The Book Blog (original) (raw)
I believe I read this manga in 10 minutes. It was very short, and because of that it lacked any real sense of plot or character development. The story is about a boy going to university who crosses paths with a kitsune, and the kitsune sees the boy's resemblance to his grandfather and so takes a shine to him. The fox invites the boy to live with him for free so he doesn't have to find a place to rent while he's at school, and with no further development, they're instantly in love. The boy is insecure that the fox only sees his grandfather when he looks at him, but the kitsune assures him that is not the case, that he loves him for him. Except they don't have any real conversations or anything due to the brevity of the book, so you don't really know how or why they are in love. I enjoyed the art and I liked the premise of the story, but it's just to short to be effective at what it's trying to do.
When you read a Caitlin Starling book, you're guaranteed to read something you've never read before. Her work is so unique and unpredictable! This might be her most unusual yet.
The first quarter of the book is an explanation of what the main character, a scientist, is doing. I didn't get it. It went over my head. The important thing to know is that the experiments or research the main character is in charge of conducting are causing the entire city to begin sinking, which will cause pipes to burst and buildings to collapse if something isn't done to stabilize the situation. What bothered me is that for the rest of the book, I couldn't remember what the science part was in the beginning that caused all this to happen, and it's never mentioned again because the focus is all on the sinking city. It just started to bother me that a full quarter of the book was devoted to this complicated science thing and by the end of the book I can't even remember what that was.
This is not a long book but it feels like the bulk of the story is carried in the last 20% of the thing. It could have been a novella. Like, all that science stuff in the beginning was just a waste of time cause I didn't understand it and once I was past it, I couldn't remember anything. lol If you're reading the book and struggling with it, cause I do feel it's a slow-burner, just hang in there cause the last chunk is the real meat and the most interesting stuff. And there's always a dash of sapphic romance in the author's books, so that was a sweet piece of payoff, too.
I loved it but I don't know if I'd read it again. The first quarter was just a bitter pill to swallow and there is a lot of science talk throughout that I didn't always care about. But the characters and the weird things happening between them carry the story and it really is unlike anything I've seen before. What I really, really want when I read is a new, unique, original experience, and this book delivered it.
WOW. This book was a total pageturner! I was halfway through last night and decided I couldn't go to sleep until I finished it, to unravel all the mysteries and see how things turned out for the heroine.
I've read other romantic gothic horrors before, but this time the English Victorian manor is in Mexico. The British family inhabiting it is absolutely insufferable, and throughout the entire book I kept hoping Noemí would take one of her cigarettes and set the whole house on fire. XD
I will say it was frustrating to read how the English family treated heroine Noemí. They're sexist, sexually aggressive, and racist. Part of the reason why I decided I had to see this thing through to the end before getting a good night's sleep was because there was no good stopping point where I felt satisfied Noemí was safe enough for me to leave her side. lol! These people treated her abominably and even though she was tough and sassy and smart, they were doing things to her she could not fight against. She was always in the middle of their scheming so I had to see she was safe before I was ready to let go!
There is a touch of romance to the book, and I liked that the love interest isn't conventionally attractive. Noemí has no shortage of rich, handsome admirers, but I loved that this gentle, quiet boy captured her heart.
Noemí is one of the best main characters I've ever had the pleasure of following. The book takes place in 1950 and she is not shy to throw an F-bomb when it suits her. Shocking. XD I love how everyone was so taken aback by her brash, bold attitude. I just adored her.
The gaslighting and imprisonment and attempted sexual assaults in the book were hard to read but if you like heroines saving themselves against impossible odds amidst incredible mysteries and agonizing tension, this is for you. The supernatural horror was so good, too. It all felt like a fever dream but I was living for it.
This book was everything I'd hoped for and more! It's unpredictable and scary. The ghosts are real, and the monsters are all around Sunny as she tries to rebuild her career, prove to her mother she's not wasting opportunities, rekindle a connection with another member of her former Kpop group, and solve the mystery of just what is happening at the trainee studio! Doors vanish in broad daylight, hallways lead in circles, and staircases delve into a hidden labyrinth. Is Sunny really the only one who sees the walking corpse in the corridors at night, or is she losing her mind?
I couldn't put this book down and was thinking about it all hours of the day! I loved Sunny as a lead character. She's truly turned her trauma into her strength and she persists even when all signs are telling her to give up and go home (...or else). She's a good friend to everyone in the book, even the mean girl (though I have to be honest and say I loved Eugenia, too!). At first I didn't like her love interest, former fellow girl group member, Candace, but eventually it's revealed why she's behaved the way she has, and I warmed up to her. The Kpop trainee scenes were fun but you never knew when terror was going to strike again, so I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
Reminiscent of the Fatal Frame franchise. Five stars and an easy favorite this year. I can't wait for the next one!
This was quite good but a few elements felt a little unpolished or incomplete. Maybe it was a slight weakness to the worldbuilding or maybe the exposition was a touch lacking here and there. I can't say this was a perfectly entertaining read because there were several instances of major scenes happening, especially at the climax of the book, that just left me confused. Some things just didn't make sense or weren't explained very well, it seemed. And the book has a somewhat open ending, which is not my favorite outcome, I have to admit.
Still, I loved the characters in this book. Ava, who is both a witch and a vampire, has a very complicated relationship with her mother. She also has a very complicated relationship with her love interest, the witch Kaye. They go from friends to enemies to friends again. But I was hoping for more romance in this book and didn't realize initially that it is YA, which is fine. I read a lot of YA. But the leads kiss I think twice in the entire book. There is some great romantic tension between the girls as they traveled together through a forest and have to sleep side-by-side, even though they are mistrustful enemies at the time, but the rest of the story seems to lack the same excitement. Seeing their bond grow as they come to understand one another is nice, just not very romantic. I would say this book is a lot more about friendship, and not just between the girls; they also have a witch friend from school called Tristan. This is really a story about the three of them being driven apart and finding each other again and reigniting old friendships. It should be called The Witches and the Vampire. If you like the trope of found family and childhood friendships surviving until or being rediscovered in adulthood, this is the book for you.
There are a lot of well-written battle scenes in this book and the vampires feel realistic. They don't seem to be affected by the sun, which I tend to find bothersome because half the fun of a vampire is that they are creatures of the night, but they have serious bloodlust in their hearts. The witches didn't feel quite so fleshed out. The witches discussed in the book are fire witches, but it is hinted that there are other types of elemental witches, too. I feel like if that was going to be mentioned at all, it should play some role in the story, but it never does.
There are plot twists and backstabs and newfound friendships throughout the entire story, and I think the character relationship development in this book is excellent. The book is very plot-heavy and I can't say it all made sense to me. Still, this was pretty original and action-packed, and it is really gory and violent, and I loved that about it. I think this book would be very appealing to horror and vampire fans, as opposed to readers primarily interested in a sapphic romance.
This was an unexpected delight! I will say the setting confused me a lot. It seemed as though the events were occurring on two different planets, but it seems implausible that one of the characters actually lived on one planet and worked on the other. What I read is that he was so poor he had to live on the polluted planet, but he had a job on the clean-air, rich-people planet. It didn't make sense to me. You'd think it would cost a lot more to travel between planets than to live on the clean planet? I didn't really get it.
Other than that, I was riveted. It read like a soap opera and I love that kind of thing. It wasn't entirely unpredictable, but I didn't care. I couldn't wait to see the villain's plots unravel, the bad people get punished, and the heroes be reunited. I loved how the characters evolved as people, and how their relationships developed. It felt a bit like Pride and Prejudice between the main characters, so if you're a fan of that, you might like this. I'm just, again, confused about the setting. There was no need for this to be science fiction at all, but it was an interesting angle. I just wish it had been heavier on the sci fi because the only futuristic thing about it was that the characters hopped from one planet to another. All the other technology was no more advanced than what we have today. It might as well just be set in modern times and on one planet, to make it less confusing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story a lot and this cast of characters was really entertaining.
I adored this book from start to finish. It's my favorite thing I've read this year and I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time to come!
I've never seen time travel done quite this way before. It was so modern and clever! All the 90s details felt perfectly on point. Even though I *was* in high school in the 90s, I remained in awe of how the author thought of endless details to bring the setting and time period so believably to life. It was just so well done!
I really loved the characters. They felt like real people, with their own mannerisms and ways of speaking. Even the "villains" felt like fully-realized characters. They had their own motivations and histories that came into play. I loved Sam as a heroine. She had a big personality and was the kind of person I'd love to have as a friend. She always did what she thought was right and stuck up for her friends and family. The relationships she had with her friends, family, and love interests all felt so real. I enjoyed watching the relationships transform throughout the course of the story.
There were some plot twists I expected, and some I never saw coming. This book had me laughing out loud at times, and I probably cried about four times, too! I don't usually connect with family relationship stories because I'm not close with my family, but this book really touched my heart, all the same. The way it concluded was probably my favorite ending to any story. Everything was wrapped up in neat little bows and everybody got the happy ending they deserved. I just loved this book so much and now I want to read everything else this author has written!
(No, not THAT Scott Peterson. I checked.)
Huge thanks to the publisher for letting me read this title in advance!
I loved Kiersten White's "Hide" and this is an excellent graphic novel adaptation. I love the art. The characters are expressive, the backgrounds are interesting, and it's all as vibrantly colorful as the front cover. I love how the story unfolds, the truth of it all revealing itself to the reader at the same time as the characters. The journal excerpts with newspaper clippings adds a fun element to the storytelling. I really love the characters, their relationships, their backstories, and their family histories. It was a lot of fun for me to see a favorite novel come to life as a graphic novel. Maybe best of all is that this comic is really long, so you absolutely will get your money and time's worth.
The one critique I had about the novel was the portrayal of the Veteran character, Ava. The book talks a lot about how she cannot afford treatment for a leg she nearly lost during the Gulf War. My complaint was that that didn't make sense, since the Department of Veterans Affairs was established “to care for him who shall have borne the battle," in the words of Abraham Lincoln. Unless someone was dishonorably discharged from service, a combat Veteran with combat injuries would be service-connected for that disability and would never have to pay for its treatment, and would also likely receive disability compensation. Well, the graphic novel amended that discrepancy! I was pleased to see that while Ava mentions that she could use some money and her old war wound acts up, and she does steal some medication to take care of her immediate pain, she does not imply that the government isn't taking care of her as a combat Vet. So that aspect, I felt, was an improvement.
It did bother me initially, though, that Ava is dressed in apparent military uniform, and improperly, off-duty with dog tags hanging out and jacket undone. She also has a stereotypical buzz cut. The same critique I had of the novel is that there are SO many service persons and Veterans that could be interviewed and asked about accurate military portrayal in media to get these details right, and again it seems like nobody bothered to try that. But the look grew on me after a while so I decided I didn't mind so much. She's still my favorite character. And I can see where putting her in a stereotypical "costume" would make her background more obvious to the reader and other characters. It's just something I feel a bit nitpicky about.
My last comment is that for the most part this graphic novel is eerie and terrifying and riveting. You feel anxious and want to know what's happening, and what's going to happen, and the events that unfold are horrifying. But I have to say that the "villain" character is drawn so adorably that I couldn't be afraid of them. And I mean...if the publisher made a stuffed animal version, I would buy it, give it a cutesy name, and cuddle it in bed. I know the very concept of the enemy is terrible and I should be afraid of what they do and what they are, but the drawing is super, super cute. I'm sure that's not what the creators were going for. But it is SO cute. I'm not even mad about it. I'm just saying...it's so. stinking. cute!
I already placed a preorder for this book from my local comic shop because I LOVED it. I had such a great time and will read it again.
This was quite a page-turner! I have seen a lot of books lately with the same topic of social media influencers trapped on an island together, but this is the first I've read so far. I was eager to see what would happen next and read this pretty quickly, but I actually really disliked the turn the story took towards the end as the mystery unraveled. There's a lot of sexual assault and grooming and it all felt very victim-blamey. It's impossible to guess who the real villain is, as a faceless/nameless entity picks the influencers off one by one, but the author made it very simple to guess who was going to die next. So in some ways it's super predictable, but in other ways it's not. If you like a solid mystery that keeps you constantly on your toes, I think you might be a little disappointed. If you like a good endgame plot twist, though, this one's pretty shocking.
The setting is fantastic (a mansion on an island with a tropical storm on the way) and the author seems to keep good track of all the pieces on the board when it comes to setting up the mystery and how the story will play out, except telling us where the bodies are. lol When people start dying, the group moves the first body to a secure location and cover it with a tarp, but after that they just leave them where they fall. It's almost hilarious but I'm not sure if it was intentional or if the author just forgot about them... Like there's a body on the porch and they are constantly coming in and going out of the house. Are they just walking overtop of it??? lol!
I'm really torn about this book. I would have rated it more positively if it didn't feel like it frequently shamed and blamed girls who were groomed and sexually assaulted. Other than that facet, I enjoyed it a lot. I'd be interested in seeing what else the author has to offer in the future. This was, on the whole, a fun time.
*Review based on an arc from NetGalley.
If (like me) you loved House of Salt and Sorrows...welcome home.
This time we follow the baby sister of the Thaumas family, Verity, except she's all grown up. You don't need to have read HOSAS to enjoy HORAR, though, nor do you need to do a reread to refresh your memory. This story is Verity's and Verity's alone.
I was so happy to get to see more of the world in this fantasy series. Last time we were on an island chain, and this time we're in a garden filled with blossoms, statues, and mysteries waiting to be solved. The plot twists and turns and keeps you on your toes. You're never sure who to trust, or even who is real or who is really a ghost, trapped in a beautiful mansion filled with secrets.
I loved the atmosphere and the story and the characters. I was (pleasantly) surprised by how spicy this book was, compared to its predecessor! I even tried drinking hot tea while reading in bed, hoping to fall asleep and dream of Chauntilalie, but turns out that stuff's full of caffeine. At least I was able to stay up and read late into the night. lol
*Review based on arc from NetGalley.
This just might be the most original work of science fiction I've ever read, and I was hooked from the very beginning. It had a similar vibe to Station Eleven, but they're very different dystopian takes. If you liked Station Eleven, I think you'll love this book.
We follow protagonist Coco from age 12 on. Time has fractured, leaving most people (and animals, insects, and even inanimate objects) looping in place like broken records that keep playing the same section of track, over and over. A select few people are not caught up in these loops and can witness them from outside their restrictive patterns. The problem is, if a looper's path is interrupted, they are driven mad and become violent until they break apart and disappear. It almost had a sci fi-horror element there. Plus, if food is caught in a loop, even if you eat it, it will disappear when its section of looped time resets, and vanish painfully right out of your stomach. But if it's not looped, it won't stay fresh forever. Life is hard, especially when Coco is such a young child, all on her own in this confusing new world.
I thought it was brilliant to have a young girl as the main character in this story, so we can watch as she discovers how loops work, even if there's no way she or anyone can know what this all means. She is lonely and hungry and scared, and you feel her struggles as she fights to survive and eventually meets more like her, people living outside of the loops. I enjoyed reading about how people rebuilt a society apart from everyone and everything they knew and loved, carving out new lives with new governments and laws and viewpoints about life and the meaning behind what's happening.
The story has a slice-of-life feel to it, even as the plot moves along. Coco makes friends and even falls in love as she grows up, and, inevitably, sets out to save the world. The plot was so unique and original, there was no way to predict what would happen or how things would end up for the characters, or even what would happen the world. As time marches on, part fractured and part new, everything begins to decay and countless loopers have been killed, either accidentally or intentionally. New children are being born to those free of the loops, and they have unique abilities that make everyone wonder whether or not they are really even human. How can time be restored to its normal state, to save humanity and the earth itself? And if Coco and her friends can even accomplish that, what will happen to the loopers? To those that have now lived for decades outside of the loops? To those born in the new world? What should they protect, their lives and the lives of their friends, or time itself?
This book brought up so many interesting questions and really made me think about which side of the war for time I would join, and whether or not I could have made the same difficult choices Coco makes throughout the story. You find yourself weighing the same pros and cons, trying to decide whether you would prioritize yourself and your family versus the entire world, if it came down to that. It was provocative and heartwarming and terrifying, all at once. It's the kind of book that you keep thinking about, long after its conclusion.
This book had me hooked from the very beginning and I stayed riveted until its conclusion. I love anything dystopian but the way this multi-layered story unfolded was really unique and kept me guessing for the first three-quarters of the book. You might think you know what's happening, then the plot twists again and you're back at square one.
I loved the main character, Proctor. He was flawed and real and that made him relatable. He makes poor choices and dumb decisions sometimes, but he still tries to be good and kind and do the right thing. The love between father and daughter is a strong element in this book, and I found it especially impactful after watching The Last of Us on HBO. Now I am dying to read more books just like this one!
I felt a lot of anxiety while reading along. You're never sure what's real or who's telling the truth. It was interesting to discover who the real friends and foes were by the end of the book, and the journey to get there had my heart racing. No matter what I guessed, I was never even close to figuring out what was really going on here.
I will say this book has a lot of moving parts, and there are so many characters that when one of them is revealed to be a major enemy, I actually had no recollection of who that person was. So maybe the large cast lessened that impact. But the story, despite its many plot twists, was not hard to follow or visualize, and the ending was so bittersweet I actually cried. I just loved it all so much. I did try to read the author's previous work, The Passage, and I felt that book moved so slowly I just got bored and couldn't finish it, let alone the rest of the trilogy. I'm glad I gave this book a shot anyway, because it might actually be a new favorite. And now I want to give The Passage a second chance. I can't wait to see what this author does next! I'll definitely be on the lookout.
There's a lot to love in this book. It brought back fond memories of my favorite childhood mystery series, like Scooby Doo; Murder, She Wrote; and Alfred Hitchcock's The Three Investigators, but it's got a fresh, modern take. Hazel, the heroine of the story, is a great role model for girls. She talks about how it's okay for boys to cry, doesn't assume the nemesis of the story is any particular gender, and mentions no less than three times that she may never get married and have kids, but might just "stick with cats." I wish so badly I'd had books discussing viewpoints like that when I was a kid! (I'm in my 40s now and felt that way as a child, myself, but all media at that time was telling me the opposite, that girls had to marry boys and have kids and that was it. Bleh.)
The characters are fantastic. I always love a brother-sister friendship, so watching Hazel take on her latest mystery case in part for the sake of cheering up her brother was touching. They don't always agree, but they're very respectful towards each other and are genuinely friends as well as brother and sister. Love, love, love to see that.
Adults and parents aren't absent from this story. They play some sensible roles and the parents act like parents while still treating their kids with respect and compromising after having heart-to-heart discussions.
Everything was great about this story, but the thing I loved most is that it's actually a horror story. The ghost is real, and I was surprised to learn that the tragedy leading up to the in-story haunting was an actual event that the author discusses in a note at the end of the book so you can research more about it and even look up photos of the cemetery portrayed in the story. So I learned something on top of being entertained, and the story was actually scary. The spirit had seemingly unlimited powers, and you never knew what might happen next.
It was a fun idea for Hazel to have a podcast and I would love to read more of her adventures in the future, if this book were to become a series.
The premise of this story really intrigued me. I love dystopian fiction and the idea of a group of people forced into quarantine on a ship for literal generations was ingenious! I wish I loved this book the way I expected to, but even though the worldbuilding was fantastic, the characters were so wooden and the plot was so predictable that I just didn't care what happened. The villain was a revolting person, but he was still the best character in the book, in my opinion, because he had a compelling backstory and showed his teeth; everyone else simply felt like a pawn to further the story with no emotion to back up their motives and actions, and I felt I could see the events unfolding well in advance. I'm sad to say I don't have any interest in continuing the series.
I had a great time reading this one! In the present, four zombie friends are attending a music festival, but we get flashbacks to how each of them became a zombie. They each have a different relationship with their families and you get to see how their biological changes have impacted their friendships and relationships and how they're coping. It felt like the story had a lot of heart. If I had any complaint, it's that we never learn what specifically caused the zombie apocalypse. I would love a prequel!
There's also a mystery to solve throughout the course of the story. I thought it was all unpredictable and exciting. There's a great cast of characters and I loved how the romances played out. As much fun as the fangirling over musicians and the zombie disaster were, it always came back to the characters and their bonds.
This book felt like a mix of Resident Evil horror and iZombie camp. I had a blast and would recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the horror genre, whether on the scary or the fun side.
*review based on audiobook arc from NetGalley*
Firstly, I don't feel this book fits the YA age category. It felt very adult to me. We have heads on pikes and spouse-swapping and domestic abuse and attempted manipulation for sexual favors. At no point did I think this was a book geared towards teens, so I'm surprised to now realize it's tagged that way.
Okay, that said, there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book and a couple things I did not.
The audiobook narrator is amazing. He has a beautiful voice and the British accent was the cherry on top. He altered his tone for different characters, too, and his reading always displayed a lot of emotion. Absolutely loved him.
This book has incredible atmosphere. While listening to the story, I truly felt like I was going on horse and carriage rides, strolling along a bustling city street, taking in an opera, sitting before a roaring fire, having a super awkward dinner with unwelcome guests, and running for my life through the darkened hidden passages of a castle.
All the characters in the book easily elicit a reaction from the reader. I always enjoy a strong sibling relationship, and I strongly identify with familial tensions. The marriage-for-money plots were reminiscent of my Austen faves. I did feel that sometimes the servants were too familiar with the main character, Émile. But the servant characters themselves were some of my favorites, especially Annette. I did enjoy the way each character's individual story played out and wrapped up, but again, it felt far too mature for teens.
The main character's two love interests are as different as night and day and here's where we run into one thing I intensely disliked about the story, and that is love interest Henri himself. His selfishness is beyond the pale. His actions were so reprehensible, I despised him as a love interest. He was just super toxic, through and through. Every scene with him just frankly grossed me out and turned me off towards the story as a whole.
I loved the plot itself. And I liked the way all the characters fit into the story like puzzle pieces, how the whole thing would have unraveled if even one of those pieces was removed. My one main issue with the way the story unfolded was the pacing. The author would say something was going to happen in two weeks, then in the next breath those two weeks had passed with no explanation for what was done in the meantime. It didn't have to detail a pages-long account of every breath taken and every meal eaten, but it was jarring how it felt like there was absolutely no transition from event to event. The reader literally missed an entire wedding! It was just said on the next page that so-and-so's name had changed. I felt like there were missing pages with all the gaps in the story.
On the whole I enjoyed this story a lot. However, in its current form I would probably not purchase a copy to reread, because Henri was beyond despicable. I really felt icky whenever he said or did something and I was frustrated the main character fell immediately in love with him and naively looked past or forgave his every very obvious flaw. Especially when his other love interest, Bram, is amaaazing. But I do feel like the story has potential and I would absolutely read more from this author.
After (re)binging all of YOU on Netflix, after having read all four (so far) Joe Goldberg books (thank you, Carolyn Kepnes!), I was still needing a fix. I've watched the show several times and was considering rereading all the books, then my wife found me several lists of "books to read after YOU." Why didn't I think of that!
The recommendation of "Creep: A Love Story" stood out to me, initially because it sounded the most like "You." And there were a lot of similarities, the stalking and trophy-collecting, but this IS YA so it's not quite so murdery. But it definitely satisfied my craving, so if you're a fan of "You" and even if you're an adult (like me), I highly recommend this book. I devoured it (and would have in one sitting, if work and cats would have left me alone to do so).
It takes place at a Catholic school without being preachy. (I usually avoid religious-themed books because trauma.) The cast of characters is great, including friends new and old, enemies, frenemies, classmates, family, and the school staff. The main character is nuts but not without her reasons. (My wife says I sympathize with sociopaths too easily.) I don't mean to keep comparing this book to "You," but that's what brought me here, so...like Joe from that series, Rafi from this book was abandoned young by her mother and that act left her damaged and clingy to the people she wants to desperately to love her.
Reading the synopsis of this book, I had the misconception that she had romantic feelings towards the couple she stalks and tries to befriend. But actually she's just so in love with the idea of them having the perfect relationship that she tries to force it to be, and tries to witness its every milestone by setting them up for certain events to occur and making sure she's present (if hidden) when they happen. And yes, I did sympathize with her. Her own parents were high school sweethearts and she feels like her birth destroyed their relationship and their lives, so the idea that she can bring two other soulmates together feels like her life's purpose, like it will redeem her for what she did to her own family just by being born. I mean, it was hard not to feel for her.
The writing was so great and if (like me) you're in it for the stalking, that just goes on nonstop, so enjoy! It really is fascinating to see how Rafi's mind works and how she justifies her every thought and action. This book just went by too fast! I not only need to pick another from the list of "books like You," but I want to read everything else I can find of Lygia Day Peñaflor's! Loved it.
I always go into anthologies with high hopes and end up feeling disappointed. This book helped me to realize why. It's because they're usually collections of stories by different authors, and some of those authors I enjoy, and some I don't really care for. But this collection is written by one author, on one specific theme, and I loved it. The writing was fantastic, easy to read but amazingly creative. And after just a couple stories, I knew I was going to love them all.
Every story in this book was unique. There was a lot of variety to the theme of "Suburban Monsters," but the stories always stayed on-topic. Monsters don't have to be things that go bump in the night; they can be your boss, your coworker, your employee, your parent, your own spouse, or even yourself, as this anthology reveals. I enjoyed how each story was told from a different perspective and in a different voice and tone. You might read a story from a psychopath's point of view in one story, but another from a child's perspective in the next. Some of the stories are supernatural, and some leave you wondering if the narrator is being haunted by a supernatural entity or if they've gone mad or even if they're on drugs. Several of them reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe's works, so I think if you're a Poe fan, you'll enjoy these stories a lot, too!
*Review based on an ARC from NetGalley* Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book!
Up front I will say the writing in this book was a little difficult to adjust to and not my favorite style. It was very matter-of-fact and a bit dry for my tastes. The characters did not show a lot of emotion so this wasn't the kind of book that could make me smile or laugh or tear up, though I did feel satisfaction when something worked out for them after they endured so many hardships. Most things were described only by their colors (moss-green, gray streaked with white, gold-leaf, green and gray, sky-blue, gray and black, deep-blue, jade and gold-woven... these were just a few instances that I highlighted in the e-book), and only a couple times were the colors relevant (black for mourning, red for a house's colors). There were some occasionally awkward turns of phrase (someone had a "puffy voice"), and the word "anxiousness" appeared 16 times, all from the same character's POV, which kind of drove me nuts. Sometimes, particularly in the beginning, the author didn't tell you who was speaking so when it kept saying "she said," I thought a group of women were in a party together, and it turned out there was one woman with a group of men. In the beginning of the book the story was a bit confusing because of things like that. As it went on, there was the odd misspelling or missing word or incorrect "its/it's" usage, but overall this book was well-written. Once I got into the rhythm I enjoyed it more. I can just be picky about these kinds of things.
There were also some odd gaps that made me feel that I had missed something and I had to go back and reread, or sections that made me think pages were missing from my copy of the book. For example, there was a line about "the smell of rotting fish from the market that had been set up for the execution." Why had rotting fish been set up for an execution? To throw at the prisoners? Had it been fresh fish intended to feed the spectators? What's that even about? There's also a section where a character suggests to a council that they need to appoint someone to lead a holy army and everyone just agrees that's a good idea, then he gets upset that he's the chosen one. Buddy, nobody said you were. lol When did that happen? There's a chapter where the characters are in a church and it's never mentioned that they left, and right in the middle of their dialogue they're suddenly pulling a horse and cart. When did they even leave the building? It just felt to me like several times in this book there were whole paragraphs or pages missing. This was the most distracting issue for me, but maybe the final product is a little more polished.
Despite a few technical issues, I really loved the plot of this book. I honestly thought I was going to DNF it for the first 30 percent or so, but I pushed through and I'm glad I did. I've already purchased the second book in the series so I can continue the story. It's just so good. The plot is complex and so well-charted. You can tell a lot of planning went into it because there are so many shocking things that happen that you just can't see coming, but they make perfect sense when the story is taken as a whole.
The book follows three protagonists. Adrian is my favorite. He is a prince and a soldier, forever living in his brother's shadow. He strives to earn his father's respect. He struggles to reconcile his grief for lost loved ones with strict religious teachings that say the dead have no place in the hearts of the living. He wants to save his people and resorts to terrible things to that end. He has a couple romantic subplots and they were both amazing but I wish they had been fleshed out a little more. Just a personal preference; I love romance and even if marriages are arranged for royalty, I like to see more interaction and emotion between the betrothed. On the whole I felt Adrian's story was the easiest to understand. His chapters felt short to me, but maybe that's because I was enjoying them the most and read them faster.
Lynne was my second favorite character. She is an amazing warrior and her history resonated with me, as it slowly unfolds throughout the book. I was confused about a lot of things, though. She hears voices inside her head, the voices of the people whose lives she has taken. They mock, ridicule, and torment her throughout the story, but it was never clear to me whether she was imagining them or if they truly possessed her. I also don't understand how she is "bonded" with Vedyr, whom I believed to be a god up until it is revealed who and what he is. I don't understand how a stone can let her channel his strength and speed. It must have gone over my head how these stones work. There were a lot of details in this book I felt were vague, and that's one of them. I liked her redemption arc, how she fights to redeem herself for her own sake, but in the end is fighting to redeem herself in the eyes of her kindred, as well.
Nasha is the final protagonist. For a long time I thought she was a werewolf. lol Her struggle is to control her reaction to the emotions of those around her. She feeds off them and they make her rage or berserk, to put it in video game terms. You watch her fight to prove herself to her new clan and struggle to make herself look worthy in the eyes of the members of her former clan. I was kind of shaky on the two-clans concept. They live like across a bridge from each other, but one clan is looked down upon by the other unless they are individually selected to compete in a tournament to prove themselves worthy to join the "better" clan or something. That was super vague to me, too. I didn't really understand it. And there was a big gap in Nasha's story where she had a whole betrayal-upon-betrayal plan. I think it was intentional, a plot twist for the reader, but it honestly left me wondering how she had the time to put the whole thing into motion because there were too many moving pieces, too many other characters involved. I liked reading her sections of the story the least but I think with some fleshing-out they would make more sense to me and make me more interested in her.
The battle sequences took up a decent volume of this book, and they are excellent. They were described in a way that let you easily visualize the action taking place. Some books bore me with battle scenes because they're convoluted and I just mentally tune out, but that is absolutely not the case here.
I cannot overstate how amazing the plot of this book is. You really can't see what's happening next, but it's obvious the writer has a plan that is well-executed. I had so many favorite parts, I was highlighting entire pages of the text. I do highly recommend reading an e-copy of this book, because there are a ton of side characters, and I occasionally would for get who was who, and using the Kindle app search feature to look up someone's name to remind myself was a big help.
Thanks again to the author for an advance copy of this book! I'm eager to read more and see where the story takes us.
*Review based on an ARC from NetGalley*
Oh. My. Gosh. I had so much fun with this book! There were so many things I loved. This book became an instant favorite for me and I loved it from start to finish.
The protagonist is a self-admitted coward and I loved that about her. She's not brave or magical or powerful or special at all. Her parents and sister are dead; she's broke and homeless; she's basically afraid of her own shadow. She lives with and works for a DEFINITELY-NOT-A-CULT, where she sleeps in a closet. And she's okay with that, as long as she has a place to hide. She's got exactly one friend and no hope for any kind of future. She was just so common and relatable. I mean, if I lived in her world, where anyone who dreams about a monster can turn into one, I would also join a...group...for sketchy (but free!) room and board. I could easily sympathize with her and I loved her whole personality. She felt quirky and interesting without being given any special powers or being the most beautiful girl on the block or destined for greatness. She was an actual Plain Jane and it was so cool! Such a rare type of heroine.
The secondary main character is a vampire. And you want to like him. He seems nice. He never does anything to make you suspicious. And yet... He IS a vampire. So you keep wondering if he's really as trustworthy as he seems.
The other characters were great too, whether they were friends or foes. The MC's bestie was kick-ass and I loved her. I hope there's lots more of her to come. She doesn't mind her best friend being a coward; she loves fighting bad guys and protecting her friend. There's a blood doll who helps the vampire survive without having to hurt innocent people. There are suspicious, shady characters galore. And a champion that may not be the hero everyone thinks. Oh, yeah - and the jealous girlfriend. That whole subplot was a riot and yet touching. I'm not used to seeing the type of relationship where a girl doesn't want her boyfriend to even have a male friend, she's so possessive. That was interesting.
There were a lot of side plots and I loved how they were all interconnected by the end of the book. I had no idea how things were going to turn out and kept turning pages, wondering what was going to happen next. This book had so much going on. We had a NOT-A-CULT, a special-ops kind of unit, monsters running amok, people shapeshifting before our eyes, explosions, assassins...even fraud. lol I mean, it was just such a fun romp and I can't wait for more. I will definitely be reading the second book and I cannot wait for it!
At first I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this read because of too many parallels to my own childhood. I grew up on a farm and I did not enjoy any aspect about it, the early mornings and nonstop work and being located in such a remote area we couldn't get cable TV (internet wasn't even a thing at that time). I didn't want to read anything remotely similar and expected I might give up on the book before giving it a fair chance, but the writing was so good and I became so invested in the characters and their story that it never occurred to me to stop reading. I wanted to find out what Jo's grandmother's mysterious letter meant, when she told her she was leaving her all her property and belongings and that it was her duty to care for them. I wanted to know the full story behind Jo's dad's alleged mental illness and his kidnapping her. I was desperate to learn more about the people on the farm, why they behaved so strangely and what secrets they were hiding. I chose to read this book based on the beautiful cover alone and didn't really pay attention to the synopsis, and I had no idea what was coming.
The full first half of this book is an introduction to the characters and hints about their backgrounds. Jo is the lead, a teenage girl whose grandmother has left her everything in her will. But her mom and stepdad tell her under no uncertain terms that the farm must be sold because it's worthless. Jo has a couple years before she's of legal age to own a house, so it seems she has little choice in the matter. She and her mother go to inspect the property, have a realtor provide some information on the value of everything, and to clear out whatever is just garbage that needs getting rid of, since the house is anything but tidy, filled with expired food and piles of laundry and even rat droppings.
I thought the characters and their relationships felt incredibly real and they were realistically complex. Jo has a typical teenager's relationship with her mother. Her father died and she has a stepfather she doesn't think cares for her at all, and she has feelings of jealous and spite over the fact that her mom is pregnant and she'll have a much younger stepsibling to contend with. Her mom's family comes from money, and they have blatant racist feelings toward her deceased father (who was adopted), which makes Jo self-conscious about her own skin color. Her paternal grandmother is the one that is leaving everything to her, and Jo has conflicted feelings about that situation because she hasn't seen her grandma in so many years, and her memories from childhood days spent on the farm are blurred but she thinks her grandmother may have beaten her. It was interesting to see her memories come in focus as she spends time on the farm and begins to relieve some of the events from long ago.
I liked exploring the farm and the nearby town with Jo. It was driving me crazy how everyone seemed to know the Big Secret except Jo and her mother, and I wanted to know so badly what was going on. I had my own suspicions but they were way off the mark. I couldn't have predicted how dark the story was going to get after the halfway mark.
The second half of the book has Jo realizing exactly what her grandmother was protecting and what is at stake. The situation is far graver than she could have guessed, and she has to do awful things that are so beautifully written that you can feel and empathize with her as she goes through the new tasks set before her. There were moments I felt her terror and remorse.
I felt the story wrapped up beautifully with Jo accepting what her life's purpose will be, and trying to make amends with the people in town and on the farm that she's put in danger. I loved how her relationship with her mom and stepdad evolved as well. The story had dark moments but in the end you really feel hopeful that everything will work out. I loved this book so much and would love to read more of this author's work in the future!
New favorite romance!
Somebody said this book was about people who fall in love via the Post-it notes they leave for each other. I thought that sounded unique and fun. Somebody else said the book was boring because it's just a bunch of tedious Post-it notes and the couple hardly sees each other. That made me wary. Turns out neither of those things was true.
Yes, for the half the book the main characters only communicate via Post-its, due to their work schedules keeping them in the same small, one-bedroom apartment at different times. But they do end up at the apartment at the same time unintentionally, and once they meet, they carve out time for each other in their busy lives and they spend pretty much the entire second half of the book together in person.
The romance was super cute. Tiffy is an extrovert with a unique fashion sense who loves her job and her friends, and has an emotionally/psychologically abusive ex who can't seem to stay out of her life. Leon is an introvert who has a hard time putting his emotions into words, but he loves his family fiercely, and is at odds with his girlfriend because she isn't fond of his brother. Opposites attract, as they say, but what makes them work is that they accept one another, baggage and all, and work together to solve any problems that arise.
What took me by surprise and really made me love this book was the cast of characters. This was such a well-rounded story and while it is a romance, there was a lot of plot that I found myself seriously invested in. Tiffy is very slowly coming to realize that just because her ex, Justin, didn't physically hurt her, he was still abusive. And she is noticing that wherever she goes...there he is. Is he stalking her, or are these run-ins truly the coincidences Justin lets on? Leon has been with the same girlfriend for forever, but both of them begin to question why he invests more time into work (at a cancer ward) than into their relationship. Tiffy has an amazing friend group and I loved them all so much! She has a gal pal she can gossip with at work, and two besties who love her like family. Leon's younger brother is in prison, and Leon truly believes it's for a crime he didn't commit. Tiffy's and Leon's lives intersect because Tiffy's friend Gertie is a lawyer, and Leon's brother's lawyer is worthless. Additionally, Leon is trying to help one of his terminal patients find his long lost love, a fellow soldier from World War II, and enlists Tiffy's help...partly to take her on a date to the coastline. And you really come to care for all these people and hope everything turns out all right.
I liked how everyone in their lives were shipping Tiffy and Leon together, before they'd even met. It felt like the whole world was rooting for them, and made the epilogue extra sweet. I liked the jealous ex angle, and the major misunderstanding towards the end that totally shook the story up. I loved the angsting! Tiffy and Leon are so cute together, and there were lots of side characters, too, that helped forward the plot and flesh it out so it all seemed real. Honestly, I liked everything about this book! I want to read everything of Beth O'Leary's now!
SPOILERS!!!
Full disclosure, I usually avoid religious material like the plague because of my own relationship with Christianity in the past, but holy hell, this was a fun romp and I didn't find it triggering at all! Yes, this is the usual good versus evil as in angels vs. demons, god vs. satan kind of situation, but what made this a safe space for me all the same was the fact that the characters in the book are not bible-thumpers; they take the lord's name in vain and the whole thing was actually pretty irreverent and cheesy in the best kind of way and I loved every page of it! Also, because the focus is on Catholicism and not Southern Baptism where I come from, that helped me put some distance between my background and where the story actually takes place.
I loved all the characters and relationships in this book, so much! Main character Mica's parents are gone but she is very close to her grandmother, with a bit of teenage angst and rebellion thrown in there for good measure, and I loved the way they could fight but still respect and love each other. I loved Mica's friend group (Zee was my favorite, because she was very "out there" but still loyal and sweet) and their interactions, and how they were all their own unique people with their own interests and hobbies. Mica and Rage are into tae kwon do; Zee is into crystals; and Barry is a farmboy who loves his pigs and cows. But even though they're all so different, they would fight to the death to protect one another. They were just such a great cast!
Love interest, satan-spawn Sam was awesome. I fell for him, too (I mean, the guy introduced Mica to her favorite author! Who wouldn't fall for him after that?) and I have to admit I was hoping the whole time that he and Mica would work out. I guess I had a hard time seeing Mica with Rage. Their blossoming romance didn't make much sense to me. It almost felt like Mica would fall for whomever showed her a little attention when she changed her affections from one boy to the other. Or maybe I didn't like their romance because Rage came across as creepy-possessive the instant Mica got a boyfriend. Rage was probably my least favorite character. I liked him more towards the end of the book. Once he felt secure in his relationship with Mica, he was less alpha-male and more best-friend material. Maybe he felt something was off about Sam, but it came across more as he thought he owned Mica and she wasn't allowed to date anyone else, which was gross.
This book went places I really did not anticipate! Animal sacrifice, hail satan, full throttle! I loved how everyone just started sprouting wings and trying to kill each other. I had a great time with the streets of lava and especially the mannequin coming to life at the diner. It just went absolutely batshit crazy towards the end of the book and I loved every minute of it. There were moments in this book that made me laugh out loud, and there were some that were genuinely scary. It was just so good!
So glad I had the opportunity to read and review this book in advance. I loved it and would love to read more by this author, and more from this series (if it becomes one).
Really enjoyed this! The beginning and end were the best parts. It did slow down in the middle and I found myself a little bored, but the real action starts at the 70 percent mark and doesn't let up.
One of the best things about the way this story is written is that you can imagine anybody you want as the main character. Their gender is never specified and their name is unisex (Jamie) so you can have the story any way you like! That's the first time I've seen that done. Very cool.
I loved the characters and the plot. The setting was especially fun. Loved the way this book concluded and decided it was worth five stars. I'd like to read this again some time!
Got an arc from NetGalley, so that's what my review is based upon. I'd be happy if any book boxes end up doing special editions because this is something I would enjoy reading again!
I really loved everything about this book! It felt spooky and isolating, but still modern and feminist. I loved all the characters and the way the story was told by rotating the focus on characters individually by chapter. The writing was just beautiful, though I did see the phrase "stuck like a burr on a sweater" twice. I think more metaphors like that one would have solidified the Midwest setting a little more. I wasn't sure I really bought that they were in Kansas based on the characters' use of language. If not for the tornados and sunflowers, they could have been anywhere. But on the whole the writing was so excellent. I felt like I could picture everything perfectly in my mind, whether the characters were in a flower shop or an art studio.
I enjoyed the way the story unfolded, with the girls recalling things that happened in the past, leading up to the present. The scenes felt like clues to help the reader figure out what's really going on, however implausible. The action scenes felt tense leading up to the climax and I had grown so attached to the characters, I was anxious to see what would happen.
I thought this was a fantastic supernatural mystery with a touch of horror and the feeling of true crime. I would love to read more from this author, especially on the same themes! This book was unpredictable and quite unique.
I am so glad I didn't listen to the naysayers. I can't find a single booktube video saying any good things about this book, but the cover caught my eye long before I heard any hype or controversy about the book or author, and I said to myself...fuck it. I'll read it and form my own opinion. And in the meantime I bought the B&N edition with a bonus chapter (though I'm not sure where I put it so I'm currently having a meltdown about that) and found a reasonably-priced set of the page overlays from someone online. Now, though, I've found out there are also pins on cute backer cards, stickers, and bookmarks. And I have a need... Luckily I thought to follow the author on Instagram (I rarely use that site) and she's signing/personalizing books and including pins with orders, *and* announced there will be more info on Monday about page overlays and who knows what else. Excited!!!
Now on to the review.
I loved this book from start to finish. I will say it is very fast-paced; blink and you'll miss something. There is no filler, and there's plot-relevant action on every page, so you have to pay attention.
I loved the worldbuilding. It's complex and intricate, and closely tied to the characters and story. Everything is beautifully interconnected.
One thing I definitely need in a story is a good romance, and this one was exactly the kind I want. The main character has an instant attraction to one of the characters, and their chemistry is undeniable. But there's another character she repeatedly butts head with and they can never seem to get along, and yet... I definitely had a favorite and the way the story concluded for them had me crying happy tears. It was beautiful!
For the most part I found this book to be unpredictable. There was one plot twist I saw coming from the very start but that did not lessen its impact or my enjoyment of the story.
The characters were so much fun. The heroine has so many secrets and is keeping them from so many different people, even from herself. Her life is on the line, but so are the lives of her people and her friends. You're never sure who can be truly trusted and who's just using her for their own benefit. The story takes twist after turn and leaves you eager for the next chapter.
I loved reading about every corner of Lightlark, from its seaside cliffs to its forests, from its hidden libraries to its bustling marketplaces. This is some of my favorite worldbuilding from any book I've read. I wanted to stay in Lightlark forever! I cannot wait for more of this series. I want to watch the romance blossom and see more secrets revealed. This book was a complete story and could be a standalone, but it definitely leaves you craving another visit!
Oh...this was not good...
So, the book is called "ski weekend," but there's no skiing. There's not even a ski lodge, which was what I was expecting. I thought a murderer was going to be chasing them through the woods and through their lodgings, but no. For 70 percent of the book, six teenagers are sitting in a car that can't move because of snow. Practically the whole book. They are not getting picked off, one by one, as the synopsis implies. None of that. None of...anything, really.
The whole book is them arguing about food rationing, flirting, and bullying each other over eating disorders and religious beliefs. Well, basically they're bullying one girl about both of those things and I didn't like it.
There is a Chinese-American character who randomly curses in Chinese here and there, and the main character translates everything for the reader, which did not make sense. Did she study Chinese? Did her friend teach her some bad words? Why even put that in there, seriously... They also nicknamed her "Ada Wong" because that's the name of a Chinese-American character from a horror video game and her boyfriend (the main character's brother) is a horror fanatic. And nobody seems to mind this casual racism...
The main character volunteers at a vet clinic and one of the boys in the car was in Boy Scouts or some equivalent, so a lot of the book just reads like a boring survival guide. "Don't eat the snow or you'll get dehydrated; melt it and drink it instead." etc.
The whole thing was so lighthearted you really feel no sense of danger or impending doom until 70 percent of the book is over, and they suddenly decide it's gonna be each man for himself and abandon the car and head out in opposite directions and die...or not.
I'm really just not sure what the point of this book was. It was not scary or exciting, unless you think reading banter between six teenagers is entertaining. There was no lesson learned at the end, unless you want to treat this book like an actual survival guide...which doesn't seem like a good idea since characters died while following it, anyway. lol
This was bad. I really love the snowed-in-at-a-ski-lodge trope so I expected at least that, but it never happened. Just six kids trapped in a car, drinking beer and smoking weed and arguing. Bleh.
Oh... Oh, no... I was so excited when I saw this, since I grew up watching Jessica's adventures in crimewriting and crimefighting, but I chose to ignore the negative reviews and give this a chance. Unfortunately, the plot is convoluted and nonsensical and there's nothing reminiscent of the Cabot Cove we all know and love in this book. Aunt Jess is bedridden and under special care (though she does make an appearance or two). (The main character's grandfather was one of her nephews but we don't know which one.) Cabot Cove landmarks such as the police station have been torn down and rebuilt to be sterile and officious. There is no mention of the docks but there are a couple cliffside scenes, but a lot of the story takes place in the woods or in unfamiliar neighborhoods and schools.. Basically I'm saying I didn't get a nostalgic feeling about anything.
The story was very confusing. The main character seems to have a heroine complex. She wants to "fix" everyone. Her best friend Jackson is treated unkindly by his parents so she wants to make him go to teen group therapy with her. Later, she tries to solve a decades-old murder and also find out what happened to currently-missing teens from her school. Meanwhile, she's in therapy herself because her mom died when she was a child and she's dealing with anxiety issues. Her character description was contradictory, though, in that she believes her only friend is Jackson, yet when she doesn't show up to a party, everyone notices and she gets a string of texts from girls from her school, begging her to come. It didn't make sense...
The main story is that our main character, Beatrice, is trying to make Jackson go to therapy and he never shows up. (When you find out why, you'll be mad, I guarantee it.) So she goes on a crusade to figure out why teens, especially her best friend, have gone missing. She posts her thoughts anonymously on a blog she doesn't own and meanwhile pretends in real life that she doesn't even notice he's gone. Which made no sense to me... Her anonymous article throws the whole town in an uproar, because some people don't believe teens are missing at all, some think there's a government conspiracy, and some think the parents are behind it all. And all of that turns out to be true in a bizarre link between seemingly unrelated events that happen throughout the story. I was listening to the audiobook with my wife and kept having to pause it to compare notes to try and keep the story straight.
We have missing kids, a 1980s cold case, a teens-only mystery scavenger hunt, and an evil Homeowner's Association cult going on at the same time. And the way these things get linked together at the end...man, it just ticked me off. lol It made no sense and felt so forced. I really liked the way the characters themselves were described (especially Frankie, B's dad), but the plot was nonsensical. I'm mad I spent time reading this, to be honest. lol I don't think this author is a mystery writer and that should have been the essential element in a Murder She Wrote spinoff series. I am disappointed.
This book reminded me a lot of "For a Muse of Fire," and not just because they had the same audiobook narrator, though that was an interesting coincidence! Both series feature a main character with an uncommon ability, and an uncommon strength at wielding it. In "The Bone Witch," that power is necromancy. The main character discovers she has the ability to raise the dead by accidentally resurrecting her dead brother at his own funeral. I loved the brother/sister dynamic and the fact that he was a walking, talking zombie through the entire book. I loved every instance of necromancy, but elemental magic also exists and maybe we'll get to see more of it later in the series.
There was a great cast of characters in this book. There's a mystery to solve and I didn't guess the culprit at all, so I enjoyed the lack of predictability. I liked all the characters and liked how the heroine's rival had a sort of a redemption arc. The LGBT rep was well-done and I liked how the characters fought against bigotry and how that fight became a part of their journey.
One of the most interesting things about this story was the way it was told. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire." The main character is telling her story to a bard. There will be a brief segment of them interacting, then a longer chapter of her backstory, and this repeats again and again till the end of the book. I really enjoyed the way it was done.
Most of the story was about the main character undergoing geisha-like training. She learns a little bit about her necromancy, but spends a lot of her time (after a grueling initiation period during which she acted as a maid) learning combat skills and how to entertain with music, singing, and dance. She has interactions with other servants while she is one, then interactions with other entertainers as she's inducted into their sorority. I liked how her brother followed her around and had a special bond with her, as he's technically her familiar. Theirs is my favorite relationship in the story up to this point.
There's not really a lot of romance so far. The main character has a crush on a prince, which seems it might be requited, but it really goes nowhere in the first book of this trilogy. It's hinted that things are going to take quite the dark turn and I am so here for it! I can't wait to see how this story continues to play out.
This was not as good as I'd hoped and I know exactly why. Instead of being called "The Haunting of Miko" it should be called "Miko Sees Spirits and Her Best Friend is Busty." Half the book was about Miko's best friend's ample bosom. I wanted horror and I felt like this was more comedy. Every time the girl ate, she and Miko would make comments that "all the calories will just go to your boobs!" Every time they brushed each other or hugged, they'd make comments about "the squish." On and on.
The only actual element of plot was when Miko tried to wear prayer beads to ward spirits away from her, but when a powerful spirit came close, they broke. She visited a fortuneteller, who gave her the most powerful beads in her possession, and they still broke in the presence of the ghost. So the old lady gave up her career and Miko gave up on prayer beads.
The rest of the book is her going about her daily life but encountering grotesque spirits at every turn. Which would have been quite scary and good if not offset by boob jokes every other page.
There is a fantastic plot twist at the end, though, that makes me interested in continuing. I'll try one more volume to see if the ridiculousness dampens or persists.