howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

 

I'm gonna be honest, I was apprehensive going into this novella based on the average rating and my only other experience with a Tessa Bailey story (which I DNFed at the time), but this was really sweet. It's very sappy, insta-love Hallmark Christmas vibes for sure, but I really loved how enthusiastic Luke was about taking on Evie and Sonny as a package deal and winning her trust by taking care of her son. 

 

I really love the whole "pining since childhood/teen years" trope and I loved Jamie as a main character. It was too easy to relate to some of her internal thoughts and struggles, and I was so proud of her in the end. I'm glad this was a novella because I don't think it would have worked as well for me if it had been a full-length novel, but in this shorter length, it was great!

 

 

Honestly, I don't mind the content. Yeah, this is one of the more depraved "taboo romances" I've read for sure, but that wasn't the issue, because I knew going into it that it was horror/erotica and that there would be some super iffy elements involved. I just hated the writing and characters. It was all so absolutely nonsensical that I couldn't suspend disbelief, Lucian's character ruined the entire story, the ending was infuriating, and there were several anatomical descriptions that were wrong and pulled me out of it. I definitely don't see myself picking up anything else by this author on the romance OR horror side.

 

 

This was a cute little insta-love novella. I'm a simple woman and have always loved the "new guy scaring off the shitty ex" microtrope lol. Logan's a sweet MMC and Allison's bubbly and likeable. Not much to say, but it was fun!

 

 I absolutely loved this. This was the perfect mix of spooky, sad, and dreadful that I was looking for and Joe Hill's writing is always enjoyable. Martin is such a lovable character and I would totally read an entire novel about him if Joe Hill ever wanted to expand on this story. 👀
 

 

Maybe it's just because I listened to three of these consecutively, but I think this was the least interesting of the Bloodlands collection. It's just hard to imagine all of these teens following this dude so blindly when it sounds like they all pretty much viewed him as a tryhard liar, based on the things they said in their testimonials after he was caught. I'm not doubting the validity of it; it's just one of those moments where I guess truth is stranger than fiction.

 

 

The fact that this man outlived the family members of his victims is downright nauseating.

 

 

I know the overall theme is about this widespread "sex offender panic" that struck major cities in the late 30s, but what I took away more than anything from this is how longstanding the issue has been that our justice system completely fucking fails sexual assault victims of all ages.

 

 

It had been a while since I picked up a Terry M. West story and I forgot how fun they are! I wouldn't mind a longer version of this story because Billy's character was pretty intriguing.