Taylor Fenner's Blog, page 32

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 18 September 2023

#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Happy Monday Bookdragons! How was your weekend? I didn’t get much reading done over the last week because I had some vacation days that I ended up doing quite a few out-of-the-house things on.

What I Read Last Week:Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

My library hold on this audiobook came in so I set aside A Multitude of Dreams to listen to it. Werewolves aren’t my favorite but I like this author and it wasn’t a bad listen.

Currently Reading:A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford

I’m about halfway through this one and hoping to finish it in the next day or two to move onto some other reads.

Next Reads:

eBook: The Last One by Will Dean

Audiobook: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Physical: Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert

What are you reading this week? Have you read any of these?

The Sunday Post: Busy Week, New Wheels, and Fresh Ink

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Busy Week, New Wheels, and Fresh Ink

Hey Bookdragons! How was your week last week?

Despite having vacation days I still had a jam-packed exhausting week. I decided catching up on sleep and having a little staycation was better than driving nearly 4 hours north just to enjoy one day and drive home another 4 hours so I did some things I’ve been putting off.

Tuesday I went car shopping for my winter car. The car I’ve been driving is a Camaro which only has read-wheel drive which is unrealistic to attempt to drive in a Wisconsin winter that is fast approaching. I had done some research and there were a few cars I liked but I ultimately tried my favorite first and I am now a proud car owner of my first only-mine car.

Thursday was walk-in day at a tattoo shop I’ve been meaning to try so I took a chance and got my first bookish tattoo! I love how it turned out!

Other than that, I took a day trip on Wednesday and did a little Halloween decor shopping then on Friday I saw A Haunting in Venice!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 11 September 2023

Book Review: Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 6 Check-In

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 18 September 2023

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros: A Multitude of Dreams

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List

Can’t Wait Wednesday: Until the Stars Fall

The Friday 56: A Multitude of Dreams

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 7 Check-In

Physical:Corrupt Shadows Deluxe Hardback

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 6 Check-In

Hey Spooky Season Fiends! It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in Wisconsin! Welcome back for our week 6 check-in! If you’re just joining us, Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 is a 92-day celebration of all things spooky, cozy, and halloween vibes from August 1-October 31st, hosted by me, Taylor Fenner: author, book blogger, and all around spooky season lover. We have Spooky Season Bookish Bingo all season long and a readathon and Instagram photo challenge coming up in October. Link up on the original post here.

Week Six

This week I watched a few spooky season staples and watched one of my most anticipated movie releases for the last half of 2023…

Reading:Currently Reading:

I’m about 40-50% into A Multitude of Dreams. It’s a fantasy retelling of The Masque of the Red Death with blood-drinking monsters masquerading as men and a strong Jewish rep.

I’m hoping to finish Such Sharp Teeth yet this weekend. I’m 65% in and it’s a fast listen.

Watching:

This week I watched:

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

The Uninvited (1944)

A Haunting in Venice

Harry Potter 1-3

Creating:

I did a few things this week since I had vacation time so my reading and writing time slowed and I only managed to add 3,331 words to It Rose From the Ashes but I soared past the 40k word mark this week!

Tell me all about how you’ve been celebrating Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 this week and remember to tag me on socials so I can see your posts and use hashtag: #taylorfennersspookyseason2023

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Adult, Thriller, Standalone

eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 400 pages

June 20, 2023 by Dutton Books

Blurb:

Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.

My Review:

After two so-so releases, Riley Sager is back on top of his game and reminded me why he’s one of my auto-buy authors!

If the creepy Lizzie Borden-esque rhyme and the delightfully atmospheric cover weren’t enough to draw you in let me tantalize you a little more: dysfunctional family with secrets all around, a slightly unreliable narrator/sub-narrator, dual timelines, and twists that hit one right after another!

The characters were all so fleshed out, especially Lenora who literally had no verbal dialogue the entire book but you felt so much like you could see and understand beyond the invalid façade. Then there is Mrs. Baker who gives Baby Jane Hudson (from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane) a run for her money – and you’ll understand why the deeper you get into the book. And flashy Jessie just leapt off the page, I could see her in all her colorful glory. This book is chock full of morally gray characters you’ll be dying to unwrap the layers of.

Then there is the setting… a crumbling mansion atop a crumbling cliff in small town Maine. A house that is literally on the precipice of falling into the ocean. And Jessie’s Murder House tour was fascinating.

Overall this book was eerie and atmospheric, tragic and heartbreaking, and dare I say relatable to anyone that’s ever been a caregiver for a loved one. I couldn’t put this one down and I’m eager to see what Mr. Sager’s next book will bring!

My Rating:

5 of 5 Knives!

(This book was killer)

Book Review: Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Horror, Standalone

eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 304 Pages

September 12, 2023 by St. Martin’s Press

Blurb

A standalone horror novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who’ve fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out…and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it… But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone―or something―that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.

My Review:

I have such mixed feelings for this book. But at least I didn’t DNF it.

Did it have a good setting? Yes. Sufficient scenes of horror? Yes and no. My issues with this book are mostly the characters and the reveal of the events in the book.

None of the characters were particularly likable but I hated the main character most of all. Laney was just… pathetic. Yes, this awful thing happened to her in high school but she’s basically become a doormat ever since. Her husband leaves her post-Covid lockdown with no explanation and she just lets him go. Her best friend stops speaking to her in college with no explanation and she just lets her go. Her other friend didn’t believe her after the incident that happened in high school but she still wants to be her friend even though the bitch is a troublemaking liar. And then there is her obsessive overprotection of her “niece” Madison. And I figured out her reason early on but everyone keeps saying how smart and mature Madison is and yet they all treat her like she’s a toddler not a 16 or 17 year old girl, almost an adult. It was so annoying.

Anyway, Laney rents out her island summer home on what I assume is supposed to be like AirBnB or VRBO or something similar. And she’s had a lot of issues with renters disrespecting her property and not staying out of areas/personal property that they have been told not to. And Laney just sort of sighs and takes it. Again.. total doormat. But the latest renter has reported blood and scratch marks in one of the bedroom closets so Laney and Madison go out to investigate. A lot of weird satanic wannabe type stuff has been showing up on the property lately but Laney has thus far brushed it off. When they get there Laney’s ex-husband Kit and Laney’s ex-bff/Kit’s sister Jayla are there to help. And then her frenemy from high school Sadie shows up with her brother Garrett who makes Laney’s skin crawl – for good reason. And by the end of the night one is missing and their only way off the island is gone.

Sounds like the set-up for a great locked-door/cut off from the world thriller/horror right? What I wouldn’t give for this book to have had a crazy slasher in it. Or a murderous member of the party ready to settle an old wrong. But alas the author takes a supernatural turn in this book. Which I guess shouldn’t surprise me considering this is the author of Bitten (which I did enjoy).

While the author does paint a clear picture of the gore and carnage through the book, it’s like she couldn’t make up her mind. Am I writing about zombies? Vampires? Demons? Eh make it look like all three then give an eye-roll worthy reveal and make it all about saving Mother Earth and not littering or whatever.

I feel like this book had so much potential and it just failed to live up to it.

My Rating:

3 of 5 Knives!

(I Lived to Tell the Tale)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 11 September 2023

#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Hey Bookdragons! Happy Monday! I’m heading on vacation in a few days and trying to decide what book(s) to bring with me now that I finished a few of last week’s reads.

Last Week I Read:The Only One Left by Riley Sager

I loved this book! I’m still thinking about the ending. If this book isn’t on your radar this fall it should be!

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

I enjoyed this one but I’m more excited to see the movie adaptation.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

I stopped reading this at about 35%. It’s the September pick for the online book club I’m in but I was so bored reading this. There is too much verbiage of Spanish words where unless you speak the language you have to sort of guess what they mean (or use Google translate which was no help at all) and the author way overwrites. Plus the vampires were like an afterthought or a metaphor for the white people invading the area.

Currently Reading:A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford

I’m about 50 pages into this one and it’s not bad so far. I like the female MC’s perspective better than the male’s but we’ll see if that changes.

Next Read:The Last One by Will Dean

I think this is the book I want to bring with me on vacation this week. It looks really good and I’ve been excited to read it.

What are you reading this week? Have you read any of these?

The Sunday Post: Long Weekend, Vacation Time, and Weather Whiplash

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Long Weekend, Vacation Time, and Weather Whiplash

Hey Bookdragons! Happy Sunday! How was your week?

To me it’s always confusing when there’s a holiday on a Monday. Everything gets screwed up a little. Labor Day came in the middle of my three days off work but I spent last Sunday and Labor Day catching up on sleep then went for a manicure on Tuesday and had a nice lunch out.

Tomorrow I start my 6 vacation days. Tomorrow I have to get an oil change in my car (boo), Tuesday I hope to go car shopping for the winter car I need (rear-wheel drive sucks when you live in a snow prone area), and then Wednesday I’m off to Michigan for a few days of relaxation. I can’t wait to recharge.

We had the weirdest weather this week – from 100 degrees and humid to high 60s and comfortable seemingly in the blink of an eye. Not that I mind that I’m packing hoodies for my trip instead of shorts.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – September 2023

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros: The Only One Left

Can’t Wait Wednesday: In These Hallowed Halls

Audiobook Review: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Friday 56: Vampires of El Norte

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 5 Check-In

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 11 September 2023

Book Review: Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 6 Check-In

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Physical:eBook:

Small Town Romance Stories

Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 Week 5 Check-In

Hey Spooky Season Fiends! It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in Wisconsin! Welcome back for our week 5 check-in! If you’re just joining us, Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 is a 92-day celebration of all things spooky, cozy, and halloween vibes from August 1-October 31st, hosted by me, Taylor Fenner: author, book blogger, and all around spooky season lover. We have Spooky Season Bookish Bingo all season long and a readathon and Instagram photo challenge coming up in October. Link up on the original post here.

Week Five

This week I finished two of the books on my Spooky Season TBR and went to see a newly released horror movie!

Reading:Just Finished:

This was a fun, short audiobook and it got me all excited for A Haunting in Venice which releases this coming Friday (Did you know September 15th, the release date of A Haunting in Venice was also Agatha Christie’s birthday?!)

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down! It reminded me why Riley Sager is on of my auto-buy authors!

Currently Reading:

Now that I’m done with Hallowe’en Party and The Only One Left I plan to devote more time to Vampires of El Norte and hope to finish it before I go on vacation this coming Wednesday.

Watching:

This week I watched:

Thirteen GhostsCoralineFriday the 13th Part 2 & 3The Nun II The Last Voyage of the Demeter Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3Creating:

Due to the holiday weekend, my schedule, and fatigue my writing slowed this week and I only wrote 3,900, which is slightly down from last week. I’ve been delving into the past timeline and getting into the mind of my antagonist.

Events:

There are a couple fall/spooky season events coming up that I want to attend, but not until the end of the month. More on those when they get closer.

Tell me all about how you’ve been celebrating Taylor Fenner’s Spooky Season 2023 this week and remember to tag me on socials so I can see your posts and use hashtag: #taylorfennersspookyseason2023

Friday 56: Vampires of El Norte

The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda’s Voice. How to participate: Grab a book, any book. Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay. Find a snippet, short and sweet. Post it, and link up on Freda’s Voice so everyone knows to visit.

This week I’m participating with: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas!

Blurb:

Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

Friday 56 Excerpt:

With a brutal, wet cry, the vampire shucked off the last of its meaty bindings and lurched forward onto all fours. As it rose to its full height, Néstor shoved a bullet and gunpowder into the first pistol, then the second. Bullets found their marks in the vampire’s chest and neck; each blow sent shudders through its body, but still it loomed over them, a full head taller than Néstor. Blood slicked its hairless skull and the metal band around its throat, gleaming in firelight.

What do you think? Would you read this one? This is the book club pick for the Big Bad Booty B*tches Book Club.. and I haven’t made much progress so far because I’ve been in the middle of two other books.

🎧Audiobook Review: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Hallowe’en Party (Hercule Poirot #41) by Agatha ChristieBlurb:

A teenage murder witness is drowned in a tub of apples… At a Hallowe’en party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no-one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the ‘evil presence’. But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer…

My Review:

Hallowe’en Party was on my Spooky Season 2023 TBR and I wanted to listen to the audiobook before the movie adaptation releases on 09/15/2023.

Hercule Poirot is once again called upon to solve a mysterious death after a 13-year-old girl is found drowned in a apple-bobbing tub after a Halloween party. Earlier in the day the girl claimed to have witnessed a murder some years ago — but was she telling the truth?

Through investigating unsolved murders, disappearances, and scandals in the village, Hercule Poirot will get to the bottom of what was seen — and who would want to shut-up a thirteen-year-old girl forever because of it.

I though Hugh Fraser made a great narrator and easily breezed through this one in a couple days. It had a somewhat big cast of characters, though some were more fleshed out than others. I suspected a few things along the way but still enjoyed how things were wrapped up at the end.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but the movie looks a tad bit more interesting and exciting. It’s a great read for the spooky season though and I definitely recommend it.

My Rating:

4 of 5 Knives!

(This Book Stabbed My Heart)