booksandbullies's reviews
834 reviews

 NETGALLEY ARC REVIEW 

"The truth is changeable, it contracts, implodes, it's powerful like a bullet. And it can be lethal"

She did it again folks. An absolutely amazing second novel by Bazterrica. I debated quite hard whether I wanted to give it 4.5 or 5 stars because I am quite stingy with my 5 stars.

The book is written from the point of view of a woman who is keeping a secret diary. The entire book is read through her diary entries. I know that is already going to be a hit or miss for some people, but I absolutely adored that we got to see whether portions were scratched out and how entries would randomly stop for various reasons that were always noted in the next entry.

It gives readers an intimate look in the development and evolution of a woman who was indoctrinated into an extremist cult set in a dystopian era after the world has essential ended and is practically uninhabitable. Our narrator is obsessed with the idea of joining the Enlightened and wants nothing to do with the unworthy who are considered weaklings. However, when a stranger appears, the woman is forced to face her long forgotten past and reevaluate how she views/understands the religion she is apart of and the Enlightened that she has been so desperate to join.

If you are not a fan of books that leave the reader in the dark, then this will not be the book for you. Most questions are answered, but as it written like a diary our viewpoints are narrowed down to only what the narrator knows or feels and there are times where she states she doesn't want to write about something because it hurts too much. However, she does end up writing about it, but it does take a while to get to that point.

Something that I do wish we would see Bazterrica start to do in her novels is creating more multi-dimensional side/background characters. At times her characters do start to feel a little one dimensional if they aren't in the spotlight. Overall though, the way Bazterrica writes is something that always captivates me and I will continue to read anything that she produces.

The Unworthy is an entry point to Bazterrica's work for people who are interested, but were intimidated or put off by the content of Tender is the Flesh. Though, it is still a horror novel that is written by the same author, so being prepared for some mild gore and other genre standard warnings are in full affect.

“The plain truth can be the hardest thing to see when it's about yourself. If you don't want to know the truth, you'll do anything to disguise it.”

An absolutely great read for middle grade or anyone who enjoys middle grade/children's literature. It delves deep into the subjects of what makes a home a home, loyalty, and the need to trust in others. The chapters alternate between Peter, the boy, and Pax's, the fox's, point of view. This is nice because it is giving reader's the understanding of what both characters are going through and their feelings. It allows us to see how they evolve as characters over time as they learn to navigate their new worlds. 

It is definitely a classic story of a kid and their animal best friend and I am glad I took the time to read it with my class. It opens up dialogue to speak of empathy and the importance of getting to know others despite your initial judgements of them.  

The first halfish does come across a little slow, especially for kids who aren't really interested in reading and only care about action, but that overall I really have no complaints. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone whether you have kids or not. 

“I don’t need another kink.”

Read this for book club and I'll be honest. It is a book I had heard about before, but hadn't intended on reading. However, I'm glad I did. 

It is definitely a dark romance, so heed the trigger warnings. There are quite a few. (I went into this blind and listened to the audio book so I had quite an entertaining moment hearing the extensive list being read aloud lol) 

I enjoyed seeing the nurse representation with our main character being Aly who works in the trauma unit. She was a solid lead character and gave us plenty of funny moments. Allen did a good job creating a truly complex and morally grey character to match Aly. However, Fred the cat was arguably the star of the show. Most of the best moments centered around the cat. Especially when Josh began to refer to himself as Daddy and how smug he was when he realized Fred typically disliked men. 

However, where it began to lose me was in the last half of the book. The first half was fun and I would have been pleased if that was the entire book. Unfortunately though, it did continue and while the second half wasn't bad... It just felt like a different book. I know Aly had a whole novel of kinks happening, but I do feel the author could have spent more time with the whole stalking thing or with Aly learning about Josh's past (a portion that felt a little rushed in my opinion) versus the extra drama that was slid in. 

Overall, it was a fun read as long as you like dark romance and smut. If you enjoy audio books I could recommend this one. The narrators did a good job and were part of why I liked it as much as I did I think. 

It was confusing and didn’t feel like there was a real purpose for why things were being done. 

“Stranger is interesting, but this guy I’ve known forever is the safe choice”