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voxvenati's reviews
172 reviews
Jackal by Erin E. Adams
dark
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
3.5
The audiobook narration probably added a half star to my rating, it was very good.
This was a fine thriller, but I don’t think I’d call it horror. It didn’t make me feel strongly - terror, despair, discomfort… There wasn’t a lot of gore, the terror of the girls taken, or anything in that vein. Driving home some of those elements might have elevated this to a horror for me, but it just wasn’t there.
As far as a thriller goes, this was good. Well worth the read. Satisfying enough of an ending.
The strangeness of Jack didn’t work for me. I think it should have committed in one direction or the other - full allegory for racism in the form of Jack or just white people being monsters. I also think Jack could have benefitted from more cryptid lore.
Overall, a good book with interesting characters and a tense atmosphere throughout.
This was a fine thriller, but I don’t think I’d call it horror. It didn’t make me feel strongly - terror, despair, discomfort… There wasn’t a lot of gore, the terror of the girls taken, or anything in that vein. Driving home some of those elements might have elevated this to a horror for me, but it just wasn’t there.
As far as a thriller goes, this was good. Well worth the read. Satisfying enough of an ending.
Overall, a good book with interesting characters and a tense atmosphere throughout.
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a trial to get through. I initially DNF’d it, but came back after some months of a break to finish it. To get some answers. A mistake.
I liked some of the characters, and the premise was good. Engaging. The follow through was not.
At the end of the audiobook, I literally said “WHAT??” aloud to my empty kitchen. What a nothing ending. None of my questions were answered, at least in a meaningful way.
I’m sure the ambiguity and mystery of the story are thought provoking to some readers, but it was so loose that I just could not get behind it. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t even tense in a good way.
I don’t think the book was a complete wash, but I personally should have left this as a DNF at 25%.
I liked some of the characters, and the premise was good. Engaging. The follow through was not.
I’m sure the ambiguity and mystery of the story are thought provoking to some readers, but it was so loose that I just could not get behind it. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t even tense in a good way.
I don’t think the book was a complete wash, but I personally should have left this as a DNF at 25%.
The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was delightful. Dark, violent, quick to read, and a bit sensual. It reads almost like a dark fairytale. The internal lore! Fantastic. The world was fleshed out, the characters all distinct, and the prose was delicious. I’ll include some favorite quotes in the spoilers.
Johann tugged at the tip of his glove with his teeth—didn’t pull it off the whole way, but savoured the sensation of the leather rolling over the thick artery in his wrist.
Is this it? Johann wondered. The longer fall I was looking for? To know that I was summoned up from the dark ether to do a monster’s deeds for Hallandrette’s truest son? And when our work is done, I will carry him to the bottom of the sea, where we both belong. Deep beneath the silt our bones will turn to salt.
Read trigger warnings before reading if you have any doubts - most things aren’t too graphic, but there are a lot of things covered.
The only negative I have is that I think the plot could have been pushed further. It feels too brief. I would have liked to see more. And I personally think it could have been more graphic, for the type of book it is. Had it had one or both of these elements, this would have easily been a 5 star for me.
Read trigger warnings before reading if you have any doubts - most things aren’t too graphic, but there are a lot of things covered.
The only negative I have is that I think the plot could have been pushed further. It feels too brief. I would have liked to see more. And I personally think it could have been more graphic, for the type of book it is. Had it had one or both of these elements, this would have easily been a 5 star for me.
Finna by Nino Cipri
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
This book did a much better job of capturing the Ikea feel and the dread of customer service than Horrorstör did. It isn’t a horror, so the similarities end there, but this is what Horrorstör wished it had.
I liked the concept and that the characters were distinct, but I do wish the worlds had been pushed further, that we had gotten to see more. I also feel like we didn’t get to know that much about the characters, and I would have liked to.
Some good concepts, some things not as fleshed out, but a nice experience. Overall, a solid read.
I liked the concept and that the characters were distinct, but I do wish the worlds had been pushed further, that we had gotten to see more. I also feel like we didn’t get to know that much about the characters, and I would have liked to.
Some good concepts, some things not as fleshed out, but a nice experience. Overall, a solid read.
Sex Cult Nun by Faith Jones
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
4.75
Immensely powerful.
I was blown away by this book, and invested the whole way through. There are no lulls. The pacing is great. Very dark stuff, but hopeful in conclusion.
However, please read the book’s content warnings before reading if you have triggers. The topics discussed are sometimes graphic.
I was blown away by this book, and invested the whole way through. There are no lulls. The pacing is great. Very dark stuff, but hopeful in conclusion.
However, please read the book’s content warnings before reading if you have triggers. The topics discussed are sometimes graphic.
A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne
Overall, the writing is mediocre at best. There is more wrong with this book than I could include. This story is on par with unpolished fanfiction. If you’re just reading to see smut with a monster, go ahead, but it’s not great monster smut.
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This book was a mess. Don’t get me wrong - I wanted to like it. I’m into this kind of stuff. But it was just not working for me. I’ll start with some good things though.
The Duskwalker design was interesting enough, I liked some of the creatures in the Veil, and a few of the spicy scenes were passable.
The bad list is longer.
The pacing is a disaster. There is a maybe one or two chapters of plot at the beginning, then around 6 chapters of plot toward the end. Nothing in between.
There is passive voice throughout. This is a huge detractor for me, and shows how unpolished the writing is.
Ex: “It was eaten by multiple mouths…”
There are various completely incorrect “facts” throughout (ex: that honey comes from pollen. This is not true.)
There are no good human characters outside of Reia, the main character. Humanity in general as portrayed as a joke, no one has any depth, and we are just expected to hate anyone that’s mean to Duskwalkers without any legwork being done to show why.
The main character is manipulative, annoying, and childish. But we are supposed to like her.
There is more, but I will put it under a spoiler because it’s direct quotes.
These two phrases are constant: “impala antelope horns” & “her elderberry and rose scent”. We get it. These were shoved down our throats like we would forget after two pages without them.
This scene was ripped straight from My Neighbor Totoro: “He'd seen her dancing around the garden through the night, flapping her wings upwards into the air in a motion that was like she was pulling something while bouncing on her bird legs.”
Many of the sex scenes were off. They didn’t feel sexy. This whole thing was gross to read: “Then she let out a high-pitched cry when his tongue slipped from her puckered backside, that wasn’t expecting the slippery organ, over the entrance of her core to collect every drop of her liquid cream, and then up through her folds until he heavily lashed her pounding clit.”
Orpheus and Reia aren’t actually good people. The author wants you to believe it so badly, but when push comes to shove, Orpheus stops caring about protecting humans at all once he has his bride - “She knew I wouldn't be placing another [protection spell] for the humans since I have her.” - and Reia wants to enact revenge on people - one of whom was kidnapped herself and felt forced into sex slavery. I’m just not buying into it.
Another quote because it was horrible: “His body was quaking and trembling all over like a frightened, injured animal, but it was his glowing orbs that had her sad for him.”
The Duskwalker design was interesting enough, I liked some of the creatures in the Veil, and a few of the spicy scenes were passable.
The bad list is longer.
The pacing is a disaster. There is a maybe one or two chapters of plot at the beginning, then around 6 chapters of plot toward the end. Nothing in between.
There is passive voice throughout. This is a huge detractor for me, and shows how unpolished the writing is.
Ex: “It was eaten by multiple mouths…”
There are various completely incorrect “facts” throughout (ex: that honey comes from pollen. This is not true.)
There are no good human characters outside of Reia, the main character. Humanity in general as portrayed as a joke, no one has any depth, and we are just expected to hate anyone that’s mean to Duskwalkers without any legwork being done to show why.
The main character is manipulative, annoying, and childish. But we are supposed to like her.
There is more, but I will put it under a spoiler because it’s direct quotes.
Overall, the writing is mediocre at best. There is more wrong with this book than I could include. This story is on par with unpolished fanfiction. If you’re just reading to see smut with a monster, go ahead, but it’s not great monster smut.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
2.75
The premise of this book was cute, and I liked the two main characters, but it took me until the final 25% of the book to get into it, to get behind the couple.
The earlier spicy scenes didn’t work for me at all, there was weird miscommunication throughout, and the overarching conflict felt forced at best. And more of a pet peeve, but the author relies heavily on similes, and does a lot of telling, not showing.
The book had a fine ending, but the lack of conflict meant it wasn’t entirely satisfying.
The earlier spicy scenes didn’t work for me at all, there was weird miscommunication throughout, and the overarching conflict felt forced at best. And more of a pet peeve, but the author relies heavily on similes, and does a lot of telling, not showing.
The book had a fine ending, but the lack of conflict meant it wasn’t entirely satisfying.
Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was strange. I went in wanting a book about a cult, but most of the book isn’t really about the cult. It’s about Maeve. But more on that under spoilers.
I enjoyed the bits of the book that do talk about the cult, and I liked some of the interactions between characters throughout.
The middle part of the book, however, was mostly set-up and so it dragged for me. It didn’t get really good until about the 2/3 mark.
The twists are utterly predictable, but that doesn’t really take away from the horror of it: the rapes, the betrayal, the murders, the Collective finding a way in again and again.
The sparse chapters about the old Collective and the last third of the book, where we see anything of the current cult, were not enough to satisfy my interest. The last half of the book really could have touched on more of the modern cult, with Andrea referring back to the things she was taught as a child.
In the end, there is a good amount of physical and psychological horror at play. Enough to give a good, eerie vibe throughout. It kept me turning the page all the way through the last chapter.
I enjoyed the bits of the book that do talk about the cult, and I liked some of the interactions between characters throughout.
The middle part of the book, however, was mostly set-up and so it dragged for me. It didn’t get really good until about the 2/3 mark.
The sparse chapters about the old Collective and the last third of the book, where we see anything of the current cult, were not enough to satisfy my interest. The last half of the book really could have touched on more of the modern cult, with Andrea referring back to the things she was taught as a child.
In the end, there is a good amount of physical and psychological horror at play. Enough to give a good, eerie vibe throughout. It kept me turning the page all the way through the last chapter.
A Likely Story by Leigh McMullan Abramson
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A Likely Story was an interesting, easy to consume “book within a book” with just a hint of a mystery element. I was hooked from the first chapter.
I thoroughly enjoyed how multifaceted all of the characters were, and I found most of them both charming and obnoxious, to varying degrees (Claire was the exception - I loved her through and through). I’m also not often a fan of stories that flip between timelines, but it was handled well here, and because it was divided up by POV, it was easier to keep track of the “when”.
There were few elements that detracted from the story, but it was difficult being in the heads of some of the selfish, egotistical characters during their worst moments.
There was also a sort of negative attitude toward porn that rubbed me the wrong way. There are a few instances where Ward is watching porn, and it really feels like this is supposed to drive home negative aspects of his character.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt it had a satisfying resolution.
All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed how multifaceted all of the characters were, and I found most of them both charming and obnoxious, to varying degrees (Claire was the exception - I loved her through and through). I’m also not often a fan of stories that flip between timelines, but it was handled well here, and because it was divided up by POV, it was easier to keep track of the “when”.
There were few elements that detracted from the story, but it was difficult being in the heads of some of the selfish, egotistical characters during their worst moments.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt it had a satisfying resolution.
All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.