Easy, breez read.
A very Themla & Louise thing going on here, but make them Vampy aaand kind of annoying.

#thesebitchesbecray

3.25⭐️s 
Storyline-3⭐️s
Audiobook-3.5 ⭐️s

This was a solid start to a new series, that I maaaybe will continue with?
The writing was fine.  
The story was fine. 
The characters were... fine. 
Theres magic, mystery, portals, romance. All things I enjoy.
Some of the dialogue was a bit cringe. But that may just be a me thing. 
Overall, the story felt very melodramatic to me (was it just because of the audio?) but fine. The ending also wasn't my cup of tea. 🙈

Honestly, Brittany Pressley is usually a fav narrator of mine, she know how to evoke emotions. I think it was just some of the dialogue that kinda gave me the ick... making the audio less enjoyable.
But really, it was fine.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the advanced audiobook!

Grimm's Mashed Potatoes 

A fun Fairytale Mash-up with its roots in, very obviously, planted in Grimm's Fairytales.

Cozy Fantasy WITH stakes... like middle ground stakes, nothing stressful.
The Teller Of Small Fortunes was a warm and charming tale. The characters are flawed yet loveable. Its adventurous, sweet, and lighthearted, serving empathy and love.
Though there's magic and fantastical elements, it offered very poignant discourse around some of our worlds biggest issues (racism, immigration), while somehow still being a very comforting and hopeful read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for the eARC!

My first Courtney Gould read, and I'm thinking I need to hit up her backlist.
I binge read/listened to What The Woods Took. 
Lindsey Dorcus perfectly narrated WTWT. This is a Young Adult read, revolving around older teens, yet Dorcus's performance (and Gould's writing) kept it from feeling "too young."  
The start felt a little slow compared to the majority of the book, introductions and all, but that is likely a me problem. There are several characters that we get to know, and Gould did an amazing job at making them feel like REAL people, while Dorcus' voice lent life to each emotion expelled. It was easy to sympathize and/or empathize with everyone, regardless or whether or not I liked them. The tension was thiiick. The setting was eerie. And the creep factor was high. Top-notch anxiety achieved.
I dont want to give away much, but it was easy to get sucked into this terror (a forced romp through the wilderness, with team building and trust exercises AND sharing feelings; hard pass) and I craved all the monster mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the eARC 

And thanks to Macmillan Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners for the advanced audiobook

3.5⭐️s rounded up
Story - 3⭐️s
Narration -4⭐️s
A loosely based, gender bent, re-imagining of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Varga has created a tasty little appetizer of female rage and revenge, with a side of light romance. #girldinner
For She Is Wrath is easily digestible yet a little light in substance... particularly when you're comparing it to TCOMC. I feel like that comparison should be tossed out, and it would be easier to accept that it's truly a good young adult tale. #girlpower
I listened to the audiobook, and Safiyya Ingar does a beautiful narration. She kept me engaged and gave the characters more depth than I otherwise might have read into them.
Altogether, a satisfying read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners for the advanced audiobook!

"Sequels aren't always a disappointment..." 
AGREED.
This was yet another entertaining read. The sarcasm and quippy lines always hit perfectly for me. I felt like I was given just enough information to feel fairly confident in my assessment of the murderer... only to be wrong, yet all the information and links to the killer still made sense. It's no fun when the murderer is an obvious or seemingly random choice. This book however, is fourteen hundred tons of fun.
I'm officially committed to reading anything Benjamin Stevenson writes.
Excited for more adventures with Ernest and to reread via audiobook, the next time around.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC

4.25 ⭐️s
All the usual snark, malarkey, and typical twisty-turns wrapped up in a very merry gift to the mystery genre.
With the world constantly serving up a neverending buffet of anxiety and depression, Benjamin Stevenson has managed to balance these little horrors by providing a wonderfully unserious Christmas murder [mystery]. 
Ernest Cunningham is 10,000% my favorite Slapdash Sleuth in all the lands. If I'm ever, wrongly, accused of murder, I want Ernest on the case.
I may have begrudgingly withheld .75 of those make believe stars simply because it wasn't a full-length novel.
I love this series. 
Keep the murders coming, Stevenson.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC!