libsbooknook's reviews
112 reviews

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

adventurous emotional fast-paced

4.0

Loved this! I could not put this down; finished it in two days. I haven’t done that in forever. I will be going to the library first thing tomorrow to get book two (Unravel Me)! 

This is a bit different than what I typically read which is also why I enjoyed it so much. Fresh air, thank you. 
I didn’t mind the writing, I found it to be a fast read and I liked the story a lot. 

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Simone St. James never lets me down. Once again, this novel gave me my favorite vibes. Slight thrill, mixed with intense mystery, falling in love and sneaking around to find the means to an end. Plus, it’s set in an abandoned mansion - turned insane asylum. I’m there! 

For whatever reason, this one took me foreverrrr to read, but with this past few months of holidays, I think that’s why. That’s the only bad thing I have to say about this situation. HA. 

Loved this book!🙌🏼

The Christmas Party by Mikayla Davids
Did not finish book.

So repetitive!! 
Different POVs are one thing, but when you have multiple POVs about one situation and only change a few minor details or sentences, it’s basically rereading the same page over and over again. Not ideal. 

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

This has a stereotypical plot of the new babysitter seeing things the child does that’s abnormal but can’t tell the parents and of course it’s the ghost that was murdered that’s controlling the situation, blah blah blah…

BUT. The background of the main character Mallory, mixed with the situation going on around her brings in a fresh perspective of this. I liked this book a lot! There was a slight thrill to it along with unanswered questions that I did not see coming at all. The twist was 👌🏻. Loved it. Loved it, loved it. 

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

4.25

This book was great! I really needed a light-hearted and funny read. Mae is in love with her childhood crush Andrew and she navigates this time loop trying to not mess up when she realizes she just needs to let loose and open up. Mae’s character really develops from a cautious girl to a go getter and it was fun to see this take place. I find this pretty relatable and i enjoyed this book immensely, it was a prefect holiday read for me! 

👌🏻Patti Murin narrated this wonderfully and I think she really added to Mae’s character. 

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

4.5

Phew, at first this book was hard to get into because I was not used to this type of narration; but then after a bit I was settling into the story. It was such a great one! Lily doesn’t really want to be there but finds her love for the house again. She’s following clues for the house and clues to who murdered her mom… there’s a few twists here and a few turns there and finally when it all comes together… it’s just a breath of fresh air! I really enjoyed this audiobook especially with my love of thrillers and the holidays put together! It was a nice classic cozy mystery feeling. 

🎧𝑨𝒏𝒂 𝑪𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚! 

Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I did enjoy this, the story was well set and I liked the dynamic between the characters. Throwing people into a situation where you don’t totally know who to trust yet have to rely on each other was done quite well. Learning the background about suicide forest as well as learning about foreigners in Japan and how they treat one another was eye opening! There’s great background details on each character without going into too much to take away from what was happening. The detail was just right. 

Narrator was okay, not my favorite but he did good. There were a few times I got confused with the voices about who was actually talking because his accent seemed a bit misdirected but then fix itself. Other than that, it was fine! 

If you like to know about creepy places with a fictional storyline to give the tense mysterious vibes, then you’d probably like this one! 

An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James

adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Simone St. James has done it again! 

A ghost story? ✔️

Hidden romance? ✔️

Murder? ✔️

Mystery? ✔️ 

Historical Fiction? ✔️ 

This book has it all! Finished this book in 2 sittings as I was completely engrossed in this story. I just couldn’t get enough as a few twists and turns started to pop up. Right when you think you have an idea of what’s going on, something else throws you for a small loop adding onto the mystery, making it bigger with each connection. 

Add the romance throughout this and I was a goner. This is the kind of romance I like, spun throughout a historical ghost story. 👌🏻

The Whispering Women by Trish MacEnulty

adventurous hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

4.0

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒖𝒐!! 

At first this book was slow, it’s in 2 perspectives, Ellen’s and Louisa’s. Once we get past the character building of these women and they come together, it’s just a non stop roller coaster! I couldn’t put it down, especially in the last 200 pages. I will 100% be reading the 2nd book when I can get my hands on it! 

A great historical fiction mystery book that will keep you on your toes middle to end! 

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

ఌI’m not even going to stretch this, I was very lost throughout this book… I started reading it, but it got a bit hard to find time to read with both my kids around due to the cover 🤣 I was trying to hide it, or disguise it, flip it upside down so they couldn’t see it. About 15 or so pages in, It completely lost me, so I got the audiobook instead, and that seemed to help with the storyline a little better but still. 

ఌThe story is supposed to be wrapped In Japanese folklore which seemed appealing until google became a friend. I had to keep looking things up because certain terms weren’t explained. But what was explained, or OVER explained I should say, was everything else. The amount of descriptions and comparisons to everything from a simple smile, to a plant, or a piece of dirt became so tedious it just lost me. Too much. I think most of this story was a descriptive comparison to something else. 

ఌThe characters kind of sucked to be honest. The main girl was at this wedding, but the girl hated her? There was so much conflict with them all, to me that made no sense. Should’ve been a weird funeral or something. If the book was longer, more things could be explained.

It had a lot of potential but I was just too lost trying to make sense of it. 

ఌIt was an okay story. 

ఌIf you try this book, maybe you’ll see different, maybe you’ll enjoy it more than I did. 🤷🏼‍♀️ It’s short at least.