howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

This collection had so much potential, but sadly, most of these stories were boring at best and a disaster at worst. Full breakdown/review coming soon

This has some Issues™ and I didn't expect to like it this much, but honestly... this is just exactly what I needed right now and I had so much fun with it. Also, tbh, I'm glad I saw the movie first because Alden Ehrenreich is literally the perfect Ethan and I can't be convinced otherwise. RTC

A quick, fun read as long as you don't mind the insta-love/soul mates trope. It was a little over-the-top for me at times, but not enough to stop me from enjoying the story a lot. There are definitely some heavy and tragic moments in this story, though, so don't go into this one expecting a fluffy, happy read for the most part.

The first volume was pretty cute, but this one was honestly just okay. I already had the ebook of volume 3 checked out before finishing this; otherwise, I think I would have DNFed the series here, but as it is, I'll give it one more volume to see if it gets better. I just don't find the storyline super interesting anymore, and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who at points because some of the character designs are so similar. If volume 3 isn't better, I think I'll call it a loss at that point.

This was an ARC I requested before it released, some time ago, because the synopsis sounded really cool (and I love the cover!). Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it by its release, and then the negative reviews started going up, further dissuading me. I finally decided to give it a fair shot for myself, but in all honesty, part of me wishes I’d listened to those other reviews.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A psychiatric patient was going to be staying with us. This was completely bizarre.

First of all, it’s a very quick, easy read, and it’s oddly interesting—but that’s about all this book has going for it. There is one huge plot hole after another, suspension of disbelief is impossible to attain, and by the end of the story, I literally wanted to scream at my Kindle. I don’t remember the last time I was made this furious by a book, but I do know that it hasn’t been any time in 2018, at least.

There was something off about Mae. Not like I thought she was a vampire or a werewolf or anything. She just seemed out of place in the regular world.

The biggest issue I have with the storytelling here is that Mae is constantly throwing up red flags, whether it’s her weird little smirks at inappropriate times, or her random seizures and chanting, or the fact that she literally tries to seduce Jules’ father (which, by the way, nobody but Jules’ father sees anything wrong with).

The first 90% of the book builds up to this idea that Mae isn’t quite what she seems, and you do find out that she’s done something terrible, but it’s swept under the rug and blamed on her brainwashing from the cult, and it’s never really gone into in any detail. Otherwise, every creepy little thing she does goes entirely dismissed and is essentially for nothing but forced, fake suspense.

I could now see—Mom wanted to save Mae the way she wished someone had saved her.

The worst part about the book as a whole, though, is how awful the characters are. Just for a quick rundown:
1. Jules is wishy-washy, a complete pushover, and a raging “jerkface” to her best friend when she totally dumps him for this gross clique of girls who wanted nothing to do with her until Mae showed up.
2. Mae is… well, like I said, a lot of forced weird stuff goes on with her.
3. Isaac, Jules’ best friend, is nice most of the time, but gets super pushy and entitled sometimes with Jules, demanding to know where she is and why.
4. Every single other side character is either annoying, an idiot, or just mean. The only exception is Jules’ father, who is literally the only character IN THE ENTIRE BOOK who seems to have any common sense.

All of that said, there is one character in particular who made me want to rage-quit this story: Jules’ mother. You quickly learn that she was abused as a kid and that’s why she’s so determined to “save” Mae, but her actions are completely idiotic and not befitting in the slightest of a woman who has supposedly been this fancy, state-employed psychiatrist for 15+ years. She endangers her entire family constantly (including sending Jules into the heart of the cult activity to save Mae), has no respect for anyone including the law, her boss, or her family, constantly mistreats and acts heartlessly towards her daughters and husband… list goes on. I genuinely could not believe how stupid this character was.

I just… I’m going to shut up now. All I’ll say is that the final straw, unsurprisingly, was the completely lackluster ending. The entire climax of the story is so rushed, under-explained, and makes no sense at all. The epilogue is even worse, with the author’s attempts to drop “hints” regarding another cult that, frankly, most readers are not going to recognize the acronym for to begin with, and therefore are just going to be left missing the reference. I can only assume it was written the way it was in hopes that there would be an offer made for a sequel, which… well, I won’t be picking it up, if it happens.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Feiwel & Friends for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

ETA: Commenting on negative reviews of your own book to try to criticize the quality of the review? Never a good look. I definitely won't be picking anything else up from this author, or recommending this book to anyone.

I don't read superhero comics much — okay, pretty much ever — but reading DCeased made me desperately want to amend that, because I was so sucked in by this story! The premise of the comic is following a world-ending, infection-style zombie apocalypse, though of course, there's a bit more to it than that to make it fit into the DC universe more solidly. I definitely feel like I missed a lot of references and maybe even didn't fully "get" the basis of the infection's source due to not being overly familiar with DC (I'm a lifelong Batman fan, but that's about it), yet I still was able to enjoy this story immensely. The art is great, the action is fast and unending, and the bleakness feels very authentic for an extinction event like this.

It's always great to return to Talia's mind and the lovely romances she crafts, but I'm sad to say this is the first book of hers that I can't give 5 stars (and that's after reading almost her entire bibliography over the last few years). I enjoyed it, but it felt so different from her usual stories (less humor, less steam, less explanation of back story) and I think it really would have benefited a lot from being a full novel. There were so many threads we were given that were left untied and so many things that I wanted more exploration of. Like I said, I still enjoyed it and I loved Will's character SO much, but it's not the story I would recommend as an introduction to Talia's writing for anyone who's new to her work.

This was super cute and exactly what I needed today, so naturally, I read it in one sitting (despite having been in the worst slump EVER for the last few months - so, that's a big success for me right now!). Chellie is a likable protagonist and Tanner is such a precious big teddy bear (ha) that you can't help but love him. I like that it's a shifter romance that doesn't play into the whole "alphahole" trope — Tanner's really giving and doting, and while he is protective, he makes it abundantly clear that it's not due to some outdated "damsel in distress" sort of viewpoint.

While I definitely would have enjoyed this novella being longer and a bit slower of a progression, there are elements in the storyline that allow for the quick nature of their relationship forming, so I'm not mad about it. All in all, a really delightfully fun read and I will for sure check out more of Lucy Eden's stories very soon!

What, me finally reading something despite the reading slump of the century?!

This was adorable. We forever support shy, nervous butch girls in this house. ♥ RTC