Sunday, March 17, 2024

Review: The Misery House by David Kummer

by David Kummer
Release Date: July 7, 2023
2023 David Kummer
Ebook Edition; 232 Pages
ISBN: 978-1088059364
ASIN: B0B5YQC1CC
Genre: Fiction / Horror
Source: Review copy from author

3 / 5 Stars

Summary
This rural town has never seen a string of tragedies like this. A local store burns to the ground with two bodies inside. A newlywed couple goes missing, and all signs point to the abandoned house. With no answers, the townsfolk grow more and more worried.

The Woods family has lived here forever. But when their friends and their own children are put in danger, the threat hits home. This close-knit family must risk everything to find answers, but time is running out.
 
My Thoughts
The Misery House is the first book in a planned trilogy, and I thought this one set up the story quite well, even if it was a quite slow at times. And by slow, I mean it took a very long time to get to the house and even now, I won't even pretend I understand anything about it.  The author did have a very descriptive writing style that drew you into the lives of the characters, but upon looking back, that's exactly what the story was about, the lives of the characters. And while I don't mind descriptive writing, I would have liked to have seen more build up of the atmosphere, some more horror, some tension, but it was a bit lacking overall.
 
At this point, I'm still on the fence about the use of multiple POV in this book, at least from the whole family. I enjoyed learning about the Woods family and their different perspectives on things, and I definitely enjoyed the author's writing style when it came to the characters, but the way it was written left some gaps in the story line. Because of this writing style, it was left to the reader to assume the sheriff believed certain things because the characters said so, not because you actually got to witness his behaviour through the story. Or Malaki, we just assume he is this horrible person because of someone else's POV, but never really see anyone else's POV or hear his side of things.  I am not a fan of assumptive story telling as I would prefer to draw my own conclusions about characters, not be led around by the nose.  Now Malaki has this association with the house, we hear all these rumours about it through other characters, but where is the investigation or where are the dialogues about this behaviour? Nowhere.
 
I did enjoy this book quite a bit, but that doesn't mean I was oblivious to the plot holes.  The author has a great writing style that I enjoyed, he has a way of drawing you in, but he does make use of assumptions way too much. When Kaia's best friend Allison goes missing, a witness saw her in that creepy abandoned house, but the sheriff doesn't go looking for her asap? Why not? Why does he arrest someone else in the community instead? We don't even get to see that part of the story, it's all told through other characters and how angry they are.  And personally, it doesn't really make sense. As a reader, we are just told this is what happened, but the why is glossed over and we are expected to just accept it without motivation or cause.  Uh uh, not me.  And Kaia? The minute she got that text from Allison, why would she not report it or at least text her back?  And then get all upset because nothing is being done.  What?! The author was trying to build up suspense, but honestly, the scene with Nate and Naomi when they were cycling past the house is the way to go as that scene had me rushing through the pages.  Withholding info, never a good way to create tension or to create a way for someone to go investigating on their own.  
 
Verdict
The Misery House had a lot going for it, definitely enough that I will be grabbing the second book when it is released in June (The Silent Forest).  It does have a lot that I love in a haunted house book, and the author's writing style does draw you into the story and the characters' lives. There were a lot of gaps however, that were not explained or covered up through assumptions, and the ending definitely lowered my rating as the book simply...ended. And honestly, there is just so many times you can read about a character having an 'ick' feeling about something, but do nothing about it, before you start rolling your eyes. That being said, I am curious about that dang house, so I have to read book 2.
 

 


Friday, March 15, 2024

Review: The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger

by Lisa Unger
Release Date: March 5, 2024
2024 Park Row
Ebook ARC; 382 Pages
ISBN: 978-0778333340
ASIN: B0C1SY64NZ
Audiobook: B0C798PQC5
Genre: Fiction / Suspense / Paranormal
Source: Review copy from publisher

2 / 5 Stars

Summary
Rosie and Chad Lowan are barely making ends meet in New York City when they receive life-changing news: Chad’s late uncle has left them his luxury apartment at the historic Windermere in glamorous Murray Hill. 

At first, the building and its eclectic tenants couldn’t feel more welcoming. But as the Lowans settle into their new home, Rosie starts to suspect that there’s more to the Windermere than meets the eye. Why is the doorman ever-present? Why are there cameras everywhere? And why have so many gruesome crimes occurred there throughout the years? When one of the neighbors turns up dead, Rosie must get to the truth about the Windermere before she, too, falls under its dangerous spell.
 
My Thoughts
The New Couple in 5B had an interesting premise, and I definitely love stories about older apartment buildings that tend to have shadier pasts. The story moved along rather quickly and there were parts that were engaging, but I felt like it tried too hard to be spooky, adding in paranormal elements that really had no relevancy to the story. 
 
First of all, I wasn't a fan of the character development in this book. Rosie is described as this big researcher, having written a non-fiction book that has sold moderately well, and is currently doing research on, you guessed it, the apartment building to which she is moving.  While I didn't dislike Rosie, I can't stand it when an author makes a character so stubborn they can't see the roots for the trees, and this is the case with Rosie, as in my husband is so kind, loving, perfect with me, therefore there is no way he can be mean, nasty or whatever to anyone else.  It's not the blind devotion that bothered me, but the fact she didn't do any research about any of those people who are in her life that bothered me. There is a mention about her hesitancy over the keyboard, but that's as far as it goes.  Really?  I'm a researcher and I research EVERYTHING!!!  
 
And Max. His story line didn't make sense either.  Just trying to throw some controversy in this book, but that whole story line bothered me so much, from the lawyer right down to Rosie's reaction. It gave me such 'ick' feelings, I didn't want to read any more about it. Do better. Same with Willa's story.  I really hope the author wasn't expecting me to feel sorry for someone who pretty much cheated and threatened everyone around her.  That's how it felt coming across the pages, but I am totally on the husband's side and the young boy's.

And the rest of the secondary characters, while I enjoyed them, I do like some development when something happens or when they do something unexpected. Which leads me to plot development. Because this story revolves around the characters' motivations, it is more character led, than plot led, but I definitely need to really understand their motivations and reasons, something I don't really feel came across well in these pages.  There were a lot of coincidences and assumptions used to move the plot along, both of these I think are weak tools to use when trying to move the plot forward.  

Verdict
The New Couple in 5B suffered from a clear lack of motivations from most of the characters which left me feeling somewhat disconnected from both the plot and the characters.  It was a quick read however, and there were parts that I did enjoy.  However, the plot is somewhat predictable, the characters lack depth, and some of the plot points don't actually go anywhere, like the paranormal stuff. Overall, one that was full of potential, but definitely fell short of the mark for me. 

 


Thursday, March 7, 2024

Review: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

by Amy Tintera
Release Date: March 5, 2024
2024 Celadon Books
Paperback ARC: 352 Pages
ISBN: 978-1250880314
ASIN: B0C4JLQH5C
Audiobook: B0C3PCKQGX
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher

3.75 / 5 Stars

Summary
After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.
 
My Thoughts
Listen for the Lie features a women who has returned to her hometown five years after a scandal hoping to discover some answers as to who killed her best friend. Because she is the main suspect, she is skeptical about coming home, and I was hoping to see the sparks fly when she did, but it was a lot tamer than I would have expected.  I enjoyed the podcast slant to this story, even if it is no longer original, but I am not necessarily a fan of the amnesia trope, especially when memories start to come back at convenient times.
 
Lucy at first was too sarcastic and cynical for my liking, especially in the first half of the book. I am a sarcastic girlie myself, but even this was over-the-top cynicism and it didn't endear her to a lot of people, including her family. I understand that sarcasm can sometimes hide a host of feelings and sentiments as I do that myself, but it can also go too far and make a person downright unlikable. Luckily it did subside halfway through and you got to see a more vulnerable side to Lucy. Although I understand the author's intentions, using sarcasm and snarkiness as a character trait as a red herring doesn't really work, in my opinion.  
 
Except for Ben and Grandma, the other characters kind of all blend together into one harmonious whole as they didn't really have their own personality traits other than everyone was sleeping around.  I guess fidelity isn't a thing in this town.
 
I rather enjoyed the plot and didn't figure out who actually committed the crime until about two-thirds of the way in. I don't mind a slower burn, but then I am a huge fan of police procedurals and those are not known for their quick plots, so I like the slower burn and the tension the author created in this book. Don't get me wrong however, I was definitely not turning pages like a maniac, just enjoying the ride.  And there were a couple of surprises in this book, ones that I liked, because it makes you realize that you never really know someone or what they are capable of or what their situation is.  Lucy points that out to her mother when she says that she lived just down the road and her mother had no idea what was happening behind closed doors, partly because she didn't want to see.  I don't feel the use of the amnesia trope was a strong part of this book however, as it can be used too conveniently, which is exactly how it was used. Conveniences are not appealing for readers. 

Verdict
Listen to the Lie had a lot going for it and I think the author is very talented.  The voice in Lucy's head, while at first entertaining, got rather annoying as it didn't really go anywhere, so I would have liked that device to be used a bit more to build up tension in the story. I would be lying if I said I wasn't invested in the story as it was immensely readable, but I do think having some likable characters and maybe easing up on the cynicism would be helpful in the future.  And I am still not sure what I think about that ending. I do look forward to reading another book by this author.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Review: Relative Truths by R. Lindsay Carter

by R. Lindsay Carter
Release Date: November 17, 2022
2022 Rock and Flower Press
Ebook Edition; 352 Pages
ISBN: 979-8985907261
ASIN: B0BK2GPW72
Genre: Fiction / Fantasy / Mystery
Source: Review copy from author
 
5 / 5 Stars
 
Summary
Cressida Curtain doesn’t let much get under her skin when it comes to bounty hunting. In fact, there’s only one person who can really ruffle her her work nemesis, Gavin St. Cloud.

Still, she’s a natural at her job, and she’s been offered an exclusive high-stakes bounty to prove it. Now it’s a race to find the truth before any other hunters find the bounty first. And the truth may be messier than even Cressida imagined. She might need some help from the last person she’d ever ask–if he’s trustworthy enough.
 
 
 
My Thoughts
Relative Truths is the second book in The Familiar's Legacy series, and while I really enjoyed the first book in this series, I absolutely loved this book. This book has everything I love in a cosy-fantasy type story; secrets galore, a mystery to solve, great world building, good character development, and enough new threads built in to the story, continuing into the next one, without being overwhelming or left so unfinished you get frustrated.  
 
Cressida is a really fun main character. A shape-shifting cat, I loved her personality and her reactions to all things human. While she is spunky like a cat, she also gets spooked, and I was trying to imagine her with her tail all puffy while in human form. Too funny.  Her escapades as a cat were some of the best pasts of the book.  I really enjoyed the Gavin as a secondary character and the growth we saw from him throughout the book. Although there is potential here as a love interest for Cressida, the way things went in this book, I am not sure what is going to happen, but I am enjoying how things are playing out for the moment. Gavin was not fond of cats at the beginning of the book and I really enjoyed his reactions to some of the scenarios in which he found himself with Cressida. Also, without giving too much away, the end of the book had me sputtering with laughter as Gavin took on his next task, something I bet he thought he would never do.
 
While the series is interconnected, the actual books could be read as stand-alones. The plot moved rather quickly, with Cressida jumping from clue to clue, tracking her father to figure out what was happening. Because she didn't know him at all, and she wasn't sure of his guilt or innocence, she still had to be careful. Realizing there was a lot more going on than she though, she had to team up with Gavin in order to get more information and to figure out who was involved. I enjoyed the banter and the competitiveness between them as they searched for clues, loved the witty dialogue, and thought the way Cressida used her cat identity to sleuth was downright fun.  There was definitely a lot going on, and while the focus was on her father, there were clues to the curse that has involved Cressida's family for generations twisted around everything as well.  
 
Verdict
Relative Truths has everything from ballroom scenes to prison breaks to a scene straight out of the musical CATS, at least that was how I kept picturing it in my head.  There were a lot of adventure and great creativity in this book. Highly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a fun read with lovable characters and a great story. 

 


Sunday, March 3, 2024

Review: The Twelve Books of Christmas by Kate Carlisle

by Kate Carlisle
Release Date: October 24, 2023
2023 Berkley
Ebook ARC; 336 Pages
ISBN: 978-0593637692
ASIN: B0BRM5F11S
Audiobook: B0C21DZP73
Genre: Fiction / Cozy / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher

1.5 / 5 Stars

Summary
In the middle of a wonderful Christmas holiday in Dharma, Brooklyn and Derek receive a frantic phone call from their dear friend Claire in Loch Ness, Scotland. The laird of the castle, Cameron MacKinnon, has just proposed to her! They plan to be married on New Year’s Day, and they want Derek and Brooklyn to be their witnesses. And while they’re visiting, Claire hopes that Brooklyn will be able to solve a little mystery that’s occurred in the castle library—twelve very rare, very important books have gone missing.

My Thoughts
The Twelve Books of Christmas is definitely not like the books at the beginning of the series, books I absolutely loved. Those were full of mystery, mayhem, complicated plots, and interesting twists and turns. This one is about beautiful and rich people who fly around the world at a moment's notice on a private plane, stay at fancy castles, do things on a whim, and maybe solve a mystery or two while they do all their other stuff in between. And everyone calls Derek ''commander", never investigating him or Brooklyn, simply because of who he was, even though he was right there when everything happened.   Not the same at all as the earlier books.
 
First of all, Brooklyn's independent character was something I enjoyed, even if she was somewhat whiny throughout the books. I mean her life got upended numerous times because she happened to come across dead bodies and it was natural that she would become a suspect, so I enjoyed those interactions she had with police officers and other people as she tried to solve the mysteries. Now, she just has Derek make a phone call and everything is good as he "pulls his magic strings" and suddenly, everything is taken care of. This despite the fact that he was one of the most suspicious people at the beginning. I get they are married now and I get that he would support her, but I would like to see them be a bit more suspicious of those around them.  
 
The plot itself was so thin you can't even see the wire in the trees.  For the first two thirds of the book, there were a lot of discussions about the missing books and how they were related to each other, but honestly, not big mystery came out of them simply because there was little to no investigation.  And I don't necessarily need a murder in these books, just a good mystery, but neither was actually interesting. Both just seemed thrown into a plot that was weak, at best.  Motives didn't make sense, the behaviour of certain characters made no sense, plot points were 'developed' and then discarded for no reason that I could see, so overall it was just a big mess.  And pages of descriptions of the food. Ugh!

Verdict
The Twelve Books of Christmas was my least favourite entry in this series, and I was so disappointed over the plot and character development as well as the ending. It was a mish-mash of stuff thrown together in order to give the author an excuse to send Brooklyn and Derek to Scotland over the holidays, one of the only things I liked about the book.  Unfortunately, this series has been going downhill for a few books now. I will probably give it one last shot, but after that, if it doesn't go back to the magic of the earlier books, I may have to call it quits. 


 


Saturday, March 2, 2024

Review: That Night in the Woods by Kristopher Triana

by Kristopher Triana
Release Date: October 1st, 2023
2023 Cemetery Dance Publications
Ebook Edition; 336 Pages
ISBN: 978-1587679032
ASIN: B0CJH9BMQF
Genre: Fiction / Horror
Source: Review copy from publisher

2 / 5 Stars

Summary
When Jennifer receives a message from Scott Dwyer after twenty years without contact, her first reaction is one of excitement. Scott invites Jennifer to his house in Redford, the very same town she grew up in. It’s a place she’s made great effort to put behind her, for not all her childhood memories are sunny. 

Scott invites three other people from their past to honor Steven’s memory—Corey, Traci, and Mark. But the group is more than old friends. They share a dark secret that has troubled them for decades. Together, they must unravel the mystery of what happened that night in the patch of forest behind Scott’s house, a place once known as Suicide Woods. 
 
My Thoughts
That Night in the Woods is built around a trope that I really like, trauma that occurs in your teens and you get together twenty years later to finally confront what happens. Because this is written by the author of one of my favourite horror novels, I thought, what could possibly go wrong with this book? It turns out that even a really good author can have a one-off.
 
First of all, the characters were so stereotypical they just made me want to drop them all off in the middle of that forest and hope whatever was in there got them all. And I am not generally a violent person, but they sucked the living energy right out of me.  I get their behaviour when they were teenagers, but to continue that same behaviour as 40-somethings just did not work.  I get the author was trying to show how traumatized they were from what happened, but...there had to be a better way to do it. We have Mark, the out-of-work construction worker with two kids from two separate moms who has been in jail a couple of times, who smokes and drinks and ALL he thinks about is sex.  Jennifer, newly divorced, has no personality although the other boys apparently all had something for her as a teenager. She can't make decisions if her life depended on it, especially when lover-boy Scott is around, and this is as a teen and as a 40-something-year-old. Corey, the character I liked best, constantly talked about what a nerd he was because he liked comic magazines. What? And Traci? I get her alcoholism, but not her lies.  Together, it was hard to tell who was who at times.  
 
The build-up at the beginning was slow, something I didn't actually mind, as I like it when the tension builds up this way and then becomes explosive and you can't put down the book.  Unfortunately, the tension never really builds in the way it was meant to. The characters are given bits and pieces of information through Scott, and none of them questioned this at all, didn't even ask for paperwork or anything, especially with Traci being a lawyer? This would have sent my spidey senses tingling right away.  They are given mysterious journals, pieces of information about Steven's life and death, all being doled out bit by bit by Scott. Instead of questioning this behaviour, they react like a bunch of teenagers, squabbling and making stupid decisions, forgetting they are adults who can decide for themselves what they can do or not do.  I found I just had to suspend belief way too much during all of this and I kept shaking my head in disbelief.  And there was no blasted way you would have got me back in that forest after what happened all those years ago. No *^%%* way!!  And when we finally got to the part where it was supposed to get scary, I was like, Are you kidding me?  
 
Verdict
That Night in the Woods had so much potential, but I was so deflated by the end. And speaking of the end, what was that? The one character who fought and fought decides to just give up, just like that, with no explanation? Overall, there were a couple of moments that were chilling and horrific, but the overall experience left me shaking my head and feeling so disappointed, especially after the last book by this author.  It wasn't badly written by any stretch of the imagination, and I do think a lot of people will enjoy this book, I just wasn't one of them.  

 


Friday, February 23, 2024

Review: Twist Me by S.K. Pryntz

by S.K. Pryntz
Release Date: February 14, 2024
2024 SK Narrations LLC
Ebook ARC: 310 Pages
ISBN: 979-8989152520
ASIN: B0CR9HDJ3Y
Genre: Fiction / NA Romance / Harem
Source: Review copy from author
 
3.75 / 5 Stars
 
Summary
My Thoughts
Twist Me is the first book in the Asylum Devils Trilogy and while it had some really great elements, there were times when I was shaking my head wondering how we went from y to z without more explanation or background information.  

First of all, I really enjoyed the actual story line and wish it had been more developed; Ezello going undercover into the asylum was quite interesting and I would have liked that whole scenario to be explained in greater detail with a lot more development.  There were some interesting secondary characters involved in the story who could have been used to further develop the story line rather than just for sexual reasons.  I wasn't opposed to the sexual stuff, but when that is all a character is useful for in a story, it kind of leaves a bad feeling in my gut as people are so much more than that.  The plot did move along quickly, and told from alternating POV between Ezello and Goliath, it was easy to follow and see both sides of the story.  

Goliath, Pharoah, and Judas were certainly devilish characters and I adored them, but that doesn't mean I always adored their behaviour.  I would think that Ezello would have a major concussion considering the amount of times she got slammed against a wall by one of them.  The brothers go from being angry to sexual play rather quickly and to me, it was a form of dominance, not playful at all.  But my criticism doesn't stem from that, more about the reasons why they switch back and forth which wasn't clear at all. Throughout the story though, they go from being bullyish to supportive and I am not sure how or why the behaviour changed. Was is simply because they understood Goliath was falling in love? That didn't make sense though as they were prepared to cut off Goliath from their pact if he chose her over them.  

The spice in the novel was fun and definitely a wild ride, no pun intended.  Again, I would have liked it better if everything had slowed down a bit and the plot and characters delved into a bit more.  But, man, I will never look at a carnival setting the same way again!!

Verdict
Twist Me was a fun, easy, twisted read, and if you like unhinged men, then this one is for you.  I would recommend you check your trigger warnings before reading this book; for me, maybe because I read so much horror, I didn't find the TWs that bad.  Overall, the book did feel rushed,  I thought the character development wasn't overly complex, and there were plot elements that didn't quite make sense or you were just supposed to accept them as they occurred, and that is not something that I can overlook.  If you are looking for a quick and smutty read, then this one is for you. I will definitely be picking up book two when it is released as the ending for this one had me reeling. 


Saturday, February 17, 2024

Review: The Rocking Chair Prophet by Matthew Kelly

by Matthew Kelly
Release Date: August 15, 2023
2023 Blue Sparrow
Hardcopy ARC: 320 Pages
ISBN: 978-1635822083
ASIN: B0BL63JQG
Audiobook: B0C94ZH8NH
Genre: Fiction / Philosophical
Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary
After an unspeakable tragedy devastates his life, Daniel, a thirty-three-year-old suburban man, disappears into the mountains. Years later, he reemerges filled with uncommon wisdom and other extraordinary gifts.

From that day on, people travel from far and wide to meet with Daniel, who sits on his rocking chair, meeting with visitors, and helping them explore their deeply personal questions. These questions lead to a series of epic conversations that traverse life’s quintessential topics: love, suffering, health and well-being, education, work, money and things, spirituality, regrets, depression, ambition, nature, parenting, midlife crisis, choices, our hopes and dreams, the meaning of life, and enduring friendship.
 
My Thoughts
The Rocking Chair Prophet is one of those books from which I have to analyze from two completely different perspectives: one, the fictional side, and two, the spiritual side. As a novel, it was relatively weak without much of a story line.  As far as philosophical truths went, this one did resonate with me on many levels, but on a superficial level.  Had it gone deeper, I would have given it a different rating.

First of all, the actually story line did not have a lot of substance to it.  We have this young man losing his entire family very tragically, who enters the forest to heal his soul, returns some years later only to become this wise prophet dispensing truths and helping people with their lives.  The character development was rather non-existent and the secondary characters all blended into one another, with little development.  Many of them miraculously transformed their lives because of Daniel's wisdom, but while i agree on how simplistic it can actually be, realistically, most people, with mortgages and bills to pay, can not simply do this.  I know the author tried hard to add humour to the story by adding some anecdotes to when the boys were small and some of the trouble they got up to, it didn't really add much to the relationships as adults as those relationships are different.  I would have liked to have seen more dialogue and development to build up those relationships and to really get a sense of who Daniel and the others were.

Despite the story flaws, there were a lot of great concepts in this book.  I definitely resonated with some of them and feel that we are dealing with a world-wide identity crisis at the moment, but would have liked to have seen these concepts be more developed as they seem to be written for young people just learning philosophical thoughts or for adults who have never dabbled in philosophy.  For someone like myself, this was too simplistic for me.  That being said, the overall message and Daniel's journey are worthwhile and will give you pause for thought, make you think about your own life and how you live it every day, and the relationships you have with others.

Verdict
The Rocking Chair Prophet is a good book for those who are new to philosophy and/or spirituality, and are looking to explore their own life and the choices they have made.  It is definitely on the lighter side however, so if you are looking for something more profound, this isn't for you.  The writing is easy to understand and the author has this ability to take complicated concepts and write them in a way that makes sense, unlike more famous philosophers.  I would take a look at this author's non-fiction work as I think those are quite a bit better developed, both in ideas and concepts, than this book.