ash_thelibrarian_reads's reviews
472 reviews

Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Margot Noble owns a winery with her brother in Napa Valley. She’s always working to ensure the business is successful, but she doesn’t get a lot of time to relax and have fun. 

Luke Williams is back home in Napa to help his best friend rebound from a bad breakup while also running from a job he hated in the tech industry. He needs a release so heads to the local bar where he happens to meet Margot. One thing leads to another and the two have a fun night. Unfortunately, through a lot of interesting coincidences and mishaps their fun start can’t last! Can they recover that original spark? 

I enjoyed this one well enough because I liked both main characters. They each had their flaws, but they genuinely cared about the people in their lives. A Napa winery was a good location for a romance and I loved the strong female empowerment vibe. I liked the strangers to lovers trope, but miscommunication is one of my least liked tropes. I just wish some other plot devices could have been used to sew the discord and get to our resolution. It was fun and cute, but at the same time not anything new. 

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an arc to review! 

Mannequin by Stefan Plesoianu

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy of this book in return for an honest review! 

I joined the book tour for Stefan’s last book, Thorn, and was absolutely delighted to be asked to join the one for Mannequin! I’m including the book blurb below and if that alone doesn’t capture you’re attention I don’t know what will! 

Review: This is a great October thriller. As someone who has their own mental health issues I really felt for Chris. Even when his actions were morally questionable I couldn’t help but hope for a good resolution for him. He gets in with the wrong crowd that leads down a tougher path than he anticipates which makes for a compelling series of events. 

It is fascinating to see how author’s have characters handle mental illness and struggles in such varying ways, which just speaks to how different we all are as human. Stefan’s approach was perfect and the twists and turns had me hooked until the very end. Give this and his other novel a try if you’re looking for a thrilling yet different experience! 

Blurb: “Deeply scarred by the death of his mother, Chris is permanently on the edge of losing his frail stability.

Given that they sometimes go on missions together, Chris’ mobster friend Bone wants to teach him how to fire a gun. For this, they use two stolen mannequins as targets. One remains intact, and Chris takes it home but soon becomes unsettled by its increasingly unholy presence.

An irreversible deterioration begins when Chris mindlessly slaughters a vile pimp on a mission. Obsessed with the event, he reenacts the murder scene by beating and strangling the mannequin. However, when the lifeless torso starts to bleed and pulsate under his eyes, Chris fears he might be dealing with more than just trauma and anxiety this time.”

Atlas and the Multiverse: Seeking Courage by Chandon Siman

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book to review.

Review: As a Youth Librarian I am always on the lookout for new middle grade fiction that I can suggest to my young customers! This is definitely going on the list of books I’ll share with them! Atlas and his adopted siblings were a joy to get to know and to follow on their journey through the multiverse.

The SciFi vibe was great for those adventure loving readers, but the familial bond was great for readers looking for realistic connections. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the author’s mind through his world building and character development. I’m excited to see this book become a series because I have to know what’s in store next for Atlas and his family.

Definitely check this out if you’re looking for a fun, adventure with great lessons to read with your kids! I know I’ll be reading it again with mine! 

Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

4.0

As someone who majored in history and has learned/read a lot about WWII I could not believe I had never heard of Colditz before reading this book. I’m so glad to have found it and will be recommending it to all the non-fiction readers at my library! 

I enjoyed how the book was broken up by year during the war and allowed us to see the desperation of the men grow as it became clear Hitler was losing the war. What would happen to the prisoners of the castle if the Reich knew they were falling? Would they be ordered executed rather than turned over to allied forces? 

It was fascinating learning about all of the escape attempts and how on the one hand each nationality represented in the prison had to work together in order to not be found out by the guards yet they all were still working on their own escapes! 

I especially enjoyed the appendix at the end that let the reader know what befell all the main characters mentioned throughout the book after the war ended. I read this in print form and feel it would make a really compelling audiobook! 

Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs by Jamie Fiore Higgins

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I hate giving ratings to people’s personal accounts, but this is a great, palatable, non-fiction read!

If you are a woman, have a sister, a mom or a daughter (you get my point) you should read this just to get a small glimpse into what it is like to be a working mom and really just a working woman. This exposé on Goldman Sachs is really an exposé on how almost all businesses big and small treat their employees. In their eyes the workforce is expendable especially women and even more so POC. 

A few things that really resonated with me:

• familial pressure is a huge problem (stop laying the burden of doing better than you did at the feet of your children)
• women tearing other women down is as bad as men’s misogyny (just stop!)
• Dunkin Donut math (Jamie busted out a DD metaphor to explain math and I am here for it!)
• Shared trauma of 9/11 (a whole generation still suffers from PTSD, but that’s all I’ll say on it)
• A few more: impostor syndrome is no joke! Wage disparity! Ugh! Working full time and breastfeeding is damn near impossible! 
• I have so many more thoughts and could talk forever about this book especially pregnancy and pregnancy loss (I am 1 in 4), but there’s a character limit! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Pregnancy

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Sexual content

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you Random House Children’s and NetGalley for this ARC to review! 

Review: This is the 6th book by McManus that I’ve read and it rivals One of Us is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret for my top spot! Brynn and Tripp were great main characters and I loved their dual POVs. This author has a wonderful ability to showcase the real struggles and experiences of everyday teenagers while writing mystery fiction that even adults would be into.

The mystery in this novel was quite intriguing and I was kept guessing throughout the book. Each time I thought I had things figured out a new twist would be thrown in to knock me off track. I really enjoyed that! I hope to see more books featuring these characters in the future! 

Blurb: “Be sure to keep your friends close . . . and your secrets closer.

Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favorite teacher—a story that made headlines after the teacher’s body was found by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. The case was never solved. Now that Brynn is moving home and starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, she’s determined to find out what really happened. 

The kids who found Mr. Larkin are her way in, and her ex–best friend, Tripp Talbot, was one of them. Without his account of events, the other two kids might have gone down for Mr. Larkin’s murder. They've never forgotten what Tripp did for them that day. Just like he hasn’t forgotten that everything he told the police was a lie.

Digging into the past is bound to shake up the present, and as Brynn begins to investigate what happened in the woods that day, she begins to uncover secrets that might change everything—about Saint Ambrose, about Mr. Larkin, and about her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot.

Four years ago someone got away with murder. The most terrifying part is that they never left.”

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Kaleidoscope Kyte's by J.E. Miller

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A Magical Adventure Series!

In this sequel to Miller’s “Mandeville’s Marvelous Marvels” the circus troupe led by Reg and Caroline has now moved on from the disastrous ending of their show by the sea in Merdwick. They’re now headed to a totally new and quite different location in the snowy mountains to a retreat run by creepy Mr. Kyte. 

There is just as much drama and action in book two as their was in the first one. You really get attached to the troupe and especially Janie and Andrew. I loved the new location and added characters in this one and the magical realism that is woven throughout the story! Can’t wait to see what sort of adventure they get up to in the next book especially after that exciting conclusion!

The Butterfly Bruises by Palmer Smith

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

 I am still growing as a poetry reader and was given this collection by the author in return for an honest review. 

Seriously, it is a beautiful work of art! I read this in pieces over a couple months (my apologies to the author that it took so long) because I would pick it up when I needed something to make me really think and also to lift my spirits, but it can easily be read in a single sitting! Although I recommend taking it slower and letting each poem or story sink in and marinate. 

I can’t recommend checking this out enough!

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The erotica was good, but plot was lacking. The buildup up to the final confrontation was quite drawn out then resolution was rushed. I liked Persephone and Hades but didn’t love them!