Tag: Review

REVIEW – Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Aimeeeliz

“This is how the world ends, with both a bang and a whimper.”

A bang and a whimper – this perfectly explains how I feel about this book. It hooked me from the beginning. Wendig is a talented writer – he nails the thoughts, feelings, sights, sounds, etc of mundane, everyday life (interwoven with the impending apocalypse, of course).

As more details unfold, this becomes a chilling page-turner. I was dying to learn more, to figure out how it ends. But then…it’s just a bit too long. A little repetitive (we get it, bad guys are bad. The world is ending.)

And ultimately, the ending just…didn’t work for me. It should be terrifying, but it didn’t quite deliver the punch I think it intended to. A solid entry into the apocalyptic fiction category, but hindered by an excessive page count.

REVIEW – Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Aimeeeliz

What a delightful, heartfelt book! Katherine Center does it right – makes a story emotional without being melodramatic, romantic without being cheesy. Things You Save in a Fire is a great book about family, friendship, love and forgiveness.

I laughed. I cried. Some things made me angry (they were supposed to!)

Cassie is a badass. The rookie is adorable. The firefighters are hilarious and wonderful.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this book!

REVIEW – The Retreat by Sherri Smith

Aimeeeliz

A weekend wellness retreat with your best friends sounds great, right? In The Retreat, it’s an absolute nightmare

A cast of unlikable characters, a summer camp setting for adults. Yoga, spa treatments, murder…

I had the villain pegged from the beginning, but it didn’t make the process of reading this book any less enjoyable. It’s gory, it’s shocking and it’s disturbing in that fun, summer slasher movie sort of way.

Overall a solid summer thriller that makes me really not want to spend a weekend “relaxing” with strangers…

Thank you to the kind folks at Forge for providing me with an ARC of this book!

REVIEW – The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal

Aimeeeliz

The Doll Factory is an incredible book, meant for the patient reader. The buildup is slow, but oh boy does it pay off at the end.

Macneal does an amazing job of placing the reader right in the middle of gloomy, grimy 1850s London. Each chapter flawlessly leads into the next (seriously. When you start a chapter, go back and read the last sentence from the previous one.)

There are subtle, but terrifying, details that suggest not all is right with Silas “the Cadaver” Reed, but you have no idea the depths of his depravity until it all comes together at the end. There’s a revelation in the last few chapters that made me audibly gasp. It’s THAT good (and THAT horrible).

It’s almost impossible to believe that this is a debut. The way Macneal slowly builds to certain reveals is absolutely masterful.

Also, Guinevere is clearly the best character 😉

Thank you Atria for providing me with a copy of this book.

REVIEW – The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

Aimeeeliz

You might not be aware that you want to read a fast-paced thriller with a heavy Wolf of Wall Street vibe, but trust me…you do.

The perspective alternates between present day in the elevator and chapters set in the past, leading up to what got Vincent, Sam, Jules and Sylvie in this situation. Needless to say, I’m not too excited to ride in an elevator ever again.

There are some really sad moments in this book, but by the end it’s just pure fun.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book!

REVIEW – Recursion by Blake Crouch

Aimeeeliz

“Because memory…is everything. Physically speaking, a memory is nothing but a specific combination of neurons firing together – a symphony of neural activity. But in actuality, it’s the filter between us and reality.”

Holy sh*t. This book. It went above and beyond what I was anticipating and just got more intense with each section. Even when you might think you have a handle on what’s happening, it just gets more bananas.

I won’t say much because it’s best going in having only read the synopsis. Blake Crouch is a genius. READ THIS BOOK!

REVIEW – How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

Aimeeeliz

“It was this kind of detail that stayed with him long afterward: odd little elements of a forgotten life…”

Oh how I loved this book! Andrew is a delightful character, reminiscent of Ove and Eleanor Oliphant.

This book was sad and hilarious and heartwarming. I love how Roper examines loneliness, family, friendship and loss in such a realistic, relatable way.

REVIEW – Montauk by Nicola Harrison

Aimeeeliz

“No matter how perfect all these lives might have seemed from a distance, so full of possibilities and promise, we all wanted more.”

I was expecting this to lean a bit more towards the historical fiction genre, but it’s ultimately women’s fiction that just so happens to be set in 1938. There were some slight historical references but none of them had any real impact on the story.

Readers who typically gravitate towards romance might really enjoy this one.

The treatment of women was infuriating (not a negative of the book, but of the time). I immediately hated Beatrice’s husband. The author does a great job of covering the overall sentiment towards women, the “necessity” of having children, and the enforcement of very archaic, traditional gender roles. We do have at least one character who has branched out beyond her “place” as a woman, but even she has her problematic views in the end.

That ending though – I was content for this book to take the expected route (rather, one of two) and it didn’t. Which was frustrating because I felt like the way it wrapped up was simply drama for the sake of drama, instead of it serving a real purpose.

I received this book as part of the BookSparks Montauk pop-up tour.

REVIEW – A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson

Aimeeeliz

“People are prepared to put aside everything in the way of ethics and morals to protect their families.”

A Nearly Normal Family is a slow-burning thriller/crime drama. Told from three perspectives (the father, the daughter, the mother), the book takes its time leading you to what really happened. (And I was dying to find out!)

It’s a great read for those who love thrillers/mysteries but either aren’t fans of gore or maybe need a break from heavier, more disturbing novels.