patelyne's reviews
396 reviews

In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf

4.5

I don’t want to spoil too much plot, so instead I’m going to throw out vibes spoilers - this one, while different in plot, had similar vibes to books like Spells for Forgetting, Belladonna, Summer Sons. 

Mysterious, haunting, a little dangerous, slowly building into a spilling of the family secrets. 

Smallest of overviews - The person Weatherly most suspects in the death of her cousin gets off in a sham of pretrial. And when he turns up dead? Well that’s only the start of the things the authorities consider her responsible for. She’s sneaking around trying to find answers and justice while struggling to keep her name clear. 

I was infuriated when the townspeople would use Weatherly’s gifts and then - almost in the same breath - condemn her as evil, unnatural etc. Even in her own small family she’s felt different. You can feel the loneliness. 

When the answers she finds only seem to open up more questions, it was hard to out the book down! 

This one is coming out next week, but even if you don’t read it immediately - and with our TBRs does anything? - it’s totally worth picking up to keep on hand for a stormy day read

Thanks to HTP and The Hive for the arc!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Child death

Unsteady by Peyton Corinne

3.75

I liked the story, emotional sports romance between a figure skater and a hockey player. 

This was full of emotion, and not a light and fluffy romance. 

Rhys and Sadie dealing with a lot, and (in the beginning especially) they are understandably not coping in a healthy way. Not to mention, Ollie and Liam about broke my heart. 

Be sure to check your CWs, themes include parental abandonment, abuse and neglect by an alcoholic parent, abuse by an authority figure (coach), recovery from physical injury, anxiety/panic disorders - I feel like I could on, but you get the idea.

Emotional hockey books are usually a big win for me. The thing that kept me from loving this is that the timing/pace seemed off at times. The three months between his (very significant) injury and return to play seemed far too fast. The wrap up of things with her skating coach and The Kane Issue seemed rushed at the end. But in the middle the relationship build felt slow.

That said, the epilogue is sweet, taking things from hopeful to happy. A good ending, and what bumps my rating closer to 4. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter

3.75

Cara has a ghost hunting YouTube channel that she runs with her friend Holly (who weirdly wears a mask?)

Unfortunately they have yet to find proof a single ghost. 

That changes when she returns home after exploring an abandoned paper mill where a student died the year before and hears the voice of Aiden (aka ‘the dead kid from the factory’)

Aiden makes a deal with Cara - he will do his best to help her prove the existence of ghosts like him, so long as she helps his younger sister Meredith move past mourning him and get back to her life - making Cara promise to take her to prom. 

Of course as Cara starts spending time with her she starts to fall for Meredith, making it something she’s doing as much for herself as for him. But the closer this gets to wrapping up Aiden’s unfinished business, the weaker his spirit gets. Can she prove he existed before he doesn’t anymore? And what happens if (when?) Meredith finds out Cara has been talking to her dead brother this entire time?

This has way more humor than you might expect from a book with a dead kid. 

Aiden is a typical teen boy whose death has helped him excel at dark humor. Occasionally obnoxious, but in an endearing way. You want him to succeed and move on, but also maybe not? Because as Cara gets to know him better you know she’s going to end up missing him almost as much as his sister. 

I found myself getting annoyed with Holly more often than not. I felt bad because, while she was sweet for having made friends with Cara after everyone else turned her into the town pariah, her judgmental and religious side is … a bit much. Still miles more likeable than extreme mean girl, Sophia though. The retelling of what she’d done had me wanting to fight a fictional child. 

Overall, this was a nice coming of age story. I liked following the building relationship between Cara and Meredith. As high school seniors, they’re just crossing the border between young and new adult. Moving slowly past sweet, but where everything is still new. 

It also had a lot more humor than I expected from a story where one of the main characters - or should I say main side characters? - was no longer alive and had zero chance or hope of changing that. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the arc! 

Herald the Night by Jay Leigh

5.0

This is the fourth book of The Rainbow Brigade series. I can’t recap everything that’s happened, because this political thriller romance series is packed with action. It’s one you‘ll want to read in order, so if you *haven’t* checked the other out yet go do that and come back to this one. You won’t regret it!

This installment is intense and the stakes higher than ever. 

(Reminder to check those CWs as needed ) 

The political arc is amped up as lies and hidden agendas come to light. Trusting people outside the core group is inadvisable at best.

Theo is struggling to balance having custody of his siblings with handling his own health and mental struggles. This feeds into relationship issues between him and Connor, as things would be difficult enough without a ready made family and high alert security problems bringing arguments to a head. 

There’s a reason this series is always one of the first that springs to mind when someone says found family. Even though the relationship between Theo and Connor is a main focus, all the characters are so intertwined at this point that they all play important roles. 

I’ve never seen a group embody ride or die so strongly!

This story put me through the emotional wringer from the start, and before the finish my second hand anxiety was dialed to eleven. 

But in the end hope overshadows all the rough times, and you can’t ask for more than that! 

You have to have the lows to appreciate the highs, right? 

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

5.0

The second in The Ruinous Love Trilogy, this one focuses on Lark and Lachlan and a fake marriage whose lines blur. The burn is slow, but when things heat up they reeeeally heat up. 

The actions of these serial killers (or contract worker and multiple deleter?) make for a two page list of warnings, and one hell of a ride.   

Just like book one, I enjoyed this one so much, enough that I’m continuing to question what that says about me 😂

No outright spoilers, but that ending has me wanting the third book asap

Nearlywed by Nicolas DiDomizio

4.0

Up until his divorce Ray was a click bait writer, marriage obsessed since childhood. Since then he’s a pinch more private, a lot more disillusioned. 

That changes after a chance meeting with Kip, a bit older and a lot more private. Also divorced, but from a woman (and still mostly closeted, this will be a recurring issue for them)

But time has passed, and now they’re living together in the burbs, and engaged. During the compromises between Ray’s public wedding extravaganza dreams and Kip’s desire for a private courthouse formality, one sticking point was that Ray wanted to go to the same resort his parents did before their wedding for an ‘earlymoon’ - basically a pre wedding honeymoon, which I had never heard of, but sounds kind of awesome if you could swing it.

Ray’s boss wants him to report on it - of course - and to spite Kip’s resistance he goes for it. His interviews are not going as expected. Flirtations to full on propositions, faces from the past, and a series of fights that put his future marriage at risk, all make his earlymoon far from the perfect week he’d imagined. 

For me, there were so many points where this read more rom-dram than the expected rom-com. In fact for a while I was actively rooting against this couple (and as someone that demands a HEA with every romance, I’m wasn’t sure what that said about me)

That said, the story was super interesting. I was fully invested in seeing how things turned out, and the ending did not disappoint. I especially liked the final essay/article in contrast to how the story opened. 

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen

5.0

It’s been a year since Tanria was cleared of the undead, and life as a marshal has gotten dull.

In their 50’s, you’d think partners Twyla and Frank would be relieved with the last few years before retirement much safer, but they miss the excitement that’s been replaced with community events.

That all changes with a mysterious death and a dragon sighting (especially surprising because they were largely thought to not exist)  

These two have the slowest of burns as decades of friendship finally turns to more. There’s worry about ruining the friendship (of course), some jealousy, and top notch pining. The payoff for them is worth the wait. (And that epilogue was perfect!)

It was great to see characters from the first book again. Relationships that are thriving, ones suffering. I think there was a lot more to do with the gods this time around, or maybe it felt different in how they fit into their lives now that every day isn’t survival mode? Twyla struggling with patriarchy nonsense was frustrating relatable at times. Okay, all the time. And I don’t even have kids adding to it. 

Seeing someone on the other side of my age having the big adventures - and saving the day in spectacular fashion - is beyond refreshing. Enough so that, as much as I liked the first book, you can almost double it for this one.

Plus, when you have dragons spouting glitter everywhere? 

There’s no way I wasn’t going to be entertained!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC!

Trick Up Your Sleeve by Ainsley North, Ainsley North

4.5

One crashed date was all it took, and I could feel a ridiculously fond look on my face. 

I love Mattrick to a practically obsessive degree - I couldn’t even say how many times I’ve read the first version of this story - so seeing them, and the rest, flashbacked and moving forward in a new way is great.

My only complaint is that it was over too soon, I need the rest of the story! 

The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.

Two chapters in, and I had no pull to continue 

A Collection of Monstrous Short Stories by Lily Mayne

5.0

A must read if you’ve loved the monstrous series!
I enjoyed revisiting the familiar characters in all the between the books scenes, but especially Moth and Charlie (my personal favs)
I also liked the story at the end with newcomers Ruke and Jamie. It was interesting reading about a human that had never lived in any of the settlements or a city. 
Of course, now I’m wishing even harder for another book in this series