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.

ARC Review | The Color of Everything

4 stars

I devoured this book, like I do every other book about mountain climbing. But as much as this book is about climbing, it’s also about mental health and the struggles the author has had throughout life dealing with different mental health issues. For those expecting a book entirely devoted to climbing, this might come as a bit of a shock. However, it was quite insightful reading about Richards’ struggles with depression and bipolar disorder. Even though he’s known for achieving some pretty big things in the climbing world and struggling to attain those achievements, his struggles and achievements when dealing with his mental health are just as impressive.

The writing has a certain poetic nature to it, though it can feel choppy at times. However, I think it works with the story the author is trying to tell. The story itself is choppy; jumping from the avalanche that nearly took his life, to his childhood, to different climbs and the aftermath of quitting climbing, all while interspersed with stories of him crumbling under the weight of his mental health crises. At times you really feel for him, but then there are times you don’t. We all are responsible for our actions, but it feels as if the author doesn’t always take responsibility for his. And while there are times when his struggles with mental health may be to blame, I don’t feel as if this is always the case. However, I do applaud him for speaking candidly and openly, especially during his allegations of sexual harassment.

While I do wish there had been a little more regarding climbing, I was surprised on how much I enjoyed the rest of the book. Recommended for those who want a deeper look not only into the struggles of climbing, but the struggles of battling yourself.

ARC Review | The Calculation of You and Me

3.5

This took me a bit to get into, but I ended up enjoying it in the end. After Marlowe gets dumped by her boyfriend, she concocts a way to get him back by having a moody songwriter help her write romantic letters. Marlowe’s problem, according to her ex, is she isn’t romantic enough. Marlowe also happens to be autistic, which I think the author was using as part of the reason she wasn’t romantic enough for Josh. She doesn’t always pick up on social cues and is obsessed with mushrooms and math. She describes herself as the weird and unpopular girl who can’t understand why she gets asked out by Josh in the first place and can’t understand why he dumps her. The confusion continues when Ashton volunteers to be her partner for a class project, which is where she discovers his songwriting abilities and his romantic side.

The characters in this were all well-written, including the side characters. It showed that you can’t always judge someone by the way they dress or talk, and people can surprise us in many ways. It was easy to get frustrated at times because Ashton so very obviously had a thing for Marlowe, but she was still too obsessed with trying to get back Josh to notice. Of course, I’m sure we’ve all been there before in our lives. I know I have. It’s easy to get caught up in something you think you want, even if you know deep down it isn’t good for you.

There were lots of cute moments throughout the book, and I really enjoyed the ending. Recommended for those who enjoy YA contemporary romances without a lot of spice.

ARC Review | Middletide

3.5 stars

This is a very slow-paced mystery, spanning several timelines and decades as it meanders through the story. Those who enjoy faster paced books may find themselves frustrated with this, but it’s worth giving a shot if you don’t mind a slower pace. I generally prefer something a bit quicker, but the pacing here worked for me, as it helps set the tone of the story.

The writing is very good; you can feel the emotions of the characters and picture the location very well. Even though the town of Point Orchards is fictional, it’s easy to picture it as one of the actual towns on the Olympic Peninsula. I did enjoy the different timelines, as it helped add to the mystery. My biggest complaint was the ending. It felt a little too rushed and seemed to come together just a little too easily. Once the final witness was introduced, everything was over in a heartbeat. I also felt the murder was slightly unbelievable as to the reason it occurred. I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibility as others have suggested, but it definitely makes you think as to the how and why.

For a debut, this is pretty solid, and I do think the author has a good future ahead of her in terms of writing. I’d be interested to see what she comes up with next.

ARC Review | Flawless Girls

3.5 stars

This book was definitely heavy-handed at times, but I still enjoyed it. It feels like less of a mystery and more of a social commentary described in very metaphorical terms. While I didn’t mind this for the most part, at times it got to be a bit too much. Also, the author’s note at the end irked me slightly. If you’re going to write something with such a blatantly obvious theme, you should trust your readers to know this and pick up on it. They don’t need it explained to them.

McLemore does have amazing prose, and I did like the overarching theme of there being more than one way to be a girl. But I would just like to point out that this goes for every facet of being a girl – if some girls like wearing dresses and makeup and being in high society, it’s okay. If some girls like wearing pants and tailored shirts, it’s okay. Just because you identify with one way of being a girl, doesn’t mean it’s okay for you rag on other girls that identify differently than you. This still seems to be an issue today, and it goes both ways.

I can see why this not may as well liked as some of their other books, but I think it’s worth checking out. Just know going into it that it’s probably not going to be what you expect.