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A Victim at Valentine's by Ellie Alexander
4.0
I have come to adore these cozy mysteries, I admit this wholeheartedly! In case you’re new to my blog, I picked up Alexander’s first installment in this series on a whim through my library and fell hard for them. Everything about these stories is a love letter to small town bookshops, and Agatha Christie herself. While some of them are a little more exciting than others, I’ve had a ton of fun following along with this series. Rest assured that I couldn’t wait to see what the crew got up to on Valentine’s Day.
We open on the preparations for a grand matchmaking weekend, that is being sponsored by one of Hal’s long time friends. George is a philanthropist, and a beloved member of the town. It seems that all he wants to do is support women owned businesses, and to help others find love during a romantic weekend. What could possibly go wrong? Yes, yes I know you’ve already guessed murder and you would absolutely be right! In the midst of a holiday dedicated to love, our Annie must focus her attentions on solving yet another crime.
Now, can I please gush for a minute about how much I loved this concept? Alexander writes the cutest activities for the couples to do while they attempt to find love, and it just added so much to the rich backdrop of this story. I already look forward to visiting Redwood Grove whenever a new book comes out, but now I feel like it’s starting to become a second home for me. Plus Annie attempting to solve this murder, while balancing her research into her best friend’s death and her budding relationship made it all the more exciting to follow along with her. Our girl was stressed, but this book made her resilient personality shine.
If you’ve ever read a cozy mystery series before, you know that they’re pretty formulaic. That’s part of the charm. You always know what you’re going to get. In this instance though, I will admit that I didn’t figure out the culprit until right before the ending! And that felt very cool to me. Alexander does an excellent job of leaving just enough clues (and red herrings) to really get the reader invested. The vibrant cast of characters turned suspects was glorious. I flew through this book, and enjoyed every minute of it.
So far this series has been pretty solid for me. I’ve not rated a book below three stars, and this particular one I’m happy to award with four stars because a lot of forward momentum happens. I see big things starting to happen for Annie, both good and bad. I simply cannot wait to see what these books have in store for me next.
The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
I feel I must start by admitting to you that I 100% picked this book up because of the cover. I purposely didn’t read the synopsis beforehand, because I wanted to be surprised by the contents. Pleasantly surprised, I was! The Resurrectionist is a historical fiction novel set in a fascinatingly dark period of Scottish history. Our protagonist James has left his comfortable life to explore his passions elsewhere which, of course, takes a fair amount of money. Money that he does not have. And so, our unsuspecting James ends up embroiled in a dark underworld, full of secrets.
Ah, this book. It was the perfect blend of friendship, intrigue, forbidden love and just downright darkness. I found myself scrambling after reading this to read the history from which this book was created. Here was a time period where studying the human body could only be done on corpses, and those corpses were only supposed to come from “acceptable means” such a prison deaths, suicide, or orphans who had no one to claim them. Of course this led to a shortage of bodies to be studied. Enter: the resurrection men.
Dunlap did such an excellent job of building James as character. As cocky as he could be at times, you could see that really all he wanted was to find purpose and acceptance. He was portrayed as a friend that was loyal to a fault which, as you might suspect, is what got him into trouble in the first place. When “Nye” entered the picture, and the beginnings of adoration began to blossom, I knew that our poor protagonist was doomed. The things we do for friendship are one thing. The things we do for love? Quite another.
The Resurrectionist does an excellent job of bringing the dark underbelly of this time period to life as well. From the apartment that James resides in, to the pristine school he studies in, down to the depths of the graves where corpses were snatched, every bit of this story comes vividly to life on the page. What I really enjoyed was the fact that at no point did this book lag. There were points where the writing felt a bit heavy, I do admit. However that didn’t stop the overall flow of the story. I was rapt from beginning to end.
If you’re looking for a story that balances the light and the dark, the clean world against the gritty one, I highly recommend giving The Resurrectionist a spot on your reading list. I enjoyed this immensely, and I’ll be back for whatever this author writes next.
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Ah, my first 5-star review of the year. Let me tell you, I was supposed to be writing a review for another book today but no. No, this book is stuck in my brain and it refuses to leave. We Used to Live Here started out as a regular haunted house book, and then it evolved into something more. Something sinister and fascinating. I'm not over this, and so I'm going to review it for you. I beg your pardon for rambling, in advance.
After Eve decides to let a random family who "used to live here" into her house for a tour, everything goes sideways. Now if you're asking yourself why on Earth she would do that? Same. I know, I know, it's a typical horror story setup. Our narrator has to make a few bad decisions or there won't be a story to follow. Kliewer is at least kind enough to set up our girl Eve as a hardcore people pleaser, so she has motive. Rest assured though, I did yell at the book and therefore, by default, her.
As I said above, the story does start out as your typical haunted house novel. Mysterious noises, dark shadows in corners, and really REALLY eerie interactions with the family who has invaded Eve's house. The book does an excellent job of building a deep sense of unease. I was unsure of whether Eve was even a reliable narrator. Was she seeing things? Was she losing her mind? That, my friends, is my favorite kind of horror story feeling. There's nothing better than feeling like you can't quite get your footing, and that a twist might be around any corner.
And oh, OH twists there were. I absolutely will not spoil this for you. You have to dive into this book yourself, and let the madness take you. What started out feeling pretty cookie cutter, soon turned into something that I really wasn't prepared for. I was sending updates to my sister as I was reading this and I think one of them was simply, "Things just got WEIRD." and yup, that about sums it up. Kliewer opens up the trap door to the depths of this house's lore, and you just fall straight into the darkness with Eve.
Now I will warn that this book doesn't exactly wrap things up neatly. I know a lot of readers out there like everything explained, and hate ending a book with vague unknowns. We Used to Live Here doesn't care about that at all and honestly I was okay with that. I truly believe it actually added to the whole vibe of the story. If you embrace this fact, I promise that you'll have a good time. Also if you're asking yourself, is this a scary book? Well, I'm a bad judge of that because I read a LOT of horror and I'm pretty desensitized to a lot of things. In my opinion it was definitely unsettling, and very creepy. Your mileage may vary.
After Eve decides to let a random family who "used to live here" into her house for a tour, everything goes sideways. Now if you're asking yourself why on Earth she would do that? Same. I know, I know, it's a typical horror story setup. Our narrator has to make a few bad decisions or there won't be a story to follow. Kliewer is at least kind enough to set up our girl Eve as a hardcore people pleaser, so she has motive. Rest assured though, I did yell at the book and therefore, by default, her.
As I said above, the story does start out as your typical haunted house novel. Mysterious noises, dark shadows in corners, and really REALLY eerie interactions with the family who has invaded Eve's house. The book does an excellent job of building a deep sense of unease. I was unsure of whether Eve was even a reliable narrator. Was she seeing things? Was she losing her mind? That, my friends, is my favorite kind of horror story feeling. There's nothing better than feeling like you can't quite get your footing, and that a twist might be around any corner.
And oh, OH twists there were. I absolutely will not spoil this for you. You have to dive into this book yourself, and let the madness take you. What started out feeling pretty cookie cutter, soon turned into something that I really wasn't prepared for. I was sending updates to my sister as I was reading this and I think one of them was simply, "Things just got WEIRD." and yup, that about sums it up. Kliewer opens up the trap door to the depths of this house's lore, and you just fall straight into the darkness with Eve.
Now I will warn that this book doesn't exactly wrap things up neatly. I know a lot of readers out there like everything explained, and hate ending a book with vague unknowns. We Used to Live Here doesn't care about that at all and honestly I was okay with that. I truly believe it actually added to the whole vibe of the story. If you embrace this fact, I promise that you'll have a good time. Also if you're asking yourself, is this a scary book? Well, I'm a bad judge of that because I read a LOT of horror and I'm pretty desensitized to a lot of things. In my opinion it was definitely unsettling, and very creepy. Your mileage may vary.
Thanks for Listening by Molly Horan
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
I can't deny that it was Mia's ace rep that put Thanks for Listening on my radar. As a book club organizer, I'm always on the lookout for books that highlight all parts of the queer community, to give as recs to my members. The fact that this was a YA book made me especially happy, since it's nice to have a wide range of stories to share with different age groups. It's true that I also saw a little bit of myself in Mia. I too, was the friend who always wanted to fix her friends' problems and would often give us little bits of myself to avoid conflict. I was also the person who was always willing to give advice, but never willing to take it myself. I'm sure this book is going to resonate with a lot of readers out there for the same reason.
What I really liked though, was that Horan allows her characters to show some realistic growth within these pages. Mia finds a person who helps her blossom, and start to understand that her friendships may not be the healthiest. She learns to stand up for herself, and actually communicate her feelings. Younger me so needed a book like this, and so I see a lot of good here. Especially because Horan's solution isn't to cut Mia off from her issues, but instead to show how she can work on them.
Now I will say that even though the book is written from the POV of high school, this book is written in what felt like a younger voice. Which felt a little odd, since there are mentions of sex. It also bothered me a bit how oblivious Mia seemed to be about anything related to dating. I know Mia's character was ace, but I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't be able to spot a potential date when she was in high school and best friends with people in a relationship. Still, I can admit that it did make for some cute scenes so I was willing to keep reading on.
To wrap things up, this was a cute read but it just felt a little younger than I was expecting. I liked the messages about friendship and evolving, and really like Mia. The backdrop of high school theater was so well done. It made me smile more than once! For all those reasons, I'm happy to award this book a solid three star rating.
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
3.0
Okay, here’s the thing about me. I am not afraid at all of a long book. If there’s the promise of a good story inside of that menacing looking tome, I’m happy to dive right in. That being said, even I was slightly taken aback by the sheer length of The Bright Sword. I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but I know that there is plenty of Arthurian lore to pull from out there. Still, what magic could this book hold that required so very many pages? That’s what I was determined to find out.
The beginning of the story centers on Callum, a young man who is Camelot bound and determined to become a knight of the round table. He was the type of character that I could get behind. Callum was full of grit and grace in equal parts, while still feeling relatable because of his deep worries about actually being good enough to become a true knight. For the first few chapters, I was hooked. I especially loved when Callum first met the remaining knights of the round table. Broken though they were, you could tell why each of them had managed to get to this place of honor and how much they truly loved their former king.
I also really loved the fact that Grossman gives the reader ample time to meet each of the main characters in turn. As a reader, there is nothing that makes me happier than a good backstory. With his signature witty writing style, Grossman unveils the history behind each of our famous knights. We get the opportunity to see what made them the strong, capable, and also of course deeply flawed men that they are today.
However, here’s where my complaints about this book begin. The backstory portions were lovely, but they didn’t really flow with the overall story. There is a constant flipping between present day and the past, but not in a way that feels cohesive. It almost felt like the knight’s stories could have each been their own novella, while the main story continued on with Callum’s journey in the new Britain that is now missing its king. Even worse, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves, it truly felt like nothing these poor, brave men did actually mattered at all. I suppose that does somewhat stay true to the original King Arthur lore. They often set off on trivial quests that seemed to come to nothing. In this context though it just seemed to add a lot of unnecessary length to the overall story.
Which brings me the answer to the first question I had at the start of this book: what could it hold that made it so long? The answer is, a lot of rambling quests, and so very many heavy explanations. The Bright Song started to drag for me about halfway through, and I only kept on because I’d already made it to the halfway point. Happily, things did pick up towards the end again! It just felt like too little too late.
I love Fantasy novels. I love big worlds, sweeping magic systems, solidly written characters and the type of character development that makes you fall in love with the person you’re following along with. Whether the book is only 200 pages or 800 pages, as long as I feel the payoff is worth it I’ll keep going on forever. In this case, it’s my honest opinion that this story could have been much shorter and it would have had a much bigger impact. I’ll still happily award it a solid three star rating. Grossman is an absolutely excellent writer. I just think The Bright Sword tried too hard to pull too much in at once and struggled with the heaviness of it all.