mel_c_bell's reviews
661 reviews

It is rare that a book renders me completely speechless but there I was driving to work, chilling, listening to this audiobook and my jaw dropped. No spoilers, just gag.

Trent and his wife and son move into a new-build home in some out there suburb, but like, their house is the ONLY ‘finished’ one. 🤔 🚩 Anyways, apparently Trent is on some type of trauma leave from his law firm because a coworker went ‘postal’—this feels more like a set up for what’s about to happen rather than a major plot point. Shortly after moving in Trent’s testosterone levels just go through the rough and he quickly morphs into the epitome of toxic masculinity. But hold up—there is some strange 💩 going down and things really aren’t what they seem.

I found the juxtaposition between the super dark bouts of male rage and the humor of the pure ridiculousness of it all. POV swaps between Trent and his family, I believe, work really well for this story.

Listen, it’s gross, it’s violent, it’s disturbing, and it sometimes involves children and/or animals. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall, I enjoyed this book A LOT and can honestly admit some parts ‘scared’ me.

Damn, did this scratch a moody reader’s itch! A quick and spicy monster fckr full of breeding, fated mates, pregnancy, good old fashioned stalking, super feral wolf man who is also a cinnamon roll, and an FMC who just wants a connection.

Give me an author who doesn’t give a F what tropes are mainstream and I will read their entire collection. 

This book is to the point, raunchy, and ridiculous. I loved every damn minute of it. Read it in one sitting, could not put it down and now I want more.

Oh, and lots of knots :)

For real, this book should just be titled "Why Women Choose the Bear, but Not All Men.

I asked my husband to choose a book from my physical TBR because I was in a mood. He grabbed this one and said, "Sounds kinda wild, and the cover is cool". Honestly, I think he just snatched the first one he saw 👀

Well, he did good because I loved every moment of this book. I think it's a bit on the slow side BUT not in a 'bad pacing' way; more like the story needs to be slowed down to let the reader feel everything. Goose and Roo, older sister and lil brother, live with their mother and disabled aunt in a commune-type set up in the redwoods of northern California, which was established in the mid-1800s by a woman escaping her husband. The community is meant for women and only allows a few select males. After an unexpected death, the commune's safety and secrets are at risk.

The first few pages remind me of those funny video shorts where the comments say, "It just keeps getting weirder the more you watch." *inserts Stepbrother's gif of Will Ferrel saying, "What is this? What's happening?" And, before you start saying, "Well, this sounds too strange," Nah, stop, come back—this is what draws you in and shackles you until you finish the book because you need to know what happens.

A great coming-of-age story and a hard look at the idea of "If we protect ourselves by shutting the world out, does that really help?"

I mean...RH shifter omegaverse (with no knots) that leans in hard on the primal kink. It is what it is, does it well, and doesn't try to be something that it isn't. 

My only complaint--and I think I understand that it was done to set up the rest of the series--is there are a lot of 'side plots' thrown at us that either feel neglected if not downright ignored. I'm undecided if I'll continue with the next book.

This book had me gagging in the most confused way because the reaction would start before anything graphic happened and/or a lil after the event was described. You're probably wondering how that even works or makes sense. I don't know, it is what it is.

But, I'm telling you, I love these pseudo-docu-horror type novels. We have "Thin Kid" narrating his experience filming an indie-college-pbc type horror film in the 90s--which actually starts to feel more like some CIA social experiment-- and then his mini-rise-to-fame era after some clips from the original filming are released on YouTube. Along with the first person narration we get to sit in on the table read of the reboot. I listened to the audiobook and the table read portions are 'chef's kiss.'

Everything seems fairly legit up front but then little hints at something way not cool are casually dropped on us and we're just left like "Wait, what?" By halfway through we are definitely like "WTF?" until the last chapter when we have to pause, look around the room to make sure everyone else is hearing this too, hit play again, finish and just stare blankly through the credits. 

👀 uhhh 😳 OMG

If Zoje Stage has perfected just one thing, it's making me insanely uncomfortable. But, like, so uncomfortable that I can't stop—I need to know what happens so I can move on with my life.

Baby Teeth, I hated Hanna, and I think most readers of that book would agree, but damn, I felt for her hard in this book. The letters back and forth, I kinda had a feeling something was fishy there because Hanna couldn't be fully 'fixed,' no way.  So, so, so close Hanna 😔

I read this in one sitting because, like I stated earlier, I can't stop until I know. 

I'm not really sure what I expected, but it definitely wasn't what I got. I loved every page. Any book that can keep my attention is 🤌🏼 and while the story and plot are hectic A F, I couldn't get enough. 

So Gabe's friend's mom is killed, page 1 lessgo. Now, this friend, Bimbo, is like, we gotta get justice for mom, and the whole friend group is like, bet. But wait, there's more: a major hurricane is on its way to their island (Puerto Rico). Is Gabe's friend asking too much, or are they ride or die?

I really enjoyed how Iglesias incorporates Spanish and Spanglish into his writing—and don't freak out if you don't know Spanish. It's done in such a way that the context makes it clear, or he just adds in a translation. Also, there is a lot of Caribbean culture and spirituality woven in, which gives it a truly robust feeling like any of the crazy stuff getting thrown at us could be real. My absolute favorite thing about this book is that the author is unflinching—some wild things happen and we're not given time to think about it too much because we have other places to be in this plot.

Warning: maybe don't eat and read at about 30%.

The OG zombie story as we know it; sh*t hits the fan because gubment, that sh*t gets out and destroys the world—but of course, we got the mf'ers that are like, "You can't keep me down!" so naturally, our story is with them.

The first chapter is perfection and should be taught in all creative writing classes. I know many will disagree with me, but idgaf—fight me—the ending is also 🤌🏼 and had me all in my feelings, staring at a wall 😳. 

When we think everything is as sh*tty as it's gonna get, here comes the gubment again to make sure we all experience the real definition of sh*tty. I'm sure this storyline will be rough for sensitive readers, but I respect Keene for not holding back and letting it be as raw as it is.

I don't want to spoil anything because I will bully everyone I come across into reading this book, but, a word of warning: Don't get attached to nobody 🙂‍↔️.

This is a reverse harem omegaverse and nobody wanna do omegaverse things 🤷🏻‍♀️