ARC Review | Some Like it Cold

3.5 stars

I felt rather torn by this book. The romance in it is pretty cute, and the two characters involved and relatable and likable. However, almost every other character in this book is forgettable, annoying, or downright horrendous. It makes for hard reading at times.

Jasper and Arthur have this great “enemies to lovers” story, full of misunderstandings and wrong perceptions. However, I struggled with Jasper at times and her defensiveness over her sister Christine. It could be part of her autistic nature, but Christine did not deserve to be stood up for. She is an absolute monster to everyone, including Jasper. And even when Arthur just tried to bring up how Christine treats Jasper and how it’s not okay, Jasper was immediately defensive of Christine and rude to Arthur. Like, your sister terrorizes you and everyone in town, including little kids. It’s not okay. She may be your family, but that doesn’t excuse her behavior.

Jasper’s parents are almost as bad as her sister. Her mother is just as much of a terror, and her father cowers under her and goes with whatever she says. Her best friend Odette doesn’t treat her as a best friend, which is supposedly explained as Jasper having been at college. This was understandable until you learn that the college Jasper went to was 30 minutes away from her hometown. Maybe this is a little more understandable in other places, but a 30 minute drive in the US is basically going down the street. I can’t understand not seeing someone for 18 months when they only live 30 minutes away, but again this must be a geographical thing. The book never states exactly where the book takes places, but the writing and grammar feel like the UK. Grace and Henry, Arthur’s siblings, are about the only other likable characters in the book. They feel genuine, and I enjoyed their family dynamic way more than Jasper’s.

I’m also not a fan of this new trend where authors, especially female YA authors, try and tell women how we’re oppressed and victims all the time. Yes, we have our struggles, but I don’t need to be told I’m a victim in every little thing in life, and how I’m constantly oppressed when I live in a first world country, especially when there are women in this world who actually face real oppression. Women who can’t drive or get a job or have a full education or even get auctioned as a child bride and can’t leave their house without a male escort. So please, authors, quit comparing the two.

All in all, it’s a pretty cute and basic YA romance that I think will appeal to the majority of people who enjoy that genre.

ARC Review | Pick the Lock

4 stars

Pick the Lock is another unique book by A.S. King. The writing is surreal, with lots of hidden meanings and metaphors and things you have to look beyond. It deals with domestic abuse and violence, but it is written in a way to make you really think about it.

The story follows Jane, as she tries to understand her family narrative and the history – picking the lock on her memories and what is really going on. Her and her brother are mainly being raised by their father, who paints their mother as a psycho, mentally ill, violent, and someone who has abandoned them in order to live her dream as a rock star. But as the story goes along, you learn along with Jane that things aren’t what they seem. There is a good narrative here about domestic abuse. Many people question why someone who is being abused doesn’t just leave. But they don’t realize it’s not as easy as it sounds. There are threats and manipulation and a feeling of never being able to escape. This novel examines all of this in King’s unique style of writing.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a first choice for someone to read if they’ve never read one of King’s books. Her writing style can definitely throw people off. However, I think it is another excellent entry into her catalogue, and recommend it for any King fans and for anyone who enjoys surreal, metaphorical, or abstract writing or books on major social topics.

ARC Review | When the World Tips Over

5 stars

I feel like Jandy Nelson shouldn’t wait ten years before writing her next book because she is an excellent writer and I want to continue reading her work. This was another great book from her, covering a lot of heavy topics with a touch of magical realism that reminded me a bit of Sarah Addison Allen, another favorite writer of mine.

This book deals with the Fall family, who have been missing their father for years after he left one day and never returned. Each of the three Fall siblings have their own feelings about why their father left and how it has affected them, but also how it has affected their relationships with each other. You can easily feel for each character, and anyone who has dealt with something similar will be able to relate. The characters are all very well-written, and each have distinct personalities. As the story progresses, a tragedy happens within the family that causes them to reflect on how they got to the point they’re at. And while there are lots of emotions and depressing moments, there are also a lot of laughs. There’s a couple of side characters that steal the show at times and bring the story together. The magical realism is done very well – there’s enough to help move the story and give it that magical sense, but not so much that it overwhelms the story or distracts from what’s trying to be said.

There are other types of losses dealt with as well – the Fall siblings mother losing her brother, their ancestor losing the love of his life, others losing their mother or abilities or themselves. All these losses are dealt with in their own way, but they also bring the characters together. Almost every reader will be able to connect with one of the characters in some way, as everyone has dealt with loss of some kind.

Highly recommended, along with her other books.

ARC Review | Lucy Undying

1.5 stars

Let’s talk about the best part of this book – the cover. It’s an amazing cover to what I thought would be an amazing book. A continuation of Lucy’s story from Dracula? It sounded right up my alley. I loved Dracula, and I expected to love this. But that’s not the case.

The book starts off pretty well, if a little slow. It’s told in 3 perspectives from the beginning – Lucy’s past before she’s turned, her transcripts to her therapist after, and Iris. I enjoyed the two perspectives of Lucy. She explains how she survived her murder in Dracula, and what happened to her after in the transcripts, and her life with Mina, her mother, and the other men from the original book. I hated Iris’s parts. She’s unbelievably whiny and bitchy without any explanation as to why, and by the time it’s explained, it’s too late to care.

And then we move on to the next part of the story. Had this solely been a book about Lucy, it probably would have been okay. But it turns into this Twilight-esque, “feminine empowerment”, teenage drama garbage story dealing with a vampire MLM cult. I never thought I’d be typing a review about a vampire MLM cult which is really a pathetically veiled attempt by White to show her hate for a state and group of people, but here we are.

Lucy is portrayed as a victim to everything in life. All the men secretly want her money, her mother is abusive, and Mina doesn’t love her the way she wants. After she’s turned, she becomes this beacon of feminine power who singlehandedly stops World War I by telling the men in charge to stop, becomes a spy during World War II and helps end many plots against the allies, and changes the minds of other female vampires to become good people because she’s a vampire with morals. Yes, really. She meets Iris, the sole heir to Goldaming Life (because White couldn’t be bothered to remember that Arthur’s lordly last name is actually Godalming, even though she professes to love the book SO MUCH), a whiny teenager who is ~special~. So a hundred plus year old vampire falls in insta love with a special teenager? Twilight, is that you? Also, the pet names. Butter chicken and my little cabbage? Right up there with spider monkey. Barf.

Iris, our super special teenager, has few redeeming qualities. She’s paranoid because she believes her mother’s entire workforce is out to get her, but makes friends instantly with a cab driver and his husband and Elle, the antiques appraiser, because queer people can’t be evil, obviously (here’s looking at you Kevin Spacey). She treated everyone like absolute garbage, whether the deserve it or not, and has no problem saying how much she wishes certain people would die, get murdered, etc., because she believes they should and obviously she is totally right and justified in her thinking. She also calls someone a psychopath for texting with a semicolon when she “almost has a literature degree.” Like, what? I guess I’m a psychopath cause I text with correct punctuation all the time.

In the author’s note, White states that she believes that Lucy was queer, causes reasons, and also that all the men in her life just wanted to murder her and take her money, and that she was this helpless victim to everything in life and she just needed to be turned into a vampire so she could become this strong, empowered female and change the world. None of the characters from the original book that end up in Lucy Undying even closely resemble the originals. White simply took the names and changed them into what she thought they should be (except Arthur, cause she couldn’t even get the name right). I’m not sure how White could profess to love Dracula so much, and then eviscerate it so completely. Honey, I have some news for you. You don’t love Dracula; you don’t even like it.

Also, White has this personal vendetta against Utah, because reasons? I’m not really sure why. But you can’t claim to be this person who loves and accepts everyone and then goes on to hate millions of people because you feel justified in it. Do I think there are problems in Utah? Yes. Do I think there’s problems with the church and other religions? Yes. Do I think MLM’s are pyramid schemes? Yes. Do I hate millions of people I’ve never met because of it and try to convince other people that that hate is justified? No.

This is probably going to be the last book by White I read. I can’t take her self-righteous crusade anymore. 1.5 stars cause the cover really is lovely and there are a few parts of Lucy’s early story that were interesting.

ARC Review | Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death

4 stars

I’m a big fan of the death positive movement, which basically helps people to understand and plan for death, and hopefully help with grief and being able to move forward in life. And one of the most basic ways of doing this is by talking about death. It’s been seen as such a taboo topic that people are afraid to talk about any aspects of it. The death positive movement hopes to help change that by helping people understand and plan for that big inevitability.

Obitchuary takes a more humorous look at death by providing stories of some truly outlandish obituaries, along with certain histories of death, including past death practices from around the world, traditions that and haven’t stuck around, famous last words, death bed confessions, etc. The writing style in engaging, but geared more toward a younger audience. Some of the humor may not land well with older readers.

The book is pretty short, making it an easy read and one that would be a good introduction to reading and talking about death. The authors wanted to engage their readers, while also making it easy to understand and be able to go to any section and start reading. Highly suggested for those that are first time readers of death and interested in learning and understanding something that we will all eventually go through.

ARC Review | The Queen’s Lies

3 stars

I don’t think this series was for me. While I generally enjoy historical fiction, and I enjoyed some parts of these books, overall I wasn’t a huge fan. It was hard to stay engaged throughout, and I found my attention wandering more than once.

This being the fourth book in the series, if you haven’t read the others you may find yourself lost with what is going on and who is who. There are the obvious characters, such as Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, but plenty of others that you won’t know unless you’ve read a lot on British history. This book starts with our main man, Doctor John Dee, and a new weapon that has been created which will help England with its battles, both present and future. This is only a minor plot point really, as most of the story revolves around Elizabeth Bathory and another plot to kill Queen Elizabeth and set Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne. While I am admittedly not the most knowledgable on this part of history, there are a few big liberties the author takes for the plot. He does describe his decisions at the end of the book, but I wasn’t really sure how I felt about the ending. While it would have been nice if that’s how things had really turned out, it wasn’t, and it’s hard to put aside.

I will say that I do enjoy Dr. Dee for the most part, as well as his wife and Queen Mary. Most of the other characters are pretty forgettable, and I sometimes had to go back and read a part again to remember what significance a character had.

I think this series needs the right reader – one who enjoys history but also enjoys the author taking liberties on that history. I have enjoyed that at times, but it didn’t quite work for me here.

ARC Review | Medici Heist

3 stars

I vacillated between giving this a 2.5 or 3 stars. There was just enough I liked to make it 3 stars, though I’m still debating this. I wanted to like this more than I did. The premise sounds so good, but the execution was off. It’s not terrible, but it could have been so much better.

The first thing I noticed was the writing style, which I think is something many readers noticed. It reads a lot like a script at times, which makes sense as the author is a screenwriter. The story doesn’t flow quite right, as some scenes are written completely in a screenwriting style, while others are written more for what you’d expect in a novel. The interactions the characters have with each other at times would have been much better displayed on a screen, while their personalities are lacking. I had a hard time differentiating between Rosa and Sarra, as they read like the same character. I would be thinking I was reading about one when I was really reading about the other. They would have been much better as a single character, or as two characters with different personalities and such. Another thing I noticed was the speech. For a book that takes place in the early 1500’s in Italy, the characters speak a lot like modern day people. I get that it can be hard at times to convey the proper speech of a region or time period in a novel, but there didn’t seem to be much effort in this regard. If it hadn’t been for the descriptions of Florence and the use of Italian honorifics, you would never know where or when this book took place.

As far as the heist goes, I was rather let down. I was expecting something along the lines of The Italian Job, but there really wasn’t a lot in regards to the actual heist or the parts the characters play. We get a brief description of each character and what they’re supposed to do, who they planning on robbing, and then a couple hundred pages of random storylines and events. We’re left in the dark about how the actual heist is supposed to happen, and then when things go wrong, they still miraculously pull it off without much explanation as to how. It all seemed to end a little easily for what occurred.

I will say that the descriptions of Florence and the many buildings are well done. It made me want to go back to Italy and see more of the country, as I didn’t make it to Florence when I was there before. While I didn’t love Sarra or Rosa, I did enjoy Giacomo and Khalid. The inclusion of Michelangelo was an interesting touch as well.

Like I said earlier, this isn’t terrible, but it leaved a lot to be desired.

ARC Review | A Sorceress Comes to Call

4 stars

Though this is marketed as a retelling of the Brothers Grimm “Goose Girl”, it’s more like a reimagining. There isn’t much of the original story in this book besides the very barest of bones. However, it works out well as this is a great story in its own right.

Cordelia is the the daughter of a sorceress who subjects her to all sorts of abuse. She doesn’t think she will ever escape this, especially after learning that a friend is not a friend at all. She feels betrayed and hopeless, until her mother sets her sights on marrying a rich squire. She drags them to the Squire’s house, where Cordelia meets the Squire’s sister, Hester, and slowly begins to believe that maybe she can finally escape her mother’s tyranny. The characters in this are all very well done. You can feel the terror from Cordelia, the cunning from her mother, and the dark humor from Hester, who refers to Cordelia’s mother as “Doom”. Even the side characters were well-written and added greatly to the story. My favorite of all the side characters has to be the goose army though, It sounds silly, but they fit perfectly into their role (if you’ve ever dealt with a Canadian goose, you’ll understand).

The plot moves along at a decent, if slow, pace, but definitely picks up towards the end. You can feel the tension and the terror, and the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what horrible thing could possibly happen next. I do wish we’d been given a little more information on sorcerers though. They just sort of seem to exist without any explanation as to how they came about or the differences between them. This isn’t a huge deal, but would have been nice to add a little background info.

This would be an excellent book to read in the upcoming spooky season, though I recommend it for anytime really.

ARC Review | Slow Dance

3.5 stars

Slow Dance is a slow burn. Shiloh and Cary were best friends in high school, but haven’t spoken in 14 years. This book explores their relationship in dual timelines, going back and forth between the past and present. It goes through their friendship in high school and the beginnings of college, and shows what happened and why they haven’t spoken in so long. The present starts with them reuniting at a friend’s wedding, and goes through the beginning stages of a relationship everyone thought they should have been in years ago.

While the setting and story are great, the characters can be so damn frustrating at times. I get that teenagers can be irrational and incapable of having a real conversation, but you’d think after 14 years people would have done some growing up in that department. But even after all that time, Shiloh and Cary are still incapable of having a conversation. There’s lots of them getting upset with each other, but neither of them can use their words as to why they’re upset. I get that some adults are also incapable in this area, but my god it gets so annoying, especially because Shiloh just assumes everything is terrible and won’t work and half the time is actively trying to sabotage things. Even when Cary is attempting to talk to her, she just doesn’t comprehend stuff, which made it hard to like her at times.

Though the miscommunication between Shiloh and Cary is extra frustrating, I did like the second chance at romance they got. There are also a lot of good side characters to be had, and I enjoyed the times they were featured, especially because it gave a nice break from Shiloh and Cary and their epic failures at talking. I think people who enjoy slow burn romances will enjoy this; just be prepared that it can feel beyond slow at times.

ARC Review | The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish

3 stars

The plot of this book was intriguing, but at the same time it was so slow. It’s an odd mix when you’re interested in the story and where it’s going, but have to force yourself to continue reading because the plot won’t pick up.

The story revolves around Hecate, who discovers she has a special ability to see and talk to ghosts after starting work at a library in a cathedral.. Sounds interesting right? The problem is it takes so long to get to this point, and then what should be interesting or exciting encounters with the ghosts seem very mundane. The feelings and interactions other characters have with Hecate feels forced at times – the author is trying to show that everyone loves and adores and respects Hecate, but it feels unnatural, especially for the times. There are long stretches where nothing of interest happens, then some quick action, followed by more long stretched of nothing, The pacing is off, which doesn’t help the storyline. Towards the end, there is a bunch of action, but the ending is incredibly flat and leaves a lot to be desired. I understand this is written to be a series, but a better ending would have helped the overall story and brought more excitement into reading the next installment. Instead, I was left feeling unsatisfied and unsure how to feel.

This isn’t to say the book is bad – it’s not. There is some very good writing in here, but it gets overshadowed by how much the plot drags. While I am interested in a sequel, it will need to fix the pacing issues and deal with the ending in order to keep my interest.