Book Reviews

Thoughts on LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are still fine considering the dumpster fire we’re living in. But we’re not here to talk about that. It’s the last Wednesday of April, so you know what that means… book review time! I cheated a little. I picked a book by an author whose work I’m fond of, so I went in with the assumption that I would enjoy the book. It’s fluffy gay stuff wrapped up in a supernatural cozy mystery. Of course I’m into it. Love at Second Sight by F. T. Lukens was released yesterday (the 29th) by Margaret K. McElderry Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

Love at Second Sight follows Cam, a regular teenage human boy, who just wants to spend the new school year hanging out with his bestie Al, who happens to be a witch, and moon over his crush, Mateo (a werewolf). And most of all, he wants to stay hidden in the background. An unfortunate spectacle in the hallway ruins any chance Cam has of a normal year. He has an obviously supernatural episode that can only mean one thing: he’s clairvoyant. On top of bringing him some seriously unwanted attention, the vision he has is one of blood and death. Was it real? Who’s the girl? If it hasn’t happened yet, is there any way to stop it? Along the way, Cam collects a ragtag group of supernatural friends who might help or might hinder his investigation. The only thing for certain is he’s not alone and there’s no disappearing into the background for Cam.

The plot was great, if a little predictable. Some of the clues were a little heavy handed, like they didn’t want to be overlooked. But it was fun and had everything you can really ask for from a cozy mystery meets teen supernatural fantasy. Uncontrolled powers. The encourager of all the mystery shenanigans. That weird teenage compulsion to not involve the adults. It’s adorable. My only real problem with the book is the pacing. It starts out super slow for the first three quarters of the book, then everything is kind of crammed into the last quarter. There’s not even much character development early on. Some stuff happens then everything stagnates for far too long before things start happening again. The action could definitely have been woven throughout the story better.

The characters are where this book really shines. They’re all super relatable. It’s a fun group with someone for everyone to adore. Cam is the typical teen trying to find his place in the world. When it turns out he’s special but he doesn’t know what to do about it and his support system fails him, he chooses to let new people into his life even though it’s risky. Al grows a lot. Mateo proves that even seemingly perfect people need help. Gemma is nuts and I love her. Reese is probably my favorite, but I wish he could have had a bit more to do. Kaci starts as the mean girl, but abruptly changes into the spacey friend which could have been handled better. But overall, I loved everyone.

The writing was cute. There are a lot of references and current slang that will surely date the book in a few years (some of it is already dated), but I enjoy that kind of writing some times. Especially when I’m looking for something that I can look back on for nostalgia purposes.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Love at Second Sight. It’s not my favorite book by Lukens, but it’s not something I feel was a waste of time. It was cute and that’s all I was hoping for.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Probably closer to 3.75. If you’re not familiar with the author, I’d definitely recommend one of their other books first.

Thoughts on ONE SHARP STITCH

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are okay other than Sophia having a severely sprained back. Pupper parent life is at it again, but at least there wasn’t an anal blood crime scene this time. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of March! It’s book review time! I went back to the cozy mystery genre this month. One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter is the first in a new series. It was released yesterday (the 25th) from Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

One Sharp Stitch follows Shelby Phillips as she returns home to sort her life out after being laid off and manage her mother’s needlepoint store while her parents go on a road trip. Her strained relationship with her seemingly perfect sister doesn’t equal a particularly pleasant homecoming. Throw in the murder of an old school acquaintance and things get even more complicated. Can Shelby solve her own problems, let alone a murder? She’s sure going to try.

The plot is pretty standard, but with some family drama thrown in for fun. There’s a love interest, an annoyed police chief who isn’t quite as useless as she thinks he is, and a blossoming friendship that is definitely the shenanigans-encouraging bestie. There’s a lot of talking, but not a lot of going out and actually investigating, so the story moves slowly. The actual clues kind of just fall into Shelby’s lap. I’m fine with that, but I admit it’s not as engaging as other series with similar crafting themes. However, there are some nice twists that made me second guess myself for a couple of pages before going back to my main suspect (which was the correct one).

As far as the characters go, I liked them. At the least, they have potential. Shelby and her family are fairly fleshed out. As is the chief. Most of the other side characters are pretty flat, but they each have potential to be more in future books. I found Shelby’s and her sister’s aversion to their parent’s fun weird and annoying. So what if they wear matching shirts and stop at all the corny roadside attractions and take silly pictures? It’s not cringe if they’re enjoying themselves. So, I got a little tired of the teenager-esque “ew my parents still have fun” attitude from a couple of 30+ year olds, but that’s a me thing. Otherwise, the characters were interesting enough to keep me entertained when the plot dragged.

The writing was unobtrusive and nothing special. Sometimes, themed cozies can get carried away with all the technical jargon relating to the topic (needlepoint in this case) because the author wants to prove they know what they’re talking about, but this one doesn’t do that. There’s a nice balance of technical terms and explanations of those terms without feeling like the author is craftersplaining (like mansplaining, but crafters instead of men).

Ultimately, I enjoyed One Sharp Stitch. It has some issues, but nothing major. Most first books in a series have issues that either get better or worse as the series continues, so I’m willing to give this series another shot. I’ll keep an eye out for book two.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re into cozy mysteries or cross stitching, it’s definitely worth a look.

Thoughts on GRIM

~ shawnaborman ~ 5 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are still very much dystopian, but I’m trying hard not to dwell on it all. So, let’s focus on the fact that it’s the last Wednesday of February instead! You know what that means… book review time! This month, I decided to try a little horror (not that I needed it with the state of everything, but yeah). Grim by David Cinnella is being released via The Book Whisperer today (the 26th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

Grim follows Gabe Matthews from childhood into those angsty teenage years. As a young boy, he loses his father, but discovers a secret silent friend dressed in black robes and carrying a scythe. The problem is that no one else can see this being. At 17, his mother is diagnosed with cancer. In a desperate attempt to save her, Gabe makes a deal with his friend. But can Gabe pull off his end of the bargain and save both his mother and himself?

The plot. It’s a pretty standard “deal with Death” scenario. Gabe’s a momma’s boy and doesn’t have the coping skills to deal with her potential death. He’s a bullied outcast in a small town. So, he talks to his Grim Reaper friend and ends up making a deal that doesn’t go as planned. There’s nothing new or surprising about it. Some of it doesn’t really make sense. Gabe’s leap to “I must murder people” instead of “I have to temporarily take over this dude’s job” when he sees the contract is weird, but I put it off to the whole being a teenager thing. The contract itself is pretty straightforward, so the ending felt like a giant leap. I mean… you wrote the contract. You can’t just randomly add something to it in order to create a plot twist. It feels like author interference rather than a natural progression of the story and that’s not good. It knocked the plot from a solid standard but not bad, down to mediocre.

The characters were mostly fine. I didn’t really connect to Gabe because he was pretty stupid for a supposedly smart kid. I had no idea where his anger at his stepdad came from. Basically, there were far too many things that I had to attribute to his being a teenager rather than being shown why he was the way he was. It was all very surface level. His stepdad was awkward but nice enough. Mom was the perfectly imperfect mother in the hopes that the reader would empathize with Gabe’s plight. Everyone played the role they were made for without much work to flesh them out. They were solidly standard which isn’t bad, it’s just not memorable. And that’s fine.

I’m going to be honest. I finished this book about a week ago and I don’t remember much about it. I remember the parts that didn’t quite make sense and the general story, but nothing really sticks out. Which means I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. Nothing about the writing sticks out. I’ll forget it entirely in a few days. A lot of books are like that.

Ultimately, Grim is a thing that exists. It’s neither good nor bad enough to hate. It just is. I’m not going to go looking for more books by Cinnella, but I won’t actively avoid his stuff.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Actually, 2 and a half. I don’t think you’re missing anything if you skip it, but it’s not something I’ll tell you not to read. Unless you take issue with the whole “killing off/harming a woman simply to motivate the hero/villain” trope. Then you should probably steer clear of this one.

Thoughts on THE DARK HOURS

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I think it’s supposed to be a little dreary and moist today, but hopefully it’s still lovely. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of January, so it’s that time again. Book review time! This month, I went for more of a mystery thriller type book. I was looking for something engaging and quick paced like thrillers should be. The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan was released yesterday (the 28th) from MIRA Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

The Dark Hours follows Garda (Irish policeperson) Julia Harte as both a young woman and as a retired Detective Inspector. It’s a braided narrative where two storylines play out by alternating back and forth. In 1994, Julia’s partner has been murdered by someone who has just killed two young women and has set his sights on Julia for some reason. In 2024, after Julia has retired to a small town, it’s announced that the original perpetrator is dead, but why have two young women just been found murdered in similar circumstances to the 1994 murders? Can Julia figure out what’s going on and why she seems to be in the middle of both these cases?

I didn’t realize this was a braided narrative with present and past storylines or else I wouldn’t have requested it. I’m always bored with at least one of them in crime fiction. This was no exception. The present storyline gives things away about the past and vice versa, but not in a good way. In the past, the main character can be in mortal danger, but there’s absolutely no tension because you already know she survives. It just ruins a lot for me. But aside from that, both plotlines were fairly standard. Retired detective gets on the nerves of the current detective who doesn’t think he needs assistance. Random past cases somehow merge into one convoluted Frankencase. No real twists if you have any experience with mystery thrillers. It was standard and that’s okay. Not bad, but not great.

The main problem I had with this book was that none of the characters were particularly likeable. Young Julia was an idiot with zero sense of self-preservation. Old Julia was stuck pining over someone who wasn’t worth her time. I know I was supposed to feel bad about what happened to her husband, but he was a douchebag. She insists he was wonderful, but every time we see him, his whole vibe boils down to “I knew you wanted to be a cop and focus on your career, so I supported you until we got married, at which point you were supposed to quit and start popping out kids, and since you didn’t do what I wanted, you’re a bitch.” Like, dude… get over yourself. Everyone else were cardboard cutouts. There was no one to really root for or get attached to.

I also had issues with the way the story unfolded. I knew who the murderers were as soon as they were introduced, which isn’t a problem, but their motives just felt random and weak. I think this was because all of the aha moments were pretty random as well. In good crime fiction, you can usually trace a thread of connected events that is subtly woven in with red herrings and character development and all the other stuff that makes a book a book. But once in a while, a book will throw random major plot points at you without the thread. There’s nothing you can look back at and say “oh, that makes sense now.” It’s disconcerting and dissatisfying. This book does the latter and hopes the reader will be satisfied with the explanation that “it’s got to do with one of hundreds of past cases that aren’t connected and weren’t mentioned earlier.” I, for one, wasn’t happy with that.

The writing style was fine. I was hoping for a more exciting story, but it was a pretty quick read, so I can’t really complain about the writing.

Ultimately, The Dark Hours was not for me. It had potential, but the execution was mediocre across the board. If another book by Amy Jordan fell in my lap, I’d give it a shot, but it’s nothing I’m going to look for.

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. A lot of the reviews love it, so maybe I’m being too harsh. I wouldn’t recommend it to a fellow writer since a lot of my complaints come from that angle, but if you’re super into mysteries, check it out and tell me if I’m wrong.

Thoughts on KNIFE SKILLS FOR BEGINNERS

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Happy holidays or just happy Wednesday to those who don’t! It’s the last Wednesday of December (and the year!), so that means it’s book review time! This month, I decided to go with a new cozy mystery book (there’s potential for a series, but it’s unclear if that’s the plan). Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin was released yesterday (the 24th) from Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

Knife Skills for Beginners follows Paul Delamare, a chef who recently lost his husband and is currently in “avoid all things” mode. When an old friend (Christian) recruits him to help out at a cooking school, Paul hems and haws, but eventually gives in. What’s the worst that could happen? Being in the frame for his friend’s decapitation is apparently one of those worst case scenarios. Rather than go down for murder, Paul decides to try to solve things on his own, but the deeper he gets, the more he regrets his impulsive choices. Especially deciding to take the job in the first place.

The plot is pretty standard, but it’s one of those books that throws every trope into the story and just kind of hopes it works out. It doesn’t. Everything is muddled together and convoluted and I’m still not entirely sure about what happened. Christian’s broken arm, for instance. Was it from a fall or was it broken on purpose or what? We get a few scenarios about what might have happened, but no clear answer in the end. The whole plotline with Paul’s stepson was useless. It didn’t move the plot forward and there was no resolution of it in the end. His introduction could have waited until he was going to play an active part in the story (maybe the next book). The two tiny things he did could have been accomplished a number of ways without muddying the actual plot of the book. It was an overly complicated story when it shouldn’t have been, so it was disappointing.

As far as the characters go, they aren’t great. Paul is basically a caricature of a gay man. He’s borderline absurd. I wanted to like him, but he didn’t feel real. The other characters were flat and lacked personality. They all sounded and behaved the same, so I had difficulty keeping track of who was doing what. The only reason I could keep track of the murderer was because it’s exactly who you should expect it to be if you’ve read any cozy mysteries at all. Yes, there’s a twist you’ll see coming as well, but only because it’s a typical one, not because the character was fleshed out and subtly hinted at.

There’s also a lot of continuity errors that muddle things even more. I normally don’t mention minor errors (typos, dropped words, extra words, etc.) because ARCs aren’t the final, polished versions, but these were glaring errors that would take another round of decent edits to fix. The final fight scene made no sense half the time. It was pretty clear that the author decided to take certain scenes in different directions, then forgot to go back and weave everything together. I hope these are fixed before the final release, but I’ve rarely seen it this poorly edited in an ARC that wasn’t from a self-publishing author, so I have doubts.

The writing is fine as far as rhythm and pacing goes. It’s a quick read despite the convolutedness of it. As per food themed cozies, there are some working recipes (stuff you’re supposed to actually be able to make), but none of them were particularly tasty sounding. I just didn’t get into it the way I was hoping to.

Ultimately, I didn’t care for Knife Skills for Beginners. I had no idea the author was a famous chef (I don’t watch cooking competition shows), but it wouldn’t have helped even if I did. It’s a mediocre book at best and I probably won’t pick up any future books if this is a series.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, really. If you just devour all things food cozy mystery, pick it up. Otherwise, it’s not going to hurt to give it a miss.

Thoughts on A TRINKET FOR THE TAKING

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? If you celebrate, are you ready for Turkey Day? Dad’s making a whole spread this year. As I’m writing this, it currently smells really good in our house. Be jealous. But anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of November, so it’s book review time! This month, I went with something more on the fantasy side. It’s a mystery, but with a pretty detailed magical system and some extra world building even though it’s mostly just a real world setting. A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie was released on Tuesday the 26th by Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

A Trinket for the Taking follows Dovey Van Dalen as she sets out to celebrate her 200th birthday in style. Unfortunately, work gets in the way when a super powerful and deadly trinket (magical device) goes missing. She’s tasked with finding it before the unbound (non-magical) world gets suspicious. It doesn’t help that the thief seems to be targeting a prominent unbound family. And to complicate matters further, she keeps running into a ridiculously attractive FBI agent and she can’t seem to escape him. Nor does she really want to, which is a whole problem within itself. Can Dovey figure out the case and retrieve the trinket before it’s too late?

The plot was pretty good. Entertaining. Standard combination of mystery and fantasy. Magical item must be found before death and destruction ensue. Oops, too late. Magical person teams up with plucky non-magical sidekick. Weirdness happens. Last minute saving of the day. Happily ever after… until the next book. But the pacing was off. The first two thirds of the book was loaded down with world building and character histories and it dragged. A lot. Especially when the same info was repeated two or three times. And because of all this excess information, the last third of the book felt super rushed since it didn’t have any. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of the information was necessary. It just could have been incorporated more strategically. But the three scenes when her hedgehog helps her pick an outfit are completely unnecessary. The first one was cute and by all means keep one scene for fun. But three? During which nothing important is conveyed? No. Either utilize the other two scenes to pass on relevant and new information or cut them. Otherwise, it makes the story drag. Aside from that, there were also a couple of deus ex machina things that made me roll my eyes. One of them made it apparent that a particular character was thrown in as an afterthought just for that moment instead of utilizing any of the existing characters. And the hedgehog in the pocket thing was random and not really necessary when the reader was already told that she had what it gave her. If it had been a surprise, it would’ve been cool, but she literally brought the thing with her in case she needed it. No hedgehog needed.

As for the characters, there were a lot and so many of them did nothing. For instance, there’s a perv at the elevator within the first couple of pages. He literally does nothing but ogle Dovey, then let her take the elevator by herself. And he never shows back up. It was weird. A lot of the characters could have been combined into a one or two. Mostly they do one thing then disappear. It’s annoying. But I mostly liked the main characters. Dovey is interesting. I don’t understand why she randomly falls in love at first sight. It’s creepy. But otherwise I like her. Gib is fun. Ursula could’ve been utilized more. And Elric is just a gross old dude. But overall, I enjoyed most of the characters.

The writing itself was fun. Despite the pacing issues and iffy characters, I read the book pretty quickly and didn’t dread picking it up after a break.

Ultimately, A Trinket for the Taking was entertaining while I was reading it, but not particularly memorable. I will pick up the next book if I see it, but I probably won’t go looking for it.

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Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. A solid three. If you’re into magical mysteries, it’s worth checking out.

Thoughts on THE DEBUTANTES

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are normal. Nothing really to complain about that anyone would care about. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of October, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I went with a more traditional YA thriller mystery type thing. The Debutantes by Olivia Worley was released on the 29th (Tuesday) from St. Martin’s Press. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do it!

The Debutantes follows Vivian, Piper, April and Lily as they each struggle to come to terms with their places in life, the mistakes they’ve made, and the traditions they’ve inherited from the elite of New Orleans. The Les Masques Ball is the event of the year where teenage girls are paraded in front of their parents and the rest of the city’s elite. The Queen and her Maids. This year is no exception, despite the fact that last year’s queen died. When a protest takes place at the event, tensions run high. But when Lily, this year’s queen, goes missing, the adults are oddly unconcerned. A text from Lily to Vivian, Piper, and April urges the trio to discover the truth behind her disappearance. And what does it have to do with the death of the previous queen?

The plot ends up being super convoluted. There’s the secret society type club that everyone knows about. Then, there’s a secret society within the not-so-secret society that’s just for the white dudes. It’s basically a bunch of dudes in power that do weird stuff in front of barely legal girls and who also help each other cover shit up when one of them does something illegal. Yeah. It’s not a great club. Anyway, the plot consists of kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, harassment, blackmail, etc. It’s not bad, it’s just too much. And the ending is one of those unsatisfying ones where some people get off without any repercussions because they’re rich and no one will talk about their involvement. I know that’s how it would happen in real life, but I don’t read books to see what would happen in real life. I want the spoiled little rich girls who claim they hate their lives to actually rat out the people in power. They only do a half-assed job of it though, so only two people get their comeuppances. Boo.

The characters were all pretty unrelatable. The parts of their personalities that should be relatable feel forced and unnatural. The stuff that feels natural is the rich girl privilege. Which is fine. Lean into it. Don’t force the other stuff. Lily obviously doesn’t hate her position of power, so stop telling me she does. She’s manipulative and gross. Let her be herself. Vivian’s weird lust for Wyatt doesn’t even exist except to forward an unnecessary plotline. Either weave it throughout the book or leave it out. Piper just feels like a caricature. April is probably the best character and honestly, this should have been her story. Get rid of Lily and just make it about April figuring out what happened to Margot. But I’m sure younger people who are still learning about people will like most of these characters.

The writing isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. The book starts out too slow then rushes through the ending. I enjoyed the descriptions. That’s about it.

Ultimately, The Debutantes wasn’t my cup of tea. A lot of my issues with the book are just me problems. I won’t go looking for other books by Worley, but if I stumble across one that sounds interesting, I’d probably pick it up.

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Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Two and a half, really. If you like convoluted YA thrillers, check it out. Otherwise, it’s just kind of meh.

Thoughts on THE DEMON

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Dad and I got our Covid and flu shots on Tuesday (today as I’m writing this), so I’m either fine or feeling blah and vegging. Only time will tell. But it doesn’t matter. Today is another book review! Don’t worry. It’s back to our regularly scheduled reviews for a while after this. Anyway, Simone Jung from Books Forward (a marketing firm I’ve reviewed for before) contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a dark fantasy YA with demons and Philippine mythology. Sounded right up my alley, so I agreed. The Demon by Victory Witherkeigh is actually the second book in a duology, but I was told it could be read as a standalone. It was self-published and released yesterday (October 1st). My reviews are honest and unbiased. Let’s get to it.

The Demon follows Hukloban, a demon who has possessed a girl. The problem is, she doesn’t remember why. When Death (her boss and lover) appears, she discovers that her actions went against his wishes. Why would she do such a thing? Why would she disobey Death? As punishment, she’s forced to live out the college years of the girl she’s possessed. How is she supposed to navigate the human world? Can she balance her demon urges and human needs? But most of all, can she figure out why she did what she did and regain her place by Death’s side? Does she want to?

It definitely sounds like something I would love, but I couldn’t get into it. Instead of being a cohesive novel, it turned out to be a bunch of disjointed vignettes. That could work. It’s been done successfully before. But here it’s just messy and confusing. random people come and go with no warning and it’s like we’re expected to know who they are. I would say they might’ve been in the first book, but there are way too many and it’s obvious at least half of them are new characters. The style also makes the plot feel broken and completely random.

Speaking of the plot… it’s disappointing. You could strip away all of the mythology and still have this book. It’s just an angsty college student slice of life story. It’s half porn, but not even good porn. It’s a horrible representation of the BDSM community. There’s a random gang rape scene that’s somehow okay. Like… what the actual fuck? Then all of that is randomly left behind in favor of chasing after random bros. There’s absolutely no growth throughout the story. Oh, and there’s a separate plot about how horrible the girl’s family is. Everything was super cliché and annoying.

None of the characters were remotely likeable. Sure, demons. But even the main character was just whiny and annoying. Any sense of growth feels forced and unearned. I’m not entirely sure if that’s because of the style or because the characters are asshats. By the end, I didn’t care what Hukloban chose to do. I was just happy to be done with her drama.

The writing was not great. That’s all I can say without feeling too harsh. This book is another example of a great idea, but a poor execution.

Ultimately, I wasn’t a fan of The Demon. I really wanted to like it, but it didn’t hold up.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, really. One because it was written and a half of one because someone will probably like it. But I don’t recommend it.

Thoughts on THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Anyone want to go scream into the void with me? No? Fine. It’s the last Wednesday of September, so it’s time for our regularly scheduled book review! I don’t know why, but September seems to be when a crap ton of Christmas themed books come out, so I gave in and decided to go festive. It’s still a cozy mystery, though. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter came out yesterday (the 24th) from Avon Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do it!

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year follows Maggie and Ethan, mystery writers at the same publishing house who can’t seem to get along. Maggie despises Ethan and Ethan is seemingly too cool to care. When they both end up invited on a mystery Christmas trip to an estate in England, they’re thrust together to solve a locked door mystery. Is it a murder? A test? A little of both? No one seems to know. But the situation forces both of them to face feelings and inner truths they’d rather avoid.

The plot. The mystery part of the plot was pretty straightforward. Locked room mystery turns into someone actively trying to murder people. The red herrings are other popular murder mystery tropes (someone embezzling from a little old lady, fake relative trying to get in the will, the butler who turns out to be much more, etc.). This book is basically every expected mystery storyline jammed into one story, but somehow it still works. It’s weird, but I liked it. I do see how some people could miss the clues to the actual baddie, though. A lot is happening, so if you’re a skimmer or a speed reader, you’re going to miss things. This is a book you really need to read word-for-word. The same can be said for the romance subplot. A lot is happening there too. It’s adorable, but also super creepy (I’ll get into that after I talk about the characters). Just plan to pay attention if you read this book.

The characters. I liked Maggie. Her growth and how she reconnects to herself is actually the best part of this book. She comes from a screwed up past and emotionally abusive relationship that has recently ended. She’s meek and unsure of herself, but by the end she is learning what kind of person she really is and she’s taking control of her life. Or trying to. The book doesn’t portray the process as easy and done within a few days. But it shows her working on it. Ethan has his own revelations, but he doesn’t really grow much from them. The other characters are fairly stereotypical with a few quirks thrown in. Some of them change, but they don’t get enough time on the page to become proper characters. They’re entertaining enough though, so that’s fine.

The creepiness. This was my only issue with the book. Ethan is fecking creepy. I know his intense love is supposed to be sweet and charming and endearing, but it’s really possessive and stalker-ish and covered in red flags. Especially when we start seeing things from his point of view. He’d die for her. He’d kill for her. Like, calm yourself, bro. You haven’t even kissed her yet. This poor woman has finally escaped a gaslighting, cheating, thieving narcissist and now she’s ending up with a possessive stalker? It doesn’t help that he gives off those vibes of “if I can’t have her, no one can,” so when she leaves him, there’s a 99% chance of a murder-suicide happening. So, yeah. I would say I’m just jaded, but I read enough creepy stuff to know the signs. I really enjoy the creepy stuff. But I prefer my creepy stuff to acknowledge that it’s gross, not to wrap it up in a thin veneer of “hey, this is what healthy relationships look like!” It’s really not. Remember kids… we want a Morticia and Gomez romance, not a Harley and Joker one.

The writing was good. It made for a quick and easy read despite the jam-packed plot. I didn’t have trouble putting the book down, but I also wanted to pick it back up again when I was supposed to be reading.

Ultimately, I enjoyed The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. It’s one of the better books I’ve read this year. Maybe even in the last couple of years. I’ll keep an eye out for more books by Ally Carter.

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Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. If it weren’t for the creepy relationship stuff, I probably would’ve gone for 5 stars because I had fun with it. I still definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a cute, Christmas-y cozy.

Thoughts on THE OTHERS

~ shawnaborman ~ 5 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I’m not here to complain about life, so I won’t even get into it. Today, it’s time for a book review! No, it’s not the last Wednesday of the month, but Rachel Lachney from Books Forward (a marketing firm I’ve reviewed for before) contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a fantasy dystopian type book and I said sure. The Others by Evette Davis was released yesterday (the 17th) by SparkPress. My reviews are honest and unbiased. Let’s get to it!

The Others follows Olivia Shepherd who has strong empathic powers, but has spent most of her life ignoring and suppressing them. When a time walker appears in her room, Olivia is forced to acknowledge her abilities and the fact that the Others, magical beings like witches and demons and vampires and fairies, exist alongside humans. She’s drawn into a mysterious organization called The Council that manipulates the human world by dabbling in human politics. What will her role be in all of this? Is she capable of changing the world?

Sounds fun, right? It’s not. The blurb on the book is super misleading. It sounds like it’s going to be a fantasy driven book with an in depth look at the Council and how the Others live and work. But instead, it’s basically about a woman who ends up running a small political campaign in California and all the fantasy is secondary to that. The blurb also mentions a dystopian San Francisco. You can’t really call it dystopian if it’s just real life San Francisco. It’s just San Francisco in 2022 (yes, the book literally dates itself which is weird).

Aside from the misleading blurb, the plot and pacing were poorly done. The plot was super awkward. I think it wanted to be a political thriller, but it’s basically just a rant against MAGA America (which I totally get) and someone’s fantasy about fighting against it. Most of the book is a mundane political campaign. Everything cool and important happens off the page or is glanced over. Olivia has no idea how to use her powers, but two pages later she has everything mastered. It’s ridiculous. There are basic expectations when you pick up a fantasy book (like seeing the MC struggle with their power before they figure it out), but this book skips them all. Then, after a slog of two thirds of a book, a car explosion is thrown in and at the very end, a surprise parent reveal is made (if you were paying attention even just a little bit, it’s not a surprise). And there was a completely random almost-threesome thrown in for a laugh. I don’t know if I was supposed to read this book high for it to make sense or what, but it definitely doesn’t work when you’re sober.

The characters don’t do much to improve things. Olivia is an annoying and entitled person. She doesn’t seem to care about anyone else as long as she gets her way. William is supposed to be a southern gentleman, which is really just code for a douchenozzle. Everyone else are cookie cutter stereotypes and its sad. Elsa and Lily could have been great, but they just fade into the background. Everything good about this book gets pushed into the background.

The writing is another thing I have nothing nice to say about, since most of the problems stem from bad writing. I feel like I’m being harsh, but a quick scan of other reviews tells me I’m not alone in my thinking.

Ultimately, I almost gave up on finishing The Others and I probably should have. There’s nothing remotely satisfying about this book. I won’t be checking out the other two in the trilogy if they come out.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, actually. One because it’s been written. A half because some people seem to like it. I don’t recommend it, though, unless it has undergone massive revisions since I received my ARC.