Red flags being thrown in my face in the first chapters. However, the moment the main character shot his love interest after the latter smacked him inRed flags being thrown in my face in the first chapters. However, the moment the main character shot his love interest after the latter smacked him in the face got me going. The twist in the end surely put me off because it was quite anticlimactic and all that buildup crumbled to the floor....more
The best thing about not reading blurbs is that everything is a surprise. Yesterday, I just checked the genre or what this book is shelved as to get aThe best thing about not reading blurbs is that everything is a surprise. Yesterday, I just checked the genre or what this book is shelved as to get a picture on what I'm reading. Boy oh boy, I wasn't ready! I don't want to sound ableist but I feel off and iffy with what was presented before my eyes in the earlier chapters. Then I researched things about it because I can't stand myself being not well-versed nor somehow educated and then eventually made peace with it.
The whole story was dark, gruesome and twisted. I could say that it pushed all of my buttons and my tolerance to certain things. Romance was unusual to me but learned to love and yearn for it anyway. These author duo gave me something that I wouldn't come up on my own. Reading this was an experience....more
Decided to give this 5 stars because I just loved it from start to finish. Started early morning and now feel content with all of that happened in thiDecided to give this 5 stars because I just loved it from start to finish. Started early morning and now feel content with all of that happened in this. I must say that the romance and the overall story weren't clearly on the same level with the previous books but halfway through I made my peace with it. I just can't help myself from falling in love with Merikan's characters!
I was reading this the whole day while blasting Lana Del Rey's Ride while the weather is just so gloomy. It was heaven....more
I never thought I would root for persons named very silly as Tooth and Luci but here I am. Completely over the moon surprisingly not only for the mainI never thought I would root for persons named very silly as Tooth and Luci but here I am. Completely over the moon surprisingly not only for the main characters but also the side ones too. The whole story is filled with tension, danger, drama and a lot more.
I feel like I need a food thriller after this. Haha!...more
I'm literally tearing up writing this review. I've been with Rick Riordan books since 2010
"Apollo will fall, but Apollo must rise again."
I'm literally tearing up writing this review. I've been with Rick Riordan books since 2010 when I was this lonely high school freshman. I got no friends to talk to. I wasn't part of the popular kids nor that smart to be really looked up to. I was literally just there existing until someone loaned to me her The Lightning Thief copy. So Rick I don't know if you'll ever going to see this review out of all the mountains of reviews but I just want to say deep down in my heart, thank you. You made me a reader and I will be forever thankful.
"I won't hide, I won't cower. That's not who I will be."
I must admit I indeed struggled a bit in the earlier chapters. I was so worried few hours ago that I might have outgrown this story and its lightness and how formulaic everything is. Was there a threat of the world ending? For the 14th time, yes. Was our hero unsure in facing the big bad/villain? Again for the 14th time, yes. From Percy to Jason to Carter & Sadie to Magnus and now to Apollo, everything just feels the same. That's why it took me so long to finish this because the first half was an okay read for me. What pushed this novel to be a 5 star read was the other half. When Apollo and Meg faced Nero, brilliant. When Apollo finally faced his greatest nemesis Phyton, I got goosebumps and my heart was thumping so fast. The final battle was amazingly done and hopeful and you could see how much Apollo have grown all through out. And the last three chapters killed me. That was it. That was the end. Apollo tied all loose ends for our heroes, past and new.
"To be human is to move forward, to adapt, to believe in your ability to make things better. That is the only way to make the pain and sacrifice mean something."
As for a finale book, Tower of Nero was a great surprise for me. It wasn't maybe as crazy as The Last Olympian and not as powerful as The Serpent's Shadow but still was really good. I was hesitant and excited to read because I thought I was in for another huge disappointment. Both Blood of Olympus and Ship of the Dead have failed me. The former was such a fail for me because Coach Hedge got more lines and exposure than half of the Chosen demigods and what was that final battle with Gaeia? In the latter, the final battle for both Magnus Chase and Loki was very anticlimactic.
"I'll make things right. Or I will die trying."
I know Rick already said that this is the last novel from this world but I'm still hopeful. There were few doors that weren't really closed in the story. A potential Nico and Will stories? Maybe.
"You'll come back?" she asked. "Always," I promised. "The sun always comes back."
tw: rape, physical and sexual assault, victim blaming
"They never see the murder in my eyes."
Basically, the story is told into two perspecttw: rape, physical and sexual assault, victim blaming
"They never see the murder in my eyes."
Basically, the story is told into two perspectives (again, duh.), Dr. Scarlett Clarke and Carly Schiller. Scarlett seems like this Anne Hathaway's Catwoman; appears to be this your ordinary English professor at Gorman University but in reality she is a serial killer. She is insatiable in killing men, both faculty and student, who are to be believed as rapists, wife beaters, etc etc. For 16 years, she has gotten away from murder until something happened. On the other hand, we have Carly Schiller, the shy awkward freshman in the said university. Everything is fun and light to her as she embraces her college life until something happened...
"No way. Only someone with serious mental problems could write something like that." "Yeah?" My fist closes around the pages. "Well, only someone with massive daddy issues could write the shit you do, Mallory." Her mouth snaps shut, eyes already filling with tears.
Three books comes into mind when I started reading this: Samantha Downing's My Lovely Wife, Megan Goldin's The Night Swim and Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. Man, I was so excited to read this and then it turned out to be an 'okay' read for me. The downside, as for me, would be the alternating point of views of Scarlett and Carly. Usually, I don't really mind reading a story with multiple perspectives but for some reason I did mind in this one. I wasn't really full blown drawn into any of them despite their own tragedies that they carry. Also, there was this clear imbalance between them with respect to thrill, suspense and mystery. For the earlier half I was leaning more into Scarlett and how her mind works, but hers just feels so tiring and repetitive. And then the romance kicked in and I was like 'Eh. Do we really need this? In the middle of all of these?' For Carly's, there was indeed a struggle in the beginning. Her earlier chapters felt more YA-ish to me. I only got invested in it when something sinister happened.
"It's exhausting, being in my head. I wish I could stop thinking. I wish I could be like everyone else."
There was this one twist I wish and hope the author handled differently. I'm not mad about it because it made me gasp I just knew and I liked to be proven right. My concern is that after learning it, everything seems to clicked in already. Everything made sense. All the pieces of the puzzle started to put themselves together in my head. It eliminated this good potential plot twist that would make me more invested in the story.
"You're a psychotic bitch!" My mouth curves up in a smile. "Yes, I am."
On a positive note, Layne Fargo's writing style was very easy to fly through. Very direct and no words over describing things. As a reader you could just feel the emotions, the anger and the hopelessness of our characters. Some parts of this novel made my skin crawl and I'm not talking about the killings. Overall again this is an okay read for me. It was interesting all through out. My mind was reeling on how all of these will turn out in the end. I think I would love this more only maybe if there's a little bit heart into it and not just this repetitive cycle of vengeance. As of Scarlett's motives of course, you can never extinguish a fire with another fire but the satisfaction in my lips were very hard to remove....more
Wendy Walker's Don't Look for Me just wasn't the banger that I hoped it would be. We follow two perspectives: the martyr mother and her hypocritical dWendy Walker's Don't Look for Me just wasn't the banger that I hoped it would be. We follow two perspectives: the martyr mother and her hypocritical daughter. Mother goes missing and now her daughter gets her detective suit on to follow a lot of clues about her mother's disappearance.
The story started really good and exciting because as a reader you could feel the danger, the hopelessness and the tension. And then halfway until the end, I lost the energy to care. 2 reasons for the rating: the whole story was easy to fly through and that one twist I genuinely enjoyed.
Because of the high amount of ratings, this book thought she was hot, fly, sexy and beautiful when in reality she's nothing of the sort. It was a decent thriller and that's it. My expectations were just sky high for this one....more
"i kiss holden parrish, my love for him pulsing through me with fierce pride. because he made it. he's here. he's finally home."
oh my. why
"i kiss holden parrish, my love for him pulsing through me with fierce pride. because he made it. he's here. he's finally home."
oh my. why do i have tears streaming down my face?!?!?!
miss emma scott did it again. she didn't come here to play with her latest mm romance novel within the lost boys series. this book won me over for her. i was quite hesitant at first with my left eyebrow going up because after reading the first part (book is divided into 5 parts) i thought this is going to be some tropey and formulaic romance novel.
two troubled boys meet under troubling circumstances. they fall in love. yada yada blah blah
and part two through part five made me feel things. scott's writing is so excellent in this one wherein as a reader I could feel the emotions-the longing, sadness, anger, love-through her writing. no dull moments for our boys holden parrish and river whitmore. it got intense and very yearning especially when important things started to happen....more
"Arent Hayes was a zealot. His religion was Samuel Pipps."
My mind is fucking blown.
Just read it.
15 or so characters and one of them may
"Arent Hayes was a zealot. His religion was Samuel Pipps."
My mind is fucking blown.
Just read it.
15 or so characters and one of them may or may not be the devil doing some horrific acts and whispering their greatest desires. Samuel 'Sammy' Pipps together with his trusted friend and assistant, Arent Hayes, and their new found allies aboard the ship must race against time to defeat this devil known as Old Tom. Stuart Turton's The Devil and the Dark Water is fast-paced and gripping novel that blown my brains into bits especially the ending. The clues at first in the story were very very vague that got me like "what does this even mean?" but yeah they all caught me unguardedly. This book reminded me so much why I love mystery/thrillers. ...more
"You're the kindest, most honorable man I've ever met. You're practically a saint." "Saints do not have the thoughts I have."
Age gap!! Imre
"You're the kindest, most honorable man I've ever met. You're practically a saint." "Saints do not have the thoughts I have."
Age gap!! Imre is 46 and Luca is 20!!!
Cole McCade's Over and Over Again tested my patience and my limits. This book basically involves the probably slowest slow burn romance I have ever read. Almost 600 pages! A hefty book full of tension, romance, and pain between Imre Claybourne and Luca Ward. My biggest concern here would be the writing: I loved it but getting myself accustomed to it took so much of my time. As a thriller reader here and there, I wasn't really used to storytellings not being direct to the point and being straightforward. I just want for things to happen in quick succession. Obviously that didn't happen in this story. At the end of it all, I was so exhausted but happy for the reading experience.
"This place... it stopped feeling like home, when you left. And now it feels like home again. That is what I see. Not a boy, but the man who makes Lohere feel like home."
The writing made the romance and honestly the whole set up highly dreamy. Through the writing I can feel the emotions-the longing, the anger, fear, pain-in such high intensity. The story felt very vivid to me too. The characters were very likable as well even though at times I feel like smacking them. Funnily there were also those moments in this book that infuriated me: this push and pull between between these characters. I wanted to dive into this story most of the times to finally urge Imre to just do it. Overall, this was just amazing and gripping especially when the romance finally kicked in....more
"Vile that the hornet nest should take the shape of a womb, she thinks. With a shudder she imagines a baby inside, its head lowered into the c
"Vile that the hornet nest should take the shape of a womb, she thinks. With a shudder she imagines a baby inside, its head lowered into the cone."
CJ Cooke's The Nesting isn't necessarily my kind of great story but still great nonetheless. This is my first take on the gothic horror trope and I could say it was such an experience reading this. Everything was just soooo... atmospheric. Imagine a family living in the wilderness in Norwegian woods and unexplainable things keep on happening in their home. It was fast faced and very gripping for most parts. As readers it tells us two storylines: Aurelia Faraday, the past, and Lexi Ellis, the present. Aurelia Faraday jumped off the cliff where the house is being built due to her being suicidal. Was she really suicidal or was there something sinister and vile been plaguing her?
"Even if you hear something down there, please stay out. "
I highly appreciate the inclusions of these Norwegian folklores/traditions into the story. This made the horror part more realistic, more horrifying. I couldn't sleep last night because I can't stop thinking about some of these things.
"It's the Sad Lady. She lives in our basement. And she doesn't have eyes, just holes."
For me for the first time, the horror outweighed the mystery in this. The mystery wasn't bad as a whole but a bit predictable. When the first piece of the puzzle was shown, it started to rearrange itself in my mind. ...more
"My life was tied up with Summerbourne now. It was in my blood. It wasn't the sort of connection I could just walk away from."
The story is
"My life was tied up with Summerbourne now. It was in my blood. It wasn't the sort of connection I could just walk away from."
The story is divided into two perspectives: Lauren Silveira narrates her working experience 20 years ago as the nanny or au pair for the Mayes, a rich family living in the Summerbourne house by the beach. Another is Seraphine Mayes tells us about the present and her quest in finding about the truth: Why did her mother, Ruth Mayes, jumped off the cliff merely hours only after the birth of her and her twin brother, Danny? Seraphine goes back to Summerbourne to look out the answers for her questions but something or someone does not want her there looking around.
"It's good to have you, Laura."
The Au Pair is my first read from Emma Rous and I decided to give a playsafe three stars not because it was badly written but more of I feel cheated by it. The whole book was 'okay' for me. It was a 'so-so' novel, meaning it wasn't bad but for me it wasn't that good either. I started this because I was expecting this psychological thriller/mystery/suspense kind of story but at the end of the day it checked only the mystery category.
"Those twins weren't right."
This book was loaded with family drama and some shenanigans within the walls of Summerbourne. I honestly enjoyed the first half of this novel especially in Lauren's perspective. I love how it all unfolded in the eyes of Lauren, the outsider, the family's au pair. She noticed things usually family members wouldn't give a shit about. But I could feel the burn out or exhaustion when I realized that this book was basically family drama with a little bit dash of thrill.
"It's them sprites, you know, stirring up trouble at Summerbourne as usual. Don't you go upsetting them or they'll make you pay."
The author's writing was very vivid and gripping though. I remember I couldn't put this book down last night because I just wanted to devour as many pages that I can. She crafted this perfect 'summery' setting with this gorgeous beach and delicious picnics in my mind. The writing wasn't boring nor tiresome too. I was little taken back with the first 5 chapters or so because apparently it was these mountains of paragraphs after paragraphs making each chapter very lengthy. I'm not used to this but I didn't really mind. Just like I said, Rous' writing was very gripping especially on Lauren's perspective as the nanny 20 years ago.
"Where are you going?" "To the cliffs."
The twists with regards to what happened to Ruth that night were good and indeed shocking. Some felt very convenient but I'll still take it. There were those I could get behind and there were those that made my eye roll. This book's ending was quite cheesy too. It went out like a lifetime drama movie....more
Oh don't mind me, I'm just here to sprinkle a good 4 stars. The Wife Between Us created a lot of noise last ye"She's not who you think she is..."
Oh don't mind me, I'm just here to sprinkle a good 4 stars. The Wife Between Us created a lot of noise last year and most of them were not in a good way. The 1-2 stars reviews made me read this! I'm so happy right now that this book worked out for me. The story is all about these three people: the perfect husband, the fiancee, and the ex wife who apparently can't let go of her old life.
I have to give it these author duo-Hendricks and Pekkanen-because at the end of the day I assumed things. With all the facts presented before me, I couldn't help but to assume. The whole story tackles about manipulation, lies, and dark secrets. A battle of dominance between the prey and the hunted.
I couldn't put this book down. I was highly invested in it right from the beginning. These authors crafted a gripping story out of some of the most basic things. My emotions were out in the open after I finished this.
"But the moment I'm back in my room, closing my blinds as dusk falls, my replacement returns. She is an uninvited guest I can never turn away."...more
"The girl in the mirror is miserable, but at least she's real."
The story is all about these mirror twin sisters, Summer and Iris Carmichael. Yes, "The girl in the mirror is miserable, but at least she's real."
The story is all about these mirror twin sisters, Summer and Iris Carmichael. Yes, you read it right. Mirror twins! I didn't even know this concept existed until I read this book. Summer is the golden girl and her heart and internal organs are in the right place. Iris, on the other hand, the cynical and boring twin. As the mirror twin of Summer, her heart and internal organs are in the wrong places. At present, Summer has the perfect husband with an adorable stepson in a breathtaking getaway. During their vacation, she calls Iris for help in which the latter accepted. For Iris, it is time to navigate within Summer's world. Again.
Rose Carlyle's The Girl in the Mirror was exciting, thrilling and little bit tropey. It was quite ridiculous too but at the same time I didn't really complain because everything was pulled off correctly. The characters were for me the biggest and most positive thing in this book. They were flawed and highly entertaining. They seemed real to me at times especially how Iris feels for her sister. If you have a sibling, you would know!
Why the four stars? The present plot barely moved in like the 40% of the story. Also, I got bombarded with all these backstories and technicalities when it comes to sailing. I could live with former because backstories with this tension between twins will never get old for me. The latter, however, not so much. I'm used to characters sailing from time to time in books but I'm not used to characters sailing in a highly detailed manner....more
I'M FINALLY FREE! ONE OF THE WORST READING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.
Spare the Rod was just this big blob of meh. I have a lot to say because I typed my aI'M FINALLY FREE! ONE OF THE WORST READING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.
Spare the Rod was just this big blob of meh. I have a lot to say because I typed my actual review on my Notes app but at the same time I don't want to dwell anymore in this. My problem wasn't the BDSM or the sex or whatever but all other things. It exhausted me. My eyes kept rolling....more
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