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[romanreadsbooks]

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer - Review

TL;DR

2.0 Stars

Pros: Good audiobook narrators, main character isn't a complete idiot, good writing/imagery

Cons: Unsatisfying conclusion, side plots drop off half way through, 'open to interpretation' ending feels more like author indecisiveness

Spoilers in review? Yes, major.

(This was a bookclub pick -- I'm not a thriller/horror fan, so surprise: I didn't like the thriller/horror book)

Opinions going in/why I picked it up:

First, let me start off by saying: I'm not really a fan of thrillers or horror novels. I've read quite a few (~15 in the last 2 years) because they are amoung the popular genres in my bookclub, but the only ones that really hit for me were much more down the 'literary fiction' kind of lane.

Why don't I like them? To put it simply, I'm a pretty stoic person. I don't get strong emotions from most books: sad books don't make me cry, horror books don't scare me, thriller novels don't get my heart racing etc. Even movies/shows don't usually affect me in any way -- the only medium that has any consistent effect is music.

Additionally, I often feel like thrillers don't spend enough time on endearing me to the characters. As a result, I honestly don't care when awful/scary things happen to them. They may as well be no-name background characters for all that I know about them.

All that to say, I had no interest in reading this book, but I knew I had to because I run the bookclub that picked it. So take every single thing I say in this review with a massive heap of salt.

This only thing this book has going for it before I started is that is was marketed as a "reddit sensation". I was curious as to what the fuck that meant, because I've never seen a book advertised as that.

Likes:

Both narrators of the audiobook, Corey Brill and Jeremy Carlisle Parker, did a fantastic job. They both spoke way too slowly for my usual taste, but it adds to the spooky atmosphere of the book and was the right decision in my opinion. I did listen to a large portion of the book at 2x speed or higher, but the sections I did listen to at normal speed, very good performance by both narrators.

For the most part I liked Eve as a main character. I think she was a mostly reasonable protagonist. Outside of the initial dumb decision of letting five strangers into your house while you're home alone (which needed to happen to have a story at all), most of her choices later were at least semi-understandable, even if I wouldn't have made the same ones. Not the smartest character but she was not pull-your-hair-out dumb.

The writing was very descriptive and had some fantastic moments of imagery. And some of the subtle inconsistencies between different sources of information that Eve came across was very effective to induce the 'not everything is as it seems' feeling.

Dislikes:

The ending just felt like such... Nothing? Like Eve/Emma ended up in a psych ward and...? That's kind of it. Like Eve is now living a completely different life as Emma, but then what? I don't know, it just felt like there's no real conclusion.

The whole thing with Moe -- weird monkey thing in Eve's mind -- I don't really understand why he was there? And then he kind of just disappeared the second half of the book? This kind of drop off happened with quite a few times with characters/items that I thought might have been relevant to the ending. But nope!

As for the plot, to put it bluntly, I just couldn't give less of a shit basically the entire time. "Creepy" stuff would happen, like their stained glass window being replaced with a normal one, and I would just be like "...okay. And?"

"Oh you have ants in your house? You do live in a forest so that checks."

"Oh you're neighbor knows the stranger you let into your house and her memory doesn't perfectly align with what the stranger told you? Well she is old and this all happened like 30 years ago so yeah, I'm not surprised."

I know the point of the book was like "is Eve going through some kind of psychosis or was she actually sucked into an alternate reality", but by the end it felt like the author was like "Eh. Just let the reader believe whatever is scarier to them. I don't want to pick."

Its like if Kliewer had the option to depict the horror that is:

a) watching yourself lose your sense of reality through your declining mental health and, despite being completely aware that it's happening, knowing there's nothing you can do about it.

Or b) having your entire life, identity, and loved ones ripped away from you, leaving you helpless in an alternate world you'll likely never escape

And then chose to depict both but they're watered down to the point that it leaves the reader lost and unfulfilled. No way to know the author's intentions, but that's what it felt like.

Other Notes:

For me, thrillers as a whole just feel like either literary fiction without a message or a mystery without any intrigue.

It's like when your friend tells you about "something crazy that happened" to them, but it was just that they saw a stranger shouting on public transit or something equally mundane/common. It's only captivating the first time that you experience it. And depending on what the stranger said, it could be mildly interesting to the locals, but in all likelihood it's just nonsense with no real point. I would love to care, but I simply don't.

So yeah crazy that someone who is not a fan of thrillers didn't like the thriller book. If this wasn't the chosen book for my bookclub, I wouldn't have even picked it up. For this reason I was hesitant to make a review at all, but it is part of my goals to write a review of every book I read so that I will have it for the future. And so here we are.

Rating Breakdown:

Characters: 3

Atmosphere: 5

Writing: 6

Plot: 4

Intrigue: 1

Logic: 2

Enjoyment: 2

Dialogue:5

Total: 4.0/10 or 2.0 Stars

[romanreadsbooks]

Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch - Review

TL;DR

4.6 Stars

Pros: loveable cast, surprisingly complex political system, perfect mix of silly and serious

Cons: puns abound, pace of post-confession relationship, absurd levels of PDA, representation

Continue the Series? Yes

Spoilers in review? Technically minor spoilers? But it's a romance book, we all know how it ends

Opinions going in/why I picked it up:

I had just finished reading a lot of literary fiction covering heavy topics: Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka which covers the death penalty and the glorification of serial killers(5 stars), and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell which covers pedophilia/grooming and their long lasting effects on victims (also 5 stars)

After all that I desperately needed something silly and goofy. I bought this book way back in early October with the intention of reading it between Halloween and Christmas. I, in fact, did not do that and instead started it New Year's Day.

Additionally, I saw a TikTok video where it was that Read White and Royal Blue audio

"My life is the crown and yours is politics, and I will not trade one cage for the other."

"Look, I'm sorry I looked at Mrs. Riley and lightly grazed her left tit, alright? "

And after reading this book, I cannot think of a more apt description for the two romantic leads of this book.

Likes:

The biggest unexpected delight of this book was the fascinating politics of this world Raasch created.

To give some loose context, in this book, every holiday is essentially run by a family, from Christmas to Easter to Saint Patrick's Day. Our main character, Nicholas "Coal" Claus, is the Prince of Christmas and expected to inherit the role of Santa from his father. All Holidays seem to have a similar setup, but the ways in which they interact with each other are when things get interesting.

From arranged marriages to political hostages, strategic collectives to strong-armed allies, this 'silly little romance' book had much more meat on the bones than I had expected. And to put so incredibly bluntly, I am an absolute *slut* for well-crafted politics in books.

Additionally, I absolutely ADORED all of the characters in this book. Both Coal and his Prince of Halloween lover, Hex Hallows, were putting me at risk of a heart attack with how cute they were.

And Coal's dynamic with his younger brother, Kris, was incredibly heartwarming. It's the typical protective and caring big brother schtick but I absolutely ate it up. I won't give specifics for obvious reason but near the end, in their confrontation with their father?? If Coal hadn't already won my heart earlier in the book, he would have won it in that singular moment.

And our last main character! I especially enjoyed the character arc of Iris, the Easter Princess and Coal's (arranged) betrothed. She really comes into her own over the course of the book. I was really hoping that she would be the focus of the next book, but alas.

The writing was surprisingly poetic at times and decidedly silly at other times. For the lighter parts of the book, it's not exactly my style of humor, but I had a good time regardless. For the heavier parts though? It not only made me feel strong emotions, it also had me considering new ways of thinking about trauma and family dynamics.

Dislikes:

Listen, I like a good pun every now and again --love them even, but my god there were a lot of Christmas puns in this book. They're were mostly limited to corny holiday sweaters, but still an abundance of them, especially towards the beginning.

The lead up into Coal and Hex admitting their feelings was appropriately slow given the length of this book (~350 pages), but after the confession? My God these men are going a mile a minute. It's odd because in the spicy-er scenes Coal is very careful and wants to take things slow, but the in-world time from confession to 'I love you' was incredibly quick. They are only like 22-ish, but still.

On top of all that, their public displays of affection were just absurd. It was less the instances where their touches or words could be lost in a crowd, and more the over-the-top flirting and suggestive remarks in front of Iris and Kris. I don't know what other people's sibling relationships are like, but I would rather drop dead than talk sexy to my partner in front of my brother.

And then with Hex, specifically, I was a little confused about his lineage. My understanding is that his mother was part of the Dia de los Muertos Holiday and married into the Halloween family and he currently resides in Mexico City where he attends university. He also speaks Spanish a couple of times in the book. All this combined, I'd assume he would be give-to-take half-Latino, but he is literally described as a mix of "a vampire and Loki" so I'm not as sure now.

I am aware that Latino and White are not mutually exclusive, but it felt like it was worth pointing out. I will leave it to someone with the appropriate heritage to determine whether this representation was good or not.

Other Notes:

There are, if memory serves me well, only two sex scenes in this book. Neither are particularly descriptive. I don't think they even refered to either characters genitalia by name (no use of penis, ass, cock, dick, etc.). It was all very vague, which could be a good or bad thing depending on the reader.

That said, there is important character information discussed in the sex scenes so I would not recommend skipping them.

I don't particularly care one way or the other, but it did make it difficult to tell what was going on at some points. However, if sex scenes are included (and it's not a dark romance) I do expect for it to be at least semi-accurately done. I am still unsure if proper "preparation" was performed with how vaguely the scenes were written.

This book contains both group chats and pop culture references, which aren't my personal favorite, but they weren't bad enough to mention in the dislikes section.

And the marketing for this book compares it to Casey McQuiston's Red White and Royal Blue, and while it's not a bad comparison at all in terms of premise, I think it's more like Jenna Lavine's novels in writing style and characterization. She's a less popular author than McQuiston, but if you like Lavine's level of silly, you'll love this.

Final Thoughts and Rating Breakdown:

I ended up getting much more than I bargained for in the best way possible. Is it the most well-crafted piece of literature the world has ever seen? No, of course not. However, it blends fun characters, a whimsical atmosphere, and an interesting non-romance plot in ways that not a lot of other romance books can.

Characters: 9

Atmosphere: 9

Writing: 9

Plot: 10

Intrigue:10

Logic: 9

Enjoyment: 10

Dialogue:8

Total: 9.3/10 or 4.6 Stars

[romanreadsbooks]

The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden - Review

TL;DR

4.1 Stars

Pros: Characters, atmospheric writing style, glossary

Cons: Confusing character names/nicknames, slow paced

Continue the Series? Maybe

Spoilers in review? No

Opinions going in/why I picked it up:

I have a friend that I buddy read with and it was my turn to pick a book. I was a little reading slumpy/brain dead in December so I wanted a unserious romantasy with winter vibes that I could turn my brain off and read

I googled "winter romantasy" and The Bear and The Nightingale was what was recommended in a couple of Reddit threads. Now that I've read it, I don't think if I would classify it as 'romantasy' by the common definition of that genre. And it was very much a brain-heavy book, at least for me.

Luckily, just before this, I read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (fantastic book btw), so I was already primed for all of the Russian terms and names. Additionally I am a frequent reader of fantasy so I am used to the early struggle of learning new terms/names/magic systems.

My buddy for this read did not fair well, unfortunately. She has not read any Russian-set books also does not read a ton of fantasy, so she did DNF the book. It was a little too dense and slow going for her at the time, which is understandable.

Likes:

Now, I have spent basically my entire life in places where it rarely gets below freezing and only snows once a decade, so take everything in this section with a grain of salt.

Basically I love winter.

It is by far my favorite season and I was always excited when my last employer would send me off to the northern states in the middle of January so I could live in the snow and spend time in the cold, middle of nowhere forest towns (and do my job I guess). Even though I was frozen to the bone, my heart was warmed.

This books brought that feeling to me despite it being ~40 degrees fahrenheit the majority of the time that I was reading it. The imagery Arden creates is so visceral and captivating that I felt the freezing ice of the world on my skin. We may not have gotten as much romance as I expected (more on that later), but we definitely got the 'Winter' side of it.

Another thing I really appreciate about the writing of this book is the dialogue. It was period appropriate without being difficult to read, which I fear is a common issue in some of the few historical fiction books I've read this far.

Additionally, I really liked all of the characters, even the stereotypical ones. There is of course the protective brother and evil step mother, but it felt much more like an homage to the core of fairytales rather than a overdone cliche.

And everyone say it with me: We love fantasy books with a glossary! Unfortunately it was at the back of the book, so I did not see it until I had already finished. But there is one at the back with the various creature names and descriptions. Definitely would have made heavy use of it had I'd known.

Dislikes:

To add to the confusion of learning a whole new cast of characters upon jumping into a book, there are multiple alternate names for the same character. For instance our main character, most often called Vasya, is also called Vasochka, Vedma, Vasily, and Vasilisa. All similar enough that you can often attribute it to the correct character, but still takes a second sometimes.

To my understanding this is very common in Russian or Russian-inspired literature, but that doesn't make it not confusing to the unfamiliar.

This next dislike is not at the fault of the book. It is purely my misunderstanding, but I wanted to mention it because it did impact my reading experience.

As I said, I specifically searched for 'romantasy', and so when I read The Bear and the Nightingale, I expected that romance would be at least noticably present. The entire time I was like "who the hell is the other half of this romance??"

After reading, I would absolutely consider this book just a straight up fantasy. The romance is so minor that it's barely there -- just a single, chaste 'i might not see you ever again' kiss. It's possible, if not likely, that it will be more prevalent as the series continues, but we're just focusing on book one here.

And I'm sorry but this book is *so* slow. It's barely over 300 pages but it felt like a 500+ page slog. A beautifully written, interesting story, but a slog none the less. I would hesitate to cut out anything, but perhaps one or two more active scenes could have been added to balance the slow pacing just a tiny bit.

At the same time I would warn against adding too many because you want to maintain the brutal, long winter vibe the book gives off. A difficult balance to strike, to be sure.

Other Notes:

Themes of Christianity depicted in the more "be afraid of God" kind of way than a "God is loving and forgiving" way. I have limited experience with the Christian faith, so it does not bother me, but if you are very devout/don't like to read works critical of Christianity, this might not be the book series for you.

This book is filled with transliterations of Russian folklore names into English and they are not always the most accurate. I personally know absolutely nothing about Russian folktales so I honestly didn't notice until the author pointed it out in their note at the end of the book.

There are names that have the same ending in Russian, but are spelled two different ways in the English names for no other purposes than to be nicer to the English-reading eye.

If you are someone who cares a lot about the accuracy of Russian language or are already familiar with Russian folktale names, the authors choices in the transliteration may annoy you.

Finally, the age of the main character. By the end of the book Vasya is like 14. The book is set in 14th century Russia (Rus') in an aristocrat family's estate, so women are married off basically as soon as they have gone through puberty. I suppose it's "normal" for the time and social class, but still a little uncomfortable to me personally.

Rating Breakdown:

Characters: 9

Atmosphere: 10

Writing: 9

Plot:8

Intrigue: 8

Logic:7

Enjoyment: 8

Dialogue: 7

Total: 8.25/10 or 4.1 stars

[romanreadsbooks]

Funny Story by Emily Henry - Review

TL;DR:

3.7 Stars

Pros: Characters, dialogue/chemistry, and comforting plot

Cons: Too long, out-of-pocket comment, and a personal pet peeve

Opinions going in:

I've read and loved Book Lovers by the same author, and I knew the whole "Roommates with my ex-fiancé's new fiancée's ex-boyfriend" premise, but other than that I went in blind.

What made me actually pick it up though was 2 things: 1)I'm in a bit of a slump and needed something light/silly/goofy/simple and 2) My hold on this eBook became available at my local library

Likes:

The characters were all super fun and real to me, if a little too emotionally intelligent. Their various personalities were different enough that they all felt distinct and yet still similar enough that they still had chemistry.

A speaking of chemistry -- Oh my Lord did Daphne and Miles have chemistry. While it didn't make me laugh as much as Book Lovers did, I still loved all of their banter and back-and-forth. Not to mention how their cuteness and care for one another was so sweet. There were so many times that I was smiling on the train to and from work like an absolute idiot.

The plot was very straight forward/simple/predictable, but that's what I needed at the time and one of my main motivating factors when I pick up a contemporary romance, so complaints from me.

Dislikes:

This was one singular line that really isn't that bad it just stuck out to me. At one point in the book, fairly late into the romance, Daphne is very upset about something and Miles is trying to console her. He's being super sweet and supportive then out of no-where goes:

"And you're also hot, if that helps."

And like..? I don't know if he was trying to make her laugh, ease the tension, or what, but it was so out of left field for the moment. It's like 'Oh you're upset? that's okay, you'll get through this, is there anything I can do to help, your feelings are valid, also you're sexy as fuck haha'

And just??? Again, one singular line, so not that impactful for my final score, just very odd to me.

Another not-super-impactful dislike, but I am so tired of characters who have some relation to/career in books/literature/publishing. If you expand this net to also include characters who just like to read/are a reader, then it happens more often than not.

This is a completely personal (and probably unpopular) opinion and does not make a book 'bad' by any means. I understand 100% why this is common: authors are often given the advice to write what they know and its an easy way to get your audience to connect with the character, etc, etc. -- It just personally doesn't work for me.

I will probably make a longer post about this pet peeve of mine in the future, but I'll stop there for now.

In a similar vein, any time an author puts in a line about how "books let me escape" or "reading lets me live so many lives" I just cringe at how trite it sounds 95% of the time -- this books instances included.

My biggest complaint: This book needed to be at least 50 pages shorter. Even though I was actively enjoying it, I got to the end of a chapter, saw I was at page 301, and was baffled that there were 80+ pages left.

Like I said before, I did like all of the characters, but I still think that one of the side characters should have been cut. They all serve a purpose in the story, so I understand why they are all there, but it was harming the pacing.

Rating Breakdown:

The rating system I am going to use is based on Book Roast's CAWPILE system -- you can learn more about it on their channel. The only change is that I added dialogue as a separate category from writing.

Total: 7.4/10 or 3.7 stars

Characters: 8

Atmosphere: 6

Writing: 6

Plot:5

Intrigue: 7

Logic:6

Enjoyment: 5

Dialogue: 9

[romanreadsbooks]

Favorite (and least favorite) Books of 2024

Stand-alones:

#1 - Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D Jackson (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

YA Mystery -  An absolute heartbreaking and tragic story that I cannot recommend enough (check trigger warnings though). A harrowing look at how life and society treats those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds - especially young black girls. Whenever harm comes to them, no one seems to care, and so the abuse continues. 

#2 - Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins(⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

YA Dystopian Fantasy - Prequel to The Hunger Games and I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about this but I think it is a masterpiece of a character study. You take Snow who, at the start, is actually a kind of underdog hero in rich society that you want to root for until you remember what he becomes. Then you wonder -- how the hell does that this boy become that man? And worst of all? You find out. You see every step of his corruption and while you don't agree with him, you understand why he made the choices he did. 

#3 - Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Adult Literary fiction - An examination of the public response and perception of sensationalized serial killers. How society often weirdly idolizes violent men and sees them as some kind of tragic victim or unrealized genius instead of what they are - horrible people who violently slaughter because they just felt like it. I've been largely indifferent to "true crime" sensationalism so far in my life, but this book left me being wary of media perception of (white) violent criminals.

#4 - My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russel (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Adult Literary Fiction - Indepth look at grooming/pedophilia through the eyes of a young teen victim. A horrifying and too real example of how things like this can and do happen. Shows the long lasting effects of groomed and how that can often lead to the victim throwing themselves into more and more toxic situations. 

Annnnd my last one is much less serious/heavy lmao:

#5 - Bride by Ali Hazelwood (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Adult Supernatural Romance (romantasy? Idk) -  people say it's Omegaverse, but it's not, it's really just Vampires and Werewolves. But! Still very fun and has great, fun dialogue. It's a little unserious, but it knows and plays into it. Very very good pallet cleanser book.

Honorable mention:

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman (⭐⭐⭐⭐.5)

YA Contemporary fiction - I really liked all the characters and the reality that can come with doxxing a faceless creator online. Not five stars just cause it was missing that special spark but very good! (also demi rep in published fiction lets goooo)

Series:

Three Dark Crows Series by Kendare Blake (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

4-book YA Epic fantasy series - Three triplet sisters with different magical powers must fight to the death to become the queen. A little teen angsty at some point but I find teen angst incredibly amusing/entertaining so I had a good time. Is it the best writing? No. Was it very entertaining? Absolutely.

Goldstone Saga by Jocelynn Drake (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

6-book Adult Epic Fantasy Series - On Kindle unlimited. Very much Marauders fanfic vibes. I loved all the characters a lot. Not one of those where it's like "it's worth it once you get to the third book!", you'll know if you like it by the end of book one. I was rooting for every romance and the plot was fun to follow along with.  Some serious topics weren't handled great imo, but altogether very enjoyable series.

Least Favorites:

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas (⭐⭐) 

Adult Dark(?) Romance - I heard a clip from the audiobook and was like 'Damn that's hot', turns out the clip is from the fourth book in the series ^-^' This book however was awful to read. It got two stars instead of 1 cause it was so absurd at times it made me laugh

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood (⭐⭐)

Adult Erotic Romance - Some parts felt vaguely aro-phobic, the Rue(FMC) was just meh over all, and Eli(MMC)is just awful. Only good point was that I think it handled reality of food insecurity pretty well, so also 2 stars

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneve Rose (⭐)

I'm sorry, but what was this book?? All of the characters were annoying. The "mystery" was just the MC leaving out crucial details so the reader wouldn't know just for fun. So many plot points were picked up and dropped (I assume they were supposed to be red herrings?).. Overall, it was a very poorly executed mystery.