novellearts's reviews
1652 reviews

This book had been sitting on my shelf for years. I'm glad I finally decided to read it.

This book was adventurous, mysterious, and heart-warming. This book satisfies the desire to read about detective work, academics, and magic. At times, it felt a little bit slow, but not so much that I wasn't intrigued enough to keep on reading.

3.5 stars

This was a good read, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for at the time. It took a long while for the horror elements of this book to start developing for me. It felt more like a contemporary book for a while.

I did appreciate the sapphic aspect to this book and highlights on women's issues. I honestly wasn't expecting to get that from this read.

It was an extremely slow-burn horror book though. If you're looking for a horror novel from start to finish, then this probably isn't what you're looking for. But even so, I think this book had a lot of great qualities even if it didn't immediately satisfy my desire for immediate horror. 

This was a strange book and I enjoyed it but honestly I’m a bit confused about what I read. I had trouble keeping the characters straight because of the names: The Liar, The Secret Keeper, The Crybaby, etc.

This was an interesting read and the writing was great but I wish I had a bit more clarity. If you want a strange, fever-dream of a book, I think this will be for you! The cover to this book is absolutely stunning as well. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. All opinions are my own. 

A group of friends go to a cabin getaway in the snowy Colorado woods. What could possibly go wrong?
They get snowed in when a blizzard hits and as if that wasn't bad enough, they soon realize that they're not alone in these woods. In fact, they are being hunted.

This was an incredibly entertaining book to me. I have a massive weak-spot for the snowed in friend group trope. This was even better because it was a creature feature.

This was gory, fast-paced, tense, and quick read. I have a few more of Ania's books on my TBR and I think I may need to move them to the top of my list now. 

Couldn't get into this. Found it boring which is such a bummer because I really was excited for this. Might try it again later.

The Sirens is a story told in two timelines, 2019 following Lucy and 1800 following Mary and Eliza.
In 2019, Lucy wakes up from a dream and realizes that she was actually trying to choke her ex. She tries to convince everyone that she was sleeping while choking him. But Lucy doesn't think they'll believe her after the incident of her ex sharing intimate photos on her online. She chooses to run away for help to her sister Jess, only to discover that she is missing. Back in Jess's town, Lucy hears tales of strange disappearances of men and a baby that was found abandoned in a cave. Lucy finds her sister's hidden diary and starts her road to discovery.

In 1800 we follow the story of Mary and Eliza's transformation as they're forced onto a ship leaving Ireland and going to Australia. 

This story was beautiful, whimsical, and tragic. This is a great story on feminism and fantasy. If you've read Emilia Hart before, I'm sure you already are aware of how stunning her writing is. This book was no different. She also does a fantastic job writing her characters. I felt connected to them and a strong empathy.

I also appreciated that this story had so much mystery to it. I was immediately intrigued by the stories of all four of these women and to find out what happened to them. I received the audiobook from NetGalley and the narrator, Barrie Kreinik, did a fantastic job as well. The narration was engaging and clear.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Not what I expected and not my cup of tea. 

DNF @ 20%

I’ve tried to get into this book twice now within 2 weeks and it’s just nothing like I expected. I watched The Rite (2011) expecting the book to be at least somewhat similar but it’s not from what I gathered.

This is a nonfiction account of the history of exorcisms and does not follow one exorcism start to finish like the movie. It’s also very heavily based in religion. Not super surprising there, but it’s easier to consume religious content when it’s in the form of fiction for me. When it’s non-fiction historical accounts like this, I found myself bored and disinterested. Ultimately, this isn’t what I was looking for and because of that I couldn’t get into it. My expectations were too deeply rooted in the movie.

Of Flesh and Blood follows the story of a forensic psychiatrist investigating the crimes of a Louisiana serial killer who is infamous for brutally murdering and consuming eight victims. The Cajun Cannibal takes his own life as he nears his arrest. 

Fast forward 10 years, amidst a growth of copycat killers, the forensic psychiatrist Dr. Blackburn discovers that he is related to the Cajun Cannibal. 

I was really hoping that this would be at least a 4 star read for me because I was extremely excited about this one after reading the blurb. Unfortunately, I had problems with the pacing and how this book was set up. I found the layout a bit confusing, specifically in the first half of the book with the character introductions and perspective jumps.

I did love the concept though. I graduated with a degree in psychology and briefly considered forensic psychology so when I read that the main character was a forensic psychiatrist, it really drew me in. I also enjoyed the character’s descent into madness driven by this case and the investigation into the supernatural.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in return for my honest review.

The first half of this started off stronger for me than the second half. I started to lose some steam on this around the midpoint. It was interesting and very strange to read. I liked the concept early on but again, at about midpoint, it just became a bit overwhelming for me and I didn’t appreciate the concept as much. I appreciated how this book referenced the struggles/violence of women and motherhood. This wasn’t too long of a book but it felt long to me when I was reading it. I think the overload of her transformation ultimately wasn’t for me. I’m still glad that I read this, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. If it was a bit more toned down, I think I would’ve appreciated this more.