ravensandlace's reviews
497 reviews

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

4.5

Title: Hour of the Witch

Author: Chris Bohjalian

Genre: Historical Thriller

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

tw: abusive relationship, child death, sickness, animal death, use of word Indian, corporal punishment, death, blood, misogyny (a lot of it), vomit, assault, infidelity, use of word savage, poisoning

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

I’m just going to come right out and say it. This was a fantastic book! I was hooked from the first couple of pages. Everything about this book was so good from the main character, to the plot, to the dialogue, which honestly was my favorite part of the book. I found I took my time with this book because I was so enthralled with the book and had no idea where it was going to go. I would say I wanted to live in this book but I was not made for living in 1600s America. I would have not survived at all. 

One of my favorite things about this book was the dialogue, as I mentioned above. It truly felt like I was reading a diary from the 1600s and surprisingly, I was able to understand everything. I was worried when I first read the dialogue that I wasn’t going to be able to understand anyone. But that wasn’t a problem at all. Even when Mary was thinking or describing things, she still kept in the dialogue of her time. It shows me that the author spent time researching to make sure things were as historically accurate as possible. 

Mary was a fantastic main character. I was rooting for her through it all. Even when she made poor decisions for herself, I found myself still cheering her on and forgiving her for what she did. It pains me so much to read about what she was going through. The society she lived in truly was made to constantly oppress women and it made me sick. She was just a poor woman trying to escape an abusive husband. I was so awed by her courage, to try and fight the system. Mary will be up there as one of my favorite historical fiction main characters. 

Overall, this was a fantastic book. I never knew where the book was going to go. Every single page stressed me out. There was always an underlying tension and dread that permeated through the book and I was living for it. But there was also a feeling of hope, a small glimmer of hope for Mary. I wished for her happy ending so badly. As you can tell, I highly recommend this book!  

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

3.5

Title: The Wishing Game

Author: Meg Shaffer

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3.5 stars

tw: parental death, child neglect, childhood illness, drug addiction, implications of sexual assault, child abuse, alcoholism, miscarriage

So this book was read as part of my YA Not club. I wasn’t too sure about this book when I first started. I wasn’t vibing with it like I wanted to. So I peeked at a few reviews to see if I was the problem and realized it references Willy Wonka a lot. It’s almost a retelling. I’m going to let you in on a secret. I’ve never read Willy Wonka. I’ve only seen the Johnny Depp movie. So, needless to say, I was in for a ride in which I understood just about nothing.

One of the problems I had with the book was the riddles. I am horrible at riddles. I’ve watched every Resident Evil video game and I still couldn’t figure out anything. With the riddles in this book, I didn’t understand them at all. You have to read the books that the author, in the book, wrote which you don’t get. The author only had a few chapters of the book series in which the book talks about and I don’t think they had anything to do with the riddles of the book.

One of the things I didn’t love about this book was the relationship between Christopher, a foster child, and Emily. She promised him all these things but she couldn’t give them to him. She just gave him all this sense of false hope and it was kind of heartbreaking to read. It’s also just plain unrealistic. CPS would never let a teacher make such promises to a child. It wasn’t okay. 

I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed the ride but I wasn’t obsessed with it. I liked reading it but I didn’t love it. It was one of the books where it was written well but I just wasn't in love with the book. I think this would be a good book for others but not for me. It probably would have helped if I had read Willy Wonka or seen another version that wasn’t the Johnny Depp version because I don’t think that version follows the book.  

What We Deserve by Lizzie Stanley

5.0

Title: What We Deserve

Author: Lizzie Stanley

Genre: Romance

Format: eARC from author

Series: Wishbone Tattoos (#1)

Star Rating: 5 stars

tw: mentions of school shootings, injury, abusive relationships, gun violence, infertility, teen pregnancy, infertility, assault, burns

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

On Threads, I put out a post asking indie authors to send me books that they wanted me to hype up for them. Needless to say, that was a huge success and I was so happy that it was. I found a lot of fantastic books to add to my tbr, even though my tbr is already ridiculously long. Lizzie, the author of this book I’m writing a review on,  sent me this book and then asked if I wanted to read it. I said of course! And let’s just say, this book was amazing! I was obsessed with this book. I love my little tattoo crew. I will protect them forever.

I related to Emily on a very personal level. I, too, dealt with an emotionally abusive relationship. I understood why she blamed herself and how hard it is to build yourself back up from that. Even making new friends after a relationship is hard. Everybody is always telling you that you should be over it by now but the effects of that abuse linger with you for a very long time. You never truly recover from it either. That’s why I was so patient with Emily. I have been in her shoes before. I’m glad Emily was able to find love again and a lovely support group of friends who understood that she has been through a lot and needed a lot of love and patience.

I enjoyed the multiple POVs which included Leo, Dean, Eli, and Sadie along with Emily. I adored Leo and I hope he gets his own book one day. He just had a fun energy about him and I appreciated how protective he was of the group. Speaking of the whole group, they were just amazing. They were all cognizant of all their needs but also made sure they didn’t overwhelm themselves and burden the others. They understood each other's triggers and made sure to make everyone feel safe in their tattoo shop. 

Overall, this was an amazing book and I was so obsessed with it. It was my January book of the month. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book, which I have in my possession right now and I really need to get on it. This is sure to be my favorite series of the year. I highly suggest this book to everyone because I feel it has a little bit of something for everyone. 

Where's Molly by H.D. Carlton

5.0

Title: Where’s Molly

Author: H.D Carlton

Genre: Dark Romance

Format: Kindle Unlimited

Series: spinoff of the Cat and Mouse Duet (recommended that you read Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline first)

Star Rating: 5 stars

tw: murder, gore, graphic language, graphic sexual situations, child assault and rape, toxic relations between main characters, child abuse and neglect, suicidal thoughts, and ideation, human trafficking, drug and alcohol use, animals being fed suspect shit (not abused), biting, breath play, blood play, and degradation

*trigger warnings located in front of the book

This review may contain spoilers for the Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline duet. Please read this at your own risk.

I loved everything about this book. In fact, this was my book of the month for February, it was just that good! As you all may know, I loved the Cat and Mouse duet even though it gave me serious heart palpitations. I adored Adeline even though she drove me crazy and she made some less than stellar choices. So I was beyond excited to hear that H.D Carlton was releasing a book about Molly, a character whose journal Adeline found when she was trafficked. I was always curious to know exactly what happened to Molly and what her story was about. 

I adored Molly, plain and simple. The dedication she had to her baby sister was amazing. She never stopped trying for her sister and anytime a character does that, I have the utmost respect for them. I am a big sister myself and I love my siblings so much and will do just about anything for them. So seeing characters be the same way instantly puts them in my list of top main characters. I was cheering Molly on the whole way. Even when she was being so difficult with Cage, I was still her biggest fan. She was doing her best and I was so proud of her. 

Speaking of Cage, I loved him so much. He was a gentle soul on the inside but he also wouldn’t tolerate Molly’s mess. He pushed Molly to be better but he also knew when to back up and give Molly space. He acknowledged her trauma and didn’t try to fix her. He helped her heal and the way he was supportive involved her sister. He was just perfect. Truly another fantastic main character. I hope we get more of him in future books. I hope there are future books. 

Overall, this was a great book. It wasn’t as dark as Cat and Mouse duet but it still has some darkness to it. But at least I didn’t have heart palpitations while I read the book. The ending was also amazing and it leaves room for more books, which I sincerely hope we get. I need more of Cage, Molly, Zade, and Adeline. I just need H.D Carlton to write books about their characters forever. 

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

4.5

Title: You Are Not Alone 

Author: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Genre: Thriller

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

tw: suicide by train, physical assault, rape, child abuse, animal death, cancer, murder

I am so in love with anything these two writers put out. I think there are only a couple of books of theirs that I haven’t read yet. They write some of the best thrillers I’ve ever read. I can never figure out the twists and the twists are so good when they are revealed. They are so good at sprinkling little tidbits, just enough to want you to keep returning to more. The same goes for this book. I could not figure out anything. I couldn’t figure out the motive behind the group or even figure out Shay, the MC. I doubted every single person, including the main character. I couldn’t trust a single soul. 

I’m unsure how much I can say about this book because I don’t want to spoil anything. That’s always the hard thing about writing reviews about thrillers. It always sucks having spoilers happen especially in thrillers because the mystery is the best part of the thriller. Let me just say this. Shay joins a friend group where everything is not all that it seems. They seem like they are a nice bunch, albeit a little odd but they felt like every girl group. As I mentioned above,  I couldn’t trust a single soul while I read this book. Even Shay was pretty suspicious at times. Let’s be real, every single person was suspicious. I couldn’t even trust myself while I read this book, that’s how good this book was.  

This is a slow-burn book for sure. All the books by these authors are slow. But they make it worthwhile and reward you for sticking it out. And with this book was no expectation. It takes time to build up and get to the good stuff. Their books remind me of the 80’s horror movies, where they spent the first hour building up the story and the history behind said event and then it gets to the good stuff. This book is just like that. Trust me when I say that the slow burn is well worth it.

Okay, I know this review was rather short and not descriptive of the book itself, but I often find with thrillers that the less you say about a book the better. Nothing is worse than spoilers, especially with thrillers. Just trust me when I say you guys will not regret checking this book out and these writers’ other books. This truly is one of their best books yet. 

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

4.0

Title: Mad Honey

Author: Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Genre: Adult Fiction

Format: ebook

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: drowning, parental death, assault, blood, gaslighting, death, domestic violence, attempted suicide, abortion, transphobic comments, bullying, use of the word faggot

I’ve noticed a trend in Jodi Picoult’s books. Lately, she’s been giving lessons about very niche topics. The last book I read, the Book of Two Ways, was about death and how the Egyptians viewed death since the main character was a death doula. This one was about beekeeping. I enjoyed that part but after a while, I was just wanting to get to the point. The lessons about beekeeping didn’t even pertain to what the chapter of the book was about.

There were two POVs: Lily, the girl who died, and Olivia, Asher’s mom. Asher was Lily’s boyfriend and accused murderer. I liked the fact that Lily’s POV was in the past, leading up to her death. Olivia was in the present and everything that happened after. I found that I didn’t have a true favorite when it came to the POVs. I wish there was a POV from Asher. I feel like the story would have benefitted from his point of view quite a bit. 

I think this book tried to do too much. There was the information about the bees, the murder and trial, domestic violence and the effect it has on families, and a twist with the info about that as well. It was a lot and I think it could have been better with fewer subject matters. I do understand why all those things were in there, minus the beekeeping. Olivia was a beekeeper and that’s the only reason that part of the book was in there. 

I’m not going to spoil the ending but I felt pretty dissatisfied with it. It wasn’t the ending that should have happened and I was left upset by the events. I know that sometimes it happens in real life but honestly, it just sucked. I feel like justice was not served. There was also another event that happened that just felt like it came out of nowhere and truly didn’t need to be added. 

Overall, this was a good book but I wasn’t totally in love with it like I expected it to be. It had some negative but overall I truly enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about bees and beekeeping. Overall, this was a pretty good book but I wish Jodi Picoult would get back to the way she used to write books. I miss those days.  

Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

4.0

Title: Hunting Adeline

Author: H.D Carlton

Genre: Dark Romance

Format: Kindle Unlimited

Series: Cat and Mouse (#2)

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: same trigger warnings for book 1 with the addition of severe PTSD and a lot of rape. I accidentally deleted my trigger warning picture, as the trigger warnings are located in the front of the book.

Normally, when I finish the first book in a series, I give myself a break before I start the next book. I might start another book and then come back to the series. Maybe wait a couple of months so I can let the book marinate in my mind. Not with the series. I did two things that I simply never do: I started the second book (this one) right away and I looked up a spoiler while reading the book. Be warned that the rest of the review will be spoilery and it is highly recommended that you read the first book. Read at your own risk. 

I had to know if Zade rescued Addie from being trafficked. That was the spoiler I looked up. I couldn’t fathom what would have happened in Addie was left to be raped and cut repeatedly in that traffick house. Those scenes were so heartbreaking and I was almost crying, I was so stressed out for her. Because that exact thing happens to thousands of men, women, and children every single day. I knew I just couldn’t continue with the book until I knew Addie was safe. I was getting legit heart palpitations. The last book that affected me so badly was The Song of Achilles. 

The amount of trauma in this book was a lot. Addie had so much done to her and she had to heal from it. It was so heartbreaking. Zade wanted to help her so badly but didn’t know how to give Addie what she needed when she didn’t even know what she needed. The way they worked together to work with Addie’s trauma was amazing. I also appreciated the fact that Addie’s PTSD wasn’t cured. There were still bad days and that felt very realistic. Zade wasn’t the cure but he made sure he was there for Addie when the days were bad. 

I simply just cannot write any more about this book because I am getting stressed out all over again. Overall, this book series broke me and then put me back together, albeit a little jagged and mismatched. My heart still hurts from this book and I read it a few months ago. I don't recommend this series to just anyone. You need to be well-seasoned in extremely dark romance and honestly, you need to be like 25 years old to read this book. I don’t like putting ages on books but this one needs it. But truly, I loved this book so much.  

Honor Among Thieves by Ann Aguirre, Rachel Caine

4.0

Title: Honor Among Thieves

Author: Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Format: hardback library

Series: The Honors (#1)

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: theft, assault, death, drug use, blood, brainwashing

I wasn’t sure about this book at first. I picked it up because I own the third book in the series and I wanted to read the books to see if I wanted to keep the last book or not. The main character, Zara, was an acquired taste for me. She was a very hard girl and I didn’t always understand her motives. In this early part of this book, she talks about her mom and how she left her mom because she knew she was bad? I know her dad had something to do with it but honestly, I wasn’t sure. 

That was such a weird way to start my review but sometimes I never know how to start a review. I just truly didn’t understand Zara for a while. Why cause so much problem for the one parent that actually cares about you? Zara’s mom did what she could to make sure Zara wasn’t traumatized anymore by her dad but still Zara was difficult. But as I read the book more, she grew on me even though I didn’t always understand her motives. I found out she is so incredibly loyal to those she loves. I loved how this turned into a found family book. Nothing warms my heart more than to see the found family trope. 

While I enjoyed the book, it was the ending that saved it for me and bumped up the rating from three stars to four. The reveal of what the Honors program truly was was very interesting. I am hoping we will get more information about it and just how it started. I am very excited to finish the rest of the series and see just what it’s about. 

Overall, this was a good book as I mentioned. Zara was a hard character to love and understand but in the end, I grew to love her despite her attitude. I think there will be a lot of people who will understand Zara in ways that I wasn’t able to. I think she is one of those characters that isn’t for everyone but that’s okay. Overall, I can’t wait to continue the series. Especially since I get more of Nadim, the ship. I didn’t talk about him a lot but I truly enjoyed him. And I especially loved the interactions between him and Zara. 

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

4.0

Title: Hollow Fires

Author: Samira Ahmed

Genre: YA mystery

Format: paperback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: dead body, xenophobia, bullying, racism, death, assault, racist slurs, attempted murder

I’m going to start by saying I truly enjoyed this book. One of the best things about this book was its readability. This book tackled the hard topic of xenophobia in a way that was easy to digest. I still felt incredibly angry about what Safiya went through but it was put in a way that helps you to understand just what Safiya goes through. As a white woman, I couldn’t even begin to understand how xenophobia affects others. This book made sure that you understood exactly what it was like to experience xenophobia. I was truly astounded that Safiya dealt with xenophobia simply by going to school. 

Another one of my favorite things about this book was the use of different multimedia. It had podcast transcripts, emails, interviews, etc. It helped to break up the heaviness of the plot, which is Safiya trying to find out who murdered a boy. It had some podcast transcripts that made me so mad but it was good to have all those different viewpoints so we could truly understand everything.

I’ll mention one last thing about one of my favorite things about this book. I appreciate that Safiya and her friends still acted like teenagers. Sure, they wanted to do what they could to bring the murders to justice and bring awareness to xenophobia but they also got excited about cute boys, shopping, etc. It was quite refreshing because oftentimes when teenagers are trying to figure out mysteries, they forget to be high schoolers. It was honestly one of my favorite parts of the book. 

Overall, this was a very good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m so glad my YA Not Club chose this book. Here’s a little fun fact for you. This book was based on a trial that happened in the 30s, which I didn’t realize until we discussed the book at our meeting. If you want to know what the case is about, search for Leopold and Loeb. The case happened in 1092’s Chicago. But overall, I highly recommend this book. 

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

4.5

Title: Haunting Adeline 

Author: H.D Carlton

Genre: Dark Romance

Format: Kindle Unlimited

Series: Cat and Mouse (#1)

Star Rating: 4.5 stars

tw: non/dub-con (non, dubious consent) between MCs, graphic violence, human trafficking, stalking, child trafficking, child sacrifice, child death, kinks of gunplay, somnophilia (interest in having sex with a sleeping person), bondage and degradation

*these trigger warnings can also be found in the book. 

I will, without a shadow of a doubt, never read this book or the sequel ever again. I will own them one day and they will sit on my shelf to be pretty and that’s it. I have never had a book that stressed me out so badly to the point I had legit heart pains. I couldn’t read fast enough. I think I even gave myself a headache reading this book. But I am so obsessed with this book and I tell everyone about it, as long as they are of proper age, of course. 

Both Zade and Adeline are incredibly messed up in their ways. Zade is especially depraved with some of the things he has an interest in. Both of these characters are characters I shouldn’t even like. I should have been incredibly annoyed with them especially Adeline as she made bad choice after bad choice. I can’t stand characters that put themselves in situations they don’t even have to be in but I was just obsessed. Something about this book had me hooked. But I loved them both. I couldn’t help it. Does that make me depraved and awful? Probably. 

I do want to point out something. The author points out that none of the stuff that happens in this book derives from antisemitism or QANON. But they do. QANON has built their entire weird cult on child trafficking, and how the government is part of the large-scale child/human trafficking plot, among other things. Just turn on Fox News and you will see QANON’s reach. So do with that information what you will. It might change how you view the book and the series. I’m also not saying that child and human trafficking aren’t bad because they are awful. But the way QANON goes about it doesn’t help anything. They point fingers at the wrong people and distract from what is truly the problem. I also want to point out that those who are trafficked don’t usually get kidnapped by strangers (I mean they do sometimes) but statistically they are trafficked by people, they know like relatives and trusted friends. I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from reading this book. I just want everyone to understand what they are getting into. 

Overall, this is a very incredibly fucked up book and I don’t mean that lightly. I have read a lot of depraved books in my day but never one as depraved as this and I read Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series (if you know, you know). I don’t recommend this book to just any old Joe off the stress. You need to be well-versed in very dark and depraved books to be interested in reading this. I wouldn’t even recommend this to someone who is 18 years old. I would say you should be at least 25 years old and I mean that with my whole heart. But if you can handle what the trigger warnings offer, then absolutely check this book out.