forfictionsake's Reviews (1.18k)

This book gave me all the feels that I got the first time that I read The Deal by Elle Kennedy. This was the first formula 1 romance that I've read that I truly enjoyed. Spencer Riggs, the race car driver, is the perfect mix between Lewis Hamilton and frat boy era Harry Styles. Camilla reminded me of Summer from the Briar U universe. They were such a dynamically awesome pairing. 

This was my first Dean Koontz book. I put it on my wishlist ages ago, just received a copy and was utterly confused as to why I wanted this book so badly.

Mildly spoilerish. At first I thought this was some sort of haunted house psychological thriller, which is typically some of my favorite plots to read. But then the ending kind of came out of nowhere. I really enjoyed the tension and questioning of how reliable Christina (the mom character) was as a narrator, but now I'm not quite sure how my thoughts about her work with the direction that the story went in. Additionally I felt like I wanted more after the ending. I almost feeling the whole beginning and middle of the book could have been shortened into the beginning of the book and then the action could have really started within the last 2-3 chapters of the book. What happens next would have been a lot more interesting than what happened already. 

I went into this with no idea that it was the prequel novella to the Cat and Mouse duet. I was looking for a carnival smutty romance. So keep that in mind with my review.

This book is so fast paced. There are no real pauses. At first this book was going to be a solid 3 star read...so something I've read and enjoyed, but not something everlasting. However, that epilogue completely changed my mind and gave so much context for this book and Sibby as a character. I like how we got flashbacks for Sibby's life I feel like that character development will add to my enjoyment of the full length novels. 

This was such an insightful read. I read like reading about history in graphic novel format because not only does it make the story accessible to many different types of readers, but it also gives you the chance to "see" what is happening on the page through the pictures.

I found the first person narrative very insightful. I'm using this story as a jumping off point to learn more about that time period in US history.

This series is such a fun series of books! I love how accessible the information is. As an adult who is not the intended audience for these books, I like how this series can give me a cursory glance at topics and people before I do a deep dive to learn more about. different topics.

For this book in particular I already knew a fair amount of the knowledge about the Winchester before I read the book, but I did learn a few facts about what happened with the house after Mrs.Winchester passes away.

I found this book from Tiktok. If you're looking for something with Hallmark romance vibes, but with a side of female friendships and found family...this book is perfect! I loved following Haley and Anna's holiday adventures. I even used their holiday themed dares as a blueprint for some of my own holiday fun!