croscot's reviews
204 reviews

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

to quote someone from goodreads, "i appreciate how horny this was", but i can NOT be bothered about the characters at all, time to stop this torture, i just don't want to have it in my currentlies ;_;

The Prophet and the Idiot by Jonas Jonasson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

maybe I'll try this one again at some point in the future, not feeling it right now

Geneva by Richard Armitage
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

I keep drifting off and getting distracted, something is missing here for me, it feels like the actors are reading a phone book

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The Gray Prophecy by Maria A. Eden
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

I may give it another go later, right now I can't concentrate on the plot due to the abundance of reduced relative clauses on every single page, the writing is driving me insane.

Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Army of Golems: An Unconventional Heroes Publisher's Pack by L.G. Estrella

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-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

4.75

I want to join this D&D party!

The Wrong Hands by Mark Billingham

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The Wrong Hands is the second book with DI Declan Miller as the main character, but the first one I’ve read from the series. The sequel does a decent job on recapping the events from the first instalment, so the reader doesn’t feel too confused.

Without going into too much detail to avoid potential spoilers, I'll say that the plot revolves around DI Declan Miller who is investigating a murder which quickly turns into two. The catch is - he knows exactly who the culprit is, but the man is frustratingly elusive. Can Miller and his team get to the murderer in time, before more people get hurt? And, more importantly, will this arrest help him to learn the identity of his wife’s killer?

Personally, I think the book wasn’t bad, even though I thought that the logic of some of the characters started faltering after one crucial point in the investigation. As in, someone who we’ve been made to believe to be quite smart just ignored a very obvious lead? Didn’t investigate further? Didn’t do a more thorough background check? Weird. Additionally, some parts of the story felt unnecessarily long - sometimes it was hard to keep paying attention to what was happening or remember where we were supposed to be going next because the characters just. Went. On. And on. And on. And unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of the main character. I could sympathise with Miller’s grief over the dead wife, and I could understand the anger he felt over the fact that her murderer still wasn’t caught, but his behaviour was akin to bullying on more than a few occasions.

However, I’d still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys police procedurals. It has its fair share of mystery, drama, and iconic British humour.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for sending me the ARC for an honest review! 

Relight My Fire by C.K. McDonnell

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is official: 2024 is the year of lovable ghouls!

Honestly, I can't believe how attached I have become to these imaginary people! The fact that I can't seem to find any fanart to this wonderful series is a mystery that should be investigated! I mean, come on, the characters are so fun and ALIVE!!! The delightful writing of C. K. McDonnell, paired with yet another phenomenal voice acting from Brendan McDonald, make me want to only speak about the book in exclamation points!!!!

Things that I haven't mentioned in my previous reviews for the books from this series, but which are still relevant in Relight My Fire: 

• just how totally unhinged the Big Villains are - there's no grey area to them, they're absolutely psychotic. They're written in such a way that you as a reader understand that they don't see themselves as villains, they believe 100% that what they're doing is, if not just and right, then totally ok at least, and does not deserve any sort of persecution. And this self-righteousness adds to their almost comical insanity;

• how Small Villains seem more evil than the Big Ones - you notice how, because of aforementioned lack of guilt for their crimes, the Big Villains stay true to their ideas and ideals till the very end. The Small Ones, however, (Mr Green from This Charming Man,
  Killian
  here) start shaking in their boots as soon as punishment is in sight. They lie and they throw everyone else under the bus - anything to avoid the retribution for the horrible things they had done before, quite willingly and enthusiastically, might I add;

• that, even though it is a very, VERY funny series, some serious topics are raised and aren't buried under layers of heehees and hahas. Sexual predators, exploitation of grieving and mentally unstable people, drug trafficking and spiking drinks at parties are all things that happen in the real world, too, and I appreciate how they're not taken lightly here, despite the overall humorous tone of the series.

Love Will Tear Us Apart by C.K. McDonnell

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

The third installment of The Stranger Times series felt much sadder than the previous ones, and I think C. K. McDonnell did a great job illustrating Banecroft's unprocessed grief. Behind all the snark and shouting and deadpan humour, the editor of the "loony paper" is a very very broken man. 

I enjoyed the book, although I was very confused for the most part of it - it seemed like every character was dealing with completely random things for, like, 70% of it. And I know that approaching the investigation from different angles - 3 absolutely separate stories, actually connected? it's more probable than you think! - is the whole thing of The Stranger Times, and I usually love it, but for some reason here it was hard for me to stay on track.

This Charming Man by C.K. McDonnell

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Is the sequel even better than the first book? Well yes, it is! I love how distinctive each character is: every time you read a chapter from a different person's perspective, it feels different. I also loved how two investigations complemented each other - sometimes the detective learnt something that the ST team already knew, but there was always an "...and!", if it makes sense. Like, the information they were receiving didn't feel repetitive, at no point did I want to fast-forward a few minutes, thinking, "yeah yeah, we already knew all that". And the performance in the audiobook was awesome, as well! Apart from the choice for Grace's voice, I was in awe of Brendan McDonald's range!