All the Books.

​“Raya and Q are two souls who have lost their purpose in life and are simply getting by, adrift. Lucky for them, The Elsewhere Express sweeps them up and brings them into a magical, immense, imaginative world that's built from all the thoughts, dreams, desires of every person ever. They've been brought on board to find thier purpose. Q is ready and willing to accept all that the Elsewhere Express has to offer but Raya isn't convinced. It had potential but quickly dissolved into aggravation and confusion thanks to Raya's constant questioning and the books' aimless meandering from one train car to the next.” ⭐⭐ Pros: It was a very unique idea/I liked the character of Q, he was a good balance for Raya.  Cons: Raya's constant questioning of whether the Elsewhere Express was good or bad and how she always managed to do the exact wrong thing, all the time, made this book extremely tedious/Though the places they visited were beautiful, there were far too many and it...

"Natalie Heller Mills is #blessed. Her Instagram account, Yesteryear Ranch, paints an idyllic picture of life on the farm with her family, full of photos and videos of home cooked meals, a loving husband and kind, calm, obedient children. Through the filtered lens of Instagram, she seems perfect, so of course, whenNatalie awakes one morning to find herself in the same house but everything is off.  The children are not her children, the house is older, dirtier and there's no modern amenities, such as electricity or running water. And her husband Caleb is now a gruff, stern, serious man.  It would appear that she's been swept back in time to the original Yesteryear ranch, to try her hand at living the traditional life she's always posting about. This book had all the hype but honestly, to me, it did not deliver."  ⭐️⭐️ Pros: The story did catch me and kept me intrigued enough to finish the book because I needed to find out what on Earth was going on.  Cons: Natalie...

“Sentient houses, a magical sourdough starter and a unique friendship between two people who are trying to navigate the pressures of 1920s Hollywood, this book had a bit of everything. It was entertaining until the end when the fantastical elements took a literal turn and things fell into somewhat hilarious absurdity.”  ⭐️⭐️ Pros: It was definitely an interesting premise/The chapters told from the House's point of view were odd but enlightening/ I liked the book more for the friendship of Rex/Fayette and the realities of life in Hollywood in the 1920s.  Cons: Since this was set in the 1920s, some of the jargon was hilariously old-fashioned/The generation gap could be a little jarring/The ending with the house battle went a little too far with the fantasy until it bordered on silly. Full Review:  Fayette Wynne is still trying to process her mother’s death. She's rented a cottage on the Carmel coast for a few weeks to catch up on the work that's piled up. She's determine...

"When a virus makes all animal meat deadly to humans the world quickly changes and Cannibalism is legalized. This story follows Marcos, a man who works at a processing plan, where humans, who are now bred as livestock, are slaughtered. It was a quick but rough and deeply unsettling read." ⭐⭐⭐ Pros: Though the ending was insane it was definitely a shocker.  Cons: The subject matter was rough and some of the scenes were gruesomely visceral.  Full Review:  When a virus makes it so all animal meat is deadly to humans, the world quickly changes and soon Cannibalism is legalized. People need meat, the scientists claim and most people take to eating their fellow humans more easily than one would think.  Marco works at a processing plan, where humans, who are now bred as livestock are slaughtered. He also gets special requests from a game reserve, where people can pay to hunt and slaughter humans and a labortaory that runs experiments on humans to better improve the world....

"A continuation of the events of Serpent & Dove , following our band of star crossed heroes in their desperate attempt to escape the various parties pursuing them and to stop Morgane from basically destroying the world. At times it fell into the "second novel" trap, where the personality traits of the characters became a bit cumbersome but for the most part, it was a good addition and I'm excited to see how the series ends." 4 Stars Pros:  It flows well from the first book/The various epiphanies that the characters had were slow in coming but made sense/Claud Deveraux is an interesting characters indeed/Beau is also a likable if flawed character and one that I think will get more time in the spotlight. Cons:  The various personality traits of the various characters can at times, be a trifle tiring/Lou's hotheadedness/Reid's stubbornness etc/I had to read what happened at the end twice to fully understand it, it was a little complex.  Full Review: ***...

"When Emmett Truesdale is chosen to be a participant in a clinical trial for a new weight loss procedure, he's all in. He starts to shed the weight like magic but, of course, there are side effects, unpleasant, disturbing, frightening side effects. Though the book had many good points about body shaming/the obsession we have over fitting in and being skinny, in the end, the characters and the plot were just overdone and ridiculous."  ⭐⭐ Pros: This was a harsh reality of body shaming and shows the kind of culture that sadly, many people struggle with. If you're not skinny, then you're not worth other peoples time, attention etc. It's a sad fact but it's one that's still very much prevalent.   Cons:  I feel like some of the characters were unnecessarily crass/uncouth, especially Lizette/Emmet himself would always crumble into tears, run away or lash out violently when met with a hard conversation.  Full Review:  Emmett Truesdale is a 300+ heavy man who w...

"Martha Jefferson Randolph is the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson and has spent the last five years in France. She now returns to her mountain-top childhood home of Monticello. She has every belief that the running of the house will be up to her. Things don’t precisely go as planned though when her father announces he’s been nominated to be the Secretary of State. Their life continues, Jefferson moving up the Political ladder and Martha, at home, having to care for eleven children and deal with her husband’s sullen moods and silences. Though Gunning made a good effort and it did hook me because I wanted to see how it ended overall it was vastly underwhelming."  ⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  Martha was an honest, open-minded and progressive woman, for her time.  Cons:  The plethora of children (both from Martha and Sally) as well as the multiple plantations was a lot to keep track of, so much so that I just stopped trying eventually//Marth'a extreme dislike towards Sally and her clu...

“It seems like a normal morning in August 1975 at Camp Emerson, a summer camp for wealthy families set far into the Adirondack mountains. Except one of the bunks is empty. The empty bunk is Barbara Van Laars, who just happens to be the only child of Peter and Alice Van Laar. What's more horrifying is the fact that Barbaras' brother, Bear, went missing in these very same woods almost fourteen years earlier and was never found. What follows is a fast-paced, emotional, gripping tale of family, loss, love, grief and self-reliance.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Pros: The ending was absolute perfection/The character of Judyta was genuine and driven, I liked her.  Cons: The Van Laar's were a despicable group of people/It took me a bit to get used to the alternating timelines but I eventually got used to it.  Full Review:  Camp Emerson has existed on the Van Laar Preserve, a large stretch of land in the Adirondack mountains for decades. It's a two month long summer camp that caters to the child...

"An intriguing, page turner that picks up right where the first book left off and never lets the reader go."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros: The deception of some of the characters is truly gut wrenching, you want to believe that they're good then Ness just takes that theory and turns it on its head, it really keeps the suspense up/All the interwoven intricacies of each characters journey and how everything fits together perfectly Cons: Mayor Prentiss, though undeniably evil, began to be a bit stereotypical villain at the end, monologuing, claiming that he and Todd would be great together, very Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker, "rule the galaxy together as Father and Son" feel, felt unoriginal and forced by the end of it. Full Review: ***Disclaimer*** - If you haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go, please do so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you'll know what I'm talking about. Starting off right where The Knife of Never Letting Go  lea...