Tag: Book Review

Book Review – Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Young Adult

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

The Bookish Box once again delivered a gem to my doorstep. Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross paints a gorgeous and captivating world filled with complex and intricate characters. From the moment I was introduced to Azenor, I wanted more. 

I remember sitting on my back porch and cracking the book open, unsure of how I would feel about it. After reading the first page, I ran back inside to read it aloud to my husband – in complete awe of Rebecca Ross’s ability to paint a picture in such an inventive and spectacular way. 

The dream world comes to life in Azenor every new moon, bringing the imagined into a harsh and terrible reality. Clementine Madigan and her father protect their small town from these monthly horrors until two magicians show up challenging them for the title of warden. 

After being forced to leave her town, Clem only has one thing on her mind – revenge – but as events unfold there are more twists and unexpected turns than I could predict. 

“Dreams often revealed one’s greatest vulnerability; dreams were doors that led into hearts and minds and souls and secrets.”

Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath

The magic, characters, and plot in Dreams Lie Beneath are unlike anything else I’ve read in my 30-ish years of reading fantasy literature. This book is a flawless piece of art that will dig its claws in and never let you go. 

The true highlight was Clem – our heroine and all around badass. She reminds me of Jude Duarte, and I can’t think of a higher compliment than that. 

Now – the not-so-fun part – what didn’t work. 

This was an amazing story and I was enthralled, always wanting to read more. But I did not connect with the characters or story on a personal or emotional level. Not every book will change my life, and that’s okay. Unfortunately this falls in that category for me. 

If you haven’t read a Rebecca Ross novel yet, I highly recommend you pick up one of her many books next time you’re at the bookstore. She has a talent for bringing unique stories to life. You won’t regret it.

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Book Review – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Genre: Fiction; Romance

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Verity by Colleen Hoover is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while, so going into one of CoHo’s romance novels – I was a bit nervous.

I have complicated feelings about this novel, much like I did with Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom (review here). So while there are 5 stars up there, take the time to read through this one because it’s not as simple as me loving it or enjoying it. 

It Ends With Us follows Lily, jumping from past to present, as she explores love, pain, and abuse throughout her life. She’s worked hard to escape her hometown and build a life and business of her own. When her father dies, she’s pulled back to memories of him and her first love – Atlas Corrigan. 

Queue Ryle Kincaid, a gorgeous neurosurgeon, who shows Lily what life could be like in the perfect marriage, perfect relationship, and perfect life. But then memories of her childhood begin to repeat themself in her current relationship and it all begins to crack. 

She finds herself leaning on her longtime flame, Atlas, and confused by it all.

“Just because someone hurts you doesn’t mean you can simply stop loving them. It’s not a person’s actions that hurt the most. It’s the love. If there was no love attached to the action, the pain would be a little easier to bear.”

Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

When I talked my husband through the synopsis of this book (with a few more details/spoilers) his response was “hits a little too close to home, don’t you think”? 

Occasionally I get really personal on here, and this is going to be one of those times.

While I myself have never been in a physically abusive relationship, my father was abusive. My earliest childhood memories are filled in fear and intimidation and stories of the horrific things my mom had to experience and I sometimes witnessed.

So for me this novel showed me what my life could have been like if my mom didn’t leave my father or if I didn’t have the self-awareness and strength to ensure I broke the cycle of abuse. I felt like I was reading an alternate reality version of my life. It was upsetting and hard and I cried. But I don’t regret reading it. 

While I don’t think it’s healthy to constantly expose ourselves to the things that trigger our emotional or psychological trauma – for me, I do find it therapeutic to sometimes allow myself to submerge in those feelings. I take the time to think and process, and while I feel wrung out at the end, I feel better. 

I understand that doesn’t work for everyone.

So that’s what this novel was for me. It was a beautiful and terrible story that explores love and abuse and how hard it can be to break that cycle when it’s all you’ve ever known. I hope you take the time to read it. This is a different take on your standard romance novel, and I feel like it’s an important one. 

We read all of these fluffy rom-coms (or sexy dark romances) and live in these fantasies – it’s good to have a check sometimes and have a story that explores how complicated love can be – with yourself, your partner, your parents, your kids. 

“You can stop swimming now, Lily. We finally reached the shore.”

Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

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Book Review – Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

This review is long overdue. Vespertine is one of the best fantasy novels I have read recently, and I really hope you decide to pick it up.

Artemisia is the hero we all need. She’s strong, independent, and 100 percent over the bullshit. She’s training to become a Gray Sister, a nun who works to cleanse spirits of the dead so they can pass peacefully. Without the Gray Sisters, the dead would return to torment the people of Loraille. 

When possessed soldiers attack Artemisia’s convent, she uses the power of an ancient spirit bound into a sacred relic. Artemisia knows there are risks to utilizing this power. The Revenant is capable of taking over completely if she isn’t careful. But a partnership forms between the pair as they work together to fight back against the evil spreading throughout Loraille. 

We have ancient religious secrets, dark magic, and unlikely friendship – what’s not to love about this story. 

“Me, the goat, the Revenant, we weren’t very different from each other in the end. Perhaps deep down inside everyone was a just a scared animal afraid of getting hurt, and that explained every confusing and mean and terrible thing we did.”

Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

I grew up in an extremely religious environment, so the element of pushing back against corrupt religious leaders and seeking out the truth hidden among the tenants of religion used to control people speaks to me more than I expected it to.

My copy of Vespertine came from The Bookish Box, so it’s not something I had heard of or was interested in previously. Now that I’ve read the book, I’m so thankful for my subscription. Not to mention, the book itself is gorgeous. 

We love a badass heroine (with no love interest, which in my opinion really makes the story) who is putting her life on the line for people she knows would murder her if she makes the slightest misstep. But regardless she follows her intuition, revives magic long forgotten and forbidden, and saves the people who will likely be her downfall one day. 

“They would martyr me themselves to satisfy their hunger for a saint.”

Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

Artemisia has always been an outsider and knows that isn’t going to change no matter how many lives she saves. You will be cheering for her from the moment her name appears on the page.

Margaret Rogerson wrote a reluctant hero in the best way possible. I fell in love with Artemisia and you will too.

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Book Review – Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Here we are with another popular book I didn’t enjoy as much as expected. 

I floundered for the first hundred or so pages of Lore by Alexandra Bracken trying to acquire a grasp of the backstory and the dump truck load of information thrown at the reader. I assume if you have an in-depth knowledge of Greek mythology you may fare better than I did, but it took me a while to get the hang of the different families/gods and characters. 

This novel follows Lore Perseous, a resistant heroine as she’s pulled back into a world she ran from seven years ago. As punishment for a past rebellion against Zeus, every seven years the Agon begins where all nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals. The descendents of each bloodline hunt the gods, and anyone able to kill a god seizes their divine power and immortality. 

Lore teams with her childhood friend, Castor, and Athena, one of the last original gods, in an attempt to take down a mutual enemy. 

Honestly, I find the synopsis even a little hard to follow, but after I spent some time on the book everything clicked into place and I was able to relax and enjoy the story. 

“It’s not always the truth that survives, but the stories we wish to believe. The legends lie. They smooth over imperfections to tell a good tale, or to instruct us how we should behave, or to assign glory to victors and shame those who falter. Perhaps there were some in Sparta who embodied those myths. Perhaps. But how we are remembered is less important than what we do now.”

Alexandra Bracken, Lore

The one redeeming element of this novel are the twists, turns, and unexpected moments that keep the story interesting and surprising. If it weren’t for the unpredictable story line, this may have been a one-star read for me, which is unheard of in my reviews. 

If you really enjoy Greek mythology and have a basic understanding going into this, I think you will really enjoy Lore. But if you’re like me and have zero background knowledge, there are probably better places to start in terms of novels inspired by the Greek gods.

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Book Review – The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Genre: Fiction; Romance

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 / 5

Hypothesis: Adam Carlsen might be my new favorite book boyfriend.

If you’re anything like me then you regularly find yourself scrolling through Netflix looking for the most predictable, lovable rom-com available and devour it without a complaint. They make you happy and bring joy into your life even if you know exactly how it’s going to play out.

That’s the feeling I got when reading The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. Every guess and prediction I made throughout the book came true, but that didn’t stop me from reading this in one sitting – unable to put it down for even a second.

The main character, Olive Smith, is a third-year PhD candidate and jaded when it comes to romance, but her best friend has eyes on a man Olive already dated. So she does the only logical thing she can to convince her BFF it’s okay – she gets a fake boyfriend, who also happens to be a notorious asshole.

Our love interest, Adam Carlsen, is a hotshot on campus that has made more than a few students cry and give up their graduation dreams, but he seems to have a soft spot for Olive. 

Queue the transition from fake boyfriend to real boyfriend, and honestly one of my favorite sex scenes I’ve read in a book. 

One of my favorite elements of the novel is that each chapter starts with a hypothesis from Olive. It’s a cute way to set the scene for the upcoming part of the story and gives some insight into how Olive thinks and approaches a situation.

But what really hits home is Olive’s struggles with confidence in a male dominated field of work. She’s busting her ass and dealing with assholes who may not think she has what it takes. Eventually she realizes her potential and stands up for herself. Honestly, I was more excited about that part than the romance. I love a badass, powerful woman who takes zero bullshit.

“Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.”

-Ali Hazelwood, The Love Hypothesis

If you love a fake boyfriend trope, Alpha male protects his girl, sappy romance – this is the book for you. I have already bookmarked Ali Hazelwood’s next novel Love on the Brain and her STEMinist novellas all coming out this year. 

With just this one book Ali Hazelwood jumped to the top of my list for romance writers. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

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Book Review – The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Young Adult

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5 / 5

I love the idea of The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige. I purchased this book solely because I thought the cover was gorgeous, and once I read the synopsis I knew it had the potential to be a favorite of mine. While it didn’t hit “OMG I HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE” status it was still a fun read. 

Westerly College’s sorority Kappa Rho Nu isn’t just a sorority – it’s a coven hiding behind the facade of a sorority. And they aren’t just anyone among the Greek life – they are the best and brightest, the envy of everyone on campus.

Throughout the novel we switch between the perspectives of Vivi Deveraux, a freshman looking to find her place and set down roots after a life of moving from place to place with her mom, and Scarlett Winters, a legacy Raven with her sights set on becoming Kappa Rho Nu’s next president. Following the initial meet for the new members, Vivi and Scarlett are pinned together as big and little for initiation.

Queue the big secret that could ruin it all for Scarlett, throw in some “she’s stealing my man drama,” and a few dead and/or missing bodies and you’ve got yourself The Ravens.

If you like mother/daughter drama – this is the book for you; if you like catty interactions in girl friend groups – this is the book for you; if you like Mean Girls – this is the book for you. Nothing is as it seems in this novel from the girls glamouring themselves to change their physical appearance to evil witches hiding in plain sight.

This one is definitely slow to start, but once we get into the magic and #drama it really takes off. We start with the assumption that this is your stereotypical sorority with your stereotypical sorority girls – obsessed with image and overall self-centered people. The authors work to shift that for us a bit throughout the novel, and they do an okay job. But I would have liked to see more of this. 

If you want a fun and easy read, The Ravens is a good place to start. It’s always nice when you buy a book because of a pretty cover and end up liking the book as well. The sequel The Monarchs came out earlier this year, but I haven’t picked it up yet. If I do, expect a review for that one as well.

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Book Review – Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

Genre: Fiction; Thriller

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

I had high hopes starting Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell. I read her novel And Then She Was Gone and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, this time around didn’t do it for me and left me wanting more from the story. It’s marked as a thriller, but mostly it’s just a story about a few people keeping mildly interesting secrets to themselves until “the big reveal”.

Invisible Girl is a weird and winding story about Owen Pick, a 30-year-old living in his aunt’s spare bedroom; Saffyre Maddox, a girl stalking her ex-therapist; and the Fours family. 

Everyone around Owen expects the worst and his life is beginning to fall apart. He’s pushed to his final breaking point after he’s identified as the last person to see Saffyre Maddox alive before she disappeared. Owen’s plot line is one of the more interesting parts of the novel, but for the first third of the book I hated it. In a time of frustration, Owen turns to the incel message boards. I was expecting that to take a different path, but it didn’t go as I predicted, which ultimately redeemed Owen as a character for me. 

Then there is Saffyre Maddox. Mysteriously disappeared, stalking her ex-psychologist, and holding a secret she’s afraid to tell anyone. Once she confides in an unexpected confidant, her story begins to unfold and ultimately leads to her disappearance. I think a lot of girls and women will be able to identify with Saffyre’s story. While I did like this character, I just found the reasons around her disappearance a little over-dramatic and a let down after the build up of the entire novel.

“It’s amazing how boring you can get away with being when you’re pretty. No one seems to notice. When you’re pretty everyone just assumes you must have a great life. People are so short-sighted, sometimes. People are so stupid.”

Lisa Jewell, Invisible Girl

And last, but certainly not least, we have the Fours Family. From the start of the novel I hated the father of the family – Roan. I typically assume the worst in men, and in his case I was right. Everyone in the family has secrets of their own and enough gaslighting to go around. 

And I can’t mention Roan without calling out his wife Cate. While I did like Cate, she’s your stereotypical nosey neighbor who can’t just leave people alone. She’s watching, listening, and ultimately drawing shit conclusions about people she doesn’t even know. If not for her drawing conclusions about her “weird neighbor” the story would have unfolded differently.  

This entire novel is about three or four plot lines all tangled together by a handful of events, mostly centered around the night Saffyre Maddox disappeared. While it works, it almost doesn’t. It feels like Lisa Jewell forced the weaving of these characters and it doesn’t feel natural to me. 

And, of course, you know if you’ve read any of my other reviews – I can’t stand a thriller where everything works out perfectly in the end. The characters get the resolution they want/should expect with all of the loss being in the court of our “bad guys”. Maybe I’m terrible for wanting the characters, even the good ones, to suffer a little, but here we are. 

If you want to read a thriller by Lisa Jewell, I will recommend And Then She Was Gone a million times over Invisible Girl. This one didn’t hit the mark for me, and I don’t think it will for many others.

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Book Review – Academy for the Gifted by Hudson Warm

Genre: Fiction; Thriller; Young Adult

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I first received a copy of Academy for the Gifted by Hudson Warm I wasn’t sure what to expect. Knowing the author is a junior in high school, I knew this novel was either going to be painful or brilliant. Thankfully it was the latter, and I enjoyed every moment I spent reading Academy for the Gifted.

The main character Bexley Windsor arrives at the Grant Academy for the Gifted her senior year and quickly realizes that everything she ran from is following right behind her. During her first party, she finds another student’s dead body sprawled on the bed, and she’s the only one close enough to the situation to blame. 

Shortly after the body is discovered, Bexley agrees to help her roommate and friend investigate the murder and find the person responsible. Driven by the desire to clear her name and find the truth, Bexley learns that beneath the beautiful school around her lies a cutthroat elite system that pushes students to their limits. 

This story is Gossip Girl meets Vampire Diaries and I loved every moment of it. Hudson Warm does a fantastic job of pulling you back to those younger years walking the halls of high school, navigating the drama, and trying to keep your social, academic, and love life afloat throughout it all. 

The characters are diverse in background and personality, which gives the story a richness that will have you wanting to learn more about each character. 

But by far, my favorite part of this novel is the playlist at the beginning. There is something so special about having a soundtrack to accompany the story you are submerged in. It was a unique and nice touch. You can listen to the playlist here on Spotify.

Without including spoilers I will say I was disappointed by the ending. I felt like someone was unfairly punished, but that’s not to say it didn’t work with the plot line. But it’s hard when you like a character and have to watch everything not work out the way you want. 

You can buy Academy for the Gifted by Hudson Warm here on Amazon.

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Book Review – Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

Genre: Fiction; Thriller

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

For all the hype, Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins really missed the mark for me.

Maybe this is a spoiler, but not quite – there is no cannibalism in this book and that alone took almost an entire point off the rating for me. Despite the hundreds (maybe a little exaggeration there) of references to creepies and crawlies, this was just your standard revenge story. It could have been so much more.

Our story begins in Hawaii where Lux and her boyfriend Nico meet two girls – Brittany and Amma – who want to charter a boat and set out for Meroe Island. The island is steeped with mysterious and terrifying stories of its past involving shipwrecks, cannibalism, and murder.

But does the island drive people to violence or does it only bring their true nature to the surface?

“A sort of madness sets in when one is away from society for too long, when one looks out to the horizon and sees only sea and sky.”

Rachel Hawkins, Reckless Girls

Once the group arrives on the island they meet another couple and quickly fall into a rhythm of lying on the beach, drinking, and exploring the island. It’s blissful and seems like they have all stumbled upon paradise. Until a seventh person shows up and begins to cause riffs within the group, couples become unfaithful, and friendships are strained. 

One person disappears, another shows up dead, and everyone left behind is set on edge as they try to figure out what happened and get off of the island. 

So, why does the synopsis read to be so intriguing and the story still didn’t sit right for me? 

First, all of the drama and reveals happen in the last 80-100 pages. For 200 pages nothing happens. We are just hanging out with a group of friends having a good time on a deserted island. I was waiting and hoping for something and was left disappointed. Pacing is important in a novel, and Reckless Girls completely misses that mark.

My second reason I can only explain in vague terms, otherwise it could be a spoiler, but the big reveal/resolution seems shallow and ridiculous to me. Maybe that’s just because of the kind of person I am and how I handle situations, but this is a book about petty women out to get back at those who have wronged them. So, should you read Reckless Girls, yes. It’s not a terrible novel. It just doesn’t live up to the hype surrounding it and didn’t do it for me.

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Book Review – White Nights by Ann Cleeves

Genre: Fiction; Mystery; Crime

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

There’s something so special about a novel that makes you feel like you’re sitting next to a campfire listening to someone tell you a story. And that’s what White Nights by Ann Cleeves feels like. It’s a comfy crime novel without too much drama but just enough twists and unexpected reveals to make it a novel to remember. 

White Nights is the second novel in the Shetland Island series. Again we follow Inspector Jimmy Perez. The launch of his soon-to-be girlfriend’s art exhibition leads to questions as a strange man appears, causes a scene, and disappears into the night. The next morning, when his body is found in the boat house nearby, the murder investigation begins. 

This novel is set in Shetland during a time of year when the sun never fully sets, putting it’s residents and visitors on edge. While those who live in Shetland year-round are more accustomed, a detective visiting from the mainland can’t get a handle of the constant daylight. Throughout the novel we see his anxiety rise and tensions become more strained. While this doesn’t have a huge impact on the investigation for Inspector Perez, it adds a nice dynamic to the novel.

“The winters were so bleak and black that in the summer folk were overtaken with a kind of frenzy, constant activity. There was the feeling that you had to make the most of it, be outside, enjoy it before the dark days came again. Here in Shetland they called it the ‘simmer dim’.”

Ann Cleeves, White Nights

Inspector Perez has lived in Shetland his whole life, and this allows us to gain an insight into the characters of the story we wouldn’t otherwise have. We learn about the strange, intricate relationships of these people who have known each other their whole lives. These personal relationships are ultimately what helps Jimmy read through the lines and solve the case.

The slow and steady pace of following a detective around town as he interviews witnesses, suspects, or anyone else who might know something is so comforting and peaceful to me. I settled into a cadence and just let the rhythm carry me through the pages. 

This kind of novel is where I go when I need a break from the dramatic, emotional, and over-the-top. It isn’t for everyone, but if you crave an escape and somewhere to turn your brain off and just disappear for a while – Ann Cleeves is the author for you. 

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