Review Roundup Autumn 2024 – Part 2 - No Apology Book Reviews

Another quick little roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Autumn 2024. Beware of spoilers!

Title: If I Stopped Haunting You

Author: Colby Wilkens

Series: n/a

Thank you to Colby Wilkens, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was okay. Not well balanced, and the characters had to work to be likeable, especially Pen.

I don’t care what race, gender, ancestry, etc, you are, if you’re going to act that immaturely in a public setting where you’re supposed to be professional, I’d lose a lot of respect for you too. I certainly wouldn’t be giving you money.

That said, I love me a redemption arc, so I don’t mind a character who fucks up and needs to grovel. As long as their mistake was something I could forgive, at any rate.

Tone imbalance. I’m not sure you can put horror elements in a rom-com—speaking of the grotesque visage of the ghosts and the scenes that were supposed to be scary. The tones needed are completely different—easy, light, fun vs. tense, dark, spooky. I had a hard time taking the scary parts seriously. Worse, they were kinda funny.

Second, Pen and Neil were in lust from the get-go and I got so sick of hearing how this of hers made him hard, how that of his made her throb, and oh my god how could she possibly feel this way about HIM, was she crazy blah blah blah. God, it went on and on. If you’re not going to reconcile and build a relationship properly, fine, then just get in bed and get it over with so we can move on.

I really, really wish this had been more of a ghost story with a romantic element than a romance with a bit of haunting. It just didn’t feel like this plot had enough going on. Waaaayyy too reliant on the forced sizzle between the leads taking up words.

Lastly, I’m not sure how ghosts worked in this story. They were able to be physically intimate. Emphasis on physically. There was ghost cum. I’m very serious. Tone imbalance, man.

There was potential here, but needed a better editor and a couple more drafts.

Title: A Not-So-Holiday Paradise

Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell

Series: part of the Christmas Escape series with books by other authors

Much thanks to Gracie Ruth Mitchell, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book! I had a great time listening. The characters were endearing and relatable with fun personalities, their conversation flowed smoothly. Funny, well paced, original. Or at least original to me.

I enjoy stories that feature characters with some kind of disability/disorder/divergence, like deafness, autism, limps, etc., because they instantly make the characters more relatable and give them a personal conflict. It’s so satisfying to watch them overcome struggles and so heartwarming for them to fall in love. It’s great to not be made to feel only those who have perfect physicality and complete functionality are attractive and worthy of HEAs. That’s why anything Beauty and the Beast related sells like fuckin hotcakes. (Not to say disabilities, disorders, or divergence are beastly; metaphor, people.) So I gobbled up everything to do with Molly’s epilepsy, and actually wouldn’t have minded more of it.

The narrators, Rylee Kuberra and John Rogers, were talented and suited the characters and the material.

Overall well written and highly recommended. I’ve already checked if my library has Mitchell’s other books. It does! Can’t wait till it’s my turn with them.

Title: Lenny Among Ghosts

Author: Frank Maria Reifenberg

Series: n/a

Thank you to Frank Maria Reifenberg, Brilliance, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The concept for Monsters, Inc., in an old German castle with a secondary character whose favorite word is “fart.” If you’re into that, you’ll love it. Sounds annoying? Stay away.

There’s a fascinating premise here—a school for ghosts to teach them how to haunt—but the execution is about as ambitious as one would expect for a middle grade book, i.e. not very. Still, it’s entertaining and intriguing, and Lenny’s a good, stable lead. There’s plenty of humor, mostly in the form of exaggerated emotional responses, a toddler wielding a hatchet, and the liberal and semi-creative use of the word “fart.”

I think late elementary/middle school children will love this book, particularly boys for whom fart jokes never get old. Adults will probably be left wanting, but it’s not written for them.

Title: Casters and Crowns

Author: Elizabeth Lowham

Series: n/a

Much thanks to Elizabeth Lowham, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book! Aria was a great lead, endearing, likeable, full of good intent but makes mistakes. I found her habit of marking her faults as well as her conflict against a headstrong, hypocritical parent very relatable. She had the strength to keep trying rather than give up and wallow. Baron was kind, gentle, and mature, and his brothers were hilarious. Loved, loved, loved the characters.

The prejudice against magic casters was blind and discriminatory, I agreed with Aria on that, but I also thought she was perhaps naive regarding the dangers of magic casters. Take Baron for example: He’s a great guy with no malicious intent. But if he wasn’t a great guy and did have malicious intent, he and his magic would be a serious threat. I think Aria didn’t consider enough that she can’t know every caster is nonthreatening. While I don’t think branding is the way to go about it—although with their limited technology it probably was the simplest—I do think casters needed to be registered somehow. Still free, but…known, I guess. My point is, Aria seemed to consider it a black-and-white issue, when in my opinion it’s shades of gray. A fascinating philosophy to think about.

The narrative suffered from saggy middle; it started dragging after 60% and didn’t pick up until around 80%. That time between the conflict being teed up and someone actually taking a swing. Otherwise it had a steady pace.

The narrator for Baron, Nick Mondelli, had a quality to his voice that was inaccessible to me at first. I’m not sure how to describe it…a flatness, maybe? But I got used to it and it ceased to be a problem.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I can’t decide if I’m glad it was self-contained without cliffhangers or anything, or if I’m put-out because I want more of this world and these characters.

Title: Snowy Mountain Christmas

Author: Sharon Sala

Series: n/a

Thank you to Sharon Sala, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve always wanted to give Sharon Sala a try; I’ve actually been collecting her books for years without having read her, because I’m a hoarder like that. This title popped up on NetGalley and I thought, the time is now!

And it was okay. For sure the fluffiest bit of fluff I’ve read in a while. Trey and Marley got very familiar very quickly; they knew each other for a day or two, had sex, then suddenly they were unofficially engaged and Trey was moving in. I actually completely missed whenever that moment happened—one minute they were starting to get it on and I skipped ahead a bit because I wasn’t in the mood to listen to that, and next thing I knew Marley was telling Trey which drawers he could use and the word “permanent” was being tossed around. I was so thrown off that I checked to make sure I hadn’t accidentally skipped a few chapters instead of a few minutes. Nope, just instalove.

Relative, this book really didn’t have much plot. Trey and Marley experienced absolutely zero conflict in their relationship. Absolutely zero internal conflict. Well, Trey seemed depressed at the very very beginning because he was lonely, but that didn’t last long, definitely not long enough to be called an arc. Marley missed her parents but wasn’t hung up on it. They were both very self-confident and comfortable in their own bodies and life courses. All the conflict was external—Trey’s parents, Trey’s secret authorship, Marley’s shoehorned-in stalker guy, the media circus.

I can’t decide if I’m mad about it or not; on one hand, it was very relaxing to be in the heads of characters who aren’t stressing over self doubts or emotional problems. They had their shit together, and it was . . . comforting. On the other, it didn’t make for a very exciting or satisfying story. It should have been boring, but the characters were likeable enough to keep me interested in them.

Then there were the angels. There’s a bit of a Christian element and theme to the story that was in no way hinted at in the NetGalley listing, which is annoying. The angels send Marley verbal messages that steer her in the right direction in life. Why Marley is so privileged, I have no idea. It does make her come across like a Mary Sue, in a way—thank god the angels warned you to go to the bathroom, or you’d have puked in bed and made a gross, undignified mess. Thank god the angels gave you the secret to Anders’s emotional PTSD, or you’d have had to earn his respect the hard way. Thank god you’ve got the angels helping you cut corners, Marley, or you’d actually have to struggle.

And then there was the time when Marley named Sharon Sala as her favorite author of romantic suspense. I’ll just leave that there for you to think about.

So yeah, I wasn’t much impressed. Probably what I liked most about this book was Tyler Darby’s excellent narration. There were times when he pronounced or inflected something strangely, but nothing super annoying or distracting.

Title: Merry Little Murder Plot

Author: Jenn McKinlay

Series: Library Lover’s Mystery #15

Thanks to Jenn McKinlay, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I normally wouldn’t consider starting at book 15, but even if all previous 14 books were available at my library, how likely would it be that I’d make it through all of them without losing interest? Not very. So I decided I may as well dip a toe in and get a feel for the writing.

I definitely felt like I was late to the party. All the characters had relationships and rapport that I did not see develop. The world was clearly established and there was no audience stand-in to ask questions. So I’m afraid little in the story held meaning for me.

The mystery was interesting but not riveting. I’ll definitely be more wary of garland lights now. Bookstore and library settings are quickly becoming rote, especially in cozies. The narrative was written well enough and the characters likeable enough that I’d be interested in starting at the beginning of the series, but I wouldn’t say anything stood out about this book. Not bad but not great.

Title: Spineless

Author: Samantha San Miguel

Series: Spineless #1

Thank you to Samantha San Miguel, Brilliance, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator, Todd Haberkorn, kinda ruined the book for me. He was very enthusiastic and theatrical, and while that can be great in a narrator for some books, that’s not the case with Haberkorn. He was so LOUD. He yelled so much dialogue. No, not yelled, screeched. I didn’t like his “child” voices, especially the girls. Just….no.

I’m afraid a lot of the story went over my head because I was so busy cringing at the narration, but what I registered was a great adventure for kids interested in exotic animals and the sea. Just be sure to remind them that this is set in a historical time period when society was different.

If you’re interested in this book, do yourself a favor and read it in print! I’m going to request the ARC for the sequel, Fathomless, because it seems to be from the perspective of the girls and read by a different narrator. Maybe that book will be more to my taste.

Title: Fathomless