God I love these boys. 
I’ve been an avid fan of last podcast for about three years and I was so excited when the book was announced. I had plans to see the live show but alas These Uncertain Times pushes it back until next year. 
I’m so glad I got my copy though. I finished it all in one day. 
Marcus parks, who I already knew was a crack researcher, is truly one of the rising stars in true crime writing. The way he is able to blend intensely informative work with extreme pathos with biting humor is an absolute gift. His voice is so unique I felt like I was just listening to an episode of the show. 
While all the killers covered were covered in their Heavy Hitter series, there is brand new and more nuanced research for all of them that makes the information new and refreshing even for avid fans. 
Would recommend for anyone who is a fan of the macabre. 

DNF at page 147

I really wanted to like this book. I found the concept of the sin-eater endlessly fascinating, and the idea of Eve taking the place of Lucifer as Ultimate Evil could have led to some great stuff.

Unfortunately, this book just didn't go far enough into the fantasy and world-building to hold my interest. 

The main thing that kept taking me out of the book is how utterly lazy the world-building is. It's Elizabethan England, but all of the names have been changed, and not much else. It's the literary equivalent of calling a book "The Wives of Shmenry the Shmeighth, and his daughter Shmelizabeth". EVERYTHING, from the number of wives the Old King Harold had, to the number of daughters who became queens to how the wife of the Queen's Favorite died is the same. Now, I'm a certified Tudor armchair historian, so the almost plagiarism was super glaring and annoying. I have no problem with having a fantasy world that is similar to a real-life world, but there needs to be some things that make this different. It's like the author wanted things both ways. Either set it in an AU of Elizabethan England or set it in a fantasy world that you do actual world-building in.

With that, the characters just weren't interesting enough for me to care about. May is fine, but she's a blank slate. Part of it is her profession, and her inability to speak, but even her inner world isn't super intriguing. The relationship with the first sin-eater seemed like it was going somewhere interesting and then didn't. The courtiers were boring, and for me, the court intrigue is always the most fun part of any book. But I just didn't care.

And with the fact that I'm well-versed in Tudor history, legends, and rumors, I kinda already knew how it was gonna end, and I didn't care enough about the characters to continue. 

There were also a lot of interesting feminist questions to bring up, what with sin-eaters only being women, and Eve being the equivalent of Lucifer in this world's religion could bring of a lot of incredibly interesting questions about feminism and patriarchy that were not touched on at all. And if I get halfway through a book without these themes being touched on, I doubt they'll be touched on in  a satisfying manner. 

I'd give it a 2.5. The writing was good, and I liked the lore of the sin-eater, but it was just too familiar for my taste.

The definitive cultural biography of Anne Boleyn. Incredibly unique in how it focuses on how we have viewed her, and what a given time and places view of Anne says about their view of women generally. 

REREAD:

Livia has been one of those shadow figures of history who I adore. Even when she's portrayed as a psychotic poisoner, there's still something so fascinating about her. 

This novel takes a much more measured view of her life, taking us from her adolescence and first marriage, up to Augustus coming home from the Battle of Actium.

I found their relationship to be very real for people win their situation in life. It's very clear that they're deeply in love but also incredibly ambitious, pragmatic people. Livia is a perfect balance of a woman who is very ambitious and not the warmest woman, but still someone who does have a soul and is very compassionate. 

It's a simple read, but by no means vapid. Would highly reccomend to anyone with an interest in this woman.

Another very fun regency from Lauren Royal. Don’t be fooled by the “sweet and clean” title; this isn’t shmaltzy or boring. It gets a little steamy as well. 
Characters are very fun and the main couple are very compatible. 
The characters have a severe case of “can’t ever have a conversation” itis which can get a bit tiring. A lot of the plot is driven almost by willful ignorance. But the characters are just so entertaining and this is mostly a character study. 
In the end, I preferred “Alexandra” but this was a wonderful little beach read. 

This is the EIGHTEENTH book in the series that my boyfriend's mom randomly gave me, so if I got any lore wrong, I literally know nothing about what's going on in this world lol.

For the most part this was a very fun read. There's a lot of pop culture references, which start to wear very thin by the end. It is genuinely humorous and there were several times I laughed out loud. 

The first half is a bit slow, and the second half almost goes at a breakneck speed, introducing lore and character relationships every page or so. Some more consistent pacing would have definitely helped this book. 

I found the relationships very believable. Everyone was either a wiseass or a pure snowflake which was kind of annoying but eh, they're all beautiful immortals. The romance between Dev and Sam was very real and I was really rooting for them. They are a really great, fun couple to follow. 

I wish Sam was able to be more badass sooner. We hear about what a callous ultra efficient Amazon warrior she is, but we don't see it until the last 100 pages, and she spends most of the first half of the book being saved. She definitely has her badass moments, but I want more of them.

The ending is kind of confusing. Not even ambiguous. Just confusing. I guess the last couple pages were sequel bait but alas.

All in all, it was a silly fun paranormal romance and I enjoyed the time I spent with it. It's not game changing literature but it wasn't meant to be. It was a fun distraction for a few days and for that I thank you, No Mercy. I will definitely be reading the rest of the one's my boyfriend's mom has at her house.