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therivingtonreader's reviews
195 reviews
This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
This was very middle of the road for me. I'm pretty bummed out that I didn't love it because after I heard it was inspired by the Dyatlov pass incident, I was basically foaming at the mouth to read it.
There were a lot of pretty tense moments that were good, and lots of gore, but overall it felt repetitive. It was mostly about Dylan, Clay, Luke, and Sylvia wandering in the woods and then realizing they couldn't leave. And reading about how the characters held back vomit or had bile in their throats or threw up at a sight/smell happened so many times it got old by the end. I get it, it's gross 🙃
I have quite a few other thoughts about this book but honestly I don't really care to type them out atm so that's all for now 😂
There were a lot of pretty tense moments that were good, and lots of gore, but overall it felt repetitive. It was mostly about Dylan, Clay, Luke, and Sylvia wandering in the woods and then realizing they couldn't leave. And reading about how the characters held back vomit or had bile in their throats or threw up at a sight/smell happened so many times it got old by the end. I get it, it's gross 🙃
I have quite a few other thoughts about this book but honestly I don't really care to type them out atm so that's all for now 😂
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
4.0
I never thought I'd be reading a book by Ali Hazelwood, but here we are and I fucking loved it. Nothing against her as an author, her books are just typically outside my normal genres. But this one has werewolves and vampires, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It made me feel like my middle school self reading Twilight for the first time, except without the fade-to-black sex scenes 😂
There's smut, but there's also a really interesting story that I was totally invested in from the beginning. I'd absolutely pick up another book like this from this author in a heartbeat.
I also just really loved Misery as a character. She and all the other characters felt very distinct and different from each other, and I especially loved little Ana 🥹
There's smut, but there's also a really interesting story that I was totally invested in from the beginning. I'd absolutely pick up another book like this from this author in a heartbeat.
I also just really loved Misery as a character. She and all the other characters felt very distinct and different from each other, and I especially loved little Ana 🥹
A Hundred Lovers: Poems by Richie Hofmann
2.0
I haven't read poetry in a while, so maybe it's not my thing anymore, but this very much read like someone was trying too hard to be profound. There were a few poems that painted a pretty picture in my head, but that's about all I got from this 😬
The Church Beneath the Roots by Felix Blackwell
4.0
I had such a hard time deciding what to rate this book. I kept going back and forth between 4 stars and 5 stars, but ultimately I decided on 4 stars since Stolen Tongues was such a no-brainer 5 star for me.
Was this a good book?
YES.
Would I recommend it?
Absolutely!
Was it everything I wanted out of a prequel to one of my favorite books of all time?
Kind of??
It’s no question that Felix Blackwell knows how to write horror. He’s single-handedly given me nightmares from two books now, which I can’t say about any other author. There’s just something about the way he conjures up scary scenes that give me goosebumps and make me afraid to sleep with the lights off.
I did love The Church Beneath the Roots, but it was a much slower burn than Stolen Tongues. Not to say it wasn’t worth it, but it took 200 pages before I really got spooked. And it really did scare the shit out of me when I got there. After page 214, I had to shut my book for a minute and take a break.
If I could go back, I would have preferred to read the prequel first. In my opinion, that seems like the better way to read the two books and definitely how I will recommend it to people. The Church Between the Roots gives a lot of background detail and information that we don’t get in Stolen Tongues, and I think reading the prequel first would give readers a better appreciation for what happens in the next book.
Was this a good book?
YES.
Would I recommend it?
Absolutely!
Was it everything I wanted out of a prequel to one of my favorite books of all time?
Kind of??
It’s no question that Felix Blackwell knows how to write horror. He’s single-handedly given me nightmares from two books now, which I can’t say about any other author. There’s just something about the way he conjures up scary scenes that give me goosebumps and make me afraid to sleep with the lights off.
I did love The Church Beneath the Roots, but it was a much slower burn than Stolen Tongues. Not to say it wasn’t worth it, but it took 200 pages before I really got spooked. And it really did scare the shit out of me when I got there. After page 214, I had to shut my book for a minute and take a break.
If I could go back, I would have preferred to read the prequel first. In my opinion, that seems like the better way to read the two books and definitely how I will recommend it to people. The Church Between the Roots gives a lot of background detail and information that we don’t get in Stolen Tongues, and I think reading the prequel first would give readers a better appreciation for what happens in the next book.
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
5.0
This was excellent and I really loved it. And I love the cover so much, I want to frame it and hang it in my house.
The Centre was eerie and definitely felt like something fishy was going on from the start. Which is obviously the point, but maybe I missed the hints because I totally didn't see what was going on coming at all. I thought it was going to be more complex than it actually was.
The most unsettling part to me was when Anisa started to not see a problem with the process:
"Somewhere along the way, I had decided that it was no greater sin to ingest a human being than it was to ingest, say, a cow. Or, arguably, a melon, which is also a living thing. Who was it that decided my flesh was more sacred than, say, Billee's, or Billee's more sacred than a chicken's, or a chicken's more than a pea's? No, that was pure speciesism. It was us humans, as always, adamant on our own superiority."
The Centre was eerie and definitely felt like something fishy was going on from the start. Which is obviously the point, but maybe I missed the hints because I totally didn't see what was going on coming at all. I thought it was going to be more complex than it actually was.
The most unsettling part to me was when Anisa started to not see a problem with the process:
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
4.5
This was full of some overdramatic twists and I absolutely ate it up. Some of them I saw coming, and some of them I didn't. But I loved every second of this no matter how dramatic or predictable it was.
This book is presented as reading the dialogue in a TV show where experts are trying to solve a 20-year-old murder along with emails, texts, autopsy reports, maps, and etc. As the reader, you're supposed to try and solve the murder before the experts do. Unfortunately I didn't get it 100% right, but I was pretty close. I had a great time either way 😅
This book is presented as reading the dialogue in a TV show where experts are trying to solve a 20-year-old murder along with emails, texts, autopsy reports, maps, and etc. As the reader, you're supposed to try and solve the murder before the experts do. Unfortunately I didn't get it 100% right, but I was pretty close. I had a great time either way 😅
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
4.0
I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I'm not a romance reader, but by the end I was kicking my feet and giggling like a school girl.
The witty banter is excellent. The dialogue made every character believable and relatable. Including Anthony, who I wanted to throat punch throughout most of this, but he was still believable enough for me to hate him I guess.
My only negative note is some of the sex scenes were a little meh and awkward. But that's a pretty tiny note because this is the fastest I've finished a book in 3 months 😅
The witty banter is excellent. The dialogue made every character believable and relatable. Including Anthony, who I wanted to throat punch throughout most of this, but he was still believable enough for me to hate him I guess.
My only negative note is some of the sex scenes were a little meh and awkward. But that's a pretty tiny note because this is the fastest I've finished a book in 3 months 😅
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
3.0
This started off really strong and I was hooked at the beginning. But there are so many characters and storylines to follow, and the ending felt a little disjointed. The writing was excellent, but ultimately I was disappointed by the amazing premise and lackluster execution.
Jackal by Erin E. Adams
3.5
This was a solid thriller. Some of the twists really caught me off guard and had me saying "what the fuck" out loud while I was reading. The pacing was also well done and there was no part that left me feeling bored.
I was totally expecting this to be a realistic thriller about a serial killer abducting black girls for a fucked-up ritual, but when one of the monsters turned out to be a shadow/jackal/god it did lose me a little bit. I know that's the title and there's tiny hints throughout, but for me it felt a little out of left field when the rest of the story so closely resembles real life.