novellearts's reviews
1640 reviews

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.

Reese is a senior in high school studying astronomy. She wants to cut ties with her abusive boyfriend Michael, but right before she does, he suddenly gets into a terrible accident. We see Michael struggle with his new life as a vampire as well as his breakup with Reese.

This story not only shows Michael’s life as a monster in the literal sense but also his monstrous acts against someone he claims to love. This story is by no means a light read. It deals with very real life struggles that many people, specifically women, go through. Michael is such a well-done yet hated character. This story shows the struggle of life for women stuck in an abusive relationship and how difficult it can be for them to get out. I think this book did a fantastic job balancing the reality of life with the fictional.

This book is a quick read, but can be emotionally taxing. Even so, I think this book offers up a unique perspective of domestic abuse and can help others gain insight and sympathy for the victims. The dedication in this book was perfect.

Please read the trigger warnings before diving into this book. There are several triggering scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my thoughts.

I will preface this by saying, please if you love this series and love this book, do not take personal offense by this review. This is just my opinion and my takeaways from my experience. If you loved this book, consider me happy for you and don’t let me sway or offend you!

I don’t believe I have any spoilers within this review, but please take caution anyways if you did not complete the book.

That being said, I’m unfortunately pretty disappointed with Onyx Storm. Not only did I find it relatively boring, but I wasn’t drawn in by the characters either. Something about this book just felt, lacking to me. Book 1, I absolutely adored the dragons, reading about them, and their personalities. Book 3, didn’t satisfy the same way.

This all just started to feel incredibly repetitive to me as well. Specifically the characters. I honestly got tired of reading about Violet and Xaden questioning their love to each other, reiterating their love for each other, and why are they constantly withholding sex from each other? I think each book so far has contained some version of this and I find it worn-out. Their relationship is so dramatic yet I don’t feel as though it’s well developed at all. It was too juvenile for my personal liking. I’m sure if you look through my highlights and notes on this book, you’ll see examples. The lightning show while they have sex every time just had me rolling my eyes.

This book was over 500 pages and I feel like most of it was unnecessary. I didn’t walk away from this book feeling like my life was changed or that a lot was accomplished within these 500 pages. I don’t think the plot made a lot of significant progress.

I won’t spoil the ending so don’t worry. But when I got to the end, I felt completely disconnected with the cliff-hanger. Maybe it’s because of the lack of connection that I felt to Book 3 but I was completely unphased by the ending. I’m thinking this might be the last book I read of this series. I just found out that there’s supposed to be 2 more books but this series has lost its steam. I guess I’ll see how I feel later, but I currently don’t feel compelled enough about this story or these characters anymore to continue reading to see how it turns out for them all.

I’ll admit some fault here as I feel like I did forget some of the side characters which affected my connection to them. But I also didn’t enjoy Iron Flame enough to warrant a reread before diving into Onyx Storm.

The dragons were still the best part, but I felt underwhelmed with them in this book as well. I really hoped that I would like this more than I did.