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The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope
In many ways The Monsters We Defy delivers on its premise: we follow a ‘ragtag’ crew as they prepare and execute a heist to save themselves and their community. It did manage to hold my attention and even delivered some fairly entertaining scenes and/or dazzling descriptions, and I can see this appealing to fans of…
1920s, 20th century, actors, Adult, adventure, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, heist, HISTORICAL FICTION, insta love, Leslye Penelope, lgbtq+ side, m/m side, MYSTERY, occult, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2022, queer side characters, read in 2022, ROMANCE, seances, spiritualism, The Monsters We Defy, URBAN FANTASY, Washington DC -
Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater
“Your Boyfriend Called, He Thinks You’ve Joined a Cult, Please Advise.” Mister Impossible may be Stiefvater’s trickiest novel. I inhaled it in just a day and part of me knows that I need to re-read in order to truly absorb everything that went down. This is the kind of novel that leaves you feeling pretty…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, adrenaline fuelled reads, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, BOSTON, brothers, cambridge (us), chronic pain, Contemporary, dreamers, Dreams, f/f side, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay, great storytelling, Harvard, heist, lgbtq+, loneliness, m/m, Maggie Stiefvater, MAGIC, Massachusetts, My reviews, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, road trip, Ronan Lynch, self-destructive, series that went downhill, tarots, tdr, the dreamer trilogy, trauma, unreliable narrative, URBAN FANTASY, virginia, YOUNG ADULT -
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
“You were never out of the Life completely. You were always looking over your shoulder. You always kept a gun within reach.” Blacktop Wasteland is a thrilling, adrenaline-fueled read that gives a fresh new take on the One Last Job™ premise. S.A. Cosby’s pitch-perfect sophomore novel is brutal, twisty, and very gritty. Blacktop Wasteland will…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, American, Black & Black heritage authors, Blacktop Wasteland, cars, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, family, fatherhood, fathers & sons, grit lit, heist, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+ side, male authors, Noir, published in 2020, read in 2020, rural setting, S.A. Cosby, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, Southern America, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, THRILLER, violence, virginia -
American Gods by Neil Gaiman — book review
“Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.” It isn’t surprising that American Gods is regarded as one of the genre-bending novels of all time. Over the course of 500 pages Neil Gaiman deftly blends…
2000s, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, adventure, affairs, afterlife, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, American Gods, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, British author, Chicago, Contemporary, DEATH, Dreams, FANTASY, fathers & sons, favourite authors, FOLKLORE, gay side characters, gods, great storytelling, heist, HISTORICAL FICTION, history, Illinois, lgbtq+ side, MAGIC, MAGICAL REALISM, male authors, minnesota, MYSTERY, myths, Neil Gaiman, PARANORMAL, prison, published in 2001, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2020, Religion, road trip, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, story within a story, Storytelling, SUPERNATURAL, tennessee, URBAN FANTASY, violence, Wisconsin, zombies & undead -
A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen — book review
A Beautiful Crime is a tantalisingly suspenseful part thriller part romance, one that brilliantly captures the landscape, aesthetics, and politics of Venice. “The love of the city had killed its people. Quite simply, Venice had been visited to death.” The opening of the novel has a terrific hook. We know that someone at some point…
4.25 stars, A Beautiful Crime, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ART/CREATIVITY, cheating, Christopher Bollen, class, Contemporary, CRIME, gay, heist, Italy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, m/m, male authors, museums, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, politics, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, rich people, social issues, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, travel, Venice, white-collar crime -
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater — book review
Okay, I loved it even more this second time around. This book is full of Stiefvaterisms (in the best possible way). “This is going to be a story about the Lynch brothers.” The very first line of Call Dawn the Hawk echoes that of a fairy tale and Maggie Stiefvater demonstrates just how impressive a…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, adventure, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, brothers, Call Down the Hawk, cambridge (us), cars, Contemporary, declan lynch, dreamers, Dreams, england, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, FOLKLORE, friendships, gay, great storytelling, Harvard, heist, henrietta, Jordan Hennessy, KIDS WITH POWERS, lgbtq+, m/m, Maggie Stiefvater, MAGIC, magical swords, Massachusetts, occult, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2019, re-reads, READ IN 2019, road trip, Ronan Lynch, series that went downhill, tarots, the raven boys, the raven cycle, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, virginia, Washington DC, witchcraft, YOUNG ADULT
luce [is reading] 