rudo_tsaritsar's Reviews (222)

This was a cute cozy mystery and I liked the paranormal element it had. I felt for Brynn who was still trying to find herself after her husband passed away. She’d become a shell of herself, not living just existing. 

Brynn didn’t know how to deal with her grief so she pushed those feelings away along with her magic. Cue her aunts: Nora, the feisty and fierce one, and Izzy, the loveable peacemaker. They wanted to help their niece but she wouldn’t let them. That starts to change when one of the guests in the bed and breakfast they own winds up dead. 

Brynn takes it upon herself to figure out who the killer is without her powers but someone is working hard to make it seem like Brynn’s aunt is the culprit. 

I loved the sense of a loving family I saw from the Warren women. Although different from one another, it was clear that they cared about each other. I also liked getting to meet the townsfolk of Evenfall with their wonderful quirks as Brynn conducted her investigation. The ending of the book was sweet and heartfelt and I’ll definitely be reading the next book in the series. 

A mysterious illness claims the world’s children before bringing them back. To continue surviving, however, they need to ingest human blood. As the blood supply wanes, parents struggle and compete to keep their children alive. In the end, the only source left will be each other. For them, the ultimate question will be: how far will you go for someone you love?

This was not the typical apocalyptic story that I expected and I enjoyed that aspect. The novel is told from various viewpoints of the parents and we get to know their lives and their kids’. It felt mundane and long winded at first until the Herod virus was introduced. I felt the parents’ pain as they suddenly lost their children and felt their joy and wonder when 3 days later, their children came back to life. I was invested. The practice of feeding children blood started out semi-normal (as normal as it could be) until the blood supply started running low. People turned on each other and we watched as society crumbled. As we continued to follow each parent, I wondered how far each of them was willing to go. It seemed like there was nothing they wouldn’t do and I found myself reading on to find out what else could possibly go wrong. 

Pros

*I enjoyed getting to know the families. It made me more invested in the story having their backgrounds. 

*Herod virus was given somewhat of a description even though we don’t fully know how it came about. 

Cons

*As much I enjoyed the pace when things picked up, it took a while to get there. 

*The ending felt rushed and I would have like a bit more added to it. 

Cat & her twin sister El escaped from their house of horrors at a young age. Years later, the sisters are estranged, but Cat has to come back to the place she used to call home when she learns El is missing. Now she has to come to terms with her and her sister’s past to figure out what happened to El. And also to find out whom keeps sending her cryptic messages of their past as well as threats. 

There was a lot of magic realism in the book which made it hard at times to distinguish between reality and what young minds conjured to protect themselves. Cat made herself forget the past so she’d be able to live a somewhat normal life but now that she was back in her childhood home, memories were coming back and she wasn’t sure what was real anymore. The flashbacks showed how terrifying being in that house was and how there was no support from anyone, so the sisters had to rely on each other. 

I wasn’t sure whether I should root for Cat or not. The more the book progressed, the more I questioned her actions. Cat and El were flawed characters and although I could sometimes understand why they did what they did, it was their lack of communication that bothered me most. It seemed some of their problems would have been resolved ages ago if they had just talked. 

Once I got used to the format, I did enjoy the book more. I did have to read some parts over/intently so I could see the hidden message. There were number of twists which I did like especially towards the end of the story. Overall, I enjoyed the story and would recommend reading it with the audio version as it added to the experience.

Alex and Cassie are a mother daughter duo that have never gotten along. Alex has had to take care of her mother while trying to learn more of her past and who her father is. When an experimental memory transfer has the potential to bring the two closer,  Alex reluctantly accepts. 

I enjoyed the premise of the book but it soon lost me. Alex starts having memories of her mother that Cassie claimed never happened. As Alex’s hallucinations keep happening, the distance between them grows. Although this was a short read, it was somewhat fast. The ending was kind of unexpected but I still wanted more. More from the story and more from Alex and Cassie. I didn’t feel invested in them as characters in a good way or bad way. I’d be interested in reading this as a full novel, to see what would be added. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Serial Box for a copy of the book in exchange for a review!

I’m so glad I got to finally read this. It’s been on my TBR since 2020 and thanks to my bookclub’s middle school readathon, I finally picked it up. It’s never easy being the new kid and I thought the way Jerry Craft portrayed Jordan was wonderful. It took me back to middle school and when I started at a new school.

Jordan had to face being one of the few black students in his school and how differently people (students and teachers) treated him and other black students. Calling them by the wrong names, thinking that they had no fathers around, and so on. I was happy to witness Jordan not only survive in his school but thrive as he made new friends, stood up to bullies, and discovered that being the new kid wasn’t so bad after all. 

“Are you deranged or damaged? Sick or evil?”

Penny Francone has DID (dissociative identity disorder). She has 3 alternate personalities with Eve being the most violent. After being found at a crime scene with the dead body of her birth mother, the murder weapon in her hands, and claims of no memory of the murder, she is sent to Edgewater Mental Hospital. There, her psychiatrist is tasked with finding out if Penny really does have DID and if so, if one of her other alternate’s committed the murder or if she’s faking it. 

This book read slow for me. I understood Grace’s (Penny’s adoptive mother) pain and willingness to fight with everything for her daughter. But the viewpoints were only from Grace and Mitch - Penny’s doctor. They did tell and show us instances where Penny’s alternates showed up but I wanted more. I would have loved some chapters from her perspective.
The twist seemed a bit convenient and it came out of left park for me. But with that being said I truly did enjoy learning more about DID. I don’t think a lot of people are aware exactly of what the disorder is and what it entails. I also enjoyed the references to the movie Split and the book The Shining.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book in exchange of a review!