All the Books.

"Ignatius (Ig) Perrish has been living in Hell. It's been almost a year since his girlfriend was brutally murdered, and Ig is still the primary person of interest. One morning, after a particularly rough night, he wakes to find he's grown a pair of horns. If that wasn't terrifying enough, he realizes that the horns compel people to tell him their deepest, darkest secrets. When he goes to his family for comfort, his brother drops a bombshell, and Ig realizes that the horns are the key to unlocking the mystery behind what really happened the night Merrin was killed. This was a brutal, disturbing, and dark read, but Hill has an undeniable knack for grabbing you right from the get go and not letting up until the very last page."  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐ Pros:  Ig is a genuinely good person/Though a brutally horrific story, Hill's style is effortless; you can't help but keep turning the pages.   Cons:  It's typical for a man to think a woman's flirting and then lash o...

"Quentin is living his best life as a king of Fillory, but he finds himself craving adventure and excitement again. He gets it and more. Sadly, the characters, especially Julia, were obnoxiously pretentious, and I eventually just wanted the book to be done. This was a massive disappointment." ⭐⭐ Pros: It was Interesting to find out how Julia learned magic.  Cons: Julia was arrogant, conceited, and obnoxious/The end was painfully anti-climactic and unnecessarily drawn out.  Full Review: ***Disclaimer - If you’ve not read The Magicians by Grossman please do so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you’ll know what I’m talking about.*** Quentin, Eliot, Janet and a very distant /barely human Julia are living as the Kings and Queens of Fillory. It’s all Quentin ever wanted, and yet, he finds himself at loose ends, desperate for some excitement.  When they find a clock tree acting strangely in the Queenswood, he thinks perhaps this is it, his chance at an ...

"Mallory Quinn is a 21-year-old recovering addict who's been given a second chance. She's just landed a Summer job as a Nanny for an affluent family in a New Jersey suburb. Her charge, a five-year- old boy, Teddy, loves to draw and constantly gifts her pictures. At first, they're the usual childish images of sunny skies and happy people. When the pictures start to show a black-eyed, ghoulish woman, though, Mallory is both terrified and intrigued, wondering if somehow he's giving her pieces to a long unsolved murder that happened in the town more than forty years ago. This book was intense, gripping, and snagged me hook, line, and sinker from the first terrifying image of Anya. It was a roller coaster ride, and I loved it!"  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐ Pros: The pacing was great, and the pictures, which I sometimes feel are kind of a cheat, were incredible at ratcheting up the tension and drawing you into the story.  Cons:  Sometimes it was hard to get an emotional read on the ch...

“The heroes are villains, the villains are heroes, and no one’s hands are clean in this action-packed, fast-paced epic conclusion to the Villains series. Another home for Schwab.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros: Gas pedal to the floor from page one. I read 200 pages in one day/Victor is the epitome of the anti-hero; I can't help but love him though/All the characters showed growth.  Cons: Again, the time jumps were annoying. I just didn't keep track/Eli is obnoxiously self-righteous/The ending and June, I was just kind of like…oh, okay then.  Full Review: ***Disclaimer - If you haven't read  Villains and Vengeful by Schwab, please do so then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you’ll know what I’m talking about.*** It's been three years since the epic conclusion of Vengeful . All our EOs are scattered to the winds. Victor is searching for a cure, since his powers are still glitching. June is off, doing what she does best, and Sydney and Mitch are attempting to stay und...

“Hig, Jasper, his faithful dog, and Bangley, a gruff, taciturn man, are some of the few survivors of a pandemic that decimated the population. Hig flies his old Cessna, securing the perimeter, and Bangley takes care of any other survivors that might wander onto the property. When Higs' world is turned upside down, and he narrowly escapes with his life, he decides it's time to start looking for others. This was a rough, raw, and emotionally intense book that had me hooked from page one and never, ever let up. It was heartbreaking but also hopeful, and it's one of those books that will stay with me for a very, very long time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐ Pros:  With Hig being the only narrator, you can feel the isolation and emptiness of everything. Hellers' writing style leaves no doubt that this is a very changed world. It was unnerving, to say the least.   Cons: The writing style took a bit of getting used/Some of the descriptions of fishing were lost on me.  Full Review: Hig, his lovi...

"A direct continuation of Vicious , Schwab leads the reader on a fast-paced, violent adventure that follows three separate storylines that eventually all come together. Like the threads of a spiderweb, everyone's tangled up and as Mitch says, "There's no good guys in this game." Great series overall."   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  Schwab has made the entire cast of characters both likable and terribly flawed/Victor really is one of the most morally gray characters I've come across. I love him/Great ending. Cons:  I had trouble with the time jumps but knew in the end they'd come together; I was just frustrated in getting there/The part with Dr. Haverty seemed rushed and terribly convenient.  Full Review: ***Disclaimer - If you've not read Vicious (Villians #1) by Schwab, please do so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you'll know what I'm talking about.*** Picking up right where Vicious  left off, well, I feel like I can't real...

"Margaret (Maggie) Jones pays the ultimate price for being an outspoken and intelligent woman back in Puritanical Boston. We already know what happens to her but learning the circumstances that led to her trial was entertaining overall."  ⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  It was a quick read, and engaging throughout.  Cons:  The ending, with Maggie's constant repetitions of Thomas being her entire world, got a bit old/The big confession between Thomas & Maggie and Maggie's thoughts of accepting that he'd been unfaithful but then biting his head off when he admits it was sigh-worthy.    Full Review Thomas Jones is leaving the Massachusetts Bay Colony after his wife Margaret (Maggie) is hanged as a witch. When he boards the ship, it suddenly starts listing dangerously, and the Captain bows to the whims of the terrified passengers and throws him off. He later takes solace in the company of his neighbors/friends, the Strattons, who are just as distraught at the death of Maggie as...

"A heartfelt, surprisingly topical, and genuinely inspiring story about "smart" appliances and one Roomba's daring quest to ensure that her human, Harold, is kept safe and sound in his home after the death of his wife. "The Brave Little Toaster" for the 21st Century, and it was absolute perfection."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros: This was an incredibly unique and intriguing story with courage, compassion, and love at its core. It was also a very topical lesson about how much we rely on machines and automation for comfort. Be wary of the Robot Overlords.  Cons:  Sometimes Dixon's descriptions of how people moved, "clomping, shriveling" were a bit odd, but other than that, the book was perfection.  Full Review Harold and Edie Winters have lived in the same house for the last forty years. All of the appliances are now "smart", meaning, more or less, sentient. There's Clock, taciturn and to the point, since he, of course, tells time. Wellington F...

“Be, a former War Mecha, wakes up in the robotic version of a bathtub full of ice, missing a kidney, IE, a bathtub full of EMPs missing their leg. The rest of the story is their journey into discovering who was behind the attack and why Mecha are suddenly acting so strangely. Be, and their crew was amusing, but after a while their antics and banter became drawn out, and the ending was all terribly convenient."  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros:  A talking cyborg dog is always amusing/Atticus gave the book levity with his sarcasm and wit.  Cons:  As part of its self-imposed exile, the MC doesn't call itself by any name until halfway through the book, so it was hard to refer to them as anything/Once they get to Milton Mindsystems, numerous pieces were thrown on the board and the last 100 pages felt rather forced into making them all fit together/The book could have easily been shorter and still conveyed the same message of hope and friendship.  Full Review Our MC wakes up in a bathtub...

"The "frenemies, slow burn" build-up of Iris/Roman's relationship was what hooked me in  Divine Rivals.  The war between the Gods was more in the background. The fact that the War is more prominent in Ruthless Vows and the Gods themselves are characters took away from the story. I felt like Ross tried too hard and this story fell flat, sadly."  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros : There were some deeply intense scenes between Roman/Iris and their love story is what intrigued me in the first book.  Cons : What hooked me in the first book was the tension between Roman/Iris, the war between Enva and Dacre was, to me, background noise. The fact that Dacre/Enva and their magic becomes more important in this story, I'm not sure why but it just didn't quite work for me.  Full Review:  ***Disclaimer-If you’ve not read Divine Rivals  by Ross, please go and so so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you’ll know what I’m talking about.*** ***Spoilers Ahead*** This...

"Take a mercury mine nestled in the mountains of Mexico, add a dark and evil presence, and throw in some bristling tension between Alba and her fiancé's cousin, Elias, and you've checked off all the boxes for a darkly delightful Gothic Historical Romance.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  The mystery behind the mine and all the strange feelings Alba/Elias gets from it are definitely intriguing and had me eager to learn more/The betrayal near the end, now that was a good twist.  Cons: Alba is rather manipulative and gets huffy/indignant when she doesn’t get her way. This seems to be a common trait in Canas’ FMCs, and it’s rather obnoxious/The ending started to get a bit repetitive.  Full Review The Monterrubio family owes the Diaz family a large sum of money, and has for the last twenty-odd years. Alba learns of this when she sees papers outlining the loan her father gave the Monterubbios for a mine in Mina San Gabriel in the mountains near Zacatecas. She was rooting through his desk in d...

"A unique and darkly fun, gritty, realistic look at the Superhero Origin story with the idea that not all things that seem good are good and not all things that seem bad are bad. Great read, Schwab, so far, has not disappointed."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  An interesting concept, kind of like "Flatliners" meets "X-Men" meets "The Boys"/Gritty and realistic, Shwab does not shy away from the dark parts of humanity/As Mitch says, "There are no good guys in this game" and it's true, but Victor especially is the not so bad, bad guy that you can't help but love, Mitch as well.   Cons:  The EO transformation for Eli/Victor was sort of glossed over/Both of Eli/Victor's backstories were left vague but I'm hoping that will be remedied in the sequel.  Full Review:  Victor Vale - Disgruntled product of Self-Help gurus and best-selling author parents, he spends his free time blacking out the pages of his parents' novels and creating dark mess...

"The emotionally heavy and harrowing story of Cora, a woman born into slavery, who attempts to escape and find freedom with the help of the help of the Underground Railroad. It turns out that the Railroad itself is an actual series of tunnels that run from State to State and though there are many helpful Station agents, there are always those who won't hesitate to turn in fugitives just to collect the bounty. This was a rough, raw book that didn't flinch from the darker side of our Nation's history and Cora's story will stay with me for a very long time."   ⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  Cora was fierce, feisty and never broke even under the worst pressure/Some of the "station agents" were helpful, gentle, kind souls and gave you hope that not everyone back then was a close minded bigot.   Cons:  The fact that people ever thought they could own other people, is sickening. Not a con of the book but of the Country itself/Ridgeway and Homers ending was just odd.  Full Revi...

"The thrilling conclusion to the House of Lethe and the powers of the Secret Societies of Yale. Bardugo doesn't disappoint. This book is filled with moments of intensity, tension, desperation, joy, love and heartbreak. It was an acceptable conclusion to a great series."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐️ Pros:  The story does move along quickly and definitely kept my interest/Darlington and Alex's tension is exquisitely painful/The trip to Hell was brutal for everyone and left me teary eyed.  Cons:  There were times where Alex's ability to pass through doors and enter different times got a little confusing, it took me a second to re-orient myself/For someone not well educated, Alex certainly knows a lot about the classics and old literary references.  Full Review ***Disclaimer-If you’ve not read Ninth House and  Dead Beat by Bardugo, please go and so so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you’ll know what I’m talking about.*** It’s been a few months since the ...

"Once Galaxy "Alex" Stern has a goal, there's no stopping her. And since, at the end of Ninth House  she'd made it her mission to figure how to get Darlington out of Hell and back in Lethe where he belongs, well, Hell Bent  is the perfect title and as wild of a ride as you can imagine." ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros: Stern and Darlington's chemistry is exquisitely painful/Darlington is the gentleman Demon and I adore him.  Cons: Bardugo mixed the Eitan storyline in well but at the same time, you want Alex to be able to focus on one thing at a time/Sometimes too many side quests get this old brain confused.  Full Review ***Diisclaimer - if you’ve not read Ninth House please go and do so and then come back and read this at your leisure. That way you’ll know what I’m talking about.*** It's been a long Summer for Alex Stern.  It's been spent mostly reading in the warmth of Il Bastons' safe, secure library and researching everything she can about how to get into Hel...

​ "Though this was an extremely interesting and unique premise, of one woman getting a chance to live her life again and again, make different choices and eventually try to change the course of history, overall it went on for far too long and I skimmed the last 100+ pages."  ⭐️⭐️ Pros:  It was definitely a very interesting concept and Atkinson handled the repeating timelines well/Ursula is intelligent, independent and driven/Her repeated lives help her learn from her mistakes.   Cons: There were a number of characters who were mentioned repeatedly but they just didn’t quite stick in my head/Though I liked Ursula, I found her a bit detached emotionally, though that could have been simply the culture of 1930s/40s England/This book went on for far, far, far too long.   Full Review Ursula is born but never draws breath, the umbilical cord wrapped around her throat. The doctor was caught in the snow storm and never made it in time.  Ursula is born again and...

"A dark and gripping thriller set on the posh and polished campus of Yale University and within the eight Secret Societies. There's more to these houses than famous Alumni, there's magic but it's dangerous and disturbing and Alex Stern, accepted into the House of Lethe, will learn quickly how far people are willing to go when money and power are involved."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros:  Darlington and Stern's repartee is amusing, since he's so refined and she's rougher around the edges/Though Stern can be headstrong and a little obnoxious, she is a good person to have an ally/The magic in this story is complicated and elaborate but interesting and unique.   Cons:  Stern is street smart but her unwillingness to trust others gets her into a lot of bad situations/The "I'm the only one who can solve this murder" attitude is kind of overdone/The map at the front of the books is impossibly small, so, whenever Bardugo goes into detail about where Stern is at any...

​“Robert Neville is the only man left alive after a plague has ravage the population. Though the plague didn’t kill them, it turned them into Vampires and now Robert spends his time killing those affected, reinforcing his house against attacks, and trying to learn as much about the plague as he can. Considered to be one of the end all, be all of Vampire books, I found myself entertained but also wanting to know more about Robert's life before the plague.”  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros: Since the story is told in slightly reverse order, we learn more about the events leading up to Robert’s situation just when it feels like there won’t be any explanation/It was moderately good pacing.  Cons : It was never quite explained how the plague began, it was after a vaguely mentioned war and dust storms but that was about it/I wanted to know more about Roberts life before the plague but only got the vaguest details/I never quite understood the difference between the Vampires, living and dead and Matheso...

​ “Theo, a quiet, unassuming, older man comes to Golden on business. When he sees portraits lining the walls of the local coffee shop and is amazed at the quality of the artwork, he decides that his mission is to buy each portrait and give them to their rightful owners, the subjects of the paintings themselves. What follows is a gentle, genuine, feel good story of one man's mission to spread beauty and love wherever he can. And Levi does not disappoint."  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros:  Theo was a genyuinely good, kind, caring person and it was easy to love him as a character/Though the ending was abrupt Levi tied it all together well and I had a tear in my eye.  Cons: The writing started to feel a little stunted, staccato, wooden/The bestowals became a bit repetitive and the ending was surprisingly abrupt.  Full Review:  Theo, an 86 year old man is in the small town of Golden on business. When he visits the local Coffee Shop, The Chalice and sees the lines are walled with port...

“Linus Baker, a caseworker for the Department In Charge of Magical Youths (DICOMY) is given a top-secret assignment, to assess the orphanage on a small, remote island of Marsyas where some of the most unique and possibly most dangerous magical children are kept. This was a fun, whimsical book about love, found family and the strength that comes from finding your voice and unashamedly being yourself even if the world isn’t ready to see you for the amazing person that you are. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series has to offer.”  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pros: Linus, off the bat has an an amusing inner monologue, irreverent and relatable/I liked that Linus really transformed and found his voice eventually.   Cons: Linus’ spluttering indignantly at every other moment got a bit tiresome but it was pretty easily overlooked.  Full Review:  Linus Baker is a case worker with the Department In Charge of Magical Youths (DICOMY). He firmly believes im the rules and regulat...