leandrathetbrzero's Reviews (412)

 When things go bump in a ghost ship... 😱


↓ Other Space Horror books I now want to read ↓
1. Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes (out April 2024!)
2. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux
3. The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
4. The Luminous Dead by Cailtin Starling

“A GHOST SHIP.
A SALVAGE CREW.
UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.”

Team leader Claire Kovalik and her crew are not prepared for what they find when they investigate a strange distress signal that takes them farther into space than any of them had traveled before. They are shocked to discover the mystery signal comes from the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this means an unimaginable fortune, but it doesn’t take long after boarding the ship for the crew to surmise that sinister events led to the Aurora’s original disappearance…

Messages written in blood along the walls, passengers and crew dead by clearly unnatural means, and whispers in the dark suggesting Claire and her team might not be alone on this ghost ship after all.

I read this sci-fi horror as a buddy read with my friend, Danni (@danni.dabbles on Bookstagram and Booktube, @DannitDabbles on Goodreads). What a GREAT decision! We had such a fun time sending each other daily voice messages with reactions and predictions as Barnes took us in a million different directions. A particular strength is Barnes’s descriptions of the world through Claire’s eyes. Beautiful and eerie with amazing atmospheric tension, and brilliant themes of the dangers of greedy capitalism and corporate influence on society, widening wealth disparity, and prioritizing profit over human life. This definitely passed the vibe check, and it receives 5 stars from me!

Danni and I are in agreement: Can someone please make this into a movie or mini TV series ASAP??

Barnes’s second book, Ghost Station, is out in April 2024, and clearly I cannot wait! 

I'm slowly catching up with the backlog of book reviews from the last few months, and this one was read back in March with my friend, Brittany from @Brittany Loves Reading on booktube. Every other month, we host Ice Planet Barbarian reading sprints on a Saturday for 8 hours. As of this review, we are now on book 7, to be read in July 2023! 

Having read the first six books in this series so far, this one is still my favorite! I love that it loosely mirrors Beauty & the Beast, featuring a hate-to-love romance. The dynamic between Liz and Raahosh was a lot of fun because, even though she is a chatterbox and he's the grumpy silent type, they are both incredibly stubborn and that made their interactions so funny at times. I still like that Ruby Dixon doesn't take this series too seriously, allowing for humor between intense moments of survival or conflict. It's interesting to think back on this book remembering how little we knew about the planet, its environment, and how finding one's true "mate" works. The series definitely builds on itself and becomes more and more complex!

 Murder at an All Women’s College 📚

↓ Similar Reads ↓
1. Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay (on my TBR!)
2. Murder on ‘B’ Deck by Vincent Starret
3. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers (on my TBR!)

This title was the pick for the Shedunnit Book Club back in March, and I had such a delightful time visiting Oxford in my mind. Set at the fictional all women’s college, Persephone College, a group of students discover their bursar’s body in a boat floating along the Cherwell. The young women commence their own investigation into the death.

Fitting in the impossible crime category of GADF, Hay’s plotting seems a bit on the simplistic side. I imagined my own solution, and I was a bit disappointed to find the author’s to be less creative and more straightforward than I expected. With that said, the novel’s strengths include likeable characters (I loved following Sally Watson especially!), an atmospheric college setting, and entertaining dialogue. Those elements are why I am so sad Hay only ever wrote 3 detective fiction novels!

Highly recommend picking up the edition published by @britishlibrary and @poisonedpress bc the introduction enhanced my reading experience tenfold! 😍

I look forward to eventually reading her other 2 books, as well as returning to this one every now and again. 😊✨


Check out @theshedunnitshow on Instagram or your favourite podcast app for more info about the book club and what we are currently reading. This month’s pick: Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters. 

John Blacksad, P.I. 🐈‍

John Blacksad is a private investigator. He’s also a black cat. Set in the 1950s and heavily inspired by hardboiled detective fiction (and, adjacently, film noir), this anthropomorphic world mirrors the dark realities of our own. Paired with gorgeous illustrations, Blacksad’s cases cover themes of race-related tension and violence, deep-seated corruption, and gray morality.

I’m getting more into graphic novels this year! And I’ve been on the lookout specifically for those in the mystery genre. I found this 3-volume edition at my local library, and it was a pleasant bonus to discover it happens to be a translated work as well! As someone who continues to be wary of the classic hardboiled variety, I found Blacksad to be far more palatable as a historical mystery clearly written in modern times. With that said, misogyny and the objectification of women—an unfortunate habit in classic hardboiled—shines through in this graphic novel. It’s more subtle, but even the illustrations depict the anthropomorphic women characters with bodies that mirror the human body, while men characters had the bodies of the animals they represented.

This was a fascinating graphic novel to read, for sure, with a likable BIPOC protagonist investigating these cases. If only the hardboiled genre could *finally* be rid of misogyny and sexual objectification of women, I would have liked this more.

Content Warning: illustrated depictions of s*x, heavy physical violence and blood, depictions of white supremacy and racism, gun violence 

↓ Similar Reading Experiences ↓ 
1. Sister, Outsider by Audre Lorde
2. The Magical Language of Others by EJ Koh
3. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

There are some really thought-provoking essays in this collections, the one focusing on S/M in particular. I neither agree or disagree with Lorde's viewpoint on the subject of S/M, especially as someone who is not a part of that community, but I did find her perspective and reasonings to be interesting. With that said, this collection is predominantly made up of journal entries as Lorde battled cancer, and how it affected her body, social life, and mindset. Even though I wasn't entering this book expecting to read about this part of her life, I did find it an important addition.

I am giving this collection four stars, only because I adored Sister, Outsider more, and I found that book to be a phenomenal collection of essays, speeches, and interviews.

I borrowed this audiobook through Libby, looking for a light-hearted listen with a bit of romance. I hadn't read the first book in this series, When in Rome, but I had read Sarah Adams's The Cheat Sheet (previously enjoying that) and tried The Off Limits Rule (DNFing that). Since my history with Adams is hit or miss, I thought I'd try this newest release and cross my fingers! Even though I finished the book, I am giving it two stars because I considered DNFing it multiple times.

For those who are anxious about reading series out of order: This romance can certainly be read as a standalone, and I had no difficulty understanding the events that happened before the book's opening.

My biggest issue with this story was that the love interests, Annie and Will, felt too 2D for me. Their personalities revolved around only 2-3 qualities, and their motivations for finding love or avoiding it did not seem well-developed or very mature. I am speaking more critically on Annie's motivations, because they seemed quite naïve and childish for a woman in her twenties. At the story's beginning, it is revealed that Annie is dating only because she feels that the next step in her life's plan is to get married and have children. This was honestly just sad to read because too often those in their twenties and thirties are pressured by society to tick off these boxes when you can be entirely happy without them. It is not a healthy mindset, and it's also an unrealistic one. So, Will "practicing" dating strategies with her felt very odd when considering he is getting her ready for her hypothetical future husband...

The cheese is heavy in this one with a sprinkling of spice, so if you like that combination, this might be the book for you. 

 Looking for a book to read for Jewish American Heritage Month?

↓ This book inspires me to read ↓
1. The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah by Ellen Frankel
2. If All The Seas Were Ink: A Memoir by Ilana Kurshan
3. Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi

Dara Horn encourages her readers to reflect on their own knowledge and preconceived notions about Judaism and historical antisemitism. Through a mixture of personal stories, research, and collected interviews, she investigates why oppression and violence toward Jews makes such a compelling, marketable narrative to non-Jewish populations. A moving, informative read, People Love Dead Jews searches for the answers to modern society’s obsession with the death of Jews.

My advice is for you to read the first chapter, which focuses on Anne Frank, everyone’s “second favorite dead Jew” as described by Horn and the person whose life on which many of us (particularly Americans) base our understanding of Jews. That chapter will convince you to read the rest and expand your knowledge about the historical oppression of Jewish people. Horn travels the world both physically and through her research of primary documents and interviews of people from various backgrounds. I feel equally more informed and motivated to keep educating myself on Jewish and Jewish American heritage. I was moved to tears multiple times, and I cannot express how grateful I am that my library had a copy of this book in its collection. I can assure you that I will be adding it as a recommendation in the Staff Picks section as often as I can!

See more on this title and others at my booktube 

 Murder, Pastries, and Cannabis

Thank you Kensington for my gifted ARC copy of A Half-Baked Murder in exchange for this honest review!  

↓ Similar Reading Experiences ↓ 

Chloe Barnes was living her ideal life as a formally trained pastry chef at a Michelin star restaurant in Paris with her handsome chef fiance. It all crumbled when she heard of her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis back home and her fiance’s infidelity. Now, Chloe has moved back in with Grandma Rose in Azalea Bay, CA, attending her best friend’s D&D nights and occasionally baking her grandma a batch of “special” brownies. One thing leads to another, and suddenly Chloe’s aunt, Dawn, convinces her to open a cannabis cafe! Things finally seem to be looking up for her…until a dead body is discovered and Dawn is the police’s no. 1 suspect.
 
As soon as Kensington advertised this debut novel in the brand new Cannabis Cafe Mystery series, I couldn’t get my hands on a copy soon enough! I loved everything about this concept: 1) the protagonist is a young 28-year-old woman still figuring things out (like me!); 2) George is inviting the cozy mystery genre to keep up with the times, fighting back against the old taboo of legalized cannabis and highlighting the diverse population this product caters: cancer patients, people with chronic pain or anxiety/stress, etc.; and 3) this book still features all of the staple tropes and elements that cozy readers adore. Chloe has a warm, endearing personality with a fierce protectiveness of her family and friends, the community of Azalea Bay is tightknit but vibrant, and the murder mystery involves a lot of suspects with secrets to hide! 

I fell in love with Azalea Bay as a setting, and Chloe’s circle of friends and family had a great dynamic. The mystery was intriguing, and Chloe’s entanglement in it felt believable for the most part. It is important to note certain content warnings: childhood neglect, eating disorders, and attempted sexual assault. George handles each of these issues well and with respect. Regarding ED, I would say the characters could have been a bit more informed about the various causes for developing EDs, not just societal idolization of thinness. With that said, George does acknowledge this by the end of the novel, but I personally would have liked it highlighted more. Overall. I actually more amazed at how many current topics/issues the author was able to infuse into one novel. Can’t wait to see what she does next.
 
This is my official request to Kensington to please keep this series going!! I cannot wait to see the various adventures that Chloe will face once her shop, Baked by Chloe, is finally up and running. I am heavily invested in her family, a new furry edition to said family, and the romantic love interest who happens to live right next door. I think Emily George does a great job of creating a world that speaks to long-time cozy readers and newcomers to the genres alike. 
 

In this Nordic noir translation, Stockholm is shaken by a shooting that takes place on a city bus, killing eight and wounding one in critical condition. Of the dead is Detective Åke Stenström, a promising young detective whose attendance on that bus baffles police inspector Martin Beck and the rest of the city’s Homicide Division. In this dark mystery, Sjöwall and Wahlöö shine a fascinating, critical spotlight on Sweden’s political and justice systems, and its issues with nationalism and xenophobia.

This was the Shedunnit book club’s pick for April, fulfilling this month’s theme of mysteries in translation. I certainly don’t read translated mysteries enough, so I was excited to read this title beyond the fact that it has been sitting on my TBR shelves for too long! Upon finishing this book, my overall impression is that I fully understand why this title has become a modern classic of Nordic noir. I really enjoyed the gritty atmospheric setting of Stockholm, the collaborative teamwork among Beck and the other investigators, and the linguistic elements infused in both characterization and clue-deciphering.

I love all things that involve linguistics, so it was fascinating to see certain characters defined by their accents and dialogue. This applied to a major clue in the case as well where the police needed to consult experts in deciphering audio and isolated auditory sounds. I ate those parts up! And, the mystery’s ending was satisfying as everything clicked into place nicely.

Interestingly, this book is very much “of its time.” The cultural assumptions about women’s sexuality and sexual freedom certainly set this book in the time it was written. With that said, there were moments that sadly aged too well, including one character’s dark joke after the shooting in which he asks his colleagues if Sweden was turning into the United States. More than 50 years later, and the U.S. is still known for its issues with mass shootings. A disturbing parallel, to say the least. 

An English-French Investigative Duo! 🥐🐓

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and #Netgalley for gifting me an ARC of Death and Croissants by Ian Moore in exchange for this honest review! I’ve already borrowed the sequel, Death and Fromage, via Hoopla and cannot wait to dive into another adventure with Richard and co.

Richard Ainsworth enjoys the predictable life he has running a B&B in Val de Follet, a fictional village in the Loire Valley. At least, he thinks he does. This comfort in the habitual is soon obliterated when a guest disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wall. One of his other guests–the self-assured, poised Valérie Dorçay–pulls him into a terrifying but also exciting investigation. The two search for answers in the most eccentric, entertaining ways. Such a treat!

While reading this mystery, I pictured Richard as Hugh Grant bumbling his way through French etiquette and always, very cutely, a step behind everyone else. I really enjoyed how chaotic this read was! It’s a mix of modern cozy elements and satirical suspense/espionage-esque storytelling. 

Richard is the classic Englishmen who gets swept up in the glamorous, unpredictable life of the mysterious Valérie. They complemented each other nicely and reminded me of Richard and Camille’s dynamic in the earliest seasons of Death in Paradise. I would say this read is perfect for those who enjoy humorous dialogue, chaotic plotting, and writing that doesn’t take itself seriously, showing that the author clearly had fun while writing this.  

I actually participated in some immersive reading for this one, listening to the audiobook (borrowing it from Hoopla) while reading along with my e-ARC. If you have the opportunity, I would recommend following suit and do a reading-listening combo because Ian Moore narrates. It is a rare delight when the author reads his own book!