Ahoy there mateys! Unpopular opinion time!  I hate this book and it walks the plank!!  Stupid book won the even dumber 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for best Romantasy.  Ugh.  I hate that is even a category.  Hottest 2023 hybrid.  Blech!  I hated this book so much and thinking about it makes me have angst.  But again in minority because this stupid book won with 397,565 votes.  I thought the main character was a special snowflake who should have continually died especially given what I know about her chronic illness.  Both love interests were horrible.  How the dragons bonded made no sense - they just seemed to fry everyone who wasn't crucial to the plot.  And if dragons are SO smart, then why did they bond to the mean, horrible riders?  Of course special snowflake gets TWO dragons instead of one - the most badass male one and the rarest one.  Don't get me wrong, these two dragons were the "best" part.  But they also felt kinda boring.  Dragons couldn't save this book.  Oh and FYI, when male dragon and his mate have sex, idiot snowflake and dumb love interest #2 feel the sexy times through their bond and get horny for each other too!  Blech.  I don't wanna talk about this book anymore. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I say this every time I finish one of these novellas but I seriously could read dozens of books set in the various worlds.  This is the 9th book in the series and a direct sequel to book 8.  This cannot be read as a standalone and has spoilers for most of the other books in the series.

Antsy arrives at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children.  Problems ensue when other students realize that she can find all Lost things.  Does that mean she can find their Doors?  Well Antsy can but should she?

This book was lovely.  Antsy has problems dealing with other children, especially given her aging process.  Favorite characters are pulled into an accidental quest.  There are LOTS of awesome answers about how the Doors work.  Several characters have their storylines resolved in satisfying ways.  I can't give further details cause spoilers.  But I was so glad to read this one and already wish I had the next novella.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  This novel deals with first contact and I was so ready for it.  Sadly I abandoned ship at 48%.  The first 20% or so was great.  Anna is a survivor of genocide and a former refugee.  She lives in NYC and frankly has a rather uninspired life.  Until one day, she goes to Central Park and finds an alien that apparently only she can see.  I loved the entire set-up of Anna and the alien's relationship.  Of course two aliens are at war which leads to trouble for the humans.

After the excellent start, an alien artifact ends up being in Kurdistan, which just happens to be where Anna is from.  The alien goes to get the item and leaves Anna behind.  Anna gets drawn right back in.  Then the book turns into a military sci-fi where aliens are barely present, lots of nuclear bombs fall, and all the human factions are fighting with each other.  There are multiple POV switches and flashbacks which made me lose track of the narrative.  The massive info-dumps about "cool" science ideas and physics did not help and only substantially slowed down the pacing.  The many, many added characters were rather two-dimensional.  It was also strange in that it felt the story was supposed to take place in modern day but then randomly would talk about Obama as president.

I ended up getting more and more frustrated even though I wanted to see what the Space Empire was going to do about the renegade aliens.  Apparently this book was also expanded from a short story, ends on a cliff hanger, and is the first of a series.  Would I have gotten the answers I wanted if I continued reading?  Not sure but mateys this was sadly a slog.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  Though this pirate's focus is on sci-fi and fantasy, this Captain does have broader reading tastes. So occasionally I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi or fantasy) . . .

I picked up this book because of Matey Mogsy's review and Matey Tammy's review.  I love when the crew finds treasure.  This was the perfect mood read.  The very light version of the plot is a haunted house where the owner, Margaret, refuses to move out no matter how haunted the house.  Most of the year she co-exists with the ghostly inhabitants.  September is the rough month when the walls bleed and the ghosts are extra awful - especially the creature in the basement.  But this year is also when Margaret's husband, Hal, can't take it anymore and disappears.  Daughter Katherine is suspicious when she isn't able to speak to her father and comes for a visit.

The house is certainly a character in its own right.  I loved the creepy atmosphere.  I loved that the story begins four years after the couple bought the house and so ye learn its history in bits and pieces.  I loved all the ghosts.  There is Fredricka who makes tea.  There is the burned lady, Blythe.  There is the ghost who wants to bite everything. And much more.

The writing and descriptions were extremely evocative.  Especially when ye consider this was a debut.  There is the mystery of Hal, the mystery of the house, and the mystery of Margaret's past.  Is Margaret crazy?  Or is the house actually haunted?  The scenes are gory and yet sometimes humorous.  I loved Fredricka moving all the things.  I loved that the ending was both horrifying in parts and ended with hope.  I read the e-book but wonder how the audiobook would be.  I may actually reread this one via audio to see.  Highly recommended to the rest of the crew who hasn't read this.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  Murder owls trap everyone in the library.  Of course I had to read this.  The main protagonist of the story is Mad who returns back to her hometown begrudgingly to teach a chemistry class for kids.  When the owls start attacking, Mad finds herself confronting her own traumatic past to try to keep the kids safe.

While there is a lot of good in this novel, I feel like it would have been better off as a novella.  One of the reasons it is so long is because Mad reads a book called "The Silent Queen" to the kids to distract them.  I actually liked this fairy tale interspersed within the story though it took some getting used too.  I also enjoyed the relationships unfolding in the library.  I loved Jolene the crayfish.

The problem for me was that the owls really don't do much.  The focus of the story becomes Mad's PTSD and how the people in the library pass time.  The majority of the action in the novel stems from bad choices made from people both inside and out of the library.  If ye know the birds kill, then why would multiple people run out only to be eaten?  Also the reason why it is so dire in the library is just because the town government is inept.  They don't bring supplies and actively seem to be trying to kill the patrons stuck in the library.  I really couldn't suspend me disbelief.  I could think of dozens of ways problems could have been solved.

Plus the science behind the murder owls was light and some items were never explained (power going out?).  I also didn't really care for the romance subplot.  Additionally people panicked pretty quickly in the beginning.  I feel like it should have taken much longer for people to lose their minds.

A lot of the problems I had were personal preference based (I think).  If it was a novella, maybe a lot of the waiting around and angst wouldn't have gotten slightly tedious.  That said, it was a quick read and the crew seems to like this one a lot.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I loved the first  Emily Wilde book which ended nicely as a standalone.  That said, I be glad to get more of Emily and Wendell.  In this installment, the fae disturb the duo at Cambridge and cause a lot of ruckus which leads them to needing to leave town for a bit.  They end up in the Austrian Alps doing research on a missing dryadologist (among other things).  Also on board, very begrudgingly, is Emily's chipper niece Ariadne and the grumpy head of the dryadology department, Farris Rose, who is out to prove that Emily and Wendell are frauds.

I really enjoyed that the town in the Alps was used to living with the fae on a more practical and daily level.  I loved the use of ribbons, the foxes, and enchanted pencils.  Emily's regard for Wendell shines through in how much she wants to help him and how she fights for him even when the odds are not good.  Rose ending up being a lovely character even though I hated him at first.  The romance elements are subtle but better for it.  I continue to love the world building and additional insight into the fae.  Who doesn't love Poe?

This book did feel a tiny bit repetitive in plot in terms of how the story progressed.  But I loved the additional insight into Emily and Wendell and hope that there is a third novel.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  Minor spoilers ahead. This was an immensely enjoyable ending to the trilogy.  Helena is back to finish the story of the decline of the empire.  The book picks up where the second book ended.  Where the first two books had more mystery elements to them, this went in a different direction with more action and horror.

I basically gobbled this up in one day.  The major issue I had with this novel is mostly a me problem.  I didn't love the fighting taking place on the spiritual plane and felt those sections were the least interesting.  There were also a lot of questions about the spiritual realm that really don't get dealt with much.  Because the action is seen through the lens of Helena's perspective, this works but I personally could have done without a lot of it.  I am in the minority in this though.

While I enjoyed the novel, the climax and how the empire ultimately ended absolutely delighted me.  It brought me overall score up in the end.  I loved the end battle and how difficult it was to fight Claver's army.  I loved how the issue of Claver was resolved.  I loved more monster dog.  I loved Justice Konrad Vonvalt's actions after the empire ends.  I loved the insight into what happens to the other members of Vonvalt's party.  I can't say for sure whether the dissolution of the Empire is good overall or not.  Life goes on regardless.  It has been a while since the ending of a series was just so satisfying.  I think I would reread this series someday to see the difference now that I know the conclusion.

If ye haven't picked up this series, I highly recommend it.  Excellent characters, good world building, and lovely writing.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  This novel takes place in WWI.  The author's note claims that the word Arden had in mind while writing this book was "steampunk" in the sense that she wanted to show the clashing of old and new world technologies and morals.  This is a historical fiction novel with supernatural elements.

The book begins in Halifax, Canada in 1918.  Laura, a retired field nurse, receives word of her brother's death.  Only Laura's experience shows her that something about his death is not as it seems.  She volunteers to go back to Flanders determined to find out the truth.

The greatest strength of the book lies in its dual narrative structure.  The first part deals with Laura in 1918.  The second deals with Freddie beginning in November 1917 in the trenches.  The mystery and supernatural elements have immense tension because of this set-up.  Laura is trying to find the truth in the present while the reader slowly learns the truth in the past as well.  The timelines eventually merge while never lessening the suspense.

The ghosts of the title deal with trauma, memory, and human relationships.  I don't want to get into more about the supernatural elements because those are part of the mystery.  I really thought this was a successful novel overall.  The idea of the old world changing into something new and unknown was extremely clear.  The showcasing of the war through field surgery and soldiers had a poignant juxtaposition.  And of course, war is shown to be messy and wasteful.  This novel is really more about ideas and concepts in the long run.

The minor problem I had with the novel was at the end of the book when the characters are fleeing Europe and where the characters end up.  Like always money seems to solve a lot.  The romance elements didn't work for me as there was not enough insight into how the characters really came to fall in love.  I would have preferred the romance to come out altogether.  Personal preference really.

While I enjoyed this book, it kinda makes me want to go back and reread All Quiet on the Western Front.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  Alex Easton wants rest after the horror of the House of Usher.  They head to their Gallacian hunting lodge to recuperate.  However, the time there turns into a literal nightmare out of local folktales.

I thought the first book ended perfectly as a standalone.  I was still excited to get another adventure dealing with Alex. Those readers expecting the horror of the first novella are likely to be slightly disappointed.  There is not a lot of suspense in this story as the reader knows exactly what is happening.  It takes Alex and co. at lot longer to figure it out.  It seemed a bit silly that Alex is so stubborn about the issue.

Ultimately, this book really is about Alex dealing with her PTSD from the war that was exacerbated by the Usher experience.  I really enjoyed this novella despite the very different tone from the first book.  The housekeeper was a great character whose disgruntled state was fun to read about.  Agnus and Miss Potter continue to be lovely.

While this might not have gone in the fashion I would have wanted, the characters still made this read very enjoyable.  If there is ever a third book, I would pick it up too.  Arrrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  If ye have not read the Rockton series, then I do not recommend that ye start here.  This spin-off builds off of the first series and honestly, I do believe a new reader would have a hard time because of the history and interpersonal relationship drama that feeds directly from the first series into this one.

I loved loved loved this book.  On a hike, ten year old Max believes that he saw a bear with human eyes.  Casey and Eric, the town leaders, feel that Max is not quite clear on what he saw due to his recent trauma.  Though a bear is nothing to take lightly. Of course life in Haven's Rock gets more complicated when Max goes missing.

Aye, this series continues to be excessive with animal encounters and has silliness but this was such outright fun.  It matched me mood exactly.  I loved Max as a major character and enjoyed getting chapters from his point-of-view.  The interactions of Casey and Eric with the miners was also fun.  I thought that overall the solution to Max's situation was well done.  I particularly like that Max had some agency - unlike many of the adults throughout the troubled town's past.

But ultimately, it is watching the recurring characters evolve that continue to make this series delightful.  There were a couple of particular episodes of Casey and also with miners that suggest intriguing future possibilities.  Can we also please have more of Mathias?  I need the next one!  Arrr!