lilibetbombshell's reviews
2642 reviews

Have you ever woken up in the morning and just had this feeling inside telling you something is wrong or off? A feeling that whispers instinctively to be on guard? Something is coming. 

Camilla wakes up the morning of June 21st and instinctively knows something isn’t right. She can’t pin it down, but it’s about an hour before her world is about to change forever. 

I’m a huge Gillian McAllister fan. Her thrillers are impeccably crafted: suspenseful, propulsive, engaging, treacherous, and filled with some of the most excellent twists and turns I’ve read. One of the things I love most about her books, though, is how accessible they are for readers. In my opinion, Gillian McAllister is a thriller writer that’s fantastic for any level of thriller reader. If someone asked me what author I’d recommend to someone who’s just starting to read thrillers, I’d recommend McAllister over any other author. Likewise, I’ll never stop telling experienced thriller readers to read her books too (if they haven’t already).

Domestic thrillers aren’t usually my jam unless there’s feminine rage involved, but I can’t resist how utterly human McAllister crafts her characters. I cried a lot in the first half of this book as I sympathized with Camilla and her complex emotional processes surrounding her husband, her daughter, and her life in the wake of the events that unfold in the beginning of the book. I teared up for the sake of her daughter and what her future might be like. I got angry and frustrated and anxious, too. 

The blurb for this book had the good sense to stay vague, and I’ll stay vague as to the rest too. Rest assured, McAllister wrote another banger novel and I loved every page. 5⭐️

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Triple POV

💣 Literary agent protagonist

🍒 Cop protagonist

💣 Anonymous protagonist

🍒 Two time skips

💣 Maternal guilt

🍒 All he left was a note

💣 Bad things could happen to me

🍒 Being a cop is an antisocial job

💣 Everyone on Earth wants something

🍒 Instinct vs. rules

💣 Is this my fault?

🍒 There was Before and now there is After

💣 And just like that you fall apart

🍒 Am I being watched?

💣 Constantly conflicting emotions

🍒 Books: One of life’s great comforts

💣 You can’t solve everything by just Googling it, sadly

🍒 A hidden code

💣 There’s McDonalds everywhere

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Crime Thriller/Domestic Thriller/Suspense Mystery

Have you ever come across a book that was simultaneously one of the most disturbing and most beautifully written you’ve ever read? 

I’ve only felt this way about one other book, and that was Nabokov’s Lolita; and like Lolita, Creep is so much more than it seems on the surface, sharing that same dark vein of satire and caustic examination of capitalism and beauty standards, combined with lush, decadent prose that unspools into ribbony sentences that then fold into these decadent paragraphs with amazing texture and imagery.

Our protagonist, Alice, is a study in displacement. She feels she is not enough of one thing or another–consistently caught in the middle of two worlds in every manner but one–therefore she is no one and nothing. She’s not light-skinned enough to pass for caucasian but not dark enough to pass for being West African. Not poor enough to be considered pitiful and worthy of sympathy but not rich enough to go to a posh school and be popular by virtue of money. Not dumb enough to not work but not smart enough to get an excellent job. Most of all, Alice feels painfully overshadowed by her thin and beautiful sister, who has always excelled at everything Alice fails at. 

Alice could be almost anyone working in the gig economy today, and there’s the dark thrill of it all. She could be your DoorDash driver, Uber, dog walker. In Creep, she’s in your home and she’s cleaning your house. She’s lonely, she’s lost, she’s curious about your life, and she can poke and prod through your entire apartment without you knowing what she’s touched. She has the time to make up stories about you based on your social media and what’s on your walls, your fridge. She empties your trash. I can’t think of anything more terrifying, and yet I’ve never felt like someone needed a hug more than Alice. 5⭐️

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Erotomania

💣 Delusional protagonist

🍒 Sentences so pretty they might make you cry

💣 She was lit major

🍒 Un coup de coeur

💣 Internalized misogyny

🍒 Eating disorder

💣 Violent thoughts

🍒 Shaping your world around him

💣 You must hide who you are or no one will ever love you

🍒 Imaginary anniversaries

💣 Toxic parenting

🍒 Imagined slights

💣 Really holding a grudge

🍒 Superstitions & magical thinking

💣 Self-harming

🍒 Ingestion of questionable materials

💣 Being tested

🍒 Visiting the old folks home for entirely selfish reasons

💣 Jane Eyre is not the best model for a great romance

🍒 NGL, there is a good bit of grossness

💣 Desiring to be small and stay small 

🍒 If I had been less me and more…

💣 Touch starvation

🍒 It was love, don’t you see that?

💣 Oh the possibilities!

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Literary Fiction/OwnVoices/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Women’s Fiction

Do you know what you’re supposed to do when you come across a new civilization that’s never  been touched by industrialized society? 

Well, it’s obvious that the opposing confederations in the background of The Fourth Consort don’t care about provincial notions like “observe and report”, because there’s a new planet in town and they’re both eagerly vying for its hand in…friendship. Sure. Let’s call it that. I’d call it evolutionary interruption, but violations of the Prime Directive really rile me so I may be biased. 

The Fourth Consort is a relaxing and enjoyable read that I feel is probably going to be better in audio than it came across in text. It’s got a bumpy first half but a darkly exhilarating second half that kept me reading when I otherwise might have felt compelled to put the book down. I found it dry and witty in the best way but wanted something more from the moral and philosophical discourse. While I enjoyed being in Dalton’s head, I didn’t always feel connected to his motivations as a main character. At times I was there with him, sure I was on the same page, and then there would be large swaths of the books where I didn’t understand why he was making the choices he made. As a whole it was a great plot and a slightly above average read. 3.5⭐️

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 A translation device developed based on BBC broadcasts

💣 Stay alive, prevent your foe from winning friends, and wait for help

🍒 You know what they say about assuming, right?

💣 “So you’re sending me into the middle of an alien city, in the company of a known hostile, alone and completely unarmed.” Okay then.

🍒 Do you want to be a spaceman?

💣 What if you are the bad guys?

🍒 Try not to get eaten

💣 Prey vs. predator philosophy

🍒 What are the qualifications for a good interstellar diplomat anyway?

💣 Extreme views of honor

🍒 Polyandry plus misandry 

💣 Darkly funny brother-husbands

🍒 Misadventures in mistranslation

💣 There was no discretion in that valor

🍒 Some words you just can’t take back

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

“I was good for nothing but blood.”

In more than one way, this quote sums up Lenore’s whole existence. Borne of aristocratic blood but an orphan due to a tragic accident, her blood is what secures her an advantageous marriage. Her blood is also the source of all her pain, disappointment, and fear. For Lenore, being a woman is a horror show and her body is her nemesis. 

It’s 1888, and Lenore is heading to the countryside with her husband for the summer, back to the lands in the north where his steel foundries are located. He’s bought an estate named Nethershaw and means to have it restored in time to host a shooting party in two short weeks. Even though Lenore considers herself a master conductor of household matters, she doesn’t know if she can pull off such a feat. She feels set up to fail, even as she must also play hostess to the mysterious Carmilla, a strange woman they rescued from a crashed carriage on the road. 

This book feels slightly like An Education in Malice had a baby with My Darling, Dreadful Thing with a Bronte sister surrogate and I’m not mad about that. The prose is so lovely, flowing lyrically and evocatively with a strong sense of what it wants to be and what it wants to accomplish. Dunn has a strong narrative voice that comes across in everything: word choice, character voice, world building, and her obvious love for the source texts she drew inspiration from. It all just comes together so brilliantly into this rich, gothic, romantic horror tapestry. I found myself absolutely immersed in this story from beginning to end. 

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Lots of Victorian etiquette

💣 The horrors of being a woman in Victorian England

🍒 Girl, I’d keep laudanum on me too

💣 Lots of yucky food

🍒 “Who we are is more than a series of dates and legalities.”

💣 Needing more from life than pain

🍒 Haven’t you ever done something naughty?

💣 Everyone has dark impulses

🍒 You are not responsible for your spouse’s behavior

💣 Suspicion vs. knowledge

🍒 Only showing a desired reflection

💣 “I am not buying what you are selling.”

🍒 The power of having the upper hand

💣 Wanting isn’t selfish

🍒 Life owes you nothing

💣 This place isn’t the same without you

🍒 Anger is easier than fear

💣 Primal want

🍒 Joyful vindication

💣 “Should I survive this?”

🍒 When all else fails, improvise

💣 I’m just a woman, after all

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Gothic Fiction/Historical Horror/Horromance/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/Literary Fiction/Sapphic Romance/Vampire Fiction

How many pieces of yourself would you be willing to sacrifice for the ones you love?

The Antlered King is the second half of The Raven’s Trade duology. The book begins four years after The Gilded Crown with Hellevir, our protagonist and resurrectionist, traveling from town to town through the Chron, making her way as an herbalist until she settles down to winter in a small town in the mountains where the business of the Crown eventually finds her once more and drags her back to the capital (thankfully, not in chains or as a prisoner). 

Four years is a long time for some things; for other things it’s no time at all. 

I adored the first book in this duology so much, but I think I love this book even more. I was so angry with the characters in the first book: at Hellevir for her naivety and Sullivain for being so toxic. This time around, I understand them both better and why they made the choices they made. It may not have made me like Sullivain any more than I did before, but it made me more compassionate toward her. The back half of this book made me sob like I don’t think I have in a long time, outside of mental breakdowns.

Gordon just continued to grow and enrich the world of the Chron between the first book and this one: the mythology, cities, magic, characters, and more only became more interesting and detailed, filling the book with dark fantasy and warfare in the place of the toxic romance and court intrigue from the first book. 

Above, under, and around it all is Death, serving as Hellevir’s counsel, conscience, and disciplinarian. It is he that stands in line with us, watching and waiting to see what choices will lead to the end. 

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Hunger causes pain

💣 “What does Death have to be ashamed of?”

🍒 Random riddle solving with story bonuses

💣 I’m going back to the start

🍒 Wildest dreams being the sweetest torture

💣 This time things will surely be different, right?

🍒 War only benefits those in power

💣 Absence makes the heart forgetful

🍒 Religious persecution

💣 Siblings fight all the time

🍒 Treasonous plot hatching

💣 You can’t save everyone

🍒 Sometimes the best thing you can do is remove yourself from the game

💣 Grieving for what might have been

🍒 Just because you say something doesn’t mean people have to listen

💣 Don’t lose what makes you…you

🍒 A god of blood recompense and the embodiment of second chances

💣 Faith has to be earned

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Duology/Dark Fantasy/Kindle Unlimited/Sapphic Romance

Fantastic LGBTQ+ romance. MMMM. Book one in a trilogy. Action/assassins/mercenaries/cops/black ops. Absolutely brilliant dialogue. Top tier spice. Great characters. 

If there are two positive things I can say about Ciccarelli’s writing, it’s that her worldbuilding doesn’t disappoint and her plots are always intriguing when you read the blurb. 

My problem with Ciccarelli’s writing is everything else about it. 

I love the idea behind the Crimson Moth duology, and I love the world. It’s all well thought-out, creative, accessible, and fun. The plot is great, in theory. However, there were a great many issues that started in Heartless Hunter that not only carried over into Rebel Witch but also burrowed further into the characters and relationships and made the book almost unreadable. 

I had issues with the chemistry between Gideon and Rune in the first book and those concerns deepened more and more as this book progressed, until I felt like they had less combustion than wet cardboard. The way this book needed to come together to reach its conclusion ended up relying on twigs and strings and a good bit of “because the author said so” and I couldn’t help but feel as if it was all very forced. 

I hope someday Ciccarelli learns to writes characters and story as well as she builds worlds and plots. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley and the SMP Early Readers Program. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or lower will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

I’ve come to realize that even though the angels of the Hopeless Blessed series are violent and naughty, they’re still the more emotionally mature MMCs when it comes to Lark Taylor’s paranormal protagonists. 

Zeke and the Seraphim were the best of the best when it came to God’s soldiers, and protecting humanity meant knowing humanity. This makes all of them so endearing when it comes to understanding Sam, a human who Zeke met via an online game who ends up needing refuge and finds it (unknowingly) with a squad of supernaturals who all have their own damage and personal traumas. 

Devoted is a slower burn than a good bit of Lark’s books, but don’t mistake slower burn for no spice at all. Zeke and Sam have filthy mouths and minds and put them to good use in the meantime. Their romantic attachment grows quickly, even if it’s kept close to the heart because these two volatile men have been through too much to risk breaking completely. I found the sentimentality to be a touch too precious for my tastes, but I know others will love it. 

Plus, there are Ferry and Harlow cameos, and I never turn down a Harlow appearance. 

I was provided by the author via The Author Agency. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Disability Rep/Gay Romance/Kindle Unlimited/LGBTQ Romance/Paranormal Romance/Spice Level 2/Urban Fantasy