I always look forward to new books by this author and while this wasn’t my fav by her, I did still enjoy it. You have to overlook some details i3.5⭐️
I always look forward to new books by this author and while this wasn’t my fav by her, I did still enjoy it. You have to overlook some details in the plot that don’t feel realistic, but it’s a fun read with a lot of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
This was a bit of a roller coaster reading experience for me.
The Buildup - First 30% I started and set it aside several times because of how slow it was and it took awhile to hold my interest. This really could have been trimmed back, which also would have helped with the longer length.
The Fun Part - Middle 50% Once it had my attention and things (finally) began to happen, this became a really fun and entertaining read that I couldn’t put down.
The Drop Off - Last 20% Yikes. The last 20% went totally off the rails, over the top reveals and questionable explanations that left me perplexed. It definitely is twisty but in a way that I wasn’t a huge fan of. It was like a sudden steep drop or the coaster falling off the tracks ...more
Do you like short choppy sentences? Or very short chapters that all end with an over the top and overly dramatic closing sentence? How about cliché chDo you like short choppy sentences? Or very short chapters that all end with an over the top and overly dramatic closing sentence? How about cliché characters and bad dialogue? Enjoy being reminded the world could end every other page? Then this is for you!
I was excited for this one but it unfortunately felt more like a James Patterson mindless popcorn thriller than a detailed and complexly plotted Michael Crichton book. Along with all the above issues, there were just complete eye roll worthy choices and moments in this. The world is ending (reminder!) but you have time to think about your kinda sorta romantic feelings? To feel jealous of another woman bc she talked to your friend who you are in love with - priorities! Screw the end of civilization- she shouldn’t talk to my (but not actually mine) man damn it. Also why not invite in realty show lava chasers? Makes all the sense in the world! ...more
This is a case of a book that wasn’t at all what I expected and maybe if I had a different mindset going in it might have worked a bit better for m3⭐️
This is a case of a book that wasn’t at all what I expected and maybe if I had a different mindset going in it might have worked a bit better for me. The blurbs on the book mention the comedy and hilarious satire but I found this to be sad and somewhat depressing. I didn’t see much comedy in it at all, and it definitely is heavier than the bright colored cover and praise made me think it would be.
The unnamed MC (the stranger from the title) comes across as cold and calculating in his thoughts and often felt a bit robotic. Not sure if this was on purpose but it made it hard for me to connect. I thought the strength of the book was the story focused on his relationship with the little girl, Lily. The focus on his relationship and issues with his mom was less interesting for me, but it did relate to his current emotional state. The jobs he was hired for as a stranger were interesting at first, but began to feel monotonous after the first few and I was ready to be done with them.
If you are looking for a character study that addresses some heavy emotional topics and don’t mind an ambiguous ending, you might enjoy this book a bit more than I did. Interesting concept and idea, it just wasn’t the best fit for me. It’s a short quick read and I do think there are plenty of readers who will love it, especially if they don’t go in expecting a lighthearted and funny read. ...more
**spoiler alert** 3⭐️ TL;DR Review - interesting idea but the writing style wasn’t my fav and there were too many unanswered questions and plot holes.**spoiler alert** 3⭐️ TL;DR Review - interesting idea but the writing style wasn’t my fav and there were too many unanswered questions and plot holes. It’s a quick read and I liked the dark tone.
Long rambling thoughts, spoilers at the bottom after the ❌s!
I had mixed thoughts on this one. I loved the idea and the dark tone on the island, but the writing felt a bit distant and I had a hard time connecting to the story and characters. I had empathy for the MC’s childhood trauma but I she was very cold and kinda sociopathic. The other characters ranged from horrible to not great to forgettable.
There are a lot of similes and metaphors, sometimes several in a paragraph which felt overwhelming. There‘a also a lot of descriptive writing and often felt clunky and disjointed. Examples - ttwo people fighting sounds ‘like jerking off’ (girl what???) or a ‘darkness that falls faster than propofol’ or a hot humid day ‘felt like being kissed by a boy who didn’t know how’. They just didn’t work and often took me out of the story instead of enhancing it.
I loved the dark tone and ominous feel of the island but the atmospheric vibes kept getting interrupted by long flashback chapters which included a romantic aspect that I could have done without (or at least a LOT less) and a ton of tech talk that went over my head. The dystopian world felt interesting but I wanted to know more about it. Having all these flashback chapters it was a missed opportunity - the door was opened to explore the world vs just the remote island of the present, and instead it was a drawn out meh flashback plot with just some vague references about the world building.
I truly cannot explain what the unfortunately named Wuv company actually did. Even after finishing the book I have zero idea what use emotional currency would be and why it was important. I was left with a lot of questions by the end of the book too, not in an open ended story kind of way, but in a but wait what at about xyz kinda way.
❌❌ Spoilers Below ❌❌
Here’s some of the questions I was left with after I finished reading. Obviously these are spoilery, so stop scrolling if you don’t want to know about some of what happens.
?s -What was the point of her being a serial killer? You can understand why the parents deaths happened by her reasoning but the other men didn’t add anything to the story and made her seem like a sociopath. But then the next scene she would be emotional which doesn’t really add up to a sociopath. It was just very random.
-Why would dude fake his death just to escape to Mars using a tech he didn’t know if it would work. What is the point of that?
-Let’s go even further on the Mars discussion- how were they getting there? Did he have a hidden space ship that I missed? Also, he planned on repopulating using a few frozen embryos- but how? There is no Dr or even a scientist, also only one woman left alive to even try to carry them to term… were we supposed to take this seriously or was this to show the ravings of a mad man? It just made so little sense when you think about it.
-If his plan was to take everyone to Mars, why wait so long with them pretending to find a way to escape? And if he intended to just kill them, why bring their dead bodies to Mars instead of leaving them with the plane wreckage? It just didn’t add up at all by the end.
-If Anton worked for his grandfather, who was the one buying Wuv, and he knew boss planned something for the plane crash, would that mean his grandfather did too? Meaning the whole faking his death thing was pointless? Also all this super tech exists and yet he could still trick them pretending a distant cousin was him? Like DNA testing isn’t more advanced than that?
-Why was the house coded to only work for men? No explanation is given ever other than some ideas Kristen has of what might have been.
-What was the point of the dude masterbating while she gave a tech talk? Did she hallucinate a woman next to him or not? And if so why? After this happens Mason asks if she did it to ruin the company which also makes no sense. Why would that ruin the company? Make it make sense, explain these things if you include them instead of randomly adding them in and never mention it or tie it back to anythjng again.
- Anton comes to rescue her bc her message finally sends to him when she gets access to the house wifi. But if he knew something would happen on the plane, couldn’t he have just simply tracked it, found where it was and planned to come check on her? It was weird that he knew enough to warn her ahead of time but they didn’t think to plan out what to do when she decided to still go along with the company trip....more
This was one of my most anticipated upcoming releases and I really enjoyed it! No one does YA gothic fantasy/horror quite like Erin A Craig an3.5-4⭐️
This was one of my most anticipated upcoming releases and I really enjoyed it! No one does YA gothic fantasy/horror quite like Erin A Craig and this was another fantastic world and characters from her. She also does a great job at descriptive worldbuilding without it ever feeling info dumpy (probably not a real world but close enough ...more
This was a really cute middle grade fantasy story with a creative plot and fun world! I really liked getting to knThanks @randomhousekids for the ARC!
This was a really cute middle grade fantasy story with a creative plot and fun world! I really liked getting to know the students and thought Rosemary was an easy to root for MC. Some of the side characters were more developed than others, but as the first book in the series I would assume that will change in future books. There are some dark topics to the plot, the MC sees how people will die, but it is done in an age appropriate way for middle grade readers. I loved the found family elements and am in need of a pet siboo like Wiggles!!
The only downside for me on this was the ending is very abrupt and left me with mostly unanswered questions. I think there could’ve been a bit more closure while still having a cliffhanger ending. I still really enjoyed this and will definitely look forward to reading the next book in the series. ...more
Like most short story collections, there were some I liked more than others in this book. I loved the dark ominous tone throughout though and whi3.5⭐️
Like most short story collections, there were some I liked more than others in this book. I loved the dark ominous tone throughout though and while I can’t say I feel like I understood them all, I did enjoy several. My favorite was Wood Sorrel House which was so eerie, disturbing and atmospheric. Mousetraps Neighbors and the Trial Run were unsettling and fun. Lucca Castle, Ghost Image, Golf Cart were my least favs of the collection. The first thing I wanted to do after finishing was find someone else who had read it to see what they took away from it, so I’d say it could make for an interesting book club pick!
A little more abstract than I usually go for, but I’m glad I read it and tried something different! The writing is beautiful and I appreciated his creativity.
Thanks to Doubleday Books for the gifted copy!...more
As an 80s baby, of course I love Blondie and was excited to pick this book up to learn more about both the band and Chris Stein.
It’s written in streaAs an 80s baby, of course I love Blondie and was excited to pick this book up to learn more about both the band and Chris Stein.
It’s written in stream of consciousness style, not my favorite style, and there’s a lot of random info that pops up throughout each chapter. I found that was especially true for the early chapters talking about his childhood and young adult years. It has a ton of interesting stories and behind the scenes info, but it wasn’t the easiest to follow given the meandering structure. It’s well narrated on audio and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my fav memoir given the style. I’d recommend it for anyone who loves the band or wants to learn more about the music and art scene from that time period. ...more
Thanks Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for the DRC/ALC!
Now this is my kind of Pride month reading - this was such a fun queer horror story! This waThanks Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for the DRC/ALC!
Now this is my kind of Pride month reading - this was such a fun queer horror story! This was my first book by the author, but I definitely plan to pick up Camp Damascus next! I loved how creative the plot was and Misha was well developed and easy to root for. The book does cover a lot of ground and there were some pacing issues, especially in the flashback scenes. And while I enjoyed the multi-cast portions on audio, I’m not totally sure I understand how some of them fit into the main story. I was left with a few questions at the end, it’s one that I might need to do a reread of to see if I missed something when the physical book is out.
While it’s never scary, there is some gore and creepy characters that I enjoyed. A great combo of social commentary, humor and horror that’s entertaining and fun!
The narration is really well done on the audio, I loved the full cast portions which also included sound effects! 90% of the narration though is done by André Santana, who does a great job bringing Misha to life. I split time between ebook and audio and would recommend either format. ...more
4⭐️ Really Liked: I felt like this book had a few storylines that were more interesting and had more going on than others, making some of the POVs a st4⭐️ Really Liked: I felt like this book had a few storylines that were more interesting and had more going on than others, making some of the POVs a struggle to read. It unfortunately had the same pacing issues that book 2 had for the first 80% of the book and then the ending felt rushed. That being said I still enjoyed reading it, and really liked how everything wrapped up. There are some things left very open ended, so there is some potential for a spin off, which I’d definitely read. If you are someone who wants everything wrapped up in a neat bow, you might be frustrated with the conclusion. I wouldn’t have minded more details, and definitely think it deserved more page time vs the long drawn out lead up to it but I wasn’t mad it either.
Coming in at just under 600 pages, this is the longest book in the trilogy and could have been trimmed back a bit, but it held my attention throughout. While neither Fevered Star or Mirrored Heavens reached Black Sun level for me, I really enjoyed the series and will miss the characters!
Annoyances: There was one minor plot hole regarding Iktan’s blade suddenly not being poisoned. There were a lot of overused words (huffed, puffed, murmured, mouth worked) and I cringe at the use of belly for anyone who isn’t a toddler, especially when it’s used to describe attraction.
✨Spoiler Free Series thoughts - I love that Rebecca Roanhorse used Columbian- indigenous themes to create this fantasy world! I’ve never read anything like this and it really was well developed from the complex politics to the morally gray characters with complicated backstories and ever changing alliances. The writing is beautiful and is a perfect balance of descriptive without being too much. She also has diverse representation, including several non binary characters who are integral to the plot, not just token side characters. There were some pacing issues and overused words and phrases, but I still really enjoyed it!It’s a very unique series that will stick with me, and if you couldn’t tell I highly recommend!
The audiobooks feature multiple narrators, and I switched between physical and audio for books 2 and 3 - I tried Black Sun but it was harder for me to do audio when I wasn’t familiar with the world or characters. The narration was well done and I’d recommend either format!
I rarely binge read a series, but I am glad I did these within weeks of each other because it is a lot of details to remember and I think it helps to have it all fresh in your mind! So if like me you tend to forget things quickly, I’d recommend having all the books on hand when you start!...more
This was much more emotional than I expected for a celebrity memoir. There is some backstory around his band, System of a Down, but it really focuses This was much more emotional than I expected for a celebrity memoir. There is some backstory around his band, System of a Down, but it really focuses more on his family history, his Armenian roots and activism for social issues. I didn’t know much about him going into this book, so the political activism wasn’t what I expected to be the focus, but it did make for a fascinating and interesting read. Definitely on the heavy side, but I would recommend it to non fiction readers!...more
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