A nice cozy romance about two college students from different backgrounds. It was a fast read and made me feel happy.

This is an entertaining series, and I enjoyed this book. I did feel the plot was a little more convoluted that the previous books and it was hard to suspend my belief with much of this. I just hope that this story arc is over, and we can get to something else, where Finlay doesn't have to lie so much to Nick.

An interesting story about a group of older women plotting revenge on the men who harmed their friend's writing career. I liked the depiction of a group of friends who have stayed together since their college days. Not much action here, this was more of a descriptive story.

Ghost story, murder mystery. More fairy tale than horror. Lovely writing.

I enjoyed reading this. The ending left me a little unsatisfied. I had some questions.

My TBR for the month of April. I just finished Forgotten Sisters and am about to start Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice.

I love books about people in extreme conditions. This book sounded great. The beginning 1/3, when they were preparing for the trip to Everest, was a little boring. It goes into detail on the preparations and the history of mountain climbing. The rest of the book, once they actually make it to Everest, was amazing. The story was interesting and moved a lot faster. I enjoyed reading this.

I read this book in one day. Reading it gave me a warm happy feeling, just like I get when watching The Great British Baking Show. The contestants seem so nice, like family, and I am happy the baking show in the book felt the same. I liked that the main character was 77 years old and living her best life. This book was a fast read, and should appeal to fans of cooking shows and following your dreams.

Wow, what a great story. A wealthy woman wants to clone her cat. The results are not what she expects. The story moves quickly, with not a wasted moment. Right from the first page, I was invested. Even though you know the cat is evil, it is still fun to see how far things go. My favorite from Felix I.D. Dimaro so far.

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not what I thought it would be, and I enjoyed it very much. A young couple with their first child wins a lottery to move into a luxury apartment building. The author took the whole creepy, old apartment building trope and went places I was not expecting. It combines the horrors of vampires with gargoyles and was very imaginative. The second half of the book moved quickly, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

The prequel to Priory of the Orange Tree, I enjoyed this just as much. This is epic storytelling with a rotating selection of narrators. We begin by following 3 different women from 3 different cities. Although they don't know each other, their stories become intertwined as they fight a common enemy. There is political intrigue, and I felt I learned a lot more about the Priory. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book.

I have never read the Dear Sugar column before. I find it annoying that people are apparently writing to her with real problems, and she always responds with some long rambling story about her own life, and no real advice. The book started to feel repetitive after just a few short chapters.

This is an enjoyable story about a small German Village at the end of WWII, that is being protected by a group of werewolves. As they become more corrupted by the wolf within, their actions become increasingly more vicious to the other locals. This was a nice, fast read by an author that I like.

A good end of the world horror story, as aliens take over the world and quickly destroy all survivors. There are only a few people left after the invasion, but new hordes of aliens scour the earth looking to kill any remaining survivors. A man finds two children and tries to outrun the aliens and find a safe place for them to settle. The imagery is amazing and unique, and the actions of the people feel realistic. This is a very good story.

Started out interesting, but soon got confusing. The main character, William Day, is trying to redeem a failed mission to the Artic. On this new expedition, he quickly devolves into a hallucinating mess. The reader doesn't know if he is seeing ghosts, or just descending into madness. For me, the story became hard to follow. This is a soft pick for me, mainly because I am fascinated with the Artic and the people who explore it.

Portions of the book I enjoyed, but for the most part I felt confused. I didn‘t understand what was going on, and why Harrow‘s memories were so different. I was really looking forward to this book, but unfortunately it was not what I had hoped for.

Lovers at the Museum by Isabel Allende.
A short story about strangers experiencing a night of love in an empty museum. It is a mystical, fantastical story. Cute and easy to read.

We witness Andrew‘s descent into madness. This book is pretty disgusting. The cottage he is staying in is a breeding ground for fungus. He lives there even though fungus is growing on the walls and everything is damp. That really makes me squirm. Andrew is not a likable character. Really no one in the book is. Not my favorite book.

Starting this today. This is not my usual genre but I‘m in the mood for something different.

Since I received this in my NightWorms subscription box, I was expecting this to be a horror novella. Instead it was more of a mystery thriller. So I was disappointed in the book. It was ok, just not what I was expecting, nor something I would have picked up on my own. I read this in approximately an hour and a half.

Books read February 2024. My favorite was The Gathering by CJ Tudor.

The differences between the hunger games in this book vs the future books was fascinating. Truly, this version of the games was pretty boring. Hours of nothing followed by minutes of action. Snow‘s character is pretty despicable. Other than his own family, he has no real feelings for anyone else. He only acts if it will make him look good. His relationship with the tribute Lucy Gray is a joke. Snow only wants her as a captive, dependent on him.

Another great book in the Legends and Lattes series. I really hope they continue on with Viv's adventures. Taking place before the events in the first book, Viv is just as loveable as before. She helps save a bookshop and battles a necromancer. The supporting characters are great, and I hope they make an appearance in future books. I love this cozy fantasy series.

3.5 Stars

A collection of short stories. The Head, the first story in the book was the most unsettling for me. Truthfully, I enjoyed the first 3 stories the most. After that, the rest of the book just felt average to me. Not bad, but the stories weren't that engaging either. I would give this author another try.

The story of identical twins, Tessa and Kristin. Tessa is good, Kristin is evil. I really hated Kristin. She gets what she wants by manipulation. She is so self-centered, rude and psychotic her personality made me not want to read any further. Otherwise, this was a fairly predictable plot. Will good triumph over evil? You have to read this to find out.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a short novel at 230 pages. Charity works at Camp Mirror Lake, and runs an immersive horror experience for her guests. That is a great idea, and I would have enjoyed reading more about the actual mechanics behind the experience itself. But the story becomes an actual horror story, as counselors go missing and it is revealed that someone wants to murder everyone working at the camp. This is a young adult book, so a bit juvenile for me.

The best book I‘ve read this year. Set in a world where vampires live in colonies adjacent to humans in an uneasy truce. This is a murder mystery, with both human and vampire suspects. Barbara, the detective, must walk a fine line as tensions cause both groups to be on the edge of war. This was a fun read, and very interesting. I was never bored.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars
A lovely story. I really liked Tova‘s story. A widow who also lost her only son at 18. I also liked Marcellus the octopus, although his narration seemed a bit corny. Cameron was my least favorite narrator. This is just a sweet book about unlikely friendships.

I have read 4 of Dugoni‘s thriller books, and I was surprised to find this one. It came highly recommended. This is a straight fiction book, telling the story of Sam Hill from childhood into his forties. It is a testament to the author‘s skill as a writer that I found this very interesting and flew through it in 2 days.

I like this series very much and it is an autobuy for me. The fourth book in the series, this advances the stories of Elizabeth and Stephen, and of Ibrahim. I really like these characters and the fact that they are all elderly and still having adventures. It gives me something to aspire to.

Part 1: This section felt overlong and a bit boring. I really missed the dragon school part of the first book. I was hoping for more of that. Instead we get more politics and so much torture. Uggh.

Part 2: was more exciting and I found myself enjoying the characters again. I still wish there was not so much politics. All of the high ranking characters are terrible people. I liked this book but I think the first one was better.

A sweet little coming of age story. Tutu leaves his city to search for water. During his journey he meets travelers from other cities and learns that they are all oppressed by a common enemy. Although a novella, this contains a fully realized world. Well written, this book can easily be read in one sitting.

Douglas Preston is one of my favorite authors. Reading this, I was reminded of what a good author he is. The book was amazing, I was invested in the story from the beginning. Obviously there can be comparisons made between Extinction and Jurassic Park. Part mystery/police procedural, the CBI is brought in to investigate the murders of a young honeymoon couple. As the investigation continues, the findings become more and more bizarre.

The book started out pretty interesting. The new paleontologist, Simon, arrives at the museum to start work. But it becomes repetitive and boring as we learn of the death of his sister and his feelings of guilt. The last bit of the book is exciting. Overall this book was good but not great.

Page 155. Simon becomes angry after reading Mueller‘s diary entry about a meteor impact. Why? It seemed like a logical conclusion.Why is he so closed minded.

A collection of 25 different horror stories. Some are very gruesome. All the stories were good, but my favorite were The Green-Eyed Monster and Tall, Dark and Rancid.

I remember when this book came outand all the outrage over certain passages. There are some interesting passages, but a lot of the time it feels overwritten and confusing. There are a lot of characters introduced and many of them make more than one appearance. The two main characters are not very likable. I feel like this could have been much shorter and still gotten the point accross. Still, there are portions of the book that will stick with me.

Wow, this book was not what I expected. A story about a 49 year old woman experiencing strange menopausal symptoms morphed into a story about a religious cult in the desert. The theme of how older women are not seen by society. This was pretty thought provoking, and also pretty gory.

The first 70% was so engrossing and chilling. I was very invested. Then it went full on bat sh*t crazy. I was left feeling unsure of what was actually happening. I think it‘s left to the readers to decide if Angela is hallucinating or if something supernatural is actually occurring. This was a good read.

I am not too familiar with the Fifth Doctor‘s adventures. I enjoyed this book and it made me want to check out his season. This book gave me Aliens vibes. The Dark as a character was very creepy. The Doctor was very fallible in this story.

The first casualty of the year. My 7 month old puppy destroyed my book. At least most of the damage is to the cover so it is still readable. 🙄

My 5 star reads from 2023. I read a lot of good books this year.

I read a lot, but wish I had read even more.

First published in 1946, this is a classic Japanese mystery. This is a locked room mystery. A man and his bride are murdered on their wedding night, with no evidence of how the killer escaped.

I liked the setting in Japan. Japanese culture is fascinating to me. The book was well written and the young detective was intriguing. I understand there are many more books that feature this detective, although only a few were translated into English.

Christmas gifts from my children.

This is nonfiction and details how the Victorians used murder as entertainment. After it describes each murder it then goes into great detail about the books, songs and plays that were inspired by the event. It is a lot of information and it becomes too much. This book feels much longer than it needs to be. 2.5 stars

So much fun. I loved the sentient cats. I had previously read The Kaiju Preservation Society and really enjoyed it. This author writes with a great blend of science fiction and humor.

145 pages. Fast paced, the action starts quickly. Reads like an 80s slasher movie. Feels a little YA, though there is drug use and lots of graphic violence. Nice little Christmas themed horror.

I was thinking about the movie version of this with David Bowie, and decided I needed to read the book. I will say Whitley Streiber is a great author. His writing style works for me. His depiction of the vampire Miriam is wonderful, both her loving side and her evil side. The fate of her consorts is one of the more chilling parts of the book.

The first book I finished post hip surgery. A collection of short stories that are all very creepy. I enjoyed reading all of them.