dragoninwinterfell's reviews
101 reviews

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury isn't just a story of a haunted house. This is the story of a haunted family, with each family member dumping their emotional burdens and trauma onto each other, pushing the cycle of trauma forward. In that way, the ghosts and even the menacing house that preys on the living and dead alike aren't the biggest monsters in the novel. Just as in real life, those who cause the most pain and turmoil are human beings.

The novel is told through the dual POVs of Daisy -- a 17-year-old who sees dead people -- and Brittney -- a college student who runs a YouTube channel centered on supernatural mysteries. Taking place ten years apart, Brittney and her co-host are investigating the mysterious circumstances Daisy endured in the mansion her mother inherited. 

Alongside the story of the haunted house that's feeding on people are the emotional arcs of Daisy and Brittney working through their mirrored traumas with their mothers, who abuse them emotionally and control them financially. As their stories unfold, they reveal generational abuses that have been trickled down and left unspoken of for years.

Not only does this story have an incredibly compelling premise, Sambury's prose and narrative voice are among the most beautiful and original I've ever read. The descriptions are vivid and almost too visceral at times. The character focused way she moved through the plot really made it feel like one was living alongside the characters. I can't wait to check out her other novels.

Usually, I'm a very character-focused reader. If the characters aren't well-developed, it's difficult for me to become interested in the story. The Ghost Bride breaks that rule for me. I would say that the characters and their relationships with each other aren't particularly strong, but I didn't mind because the prose was so beautifully written and the exploration of Chinese folklore was incredibly compelling. Following Li Lan through the underworld as she struggles to escape an unwanted, ghostly suitor gives a lovely, detailed imagining of a Chinese afterlife that includes both the fantastical and a really interesting system of litigation. I would love to read more stories set in this universe.

Just a few details to keep in mind about this book: 
First, this story is very slow. I didn't mind because I enjoyed the prose and the world-building. But this is not an action-packed story. 

Second and more importantly, there is a great deal of fatphobia in this book. Li Lan's unwanted suitor is described as overweight and that is used to vilify him. He is a bad person because he is trying to force a young woman into marriage against her will. His weight shouldn't be a factor in it. I couldn't tell if this was meant to be a character flaw of Li Lan's. I hope it was an intentional flaw just as her judgment against women who use their sexuality to their advantage is presented as a flaw that she overcomes. But she never overcomes her superficial outlook on others. So it's hard to say if this is intentional or a bias of the author's.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the Nisha J. Tuli for providing me with this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Heart of the Night is an Indian mythology-inspired adult fantasy novel that centers on a young woman named Zarya and the mystery of why she has been held prisoner in a secluded area for her entire life. She spends her days reading romance novels, arguing with and being trained by her captors, and slaying demons. When one of her captors disappears without a trace, the magical barrier keeping her in disappears as well allowing Zarya to escape.

Straight out the gate, this premise and Zarya as a fully fleshed out, multidimensional character drew me in. Right away, we're shown that she is skilled and well-trained in combat, but far from invincible. She has virtues and shortcomings in equal measure, making her incredibly engaging to follow through this story as she explores the world outside her prison. 

I love how she doesn't fit into any of the stock character cliches, which makes her very realistic. Zarya can physically fight and works hard to improve her skills, making her seem like an action girl. At the same time, she's romantic and naive, eager to live out the love stories she's read about, making her a romantic heroine. She also gives off chosen one vibes as its heavily hinted at that she's been kept hidden and trained in secret for ... something. It's impossible to fit her neatly into any category, making her very realistic.

That said, while I enjoy Zarya as a character overall, I do wish that we got more of her life during her imprisonment than we did. As it stands, she's mysteriously freed from this imprisonment almost immediately and spends the rest of the novel complaining about that imprisonment. While her complaints are valid, since the reader is introduced to her just as she's being freed, it's hard to care about this as much as she does. 

In addition to the excellent character work, the world building was deeply compelling. Nisha J. Tuli's descriptions of the world she created and the different forms of magic within it were vivid and beautiful. Listening to the audiobook, I could practically see what she was describing.

I gave this one four stars and I look forward to the rest of the series.

A pet peeve of mine is the common practice of advertising a piece of media as "Popular Thing" meets "Other Popular Thing". This usually leads to unmet expectations and disappointment for the audience. But with A Vengeful Realm, a comparison of A Song of Ice and Fire blended with Starz's Spartacus would be warranted. There are several aspects that seemed to be pulled from each work and melded together into this. My concern is that it might be too derivative of those works, especially as the series continues with Breaker of Chains, which is a title earned by ASOIAF heroine Daenerys Targaryen. I hope the series will be able to stand on its own without relying so heavily on those sources of inspiration.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. The characters were well drawn and complex. I will absolutely check out the sequel.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and First Torch Books, LLC for the audio ARC of the book provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Teen for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

For me, Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons was one of those books with an amazing premise and a lackluster execution. The summary sounds exciting with the characters being forced to return to a location where they left their friend for dead years before and vowed never to tell the truth of what happened. They are forced to play a game centered in Japanese mythology to get their friend back and to get out alive themselves. This should have been an edge of your seat story. Unfortunately, the characters, dynamics, and the plot itself were poorly established. As the story unfolded, I didn't care about any of the characters and therefore didn't care if they survived or continued to the next phase of the game. If anything, it was tedious. I kept hoping it would finish, repeatedly checking to see how much time remained in the audiobook.

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson is a beautifully spooky novel where vampirism is treated as an illness that nobles from the North inherit along with their ancient wealth, requiring them to have a steady supply of blood that must be filled from multiple sources. That blood is supplied by bloodmaids, young women hired to be companions to these nobles who live in luxury with them, jockeying with each other for the position of reigning favorite. These young women are promised pensions that will leave them wealthy once their contracts with the nobles are complete. At the same time, bloodmaids are considered similar to, if not worse than, prostitutes and the loss of their blood takes a toll on them physically.

Marion begins the story in difficult straights as a house cleaner who is treated terribly by her employer while also having to deal with an abusive brother who tries to squander what little money she earns on drugs. When she finds an ad in the paper for a bloodmaid, she applies for the position and is accepted with suspicious ease. The difficulty of her circumstances and the promise of life-changing wealth lead her to cut ties with her former life very brutally so she can escape to the North. Once there, she meets Countess Lisavet Bathory and is officially hired and brought into a life of opulence and leisure that she has never known before. But even as Marion settles into her new life, she discovers signs of a more dangerous reality hiding beneath all the luxury. 

I loved how Henderson fleshed out the world-building not just with Marion gaining info dumps but also through the epigraphs which were made up of quotes from various bloodmaids and supervisors of the maids from all the different houses. That gave the feeling of depth to the world and views that existed beyond what Marion had access to. It was also interesting that Henderson seemed to base this novel on the legends surrounding the real Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who seems to be the basis for Countess Lisavet Bathory. She was accused of murdering hundreds of women and was rumored to bathe in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. Lisavet similarly relies on the blood of younger women to retain her health.

Lisavet draining other women for her own gain as well as pitting those women against each other so they are competing for her favor highlights a prominent issue that women have to deal with in interacting with each other. Often, women are taught to see each other as enemies on sight regardless of whether the idea is justified. It's based on the belief that there are only so many slots available for women so they must combat each other to gain those slots. Typically, it would be a man in the position that Lizavet is in in this scenario. So it's interesting to see a woman not only exploiting other women, but making them see each other as the enemy instead of her. She's weaponizing a sexist system to her own gain. Had this been played as natural and right, I would cry fowl, But this is absolutely something Henderson was critiquing and unpacking as part of the narrative, which enriched the overall story and was essential in strengthening the plot's resolution.

I couldn't give it five stars because I couldn't connect to the characters. Marion had a lot of potential as a heroine with her rough upbringing and the desperate tragedy that led to her accepting a position as a bloodmaid. But despite that, she didn't feel like she had much personality. She simply flowed along with the plot, tagging along with the reader from plot point to plot point without actually seeming to guide the story herself. Since the story was so strong, the inability to become emotionally invested in the main character wasn't a complete hindrance. 

Overall, this is an excellent book.

Noemí Taboada is one of the most refreshing and relatable heroines I have read in a long time. Noemí is a socialite in 1950s Mexico who enjoys parties and flirting while having no intention to marry anytime soon. She's also an ambitious, intelligent, and well-educated woman who wants to pursue a master's degree. She's well aware of the sexism in her culture and is adept at navigating antagonistic situations with charm while still demonstrating her intelligence. Female characters with this combination of traits are very rare. Following her as she navigated her way through this eerie story was so enjoyable.

Then there's the story itself. The plot starts with Noemí being sent to check on her cousin who sent a cryptic letter. Said cousin lives with her new husband and in-laws in a secluded area. She finds her cousin sick, but cated for while everyone resident of the home is creepy without being overtly hostile enough to come to obvious conclusions about. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an incredibly gifted author. Her prose flows beautifully, creating such strong visuals. While the story is slow, it felt like the exact right pacing for the plot. It never felt like the story was dragging even as the narrative took its time in unveiling each creepy twist. 

My only struggle with this book was the "romance". I put that word in quotes because, despite being an essential part of the climax and resolution, the connection between Noemí and her love interest wasn't well-developed. As wonderfully as Noemí herself was written, the love interest and his motivations were completely empty. He felt like more of a plot device than an actual character in his own right. In turn, his dynamic with our heroine felt very formulaic and lacking in emotional substance. 

Despite this issue, the overall novel was incredible. It's absolutely an instant favorite for me. 

It has been years since I was so fully captured by a book that I couldn't stop reading/listening to it until I reached the end. Straight from the first couple of lines, I was drawn in by Jane McKeene and her story. Justina Ireland has created a gritty alternate history where the Civil War ended when soldiers began turning into zombies, forcing both sides to come to terms to deal with the greater threat. Slavery has technically ended, yet Black Americans are still being exploited and racism is still normalized. Black and Native American teens are forced to attend schools where they are taught to fight zombies in preparation for jobs where they will protect people of European descent. 

Jane attends one of these schools where she has to learn etiquette (so as to be tolerable company for the people she will serve) alongside combat training with other teenage girls. As the story is told through her first-person POV, her dry wit, well-earned pessimism, practicality, and care for others are at the forefront. Jane is such a fascinating character full of acknowledged flaws alongside rarely acknowledged virtues. Had this been a book where she was just narrating her boring day at home in a world with no zombies, I still would have been attached enough to her to be enthralled. But this is a world with zombies as well as common human atrocities. So it was fascinating following along as she navigated the horrors of both zombies and racism, which equally threatened her life and the lives of those she loves.

I'm awed by Ireland's skill in creating a character and a world that felt so real and immersive. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an e-arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really wanted to like House of Marionne. The premise sounds amazing. I also follow the author on social media and her excitement and pride in this book really got me hyped for it as well. Unfortunately, the reality of the book didn't meet the buzz. 

First, I want to say that this has been repeatedly touted as "Game of Thrones meets Bridgerton". I do think the author should stop making this comparison. I understand that comparing your work to multiple popular ones is a common tactic for pitching and marketing, but bringing those two TV show's into this creates expectations that aren't going to be met. There is nothing of Game of Thrones nor Bridgerton to be found in this book. It could more accurately be described as an American Harry Potter with a female lead, a darker magic system, and a hyper speed school pace. I get that most wouldn't want to associate their work with HP due to that author's behavior and troubling beliefs, but it would be the more honest comparison that wouldn't confuse potential readers.

For the novel itself, I really liked the world building with the different magic schools run by different families throughout the US. I like that different families and schools specialize in different types of magic. The practice of essentially fostering a member of another school/house/family in another as a way of tying the schools together in peace while maintaining rivalries with each other also sounds very interesting. I just wish yhe complexity of the world was matched with a story and protagonist that were just as intriguing.

Quell, the protagonist of the story has no personality. She has a backstory and she does things to move the story forward, but she feels like a blank slate with no life in her. Her relationships also fall flat, especially the forced "romance" with Jordan and the abrupt "friendship" with Abby. I put those words in quotes because, while we're informed that Quell cares deeply for these characters, there's no emotional development in either dynamic. The strongest relationship Quell has is with Darragh Marionne, her grandmother and the headmistress of her family's school. Darragh also comes the closest to being a fully realized character. When we get a reveal about her, I found myself wishing we were following her instead of Quell. 

I'm giving this one two stars instead of one mostly due to the world building and the interesting premise.