shellballenger's reviews
495 reviews

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I was scouring Spotify for an audiobook that I would be able to finish before I ran out of reading hours.

Overall rating: I have mixed feelings about 'The Asylum Confessions.' To start, it's absolutely not written as a bingeable read. The end of each chapter is the exact same, 'if you figured out who I am, you probably know where I'm drinking, come find me for more stories.' I know the premise of the book is that they are going through and talking with different patients and getting their stories, but the way that it's being presented is just horrible. What was a feeble attempt at conversational comes across as segmented, choppy, and repetitive. I'm not sure if these were all originally written as short stories and then put together into a larger publication, but I wish that there was some editing to make it all flow a lot better. The chapters don't have to be connected, but for pete's sake, don't write the same thing four times and expect it to keep my attention.

On top of all that, these are some of the most boring serial killers I've ever met in my life. Some of their stories had a few cringe moments, and there are definitely parts that make you think and react, but overall, 'The Asylum Confessions' is a try-hard that needed to try just a bit harder. I also hate it when the authors tell me how I'm supposed to feel (ex., books saying something is hard to read, or something would make me cringe, or anything along those lines) and don't just write it in a way that MAKES me feel like that. So maybe I'm not really mixed on my feelings...I'm disappointed with 'The Asylum Confessions' because I feel like it had such potential but it was just absolutely squandered. I wanted to like this one so badly!

Reader's Note:  'The Asylum Confessions' includes themes of cannibalism, medical content, BDSM, death, murder, rape, physical assault, sexual assault, pregnancy, stillbirth, child loss, and religious trauma.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: Reread. I have a Hemingway obsession, and I won't apologize for it.

Overall rating: I will not apologize for my 100% biased opinion that Hemingway is wonderful (as a writer, we won't get into him as a human). While 'A Farewell to Arms' isn't my favorite of his, it's so easy to get lost in the cadence and tone of the story. For me, it's always going to be the beautiful mundanity of Hemingway's writing that pulls me in. It's raw. It's real. It's not over the top or extravagant. He has a way of making the everyday of someone else something I want to peek in on and be a part of. Again, I fully acknowledge my bias and absolutely don't give a shit. I'm very happy to have reread 'A Farewell to Arms.'

Reader's Note: John Slattery's narration is absolute perfection. 'A Farewell to Arms' does include themes of war, death, dying, injury - including injury detail, and blood. It should also be noted that the original publication year of the book was 1929. Times have changed from 1929 to 2024 and certain phrases, terms, and imagery that were once unquestioned may have a different response as we have grown and learned as people.

Type of read: Weekend/Lunchtime Read.

What made me pick it up: '25 Days' was a suggested read in my Book Club for the month of December. It's set up with 25 chapters, so you can read one chapter a day until Christmas. I enjoyed that style of reading last year when I did the Dracula Daily reading challenge and thought this could be another fun one.

Overall rating: Is '25 Days' great? No. Is it horribly bad? Also no. (Just kind of a little bit bad, but it's short so it's nearly forgivable.) Here's the thing: I ended up reading as quickly as I could because I was annoyed by the one-chapter-a-day mentality. There's not enough substance in the chapters to make it worth it to string this one along until Christmas. I do think that Jacobsen planned too much to have people read a chapter a day because the flow felt a bit choppy. I wondered if that was the writing or if it was the translation. I did like that the story followed multiple perspectives (mom, dad, and two kids), and I thought - at least for the length of the book - they did a great job of giving enough background but not making it too complicated. But at the end of the read, it kind of felt like something that was created in a college creative writing course where you're given a different prompt or requirement each week and then expected to make everything come together to make one finalized story in the end.

Reader's Note: '25 Days' includes themes of death, murder, assault, kidnapping, stalking, torture, and general fear/anxiety.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: Seemed oddly fitting for our world today. Additionally, I'm using it as my book for the TN R.E.A.D.S prompt of reading a book by or about a medical professional. I know I'm taking some liberties with the medical professional piece of things, but mental health is important, and I can read what I want. 😝

Overall rating: I'm not normally a big self-help book girl, but something about 'Languishing' stuck out to me, causing me to rent it from my local library. Like with any self help book, I don't think what the author writes on the page is the end all be all. If we could all be 'cured' by a single book, what a world it would be. I do, however, think it's up to us as readers to take the little nuggets that we read and apply them to our own lives to be the best person we can be - to ourselves and others. There's a lot to slog through with 'Languishing' but I do think that Keyes has a few golden nuggets that I will take and apply to myself. While I'm not sure that I agree with Keyes that if you're not flourishing, you're languishing, I do see why Keyes put it on a spectrum like that, and I think I could use that spectrum for a more focused self-check-in. But realistically, I don't think emotional, mental, and physical well-being are great on a limited linear spectrum.

Overall, I felt like 'Languishing' was dense and a little short-sighted with the approach that being a good human and working on your own languishing/flourishing cycle is as simple as changing your mindset and being aware of your surroundings and the reaction to those. As Keyes should know, for some individuals, that is simply not chemically possible without the assistance of outside help (drugs - prescribed or otherwise, counseling, therapy, meditation, etc.)

As I saw some other reviewers say - please do not take your health advice, especially that of what medications you should or should not be taking - from a random self-help book you picked up to read. Only you and your doctor can make the decisions on what is working for your body. As an individual who actively takes store-bought serotonin, I fully know I'm much better of a person when I take that little pill than I am when I don't. <b> Do not let a random author tell you what to do with your medical needs simply based on an overgeneralization that selfishly supports their own research and viewpoint. </b> I do have to add, for some of the research and studies Keyes included in 'Languishing,' I found myself wondering what the control was, what the length of the study was, if long-term studies had taken place, and how measurements - specifically for things that are as obtuse as feelings and emotions - where scaled and weighted.

Reader's Note: 'Languishing' is a "self-help" book that openly talks about mental health, mental health struggles, and the various side effects of poor and/or untreated mental health including things like self-harm, negative self-talk, or suicidal ideations, suicide, etc.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I read 'The Never King' and was not a huge fan, but my book club has convinced me to give St. Crowe another chance with 'The Dark One.'

Overall rating: Nope. Just nope. I can't do it. I can't do another one of the books in this series. I feel like St. Crowe needed an editor, beta readers, and just a whole lot of help to make these books make sense. There's truly a great baseline story here, but it's so garbled and full of dick that there's no substance.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good spicy story, but when it's 95% spice, 3% reliant on a childhood favorite tale, and 2% actual writing (that seems like the first draft of a creative writing paper), I just can't get behind it. The only reason I'm thankful to have spent time reading 'The Dark One' is because it was a super quick read and is helping me get one step closer to 100 books for the year.

Reader's Note: 'The Dark One' includes themes of sex, assault, kidnapping, light bondage, choking, injury - including injury detail, and death.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I stumbled across the Black Dagger Brotherhood in early 2024 with Darius (Book 0), and I got sucked into this crazy, cracked-out, sexy, throwback-feeling world of vampires fighting something more evil than themselves.

Overall rating: Zsadist's story was one of my favorite of the series so far ('Lover Awakened') and I'm happy that Ward wrote a novella to help bridge the gap between what's happening in the series and what's happening in the Zsadist/Bella saga. I had wondered after reading 'Lover Enshrined' with them talking so much about Bella's pregnancy how they would connect that to the world but not make it a main focus of 'Lover Avenged.' 'Father Mine' was an easy, quick read that further builds the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood and I'm all here for it.

I know I've said it before in previous reviews for this series, but I feel like I just have to say it with each book, this is just a good escape read. You don't have to think too much about it, you don't have to try and keep things straight (Ward does a great job dropping little reminders at the beginning of each book and throughout so you keep the characters and their traits straight), and you can just dive into a (slightly dated) world of sexy vampire warriors. I'm here for it.

Reader's Note: 'Father Mine' includes themes of death; dying; consensual sexual activity; violence; kidnapping; torture; murder; sexual assault; and character recollections of physical and sexual abuse. I also have to add that there are some audio narration inconsistencies between this and previous books.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I started The Inheritance Games series back in 2022 and have finally been able to get my hands on book #3 from my local library.

Overall rating: I do wish I would have had a bit of a refresher on the first couple of books before I dove back into the world of the Hawthorne's but Barnes did OK getting me up to speed in the first few chapters of the book (still not like a super great recap, so if it's been awhile for you, read some Cliff Notes). Overall, I enjoy the Inheritance Games series. I think it reminds me a bit of Percy Jackson* with the antics and the POV and that's why I originally got into the first and second books of the series. 'The Final Gambit' wasn't bad. It all felt very anti-climactic, though. It was nice to have closure on the series, but I feel like Barnes spent more time on the fluff and less on the actual substance of the story (which ultimately led to that anti-climactic feeling). Not mad that I read it, but I feel like the series deserved a bit better final chapter.

*Percy Jackson will always be a favorite, and honestly, The Inheritance Games doesn't touch it in terms of top books in my world, but the vibes are similar. 

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I stumbled across the Black Dagger Brotherhood in early 2024 with Darius (Book 0) and I got sucked into this crazy, cracked-out, sexy, throwback-feeling, world of vampires fighting something more evil than themselves.

Overall rating: 'Lover Enshrined' takes a bit of a left turn from Ward's typical storylines focusing on just one of the brothers. I feel like while this was definitely Phury's story, we got so much more. It was almost a connector in the series to help tie all of the pieces together from the first five books. If you're expecting this to focus solely on Phury, you're going to be completely overwhelmed with the amount of info and characters we're following through 'Lover Enshrined.' Phury, Zhadist & Bella

and their baby girl

, Cormia and The Chosen, John, Lash, Blalock, Quinn, Rehv, Xhex, and let's also throw in the entire Glymera for good measure. There's honestly so much happening in 'Lover Enshrined' that it's hard to do a review without giving anything away. 'Lover Enshrined' follows in Ward's traditional writing style; we've got fighting and blood and guts, but there's also love and sex and fantasy. We've got world-building and character development. Overall, not mad. It's not my favorite of the series so far, but I'm not mad. (I'm also just not a huge Phury fan so that could be why I was a little less interested.)

I know I've said it before in previous reviews for this series, but I feel like I just have to say it with each book, this is just a good escape read. You don't have to think too much about it, you don't have to try and keep things straight (Ward does a great job dropping little reminders at the beginning of each book and throughout so you keep the characters and their traits straight), and you can just dive into a (slightly dated) world of sexy vampire warriors. I'm here for it.

Reader's Note: 'Lover Enshrined' includes themes of death; dying; consensual sexual activity; drug use; drug abuse and addition; violence; kidnapping; torture; murder; sexual assault; and character recollections of physical and sexual abuse. 

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: Book Lovers United Book Club pick for November 2024.

Overall rating: Do you want a quintessential fall book? Something that screams 'Hallmark movie'? A book that is almost so cliche you might gag a few times? Then have I got a deal for you! 'The Pumpkin Spice Cafe' is what you're looking for. Here's the thing: This is not a bad book. It's cute, warm and fuzzy, and there's a bit of spice, but it's not going to make you blush too much. It's just very...simple. I felt like the writing style was simple, the storyline was predictable (yeah a few tiny twists, but nothing super surprising), and that I'd met most of the characters before. It also felt like Gilmore was trying to put so many character quirks and oddities in that they forgot about the actual substance of the characters. All that said, obviously I finished the book in two days, so it didn't totally suck.

Reader's Note: 'The Pumpkin Spice Cafe' includes themes of consensual sexual activity.

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: I read 'Priest' and thoroughly enjoyed it so it seemed like a no brainer to read 'Sinner.'

Overall rating: I'm going to start by saying that I really appreciate that while this is the second in the series, the books are more stand-alone and you don't <i> have </i> to have read 'Priest' before this one. Although, I do think it helped to have the backstory and information from 'Priest' as I went through 'Sinner.' Consequently, 'Sinner' answered some of the questions I thought were left unanswered in 'Priest.' As I said with 'Priest' the spicy scenes are written very well. 'Sinner' definitely has more of a teacher vibe between the FMC and MMC as they explore each other, which, isn't really my vibe, but it did make sense with the storyline.

Spicy content aside, there is an absolutely beautiful conversation between Sean and Tyler about sexuality, worthiness, hurt, and sins about a third of the way into the book (I forget what chapter specifically, but it's in the 10-12 area). I feel like for those of us who were born into and grew up heavily steeped in the church, it gives a perfect explanation of why we might feel the way we do about sexuality and sexual acts as we work to find ourselves, specifically as sexual beings.

Overall, not mad I got sucked into this series. I'm still not positive if I'll finish the series and read 'Saint.' The tropes aren't really my style and I don't want that to hinder my enjoyment of the book, but I would not be opposed to picking up more from Simone in the future.

Reader's Note: 'Sinner' includes themes of suicide, religious trauma, sexual assault and rape (related to the main character's backstory but not actively part of the sexual scenes in the book), and consensual sexual relationships. There is an age gap between the FMC and MMC (21 to 36); however, consent is HUGE in 'Sinner.'