ravensandlace's reviews
534 reviews

Pebble in the Rough by Michael Tailin

3.0

Title: Pebble in the Rough

Author: Michael Tailin

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Format: ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: embezzlement, emotional abuse, bullying, assault, alcohol, implied sexual assault, grand theft auto, damage of property, derogatory statements toward poor/impoverished people, drugs

“Sometimes when they turn out all the lights, you just have to walk in the shadows.”

Sometimes all you need is a book that’ll rip out your heart and then slowly build it back up and then you are never the same. This is one of those books. This book has it all: found family, perseverance through hard times and never judging a book by its cover. You truly never know what someone is going through. 

With this book, there are two POVs, Alex and Audrey. Alex gets most of the page time as the story does seem to revolve around him for the most part. My heart broke for this boy. All he wanted was to be reunited with his sister, Audrey. And she just wanted the same. My heart was just constantly broken for them both and I was truly hoping throughout the book that they would get what they wanted. Because they deserved it so much.

There were a few unrealistic things that were happening. One was how teenage boys would have discussions about the world and the state of it. The conversations were like what grown adults would be saying. Not that I’m saying teen boys can’t have those convos but it just felt very off. There was also some confusion for me, and I’ll touch on this in the next paragraph, of how Alex could get away with just making up a name and nobody bothering to check out to see if this was correct. It just seems like a wild thing to happen, even with a foster care system that is so broken. 

But this book brought attention to me, just how messed up the foster care system is. I truly didn’t realize how bad things could be. I mean I know that the system is pretty broken. There is a huge problem with understaffing and abuse that happens in the system. But it didn’t really hit me until I read this book. What Audrey went through was absolutely deplorable but honestly, I wasn’t that surprised by it. I know it happens a lot more than people think. It shocked me how Alex managed to slip through the cracks. It was all just very shocking to me and I just felt so sad about the whole thing. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot as you might have been able to tell by my glowing review. My heart was broken the whole time I read it until the very end and then my heart was repaired. I very highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy brave characters who persevere through it all. 

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

5.0

Title: Home is Where the Bodies Are

Author: Jeneva Rose

Genre: Horror

Format: ebook

Series: NA

Star Rating: 5 stars

tw: death, addiction, cancer, alcohol, dead body, missing parent, car accident, hospital setting, injury, blood, assault, suicide, gun violence

I’m just going to come right out and say it. This was an amazing book! I was surfing my Kindle for something to read and I had forgotten I had this book on my Kindle. I had heard so many good things about this book and I was dying for a good spooky book. So I decided to give it a shot and boy, was I impressed! Jeneva Rose has an instant fan in me. 

In this book, we get four POVs, Beth, Michael, Nicole, and Laura. The first three are siblings and their POVs were in the present, while Laura’s took place in the past as she was the mother of the three. And I think that this was the perfect way to do things. Because even with Laura’s POV, we still didn’t quite get all the answers til the very end. It kept going back for more. I had to know what was going on. 

What this book does well is it gives you a sense of dread. It’s not enough that it’s overwhelming but it's just there. Like when you're driving on the highway and you get a whiff of skunk. The dread is there, like the smell of skunk, but you don’t know what to expect. I couldn’t read fast enough. I had to know what was going to happen. I stayed up way too late, being wholly invested in this book.

Another great thing about this book was the sibling dynamic. Between Beth, Michael, and Nicole, each sibling was so different so it was easy to keep their POVs separate. I appreciated the way that they would fight like cats and dogs one minute and they were hugging it out the next. They truly never let their differences get in the way of their love. Even with Nicole and her addiction. They also fit into the birth order study very nicely. I highly recommend you all check that out. It’s a very interesting study. I am the typical oldest sibling. 

Overall, this was an amazing book and I’m completely obsessed with it. The twists were twisting. The sibling dynamic was amazing. The horror aspect was well done. Everything about this book was just simply perfection. I highly recommend this book to everyone. 

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

4.5

Title: Heartless Hunter

Author: Kristen Ciccarelli

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: own book but also have an eARC

Series: Crimson Moth (#1)

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

tw: murder, parental death, shipwreck, executions, carving of skin, blood, family, betrayal, self-harm, injury, stabbing, drug use, branding, child abuse, gun violence, gunshot injury

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

Where do I even begin with this book? I had no idea what kind of book I was getting into but I heard a lot of positive things about it. I had a physical copy from Book of the Month and I was approved for an ARC of this from Netgalley so I figured why not knock it out. I am so glad that I read it because it is up there as one of my favorite books of the year.  

I can't even describe to you all how good this book was! The main characters, Gideon and Rune, were so complex. Things that would normally bother me in a book like miscommunication and Gideon himself, didn’t bother me. They were done so well. I should explain what I mean by Gideon bothering me. Without going into too much detail, Gideon is a witch hunter and so he hates witches. Normally, this kind of thing would have driven me nuts but for some reason, I did not mind it with Gideon. Probably because my heart hurt for him. You quickly realize, as you read the book, that Gideon is a very broken man. 

The enemies to lovers trope was real in this book and the tension between Rune and Gideo was intense! I lived for every single moment those two had together. They could pretend to hate each other all they wanted but I wasn’t buying it. I knew deep down they were made for each other. There was one scene that made me kick my feet like a little girl and just giggle. I can’t wait for more of those two. I need my happily ever after involving them. 

Overall, this book was fantastic! This book brought up a lot of good discussion points like what truly would you do for your family. What side is truly right and what side is wrong? I am so excited for the second book. I hope I get the ending I am dying for. I need my ship to work out. 2025 cannot come soon enough. 

Heartless by Maggie Alabaster, Jo Bradley

4.0

Title: Heartless

Author: Maggie Alabaster and Jo Bradley

Genre: Reverse Harem

Format: ebook

Series: Brutal Academy (#1)

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: torture, blood, gun violence, murder, parental death, poisoning, hospital setting, sexism, human trafficking

This is one of the wildest books I’ve ever read and I loved every single minute of it. It had everything I needed in a book. It had a reverse harem, which I am a huge sucker for. It had a morally grey female main character and a few morally grey female side characters as well. It had so much spice and tension. And it had a pretty intricate storyline involving organized crime, which I did not expect but it was a welcome surprise. 

Also, I have to mention the setting and yes, it needs its own little paragraph. This story takes place at a school called Brutham Academy. For the life of me, I cannot tell you what this school teaches. But apparently, you are allowed to beat up, torture, and even kill students/teachers just because they bother you but you can’t do it too much or the people in charge get fussy. I had to laugh out loud because I thought this was ridiculous. Oh, and you can sleep with teachers too. This school is a whole mess but I loved it so much. 

I’ve also started to realize that I am slowly becoming a sucker for female morally grey characters. Lila was such a badass character. She took absolutely no shit but she had a soft spot for her boys: Hunter (who had a POV), Parker, and Slade. She would do anything for those boys and burn the world down if they got hurt. The duality of her character was lovely to see. 

Overall, this was a great book! It was a quick read. I think I finished it in a day. It has plenty of spice for those that want lots of spice but it also has a plot to it. If you enjoy the reverse harem genre with a morally grey female and a pretty violent school then this is the book for you! I can’t wait to continue with the series. 

A Cat's Cradle by Carly Rheilan

4.0

Title: A Cat’s Cradle 

Author: Carly Rheilan

Genre: Psychological Fiction

Format: own book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: child death, animal abuse, blood, parental abandonment, sexism, racism, bullying, fatphobic comments, pedophilia, infidelity, sexual assault on a minor

A special thank you goes to Carly Rheilan for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

Oh boy! This book made me so wildly uncomfortable but I couldn’t get enough of it. I was like a glutton for punishment. I was filled with so much dread but I couldn’t stop reading. I just had to know what was going to happen, no matter how much dread I felt. I haven’t felt this much dread in a long time but I honestly was living for it. I don’t know what that says about me as a person but it’s the truth.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much, despite the subject matter, is it reminded me a lot of the backstory of Freddy Krueger. There's even an aspect of fire. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not but as a horror girl, I found the similarities pretty neat. I also got major Ed Kemper vibes from the book as well. 

Speaking of Ed Kemper, let me talk about the main characters. The two main characters are Ralph, an adult, and Mary, a child. Ralph was the worst person. He was just disgusting and he gave me the heebie jeebies. But he was written so well. Carly got you into the mind of this gross man. Everything about him was just horrible. 

I also enjoyed the other main character, Mary. Writing a point of view as a seven year old child has to be pretty tricky but Mary was written so well. Her thought process was pretty accurate for a small child. And my heart broke for her, especially after what happened to her. It was just so awful. Carly has a gift for writing extremely complex characters well. She takes you deep into their mind and by the time the book is finished, you are a different person. 

Overall, this was a good book but man, it made me feel so uncomfortable. But I think books should do that. It should get you thinking and it should invocate feelings. The vibes were wrong as I like to say. But I still really enjoyed this book a lot, even though it made me so wildly uncomfortable. As for recommendations, I don’t recommend this book lightly. It has some pretty difficult topics but it’s worth it. Just take heed of the trigger warnings I have provided. 

The Debutantes by Olivia Worley

4.0

Title: The Debutantes

Author: Olivia Worley

Genre: YA Thriller

Format: eARC

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: fake blood, alcohol, teen death, underage drinking, racism, real blood, assault, misogyny, infidelity, underage relationship

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

I wasn’t too sure about this book when I first started. There were quite a bit of characters, both main and side characters, to keep up with and only one of them had a somewhat original voice. I’m also not familiar with New Orleans or a lot of the traditions they have. And while the book does explain the traditions, it was a little hard to keep up with. 

While I did end up giving this book four stars, it took a little bit for me to get there. One of the problems that I had was the plot itself. It wasn’t presented right away so I wasn’t sure where it was going to go. I wasn’t sure if the girls were trying to find out who killed a debutante and their friend, who kidnapped their other friend, or both. After a bit, the smoke cleared and I was able to figure things out and enjoy the book more. 

Let me talk about the characters. There were four POVs but there were three main ones. We had April, Vivan, and Piper with Lily having a POV at the beginning and end of the book. While I didn’t mind these characters, I was not in love with them. Piper and Vivan were pretty similar and if their names hadn't been on the top of the chapter pages, I wouldn’t have known who they were. April was the POV who I recognized but that was because she had a camera and an “I am better than everything who participates in this” attitude. 

Overall, despite my complaints, this was a great book. It has made me pretty terrified of teenagers. Maybe My Chemical Romance was on to something. They can be so terrifying! But besides that, I think this was great. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. I highly recommend this book. 

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

4.0

Title: Episode Thirteen

Author: Craig DiLouie

Genre: Horror

Format: own paperback book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: death (viewing of a body), sickness, child death, bodily fluids, mentions of drug use, guns, murder, mention of suicide, unethical human experiments, child abuse, alcohol, car accident, drunk driving, self-cannibalism

So, I had this book on my tbr for a while but I figured I would wait for when it was spooky season to read it since it would fit the spooky vibes. I saw that my friend wanted to read it, as it was part of a book club she belonged to, but she was nervous about how spooky it would be. I offered to read it for her since I am a horror girly. She bought it for me (if you are reading, hi my friend!) and so I read it for her. 

This was a pretty cool book! It’s a found footage horror book which I know sounds kind of odd. The story is told through blog posts, raw footage, emails, texts, etc. It made the book a bit spookier because you never truly knew what was happening because you had to rely on people filming or writing it down. And half the time, you couldn’t trust what those people were saying. 

There are five main characters: Matt, Kevin, Jess, Claire, and Jake. Each character kind of fit the typical characters you see in found footage horror movies. Matt is the leader. Claire is his wife and the skeptic. Kevin is the ex-cop and wild card. Jess is an actress and isn’t quite sure if she believes in the stuff. Jake is the camera guy and is just along for the ride. While they were typical horror characters, I enjoyed every one of them. They each brought something to the table.

 You can tell, even with the way the book is written, that there is an underlying sense of dread. You know the minute this group pulls up to the house and begins preliminary investigations, that this house is more than it seems. It waits for them to get comfy before it pulls the rug out from under them. That’s what this book does best. It’s a slow build for sure, but it’s worth the wait. 

I do have one complaint and it’s pretty teeny tiny and that’s why I rated this book four stars instead of the full five, but to me, the ending felt a little rushed and unrealistic. I can hear you all saying already “But Lacy, it’s about a paranormal investigation of a house, of course, it’s unrealistic!” First off, I believe in ghosts so do with that information what you will. And second, some things happened at the end that made it go from a simple paranormal investigation to something just a bit too much and just seemed so off. 

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book! It restored my love of horror and the found footage genre, which is one of my favorite genres, despite the rap it has. When it’s done well, like with this book or with movies like Grave Encounters, it can be a masterpiece. Overall, if you are looking for a perfect book for the upcoming spooky season, this is the book for you.  

Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest

4.0

Title: Where You See Yourself

Author: Claire Forrest

Genre: YA Contemporary

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: ableism (pretty prevalent throughout the book), cursing

When I first started this book, I didn’t care for it or the main character, Effie. To be honest, I struggled with her woe-is-me attitude. She didn't seem like a good friend and her negative attitude started to wear me down. I was pretty unforgiving with her anxiety even though I have anxiety. I have no idea why I am like that but I tend to judge main characters when they have anxiety. 

But then something changed. I saw Effie try her hardest to stand up for herself time and time again. I saw her realize she wasn’t being a good friend. I saw her actively work on herself. I realized that this girl was just a teen doing her best to navigate her life. I realized I was being too hard on Effie. She reminded me of myself in high school. Trying so hard to stand up for myself. That's why I was so hard on Effie. I wanted her to be better because I wanted high school me to be better. 

I bonded so much with Effie when she said she had cerebral palsy. My brother has it also I’ve seen the effects of it. I think this is where my heart truly bonded with Effie and I looked at her like she was my little sister. She was so incredibly strong and my heart was so happy whenever she had any little triumph. I just wanted the best for her, as any big sister would want for their younger sibling. 

Overall, I loved this book a lot, in case you didn’t notice, it just took me a little bit to get there. I think anyone, no matter their age, would truly enjoy this book and understand Effie and her struggles and triumphs. I feel like everyone can see themselves in Effie. I guarantee you will love Effie in the same way I do. 

Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake

3.0

Title: Thief of Lies

Author: Brenda Drake

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: eARC from Netgalley

Series: Library Jumpers (#1)

Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: blood (a lot as it’s used by the main character for an ability) , animal attack, parental death, burning, arranged marriages, car accident

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Entangled Teen for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

To clear up my Kindle and catch up on all super late ARCs, I went all the way to 2016. I received this whole series when I worked with Entangled Teen, back when I first started reviewing. But I never finished the book and series. Some personal things happened and I stepped back from reviewing arcs for a time. But now I’ve decided to get going on all my late ARCs, starting with this one as I don’t love leaving books unfished although I am getting better at it. 

I’m not sure if it's because I haven’t read fantasy in a while but this book threw so much information at me. I didn’t understand a lot of the lore or the magic systems so at one point I just kind of gave up understanding and just enjoyed the ride. From there, the book became a lot more enjoyable. 

The main character, Gia, was okay. She was kind of bratty at times but all teenagers are. I’m glad she accepted herself and the situation pretty quickly. We didn’t have to deal with the angst and the fighting. Sure, she was pretty bummed out about everything but it didn’t take her long to snap out of it. That was pretty refreshing. But other than that, she was okay. Maybe I will like her in the next book. 

Unfortunately one of the tropes in this book is a love triangle. I’ve never been a fan of love triangles. Even in the Hunger Games, I didn’t like them. I have a feeling that this love triangle is going to be very prominent, as I have read the synopsis of the second book, and I’m just not looking forward to that at all. This story doesn’t need one. 

Overall, while I didn’t love the book, I’m glad I read it. I’ll most likely continue with the series but I’m not going to rush to read it. I think the biggest problem for me is that I’m too old for this book. 16 year old Lacy would have loved this book but because I’m older, I think that’s why it didn’t resonate with me like I thought it was going to. I think I’ll let this one marinate for a while before I start the next book.  

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

4.0

Title: The Perfect Girlfriend

Author: Karen Hamilton

Genre: Adult Thriller

Format: eARC from Netgalley

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: child death, stalking, parental death, alcoholism, drug use, home invasion (violent and nonviolent), drugging, bullying, murder, infidelity

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Wildfire for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

I’m on that never-ending quest to get my Netgalley ratio up to an acceptable level. One night, I couldn’t find anything to read so I just randomly picked this one out, and holy cow, what a ride this book was. I stayed up way past my bedtime to read this book because it was just so enthralling! I haven’t read a good thriller in ages, since my last Greer Hendricks book, so I was in dire need of a thriller. 

Juliette was one of the most wild main characters I have ever read about. The book was in first person so we were fully in her mind and boy, her mind was dark. She was so manipulative and convincing that for a while there, I bought into everything she was saying. Like why wouldn’t Nate, her ex, not love her? She tries so hard to be perfect, he should love her. Slowly, I was able to tear myself out of her manipulation but damn, she was good. That is what made the book so good for me. When a main character, who you know isn’t good, manages to convince you that they were perfectly normal and their thought process is perfectly acceptable. I can see why people join cults now.   

As you all know, with thrillers, I struggle to write reviews. I don’t want to give too much away but I also want to convince y'all to read it. You all are just going to have to trust me when I say you need to read this book. I have a feeling that y'all will be very interested in Juliette and all she brings to the table. And you will live for the ending. It was one I certainly did not see coming.