howlinglibraries's reviews
1719 reviews

 DNF 😔

I'm marking this as "finished" because I made it through almost 400 pages of this book, which I think means it deserves to count towards my reading goals for the year... but I'm very sad to say that this series has lost its appeal for me and I just can't get into Winter. I shouldn't be surprised, because when I look back on the first 3 books of this series (and the novella), despite having given them all high ratings, I only actually have fond memories of Cress. The rest all feel very boring and "meh" in my memories. I'm not sure if that's a sign that I got swept up in the hype when I read them, or if my tastes have changed that much, or both. Either way, I'm not going to bother sifting through another 400+ pages and the short story collection when I simply don't feel invested in this story or these characters anymore.

Buddy read with Misty! ♥ 

 I absolutely LOVED this. I tend to go into books without reading the synopsis first, or just skimming it so I don't know too much ahead of time, which can be a blessing and a curse. In this case, I didn't really know what to expect, but I was sucked right in from the beginning and couldn't stop thinking about it. Megan Stockton's writing was gorgeous and really led me to feel for these characters, making it that much more thrilling to watch them fight their way out of this situation.

Bluejay definitely counts as extreme horror, so check the content warnings below if you think you might need them, but it also has a ton of heart and depth to it. I would say this would be a good read for anyone who, like me, enjoys a lot of gore and wants their heartstrings tugged a bit! 

 This was heavy, but good, and VERY relatable as another millennial who grew up in the same time frame and dealt with a lot of the same disordered eating and body image struggles. The art was cute, too! I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in reading about the difficulties of growing up AFAB in the 90s and 2000s and dealing with the impact that misogyny and diet culture had on us.
 

 This needed a better editing job, most of all. There were quite a few discrepancies, such as: in the beginning of the book, the FMC says she's only ever been with her ex, but a few chapters later, we find out she slept with her stepbrother once, and then a few chapters after that, we find out that she actually was sleeping with her stepbrother pretty frequently for quite a while. Also, her ex is vilified for cheating, but she was cheating on her ex with her stepbrother pretty regularly, so...?

I'm pretty sure this book was mostly written as an excuse for steamy Jason Voorhees fic, which is totally fine, and if that's all you want out of it, you might enjoy it more than I did, but the poor writing kept pulling me out of the romance in a big way.
 

 Given how much I enjoyed Belladonna, I had high hopes for this book, but I was also feeling a little hesitant towards it because my only complaint about the first book in this series is that I think it should have been a stand-alone with some minor tweaks to the ending. Unfortunately, this book only cemented that opinion; this didn't need to be a series IMO and I couldn't get into this sequel at all. I might give it another try someday, but as of right now, I don't plan on continuing it or reading the final book in the trilogy. :(
 

 After not caring a lot for Tooth Worms by this author, I wanted to give them another chance, especially since I remembered having a few freebies from DarkLit Press of their stories on my kindle. Unfortunately, I enjoyed this one even less than my first experience with Lor's writing! It was another instance of too much build-up to a very rushed, abrupt ending with no payoff or explanation for what was happening. The Family kind of felt like I was reading a 12-page prequel to a longer horror story, except there's nothing to follow it up with. :(
 

 This was alright! It was gross, but I mean, you can kind of assume that from the title and cover image. I know it's a REALLY short story, but it needed less focus on the build-up and the pain, and more focus on where the hell these worms were coming from. I really don't like comparing stories in a negative manner, so I try not to do this often, but there was a story in Corpse Cold: New American Folklore that followed a similar plotline but did it SO much better (it's been years and I still get queasy thinking about it) that it made this one feel extra lackluster.
 

 I'm not sure how to describe what I expected from this book, but it wasn't this. There's nothing wrong with the book if it's what you're looking for, but the very literal steps (like going out and looking for mushrooms) weren't what I was hoping for.

Also, while I personally appreciated the author's political takes on capitalism, etc., I think it got a bit misguided at times. The book presents a sort of mindset that the wealthy have overtaken outdoorsy behaviors and the lower and middle class need to "take it back", which may be the case in some parts of the US (I truly don't know); however, as someone from the southeast (where outdoorsy adventuring is something that primarily belongs to the lower and middle classes), I couldn't help but feel like some of the author's mindsets came from a critically online sort of "twitter activism" perspective that didn't actually align with the real world as much as one might hope. 

 Idk, this is just the week of DNF titles for me, I guess. 😭 This is fine, there's really nothing wrong with it (as long as you don't mind dark romance themes ofc), I just can't get into it. I'm definitely still down to try other books by this author, though, and I might even try this one again sometime!