentient and warning her to escape. But with a monster in the shadows and a boss that's all too eager to sacrifice her for his endgame, escaping seems impossible.

I do wish that we got more information on the history of the program's creator and his family. Other than a few descriptions of his actual life behind the public eye, we only know what the public knows. I think it would have been really interesting to explore more on the monster and how it came to be. Halley is a great character to root for, even though we don't know her full story in the beginning, and I do wish we got more about her life growing up (her family is part of what drove her to her previous job). The atmosphere was written very well to feel creepy and isolated.

My Rating: 5 stars 

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling REVIEW

Summary:

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

But how come she can't shake the feeling she’s being followed?

My Thoughts:

Gyre Price has practiced cave exploring and lies to get the job, hoping to use the paycheck to look for her mother, who left the planet when Gyre was young. But the expedition isn't what she thinks it will be. Instead of having a team of handlers, there is only Em. And Em is not launching a typical mineral expedition. Gyre learns that the mission is to find Em's mother and crewmates, who went down to the area, never to be seen or heard from again. But what really upsets Gyre is the fact that she's not the first Em had sent down - and none were able to complete the mission. Most of them ended up dying in the caves. However, she is determined to be the last person Em sends down.

I really like our main characters. They are well developed and have a realistic dynamic. They go back and forth between liking each other and hating each other. It takes a while for Gyre to trust Em. I do wish we learned more about the Tunnelers - what they are and what they do. The presence of the Tunneler is probably the least terrifying thing throughout the book, despite the summary on the back. I did really enjoy this book and the bit of sapphic representation we get here, although I wish the ending was longer.

My Rating: 4 stars

The Black Farm by Elias Witherow REVIEW

Summary:

After the loss of a child along with a slew of agonizing misfortunes, Nick and Jess decide to end their lives. Unable to cope with the misery that fills their days, they commit one last act together and die in loving relief.

But when Nick wakes up, he soon realizes that death isn't the gentle darkness he expected. Panicked and horrified, he struggles to understand the twisted abominations and hellish world he's now trapped in.

Driven by desperation and a sudden will to survive, he sets out to find Jess and is unable to cope with the thought of her having to suffer through the terrors this new reality holds.

But nothing could prepare him for the nightmares he found . . . nothing could prepare him for the Black Farm.

My Thoughts:

Hats off to the author for making this the first book that made me sick to my stomach (it's a generally difficult thing to do). Nick and Jess suffered through the miscarriage of their baby, and when Jess starts returning to her normal self, they find out her sister has cancer. Reduced to shells of themselves, they decide to end it all together and escape the pain of living. But the Black Farm, governed by an entity known as the Pig, is not what they imagined for an afterlife. Filled with Pig-Borns who torture those who committed suicide, Nick realizes that he needs to find Jess (if she's there) and try to escape - or at least survive.

The writing style is pretty simple, but it packs a punch. If you are thinking about picking this up, definitely check trigger warnings. I think that this is a really interesting interpretation of Purgatory, and parts of it did make me want to puke. There are in-depth, gross descriptions of violence and gore, which I am usually fine with, but this book made me almost lose it. I would say that the first half of the book is filled with shock-value, but the second half made everything worth it. I do wish that we got more of Trent and Kevin though, I did really like them.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes REVIEW

Summary:

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS) - the most famous case of which resulted in the murders of twenty-nine people. It's personal to her, and when she's assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something.

And Ophelia's crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the precious colonizers' hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia's worst nightmare starting = a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something even more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what's happening. But trust is hard to come by . . . and the crew members aren't the only ones keeping secrets.

My Thoughts:

Ophelia is trying her best to make a living for herself after cutting all contact from the majority of her family, the only exception being her sister. Being the only survivor of an ERS attack, she feels extremely guilty and wants to help prevent it from happening to others. The crew she joins recently suffered the loss of their crewmate Ava, and Ophelia hopes to help them recover and make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens. But no one wants to open up to her, except maybe Liana, who hesitantly agrees to a therapy session with her. As the crew starts their mission on the planet, they discover bodies that were previously unreported, and weird things start to happen. Ophelia thinks she might be hallucinating things, and when the pilot dies, she's not entirely certain she wasn't responsible. But is this ERS, or is it something else?

I loved reading Dead Silence by this author, so I had to pick this one up as well. While it took a little time to get into the story, I soon found it difficult to put down. Most of the characters were very well developed, and the isolation the crew found themselves in was creepy. My favorite character had to be Liana, and I wish we got more of her. I liked that we slowly got to learn about everybody's backstory and secrets they were keeping. The ending seemed kind up abrupt though, and I wish we got a little more of Kate's perspective and secrets.

My Rating: 3 stars

The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller REVIEW

Summary:

Chaotic bisexual Wendy is trying to find her place in the queer community of San Lazaro, Arizona, after a bad breakup - which is particularly difficult because her ex is hooking up with some of her friends. And when the people around them start turning into violent, terrifying mindless husks, well, that makes things harder. Especially since the infection seems to be spreading.

Now, Wendy and her friends and frenemies - drag queen Logan, silver fox Beau, sword lesbian Aurelia and her wife Sam, mysterious pizza delivery stoner Sunshine, and, oh yeah, Wendy's ex girlfriend Leah - have to team up to stay alive, save Pride, and track the zombie outbreak to its shocking source. Hopefully without killing each other first.

My Thoughts:

This was a really fun, unserious book. It takes place during Pride Month. Wendy and her group of LGBT friends and acquaintances aren't super thrilled about alcohol company Seabrook sponsoring a new health center - they feel as if they are selling out to a huge corporation that wants to look like a savior to the community. At a gay club the night before Pride, people start turning into zombie-like creatures and violence breaks out. Some were lucky enough to get away unscathed - others not so much. Wendy and the group of survivors head to Beau's house to regroup and plan on how they could save Pride, and a trip to Leah's house for supplies uncovers a lead into what caused the violent outbreaks. 

The book is very easy and fun to read, almost like the author put something in it so that it made it hard for me to put down. The characters were pretty well-developed and likeable despite the short length of the novel. However, Wendy and Logan's relationship didn't really develop at all. They had chemistry at the beginning, but it did not last throughout the book, almost as if it was an afterthought. I would have also liked if the author explored more of the concept of how the outbreak was spread. There's only a simple explanation, and it's barely expanded on.

My Rating: 3 stars 

The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong REVIEW

 Summary:

Early one morning, twenty-five-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell. He soon discovers his mother's murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. Having suffered from seizures for most of his life, Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory; all he can remember of the night before is his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life?

Thus begins Yu-jin's frantic three-day search to uncover what happened that night, and to finally learn the truth about himself and his family.

My Thoughts:

I love reading unreliable narrators, so I snatched this book up pretty quickly after seeing it. Yu-jin suffers from epilepsy, but he hasn't been taking his medication because he hates the side effects. This is important to note from the beginning. When he wakes up to the smell of blood and discovers his mother's body, he is slow to notice things due to his seizure he had the night before. Eventually, he realizes that the bloody footprints are a perfect match for his feet . . . but why would he kill his own mother? Yu-jin embarks on a journey of trying to remember the night before, which leads him to discover family secrets as well.

The book was written pretty well and was easy to read. Although it is primarily a murder mystery, it is also a character study of Yu-jin. We learn a lot about him and his family through his thoughts and encounters. Even though he is the prime suspect from the beginning, I found myself rooting for him to get to the bottom of how and why it happened. However, it does feel like it spans longer than three days with all the things going on in the book, which created a sort of disconnect for me in terms of believability. Despite this, it was a very fun book to read and I would definitely recommend it.

My Rating: 4 stars

Sea Change by Susan Fletcher REVIEW

Summary:

Turtle is scavenging a drowned town when she saves a stranger's life. There's something special about Kai-an attraction she's never felt before. She would do anything to see him again.

But Turtle can never truly be with Kai, because Kai is Normal, and Turtle is one of the Mer, kids whose genes were illegally hacked before birth and who now have working gills as well as lungs. Turtle lives on an old cruise ship with the other Mer in order to be close to the water she needs to survive.

Yet she sneaks away and lies to her friends to spend more time on land with Kai. And the pull of the shore grows even stronger when Turtle reconnects with her sisters and learns that her father, who has been in prison for having her genes modified, has escaped and may be hiding out nearby.

When scientists come up with a way for the Mer to surrender their gills and live as Normals, Turtle faces a terrible choice. Turtle loves her life with her Mer friends, but she desperately misses her family. And then there's Kai . . .

Should she give up her Mer community and their way of life along with the joy of living freely under the sea? Or give up the guy she's falling for and any hope of reconnecting with her family?

My Thoughts:

I really loved reading this book. It's part futuristic, part retelling of the Little Mermaid. Most of Turtle's life was spent with her fellow Mer on the boat, but she's the only one who remembers her birth family. When the government was rounding up the Mer kids, they were able to hide her with them a little longer than anyone else, but it ended up putting her father in prison. While she loves her Mer friends, she deeply misses her family. Scavenging is illegal, and when one of her fellow Mer gets caught, they go with him to the trial, where she sees Kai again after she rescued him. After the trial, Turtle finds herself sneaking off the boat to see him. But when a group of scientists arrive and give them the choice to become Normal, she takes the chance for her family and for Kai.

While the novel does talk about gene hacking, it's done in a way that anyone can understand, and despite the topic being futuristic, the world is very much similar to the one we live in now. I really like the writing, which is simple yet engaging and fun. Turtle is such a well-rounded and likeable character to follow, and some of the side characters are also well-developed so that we care about them. I do wish the book talked more about the gene hacking and the backgrounds of the other Mer, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I would definitely recommend picking this one up.

My Rating: 5 stars

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh REVIEW

Summary:

Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, believes his mother died giving birth to him. One of Marek's few consolations is his enduring bond with the village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina's ability to received transmissions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, Ina's home in the woods is a godless place.

The people's desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by their depraved lord and governor, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord's family, new and occult forces arise to upset the old order. By year's end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, and the natural world and the spirit world will prove to be very thin indeed.

My Thoughts:

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. While the characters were well-developed and the writing was good, it was not that interesting and was hard to get through at times. When it started to get interesting, it would soon go back to being boring. The author had some great ideas, but barely explored them at all. Ina is considered a witch by some, as she seems to be the oldest in the village yet doesn't seem to age like everybody else. If the author explored this more, and maybe added some lore, it would be even more intriguing and mystifying. Marek kills Jacob, but the novel barely explores how he felt or how the boy's father felt. The only grief we get is from Jacob's mother. Father Barnabas doesn't actually believe in God or the church, but this is only really used for humor in the book. And to top it off, there's no main storyline, making the unexplored areas even more noticeable. 

My Rating: 2 stars 

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes REVIEW

Summary:

The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.

When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene's temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious at the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge - on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon's actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude. Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

My Thoughts:

Medusa grows up with her Gorgon sisters, who found her on the beach as a baby and raised her as best they could. Despite their many differences, they all love each other as they would if they were related. Despite the protests of her sisters, Medusa goes to Athene's temple, where she is assaulted by Poseidon. When Athene curses her, she keeps her eyes blindfolded so that she cannot hurt her sisters.

When Perseus's mother seems to be doomed to marry a rather unlikable king, he jumps at the chance to save her by bringing the king a head of a Gorgon.

I really liked that each chapter alternates perspectives. You get the perspective of Medusa along with the perspectives of the gods who are both voluntarily involved and who are unintentionally involved. The world-building was not as intricate as I would like, but it does the job. While the book succeeds in developing most of the main characters, Medusa is noticeably less developed than some of them. This is disappointing as the whole story revolves around her. 

I would recommend reading this, but be warned of the heavy topics involved.

My Rating: 3 stars

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito REVIEW

Summary:

Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess - she'll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate's dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family - Mr. Pounds can't keep his eyes of Winifred's chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband's wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery . . . and creeping across the moonlit lawns . . . 

Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor house.

My Thoughts:

This was so much fun. There is a lot of time-jumping in the chapters. Winifred is such a fun yet unreliable narrator, even taunting us later on in the book. This has made me wonder how much of the story was either false or told slightly different than the truth. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, as her father was out of the picture. The stepfather is a Reverend, who drilled into Winifred that she has evil inside of her. While I'm not sure how different she would have turned out if he didn't, it does make me think. She makes a lot of dark jokes that I enjoyed, and we are told that her town had a problem with babies being murdered. As the book goes on, it seems likely that Winifred was behind it, as well as the disappearances of some of her previous charges. She becomes more and more unhinged as the book goes on, which is something I love in stories.

I do wish that Winifred was slightly more fleshed out, and it would have been nice to see others perspectives of the events, especially towards the end of the novel.

My Rating: 4 stars

A Game of Hearts and Heists by Ruby Roe REVIEW

Summary:

Scarlett Grey, disgraced assassin, is determined to get revenge. Quinn Adams, medic turned poisoner for hire, is her deadliest rival. For years, they've stolen each other's clients, sabotaged each other's business, and occasionally . . . slept together.

When the Magician Queen offers an irresistible deal, Scarlett and Quinn are forced to work together. But this is not a simple job. With an impossible heist ahead, they're going to have to trust each other . . . and that's not easy when they both have secrets to hide. Harder still when those secrets will betray the ones they love. Now neither woman is sure if it's a heist they want to win or a heart.

My Thoughts:

This book was so fun to read. The chemistry between Scarlett and Quinn is so much that it practically leaps off the page. They have been enemies since before the book starts, and have slept together before the book as well. Scarlett's parents were executed almost a decade ago, and she and her sister were left with nothing. Their status and inheritance was stripped from them, so they are struggling to make ends meet by taking jobs. Ever since Quinn sold a client poison, many of the clients who would have wanted Scarlett now want Quinn, making Scarlett have a deep sense of hatred toward Quinn. Quinn never wanted to make poisons, but after fulfilling a client's request, her list of customers are growing rapidly. Scarlett is reluctant to take on the mission, but after her sister makes a convincing argument, she agrees. But Quinn's secretly the daughter of the man responsible for their parent's deaths, and Scarlett has a secret of her own that would tear them apart.

The book was well-written and easy to read, and I highly enjoyed the experience. However, this is more focused on the romance than the plot or worldbuilding.

My Rating: 4 stars

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins REVIEW

My Thoughts:

Haymitch Abernathy turns 16 this year on Reaping Day, but he isn't too scared of being picked. He lives with his mother and brother, Sid, in District 12. When the original pick for one of the boys was killed during the ceremony, Haymitch is picked due to his interference with a Peacekeeper who was going after his girlfriend, Lenore. The district kids' mentors are Wiress and Mags, due to the lack of living winners in District 12. While training, he meets Beetee, who shows him how to make electricity with potatoes, and gives him tips on how to potentially destroy the arena when the guards aren't watching. When his ally, Louella, dies before the games, Haymitch starts not to care about pissing off the president. Throughout the games, he doesn't hesitate to try to use Beetee and Plutarch's tips about the arena. When he returns home after winning, Haymitch finds his home ablaze with his family stuck inside. Later on, he witnesses Lenore die from eating poisoned candy that he recognizes must have been from the president. Vowing not to let anyone else be killed because of him, he cuts off all his remaining friends and stays in seclusion in the Victor's Village.

This book gave me so many emotions. At one point, I was smiling, only to shed tears moments later. I like that we finally get the names of Katniss's parents, and the story of Haymitch being friends with her dad prior to the games. The inclusion of Beetee, Plutarch, Wiress, and Mags was incredible. Beetee's story here was tragic, as he was being punished by the president by being forced to mentor his son prior to the games. Plutarch has infiltrated the Capitol and is attempting to figure out ways to start the revolution, although his efforts don't work out yet. At the ending of the games, I wonder if Wiress and Mags were tortured by the Capitol, who thought they helped Haymitch try to sabotage them. I absolutely adore this book and it is a must read.

My Rating: 5 stars

Butter by Asako Yuzuki REVIEW

Summary:

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation's imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can't resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii, but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?

My Thoughts:

Rika is a journalist who is consumed by her work. She either eats ramen or pre-made food from the convenience store, and her relationship with her boyfriend is distant at best. She's been writing to Kajii, hoping to get an exclusive interview, with no luck. But when she asks her for a recipe, Kajii suddenly becomes interested and wants to talk. Obsessed with trying to get Kajii to talk about her upcoming trial for her crimes, Rika ends up sucked into her world of cooking, and even starts to wonder if Kajii is even guilty at all . . .

This book was very slow to get into, which I'm not sure if it was the translation or the writing style. The main character is the average hard worker, and it's interesting to see all of this from her perspective. She becomes almost brainwashed by Kajii in her hunt for the truth, and it's easy to see why. Kajii can be very charismatic and convincing. Rika's best friend sees through this though, and tries to get her to see this as well. This is the most compelling part of the book, and shows how easily someone can be brainwashed. That almost makes up for how difficult it was to get through this novel.

My Rating: 2 stars

Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver REVIEW

Summary:

Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart. One he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska, far away from his almost-fiancée and his derailed surgical career. It's a simpler life: head down, hard work, and absolutely no romantic relationships. He wants none of the circus he left behind in Boston. But then the real circus finds him.

Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with the Silveria Circus, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder when she's not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with a broken leg, Rose finds herself stuck in Nebraska, at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor. The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together . . . and the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts will catch up.

My Thoughts:

This was an interesting switch-up from the last couple books. While Rose is a killer, she doesn't really have the stomach for gore. She has a booth set up at the circus where she reads tarot, and whenever a woman in an abusive relationship comes for a reading, Rose plans to help them with murdering the partner. But when she fails to complete a kill, she ends up at Fionn's door needing help with a broken leg. Fionn isn't really a killer, but he helps out his brothers who are killers. Even so, he has a darkness inside him that he's constantly keeping at bay, and has been for years. Then Rose shows up, rocking his world upside-down. They originally agree to a friends-with-benefits deal, but as they spend more time together, feelings start to pop up.

This was a really fun read. I enjoyed the constant banter between our two main characters, and their eventual romance felt like it happened at a realistic pace. The characters from the previous books show up a few times, which felt like such a treat! My only real complaint was that there wasn't that much murder.

My Rating: 4 stars

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica REVIEW

Summary:

From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.

But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

My Thoughts:

This was a really cool look at a post-apocalyptic cult. The narrator, whose name we don't know, is recounting her life at the Sacred Sisterhood, as well as her memories from before she was there. She is part of the Unworthy - which the Superior Sister and their "God" never let them forget. The higher ranks are the Chosen, the Minor Saints, the Aura, and the Enlightened. When an Unworthy does something wrong, the Superior Sister gleefully partakes in punishing them - whether it's a whipping or death. The narrator partakes in these inhumane customs, and even sometimes enjoys it. But when Lucia joins the Sisterhood, everything changes. Lucia is strong and doesn't let the other Unworthy humiliate her. Our narrator slowly falls in love with her, and then Lucia is given the rank of Enlightened. Unable to stomach the thought of being without Lucia, she plans to break her out of her room and escape together.

As always, I enjoyed the writing style and concept. A doomsday cult that formed after Doomsday. It also reads like a subtle critique of organized religion. The need to constantly call yourself unworthy of good things, the corruption in leadership, and violence. The critique is extremely hidden within the text, as the story of a dystopian future takes the center stage. I do wish that the novel was longer (it is less than 200 pages) and that we got to know a little more about what it was like in the world outside of the cult.

My Rating: 4 stars

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem REVIEW

Summary:

Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic was outlawed. Its royal family murdered. At least, that's what Sylvia wants people to believe. The Heir of Jasad escaped the massacre, and she intends to stay hidden, especially from the armies of Nizahl that continue to hunt her people.

But a moment of anger changes everything. When Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi to her village, Sylvia accidentally reveals her magic - and captures his attention. Now Sylvia's forced to make a deal with her greatest enemy: Help him hunt the rebels in exchange for her life.

A deadly game begins. Sylvia can't let Arin discover her identity, even as hatred shifts into something more between the Heirs. And as the tides change around her, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she abandoned.

My Thoughts:

Sylvia is such a compelling character, even more so than other main characters of similar stories. She is the sole survivor of the royal family, and intends to hide her identity for as long as she lives. When a young child is in danger from the Omal Heir's temper, Sylvia lashes out in anger, accidentally exposing her magic. While no one knows her identity, they know she is Jasadi. In exchange for her life, Arin wants her to be his Champion in the upcoming games. He hopes to draw out the rebels with her in the spotlight. With no other option, she agrees.

I really like how fast-paced yet character-driven this book is, as well as how the author writes. If I didn't know before I started reading, I never would have guessed that this was the author's first book. I also really like Sefa and Marek, Sylvia's friends. They really balance out the dynamics. The slow-burn romance between Sylvia and Arin is very believable. They don't even admit their feelings for each other until the end. The only real complaint I have is not really knowing much of anything about Jasad and the in-depth reasons why they were targeted. I get that we learn them while Sylvia does, but Jasad feels more like a legendary kingdom than one that existed until a decade prior. I hope this gets resolved with the next book.

My Rating: 3 stars

Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo REVIEW

My Thoughts:

As this is a collection of short stories, I generally find them difficult to review. But these were very well-written, character-driven stories. While some left me wanting more, others left me satisfied. There are eight stores included. My favorites were "Under the Plum Tree", "Dead Set", and "Night of Aurora". The first is about an older woman dealing with the pain of losing her older sisters. The second is about a female feminist writer, and the last is about an older woman fulfilling her lifelong dream of seeing the Aurora with her mother-in-law.

The others were good, but either didn't stick with me or left me wanting more.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson REVIEW

Summary:

Rosemary meets Ash at the farmers' market. Ash - precise, pretty, and practically perfect - sells bars of soap in delicate pastel colors, sprinkle-spackled cupcakes stacked on scalloped stands, beeswax candles, jelly jars of honey, and glossy green plants.

Ro has never felt this way about another woman; with Ash, she wants to be her and have her in equal measure. But as her obsession with Ash consumes her, she may find she's not the one doing the devouring . . .

My Thoughts:

This was a fast and intense read. Rosemary recently moved to town to get away from her mother and get over her ex. She got a job as an English professor, and yearns for a more magical world. When she meets Ash at the farmers' market, Ro becomes head-over-heels obsessed. She can't stop thinking about her all week, and can't wait for Saturday to see her at the market again. What blossoms seems to be a sweet relationship, but Ro ignores all the red flags until it becomes too obvious not to.

While I do think that the romance seems a bit rushed, it sort of makes sense for a novella. I really enjoyed the Hannibal vibes throughout the book - the consuming obsession of the characters for each other, as well as the ending. The prose was slightly difficult to get used to, as I am not used to books written like this, but it did get easier the more I read. I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.

My Rating: 4 stars  

The Return by Rachel Harrison REVIEW

Summary:

Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return - except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out there and that one day Julie will come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her.

Along with Molly and Mae, their two close friends from college, the women decide to reunite at a remote inn. But the second Elise sees Julie, she knows something is wrong - she's emaciated, with sallow skin and odd appetites. And as the weekend unfurls, it becomes impossible to deny that the Julie who vanished two years ago is not the same Julie who came back. But then who - or what - is she?

My Thoughts:

The girls decide to take a weekend at a new inn on the mountains to reunite and have fun together. But that all changes when they see Julie. At first, everyone assumes that she looks like that due to her blocked out trauma from the years she was missing, and that's also why her eating habits changed. As the hours go by, everyone has a sinking feeling that it's something much worse. Elise starts hearing things in her room when no one's around, and thinks she sees Julie looking inhuman.

I really wanted to like this book, but the characters were extremely one-dimensional. The friends have almost no chemistry, and there are very few flashbacks to round out the characters and their relationship to each other. They all seem to have one character trait to distinguish between them. When things start to get revealed towards the end, it doesn't feel like it payed off. The explanation behind Julie's disappearance could have been done better, and we don't even know by the end if she was human or not. That could have been fine if the characters were developed and the explanation of Julie's disappearance was done differently. What could have been a great book ended up being lackluster, and it's a shame.

My Rating: 1 star 

Reclaimed by Madeleine Roux REVIEW

Summary:

The Ganymede facility is a fresh start. At least that's what Senna tells herself when she arrives to take part in a cutting-edge scientific treatment where participants have traumatic memories erased.

And Senna has reasons for wanting to escape her past.

But almost as soon as the treatment begins, Senna finds more than just her traumatic memories disappearing. She hardly recognizes her new life or herself. Even though the cure might justify the side effects of the process, Senna knows that something isn't right. As her side effects worsen, Senna will need to band together with the other participants to unravel the mystery of her present and save her future.

My Thoughts:

Senna was born and raised in a cult, which she narrowly escaped with her life. Her family and the rest of the cult members weren't so lucky. When she finds a treatment trial to erase traumatic memories, Senna jumps at the chance. But when she arrives at the facility, even before the treatment, things seem off. There is a bad storm that traps them all there for days, she starts seeing shadows, and her non-traumatic memories are also effected by the treatment.

The summary is slightly misleading, as Senna is only one of the main characters. We also follow Zurri, a model, and Han, a teenage genius. The chapters alternate between the three of them. They are mostly well-developed, with Zurri being the least of the three. I really like the concept of the story - how memories, even bad ones, shouldn't necessarily be forgotten. I also liked the concept behind how the memories are erased, which we learn more about towards the end of the novel. I do wish that the villain of the story was more developed, as he seemed one-dimensional and stereotypical. Otherwise, this was a very interesting read.

My Rating: 3 stars 

Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes REVIEW

Summary:

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed - made obsolete - when her beacon-repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick search of the ship reveals something isn't right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Messages scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

My Thoughts:

This was such a breath of fresh air and exciting to read. The story goes back and forth between past and present of Claire telling her story. Rejected from the multiple jobs in space she applied for, Claire has to head back to Earth for an office job - something she never wanted to do. She likes the silence and peace of being out among the stars with little to no human interaction. Her crew is against going to assist the distress signal, but their minds change when they see the ship. They could make a lot of money taking things from it, and the families of the dead on board would finally know what happened to their loved ones. But upon entering the ship, Claire starts to see and hear things. This isn't abnormal for her, as she has the ability to see ghosts, but something is different about it this time. When her crew starts experiencing the same, it becomes a battle to continue their mission without going crazy.

I like the development of Claire and her crewmate Kane, who are the main focuses of the novel. We get to know things about their pasts and their life before this mission. Claire is the sole survivor of a tragedy that killed her mother, and Kane is a single father with a daughter on Earth. Claire is telling the story because she was found in an escape pod without her crew to Verux officials, who want to know what happened and why she is alone. They don't believe her about seeing things on the ship, of course, but they need a statement and want to go find the ship. Near the end, they convince her to go with them to get it so she can show them where everything is - but it turns out that they want to take some things and explode the ship with her on it. The disappearance of the ship and the deaths of the passengers wasn't an accident - they were experimenting with sound waves, which made the people on board crazy and start killing each other. Claire has to grab Kane and try to escape before they blow up the ship.

My Rating: 5 stars

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig REVIEW

Summary:

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home - she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King's own nephew, Captain of the Destriers . . . and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards - the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

My Thoughts:

This book was a lot of fun, and reminded me of why I used to love fantasy so much. Elspeth had gotten sick as a child - the kind of sick where you would be taken away and killed. But her family hid her illness, and she went to stay with her aunt and uncle to be safe and away from prying eyes, as her father works for the King. The illness did not give her magic, although when she touched a Providence Card, a monster took refuge in her head. All magic other than Providence Cards is strictly forbidden after a tragedy happened centuries ago, making the mist something to fear. 

I really like the writing here, it reminds me of fantasy novels I used to read, full of description and escape, but not overwritten. Elspeth is a compelling character, and we learn things as she does. For years, she didn't realize that the voice in her head could actually help her by taking over her body. We learn that the cards, if used too much, cause degeneration, where the user gets weaker and weaker with each use. But Elspeth doesn't know what hers will look like, until the voice tells her. The Nightmare is actually the soul of the Shepherd King, who died centuries ago, and each time she asks for help, Elspeth is weakened. Eventually, he will take over her body for good. Collecting all of the cards breaks the curse of the mist and cures those effected by magic, but there's one problem: one card has been missing for centuries, ever since the death of the Shepherd King. The romance between Elspeth and Ravyn is done very well. They do not fall at first sight, it takes most of the book before they are together, and it is merely a subplot of the book. It ends on a cliffhanger, and I am excited for the next one.

My Rating: 5 stars

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo REVIEW

Summary:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

My Thoughts:

While this book was difficult to get into, it got really interesting about 50ish pages in. The chapters go back and forth between past and present, and the world building is very well done. Alex is the kind of character that you hate at one moment and love the next. She has a messy past with drugs and murder, but she's likable enough to root for. Alex is on the hunt for a murderer, who may or may not be connected to one of the secret societies at Yale. While it seems like there's no connection at first, she digs in deeper and finds information that was buried deep and could also connect to the disappearance of Darlington, her mentor. My only issue with this book, other than it being difficult to get into, is that Alex is the only well-rounded character here. While I cared about Dawes and Darlington, they were underdeveloped, and the rest of the characters felt like they were just there and had no depth. The plot twist towards the end would have been better if I had felt any sort of connection to Belbalm/Daisy. However, I do look forward to reading the sequel.

My Rating: 4 stars 

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo REVIEW

Summary:

Every year, Dr. Clark searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his demise. Thanks to her planning, she's avoided drawing attention to herself - but as she's preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation. Everything's going according to her master plan . . . until she loses control with her latest victim.

Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is simply trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her abusive father, Carly just wants to fade into the background. Her roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident, and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay . . . and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.

My Thoughts:

The book is told from two POVs: Scarlett and Carly. Scarlett is a professor at Gorman and is tired of terrible men getting away with hurting women. She secretly kills them, but stages them as suicides. Her next target is one of her colleagues - Kinnear. But then Mina, Kinnear's ex-wife, comes onto the scene to investigate the deaths of students, and Scarlett has to lay low and get sneaky. Carly is a new student who comes from an abusive family and wants to be able to be herself away from them. She quickly befriends Allison and her friend Wes, and things are finally looking up for her. But when she sees Allison - who was most likely drugged - being assaulted, she steps up to take care of her and wants the man to pay. Carly quickly learns that even the men you think you can trust, can secretly be horrible people, as evident when she goes to report the assault, and when Wes starts acting seemingly out of character.

I loved this novel. Carly and Scarlett are perfectly developed as characters, and the writing is powerful. Revenge stories are always some of my favorites, and this one did not disappoint. The twist towards the middle was so mind-blowing, and it took a while for it to settle in my brain. The only thing that I would have changed about this book was that there wasn't more kills. I would absolutely recommend picking this one up.

My Rating: 5 stars

Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake REVIEW

Summary:

Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls - nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood in which she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, there's a different woman in it every night, but that's just fine with her.

When Delilah's estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid's stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there's some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls after all.

Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise . . . at first. Though they've known each other for years, they don't really know each other, so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they're forced together during the gauntlet of wedding preparations - including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé - Claire isn't sure she has the strength to resist Delilah's charms. Even worse, she's starting to think she doesn't want to . . . 

My Thoughts:

This was a really fun book. Delilah is estranged from her stepfamily who were distant from her as a child after she lost her father, and doesn't want to go back to her hometown. But needing the money, she goes back to be the photographer for Astrid's wedding. Claire unknowingly approaches her at the bar, but is scared off once it's revealed who she is. Delilah plans to be a pain to her stepfamily the whole time she's there, and even tells Astrid that she'd bet her that she can get Claire into her bed before the wedding. But feelings start to happen, and Delilah and Astrid reconcile. It turns out that Astrid really did want to be close to her growing up, but gave up after being rejected continuously when she asked Delilah if she wanted to hang out. Astrid realizes what a terrible person she's engaged to, and they break things off. Delilah and Claire end up together at the end. The only issue I had with this book was the lack of payoff to the reconciliation. It's brought up constantly how Delilah feels about how she grew up, but when the payoff happens, it's not really long enough to make the impact that the author likely intended, which is a shame.

My Rating: 4 stars