Scifi horror is kinda my favorite thing. Normally, that means I like zombies on a spaceship, but now I know it also meansaudio-ARC from NetGalley.
3.75
Scifi horror is kinda my favorite thing. Normally, that means I like zombies on a spaceship, but now I know it also means alien worms in a canyon. I love to broaden my horizons.
A meteor strikes above a campground, collapsing the trails and trapping all the campers in the valley below, with millions of parasitic alien worms intent on infecting and killing every living thing.
Apparently, this is Jensen's first book, which is impressive! It was so compelling, mixing horror and gore with levity and humor, and never losing its momentum. I found the characters interesting and believable. Even their mistakes were understandable.
Where this book lost me a little bit was the audiobook narration. As more characters were introduced, the narrator clearly lost track of the voices and accents. Pete was basically Jason Statham until, suddenly, Declan was. But Declan was a teenager from the UK. The voices and accents were just all over the place and really took me out of the story more than once.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and am really intrigued to see what Jensen comes up with next!...more
This was a lot of fun! Amelie is a vampire in love with a human despite it being against vampire law. At the same time, a creature-ARC from NetGalley.
This was a lot of fun! Amelie is a vampire in love with a human despite it being against vampire law. At the same time, a creature masquerading as a vampire is terrorizing the town.
The story moved very quickly as it worked to establish the characters & world, but I think it will delve deeper into their psyches and characterization in upcoming volumes....more
After being betrayed by her cousin and tainted by a demon, Nanao is forced to wear a monkey mask and treated worse than a servante-ARC from NetGalley.
After being betrayed by her cousin and tainted by a demon, Nanao is forced to wear a monkey mask and treated worse than a servant. When the famed Ayakashi Hunter comes seeking a bride, though, he is immediately drawn to her despite the scars & ragged clothing.
This was fast and easy to read. The art was well done, and I liked the concept. Unfortunately, as an introduction, it lacked that *thing* that makes me want to continue a series....more
This was 50% beautiful and 50% needed more time. Our protagonist is an otaku who has cut himself off from other people since movie-ARC from NetGalley.
This was 50% beautiful and 50% needed more time. Our protagonist is an otaku who has cut himself off from other people since moving to Tokyo for school and, for some reason, developed the ability to see ghosts. When he bumps into a ghost he sees every day on his way home, the ghost follows him home.
This needed to be double the page length. I enjoyed it, but further on-page development would have made me love it. Maybe a little less discussion of anime and a few more hints that Mimori had gotten his memories back or that their friendship had developed into love.
Gawd, I love a good childhood-friends-to-lovers/second chance romance, and this one delivered that in spades alongside some daudio-ARC from NetGalley.
Gawd, I love a good childhood-friends-to-lovers/second chance romance, and this one delivered that in spades alongside some dial-up internet, millennial nostalgia.
Rachel met her best friend anonymously on AIM. After speaking for years and pouring her heart out to the guy on the other side of the chat, they finally met and realized they already knew each other: he was Danny, the slacker she'd been tutoring all semester. Their friendship rocketed quickly into something more before imploding right before graduation, and then they never spoke again. Twenty years later, as her perfect life begins to crumble, Rachel receives a Facebook message from Danny, asking her to attend their twentieth high school reunion. After decades regretting how things ended, she agrees...
This book felt like home. I've never been an overachieving Khmer-American or worked in Hollywood, but I know what it's like to anonymously befriend someone via online messages. I've also had a best friend who I confided in without ever knowing their name or what they looked like. And, separately, I know what it's like to meet the love of your life talking crap on social media and to repair a broken friendship over Facebook Messenger.
I felt like this story was written for me. I felt the angst and the desperation of that teenage insecurity, but it was so satisfying to see the way that maturity and communication can overcome all that. When you're in your thirties, you've learned that time is wasted wondering when the answers are available now, if you just ask for them. And, as an adult, you learn that there is no need for drama or miscommunication or third act breakups.
Tieu is an incredible writer, and I can't wait to read more of her books....more
This was fine. I expected a lot more from it, tbh. The side stories were so underdeveloped that they really should have been excle-ARC from NetGalley.
This was fine. I expected a lot more from it, tbh. The side stories were so underdeveloped that they really should have been excluded entirely, and the comparison of the love interest's eye mole to her childhood dog's tick bite immediately icked me out.
I'm not having good luck with manga this month....more
I went into this thinking it was nonfiction. Then I understood it to be a mystery. Then it turned out to be Christian ficaudio-ARC from NetGalley.
2.75
I went into this thinking it was nonfiction. Then I understood it to be a mystery. Then it turned out to be Christian fiction.
This novel is told in much the same way as a campfire story or an Agatha Christie mystery. We jump from scene to scene and from character to character. The story itself is compelling - who is this ghostly figure screeching along the shore? what secrets are the men in this fort hiding? where is the missing priest? what was Nicholas sent on this voyage to seek?
In many ways, once I got past my initial mistake regarding genre, this novel delivered. I was interested. I was curious. But then the ending came & it was so strange & so abrupt as it morphed into a Christian fiction about forgiveness of someone who has done something unforgivable ... but only after killing a bunch of people who had nothing to do with the initial crime.
Not sure what I thought the title meant, but it's got nothing to do with sleep & everything to do with the phrase "man of my audio-ARC from NetGalley.
Not sure what I thought the title meant, but it's got nothing to do with sleep & everything to do with the phrase "man of my dreams." Julia, Princess of Rome, is watching her life be determined by men less intelligent than she is and hating every second of it. When Rome's enemy, Alaric of the Goths, appears in front of her, she decides that the enemy of her enemy is her friend, and the best way to escape the nauseating arranged marriage awaiting her is to be "kidnapped" by the brutal barbarian.
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I loved the found family elements and the humor. I appreciated the female friendships. I couldn't even find it in me to be mad at Julia for all her shows of obstinance, no matter how ill-advised.
The one thing I didn't like was the romance. And, since this was a romance novel, it was very much the focus of the story. While the miscommunication was perfectly understandable, the constant lusting after one another from the moment they met felt excessive. Insta-anything - be it love or lust - is not for me, so watching these two declare themselves mortal enemies and then drool over one anothers' exposed shoulders made me cringe. Because of this, I found Julia's relationships with the rest of the men far more interesting.
I also struggled with the pacing. Things in Rome moved at a rapid clip, then the few weeks they spent traveling stretched over 60% of the book, only for the story to rush to its conclusion, condensing epic battles into singular sentences and massive political upheaval into nary a mention.
Overall, this story served as further evidence that I really do need to stop trying to enjoy historical fiction....more
I enjoyed the art style and the concept, but the sexualization of minors and the whole sible-ARC from NetGalley.
The synopsis is the title of the book.
I enjoyed the art style and the concept, but the sexualization of minors and the whole sibling fetish thing turned me off. It's okay to like your step sibling. It's not okay to pretend they're your bio sibling & tell people you're in love with them....more
Not so much a story as a series of artful vignettes, Veil follows a young police officer and the runae-ARC from NetGalley.
This was ... just beautiful.
Not so much a story as a series of artful vignettes, Veil follows a young police officer and the runaway heiress he unwittingly adopts and begins to fall in love with.
This is literally art. The sketches belong in frames on the walls of art museums....more