ryinwonderland's reviews
850 reviews

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

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fast-paced

4.0

They are, in fact, in love. 5/5 on the Steam scale (lots of sex on the page, hot hot chemistry, lots of good consent and communication). Ali Hazelwood remains one of my faves. Also the male narrator on the audiobook sounded a little bit like Joe Goldberg, but without the stalker serial killer vibes, and it was very hot. 

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

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fast-paced

4.0

Insidious insomnia. Drug trials. Rats. Side effects. This novella accomplishes a lot in just a few pages. 
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A worthy sequel! This one has a government battle and more powers and another magical child alongside our faves from the first, and so so much more. It’s lovely and fierce. 
Come Closer by Sara Gran

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’m so grateful to my bookstore customer who told me to read this. It’s an incredible possession story from the perspective of the woman being possessed. Absolutely phenomenal, scary, unsettling. I couldn’t put it down. 
Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler

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0.25

That was unbearable. I could go into all of the details that made me hate this book, but I’d rather just forget I read it. 
Dark Restraint by Katee Robert

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3.0

This series is a blast. If you like the others, you’ll like this one! I love The Minotaur so much. So gruff, so violent, but he loves Ariadne so much. Beauty and the beast. 
A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

Crime Horror! A bank heist gone wrong, a buzzing shapeshifter, and long-buried memories resurfacing. This is a supernatural romp. 
Kill Your Darling by Clay McLeod Chapman

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

5.0

Grief. Pain. Sorrow. A father grappling with the unknowns surrounding the murder of his son takes a fiction-writing course to try to write himself some closure. Sometimes in writing you have to kill your darling. 
At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is a gentle evisceration. This book is grief and sorrow and trauma and pain. This book is anguish. This book hurts. This book is a fresh grave of agony with a promise of relief on the other side. 
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For a cis-het white guy with no kids, Grady Hendrix sure does nail pregnancy and childbirth.
This book is upsetting and horrific and heartbreaking and beautiful and cathartic and witchy and perfect. I loved it. I cringed. I cried. Grady hasn’t let me down yet.

Here's my staff pick review:
Grady Hendrix has done it again. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is set in a Home for Unwed Mothers in the 50s where a few of the pregnant teenagers discover real witchcraft, for better or worse. 

This book is upsetting and horrific and heartbreaking and beautiful and cathartic and witchy and perfect. I loved it. I cringed. I cried. 

As someone who has birthed two children, trust me when I say that Grady Hendrix somehow nailed the pains and discomforts of pregnancy and childbirth with terrifying accuracy. 

This book is gruesomely visceral in the best way. It might just be his best yet.