3.5 stars.

First off, I would not classify this as horror. This is a mystery story mixed with historical fiction. I liked the chapters set in the past more than the current ones. This is the story of the Red Grove community, a safe haven for women and children. It feels very much like a commune and seems like a great place to live, but also a place of secrets.

This book was so fun to read. The Icelandic setting was wonderful and the descriptions were beautiful. The mystery was a good one too. It kept me guessing until the end. I liked the main character Julia.

Based on the title, I thought this would be about street walkers. Turns out a Painted Lady refers to the old Victorian style mansions in town. So Alex, the main character, is fixing up one of the Painted Ladies. Also there is a murder mystery and some missing diamonds. This was a fun read and I liked the main characters. I liked the big reveal of the murderer at the end.

Marlene is not the most likable person, but truthfully, I don't know if I would have done any better than her in the beginning. Why are they alive when so many others are not. They are close enough to a town that proximity should not have had any bearing on whether they lived or died. And WTF was that ending. Marlene did not come across as noble, just stupid. It ruined the book for me.

There were a few good stories, but most were not that great. Maybe it's time to admit I don't like Lovecraftian fiction.

3.5 stars

Loved this book but thought the ending was a little rushed. The paranormal investigation team was a surprise I was not expecting. The head of Strident house was a very complex person with many layers. This book held my interest all the way through.

And a surprise appearance by Walter!

8-31-2024
My second read through. Since the first time, I have become a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. I really enjoy his show No Reservations. I feel very bittersweet watching it, knowing that he committed suicide. This book is well worth reading.

1-9-2016
I enjoyed this book. It was definitely a shocking look into the restaurant business. After reading about Anthony's experiences, I am surprised that anyone wants a career in the culinary arts.

I have never seen this movie, but I was aware of it. This book was great. I heard it follows the movie really well. I liked both the science fiction and the horror aspects. The visualizations of Dren were wonderful. Human enough to recognize, yet alien enough to bring about an uneasy feeling. I enjoyed reading this.

3.5 stars

I liked this more than I thought I would. All the men in Ji-won's life are jerks. When she starts killing them and eating the eyes, I had more of a feeling that they deserved it, rather than feeling sorry for them. The ending felt unnecessarily complicated, which caused more questions than answers.

An interesting queer fantasy romance. It started out slow, but by the middle of the book I became invested in the story. A love story intertwined with a mystery of who is counterfeiting the coins of the kingdom. The Prince has an anxiety disorder and seems very unsure of himself. This became a little tiresome after a while. His bodyguard/love interest helps him work through everything and become a better version of himself.

This book was going along fine. Trying to find out the truth about Lenore. Then the ending happened. So convoluted, it became too much for me. I wish I had liked this more. The little obituary at the end was cute.

Parts of this book I enjoyed. Parts of this book were boring. This book would be great if I knew all the people he was talking about. But I barely recognized any names, so I didn't really care how they act or if they are jerks. This felt more of a book for industry insiders rather than the general public.

I am a sucker for books about amusement parks, so of course I had to read this as soon as I saw it. This has a good mystery to it. Young Wonderland employees are going missing. And there's a new Deputy Police Chief on the case. I was surprised by how many people in the book have actually killed another person and got away with it for years. I did enjoy this book and was surprised when the killer of the boys was exposed.

A lovely little book about people abandoning their old lives to find peace and happiness in a new city. Also, there is magic and dragons. This is the first book in a new series, and it was a lot of fun to read. The main characters open a book and tea shop in a small town. I was surprised at how successful they are right away.

I went in expecting a horror novel, but this is more a thriller. Dylan is a pizza delivery driver. We come with him on his deliveries and meet his customers as we go. Despite being a wealthy area, there are a lot of weird people. The ending brings together a few of them in a strange way. This book was far to long, but it was also interesting. I give it 3.5 stars.

This book follows two timelines, Louie's story in the mid eighties and Noemi's story in the present day. Of the two my favorite by far was Louie's. There was mystery and supernatural happenings, mixed in with Native American folklore. I would have been happy if that was the whole book. Noemi's story was a more basic tale of grief.

Crusty‘s Penny Arcade. A short read that is a lot of fun. An old man lures people into his creepy arcade and changes their lives forever. I never had time to get bored. Short fiction that is available on Amazon.

This started out slow. It was interesting seeing what had to be done to survive on the moon but nothing really happens for quite awhile. The last half turns into an adventure story with a grand heist. I became more invested in the story towards the end. Overall this was enjoyable.

Entertaining. The main character, Fallon, was a little too one note in her obsession with Prince Dante. How can a woman who works at a brothel/tavern be so naive that she believes the prince will marry her. She even goes on a quest because a woman she doesn't know tells her she will become a queen if she finishes the quest. I did find the Crow people to be the most interesting part of the book. I would like to know about their civilization.

I enjoyed this very much. I am a sucker for books where the killer uses her powers to rid the world of criminals. I like the thought of people being punished for their bad deeds. The beginning was great. The middle portion slowed down quite a bit. After she kills a man on impulse, the book became all about disposing of the body. I feel that this book shows enough promise that I would happily read another book by this author.

I read the kindle version of this. 6 individual short stories that make up 1 novella. I loved the setting, an isolated, snowy mountain. A plane crash with a group of deadly mercenaries surviving. They come across a mysterious structure with a strange box inside. Of course someone has to open the box and all hell breaks loose.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. the writing is very descriptive and eerie, but not a lot happens. The disappearance of the boy referenced in the description happened in the past. I was hoping this would be more of a mystery story, but it was not. There is a lot of talk about the divide between the rich and the poor. It was hard to know if there were real spirits haunting the house, or if the women were mentally ill.

I liked this book much more than I thought I would. The description didn't sound that great to me, but the story ended up being very compelling. Although I didn't understand why the adult kids decided to go back to the mother after she was such a monster growing up. Seriously, I would have written her out of my life. This was well written with a truly horrific villain. There was resolution at the end which I appreciated. Fairly short book.

I received a free arc from NetGalley and the publisher.

I give this 3.5 stars. I absolutely loved this book up until Ruby got possessed. After that the story felt a bit meh, until the finale. The finale was good. Ruby was pretty annoying. I didn‘t like her attitude. Luckily she found some emotional healing at the end. After all the events I wonder if she will be able to have any sort of normal life.

3.5 stars. Beautiful setting. A wonderfully cozy hotel. Norwegian Christmas traditions. The mystery wasn‘t really very mysterious. A nice little holiday book. I enjoyed the setting and I liked learning about the traditions of the area.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher. I voluntarily wrote this review.

In the beginning Jun is impulsive and selfish. We watch as he gains maturity.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the tournament. This book doesn't shy away from violence and death. Some of the scenes are pretty graphic. I found the first few chapters a little slow, but the action soon picked up. I thought the breathmarked was a very interesting and creative idea. It will be interesting to see where the 2nd book goes.

Reading this, I get much the same feeling as I did when reading Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk. I'm feeling like the story is pulling me in and I'm just along for the ride, going wherever the story takes me. Both books are considered queer, gothic horror, so maybe it's the genre? Probably not.

I liked this book. Not scary, but definitely creepy. I wasn't expecting much from this, but I'm glad I enjoyed it.

NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st century I have read 6 and have 1 on my TBR. Not really interested in the others on the list.

A very graphic werewolf novel. We have time to get to know the characters before everyone's life is ripped apart by a werewolf attack. Some people are killed, some survive, and some become werewolves. This becomes incredibly graphic at times but there was never a boring moment. I also approved of the ending. 4.5 stars

This is the book that immediately came to mind. What a wonderful book!
#sundayfunday

I have only read books 4 and 5 of this series, but I enjoyed book 4 more than this one. The mystery was pretty interesting, but I felt that everything came too easy for Lila. People were falling over themselves to give her information. The aunties were hardly in this book, seemingly thrown in like an afterthought. This book was entertaining, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

My new plan is each month I want to read 3 books from my physical TBR and 3 books from my kindle. Anything else I read that month can be from any catagory. So far I‘m happy with how it is turning out.

I loved The Guncle, and this is a worthy follow up to the original. Patrick takes the children while his brother prepares for his upcoming wedding. Along the way, Patrick tries to teach them the meaning of family and love. This book was a lot of fun to read and had some pretty funny lines. If you are younger than 50, some of the jokes may not make sense. The ending seemed a little cliche, but overall, I had a great time reading this.

The second book I've read from this author. I like the writing style, and this was interesting right from the start. A dead body is found, that at first seems to have no connection to a recent murder. But by the end, you see how everything is tied together. The revenge plot seemed a little convoluted and unrealistic. I really liked the stories of the two assassins and was excited for them to meet up. I will read more from Melinda Woodhall.

I really love books about people bonding with their dragons and learning all about them. The first book in this series had everything I wanted. The other books were also good, but I was disappointed that our time at the actual dragon school was over. Well written, there is a lot of time spent on political machinations when I just wanted the wonder of the dragons. I flew through these first 5 books in the series and really enjoyed them.

I was excited for this book. I thought it would be a vampire story. Instead I got a historical romance with a little bit of vampires thrown in. Not what I wanted. I almost quit the book at the half way point, but ultimately finished it. I wanted more of a horror story, but I got a war story, of Mexicans fighting off the English invaders. The writing style was fine, I just objected to the subject matter. 3 stars

Reading this book by one of my favorite bookstagram/booktok influencers. An amusement park and mythological creatures? Sign me up!

I absolutely loved this book. I liked the writing style and the characters. The plot was easy to follow, and I felt a sense of wonderment when introduced to the mythical creatures. The book was a little formulaic, but I loved it so much I didn't care. If I was a teen, this would be my favorite book.

One of my favorite authors, I was very excited to get a copy of this book. It starts like a basic haunted house story, but we find that it is not ghosts at play but demons. I paid close attention as I was reading. Towards the end, the husband and wife dynamics change, and I didn't really care for the revelation. Other than that, this would have been 5 stars for me. But I still enjoyed this very much and recommend it to horror fans. 4.5 stars

A soft pick. It starts as a mysterious disappearance and turns into a supernatural story. The chapters alternate between leading up to the incident, and the aftermath. The story was interesting, and I enjoyed the ending. The dog was especially cool. The main characters, Leo and Tate, were a little annoying throughout, which made me enjoy this less. I had no investment in them.

Not on Litsy, but don‘t worry you‘re not missing anything

I liked the way this started. It was fun to read the investigation, and see how the detective's thought processes worked. After about half the book, the writing started to feel a little stilted, like the author was checking off an invisible check list. It was a good mystery story but seemed average at the same time.

This is interesting and well written. My only complaint is that it is in 6 parts, so that takes away from my experience. I did like this first part, and liked the descriptions of the plane crash and the icy wilderness.

Set in an alternate United States in the 1920's, where vampires (called reapers) and humans live. The story follows Elisa, a human, and her relationship with Layla, who turned into a reaper 5 years ago. Elise's father is extremely rich business man who wants nothing more than to kill all reapers. So there was political machinations as well as a weak murder mystery. The story was ok, but lacked excitement. I didn't care for the characters.

Currently reading, Amazon Prime's free short story this month. Sounds interesting.

I generally love books about the 3 fates, so I was very interested in this. This book has complex world building. A little too complex for my tastes. There was too much information to process and I felt confused most of the time. Io and Edei were a cute couple, but that didn't make up for the rest of the book. I found myself forcing myself to finish the book, and that is not a good sign.

I can confirm that I still love Caius Beauchamp and this second book in the series is just as good as the first. Caius and his partners Amy and Matt, make a great team. I am glad they are getting a series. There are some repeat characters from the first book, I guess to help with continuity? I would prefer not to have Rupert show up again. I'm just here for the detective story and the banter. I will definitely read the next in the series.

For all the hype, I really liked this. There are lots of twists and turns in this mystery/thriller. As the book progressed, I started reading faster and faster, and couldn't wait to get back to the book to see what would happen next. Verity's diary plays a big role in the story, and seemed a bit unbelievable, though still very compelling. As new revelations come out, it's hard to know what to believe and who to trust. Overall, a really good book.

Wow. Who would think to use a human corpse and a fungus to create a new life form. I am impressed with the creativity of this book. It flirts with Frankenstein themes but is a unique creation. I felt for all the characters. For a self-made paradise that is also a prison. This was very enjoyable.

Rambling musings on an imaginary war. Started out interesting but I was glad when it ended. The title comes from the name of the chair the prisoners sit in when being tortured.