pelicanfreak's reviews
2228 reviews

First time ‘reading’ this author,

Written in alternating, first-person POVs and manages to deliver both police-procedural and cozy mystery vibes because the investigator is a cop, but has a vested personal interest. I always find this to be a fun approach. It also features alternating timelines, so the reader gets a good / more complete picture of what’s going on than the characters may have.

*A few instances of poor grammar noted—recommend using a strong editor to catch such instances. Overall though, it wasn’t bad. 

Dating apps / blind date.

Missing persons.

Lowkey suspense, on and off.

Psycho or socio path.

Serial unal!ver.

SA.

Overall:

This wasn’t a bad read, I would read more by this author—though they’ll need to be eyeball reads unless her audiobooks use a different narrator and/or production team.

3.5 stars.

🎧Audio:

Yikes.

So this is not a professional production—and whoever did produce it, sadly, might be preying on authors. All subjective details aside, there are undeniable issues with this production, a few being:

Etc.

 I’m not sure what causes issues like this to come through in the end production, but I do know that professional teams produce beautifully smooth productions. All of the various sound quality issues to distract from the ‘reading’ experience for me.

Onto the narrator, that part is certainly subjecting. For me, the ‘performance’ wasn’t great, and I use that term loosely, as there was no performing here. Some narrators do truly act and perform the books they read to us. This one apparently opted to just robotically dictate—if I wanted to hear books that way, I could just have Siri or Alexa read them.  😉

Zero stars. I’m shocked that quality control found this acceptable. 

This one is a journey of sorts … lots of things like: realizing what you have right in front of you, self-accountability, personal growth, boundary-setting and so much more. Throw in the struggling business due to natural disaster and I learned so much as the reader, while watching these leads learn things about life, love and themselves.

Written in alternating first-person POV, the reader is treated to both leads’ inner narrative and therefore knows where the problems lie before the characters themselves do. Watching them figure it out and grow is truly a treat—(and inspirational as I’m on my own healing journey). Thought-provoking at times.

Divorced couple / second chance at love.

Later-in-life romance.

Ranch life.

Miscommunication (done well, IMO).

Fake relationship.

Forced proximity.

Scheming teenagers.

Banter!

Flashbacks to the sweetest meetcute & whirlwind romance i’ve ever seen.

Overall:

This was incredibly well done, continuity was always on-point and it flows beautifully throughout. 

4.5 stars.

This read turned gripping eventually, after starting out a bit slow to build the world and introduce the times and characters, in typical Allende fashion.

I found myself hooked before long and I couldn’t help but admire the writing style. It managed to be both graphic and diplomatic at times … it is a mixture of ‘showing’ and ‘telling’ and it works well.

I’m not sure many could pull of making a political read addictive but it does get very political, showing lots of unrest on both sides. She also gave readers an impossibly strong FMC to adore and admire, especially when things got truly dark.

Touching and thought-provoking.

4 stars.

This is a pitch-black-dark read. I went into this blind because it was written by Santana Knox, an incredible writer. And there is no denying that it’s brilliant writing. As someone who tends to be aloof in all things, she had me cringing and even feeling bad for paedos and (probably) dirty cops and COs. I couldn’t help but admire this

Do heed the trigger warnings as this gets very graphic. 

It’s … as someone who feels ‘there’s no such thing as too dark’, pretty depraved. 😂

Reads like this aren’t always easy to find, so I don’t want to spoil anything other than to say that.

It’s a quick read or listen, full of steam (of an interesting brand at times) and gore. Buckle up and, probably make sure your headphones are good to stay connected for the duration. 😂

Written in alternating, first-person POVs and truly does contain ALL of the tropes which make a read pitch-black. I would say it’s aptly titled, as I’m pretty sure there’s ‘no way back’ for these leads. Interesting read.

3.5 stars.

🎧 Audio:

This is an excellent audio production—narrated by a stellar cast and produced professionally with perfect, crisp sound. The pauses between chapters could be a bit long at times, to the point that I went fiddling with my app thinking it had managed to force quit itself. Overall though: beautiful. 5 stars.

This gripped me right away—just, all the right vibes. Likeable leads, small town vibes, circle of friends, just all-around fun.

Written in alternating, first-person, POVs, the reader gets to know a bit more about what’s going on than the characters do. With so much going on, it’s very fast-paced, and don’t blink or you might miss something important.

Speakeasy.

Musician FMC.

Small business owner MMC.

Small town vibes.

Multiple love triangles.

Pining besties.

Organized crime.

Small town secrets & mysteries.

Drüg use & abűse.

Mysteries.

‘Undercover’ work.

Overall:

This was a lovely way to spend a few hours—based on this experience, I’d like to read more from this author.

4 stars.

🎧 Audio:

This is a fantastic production! Two narrators, both sound incredible and do read/perform the book rather than just dictate it like some, so it was easy to get lost in this. Overall sound quality was flawless. 5 stars.

I love a good suspense-y, action-packed start and this book delivers that.

At times, I felt that being shown the circumstances would’ve elevated the book—as, while it was at least semi interesting most of the time, I couldn’t help but notice this author favored a lot of ‘telling’. That does tend to dull down even the most exciting content.

So …

This was an interesting approach as … I suspect it’s intended to be romantic suspense? There’s definitely suspense … and those parts are somewhat fun & action-y and then somewhat dull because much of the parts are ‘told’ instead of ‘shown’ to the reader. The book gripped me initially, but before long, I realized I was sorta forcing myself to pay attention.

And … there was … I hesitate to say romance, as it was all so textbook. These characters are definitely angling for romance and I think I’m supposed to believe, as the reader, that they had feelings for one another … but this was poorly executed. It wasn’t shown, no ‘real feels’ were conveyed, and it was all so matter-of-fact, between the narrator’s bot-like delivery and the writer’s penchant for ‘telling’. By the time the steamy scenes occurred, I was just like, ‘Come on.’ They lacked any sort of passion or excitement or heat. 

Action scenes.

Danger.

Suspense.

Pop culture references.

Humor, at times.

Vi0lence.

Unalivings.

Vengeance. 

Overall:

Not a bad concept, but not executed particularly well. Perhaps with stronger writing skills it could’ve been great. Falls somewhere around 2 or 2.5 stars for me as-is. Based on this experience, probably will not read anymore from this author.

🎧 Audio:

This could’ve been a bit more of a professional production. The overall sound quality is not crystal clear, with static audible at times. As for the narrator: obviously subjective. For me, he was too robotic. His voice was pleasant enough and if it took a ‘voice acting’ approach instead of just the bot-like dictating he opted for, I expect he’d be quite good. As it stands though, I’ve heard worse, but not great.

I knew this would be good, simply because Mila Young wrote it but wow—it was truly epic and exceeded all of my (very high) expectations.

While this isn’t a particularly dark read, it does get off to a very dark start—it’s so heart-wrenching and so beautifully portrayed all at the same time.

It’s written in alternating, first-person, POVs and hits a ton of fun tropes—they all seem to just naturally occur, which makes it even more fun. 

I loved hating the villains, they were extra fun, and there is just so much going on here, I expect there’s truly something for everyone. Especially loved the crossover with King Caspian and his reign, as a massive Lexi C. Foss fan. These authors’ worlds mesh SO WELL together.

🌊 Mermaids and sirens.
🦑 FMC with trauma.
🦦Bounty-hunting.
🌊Shifters.
🦑 Set in Iceland.
🦦 Tentacles 😈.
🌊 Partially set under water.
🦑 Partially set in Tartarus.
🦦 Excellent world-building.
🌊 Dystopian.
🦑 Mysteries.
🦦 “Touch her and d!e” hero.
🌊 The most adorable otter friend you’ll ever ‘meet’, I promise.
🦑 Fated mates.
🦦 Wrongfully accused.. 
🌊 Royalty.


Overall:
This gripped me off the bat and held onto me tightly throughout—in fact, I don’t think it’s let go of me even now that I’ve finished. This one will live rent-free in my head for a long time and is definitely re-read worthy.

4 stars.


🎧 Audio:
Very smooth production overall, flawless sound quality and amazing cast. The 2 narrators pretty much made it sound like a full-cast production. I did struggle to understand some of Chowder’s parts, but at the same time, appreciated the excellent voice acting. 5 stars. 🦩 

Well, I needed to start this IMMEDIATELY after finishing book one—well played, author. Well played. Thankfully, this one picks up right where book 1 leaves off and we’re deep into Ebony’s family drama—it’s super juicy.

This book flew by for me, I was hooked and before I knew it, it was over, having devoured it in one sitting. I also didn’t even notice the amount of housework I did, it was like magic. All I saw was this book playing out in my head—Guida is clearly a genius.

Love the world-building and cannot wait to read the next!

🐉 Academy setting / magical academy.

ཀ Young adult or new adult (honestly not sure on the age range).

🐉 Family friction and so much dramaaaa.

ཀ Vampires.

🐉 Dragons.

ཀ Shifters.

🐉 War.

ཀ  Family strife and major betrayal.

🐉 Other man drama.

ཀ Mysteries.

🐉 Magic & supernaturals, living among humans / in the ‘real world’.

ཀ Excellent world-building

🐉 Forced mät!ng.

Overall:

A fun, fast read. And a good introduction to this author—I’d like to explore more of their works.

4 stars.

🎧 Audio:

This is a fantastic audio production! While it had only one narrator, she pretty much made it sound like a full-cast production with all her different voices and accents. Overall sound quality is perfect—the entire book is absolutely flawless. 5 stars. 🦩

Apparently I came into this series on book 5, I had no idea until I went to write this review and discovered it on Goodreads—I wasn’t lost at all. I’m guessing books 1-4 feature different leads, maybe the all-powerful sister? Am definitely open to going back and reading them but it wasn’t necessary to enjoy this book.

I found myself submerged in this world pretty instantly—it was very interesting and Ebony was likable. 

🐉 Dragons.

ཀ Academy setting / magical academy.

🐉 Magic & supernaturals, living among humans / in the ‘real world’.

ཀ Vampires.

🐉 Trials & supernatural competitions.

ཀ Shifters.

🐉 Forbidden romance.

ཀ Young adult or new adult (honestly not sure on the age range).

🐉 Royalty.

ཀ Mysteries.

🐉 Wrongful accusations.

ཀ Excellent world-building

Overall:

A fun, fast read. And a good introduction to this author—I’d like to explore more of their works.

4 stars.

🎧 Audio:

This is a fantastic audio production! While it had only one narrator, she pretty much made it sound like a full-cast production with all her different voices and accents. Overall sound quality is perfect—the entire book is absolutely flawless. 5 stars. 🦩

Like other Backman books I’ve read / attempted to read, he favors ‘telling’ over ‘showing’ which does make the content rather dull. It’s very slow-paced. Eventually I realized I was mildly interested, just enough to keep reading … and then it did pick up, in intrigue.

The way an entire town became increasingly divided was actually very well done. Good enough to prompt me to give Backman another chance.

4 stars.

Small town.

Non-stop hockey talk.

SA.

🎧 Audio:

Fantastic narration and smooth overall sound quality. 4.5 stars.