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novellearts's reviews
1657 reviews
The Troop by Nick Cutter
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was loaded with triggers so please check them out before you pick it up.
This was good, but I wish I knew how much animal cruelty and death was in here. I can handle most things, but I hate reading about animal cruelty/death.. especially when it’s graphic. I mean, there were pages upon pages of animal torture before ultimately killing the animals. That dragged down the enjoyment of this book for me and ultimately knocked my rating from a 4/5 stars to a 3/5 stars. The book was pretty good other than what I just mentioned.
This was good, but I wish I knew how much animal cruelty and death was in here. I can handle most things, but I hate reading about animal cruelty/death.. especially when it’s graphic. I mean, there were pages upon pages of animal torture before ultimately killing the animals. That dragged down the enjoyment of this book for me and ultimately knocked my rating from a 4/5 stars to a 3/5 stars. The book was pretty good other than what I just mentioned.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
After the Ocean by Lauren E. Rico
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After the Ocean is a story told in two different timelines. One takes place thirty years ago after Emilia Oliveras gets married and goes on a honeymoon cruise. Emilia's husband Paul goes missing, thought to be dead. Emilia flees Paul's family who are trying to pin her for murder and changes her name to Emily Oliver. The story then fast forwards to Emily and her two daughters and husband. Emily then receives a phone call alluding to Paul being alive and well, which causes Emily to board a plane and start searching for him. This story flips between 30 years ago, and present day where we as readers can learn the present day story while also learning of Emilia's life leading up to this moment.
Even though this book has a few different POVs as well as the two timelines, I didn't find it difficult to follow along. I listened to the audiobook while reading along and the narrators did a fantastic job. This was a quick, tragic, and interesting read.
Even though this book has a few different POVs as well as the two timelines, I didn't find it difficult to follow along. I listened to the audiobook while reading along and the narrators did a fantastic job. This was a quick, tragic, and interesting read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3.75/5 stars.
This felt like it dragged a little bit but this was a super cozy read. And the characters were adorable!! The spider plant??! Stop it! I have 6 spider plants at home and here I am wishing that mine were sentient too.
Super cozy, relaxing read to take your mind off of life.
This felt like it dragged a little bit but this was a super cozy read. And the characters were adorable!! The spider plant??! Stop it! I have 6 spider plants at home and here I am wishing that mine were sentient too.
Super cozy, relaxing read to take your mind off of life.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The prose was beautiful and I loved the folklore sprinkled in throughout this book but the overall story felt like it was missing something. This story was weird and I felt myself losing interest the more that I read.
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don’t have much to say about this one. I absolutely adored The Unmaking of June Farrow but A Sea of Unspoken Things felt incredibly underwhelming to me. The story wasn’t bad by any means, but I guess my expectations were too high after June Farrow. I wasn’t too engaged by the story and felt like my mind was wandering at times while I was reading this. I will say, this cover is stunning though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Out of Air by Rachel Reiss
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have the biggest weakness for horror/thriller books about the ocean. I immediately had to pick this up.
Five friends go on one final scuba dive in Australia before they head off to college where they find a hidden cave. Of course they have to explore and after they return to shore, they start to notice strange changes. Later on the friends are taken as ransom by treasure hunters in an effort to gain knowledge on the location of this cave.
This was an entertaining read and had me curious about what was happening to them internally. I was less interested in the treasure hunter aspect of this story though. It reminded me a bit of the Outer Banks show. This story alternates between the past and present day. At times it felt a bit slow but I loved the urban legend feel that this had.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!
Five friends go on one final scuba dive in Australia before they head off to college where they find a hidden cave. Of course they have to explore and after they return to shore, they start to notice strange changes. Later on the friends are taken as ransom by treasure hunters in an effort to gain knowledge on the location of this cave.
This was an entertaining read and had me curious about what was happening to them internally. I was less interested in the treasure hunter aspect of this story though. It reminded me a bit of the Outer Banks show. This story alternates between the past and present day. At times it felt a bit slow but I loved the urban legend feel that this had.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5/5 stars. Absolutely amazing. I could not put this down. I had to eat dinner and I was reading the whole time.
Now that I devoured this, I understand why everyone is mentioning female rage in reference to this book. I was internally raging for Lenore!!
After ten years of marriage to Henry and no child on the way, Lenore feels the weight of burden strike their relationship. As Lenore and Henry prepare to host a special hunt, it brings up memories of the prior hunt and the secret that they've both been keeping since then.
Their lives get thrown for a twist when a carriage accident nearby brings a mysterious Carmilla to their home. As they offer Carmilla shelter to recover, they notice that she is sickly and weak during the day, but becomes much more lively during the night. Carmilla becomes a thorn in Henry's side as she works to help Lenore find herself. Lenore is hungry and needs to eat.
This is a beautiful retelling of Carmilla. The prose is stunning and makes you feel as though you're in the story yourself. There are so many amazing quotes from this book that I wish I could share. The story is atmospheric, mysterious, and tense. The characters were written extremely well. The characters that we're meant to love, I loved and the ones we're meant to hate, I certainly hated. While this is a slow-burn romance, the rest book certainly didn't feel slow to me. And the wait was well worth it. I love that this story dove into the problems with gender roles and expectations that are imposed on women. It was a beautiful story of Lenore's self-discovery and acceptance of herself, flaws all included.
The ending of this book was amazingly poetic. I left this story feeling overwhelming satisfaction and I can tell that this is a book that I will reread one day. This book isn't your typical horror novel, even though it is tagged as such. Please don't go into this book expecting scares. The horror comes more from the atmosphere and the depravity of the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for sending me an eARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.
I immediately preordered this book upon finishing reading.
Now that I devoured this, I understand why everyone is mentioning female rage in reference to this book. I was internally raging for Lenore!!
After ten years of marriage to Henry and no child on the way, Lenore feels the weight of burden strike their relationship. As Lenore and Henry prepare to host a special hunt, it brings up memories of the prior hunt and the secret that they've both been keeping since then.
Their lives get thrown for a twist when a carriage accident nearby brings a mysterious Carmilla to their home. As they offer Carmilla shelter to recover, they notice that she is sickly and weak during the day, but becomes much more lively during the night. Carmilla becomes a thorn in Henry's side as she works to help Lenore find herself. Lenore is hungry and needs to eat.
This is a beautiful retelling of Carmilla. The prose is stunning and makes you feel as though you're in the story yourself. There are so many amazing quotes from this book that I wish I could share. The story is atmospheric, mysterious, and tense. The characters were written extremely well. The characters that we're meant to love, I loved and the ones we're meant to hate, I certainly hated. While this is a slow-burn romance, the rest book certainly didn't feel slow to me. And the wait was well worth it. I love that this story dove into the problems with gender roles and expectations that are imposed on women. It was a beautiful story of Lenore's self-discovery and acceptance of herself, flaws all included.
The ending of this book was amazingly poetic. I left this story feeling overwhelming satisfaction and I can tell that this is a book that I will reread one day. This book isn't your typical horror novel, even though it is tagged as such. Please don't go into this book expecting scares. The horror comes more from the atmosphere and the depravity of the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for sending me an eARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.
I immediately preordered this book upon finishing reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Cross My Heart by Megan Collins
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was messy and I didn't like the characters. Somehow, everyone felt completely unreliable and they were very unlikeable. A few of the characters I wanted to reach through the book and knock some sense into. I also felt like the story was pulling me all over the place.
There were a lot of twists, but I didn't care for them too much. This book was a miss but there was nothing inherently wrong with it, it just wasn't for me. I think if I liked the characters more, this would've been a lot more tolerable to me.
There were a lot of twists, but I didn't care for them too much. This book was a miss but there was nothing inherently wrong with it, it just wasn't for me. I think if I liked the characters more, this would've been a lot more tolerable to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book turned out to be more about internal conflict than I was expecting. Lydia is hungry but only consumes pig's blood. She practices self-control on humans and has a lot of internal conflict regarding who she is, stemming from her relationship with her mother.
This is not a traditional vampire book about destruction, death, and feeding but more about Lydia trying to overcome her internal demons and accept herself. This focuses deeply on her connections with other people and herself. Lydia could've benefited from a vampire therapist.
This is not a traditional vampire book about destruction, death, and feeding but more about Lydia trying to overcome her internal demons and accept herself. This focuses deeply on her connections with other people and herself. Lydia could've benefited from a vampire therapist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail