kelsbookzone1's reviews
279 reviews

Thank you Kensington and NetGalley for access to an early release copy. 

Of course Mom fell for a cult; wait, are we falling for one too? Suspicious emails send our New Yorker family down a path of a perfect Victorian home too cheap to pass up in a small town of Georgia. Of course, there’s more to the house and town, with haunted children and dreams. 

I liked that the Billie main character was unreliable; I’m assuming she is meant to be unlikeable, due to her recklessness of others and selfishness but it made me like her. When the neediness kicked in though, I could have done without. With little tidbits and hints regarding her mother and their current relationship, it didn't really add to the story even thought the mother was the best character. I would have enjoyed a little bit more development on Peter; he was written as an outcast of the family, paranoia but not really a reason why. Like something would have needed to build it up before even moving to the town for it to be believable. Maybe a couple of flashbacks of their marriage so the possible triangle felt more developed, even though his storyline played out exactly like I thought. 

Maybe because I’m not a big romance reader, the love triangle idea and insta love I could do without. I would have preferred more detail to the horror ideas and elements instead. Then the added random couple of racist comments, when I still wanted development on previously introduced items, felt forced and unnecessary. The main character would reach conclusions that weren’t set up to reach. And it couldn’t be paranoia, as that wasn’t set up as part of her personality.

There’s a lot of ideas but not as much follow through I would like. Would have liked this better if a little simplified and focused. Even though this book falls for some bad tropes/stereotypes- like tell people everything over the phone, not I’ll tell you when I see you in an hour- but the last 30 % was fun and I did enjoy the ending.

Even though the plot plays out pretty expectantly, I enjoyed the way the author combined the helicopter mom stereotype with the whole horror/mystery aspect 

Thank you to NetGalley and Galaxy Press for access to an early release copy.

An unraveling 30-something, with glimpses of how we got here and internal dialogue, Gia told in first person follows a routine of job search, overdue rents, and nightly cries. The only solution: a sugar daddy and a… fetish? Go into this one blind.

Gia’s beginning is a sad tale, with glimpses of some depression, post traumatic stress, and some OCD that doesn’t get really explored once the horror truly begins. The author does include trigger warnings at the beginning, which I appreciate and thought was best. The thought of treating dating as survival, felt pretty realistic and the appreciation I had for the quick turn of what she was really looking for in a date. I loved it. What this novel grows to, is unexpected.

This is a good read for a novella, if you enjoy self reflection and a detailed journey of it. The darkness that can come from your lowest points and just looking for that glimmer of hope and the spiral that can take you over. This story packs so much into so little and is a hard read- don’t let that cover fool you; this is creepy and disturbing. Splatter punk type horror readers only.

Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for access to an early release copy.

Smitten and giddy, Claire decides to surprise her fiancé at work with a lunch date that only she can do- I mean, what’s a better way to celebrate their one year anniversary? However, Claire’s smile drops as Noah’s co workers asks “who?” and her whole world comes crashing. 

Who Claire is, is obvious from the get go, with the way her conversations go with co workers and her repeatedly mentioning not becoming her mother. Like maybe genre this romantic thriller instead. With the reader deciding between reality and delusions, I don’t really see this as a twist as more subtlety was needed. I do feel like the author showed a lot of sensitivity and empathy for the character too, maybe too much from other characters. I enjoyed the back half of the story much better

The Claire dialogue was a rough read, written more like a perspective of a child. It was a smart choice in making it fast paced, as it didn’t leave the reader having to reflect on the not mystery of it all. Although I appreciated the originality with a lot of this story, I was not a fan of the epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine publishing for access to an early release copy.

How I love a good opening line. It’s the island of Capri and it’s only filled with lies. This gives me feelings of the characters of Succession vacationing on White Lotus, an intriguing mystery of mostly rich people. But if you do not want a story of rich people behaving badly, stay far, far, away. 

There is one outsider on this rich people’s paradise, Lorna, an assistant and POV, someone described as being all ears and a listener, so you know which pov will have all the secrets the others are trying to hide. The other POV is Helen, a somewhat friendly acquaintance, maybe even friend, of Lorna, but Helen is still the rich girl on the inside who knew how to play the game. The two, tied together by their own mischievous plot and secrets; But then Lorna allegedly disappears.

Both pov were mostly enjoyable, with some charm and likability less and less as it went on; Helen not quite so poor little rich girl, and in each pov, a slow unravel of secrets. A very by the formula type of book. The details would get too wordy at times, as a character would reach the point the reader was already at and would slow the pacing down. Because the point of views were similar, i almost didn’t want Sarah’s flashbacks, as they almost read the same as Helens but in a different timeline. I would have liked more flashbacks for Helen and Lorna, their interactions and supposed friendship development. Hints of darkness here and there but it took too long to feel like it was really doing anything. The pacing for this was just off. 

And trying to feel sorry for rich people, isn’t my favorite storyline. A mostly written well thriller, with predictable twisty moments. Being so slow, the hints are just way too obvious.

This had no business being this good. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for access to an early release copy. 

In a society set up with no safety net, where do you turn when your life has no other options? Maybe Craigslist for a possible roommate… seems perfect… huh, get the title? But Pip, as she likes to be called, shows up with some unexpected baggage.

If you liked stories like Single White Female, this is a little that vibe. Except our main character is pretty much a moron. The reader finds out within the first 30 pages of this story every reason why Pip and the unexpected baggage shouldn’t stay but she kept her around. And I mentally rolled my eyes if I could put up with an almost 300 page story of this level of intelligence. When the main character finally starts using her common sense, the flow of the story starts to pick up a little and a mystery intertwines them even deeper. But it takes about 30% to get there. 

With the lack of character build up and likability, it left the mystery feeling mid at best, due to not really caring about all those involved. Unfortunately there were some claims the author made in the story, from the idea of squatters rights to unemployment, that could have been corrected with research that I couldn’t get passed. Trigger warning for bad mental health representation- saying you have anxiety without displaying any of it up to this point, should not be included; then throwing in a panic attack and abandoning the description completely. This book would have benefitted from more character development and some research from the writer.

Written beautifully from the outsider perspective of Jordan Baker, it wasn’t as much of a reimagining as I wanted. It overall felt like the same story, some magical elements that never really felt explored or committed to

Thank you NetGalley and Tiny Reparations for access to an early release copy.

Dr Nadia Amin travels to Iraq with the goal to de radicalize Isis brides- Dr Nadia was unlikeable, flaky, and shallow for the first half and I disliked her immensely; then her entire character arc changed to someone who seemed to care. The beginning of the story almost felt disjointed from the rest and anytime the main character was written as proving she was a funny cool girl, never felt transitioned in. Just random. Like there was growth sporadically with the character but I never really got to enjoy the journey of it.

The reader gets to know Dr Nadia from her progress with Sara,  as well as her past relationship with Rosy. Which Rosy felt very underdeveloped and unnecessary for the most part. More than anything, when the author relayed the stories of her characters in the camp and why they were there, it felt the most genuine and honest. And the way the complexities of it all rolled out in some conversations in the end, felt like a very big a ha moment for Dr Nadia and perhaps the reader too.

I liked the plot, but not so much when it tried to force the humor.  Did people really say “I find you banging?” Like failed attempts at millennial lingo in places. The thing is, I really started to enjoy this one when it would finally flow naturally. It was the moments were it felt like it was trying too hard that would pull me out of - trying too hard to be funny, too hard to be cool. It would unfortunately stagnant the flow of the story from lack of consistency. I recommend reading the authors note at the end, it was interesting learning where her knowledge and inspiration came from.

A beautifully creative fantasy, speculative fiction. Great imagery. But did have a slow start and had to go almost 50% of the way in to get hooked