howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

#1 Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
#4 In An Absent Dream ★★★★★
#5 Come Tumbling Down ★★★★★
#6 Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★★

I say this all the time, but... I really don't know what I ever did to deserve the existence of this series. I'm in tears just writing this little snippet. This series means so damn much to me, words can never even describe.

This was honestly everything I wanted it to be. At first, I thought this was my new second fave in the series, but it might even be my #1 when I think about how badly I forever need characters like Regan, reminding me that it's okay to mourn for myself and every other little girl who wasn't allowed to fit in for one reason or another — and who had to find, or create, her own world to exist happily in.

Full review coming soon!

Buddy read with Melanie ♥

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original pre-review:
I love this series so much, and... there are kelpies in this one? Be still, my former horse girl, eternal equine fae-loving heart.

If you've been following my reviews for a while, you may remember that, a few months back, I accidentally got Volume 2 instead of Volume 1 from the library and decided to read it, anyways. I was less than impressed (and incredibly confused) and chalked it halfway up to not having read the beginning of the story (my mistake) and halfway up to this manga just not being my cup of tea. I decided recently that I wanted to give it another try by reading the entire story, since I know this is a very popular horror manga, so I managed to get my hands on a copy of the deluxe edition version, which has all of the volumes in one hardback.

Having learned the beginning of the story now, I'll say that Uzumaki is a very intriguing concept. The book takes place in a city that has been overtaken by spiral designs which are slowly causing the city's inhabitants to go entirely mad. It causes mutations and illnesses in people, and nobody who enters the city is able to leave. Random whirlwinds appear from time to time, destroying houses and sucking people up to never be seen again.

The artwork in this book is probably capable of being pasted beside the dictionary definition of the word "grotesque". There is so much gross imagery (like people slowly turning into massive snails), and while gore doesn't bother me, this is just beyond my comfort level of "ick factor". If you enjoy stuff that makes you squirm and go "ewww", though, this is probably perfect for you.

As far as the plot itself goes, it's bizarre but kind of like a train wreck: it's so god-awful you just can't stop looking. Would I ever read this manga again? Highly doubtful. Did I enjoy it, though? In a weird way... yes.

When the author offered me a review copy of her new release, I expected a fairly standard YA fae story, but what I got was an incredibly unique new adult urban fantasy read! There are a lot of moving pieces to this plot, but they all work well together, whether we're exploring life with a couple of human brothers with Bray (who I loved — she's just a fun, likable little thing), or watching Brenik struggle through a lot of very traumatic, odd changes in his life.

The story changes perspectives between the siblings, and while I had a lot of fun with Bray's chapters, Brenik's were more conflicting. The plot was more intriguing to me on his side of the story, but his character and I didn't mesh well, so I found myself growing frustrated with his poor decisions (which was probably intentional on the author's part!).

Finally, my favorite thing about this book was honestly its mid-90s setting and the media references and jokes. I grew up a 90s kid, and I laughed out loud at how sudden and fitting some of the references were (like the secondhand embarrassment thrown in by Wes' outcry of "Ru-fi-ooooo!" in the dollar store — I'm smiling just typing that). I don't think I'd ever seen so many 90s nods in a new adult read and now, it makes me realize how much I wish more authors would use them!

Thank you so much to Candace for offering me the chance to read an advance copy of this fun little urban fantasy story in exchange for an honest review!

This was delightful. What a lovable close to this incredible series. ♥ Full review coming closer to publication date, but trust me when I say that you will 100% need this in your life!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

#1 Sparrow Hill Road ★★★★★
#2 The Girl in the Green Silk Gown ???

I’ve yet to meet a Seanan McGuire story that I don’t like, and Sparrow Hill Road sure isn’t going to be the first. The recipe for this story includes a tablespoon of creep factor, a pinch of humor, a healthy dose of sadness, and a heaping cup of absolute lovability.

One in three hitchhikers on the North American road died long before anyone offered them a ride, and for the most part, we’re pretty friendly.

First of all, let’s talk about the lore behind this book—it’s full of all sorts of characters both living and dead, whether they’re hitchers like Rose, phantom riders, homecomers, bean sídhes, routewitches, or everyday living, breathing human truck drivers. As someone who grew up beyond obsessed with paranormal and cryptid folklore, I felt like every chapter brought a new facet to the story that filled me with absolute delight. As always, Seanan’s writing is well-researched and downright clever.

O Lord who art probably not in Heaven, deliver me from men who’ve killed me once and would kill me again, if I gave them the chance. O Lady, hallowed be thy name, get me the hell out of here.

There’s a fantastic element of suspense layered underneath everything, too; Rosie is being chased by the man who killed her once and wants to kill her again, and no matter where she is or what she’s doing, there’s always this underlying fear of the scent of wormwood and rot that precedes the terrifying man-turned-demon hunting her down.

And she looked at him, and she said, so sadly that it just about broke his heart, “No. I’ve never killed anyone. I just want to make sure that somebody’s there to see that they make it all the way home.”

Besides the spooky factor of the paranormal entities, and the suspense of Bobby Cross’s desperate search to find Rose, there’s a sadness and beauty in this book that stunned me. Maybe it’s just who Rose is, or maybe it’s because she died at sixteen years old, trapped forever in this state of perceived immortality and determination to right wrongs and fight injustice, but she spends her death trying to save others from Bobby Cross—and when he isn’t a direct threat, and all she has is the scent of lilies and ashes, time and time again, she puts herself through her own version of hell just to lead new spirits to their resting place.

I have never wanted to punch a highway in the face as badly as I do right now.

On a less existentially traumatic note, a particularly fun twist comes about in the fact that the people and supernatural aren’t the only characterized entities—the roads and cars are, too, both dead and alive. The absolute reverence and love that Rose holds for the spirits of cars, and (some of) the ghost roads, is fascinating and fun to read, especially as someone who is such a huge fan of traveling by roads (I totally hope to be a phantom rider when I die).

No one works the night shift in a diner for long without learning that the world is bigger, and bleaker, than they ever dreamed.

You see, Sparrow Hill Road doesn’t feel like just a ghost story—it also feels like a love story to truck stops and diners, the quiet night life of the rural in-between towns, and a life lived out on the open road. It’s the kind of rare story that makes you want to go get lost in the wild for a while, just to get out in the quiet and listen to what the roads have to say. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find yourself at the Last Dance Diner, where I hear you can get the best malts this side of the twilight.

Thank you so much to DAW for providing me with this finished copy in exchange for an honest review!

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

I've DNFed this one a few times in the past (many years ago), but I've been promising myself for years that I'd give it another try once the show ended. Since the finale just closed up a little bit ago, I grabbed myself a kindle copy, added it back to my TBR shelf, and hope to start it soon! 😬

Eh... the cons definitely outweighed the pros with this one. The biggest pro is that the art is fun and cute, but the immediate downside to the art is that so many of the characters look so much alike that it's sometimes difficult to tell who you're looking at. On a similar note, the dialogue is really poorly formatted! Conversations overlap each other a lot and many of the speech bubbles don't clearly indicate who's talking, especially when the speaker is "off-screen", so there were entire conversations in this book where I had no clue who was saying what.

The entire beginning of the book is so confusing, though I don't know if that's because this is a spin-off of Hitorijime My Boyfriend, which I didn't realize until I had finished this manga. On the off case that it's entirely my fault for missing that, I'm not counting off for how confusing the beginning was, otherwise that probably would've been enough to knock this down to 1 star.

The biggest issue, though, that I think a lot of readers will have with this book is the age gap in the romance. You know from pretty early on that the romance is going to be between a high schooler and a high school teacher, which I know is a deal-breaker enough on its own for many folks (I wasn't aware of it beforehand or I probably wouldn't have agreed to read and review this, either), but on top of that, the student is 15 years old and the teacher is 27. Any chance I could ever have of rooting for this couple was pretty thoroughly shattered once I realized that.

On a final note, the main character keeps calling himself people's "underling", which I take it means he's their servant, basically. I've never heard of this or read a story featuring it before and I didn't enjoy it. Is this a common trope that I've somehow missed in my many years of manga reading?

Thank you so much to the publisher and Amazon Vine program for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love this goofy series so much, and this was my favorite installment since the first one, I think. I'm honestly just such a sucker for this type of humor (silly, lots of word plays and misunderstood meanings, etc.) and I especially love the scenes where we get to see other former and current yakuza members being sucked into Tatsu's homemaking ways.

Another funny, silly, charming installment in one of my favorite manga series. ♥

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!