authentic reviews and insightful interviews for inquisitive readers
A quick little roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Summer 2023. Beware of spoilers! Title: A Fatal Illusion Author: Anna Lee Huber Series: Lady Darby Mystery #11 Thank you to Anna Lee Huber, Berkley, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Yazmine Hassan for inviting me to participate in the blog tour; I’m sorry I didn’t get my crap together in time to participate properly. …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Murder Is a Piece of Cake by Valerie Burns is the second book in the Baker Street Cozy Mystery series. As with all her books, dogs play an important role and the characters are very well developed. The first book in the series, Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder, has Maddy Montgomery inheriting from her great Aunt Octavia the Baby Cakes Bakery and a 250-pound English Mastiff named Baby. The will stipulates Maddy must …
Title: Out of Nowhere Author: Sandra Brown Series: n/a good if not great Thank you to Sandra Brown, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Aspects of this novel might fall short for some readers; they may feel it’s more romance than thriller or mystery, the mass shooting was blink and miss it, the characters were a bit off, Shawna was a cliche, the villain one-dimensional. And to …
Title: Magdalena Author: Candi Sary Series: n/a Not my cuppa Thank you to Candi Sary and Regal House Publishing for allowing me to read a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thanks also to Laura Marie of Laura Marie Public Relations for inviting me on the blog tour. So . . . I read this novel because the description leaned hard into the paranormal aspect, and I love a good ghost story. It sounded a …
Titles: The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: The Inheritance Games Why is this series so popular??? This is a review for the trilogy as a whole. No spoilers. This series did not live up to the hype; I’m a little bitter that I waited several months to get my turn at the audiobooks from the library. How many other books could I have borrowed and enjoyed in that time? I was further …
Title: Where Ivy Dares to Grow Author: Marielle Thompson Series: n/a Self-centeredness: The Novel Thank you to Marielle Thompson, Kensington, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I wanted to DNF it multiple times, but I pushed through until 95%. Then I just couldn’t take it anymore. Saoirse, the MC, is incredibly self-centered. My God. The entire novel is about how horribly treated she is and how miserable she is because …
Title: Dead of Winter Author: Darcy Coates Series: n/a unsympathetic lead Thanks to Darcy Coates, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was an okay thriller, though the premise has been done. My chief complaints are the abrupt beginning and ending as well as the length/lack of energy, all of which relates to the main problem, a lack of sympathy for the lead character. So we start …
A quick little roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Spring 2023. Beware of spoilers! Title: The Secret of Poppyridge Cove Author: Rimmy London Series: Seaside Inn Mystery/Poppyridge Cove Mystery #1** When Scribd recommended this title, I thought, Oh cool! A little indie haunted house story! Yes, please! And omg, it’s a series! Scooooore! Unfortunately, the story wasn’t what I wanted it to be. It’s actually a romance, and not a ghost story at all. Barely creepy. When I …
Title: Goddess of Rain Author: Jane Frkovich Series: Lost Gods #1 Reads like fanfiction Thank you to Jane Frkovich, Danielle Fliller, BooksGoSocial Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudiobook in exchange for an honest review. Have you ever wanted to read a Percy Jackson and Star Wars crossover fanfic? Or listen to a narrator who sounds like a student reading aloud from a novel in English class, is overly obsessive about enunciating every single vowel …
Title: The Murderous Affair at Stone Manor Author: Laura Stewart Series: Amelia Adams #1 charismatic characters but confused genre It was with great joy that I saw this book has a sequel. Then it was with great sorrow that I realized the sequel is not available in audiobook format, minimizing the likelihood of my reading it, especially this time of year. I enjoyed this book very much. I suspect the characters are what will either pull readers in or drive …