Lori

I have been looking for a cozy and magical series to read and I think I have found one to settle in. This is the first in a series as it sets up the main character to start building her magical knowledge and sadly introduces a love triangle. I am not the biggest fan of love triangles and I was not looking for romance in this series but we will see what happens.

The rest of the book was great. The cast of characters was interesting and diverse. The main mystery was good as it didn’t over explain the investigation or make huge jumps in conclusions. The magical baking and general magic is not at the forefront of this book and I hope there is more to come in the next books. I did enjoy the main character building up her new business and settling into life.

I am looking forward to the next book. Worth a look at for any one into cozy magical mysteries.

I was disappointed with this book. I have already read the first two books in the series. This one felt different and slower. The romance between the characters had me trying to talk to the main character and tell her to move on. I just didn’t like the two of them together.

The main character spends too much energy thinking about her ex. The betrayal and reason for the divorce in the first place can’t be overcome in my view. I was hoping this book would end up with them getting over what happened, becoming better people and realizing they should move on with someone else. I am disappointed that they stayed together.

The quality of this book was lesser compared to the others in the series. It’s sad, as I had liked the other ones so much that I ordered them and even got this one on pre-order. The pacing is sluggish since you spend such a large amount of time listening to the character's inner turmoil. I also hated the number of times the MC described how hot the guy was. This is somewhat common throughout the other books as well, but in this one, it's just over the top. I get it; he’s attractive. Please stop!

The witchy vibe in this book are great and have built up nicely since the last book. It felt quite natural when brought up. Also I loved that the MC learned to stand up for herself and her business. Although I do wish we saw more of her standing up in business negotiations. We only get the one good scene.

There is a lot I like in this book, but the romance holds it back and given that it’s a romance book, that’s not great. It's not a completely bad romance, but it's also not as good as what I know this author can do.

I will say that I did see the show before reading this book. The show on its own is great. I had also heard bits and parts from my partner who had read this series before me and they highly talked up the books.

This book takes you right into the thick of the story and builds from there. The story picks up immediately and sets a fast pace followed throughout the book. I did find that it was sometimes too fast and there are some characters that I wanted to see more of. On the other hand, the quick pace was nice as we didn’t spend too much time on one scene or on the character backstories allowing the main story to flow. I do hope we learn more about the characters in the next book as they are very interesting.

The characters are written in a captivating way. Miller is my favourite. He has great lines throughout the book and is just a scene-stealer. The world-building can be a bit much at first but you get into it. Each of the factions/Societies (Earth/Mars/Belters) is unique. Reading the Belter speech can be a little odd but if you listen to the audiobook or have watched the show it's easier to get into the rhythm of it.

There is a good mix of action and politics. You don’t feel cheated on the fight scenes as you do with some books. They are descriptive, fast-paced, and well-thought-out. With the political side, once you have a grasp of the societies it becomes easier to pick up the build of what will

become a massive political battle. There are a lot of questions the book opens up but doesn’t finish but this only makes me want to get to the next book.

I can’t wait until my hold comes up for the next book.

I watched the movie before reading this and it was a great companion to the book. Finally having read the book I must say it was worth the read. Even though I knew what would happen in the book, because of the film, the writing and stirring storytelling had me in tears by the end.

I will say that this book is written for adolescent kids. The wording and gentle way it brings up major topics is fit for a school room. I found that I liked the movie a little more as some of the descriptions were a little odd, more child like. With this in mind I did enjoy the story, and it was worth reading at least once.

From the start, the writing pulled me into the story. It is a typical story of opening your perspective and acceptance. You know what will happen in this story but the writing is good at being light-hearted and easy to understand. I had to look up the age range for this book as it does talk down. I really thought this book was for elementary school kids but it's listed as a young adult novel.

The story itself was ok and reminded me of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna. Although I did like that book better as it had better characters and did a little more with the story. The story brings up serious subjects like child abuse and children being taken from their homes. It is understood that this is not to be accepted but it only focuses on a small group of kids when it mentions multiple cases.

I watched the film many times before reading this book and I wish I had read this earlier. I found the book to be better story wise compared to the film although the films visuals fit the story so well.

The book is not quite magical despite having magic in it. It felt more cozy and whimsical. The author made multiple storylines, each interesting on their own, and brilliantly combined them near the end. I often found myself smiling at how cute or funny the story is. I loved the main character. She went from someone passive to someone more commanding. She does make some mistakes along the way to becoming a stronger person but it’s nice to see a female character be more assertive.

This would be a great book for any kid to read. I enjoyed this so much.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little different from what I thought it would be but that is not a bad thing in this case. The friend group is no longer together and what haunts them is a little different. But all this is what makes this book good. I think I am really getting into this author’s style of writing. The more I read, the more I like them.

The author does well at writing the inner rambling monologues people have. When this is added to the story, it does well at showing the unease the characters feel. Overall, the characters feel like real people full of confusion, stupid thoughts, and pop culture.

I will say that this book talks a lot about basketball. Parts are good for me, but it is a lot. The first half of the book is very good, but the second half is a little weird and a touch silly. The basketball game was just unnecessary. I do wish the book kept up the quality of the beginning. It would have made this a great book.

This sounded like a fun book so I thought why not. For the first quarter of the book, I genuinely forgot this book was supposed to contain terror as the name suggests. I was reading through this as a nice little cozy coffee shop book. The horror never really builds up, but it does have mostly non-graphic deaths in the book.

The first half of the book was a good build-up of the shop and characters. I didn’t like that the main character stays with the Finance Bro for so long but I did like that the MC learned more about the male lead before their romance starts. This was less romance and horror than I was expecting based on the description. There is also not much discussion about how the “killer(s)” chose victims and why it went on for so long.

I can’t help but like this book. It’s a nice cozy chosen family kind of book and just what I needed.

After reading The Haunting of Hill House I couldn’t stop thinking of the style of writing. It's slightly joking and darkly human. I loved the book so when I saw this one, I had to try it. Almost all of the stories in this collection are good but there are few standouts to me.

• Funeral Birds by M. Rickert
• For Sale by Owner by Elizabeth Hand
• In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There by Seanan McGuire
• Money of the Dead by Karen Heuler
• Hag by Benjamin Percy
• Skinder's Veil by Kelly Link

The four bolded stories are my favourites of the standouts. Even if you aren’t interested in Jackson’s style these are worth the read. I am a little overloaded with book holds but when I am free again, I will definitely make the effort to find books by authors in this book.

I greatly enjoyed “I am Legend and other stories” and have been wanting to read more of Matheson’s works. This book was a good way to satisfy. There are some repeat stories in this one, but they are ones that I enjoyed reading again. Repeats I liked: Dress of White Silk, Dance of the Dead, and Prey.

Matheson is incredible at building short stories and many in this book prove that like Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, Blood Son, Long Distance Call, The Distributor, and Crickets. The build-up of something normal to something terrifying is something I love about all these stories. The two bolded stories are my favourites of the new stories I read. These two were to me the most intense that I could not put the book down until I finished them.

These are older stories and are dated in their views at times but not so much as to make you dislike the book. There are two exceptions to that The Likeness of Julie and The Children of Noah. For the children's story if they didn’t say the People are “bad” because of an indigenous mother it would have been a good story. Julie on the other hand was just awful. Rape and the victim bringing it upon herself should not be a plot point.

I was hoping this book would be better then the first one. Sadly, that was not the case.

It was a little of everything that made this book bad. The book had too much modern slang and actions that pulled you out of the story. The romance was brittle at best. It was not a true enemies-to-lovers story as the characters were mean to everyone they met. They were too unlikeable and with the lack of chemistry it showed they could barely like each other.

There was some charm in the first book to make me try this one but most of that charm is lost. There are sparks here and there but there but not enough to make me read another in this series if it continues.

This is a good children’s book that is still enjoyable to read as an adult. It is dark (but not too dark) for a kid’s book and that is what makes it good. Kids don’t always need to read books that shoot rainbows at them. The dark material would have captivated me as a kid.

I had watched the film before reading the book, so I have Keith David’s voice in mind whenever the Cat talks. Which I am 100% ok with as I love David’s voice acting. I did constantly compare the book to the film even when I tried not to. If I had read the book first, I wild have like it more, but I enjoy the film too much. The film is a good companion that gets the feeling of being a child and wanting to explore that the book does well.

I am quick to judge a book by its cover and by what I have heard about it in passing. I thought this would be a social commentary discussion and would be closer to an autobiography. I was quite wrong and happy that I was.

The story was great, and the writing was perfect for it. I loved that we had only the view of the white author as it added to the delusions of this person. THIS WOMAN! The main character is just a terrible person, and I enjoyed every moment of her terribleness. This perspective we get is well done and I liked how through this point of view we can see her justify each action to herself. The ending could rival a horror story.

Commentary on social issues brought up through out the book but not fully discussed. Which makes sense considering the point of view this story is in. I liked that the author left the questions like who can write about what in our hands. I don’t always like when points are told and repeated. This book perfectly shows us these issues and lets us make the connections. It made the book refreshing.

I didn’t mind this book, but I didn’t quite care for it either. The formatting of the story started to get confusing and annoying as I went along. There were good parts and a few that made me chuckle but then main points the author is making are stated but not worked on.

I felt there could have been a little more to this book. By leaning more towards satire or by expanding on the social themes brought up this book could have been more focused.

The author tends to repeat issues too much in the book and the courtroom scene just put me off. Still, it’s not a bad read and not very long.

I am happy that I read this book. After reading the first one in the series I wasn’t sure about continuing, but this book is worth it.

This book is closer to what I thought the first one would be. I enjoyed the story and the kills as I read. I did find that we got introduced to a lot of characters which is fine but sometimes we spent too much time on a few that didn’t matter. Not that I don’t like world building, but some (not all) character views didn’t add anything to the story, world, or deaths. I liked that the body count starts from the beginning of the book and kept up throughout the rest of the book like a true slasher.

If someone wanted to read this book without reading the first, you could get through it with little questions. The author does explain enough of the first story to get you though, but you do miss a little relationship/character building, and I think that it’s something that made this story greater.

A few issues I have with the book are:

The twin sister switches are confusing. Nobody seems to have as many issues as possible with the janitor recording students in the high school or the teacher student relationship that is implied. It is also a little weird that in this book everyone starts quoting slashers except for Jennifer/Jade. The spirit elk did not seem to have much of a purpose in most of the story. Although I did like the spirit elk ending. I did find it weird that the book description mentions Jade getting out of jail when nothing was mentioned in the last book. I would rather they left that out for you to find out when you read.

All this is not to say I didn’t like the book. I enjoyed reading though it and would recommend others to check it out if they can. I can’t wait until I get a hold of the next one.

The mistake I have made many times is reading a book based on its cover and I have done that again here. I 100% thought this was a horror novel. Its not and that’s on me. I ended up getting into parts of the book, but this is just not one I would have read if I actually paid attention to the description.

I couldn’t help but think the author became a bit obsessive over someone that shares the same first name as her. It seemed like this book was almost an autobiography of the other Naomi. The whole book leaned toward American politics, so it felt like I wasn’t the desired audience for this.

The author would jump from thought to thought that as I listened (Audiobook) I genuinely forgot what they were talking about that brought us to here. There is a bit of repetition though out the book and despite this I can’t really tell someone what I read.

Maybe this book would be good for someone else.

It was a good cozy book, but I kept waiting on the murder part of the Christmas Cake Murder. This popped up as a good seasonal read but this might have been a bad book to start with. As I heard (after reading) that this book was a story that was taking place before the main series and was a good look into the characters. Maybe I will pick up another book in the series sometimes.

Is this the best romance you will read? No. Is this a scathing satire ripping apart the whole genre? No. Will this be a fun read? Yes.

This was so fun to read. Its not a deep or inspiring romance novel. It’s for people who love to watch and make fun of hallmark films. Cheesy romances are my guilty pleasure, from the bad acting, over the top plots, to the questionable choices. This book is all of that in book form.

The choices are funny and some choices I just wanted to see where they went, and it was worth it. I laughed, snickered, and just enjoyed myself while reading.

My Favorite quote: “Without you, I am like a piece of generic Scotch tape and two pieces of literally anything: Barely holding it together.”

This book was good. It’s as simple as that. I read another horror anthology last year by BIPOC authors but found the stories to not be that horror focused and was worried this would be a repeat. I am so happy I read this! I enjoyed most of the stories but the ones I genuinely enjoyed and kept thinking about was:

• Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller
• White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse
• Tick Talk by Cherie Dimaline
• Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D. H. Trujillo
• Before I Go by Norris Black
• Behind Colin’s Eyes by Shane Hawk
• Scariest. Story. Ever. by Richard Van Camp
• The Longest Street in the World by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
• The Prepper by Morgan Talty
• Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
• Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala
• Limbs by Waubgeshig Rice

This is not to say the rest are not worth reading. There are some great standouts in this collection that made me search for and place holds on these authors other books. Mostly from the stories above but also from other stories in the book. Other authors I look at were Marcie R. Rendon, Nick Medina, Tiffany Morris, and Mona Susan Power.

Most of the stories are actually horror focused but there are a few that focus more on the trauma of Indigenous people which in a way is a horror story. If you have already read this then you will notice that most of the stories, I liked above have a little body horror in it but that is not what makes them so good. There is an atmosphere to these stories that just embodies dark and dangerous.

I would recommend this book to others, and it will definitely be a re-read for me.

I was just looking for a book that features a POC that experiences joy and not trauma for a reading challenge. I was recommended this book. Over all it is nicely drawn and was interesting to read but found that I didn’t agree with how somethings were treated.

One character has depression and is told not to take their medication by their friend who was earlier shown smoking. Then her depression is glossed over. Another character has someone interested in her but she brushes them off like not right now but then hooks up with someone famous just because. One girl has a stalker that shows up at her show then leaves once confronted by her friends and it’s left at that.

The book leaves so much unfinished. I can understand that this is supposed to be just a glimpse in the life but each storyline brought up to much issues and left it there. The stories didn’t feel in tone with what I thought was the vibe of the book.

This is not what I thought it would be. When I read the description I thought it would be a great slasher novel. Its not quite that. It was more of a rambling narrator for most of the book before a body count finally starts to build.

At first this book opened well with great atmosphere and felt like it was building up to the start of a good slashing novel. I like the main character at first but then it just went on. You get to hear her internal monolog about her encyclopedic knowledge of slasher flics. This was interesting at first but it never stopped. Not much happened in the story during this. As you trudge on you start to get annoyed with her. Just get on with the slashing.

There is mention of trauma and the story focuses mainly on the main characters terrible home life and its affect on her mental well being. This when on for so long that I thought the book was just going to stay that this was all in her head and she’s actually really messed up and needs help. Which the book sort of did.

Finally we get to the horror/slashing stage at about the last third of the book. As the body count builds up there is more questions of who is doing this and how are they doing it. Its not worth finding out. It was actually a little disappointing but I won’t ruin this for every one else. The major trauma event in the main characters life is finally laid out and she gets a sort of revenge.

This book didn’t really seem to address anything. It just wasn’t enough for me. I kept wanting more from the each part of the book. But this is not to say it’s an absolutely terrible book. The writing style is good and easily sucks you in. There are parts of the book with actual horror elements and the author nails these sections. It felt like it could have been a better book and that the author had the ability to do it.

I did place a hold on the next book of this series. I am not ready to give up on this. I might hate myself later but I hope it will work out.

This was an odd book, and I don’t quite know what to think of it. There were parts that were great in either energy or storytelling and other parts that were dragging and distortedly written. I don’t have too much experience with Straub’s works, only Ghost Story, which gave me a high expectation for this collaboration.

And collaborated they did as you can’t tell who wrote what part and with only some classic King style in there that’s all his own. This book blended great in some parts that made this feel like an effort of great companionship by both authors. On the other hand, the parts where it doesn’t blend so well are what make this book feel off.

The whole story built up a magical other world that we don’t get to see enough of. We spend so much time on the Real/regular world with the main character getting stopped at numerous pits of despair. I just want the story to go on. The book was part childhood loss and random torture. Some trials the main character/hero is put through were unnecessarily long. Other characters like Wolf and Richard could be a little annoying and only added to the trials of the MC.

All this is not to say this is a completely bad book. Although I maybe a sucker for King’s works since I have loved so much of his other novels. The feel of the book is part fairy tale but mostly dark fantasy and dark it does well. The evil and just mean for fun characters were done well and parts of the trials were good to read. It just should have been shorter and worked more with the magic of the Territories.

I am hoping that the next book fixes some of these issues as that would turn this into a great collaboration.

This is a romance book with out romance. The two leads develop a good friendship but not really a relationship. The was no build up to the romance. They are friends up to the point they kiss then they are just sort of together. Then parents as the secondary romance plot wasn’t great either since the focus was split. Both couples felt rushed and are together just because.

The women are too excited to be step siblings which just felt weird. Then they give up easily and somehow the last, last attempt just works out.

The friendship of the main leads was nice but I wish there was more longing, tension, or something else besides platonic friendship between the two. I wouldn’t know they are interested in each other with out the author just telling me they are.

After reading Speaker for the Dead, I thought this book would be just as captivating. It was not. It just went on for too long and over analyzed everything. I just kept waiting for the point in the book where it would take me in. The story was pulled in so many different directions that each part wasn’t given the attention it deserved. Interesting ethical debates are still apart of this book but it not enough.

Characters I had cared about before, I didn’t fee that same connection with. The emotional pull of the previous book was missing from this one. Most were unlikable and I don’t feel like that was intentional. Bad characters with no emotional gravity are what hurt the book.

I picked this book up due to a reading challenge and just couldn’t put it down. I loved how each section of the book was focused so you are not jumping around through multiple ideas at once. Most sections dealt with the story of one girl with her friends, family, and co-gymnasts/figure skaters to help speak where they couldn’t.

This book at times felt scarier than some of the horror novels I was reading. It was an interesting read and the author mixes stories, interviews, and discussions to give you a good understanding of what’s happening.

I would love to read a more updated book to see what’s hopefully changed in these sports. There are some sections and stories that I just can’t stop thinking about. It maybe an older book but it is worth the read.