ravensandlace's reviews
545 reviews

Title: The Perfect Girlfriend

Author: Karen Hamilton

Genre: Adult Thriller

Format: eARC from Netgalley

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

I’m on that never-ending quest to get my Netgalley ratio up to an acceptable level. One night, I couldn’t find anything to read so I just randomly picked this one out, and holy cow, what a ride this book was. I stayed up way past my bedtime to read this book because it was just so enthralling! I haven’t read a good thriller in ages, since my last Greer Hendricks book, so I was in dire need of a thriller. 

Juliette was one of the most wild main characters I have ever read about. The book was in first person so we were fully in her mind and boy, her mind was dark. She was so manipulative and convincing that for a while there, I bought into everything she was saying. Like why wouldn’t Nate, her ex, not love her? She tries so hard to be perfect, he should love her. Slowly, I was able to tear myself out of her manipulation but damn, she was good. That is what made the book so good for me. When a main character, who you know isn’t good, manages to convince you that they were perfectly normal and their thought process is perfectly acceptable. I can see why people join cults now.   

As you all know, with thrillers, I struggle to write reviews. I don’t want to give too much away but I also want to convince y'all to read it. You all are just going to have to trust me when I say you need to read this book. I have a feeling that y'all will be very interested in Juliette and all she brings to the table. And you will live for the ending. It was one I certainly did not see coming.  

Title: The Merchant’s Daughter

Author: Rebecca Hardy

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: ebook

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3 stars

So I’ve read the other book by this author, The House of Lost Wives, with my bestie. Nenia. We enjoyed that one so much we decided to try this one. I enjoyed it but it didn’t hold up and it had some flaws. It wasn’t a bad book per se, but it didn’t hold up to the author’s other book.

While I enjoyed the main character, Jenny, she was honestly kind of boring. I loved that she was a reader but that’s the only I liked about her. The book was in first person and she liked to exposition dump. This book could have easily been 100 to 200 pages less if Jenny didn’t have to constantly rehash everything we had just read. 

While I enjoy a slow-burn romance, this one was agonizingly slow. The main character and the love interest, Erasmus, didn’t even kiss until 300 pages in, and honestly, it just felt so unrewarding. They had all this banter, which was so much fun, he had a cute little nickname (Little Mouse, which is a nickname for another character in a certain book). Like the kiss should have had me kicking my feet and squealing. But I had waited so long for it, that I was just over it. I ended up just waiting way too long for it to happen.

Everything about this book was fine but like I mentioned before, everything just kind of dragged. The first half was so well done and I truly enjoyed it but things just got to be so slow towards the end. And then the ending had to be done pretty fast due to the book getting to be pretty long. So the pacing was just off.  Overall, this was good but she’s had better books. 

Title: The House of Lost Wives

Author: Rebecca Hardy

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: ebook

Series: NA

Star Rating: 5 stars

I’ve been slowly getting into gothic horror and just gothic books in general. It’s a wonderful genre and it fits the spooky vibes I crave. I buddy-read this one with my good friend, Nenia. We have pretty similar tastes in books so we decided to give this one a shot as it was on sale. Both of us enjoyed it. 

One of the best things about this book was the main character, Lizzie. She was such a perfect main character. She took no crap, she was incredibly strong and she could talk to ghosts which I thought was so cool. I appreciated how normal it was for her. She just kind of accepted it with no real fuss. I didn’t have to read about the angst of her seeing ghosts. It was just a part of who she was and that was that. I loved her bond with her sister as well. If a book has strong sisterly bonds, there is a very high chance I’m going to love it. 

This book also fantastically handles sexual assault from the very first page. She wasn’t instantly fixed by her love interest. She worked her way to hearing but there were times she had setbacks which is all part of the healing journey. Which was refreshing to see. Everything about the topic was handled perfectly. 

Overall, this was such a good book. It’s also a Bluebeard retelling. I’ve never read Bluebeard so I know nothing about whether it stays true to the original story or not. I’ll have to read it and then come back to let you guys know. All I know is that this a beautifully written book about a fantastic and strong main character. 

Title: The Death and Life of Edgar Allen Poe

Author: Mark Dawidziak

Genre: Biography

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3 stars

Every so often, I go through these phases of being extremely interested in pretty niche things. I blame my OCD and yes, I can make that joke because I have OCD. The latest niche interest has been Edgar Allen Poe. Ever since I watched a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode on Poe, I've been interested in his life as I don’t know that much about him. When I saw this book floating around, I decided to give it a shot. It was okay but I didn’t love it like I thought I would.

One of the faults of this book was the way it was laid out. One chapter was present time, like the few months Poe had left and then it would switch the past in the next chapter. It was a weird way to set things up. Why not just keep it in chronological order? Especially for a biography. That makes no sense to me. It confused me a lot because the present chapters would often mention things that happened in the past.  

On a more personal note, Poe seemed insufferable. Every bad thing that happened to him was someone else fault. Never mind that he mouthed off to so many people, costing him multiple jobs. He seemed just so content blaming others for his problems. It was a little bit ridiculous. His family is on the verge of starvation almost all the time and he can’t get it together long enough to keep a job and keep his family fed.  

But I did learn about Poe and some other things and anytime I learn something in a book, I consider that a win. Like did you know you could potentially have tuberculosis your whole life and it might not ever affect you? I feel like if I say tuberculosis, I’ll summon John Green. He is very into tuberculosis. Anyway, I thought it was once you got it, you were done for. But that’s not the case at all. I also learned that Poe wrote comedies. He was more interested in writing comedies than the dark stuff we know and love. I thought that was pretty interesting considering we know him for his darker stories. 

Overall, this was an okay book. It had its faults, especially the way it was set up, which was one of the reasons I rated the book lower. I did learn some new information, which is always a positive when reading biographies. I certainly will be seeking out more books about Poe and will be looking out for more of his writings. 

Title: Run Rabbit Run

Author: Juniper Hartmann

Genre: Dark Romance/BDSM Erotica

Format: eARC from author

Series: NA

Star Rating: 5 stars

I am 100% obsessed with this book! It is up there in my top ten books of 2024 and it’s all I think about. Everything about this book was perfect and it had everything I could ask for in a dark romance book. It had aftercare (which unfortunately you do not see a lot of in dark romance or even romance books), psychological elements (I am a psych major so this especially intrigued me), and so many different types of spicy scenes. It was just so perfect. Even the book itself is pretty! The artwork is just stunning. 

There are a couple of really awesome things I want to mention. One is the discussion of fantasy and reality. Bunny, the main character, talks about reading smutty books where the MC is captured, stalked, etc and spicy things ensue. Just because someone reads those kinds of books doesn’t mean we want them to happen to us. The point is brought up multiple times as Bunny dives further and further into depravity. I enjoyed reading about that. Because oftentimes, people tend to think that just because someone reads a spicy book like this one, Den of Vipers, Haunting Adeline, etc, we want that stuff to happen to us. Which we don’t. We just enjoy reading it. It’s like people reading dystopian. Obviously we don’t want the world to end and be subjected to something Hunger Games-related.  

Another thing I wanted to mention is that it isn’t as big as my previous paragraph, but this book reminded me a lot of Anne Rice's Beauty series. I’m not entirely sure why; maybe it’s the BDSM aspects. But I promise when I say it’s a good thing. I adore that series, and this book is right up there with some of my all-time favorite books. I just had this thought the entire time I was reading Run Rabbit Run. 

Overall, I loved this book. Bunny was fabulous. Demetrius was the perfect Daddy Dom. I’m so hoping we get a book from his point of view because I have a feeling I would love it. I just need more of these two because they were giving me life. Like I said, before, everything about this book was perfect.  

Title: Half Life

Author: Jillian Cantor

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

One of my niche interests (I have so many of them) is Marie Curie. I think she’s so incredibly fascinating. It’s so wild to me that she manhandled radium, her notes are so full of radium that you have to have protective gear and sign a waiver to look at them and some are even kept in lead boxes, and she was buried in a lead coffin. But I didn’t know anything about her early life. I had seen this book floating around and I knew I had to get my hands on it. 

This book has such a cool concept. We follow the life of Marie Curie and Marya, her name in Poland. They are the same person but Marya's timeline followed what might have happened if she hadn’t gone to Paris and stayed with her fiance Kazimierz in Poland. The Marya timeline is fabricated but it was so cool to read what might have been. 

I couldn’t tell you whose POV I liked more. Both were so interesting and I truly bonded with each of them. And it was fun to see the parallels of their lives. Some things happened to both Marie and Marya but in different ways. I feel like both of them could have been friends with each other, even though I know they are the same person.

I also enjoyed how easy this book was to read. Sure, it had a lot of science stuff but it was explained in a way that made sense to me, who cannot understand anything relating to science unless it has something to do with the human body. It’s hard to enjoy a book when I don't understand the concepts so I’m glad it was explained in layman’s terms. 

Overall, this book has got me super excited about Marie Curie. I am very interested in learning more about her life and her work especially since I’ve read about the radium girls. Luckily the author listed books that helped with her research including one written by Marie’s daughter. Overall, I highly recommend this book. 

Title: Cults: Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Join Them

Author: Max Cutler and Kevin Conley 

Genre: Nonfiction

Format: own hardback book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

It is no secret that I am fascinated with cults. But in case you didn’t know that, now you do. I think it’s so fascinating that normal people can get sucked into believing anything. When I had a commute of 30 minutes to work and 30 minutes back home, I decided to give podcasts a shot as I was tired of listening to music. I already pretty much use Youtube as a podcast so I figured I could focus on them pretty well. I stumbled across Cults from the Parcast network and was instantly hooked. In less than a year, I listened to the entire podcast. When they mentioned they were releasing a book, I had to get my hands on it. 

If I’m being honest, I got this book for the bibliography. I wanted to know what they were using for research so I could read those books. I’ve always been curious to know what books they used in their research as I imagine they use quite a bit of research in their podcast. 

Their book is laid out similarly to their podcast if you have listened to them before. It gives mostly detailed events of the cults, the background of their leader, and the terrible crimes the cult leader/cult committed. It’s not quite as detailed but they talk about multiple cults so I can understand why they only put in so much. 

Overall, I think this is a great starting book for those interested in learning about cults. It covers the ones everyone knows like Heaven’s Gate and Charles Manson’s Family but also a couple people may not know like the Narcosatanists and Raelism. It is pretty graphic; the crimes those cults perpetrated are pretty gruesome. But if you can stick through it, I promise this book is well worth it. 

Title: All That Glitters

Author: Danielle Steel

Genre: Adult Fiction

Format: own hardback book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3 stars

I have no idea how to start this review. This book was one of those book that would make a good reality TV show. You know the really trash ones, in which every single person makes one mistake after another and then wonders why their life is so messed up? Yeah, that was this book honestly. Coco, the main character, has got to be one of the most sheltered and truly just foolish girls I’ve ever read about. She made poor decision after poor decision. I didn't feel bad for her at all but I enjoyed reading about her being so ridiculous. I don’t know what she expected the outcome was going to be with half the things she was doing but I guess she expected something better. 

Most of my notes are just about how much of a train wreck this girl is. Between her picking horrible men and her best male friend, Sam, always complaining about his life, wife, and religion, the whole book was reality TV in the making. I love reality TV so that’s probably why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I was just so floored that these two thought their life would get better if they just complained about what they were doing instead of actively trying to do something about it. 

So I know this review isn’t super descriptive and I barely talk about what the book is actually about. But I feel like this is one of those books you, just need to experience blind. It’s not groundbreaking or anything but it’s a good in-between book. One you don't have to pay attention to. You’ll finish it easily enough in a day or two. But as far as Danielle Steel books go, this one isn’t her worst but it’s certainly far from being her best. 

Title: The Half Sister

Author: Sandie Jones

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Format: own hardback book (unhauled)

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

I’ve only read one other book by this author, The Other Woman, and I was so obsessed with it. I picked this book randomly from my TBR jar as I needed a change of scenery from the two biographies I’m reading. But anyway, this book was amazing and I’ll even say that it was better than The Other Woman, which was exceptional. I couldn’t guess a single twist. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I was dead wrong. 

We get two POVs, Kate and Lauren, who are sisters and so different in every single way. Both POVs were so wild and I couldn’t trust them in the slightest. They both started to become seriously unhinged. It didn’t help that there was so much tension between them. It wasn’t the normal sister rivalry. It was something more. And it played into the drama of everything. They certainly didn’t help matters at all. Their relationship is the miscommunication done correctly. Each believed that something happened and they intercepted the situation differently. This is how the miscommunication trope should be done! 

As I mentioned above, every single time I thought I had something figured out, a new twist was thrown in and I was back to square one. I was living for it! I was glad to always be wrong because the twists were so much better than what I came up with. And no, I’m not going to tell you anything. You’ll have to read the book to find out. I know, I am a mean person.

Overall, as you might have guessed, I loved this book. So far Sandie Jones is two for two for me and  I will continue to seek out Sandie Jones’ books every chance I get. I need everyone else to read this book because I guarantee you all will love it. I can't wait to read more of Sandie Jones’ books.  

Title: The Crane Husband

Author: Kelly Barnhill

Genre: Adult Fiction

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

This was one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read in my life and I’ve read some pretty weird books. When I first heard about this book, I thought that oh the crane is a metaphor for something. Granted I didn’t know what that something was because I don’t know much about cranes but I figured that the book would explain it to me. But no, it’s an actual crane. My mind was so blown! I had to stare at the page for a couple of minutes and think about the choices I’ve made in life that led me to reading a book about a crane. 

Something about this book just kept me hooked. I had no idea where each page was going to go but I was obsessed. Everything about this book was just so interesting. Every single sentence was impactful. Nothing was out of place. The ending felt kind of rushed. I wish this had been a full-length novel but then I’m not sure if the impact would have been quite the same. 

Overall, this was a great book! I couldn’t tell you what exactly I loved about it but I did. Everything about it was amazing and I was kept hooked right until the very end. As for recommendations, I am not too sure. I suppose if you enjoy cranes then this might be the book for you. Just prepare for some weirdness.