kishab's reviews
301 reviews

I feel like I’ve been waiting for so long to read this book and it did not disappoint. The author describes it as a magical gay murder cruise and I agree. This is a super fun read, the mystery is intriguing and the magic system is really interesting but not overly complicated. I feel like there is some social commentary on different classes of wealth but it really works for the plot. The twists and reveals weren’t predictable to me and the whole book reminded me of Clue. I also think this would be a great audiobook, then you can really hear the difference in the characters. My only complaint would be that this felt more like a YA book than an adult book but it didn’t really bother me too much. Overall it was a fun read, and a great standalone fantasy mystery which are my two favourite genres!

Thanks to NetGalley, Mira Books and Frances White for this e-ARC

I was first interested in reading this book because of Leigh Bardugo and Alix E Harrows amazing reviews. I definitely enjoyed the story and became way too invested in some of the side characters. I don’t normally pick up books that would be make me cry but I almost shed a tear because of the fate of my favourite side character. Some reviews say the characters are typical archetypes and the twists are predictable but I didn’t find that at all! I had a faint idea of one twist but nothing else. I’ve also heard this described as a fantasy romance but I didn’t think the romance was the main plot point, I almost thought there could have been a bit more. I had both the e-ARC and ALC but I wasn’t a fan of the audio, something about the narrators voice didn’t work for me, I found the accents a bit hard to understand. Overall I thought this was a fun read, and I’m really excited for the next book. For me, this did really live up to hype. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Orbit, Hachette Audio and Sarah Rees Brennan for the e-ARC and ALC

I really enjoyed this one, I binged the entire book in one day. I’ve only read a few other Shari Lapena books and none of them are perfect but they’re still enjoyable. This one is about a high school student that’s found murdered and the investigation of her friends, there’s multiple POV’s including the ghost POV which I thought was interesting. There were a lot of twists and turns and even though it was a little predictable and I correctly guessed who the murderer was I still enjoyed it a lot. If you liked any of Shari Lapena’s other books you’ll like this too, but if you’re looking for a completely original murder mystery this won’t be it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, and Shari Lapena for this e-ARC

The Absurd Life of Barry White is a slice of life, general fiction book. It seemed like it was going to be kind of cozy and light hearted but actually had a little bit of tragedy in it. It wasn’t as funny as the blurb made it seem and also wasn’t as absurd as I was hoping. I kind of guessed what would happen and overall I wasn’t a huge fan of this. I felt like nothing really happened until the last 25% of the book, and the beginning was just a lot of set up for Barry’s character. I didn’t find Barry or really any of the other characters to be loveable. It seemed a little too long for what the book was trying to do. I thought the narrator did a great job with the character voices but there wasn’t as much to the story as I was hoping. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Rob Harris for this ALC

I was really excited to read this, the premise was great but I think I overhyped it. The beginning great, we started out with a lot of action and then the rest was really slow. Then ending picked up for sure and I will read the second book, but the middle really dragged for me. I was interested to know what would happen but I didn’t feel compelled to get back to the book. It took me a while to finish it. I think there was a lot more focus on character development and the romance than on progressing the plot. The premise and magic system are interesting and I’ll continue with the series, but the book overall wasn’t a standout for me 

Thanks to NetGalley, K.M Enright and Orbit Books for this e-ARC

This is a great locked room thriller. I loved getting all the character POVs and the overall story was really interesting. It was twisty, fast paced and addictive, I read the entire book in one sitting. The author did a great job creating and atmosphere of unease through the story. I think the ending let the book down a bit as it felt very abrupt, I would have liked a little more at the end but I can see why it ended the way it did. I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend 

Thanks to NetGalley, Datura Books and S.B Caves for this e-ARC