booklistqueen's reviews
619 reviews

After her darling bestseller The Wishing Game, I was excited to see Meg Shaffer take on a new story with Narnia vibes. At first, I loved the mystery of Jeremy and Rafe and their time in a magical land when they were children. However, once they traveled through the looking glass, the book just completely tanked. The plot, pacing, world-building, dialogue and character relationships were all very poorly executed in the second half. A terribly disappointing read that I can't recommend to anyone.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

Lisa Wingate pens a feel-good historical fiction novel with a dual timelines that starts strong but lacks a satisfying ending. I thought Shelterwood's modern story was more compelling than I typically find in this genre. Wingate also did an excellent job researching the historical injustice in Oklahoma and showed how poorly children and Native Americans were treated. Yet, I didn't think the two story lines tied together well and they both lacked the emotional resolution I would have liked.

I was caught off-guard by how much I loved The Husbands. Instead of the steamy romance I was lead to expect (and slightly dread), The Husbands is a thoughtful contemporary fiction novel. Gramazio presents you with a clever premise and then plays out the narrative in an extremely realistic character study of how this circumstance affects Lauren. The Husbands presents you with the benefits and dangers of having an infinite choice and adds enough twists to keep the story engaging and discussion-worthy. 

In Firebrand, Kristen Britain balances the story between Karigan's latest Green Rider adventure and the political intrigue back at the Capital. Although the novel takes a grimmer tone than early books, it also does the most to advance the relationship between King Zachary and Karigan. While the supernatural elements are a bit overdone, I still really enjoy the series as a whole. 

Fans of the Green Rider series generally agree that Mirror Sight is their least favorite book. I felt the same way when I first read it as it's rather jarring to have a series stripped of all but one of the characters. Yet I didn't mind as much on this second reading. I especially like how Mirror Sight allows Karigan to mature and creates character development she couldn't have gotten otherwise. 

If the fact I read this series in just 3 weeks isn't evidence enough, I'll just say out loud that I absolutely love this series. Blackveil takes on a darker tone than the earlier books. Karigan is starting to chafe under the pressure of an impossible romantic situation and always being selected for dangerous tasks. In this extremely long story, Britain throws in plenty of good twists, side stories to advance the later books, and a cliffhanger ending. 

It's love at first sight for Laurie when she sees a man at a bus stop one snowy day in December. Having missed their chance, Laurie searches for him for a year before finally meeting him - as her best friend's new boyfriend. Josie Silver's novels give you a nuanced approach to how complicated love is for realistically flawed people. 

After reading so many lame new releases, I just wanted an audiobook that would capture my attention while I was working out. Looking at the books available on my Libby app, I settled for a reread of this nuanced love story. I devoured this holiday romance in a day, and I can't recommend it enough. 

Kelly's WWII novelization of the story of the Ravensbrück Rabbits, a group of Polish women horribly experimented on during the war was educational if not exactly emotional. Since Caroline and Herta were real individuals, Lilac Girls you don't get the satisfying wrap up you could if the novel was completely fictional. Instead, you just learn another horrible thing that happened during WWII which, while interesting, doesn't captivate the attention since Kelly doesn't play on your emotions. 

I usually can find literary merit in most of the books I read and I rarely give out anything less than three stars. But when you sit and stare at a blank wall over reading another sentence of a book, you know you have a one-star read in hand. Haig wants to revel in the awe of the universe in every single moment of every single page. Three pages on orange juice. Three pages on the degrees of infinity. Three pages contemplating this and three pages contemplating that. The Life Impossible was all the wrong combination of boring and odd and I would vehemently suggest you skip this one. 

And the winner for the most dull thriller I've read this year goes to Middle of the Night. On its surface, the premise of Sager's latest release seems like an atmospheric slow burn mystery. Instead, Middle of the Night was just slow. Sager veered into the paranormal but forgot to add any creepiness or excitement. I was just bored to tears and am rather surprised I even finished the book.