rally_reviews's reviews
221 reviews

Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine

dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

 The worlds latest pandemic was hard enough but to be in one where you cant even look up at someone , where you have to fear what they may do to you. The idea is worse. scary. I liked the concept. I did not like however, how long it was taking to get to a plot of what was gonna happen with the characters. It was interesting but moved slow. I found it to be interesting and I was invested in knowing what was going to happen. The length was nice too. Makes for a good Halloween time book. 

Heartsong by TJ Klune

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Splinters of Scarlet by Emily Bain Murphy

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

YA

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

I had fun with this book. It read fast and I thought I knew everything that was gonna happen but still had some little surprises. I like the way it was written. My first Mcfaddon book and I will read more of hers. 

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

3.0

Downpour by Christopher Hawkins

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Starts off with such a creepy atmostphere. I felt the tension keeps rising and then makes you question everything. How do you even make it out of this? This was a very atmospheric read centering on the characters. It is a slow burn but when it gets going it gets under your skin kind of like the rain. Things you would think were safe you start questioning. The rain is a force that invades more than outside but inside everything as well. I had to see what happened. (how you see the ending depends on how you feel of the story by then and also if you are reading it as literal story or as an allagory)

The Night House by Jo Nesbø

dark sad tense medium-paced

2.0

 I loved the cover of this book and the concept in the description. I wanted to love it but sadly I did not. It read like it was a short story in a book of stories or a middle grade book. I hate books filled with hate and revenge which I saw alot of in this. I did not hate the characters. I just did not care for them at all. I did not enjoy going through the story. by the time the plot was getting into motion I just had no connection to the characters or the town. I do not think this one was for me. 

Parasocial by Erica Henderson, Alex de Campi

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.0

 This is basically a similar story to stephen kings "misery". I did not enjoy the story. However I did like the author notes at the end about the art styles and so forth. Found that part much more enjoyable. I am grateful for being given the oppurntunity to read this and I hope others enjoy it as well. 

Let Him in by William Friend

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 This book is about a pair of twins who are grieving the tragic death of their mother, Pippa (who was herself a twin and died in the house they still live in) and start talking to an imaginary friend they call, Black Mamba. Black Mamba is a man who can take any form of animal he chooses (yes, his namesake snake is one of those terrifying forms) and only the twins can see him. Their dad alfie, is also still coping with the death and seeks help from his wives sister a psycologist (whose family was involved in a religion they practiced that comes into the story). They both are trying to help themselves and the kids. What I felt this book did well at: It sets a great scene and plays with our perception. Is there an intruder or other-worldly spirit the girls can see, or is it their active imaginations, perhaps as a reaction to their grief? Is the father doing something sinister or merely trying to help his daughters and himself with grief? It creates a fantastic shadow man with fantasy elements that I found really interesting. They were scary and creepy sometimes and other times funny or weird? Is he real? It did a great job at showing how belief and what we show are kids are passed down and effect and can create tramua for later generations and those connected to them. The cons I had on this book: It says it is a new release called "Let him in" but there was a book by the same author last year called "black mamba" that is the exact same story. I really do not mind cause I still got to read the book but confused me at first. I felt there was a little bit of repetitiveness that made the book longer than needed to be but I still wanted to find out answers. I did not like how the psycologist would talk in very simple terms and a kind of kid like thinking and next minute talking in counsler and science terms. I also was a little confused by how they kept giving us tiny bits of clues and story but then an abrupt ending with not much explanation. I guess you decide still what you felt was real or not. Overall, I enjoyed this read. I got invested in the two little girls. I did not feel the romance was good or tense or anything. I felt it was awkward. I did have to know what happened in the end and I did like the little girls and the force in the story.