Late ARC Review | A New Lease on Death

3 stars

This was a rather interesting take on a mystery. It’s not quite a cozy mystery; it takes place in Boston instead of a small town and has its share of violence and drinking and such, which isn’t very typical of a cozy. But all the rest of the makings of a cozy are there, so it can still be called one. What makes it not a typical mystery is the fact that the main character, Ruby, lives in a haunted apartment. Her ghostly roommate, Cordelia, was the previous occupant who died before the novel begins. She is able to manipulate the physical world in small ways, and thus helps Ruby navigate life and murders.

The novel is told by both Ruby and Cordelia. I much prefer Cordelia’s parts; she’s in her 40’s, calmer, and with a better head on her shoulders. Ruby can be spastic and clueless at times, and she is quite young and immature, which definitely shows. The mystery is pretty straightforward – a neighbor of Ruby and Cordelia’s is murdered, and they team up in their own unique way to try and solve it. There are plenty of other characters, though none of them really stand out. You have the typical nosy neighbor, the distraught girlfriend (or girlfriends, in this case), family members looking for heirlooms. I’m honestly not sure that I could even name any of the other characters, though it’s only been a few days since I finished the book. They’re just that forgettable. It wasn’t quite as humorous as the blurb made it sound either. I wasn’t expecting laugh out loud, but there were very few moments I actually found funny at all. I was more exasperated over Ruby and the things she’d do and say. However, I was surprised at the outcome of the murder, which was a pleasant surprise.

I think this series has potential – it can be unique enough to stand on its own, it just needs a few things smoothed out.

ARC Review | When the Moon Hits Your Eye

4 stars

This book is about as ridiculous as it sounds. The moon mysteriously turns to cheese, and the world starts descending into chaos. There are some laugh out loud funny parts, but there are also some very serious parts with a surprising amount of depth, which you wouldn’t expect at the beginning.

The book follows a whole host of characters throughout the cheese moon debacle, with each chapter being a different day and a different set of characters. Some of those characters do show up again in later chapters, so we get to see their reactions as the situation about the moon changes. Some of the chapters are very light, with minor discussions about what is happening. Some of them are cute, with fate meetings involving cheese. Some are rather exasperating, involving a very Elon Musk-ish character deciding he is the most important person on the planet and he can do whatever he wants because he has the money too. And some are rather moving, with characters actually thinking about what is going to happen to them and the Earth. There are also plenty of cheese puns, and everything is delivered in Scalzi’s typical wit and humor. Any fan of Scalzi will enjoy this, along with anyone who enjoys a rather ridiculous sci-fi story.

Please Scalzi, never change.

ARC Review | Sucker Punch

DNF at 57%

I feel like I was missing something while reading this book, or that I was reading a completely different book than everyone else. Many other reviewers wrote that this was hilarious, touching, and relatable. I found it none of those things. I’ve been through my share of terrible events, as we all have, and I’ve found the humor in them as a way to cope and work through it. There was nothing humorous about how she wrote about her situations. I’m not sure how talking about her abusive marriage (in which she was very much a part of the problem) and being friends with her assaulter in a scathing, depressing way was supposed to be funny? She constantly talks about fighting, about how her parents fight with each other, how she fights with her parents, how she wants to fight with her ex but he doesn’t, how she wants to fight with everyone. This came off more as a very serious issue that she won’t deal with at all. In fact, that’s how pretty much everything came off as. She has many serious issues that she won’t actually deal with, except for trying to fight everyone and be as horrible and hateful as possible. Not for me.

Late ARC Review | Booked For Murder

2.5

This wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t all that great either. I think I expected a little more Southern atmosphere and a better execution on the plot. While the makings are there for a good book, it failed to hold up to that.

I struggled a lot with the main character, Madeline. She makes a lot of really bad choices and her personality made her hard to like. She puts herself in danger a lot as she believes the police are incapable at their jobs. I really should just say Billy, as he’s basically the only police officer we’re introduced to. She also takes issue with the fire department, and therefore feels as if she’s the only one who can do anything. Where all this animosity comes from doesn’t make a lot of sense, as it basically boils down to, “I knew Billy as a kid even though I forgot about him so therefore he can’t do his job as a cop.” Right. Though I couldn’t understand why there seemed to be so little involvement with the murder in the first place. There’s no coroner that shows up or detective to ask questions. The body is just removed at some point and everyone carries on. Madeline is never asked any questions about what happened that night and then wakes up the next day to carry on with her life. Very odd indeed.

The plot isn’t terrible, but it seemed like the author decided to throw in extra side plots to try and add to the story, when they really detracted from it. I grew frustrated at times at all these goings-on, as I wanted the story to get back to the real mystery. But the problem is when it got back to the real mystery, it involved Madeline doing some other stupid things to try and solve the murder. She rushes into things and puts herself in danger without really investigating anything. Instead of really trying to solve the mystery, it’s more like just throwing things around and seeing what sticks. There’s lots of accusations with no actual evidence, and then when the police ask for evidence, Madeline and her cohorts act like they’ve been accused of the murder themselves. Like I get that they live in small town, but this stuff really wouldn’t fly in real life.

I was pretty ready for the book to be over by the time the murder was solved. I was sick of Madeline and how she treated people and how things just didn’t feel like reading life. This might appeal to those who really enjoy cozy mysteries, but it wasn’t really for me.

ARC Review | The Otherwhere Post

4.5 stars

This was quite an interesting standalone fantasy novel. It featured a magic system I haven’t read about before, had a mostly unique world (more on that below), and a pretty solid set of characters.

The book features scriptomancy, a magic form using words and inks to bring the magic to life. I enjoyed reading about it, though I wish the book had gone a little more in-depth about it. The main setting is in Leyland, one of three worlds that are regularly discussed throughout the book, the other two being Inverly and Barrow. The worlds are parallel in a way, with each world featuring Gloam, the main city in the book. This part reminded me of the Shades of Magic series, where as there are different worlds that all feature a different London. There is a bit of traveling between Leyland and Barrow, as Inverly is lost, but the majority takes place in Leyland. Gloam feels just like its name; a gloomy, depressing city that people wish to escape. However, they can’t, as the doors between the worlds have been burned. The only way to cross over is by being a courier and knowing the magic.

While all the characters are pretty well-written, I enjoyed the interactions between Maeve and Tristan the most. There’s plenty of sass and banter which made their relationship so good. Maeve is a strong female character, and Tristan has a lot of depth to him that is released throughout the book. Other characters are introduced, and they each have their part and add to the story. It did keep me guessing throughout as to who wrote the letter and who was possibly the villain, which I enjoyed as well. It’s nice when a book makes you think and wonder.

The only problem I had really was that there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary filler. I would have liked a little more explanation on the worlds before or on the magic instead of some of the other filler we got. However, this was not enough to really detract from the story. Perfect for fantasy fans who enjoy standalones, unique magic systems, and good characters and plot.

Late ARC Review | Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear

2 stars

This series has been so up and down. The first few books were great, then they slid downhill, then they came back up, and now we’re back in a hole.

I feel like there was no editing to this, or only enough to cover the basics. There was tons of repetition and poorly worded sentences. There were random things thrown in that were never followed up on, and it was so heavy handed. Like I get that the point of the story was to show us that Nadya was fine without an arm. The only problem is there was no showing. We were told, constantly, on almost every single page for the first part of the book, how perfect Nadya was without her arm and how it was so unfair that her adoptive parents got her a prosthetic, but we are never really shown all this. I don’t need to be told on every page that Nadya is capable without her arm; I got it after the first couple of times. But I would like to be shown. As for the prosthetic, I know she didn’t want one and was very adamant about this and was so upset that she wasn’t asked if she wanted one. But then in her world she is gifted an arm and she’s just like, “oh yea this is pretty sweet,” and carries on with her new arm. After so many pages of being told she didn’t want one or need one and no one asked her opinion. But then she was never asked if she wanted one in her world. It’s acceptable though, because it was gifted? Sure. She also has a lot of nationalism for a 9 year old child. When she’s not talking about her perfect she is without her arm, she’s talking about Mother Russia and how she can’t believe Mother Russia gave her up and how she would do anything to return to Mother Russia. It’s way more nationalism than I’ve ever seen any 9 year old have (Russia is also an odd choice, considering). She also points out how upset she is about her furniture. Her adoptive parents picked out furniture for her before they brought her home, and she’s upset because she can’t see it as her furniture because she didn’t choose it. What child gets so upset about furniture? What child talks like this? I also can’t help but point out that if the author was so keen on reminding us that people need to respect others cultures and such, then she should have actually written about them correctly. I’m not an expert on Russia, but I do know enough about naming structures, namely last names. Nadya says several times that her Russian name is Nadya Sokolov, but last names in Russian that end with -ov decline to -ova for females. Her last name should have been Sokolova (if I’m missing some obscure or not well known fact about name structures, feel free to correct me; however, I’m pretty sure this is how it goes). The grammar for the Russian “Be sure” has been pointed out by others as not being correct either. I’m not knowledgable enough on the language to know if this is correct, so I defer to others who have said it’s not. But the point is, don’t shame people on not knowing or understanding a culture if you can’t write it correctly.

There are other parts that seem like lazy writing, or lazy editing, or both. There is a second child mentioned by Nadya’s adoptive parents. They claim to have adopted a son from China, but that is literally the only thing you hear of him. He’s never mentioned again. Did he die? Did they give him up? Did he grow up? We don’t know. But it makes no sense to mention a second child and then never mention him again, especially when the first part of the book focuses on the family. Later, in Belyyreka, we are introduced to Galina’s husband. What’s his name? I don’t know. He doesn’t get the honor of a name. He’s just Galina’s husband. Alexi more or less tries to kill Nadya, and then wants to marry her in the next chapter. There is no big objective to accomplish, no bad guy to vanquish, no trial to overcome. She just grows and marries Alexi with nothing in between. And then, she goes home. Nadya doesn’t do anything to get sent back. She just end up back in the real world one day, at about the same point she left, having de-aged from Belyyreka back to the age she was in the real world. It’s more like a fever dream than a lived experience.

I’m back to the point where I don’t know if I’ll continue with the series. I’ve hit this point before, and nearly did give up. But the last two books were good enough to reel me back in. It may depend on who the next book is about. We’ll see.

ARC Review | Dead Money

3.5 stars

This started off super strong. There was a good mystery that was relevant to the times. A good cast of characters. Technology that was pertinent. A setting that made sense. I was pretty engrossed in it until about 3/4 of the way through, and then it started to fall off. All the things that seemed so good in the beginning started wearing on me, and finally got to the point where I didn’t care as much.

The story follows Mackenzie, an investigator for a large and important venture capital company. She’s sent to help investigate the murder of the CEO of one of the biggest companies on the planet. She teams up with an FBI agent to help him navigate the tech world, while also updating her boss on the progress of the investigation. At first, everything was interesting and relevant. The victim was the CEO of Journy, a ride share company that could easily be swapped out for Uber or Lyft. It has its differences, but it’s more or less the same thing. The suspect list is small, the motivation seemingly obvious. There are some twists to all this of course, but it kept going at a good pace. However, it started grating on me as it got closer to the end, Petty people fighting over billions because they think they’re owed something in life? Eh. It didn’t help that some of them had to let you know just how special they were, because they worked in tech and had a minimalist house and treated everyone as if they were beneath them. I get it; it’s San Francisco and technology. Most people involved in that are insufferable. It also helped show how tech bros have ruined so many things. The Burning Man sections really hammered that home. And speaking of hammers, Hammer Angel is the dumbest name on the planet. Technology has advanced so much and brought so many good things to peoples lives, but at the same time it definitely has its downfalls, which I think more people are beginning to realize.

The ending absolutely was not for me. It made sense for how the rest of the story went, but I didn’t enjoy it. I feel as if I’ll be the outlier on that, but I could be wrong.

This will appeal to people who enjoy mysteries with a tech flair. It is well-written, and I think I would have rated it higher had it not been for the end.

Late ARC Review | The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

3 stars

I generally enjoy dual timelines, as long as both timelines are interesting and move the story along well. That was not the case here. The 1920’s timeline was way more enjoyable that the 1980’s timeline; so much so that I would occasionally skim the contemporary timeline to get back to the past. That isn’t how a story should go.

The story in the 1920’s was more gripping. The characters had more personality and the story was more interesting. The only problem I had with it was it didn’t always feel like the 1920’s. There would be times that I would be reading and forget that it was supposed to take place in the past, as there wasn’t always a very good description of the time. However, it was a much more enjoyable read in general as that was the only issue. The characters were a lot more mature in this timeline versus the 1980’s, which was surprising, as it should have been the other way around. I also enjoyed the setting more – 1920’s New York versus 1980’s Florida. It didn’t help that the parts in Florida almost all took place in a retirement community, so there was very little of Florida actually described.

When the story goes to the 1980’s, it immediately loses all its warmth and character. The people in that timeline are all supposed to be in their 80’s, but act as though they’re teenagers. Either the retirement community only lets in the absolute most fit 80 year olds on the planet, or the author wasn’t sure how to write 80 year olds. There were times when it almost felt like reading a YA novel. We deal with characters who can’t communicate, are jealous and catty, and even have a small love triangle at one point. Yes, really. I hate love triangles, so when that showed up I was less than thrilled. Luckily it resolves itself pretty quickly, though it really took me out of the story when I got to it. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for mentions of the retirement community and such, I would have thought I was actually reading about teenagers. None of the characters seemed to have had any growth in the 60 plus years between the timelines. In fact, it almost feels like they regressed. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what happened between Augusta and Irving either once the story introduced other people.

I think I would have enjoyed this much more if the story had taken place entirely in the 1920’s, or if the 1980’s timeline had been reworked. The past sections I would rate 4 stars while the contemporary timeline I’d give 2, therefore I went with the middle ground at 3.

Late ARC Review | Red in Tooth and Claw

3 stars

This is not what I was expecting at all. The synopsis made it sound like it would contain a lot of horror/terror, but there really wasn’t. I wouldn’t classify this as horror; paranormal yes, but there is not enough here that I feel it qualifies as horror. There is an uneasy feeling throughout the book, and unsettling moments, but not as much as I expected.

I do think that the characters really helped this along. Faolan is a great main character, and all the side characters helped bring more to the story. I wish there had been more world building though. I knew this was supposed to take place in some sort of Western era, but it was hard to picture at times. There wasn’t a lot of description on the town Faolan came from, or much about her land. The Settlement did have a little more description to it, but not enough to really feel satisfying. And we knew the Rovers were a wandering tribe, but not much else. Having even a little more in the descriptions and world-building would have helped a lot, especially when it came to HisBen and the Shining God. I’m guessing it was a cult? Or some dark religion? I don’t really know. There wasn’t enough information.

This isn’t a bad book. It had a lot of potential, but fell short in the execution.

ARC Review | Gentlest of Wild Things

3.5

I enjoyed this retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche with the story of Lamia blended in for the most part. While it’s not a story I’m super familiar with, I liked the author’s take on it.

The story revolves around sisters Eirene and Phoebe. Phoebe catches the eye of Leandros, a sinister man who produces a potion called Desire, which basically helps enslave women. Eirene, in a bid to save her sister, goes to Leandros and demands that he marry her instead. Instead of outright agreeing, he sets four tasks before Eirene and tells her if she completes them, he will leave her sister alone. It is during these tasks that she meets Lamia, the daughter of Leandros. The story continues to follow Eirene’s struggles to complete the tasks, and Lamia’s struggles of being the daughter of Leandros and what he is doing to the town.

The characters are all well-written, though it would have been nice to have a little more depth to Leandros. The story can be a tad slow at times, as there isn’t a whole lot that goes on in between Eirene’s tasks. My biggest problem with the book though is the speech. There are times when the speech feels very modern, as Eirene likes to drop the occasional ‘fuck” into her sentences, which feels very out of place. There are times when the speech of others feels out of place, though for the most part Eirene is the issue.

Because I am not super familiar with the Eros and Psyche myth, I can’t say how well this book represents that story. But I do think people who enjoy Greek myth retellings will enjoy this.