December 2020 reads

 Holy crap, why can't I read this many books in one month all the time? Because sleep, slumps and honestly probably just those two reasons.....

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo 4/5 So I finally read and finished Ninnth House, honestly maybe it's more of a 3 stars but it was really boring. I love supernatural mystery so I thought for sure I would love this. I didn't love it, and my favorite character was Darlington and if you've read it well you know. The twist was out of left field there was no real buildup and I wouldn't have guessed and now I'm left with a very unsatisfying story but I'll probably still read the next one.

Strangelands vol 1 5/5 This is a great graphic novel and I would love to keep reading more of this series. It's got great potential, plus it's indigenous ownvoices with one of the creaters at least, Little Badger who recently released Elatsoe which I'm looking forward to reading as well.

Snow Day by Julie Lipson 4/5 This audiobook is short, sweet and cute. It' was really well done, I was impressed.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco 4/5 sigh I wanted this to be 5 stars so badly and I loved the romantic relationship aka banter, because it's not really a relationship....yet....? Anyways, it's really interesting and I'm really intrigued to read the next one but the pacing was really off. Like really, really off, it takes place over weeks, or months I guess? I don't even know, but our main character was lacking a bit, I'd rather have read from the other twins life, ours is a bit boring and plain and slow to take action. I think I would have understood her bad decisions more if she hadn't literally had long periods of time to think about things. 

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard I really hesitate to rate this book because it's literally a memoir written by a woman who was kidnapped and kept in captivity for over 20 years. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and I can't believe Jaycee Dugard had any hope and survived this trauma. I hope for the best for her, her story is important and inspiring, if Jaycee Dugard can survive under her circumstances I can handle the shit show of 2020.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 5/5 I know that some aspects of this story were predictable but I loved it. It was atmospheric, and I was fascinated by the how of these characters connecting.

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer 5/5 This was so cute, I'm still crying. It follows a stereotypical ya rom-com plot but with sea rescue and learning and character growth and um, ya. I just loved it, I didn't think I would especially because I didn't like the main charcter but I read it in one night. Highly recommend.

Hunting Whitey by Casey Sherman 4/5 This true crime book follows mob boss Whitey Bulger after he goes on the run as an old man. It also covers the last bit of his life while he was in prison. I enjoyed this book, it was well written and was kind of fascinating to get a glimspe into this man's life. He was racist, and homophopic and well a murderer but also there was a lot of grey area to his life. He was extremely loyal, loved animals and became a type of father figure to many people. Anyways it's prettty messed up, highly recommend. Also just a side note, the poor police.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley 4/5 This was basically the Hutning Party but more predictable and I still loved it.

One by One by Ruth Ware 3/5 Um, this was very easy to see through and honestly kind of annoying. IT was fun though, I liked it enough for 3 stars I guess.

The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda 3/5 I liked this one too but also it didn't have any ooumph for me. 

The Viscount Who Loved me by Julia Quinn I fell into the Bridgerton hole as soon as I saw the show. I skipped the first book becuase it pretty much follows the first season and I didn't need to relieve Daphne. Anthony did not disapoint and this is probably my favorite.

An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn cute

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn my other favorite in the series.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 4/5 I wasn't expecting this to be as good as it was but it was really fricking good. Highly recommend.

Living-Room Matsunaga-kun vol 5 4/5 Just a cute rom-com with questionable age gap roamnce but I don't care because I'm 29 and trash.

Dad Reads Winter Edition 1

Alright in my usual or less usual fashion, my dad is a man of few words and so here are my notes, because I've been working on being behind on blog posts for a few months now. 😓 So here y'all go! 

Lake Crescent by J. J. Dupuis 3.5/5 screwed him up, kept intrigue up and well written but slightly drawn out

The Rope by Alex Tresniowski dnf'd boring and couldn't get into it

The Day She Died by S.M Freedman 4/5 it fucked him up, you'd have to read to understand, wild ride

Unspeakable Acts  curated by Sarah Weinman 3/5 some of it very good, some not so much

The Woman Outside my Door by Rachel Ryan 4/5 well written, kept him guessing, good story

The Drowning Kind  by Jennifer MCMahon 4/5 kept in suspense, kept guessing, but supernatural aspect to it

Although he mostly enjoyed all these books, nothing super stood out to him during this reading selection.

Also to be noted, my dad reads tons of arcs because none of my coworkers seem to read much in terms of mystery. So some of these aren't released yet.

Murder at Brightwell by Ashley Weaver Review

 4/5 stars

I recieved an eARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although I did recieve an arc, I also thought it would be a good audiobook, and guess what it was! I read this using both my digital copy and the audio and it was perfect. Murder at the Brightwell follows Amory Ames, the wife of a wealthy man. She is struggling in her marriage and is completely unsure about what to do about it so she ends up following an old flame to the seaside to help him convince his sister that she's marrying a rake. Instead of convincing the sister not to marry a rake, she ends up sleuthing to find out who commited murder. I'm not going to say much more just because I really don't want to spoil anything.

I loved this book, it was a lot of fun, I loved our main character and honestly there's not much I can say about it. Just I really liked it, it was a bit slow moving pacing but it started picking it up and I loved it. If you like cozy, historical mysteries, this is a perfect book for you!

2020 goals and NetGalley catch up

 I've been approved for many Netgalley books, I was sad and poor and reading lots so I decided to go trigger happy and apply for every book that peaked my interest even a sliver and then because I'm a mood reader...I read none of them.... sigh I did it to myself, so here I am catching up and my 2020 monthly goals is to read at least 2 books that I've got ARCs from each month. ARCs given in exchange for honest review

So far in January I've read, 

Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan by Gaku Kuze This was a very fun manga, the story follows a group of audlts who are actors/characters in a young children's tv show. Uramichi is very cynical and you can just tell how beaten down he is. I laughed and cringed reading this, it was everything I feel as a failed adult even though I know there's no time limit to completing my goals and progressing/growing as a human 😓 Anyways I highly reccomend this series, I think it's fun and relatable.

and of course the best book so far this year, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E Schwab I'm absolutely bewildered by this incredible story, it was beautiful. I can't believe a human wrote this, it was perfect and I just want to pick it up and read it again, immediately. The characters, the descriptions, the story were perfect. It's a slow burn that keeps burning even after you turn the last page. 

November reads 2020

This was such a good reading month for me, I enjoyed everything I read and I'm very satisfied. I feel like I had such a full month!

 The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black 5/5 I'm not crying, you're crying! I can't believe but I loved this book, it was honestly a perfect ending in my opinion.

I Hope You're Listening by Tom Ryan I enjoyed this one and the format half podcast, half first pov is one of my favorites but this story did fall a little flat forme. Mostly because the secondary characters were all under developed and completely unnecessary for the plot. 

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed this one, apparently it's loosely based off the real life slender man true crime but I would never have guessed. Overall it was a lot of fun to read and I'm shocked at how everything played out even though I did guess some of it. Highly recommend. 

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour is probably one of my favorite books from this year. It was dark, and filled with the processing of grief, and trauma. I really loved this book and don't want to say too much, but it's worth reading and honestly going in blind really made it it an incredible experience. Nina LACour is now an autobuy author for me.

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade is my favorite romance novel this year. The fat representation really resonated with many of my insecurities about life. It was very relatable and I also appreciated the dyslexic representation as well. I loved how they solved problems as adults and they used their communication skills to progress. I just loved this book and can't recomend it enough. The only part that was a little much for me was that a 40 year old actor was writing quality fanfiction 😜 

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin is a mystery that transcends generations. The question being repeated throughout history. Was she asking for it? Victim blaming and rape culture is the big topic surrounding this story and I felt like the author did a good job at pointing out the injustice and work that needs to be done to improve rape trails, and prosecution (or lack thereof...). Also I listened to this as an audio book and the quality of the story really shone through, the format of half story and half podcast is always one of my favorites especially for mysteries. 

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter Ummmm, yes I'm still reading these. I can't even... but also I'm addicted to reading about that tension right before characters have sex in romance novels... You know? They spend half the book with pent up emotions and feelings while they're still trying to complete their goals and this series is doing really good at that.

The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter Once again these books do feature quite toxic relationships and I still don't quite get the possessive mate hype in romance but meh, I'm honestly having fun with these. But they really aren't very good so ya. 

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James I actually loved this book, I loved that there was some paranormal aspects but that it didn't center on the actual mystery, it was bonus. I loved that, so even if the story was slightly predidctable this really made the story for me. I loved how the author blended past and present, true crime and paranormal. I honestly can't wait to read more of this author.

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White Maybe it was the fact that I read this as an audio book but I was really disapointed. Like 2.5 or 3 stars out of 5 disapointing. First things first, it was worth reading but maybe try the physical copy? Because I listened to the audio it was painfully obvious that the narration, that Guinevere was obssesed with Arthur. Which is just gross, I think the author should make the love interest with either Lancelot or Mordred. Arthur is just boring... and this book except for the very last end of it was honestly just soooo boring. I don't even know how the author put all the scenes into a coherent story, a lot of it felt really random. I could say more but those are the gist of my feelings.

Dad Reads Fall Edition

As we all know by now my dad is a man of few words and lots of grunts but here we be still collecting books he's read recently.  I'm extremely behind on posts obviously since it's January so here are my jot notes instead of full real sentences.

The Stranger Inside by Lisa Unger 4/5 kept him wondering, good ending, well written, liked characters

Blood World by Chris Mooney 4/5 was intrigued what next, very well written, nothing bad, some slow sections but interesting

Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture & Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge 5/5 loved it, lots of interesting info, gave you info like story, super well written, really enjoyed, really gave you insight into his life

Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent3/5 was interesting with the 3 different povs, how their lives unfolded, just wanted to know all three perspectives, was boring in a lot of places and could've been better but wanted to know what happened

No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez 3/5 interesting, written ok, characters ok, and little dragged out

Bonus Book 

My mom read Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter by Beth McMullen she loved it. It's an upcoming middle grade that I grabbed because archaeology and history and Indiana Jones is life. 

Mexican Gothic

 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is now officially an autobuy author for me. I loved reading this lush, acidic trip through an old mansion in Mexico. I learned some history but for me it descriptions and our main character that really made me fall in love. The writing started the story off slow with our main character traveling to visit her cousin to check their safety after some troubling letters.

I really don't want to spoil any of it and I think it's a book that better if you go into it fairly blind. The only really important thing to know is that it's gothic horror thriller, and it's best to expect some triggers if you're a senstitive reader.