Category: Fiction

5/5 Stars: Nettle & Bone

This was my first encounter with T. Kingfisher, and it certainly opened the floodgates! After enjoying this book so much, I quickly dove into several others by her. The premise of a “chicken possessed by a demon” immediately hooked me, and I couldn’t resist picking it up.

“How did you get a demon in your chicken?”
“The usual way. Couldn’t put it in the rooster. That’s how you get basilisks.”

I was not disappointed at all.

T. Kingfisher has a unique talent for crafting vibrant worlds that come alive on the page. Her characters are equally memorable. Take Bonedog, for instance—if you’ve read the book, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, I urge you to dive in! It was genuinely a pleasure to read, and I don’t often say that.

The story centers around Marra, the third-born daughter on a quest to rescue her sister, who has been married off to a truly terrible person. The first-born sister was married to the same prince, and let’s just say things didn’t go well for her. Marra’s journey is filled with twists and turns, and she encounters a Dust Wife along the way (no spoilers here, but trust me, that’s when things get really intriguing).

I’m thrilled that I discovered T. Kingfisher’s work. You can expect to see more reviews from me in the coming months, as I’m eager to share my thoughts on her other captivating stories. Each one has been a delight, and I’m excited to explore even more of her imaginative worlds.

5/5 stars

2/5 Stars: The House in the Cerulean Sea

I keep wavering over what to rate this, and there’s one reason for it, really.

I loved the writing. I even loved the story.
What I didn’t love, was afterwards, when I learned the true inspiration for the story, from the author himself. That, I really didn’t love.

Others have already said it more clearly than I ever could, so I’m going to link to this reddit post that goes over the specifics of why I’m uncomfortable, and why despite having finished this book, and enjoying it, and the author’s writing, I just can’t give it the rating I thought it deserved, now that I have a better idea and a bit more education on the subject.

Reddit post explaining the 60’s scoop in Canada, and branching into why it’s bad that a non magical dude ‘rescued’ these children.

2/5 stars

2/5 Stars: The Inheritance Games

Another one of those books that I actually heard about on BookTok first, and decided to try out. I’m not sure why I thought the book would appeal to me but I decided to give it a go.

I enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was easy to read and beautiful – however. I absolutely did NOT enjoy the story, or the characters, at all.

“Traps upon traps… and riddles upon riddles”

There were no traps, no riddles. The book spent so much time focusing on drama between Avery and the other teenagers that sometimes I forgot what it was about. None of it made sense, and I didn’t enjoy the characters.

The dialogue didn’t hit any of the right notes with me, and the conclusion was underwhelming. I’m sure many others out there enjoy this read – but it was just not for me.

4.5/5 Stars: The Cruel Prince

This one caught me by surprise. I know it released back in 2018, but I had obviously been living under a rock and hadn’t heard about it. While browsing a book outlet store I stumbled into it, saw a few friends had read it (and they had positive reviews) so I decided to give it a whirl. It did take me a bit to get into, the setting felt a bit young for me personally (they’re a bunch of kids at school, there’s some bullying going on, everyone sort of rubbed me the wrong way – but I pushed through this).

The writing is fantastic. Holly Black easily pulled me into her world, and I enjoyed every second of it. I appreciated the darker / more sinister side of the fairy tale realm where it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I did have a difficult time connecting with the protagonist at the start (Jude) but by the end of the book I felt like I understood her better, and could see her growth as a character enough that I purchased the rest of the trilogy.

A few TW for the book would have been appreciated, as it does deal with some heavy subjects such as murder, sexual abuse, suicide, physical abuse.

I’ve always been a fan of political intrigue in my fantasy books, and I feel like Holly Black did a great job with this one. Highly recommended.

4.5/5 stars

2/5 Stars: Fancy Meeting You Here

This book had far too many “ick” tropes, with sparsely scattered redeeming scenes.

Cliché after cliché.
“He was pricklier than my legs”
“Ben’s optimism was cautious, like a baby giraffe taking its first steps”

The one redeeming scene that pushed me to finish the rest of the book, was when the main character & love interest host a party, and disaster strikes. There’s a single line here, “Do you know why I have guests holding their mouths and their asses” – that I cackled in laughter about. Hilarious.

Drunk parties (ick) “He was so drunk. and cute.” – I’m just not the audience for this. There’s nothing cute about drunk men.
Chapter 20 included fat shaming. The main character is talking about snack tables and how long it took her to get ready due to her desire to eat / weight.
The ‘damsel in distress’ trope was over played (Ben rescued during wedding when she was being physically carried off, and then rescued again when she was being stopped by a journalist hounding her), and annoying. As was the main character’s disparage over herself. She’s so incredibly down on herself, and her life, it’s annoying and frustrating. She constantly self depreciates.

This line told me I’m simply not the audience for the book: “following you around the wedding like a simp” – I’m not the demographic. Not the books fault.

2/5

2/5 Stars: Snowflakes and Sparks, by Sophie-Leigh Robbins

Another ‘pallet cleanser’ book, I read this when the power was out for two weeks during hurricane Fiona.

If you love Hallmark movies, this book is for you. It’s extra cheesy, over the top, with a huge dash of ‘will they, won’t they’ plot twists. Old Pine Cove is a lovely town that did make me want to move right in, and who doesn’t love a nice cozy winter setting.

Unfortunately this book had almost zero depth, and I need at least a tiny bit to keep interested. The characters lacked emotion, nothing really drew me to them. It’s a great fluffy lighthearted book, but some parts were confusing, like why the main characters went off to another room to flirt with each other when there was an elderly lady crying and bleeding on the floor in the next room. I didn’t really understand that part at all and it seemed out of place. Still, it passed the time and I made it through to the end, which is further than some books I’ve read.

2/5 stars

2/5 Stars: The Bridge of Little Jeremy, by Indrajit Garai

I was approached and asked to give an honest review of this book in exchange for a copy – of course I accepted! Let’s get more new authors out there.

The book takes place in Paris (beautiful setting), and the author’s writing is lovely and descriptive, but also incredibly dark. That was my main issue with the book. It is about a boy named Jeremy, and his mother. He also has a dog, Leon. I love the relationship between Jeremy and the people in his life – but it wasn’t quite enough to keep me interested. Most of the book moves at a snail’s pace.

Jeremy’s mother is a difficult character to appreciate. I couldn’t relate to her, she was passive, and Jeremy was forced into more adult roles so that he could compensate for her childish nature. At times the story was confusing to follow, the author is great at description but it tended to drone on well past what was necessary, and you spend a lot of time in Jeremy’s head with his thoughts which got confusing.

The book is quite slow moving, and although it’s beautiful it just moved too slow for me. It simply wasn’t a book for me, though I’m sure others will appreciate it.

2/5 stars

5/5 Stars: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Oh goodness. What can I say about this book.

The world has been all but destroyed, and the people who are left are dumped into an enormous survival style game that is being broadcast for aliens. Carl and his cat (Donut, also known as GC, BWR, NW Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk) are two of the characters trapped in this new ‘game’ and the key is survival.

I loved everything about this book – but it is quite over the top with violence, which might not appeal to everyone. The thing is, it’s SO over the top, that you can easily liken it to a video game, and it makes you feel a little bit better. As you get to the end of this first book you suddenly realize just how in-depth the story actually is, and yes, I most certainly will be reading the second one. Highly recommended, this is the book that I never knew I wanted to read.

5/5 stars

3/5 Stars: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

I had some issues with this book. First of all, it’s dark. REALLY dark. There seems to be almost no joy at all or any happy occasions – they are continuously shadowed by dark and that continues throughout the entire book. Even when you think something good might be coming along, chances are, it is not.

Priya is a maidservant with a huge heart. She’s strong, stubborn, and I love the character – but it also seems very over the top. Her love interest is Malini, who is a prisoner trapped in isolation by her brother.

The thing is, there’s barely any explanation on why any of this is happening. This is the first book in a series, but I felt like I was plopped down half way through with absolutely no knowledge. There was no cohesive history lesson on what the world is, who the people are, why they are doing what they’re doing. I felt like every time an event happened that I should have known more about why it happened. I could feel the Indian inspiration, but since my actual knowledge is lacking, it just felt as though I was supposed to know more than I did. It was a bit disjointed because of that.

I also didn’t really enjoy the multiple POV, and felt there was no need to introduce more. The world building was beautiful, the writing lovely (that’s what helped me get past the points I didn’t enjoy) and while I’m glad I read this book, I’m not sure if I want to follow through with the next one or not.