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nerdyprettythings's reviews
506 reviews
The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest
5.0
Eeep I love this series and this was a fantastic new edition. Iris is the eldest of the Greene sisters, but she’s the last to have her leading lady moment and that fits so perfectly. These books are from the perspectives of both MCs, which I really enjoy. Iris is a single mom after the sudden death of her husband 5 years ago, and Angel is a famous singer who’s been into her since meeting a couple years before at a party for another sister (Book 2’s heroine!) I do have to say I don’t really recommend starting with this one, as the other family members come up a good bit and this one starts with a wedding 👀 so I think starting with Book 1 or 2 would make that more enjoyable (honestly this is a series recommendation I’m giving you right now) but I promise the final book in the series did not disappoint!
Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste
4.25
I really enjoyed this one! Set in 1967’s “Summer of Love,” Lucy and Bee are going to drive-in movies, avoiding the sunlight… keeping Dracula’s ashes from bringing him back…
If you’ve read Dracula and Jane Eyre you’ll especially enjoy the references, but it’s not necessary - at its heart it’s a story about women overcoming their pasts and the men who abused and controlled them. And ans the cover so beautifully captures, the author has a lot of fun with the 60s Hollywood and San Francisco settings - I kept imagining houses and people from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
If you’ve read Dracula and Jane Eyre you’ll especially enjoy the references, but it’s not necessary - at its heart it’s a story about women overcoming their pasts and the men who abused and controlled them. And ans the cover so beautifully captures, the author has a lot of fun with the 60s Hollywood and San Francisco settings - I kept imagining houses and people from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Killing It by Mike Bockoven
2.75
Listen... I loved FantasticLand, so I really wanted to check out more from Mike Bockoven, but this one didn't hit for me. It was OKAY. The majority of the book is from the perspective of a man who owns a comedy club and who has been possessed by the building where it's located - it's a little bit The Shining in that way. But I don't feel like it set up very well who else was important or we should be rooting for or hope to make it out (if any of them would). The other thing that will probably vary by audience is the comedy, which we obviously had to get some of from a comedy club horror novel. I'd skip this one and reread FantasticLand next time.
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
3.25
Hello, I love this cover so much. I had to restrain myself to put it on hold at the library rather than buying it when I saw it at the store.
That said… I thought it was just okay. Love the premise - the book is from the perspective of a mountain lion who lives under the Hollywood sign. This wasn’t as out there as I expected though. The lion is very introspective and is sort of providing a detached outsider’s view on humanity. It read kind of like a David Sedaris short story (which I usually love!) But for me as a standalone it was sort of forgettable.
That said… I thought it was just okay. Love the premise - the book is from the perspective of a mountain lion who lives under the Hollywood sign. This wasn’t as out there as I expected though. The lion is very introspective and is sort of providing a detached outsider’s view on humanity. It read kind of like a David Sedaris short story (which I usually love!) But for me as a standalone it was sort of forgettable.
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
4.25
The characters in this one feel so real. Through a lot of the book I had to remind myself that it’s a novel rather than a memoir. Sneha is an immigrant and a lesbian, creating a found family and dealing with early online dating. She’s also very depressed a lot, which occasionally made it hard for me to want to pick this back up (complimentary). With a setting in 2007/08 and a fresh college graduate MC, this already feels like a period piece in 2025 - elder millennials coming of age during a recession, before most social media platforms and before Obergefell. But it’s also incredibly relevant, with things to say about community and queerness and racism, and a depressingly timely storyline about immigrants and the way powerful people abuse their work (like Elon’s “your papers depend on me” tactics).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
Growing Up Urkel by Jaleel White
3.0
So... hmm. I mostly enjoyed this and I really like listening to celebrity memoirs read by the celebrity, and I learned some wild stuff about the treatment Jaleel White got on set of Family Matters. Did you know he was never listed as the lead actor on the show despite becoming the clear main character? Or that Urkel was originally supposed to be a one-off character mid-season 1 and not there from the beginning? Or that Family Matters was a spin-off for Harriette Winslow (the family's mom)?
Despite them not knowing everything they probably should have given his stardom, it was also great to read about a child star who had really great parents.
Later on, he's telling stories about pitching Bill Cosby and R Kelly and begging readers to understand that these are in the very different context of the 90s, and I was okay with doing that. Butttt then I started getting the distinct impression that a lot of stories about arguments and frustrations with women displayed his pretty poor treatment of them, and we got the old
"I didn't know how to treat women until I had a daughter" line.
Andddd then he closed the book by talking about how he's besties with Dave Chappelle and included, in the year of our lord 2024, Bill Cosby in his book acknowledgements section. So I'm left with a pretty bad taste in my mouth around Jaleel White
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. There’s a really great friends to lovers storyline going on here, alongside a fantasy universe and real life stuff. I think we can all appreciate the concept of needing an escape from the tragedies of the real world and discovering a beautiful fantasy universe à la Narnia. I did think the ending felt a little drawn out, and I didn’t love the “storyteller’s corner” device - for a lot of the book I was saying “omg let me just read the fairy tale without explaining that this is a fairy tale” BUT it was still a little charming, I’ll give it a pass.
Would definitely check the CWs, there are a few heavy themes around the characters who need/find a fantasy world.
Would definitely check the CWs, there are a few heavy themes around the characters who need/find a fantasy world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
5.0
First book of 2025 was SO good. It felt very much in the school of Octavia Butler, where there are monsters and magic, but at the core of it is the truth and our real history. This novella throws you in fast alongside the characters and you really feel like you're trying to figure things out at the same time the MC is. I loved the way Clark had me guessing what would become of the characters, especially with this book set in the 1920s and knowing what's to come if it's not a totally alternate history. It's a story of resistance in so many ways, a giant snarling metaphor of what hatred does to people. I won't say more because it's short and I don't want to ruin the reveal but like read it, it's so good and so timely.
The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
3.75
A nice little mystery and with a plucky young woman solving the crime! Not my favorite, but a good read, especially for the winter months when you want that snowy atmosphere.