booksare42's Reviews (608)

Thank you Harper Collins Canada for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This Frankenstein reimagining was such a fun and wild ride. The premise was unique and bizarre, and it made for a very memorable read that was perfect for the start of spooky season.

Angelika Frankenstein is looking for the perfect man, the only problem is, she can’t find him. While helping her brother, Victor, work on his experiment to bring a reassembled man back to life, she decides that she should try to make her perfect man instead. What follows is a memorable adventure full of courting and trying to help Will, the reassembled man brought back to life, remember his true identity.

My favourite thing about this book is how bizarre it is. The premise is just weird, which made for some laugh-out-loud moments.

I really liked the characters in this book. Angelika is flawed and she has some moments where she’s quite selfish and annoying, but I still really liked her. Will is a cinnamon roll and I thought he was delightful. Victor and Lizzie are a perfectly weird couple and I adored them. Finally, Belladonna is the most delightful pig I’ve ever encountered.

I also enjoyed Angelika’s growth and her journey of self-discovery in this book and how her character arc mirrors the arc of the Frankenstein home. As Angelika starts to become more self-aware, the Frankenstein home starts to become less neglected while returning to its former glory.

I also liked the mystery aspect of this book. When Will is brought back from the dead, he doesn’t remember anything about his former life. I liked watching him and Angelika trying to solve the mystery of his past and watching all of the pieces fall into place.

This book is a romance book, so I should probably take a minute to talk about that. I thought the romance in this book was sweet. There were some steamy moments, but it was on the lower end of the steam scale.

Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the nods to Mary Shelley and the original story.

Overall, this was a weird book, but I really enjoyed it. It had memorable characters, a whacky storyline, and it made for an excellent spooky season read.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper Collins Canada from an HCC Frenzy event, all thoughts and opinions of this book are my own. I apologize for being super late with this review.

The first thing I want to say about this book is that it was outside of my comfort zone. I usually stay far away from horror and this book falls firmly in the horror category. If you’re fan of horror, I don’t know if you’ll enjoy this book because I’m reviewing it from a non-horror reader standpoint.

This is a haunted house book and I thought it was very creepy. As a non-horror reader, I couldn’t read this book in the dark because I live in an old house and all of the normal old house noises started to creep me out. I don’t like the idea of strange noises, weird smells, and tohings moving on their own.

As far as the characters in this book goes, I have mixed feelings about all of them. I didn’t think any of the characters were particularly likeable, but I think they were designed in a way to make the reader have mixed feelings about them. I did love the relationship between the main character, Marigold, and her younger brother Sammy though.

As far as the plot goes, I enjoyed it, and it kept me on my toes. I thought that the plot regarding the big picture and the city of Cedarville as a whole was a bit predictable. However, as a non-horror reader, I did not see the haunted house storyline playing out the way that it did. Overall, I enjoyed all of the twists and turns in this book. I also liked the open ending of this book and that there’s room for a sequel.

I liked that this book dealt with some heavy topics. It features a blended family, racism, white privilege, trauma, drug use, mental health, and gentrification to name a few things.

I liked that the town of Cedarville was inspired by Detroit. I live in Windsor, which is across the river from Detroit, so I enjoy seeing familiar places on the page.

Another thing that I want to note is that bed bugs and a bed bug phobia are heavily featured in this book. Bed bugs are one of those things that I haven’t given much thought to, but this book definitely made me aware of them and very horrified by their existence.

Overall, I found this book to be very spooky and creepy. It kept me on my toes and I thought it was a great way to start off the spooky reading season.

I received a copy of this book as part of the blog tour hosted by The Write Reads. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Hidden King is an excellent start to The Coming of Áed trilogy. It’s full of adventure, moments that will leave you at the edge of your seat, and some truly wonderful and memorable characters.

The Hidden King starts off in a way that immediately draws you into the story. I liked seeing the Maze and how brutal and grey living there is. I also liked how emotional some of the scenes near the beginning of the book were, and I liked that these scenes made me want to root for the main character. Throughout the book, there’s quite a bit of adventure, and a decent amount of danger, but also lots of moments where you can see how big of a heart the main character has.

As far as the characters go, I liked Áed. I enjoyed learning more about him and discovering his backstory at the same time he did. I liked that he could be both apprehensive and confident at the same time. I also loved how Ronan was his priority and how determined he was to give Ronan a better life. I liked Ronan a lot. I liked that he still had a child-like sense of wonder, even though he grew up in the Maze, where surviving is difficult. I also liked the side characters, and I especially liked Boudicca.

One thing that threw me off a bit was the pacing in this book. There were some scenes that seemed to go by far too quickly and other scenes that dragged out a bit too much. Overall, this was a quick read, and the pacing didn’t bother me too much. A few scenes also made me very uncomfortable, including a torture scene that made me almost give up on the book. That being said, I don’t handle violence very well.

I liked how descriptive this book was. I liked the world-building and how the descriptions pulled me into the world. I would love to know more about this world, and I’m sure there is more to learn in the second and third books in the trilogy. I also liked that grief played a role in this book and some of the descriptions of the grief that the main character was feeling.

I enjoyed the plot of this book, though the title did make it easy to figure out what was coming. However, even though I could figure out the twist, I enjoyed the journey to getting there.

I also liked that the book ended in a way that leaves a ton of possibilities for what could happen in the rest of the trilogy, and it made me want to read more.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and quick read. I liked the characters and the world-building, and I’m curious about what happens to Áed as the series continues.

I read this book with two of my best friends for our bi-monthly book club. We were looking for a quick read and this is what we ended up picking. While I enjoyed talking about this book with my friends, it’s safe to say that I have mixed feelings about it.

I’m going to start my review by talking about what I liked about this book. My favourite thing about this book was the setting. I loved the town of Westport. I like books that take place in small towns in general, because I like the sense of community that a small town has. I also like that when a town is small enough, it almost becomes its own character in the book. I liked reading about the community coming together and getting a glimpse into its history. I also liked watching Piper explore the town and connecting with her roots and the community.

I also liked that this book was exactly what I was expecting it to be. I wanted to pick up something quick, fun, and steamy, and it checked off all of those boxes. This book was very easy to read and to get into. If I didn’t have work and other adult responsibilities, I likely could have read it in a day. It was also a fun read with a lot of steamy scenes, which I appreciated.

What I’m still processing is my thoughts about the two main characters. I thought that Brendan was too possessive of Piper, and it didn’t sit well with me. Don’t get me wrong, I would love a man to build a pergola, but knowing that he wanted the entire town to know that Piper was his and off limits wasn’t cool. On a positive note, about Brendan, I did appreciate his commitment to his crew and Westport and I enjoyed the discussions about grief and moving on. As far as Piper goes, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt like the author turned the stereotype of “dumb party girl” up to eleven, but on the other hand, she did have some sweet moments. I will say that I did like the discussions about her insecurity and influencer Piper versus real Piper.

As far as the side characters go, I liked Hannah and Fox and I’m looking forward to reading about them in Hook, Line and Sinker.

As far as tropes go, I’m not a big fan of insta-love and I feel like this book falls into that category. I also don’t think that this book falls into the enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers category because I don’t think the characters knew each other for long enough to be enemies. Sure, they didn’t exactly start off on the best of terms, but that doesn’t make them enemies. I will say that some of the banter in this book was enjoyable though.

Overall, this was a fun summer read. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it and I’m still processing all of my thoughts about it.