Very My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets the pandemic. It feels like reading someone's private diary entries at the beginning of COVID-19 times, if thVery My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets the pandemic. It feels like reading someone's private diary entries at the beginning of COVID-19 times, if that someone is a college professor with an obsession with ancient oracles and a boring marriage....more
**spoiler alert** Not gonna lie; it was a struggle to finish The Butcher and the Wren. There were so many characters briefly mentioned kept getting co**spoiler alert** Not gonna lie; it was a struggle to finish The Butcher and the Wren. There were so many characters briefly mentioned kept getting confused about who was who and if they mattered?!
The story boils down to The Butcher/Cal/Jeremy who exists to kidnap and kill and do experiments of some type for never explained reasons. He's very attractive and smart and don't you dare play "Hotline Bling" around him because he only likes good music like Edywn Collins... seriously think Halloween party playlist and that's what this dude grooves to in his swamp. The author actually made a playlist on Spotify for it.
Then you have Wren... formally known as Emily. She went to school with Cal/ the Butcher and escaped him once, but never thought too hard about how he's been out there butchering people in the bayou because she's been busy being a boss bitch talking to dead bodies in the morgue. She's also training new people at the beginning of the book, but then it's never mentioned again?! Anyways, her husband is a cardboard cutout who exists to say platitudes to her.
I will say there were some parts that I wanted more of: autopsies and learning how to determine the cause of death was interesting and clearly Alaina knows her stuff there as an actual autopsy technician.
Unfortunately, this whole mess of a book was so disjointed and trope-filled that I would not recommend it. If you must read it get it from your local library because the author doesn't need any more attention or money....more
Loved the cover and premise of this book-- creepy forests always get me! However, the characters are all one sided and constantly behaving in weird faLoved the cover and premise of this book-- creepy forests always get me! However, the characters are all one sided and constantly behaving in weird fashions. The women are always applying lipstick or shivering, the kids are all smoking joints and doing drugs. This lady casually walks into a tomb at the cemetery to gaze at skeletons.
I was confused throughout the entire story and I'm still confused because things never wrap up and so many questions are left unanswered. So much potential here and it's all jumbled and blah..
The good: queer rep, creepy woods, urban legend feels.
The bad: in this book's world everyone is doing drugs, sex is just a tool, mothers are mean, eating disorders are a fact of life, violence is everywhere, and apparently gold mining is still very much a thing.
Eh. Pass on this unless you want to be underwhelmed....more
The author of this book acknowledges she's hard on writers, but man, her main character here is just plain awful. He's a self centered jerk who thinksThe author of this book acknowledges she's hard on writers, but man, her main character here is just plain awful. He's a self centered jerk who thinks he's a big deal even before he is. He steals a plot for a book because the "plot is just too good" and there's a LOT of build up to what exactly the plot is and then it's revealed and ... It's not that grand.
If you don't read thrillers frequently you might be shocked, but if you are a frequent thriller reader you'll probably shrug and think "ok. That's it?!" ...more
I stayed up late finishing The Blackening and honestly, it was disappointing.
The location, an Icelandic village, was described great and cinematicallyI stayed up late finishing The Blackening and honestly, it was disappointing.
The location, an Icelandic village, was described great and cinematically and the monster was original, gross, and creepy! Unfortunately, the characters were all flat and kept flip-flopping in behavior. If the author had paid more attention to describing and developing his characters this would have been a fun campy Horror. Instead, I was left rolling my eyes each page and wanting more monster and less incompetent police officer.
If you like bad horror, you could make a grand drinking game with this book though! Drink every time "fuck" is used strangely in a sentence, drink everytime Police Inspector Ward questions his own thoughts and actions, take a shot each time Ben says his missing girlfriend's name and you'll be in such a state that you might enjoy the story.
**spoiler alert** The Night Will Find Us has an excellent cover and an intriguing premise of six high schoolers who go camping in the woods and end up**spoiler alert** The Night Will Find Us has an excellent cover and an intriguing premise of six high schoolers who go camping in the woods and end up fighting for their lives against some unknown cosmic horror.
There's lots of gore and the setting is creepy as heck, but unfortunately this book did not work for me. The characters were all super underdeveloped--- the only one who was a little real was terribly unlikable. The plot was a bunch of different pieces thrown together; it felt like the author had about 4 different ideas of what they wanted and they tried to include them all and none of it stuck. You've got some creepy woods, a Puritan style misogyny tale, an ancient cosmic evil, and some messed up kid with a gun.
I really hated this dude just shooting people and then having a semi redemption arc and also the whole "burning down a forest" thing just made me sad.
The TLDR of it is: teenage boys come in a few varieties; porn obsessed, sport jock with girlfriend, big loner with bad home life and unremarkable regular guy. All the boys are angry. Girl 1 is basically a boneless white meat chicken breast of boring who makes shitty choices. Girl 2 is slightly more interesting because she's a redhead who smokes ( ooh quirky!) And is a little rage filled. Together they wanna get drunk and dumb in the woods, but the woods are evil and full of vengeful spirits...or maybe the ground is just poison. They do dumb stuff and hurt eachother until only one survives. Never before has the Final Girl been so bland....more
I don't really read a lot of fantasy or YA and this was both. The writing was too simplistic and everything was so damn dramatic I kept rolling my eyesI don't really read a lot of fantasy or YA and this was both. The writing was too simplistic and everything was so damn dramatic I kept rolling my eyes. Not rating this because I stopped 1/3 of the way through because I got bored....more
Stopped reading a few chapters in because it hadn't grabbed me and also I apparently didn't read the plot heavily relied on mental illness and a baby.Stopped reading a few chapters in because it hadn't grabbed me and also I apparently didn't read the plot heavily relied on mental illness and a baby. eeeep, not good reading for this preggo....more
**spoiler alert** This book could have been really good!
First of all the setting: an underground all night rave in an abandoned NYC subway tunnel-- v**spoiler alert** This book could have been really good!
First of all the setting: an underground all night rave in an abandoned NYC subway tunnel-- very spooky! Secondly, brutally butchered bodies start showing up and the exits become sealed-- creepy!
But then there's a monster maybe that's never explained, the protagonist is a shell of a character who just keeps making bad decisions and everything is wrapped together with drugs being the answer.
The writing was good in parts, but the plot was all over the place and the story couldn't decide if it wanted to be a thriller, a horror with supernatural stuff or a young adult bad romance novel. I guess the end message is DRUGS ARE BAD KIDS, DON'T DO DRUGS.
This book started off atmospheric and creepy and then just got straight up weird and annoying. I got up to 70% before deciding to set this aside.
It's This book started off atmospheric and creepy and then just got straight up weird and annoying. I got up to 70% before deciding to set this aside.
It's not a thriller or a horror, but more of a suspense/drama with some light supernatural cliché elements. As a former Wiccan the witch and Wiccan parts were super frustrating to read. I know this is fiction, but geeeez way to completely not research anything and stick to misconceptions.
There's a heavy dose of fat phobia throughout the whole book around one character that wasn't necessary and was just gross. This dude also goes on for pages about women's nipples and it added nothing to the story....more
A crazy keeps her crazier relative chained up in the attic...Mr. Rochester style, but nowhere near as creepy or romantic. Twists on twists, but I wadnA crazy keeps her crazier relative chained up in the attic...Mr. Rochester style, but nowhere near as creepy or romantic. Twists on twists, but I wadnt shocked, or thrilled. Not this author's best, but an interesting read on family drama and how far you'd go for someone you love.
It took me a while to get into and I didn't really connect with any of the characters. In fact I kind of hated them all. Stella This book was so weird!
It took me a while to get into and I didn't really connect with any of the characters. In fact I kind of hated them all. Stella comes across as a real snob and Jack comes across as a stereotypical "Oh poor me" poor boy, but something made me keep reading.
The story took on some X-Men-like elements that I wasn't anticipating but enjoyed. However, it dragged on for a little long I found myself flipping ahead just to get to the parts with Jack and Stella. an intriguing read overall but something about it just didn't feel quite right for me I feel like it'd be a lot better of a TV series. ...more
I've liked these co-authors other books, but this one fell flat for me.
The description of the book is purposefully vague, but a central plot point is I've liked these co-authors other books, but this one fell flat for me.
The description of the book is purposefully vague, but a central plot point is one of the main characters seeing someone kill themselves by throwing themselves on the Subway. Not really a spoiler as this happens in the very first chapter and continues to be a huge part of the book.
So yeah, be warned there's mental health issues and suicide talk throughout. Also, rape, but that comes up later.
Idk this wasn't enjoyable or plausible and I was annoyed and confused for the majority of the story....more
**spoiler alert** I got halfway through this book before I realized I had read it already and then I got bored. Maybe I'm just sad because it's trying**spoiler alert** I got halfway through this book before I realized I had read it already and then I got bored. Maybe I'm just sad because it's trying to be a western horror and I just read an incredible western horror (In the Valley of the Sun) or I'm not in the mood, but this book is weird. My complaints: Too damn wordy. Cutter trying to mimic King? Idk but too many words to say the same damn thing. Just plain weird grossout moments for the fun of it I guess?! Idk, not doing it for me and I'm confused so I'm setting it aside....more
I had high hopes for The Furies because I love The Craft and dark stories of the dangers that lurk in female friendships, but unfortunately, the FurieI had high hopes for The Furies because I love The Craft and dark stories of the dangers that lurk in female friendships, but unfortunately, the Furies didn't satisfy me. I made it 30% of the way through before I gave up on this book. I was so bored. Cliche on cliche kept happening; the main protagonist is "entirely average" and then gets in with some cooler girls and they are kinda mean, but Violet is desperate for friends and so she will do anything.
Violet was so dumb in everything she did and she spends the vast majority of the beginning just whining and full of teenage angst. Everything is described about a thousand different times in a way where I think the author wanted to make this The Secret History, but it didn't work....more
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