Recent Mini-Reviews

 

Recent Mini Reviews

Sometimes the less said the better. Or sometimes I'm just feeling lazy.


Red, White & Royal Blue

Camp Scare by Delilah S. Dawson

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had some trouble with The Violence by this writer (wrong book/wrong time) but I highly recommend Camp Scare to middle schoolers and to anyone that likes a creepy campground setting and stories about growing up as an outcast and standing up for yourself even when people refuse to believe you. It's about bullying, and mean girls and creepy goings-on and I could not stop listening.







The Herd

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a warm tale of second changes after you've effed up your first. Hey, it happens.

I enjoyed it so much. It's cozy, sweet, snarky, funny and also so very sad at times. It felt a little overlong on audio but that might just be me but I never felt the urge to quit because I needed to know how this ended for all of these people I'd become so invested in.







A Gentleman Never Keeps Score

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This felt very honest. Lots of wild moments (what a life this woman led as a teen/young woman) but there are also a lot of hard times and trauma revealed too. And LOTS of gossipy fun, lol. Very much recommended if you're a fan.









⭐⭐⭐⭐


This is a beautifully written book brimming over with sorrow and despair. I love the way Tiffany McDaniel writes and that she doesn't ever flinch away from the darkest corners of humanity but I also hate it because it leaves me feeling terrible about the things people do to each other. On the Savage Side is about two twin sisters born into this world that discards women without a care. Their parents are neglectful due to their addictions but their love for their grandmother and each other help make life bearable. For a little while, at least. I don't want to say more and spoil anything but if you've read this author previously you know what you're in for when you crack open this book. I need to go read something fluffy now before the pit of despair swallows me whole.


All 4 and 5 stars so yay me!

Have you read any of them? Or read something else that you want the world to read? Let me know in the comments!





Comments

  1. Mary KirklandFriday, June 23, 2023

    I think the Elvira memoir is something that I could read since I've been watching her since I was a kid and I've always loved her.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GregSaturday, June 24, 2023

    I like the camping one... perfect for this time of year :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jen | Book DenSunday, June 25, 2023

    I really enjoyed Under the Whispering Door, too. Maybe someday I'll be in a headspace brave enough to read more Tiffany McDaniel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bark At The GhoulsMonday, June 26, 2023

      Yeah, McDaniel likes to ruin her readers. I had to hold off on reading it until I was ready but honestly one is never ready for that kind of emotional trauma.

      Delete
  4. Tammy SparksSunday, June 25, 2023

    On the Savage Side was so hard to read, but I ended up loving it. Not sure I can read any more of her books though, after being gutted by this one and Betty. The Elvira book sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lark Sunday, June 25, 2023

    Yay for so many good books in a row! The camping one appeals to me as does Under the Whispering Door. :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine | Horror Fiction Review

Image
I wanted to like this one a little more than I actually did. Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine Released August 2023 Source: Received for Review Consideration & Purchased from Audible Goodreads  | Amazon The Push meets The Silent Patient in a gripping thriller that follows a woman convinced a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens—while the men in her life refuse to believe a word she says. Anna Alcott is desperate to be pregnant. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life with a grueling IVF journey, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments get swapped without her knowledge. And even when she finally manages to get pregnant, not even her husband is willing to believe that someone's playing a twisted game with her. When the increasingly cryptic threats drive her out of her Brooklyn brownstone and into hiding in th
Read more

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt | Book Review

Image
Just like Rumfitt's previous book, this book will upset you. Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt Released October 2023 Source: Received for Review Consideration Goodreads   | Amazon From Alison Rumfitt, the author of Tell Me I’m Worthless — “a triumph of transgressive queer horror” (Publishers Weekly) — comes Brainwyrms, a searing body horror novel of obsession, violence and pleasure. When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, fucking strangers, pushing away her friends. Then she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya. The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined. Shocking,
Read more

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Image
I think I may need a little break from these unreliable narrator books. The Woman In The Window by A.J. Finn Thriller   Audiobook  Unabridged 13+ Hours Released January 2018 Amazon  ♦  Goodreads For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-five languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hithcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house. It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . . Anna Fox lives alone?a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t,
Read more