Etched On Your Skin Book Review

Etched On Your Skin by Brienne Lee Carter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Werewolves in love. Werewolf rockstars. A night in 2016 that goes off the rails when the drummer, Elias, goes MIA after their show in Pittsburgh. This is a great novella that follows the love story of Rowan and Elias – two werewolves – in their present 2016 and from the time they meet in 1971. Chapters go back and forth between 2016, when Elias has gone missing and Rowan and the band work together to find him, and to the past over the years from Elias and Rowan’s first meeting in 1971 to their present time in 2016. There are perks to being werewolves, but there are some big troubles that come along with it too. The trauma from the beginning of their turning is not something either can easily forget.

I loved slowly getting to read the evolution of Elias and Rowan’s relationship through the years. However, I was surprised to not read about them encountering more discrimination as lovers in the earlier years. I guess that may be due to us reading about them at home more than they were out and about, but I would have thought to have read it amongst their struggles. It’s possible that aspect may have been explored in a longer book. Instead, this book focuses more on their struggles as werewolves and the mental turmoil that comes with it.

Even though they were supernatural beings and had supernatural friends, we saw a lot of struggles people experience in regular life. I loved their witch friend Mila in 2016 – I’d totally read a book about her. I loved all their friends and band members and I’d love to learn more about them all. I truly enjoyed how loving and supportive they were to Elias and Rowan during the night Elias goes missing and the aftermath. It seems werewolves in this world are immortal and don’t age once they’re turned. So, Rowan is almost 100 years old in 2016, and Elias is a few hundred. They’ve lived through lots of things over the years, yet we still see them act a bit juvenile at times. One other piece of lore for this world seems to be a vivid memory of their turning as both experience nightmares of those early days.

Elias seems to struggle more with his nightmares than Rowan, and Elias has a harder time opening up about it. We see a striking difference in how the two deal with their trauma — similar to how people deal with trauma in real life. In Elias, we see how not dealing with trauma can lead to addiction and destructive behavior. I found the hardest part of the book to be when Elias went on his destructive path and hurt not only himself, but those around him. He mainly hurt others emotionally, but it did get physical a few times. I actually had a few moments where I found Elias toxic to Rowan, and I thought Rowan deserved better. But, Rowan is an amazing supportive partner, and Elias, while I dislike his destructive ways, is a good person at heart.

This was a nice quick read with some cute moments of two male werewolves in love. But, there are some heavy moments of trauma and trauma reactions. I think if you’re someone dealing with your own form of trauma or you’re close to someone who is, you might relate or find some content triggering. Just something to be aware of when going into this book. I love the supportiveness and love given to those dealing with trauma within this book, and I love the queerness of it too. I’m happy I read it.

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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires Book Review

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was pretty excited to dive into a book that featured a book club and vampires, especially for my October book club read. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the strength of the characters, and there wasn’t much slaying of vampires. I’d say there was one vampire, and the way it was described sounded more like some gross bug creature man instead of a traditional vampire. I guess he had the charm thing down, but slaying vampires is very misleading for what this book turned out to be.

Things started out a bit slow, but I wanted to give the book a chance because the title sounded pretty interesting. Once we found out about the so-called vampire, things picked up a little bit and piqued my interest. But then things turned sour really quickly for me with the direction this book took the reader. I’d like to warn any readers that there are some gross and graphically described scenes in this book and I’d warn any people sensitive to sexual assault to maybe stay away from this book.

The book club started out mainly as women and then it grew bigger and men got involved. As you can guess it made the book club suck. All the characters were dumb in this book and I couldn’t find myself connecting or liking any of them by the very end. At one point a little close to halfway through, I literally put the book down and said to myself “a man wrote this” and I was right. I say this because the characterization of women in this was so subpar. Yes, the men had their issues too but the women were supposed to be at the forefront of this book and it felt more like women in the 50s or 60s instead of women in the 90s.

I’d say some tense action scenes made the book entertaining. But, most of the book was one woman trying to convince others that their neighbor was a monster and it was just boring. I didn’t care for the crazy woman trope. Even when the women band together it felt lackluster. I guess you can say I was sorely disappointed by a book that sounded pretty interesting. Don’t judge a book on its title.

The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars is because it had some good scenes written in but they weren’t enough for me to recommend this book to others. This is not a book for vampire fans. This is not a book for people who enjoy strong and well-developed female characters. It’s up to you if you want to take a chance on this book but the action scenes are probably less than a quarter of the book anyways. I didn’t even get cool 90s nostalgic vibes from this either. It was a meh read for me.

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Manacled Book Review

Manacled by SenLinYu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the longest and most well-written fan fiction I have ever read. It has been years since I dived into Harry Potter fan fiction and I’ve forgotten what great stories people can create from this book series. Inspired a bit by The Handmaid’s Tale, this fan fiction is darker and grim compared to the original series as it shows us a world where Harry failed and Voldemort and his Death Eaters took over the Wizarding World. Hermoine Granger and Draco Malfoy are the main characters of this story – so calling all Dramione fans! Although I think this is a great read for Harry Potter fans in general.

There are basically three parts to this story, the pre-flashbacks, the flashbacks, and the post-flashbacks. Some people had difficulty getting through the flashbacks portion but I found every part equally entertaining. I will say the pre-flashbacks are the most Handmaid’s Tale inspired and have some of the more traumatic scenes. There are a lot of traumatic scenes throughout this entire story as it does take place during an ongoing Wizarding War. I’d definitely read the warnings on this one before you dive into reading it. While some scenes were tough to get through the writer did a great job of showing how tragic an ongoing war can be – even during moments of calm it’s like you can’t ever take a full breath to relax.

Be prepared to feel a lot of emotions with this one. A lot of our favorite characters experience great tragedy or get added to the long list of casualties of the war. While it is listed to have a somewhat happy ending I found it to be very bittersweet. Although, I seemed to find it a bit happier than others who read it. I really liked seeing this side of both Hermoine and Draco – we received a lot more character depth and emotion that the book series never provided us with. This is a Dramione love story but it’s not an easy love – it’s a love built during the most tragic of times in the most tragic of ways.

If this fan fiction was given to an editor and review team and then published I think it would’ve been an even stronger story. There is a bit of repetitiveness at times that I believe is built in for those who would read each chapter as it was released because this wasn’t released all at once originally. Of course, there were minor errors and plot holes – but the original series had some plot holes too. I overall really enjoyed this and I’m glad I had a group of people pushing me to read it with them to discuss it. I tend to get a bit weary of reads that 800+ pages but I’m glad I did and I’m glad it counts towards my Goodreads goal too.

Yes, I highly recommend this because it is such an amazing piece of work. It just may destroy you especially if you love certain aspects of the Harry Potter world. As I stated before be mindful of your own mental state before reading and check out the tags so you know what you’re getting yourself into. This is a darker tale and such an intriguing way to write this series. I truly love to see what other directions the Harry Potter series could’ve gone in.

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The Guest List Book Review

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was an overall easy read to get through, and I did find the reveal to be pretty interesting, albeit far-fetched. I mainly have that opinion because there were multiple reveals, and they all felt a little too convenient. I think this is a great summer read to dive into when you’re laying out on the beach on vacation, but it’s not the highest quality mystery thriller out there. It was fun to read and it was paced pretty well with the end being a bit of a whirlwind. But, the ending still left me with a lot of unanswered questions, and I prefer things to be somewhat wrapped up at the end of a mystery thriller.

There are multiple points of view in this book. I want to say there are at least seven different points of view to read from throughout the book. I didn’t find that confusing, but I know some people will. My issue with the many points of view was that the majority were people I really disliked. I think there were maybe 2-3 characters I actually enjoyed, and even those characters were a bit depressing in their thoughts and feelings. At least they were likable. A majority of the characters were unlikeable, but I guess that tracks about people at a rich person’s wedding.

The last quarter of the book was a breeze to get through as so many things were revealed. It was almost an overload of revelations honestly. Things were so interconnected it felt a bit unreal though. My other issue with the reveals was that the author clearly excluded certain information early on to make the big reveals more impactful, and I just thought it would have been better to have the realization of certain events more spaced out. Don’t get me wrong, they were all great and juicy – you won’t be disappointed by them.

My biggest issue with this book was that the ending didn’t fully wrap up for me, and I think that’s a result of having so many different points of view. The book is focused on the wedding destination, so once the wedding is over we no longer get the view into the lives of the characters. However, I found myself wanting to know the effects this big wedding event had on multiple characters and relationships after the book ended. One particular conversation I wanted to see was between Hannah and her husband about things she found out related to her sister. There were plenty of other things I would’ve liked to gain more insight on, but that conversation was really a big one I wanted to read about.

I think this was a fun read overall, and worth picking up if you want something quick and easy. As I stated before, this is an excellent summer read just don’t expect anything groundbreaking storywise. If you don’t like a lot of the characters like I did, the rest of the book is still worth reading. It reminded me of a book version of a White Lotus season. This one was entertaining but it may not fill up your cup fully.


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Silver Nitrate Book Review

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know I’m always in for a good read when it comes to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books. And this one was definitely a read I enjoyed. I was excited to read it since the book was first announced and I honestly would have been even more excited had I known the two main characters were both Bisexual. This is one of the best Bisexual representations I’ve read all year where the focus isn’t on their sexuality. In this book, that aspect of their character was an added bonus.

This book is considered historical fiction, and that made me feel old as a 90s baby because this book is set in the 1990s in Mexico. I’m not ready for 2000s historical fiction. While it felt very 90s, especially with Montserrat’s t-shirts and overall fashion choices, I could’ve still read the same story in modern times. Montserrat actually would’ve been pretty popular in the PNW 90s scene. I understand the setting had to be the 90s due to the specific filming and dubbing lingo, and I appreciate that, but a lot of the more technical aspects went over my head. However, I do think the horror elements wouldn’t have been as impactful in another decade.

The pacing of this story is a big part of why it didn’t hit full stars for me. It was a pretty slow intro into the magical world and other horror aspects of this book. In that vein, it did kind of match the pacing of some classic horror films. If you find the pacing to be a bit slow in the beginning to middle, I highly recommend pushing forward because the back half of the book is well worth the wait. Things begin to get crazier and more unhinged as the book goes on, and it ended up being a really fun read for me overall. The Silver Nitrate playlist on Spotify is great for setting the mood of the book too.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is how both Montserrat and Tristan defy the Aryan mindset posed by the dead German man who tried to cast a magic spell and ritual through a film. They’re not the blonde-haired, blue-eyed people who are supposed to be naturally inclined to magical things. They’re dark-haired and darker-skinned and what the Germans would consider a race beneath those of the higher society Aryans. Yet, they both show they’re adept in magic without even really trying. I loved seeing Montserrat struggle with learning this German man’s magical knowledge while understanding his view on her and people like her. She was such a strong and amazing female character.

While this book still doesn’t hit the level of Mexican Gothic for me, I still really enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia so far and I will tell everyone to read her books because I want her to keep writing more. I’m looking for the next adventure she decides to take us readers on. Every book of hers is unique and well-researched. I highly recommend reading this book and her other books too.

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club Book Review

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an amazing queer historical romance with a Chinese-American main character set in 1950s San Francisco during the Red Scare. It was refreshing to have a queer romance with an Asian main character. I feel like we’re just starting to get more and more popularly marketed books with diverse queer characters. A lot of the popular ones in the last several years have been mainly caucasian focused. Don’t worry our main character is very much into a white female so that market is still there.

One of the things I loved about this book was following a young woman in her formative years and reading about her self-discovery in sexuality. It’s not easy to do in our current times so I love to read stories where people got to do it over 60 years ago. I love reading about characters who find ways to be their authentic selves and getting to read how that happens for Lily is what I connected to most in this book. That and her figuring out her crush on the girl who helped Lily figure out her sexuality.

I just wish it didn’t take us so long to get to that point. The frustrating portion of the story dragged a little bit while the exciting parts flashed by. That’s my main reason for not giving this story five stars. The pacing was just a little off for me. That and the flashbacks could’ve been done better. I understood they were written in a way to match up to Lily’s current time but it was hard to follow those inserts when they weren’t chronological. I did appreciate what those flashbacks added to the story though.

The author did an amazing job capturing the Chinese-American experience in the 1950s. As much as I cringed at how some characters talked to Lily or treated Lily, I know that’s how the world was for them in those days. I could feel the fear through the pages when Lily and her family discussed the Red Scare and worrying about how any minor actions could deport them. I’m just thankful the world has gotten a little better over the years. But, I do wish there was more acceptance and empathy than we currently see in America today.

I definitely recommend this book! This is a great diverse queer read and I’m glad I finally got a chance to read it myself. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work especially if I get more women loving women romances.

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Airships, Crypts & Chocolate Chips Book Review

Airships, Crypts & Chocolate Chips by Erin Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

No murder mystery in this book! Instead, it involves a heist. It’s a prison break type of heist to be specific. It seems the rest of this series will be moving away from the murder mystery aspect while bringing the ongoing story from book one to the forefront. While the murder mystery was my favorite part of this series I’m still really enjoying it because I love all the characters and my favorite baking team were very much together again compared to the last book.

Even though I enjoyed this one a bit more than the last book it still didn’t hit the mark like the first few. I believe now that I understand the story focus is on Imogen and the Swallows I can adjust my expectations for the rest of the series. I have high hopes for the next book and the newest setting for Imogen and her baking crew. I don’t want to spoil anything but I’m really excited to see what happens to everyone in the next book. That’s one thing this book was good at doing – making me want to read the next one.

It was so nice to read about Imogen getting into shenanigans with her baking crew again. That’s what was lacking the most for me last book. It was sad seeing Imogen dealing with things solo. I love what each baker has to offer the team whether they’re baking or helping with a prison break. Yes, the bakers are the ones who have to spearhead the prison break. Or else. They’re stuck in this pickle because of Imogen’s villainous brother Horace who threatens the lives of their loved ones if they don’t help with the prison break.

I mentioned this book goes more into the overarching story. This book really hits more on the Swallows. The type of magical being that Imogen, Horace, and Prince Harry were supposedly born as. There is an air of mystery to the background of Swallows and I’m intrigued to see what is revealed in the rest of this series on it.

Not every book in a series can be a major hit but this one was still a hit for me. I’ve enjoyed every book in this series so far but this one and the last one I enjoyed a little less than the others. They’re still great books to read and they both did a great job at ending in a way that would make me want to read the next book. I’m excited to read through the rest of this series but I’m also taking my time because I’ll be sad when it ends and I’ll no longer have a new book to read about my favorite magical bakers.

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Fairy Tale Book Review

Fairy Tale by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the first Stephen King novel I ever read and I’ve heard from some fans of him that this wasn’t his best work. I believe that is a testament to what a great writer he is because I found this book to be well-written and entertaining. I can see where fans found fault. While the story follows the same character – Charlie Reade – throughout, the first half and second half feel as if they’re written by two different people for two different genres. The first half is more literary fiction whereas the second half is more fantasy.

I actually enjoyed all aspects of the book. But, the first half of the book had much stronger writing and captured my attention more. I loved reading Charlie’s interactions with his curmudgeon of an old neighbor Mr. Bowditch. It was a great character study of a young teen boy. It’s about halfway through the book before the fantasy portion really begins and although I found it entertaining I like the first half of the book a tad bit more. I would have loved to know more backstory of the fantasy land that Charlie enters instead of getting it piece by piece along with Charlie.

While I found myself wanting more from the fantasy world I still felt that King provided context and information about things in a very clear way. There were quite a few new characters introduced in the later half of the book but King did it in a way that didn’t overload me as a reader. Some portions of the story were over explained like how speech differed in the fantasy world. I think we got an explanation for that almost every chapter and it wasn’t necessary after the first couple times. But, King definitely made it clear how differently things worked in this fantasy world he created.

There were no flat characters in this book. Even the minor characters were given enough shape to be well-rounded. Nobody was perfect and I liked the way King should the strengths and weaknesses of everyone. The world is not black and white, it’s gray. You’ll understand why that’s a little on the nose when you read this book. I thought this was a very well-written story with interesting characters throughout and I’m so glad this was my first Stephen King read. I connected extra well to this book because Mr. Bowditch’s dog was German Shepherd named Radar and I had a dog with that exact name growing up.

I highly recommend this book because it is highly entertaining. I’d just say if you’re a Stephen King fan to maybe lower your expectations a tad. As you can see I rated this book with top marks. Five whole stars! So, I’m really excited to read other books of his because I’ve only heard they’re even better than this one.

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Dead Dead Girls Book Review

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love murder mysteries and I was excited to pick up a queer murder mystery during Pride month. This book had a synopsis that interested me, but once I read it I found myself not enjoying it as much as I expected. While the book had really important themes and topics it hit on, the actual murder mystery portion felt lackluster. Even the queer part of the story felt like an add-on. I only finished it to see who the killer was and how they did the reveal.

I’m glad I finished it because I did like some portions of the book. I think Rafael was the side character that shined the most. Moreso than his twin sister Rosa Marie, who was the main character’s lover. Louise Lovie Llyod, I do like the triple L, was written to be an interesting heroine as the book starts off with her being kidnapped when she was sixteen. Fast forward 10 years and young girls are disappearing again and the main character Louise gets pulled into helping the police find the murderer. One of the most confusing things for me with this story was the connection between Louise’s kidnapping and the current murders. The book makes it seem like they’re connected but never fully explained why. I don’t believe we’re even told who the kidnapper was when Louise was sixteen.

Another big issue I had with this story was that there were way too many characters. It was enough that I could’ve used a directory in the back of the book as a reminder of each character. I mainly needed this because we’d go chapters without hearing about someone for them to suddenly pop up again and I would have to really think about who they were. I feel like the story could have been equally impactful if the focus was put on a more specific cast of characters. It also would’ve allowed more of the supporting characters to be fleshed out better. I wanted to love Rosa Marie and see the relationship between her and Louise but she wasn’t given much until later in the story. I felt like Louise had more chemistry with Rafael because they interacted more and his character was much more fleshed out than Rosa Marie.

It’s possible some of these characters are given more in the sequel but the writing in this book didn’t convince me to continue with this series. Aside from the lackluster murder mystery, the actual story felt disjointed throughout. The chapters rarely flowed well together. We’d end one chapter with Louise about to go do something and start the next one with her doing something totally different. I wanted to read what she was about to do not hear about it in a short conversation at the Zodiac or one of the other underground nightclubs. It just felt like the things I really wanted to read were glossed over and the things that weren’t important to the story were described in too much detail.

This series has potential but if you’ve read other murder mysteries or you’re a big murder mystery fan then I’d suggest skipping this book. It’s not going to meet usual murder mystery expectations. It barely even met my queer book expectations. It took us a while to get some queer love! And I get that it’s set in the 1920s so characters can’t openly do much but to wait until almost halfway through the book is a bit disappointing. I personally would recommend other queer murder mysteries – and if you have recommendations let me know!

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Happy Place Book Review

Happy Place by Emily Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve heard great things about this book, and I have to say it deserved those praises. While it had a slow start and a slow unraveling of the main plot, once it got going it was hard to put down. I found Harriet to be a great main character, and I loved seeing her relationships with her ex-fiance and friends. The big dilemma of this book is that everyone thinks Harriet and her ex are still together. But, Harriet and Wyn, her ex, decide to tell all of their friends about their breakup at the end of their yearly trip to Maine.

This decision is the driving force behind the whole book. And it’s funny to see how these two exes interact with one another as if they haven’t been apart for the last five months. As we get deeper into the story, we get deeper into the characters and their relationships, which really brings this contemporary romance to another level. There is a lot of humor in this book and fast comebacks that I really loved reading. But, there were also meaningful and deep conversations that made me wish I was vacationing in Maine with all of them. The author did a fantastic job of creating this magical place for her characters. I could tell why it was considered their Happy Place.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I felt I could have enjoyed it a tad more if the timeline shifts flowed a little better. It took me a bit to catch on that Happy Place was usually the past and Real Life the present. I also wish we got a better glimpse of why Harriet and Wyn’s relationship failed earlier in the book. It was rolled out piece by piece and dragged a little bit. But, I did love when the past would connect to the present and vice versa. Unfortunately, the chapters and scenes didn’t always play out like that.

In addition to Harriet and Wyn, there was Cleo and Kimmy and Sabrina and Parth. These were all such great characters, and the only negative was that the story’s main focus was Harriet and Wyn, so we didn’t get to dive as deep into the secondary characters as I wanted. I’d definitely read a book on those other two couples as they all had interesting lives, especially Cleo and Kimmy who had a farm. They all felt like interesting individuals, which shows how the author did an amazing job at creating very rounded out characters. I just wanted more of them!

I highly recommend this book. It was an extremely enjoyable read and a great contemporary romance. The story is fun and the dialogue is fast and witty. I bet you’ll want to travel to Maine or be besties with the characters like I did. I loved this as a first read for my new book club, we picked well!

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