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librarianryan's reviews
6364 reviews
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Wow. This is a bloodcurdling good time. This story has three parts where we follow three different main characters. The first part is about Erin who caught the new pandemic virus. This virus is way worse than Covid. It turns Erin into a brain eating thing. Part two we follow a prostitute who catches the disease and learns through eating brains and then regurgitating them. She also “gets off” on her murders as she can no longer “get off” from her old profession profession. The third part is about the chosen woman. The woman who’s lived her entire life growing tumors and the part those tumors play in the apocalypse. All the stories come together for lackluster ending. I listen to this on audiobook and was thoroughly engrossed. I didn’t want to stop, even when I needed to take breaks because of disturbing mental. The last hour of this book was ugghh. Some of the action was predictable and at times it was felt like the author had run out of ideas and couldn’t come up with anything better. The book also ends at a weird point. You think there’s a problem with your audiobook and that you’re not at the end of the story but you are. So, except for the last hour, this was a good book. This book is a four-star read. The last hour of this audiobook was a two star read. Trigger warning for everything. If you are not in hard-core blood and guts with a little bit of erotica thrown in, do not pick up this book. If you like a good monster tale, that leaves your eyes wide then pick this up and hopefully you like the ending better than I did.
After Oz: A Novel by Gordon McAlpine
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I don’t know what I was expecting from this book but an addictive murder mystery was not it. While this book is about Dorothy Gale, it has nothing to do with the land of Oz. It is a historical murder mystery. We start with a tornado ripping through a community and everybody looking for Dorothy. She is missing for four days. She just walks out of field and says here I am and I have been in Oz. Dorothy is a tad bit scared because she melted a witch. The community thinks she’s crazy. And until a few days later when one of the matriarchs of the town is found dead with her face melted off. The first half of this book is “what to do with Dorothy”. Did Dorothy do it? The town has a hearing (not a trial) to show if evidence can prove Dorothy could have killed this woman. The evidence is interesting and intriguing and me going WTF! Dorothy is sent to live in an asylum. And that takes us the halfway point.
The second half of this book is learning more about the towns people because there is somebody who thinks this can’t be Dorothy and they’re bound determined to prove it. Listening to this book it felt like a cross between the old movie Return to Oz. At least the part of that movie before she ends up back in Oz, and To Kill a Mockingbird. That seems like a weird comparison, but that’s just the way it made me feel. The second half of the book feels like different version of an old show called Christy. A big city lady coming into a new town and a type of life she doesn’t understand but trying to make things happen. This book was addictive. It was engrossing and the entire time I’m listening it I keep thinking - I want this for Book Club. I want to talk to other readers; I want to talk to all my Oz loving friends and ask “What do you think?”. At the end of the audiobook the reader is notified that the author has died, and this was their last work. I haven’t read anything else by this author and it’s a shame that he is gone because I would read what he would do next.
Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I know this book has a large following. And I understand why. The artwork is amazing. I would read anything this author chooses to write and draw. There are so many books about Hades Persephone and Greek myth in general right now. And while I did like this story, and Hades Persephone is one of my favorite stories, I found the story hard to follow. There are trigger warnings in the beginning, which are helpful, but there’s something I dislike about this book. It left me feeling like I do almost every time I read Hades and Persephone telling. It’s not a bad feeling. It’s not a good feeling it’s just ahhhhuggggg. I did like this book. I just have not decided if I want to read any more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
The Midnight Game by Cynthia Murphy
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Where’s the mirror? Growing up horror games were always exciting. They were a way to send a chill down young adults back. Is it real? Is it not. This book examines those types of games, but instead of Beetlejuice, they’re trying to stay away from the Midnight Man. Teenagers decide to play the Midnight Game at a small private school. You play from midnight to 3:33 am with rules to keep from getting caught by the midnight. If you get caught, you will be eviscerated. But there’s more than just the demon. This book was a fun ride. It was horror with a little bit of blood and guts but not extremely graphic. It’s a mix of prose, text messages, online chats, etc., one of my favorite parts about this book is reading the online chat? They’re all in screen names and the rest of the chapters are devoted to individual characters, but you don’t know which character has which screen name. That’s part of the mystery for the reader to figure out. This was a fast pace, medium horror novel perfect for YA. It’s decent for middle school and as long as it’s known there are blood and guts. This was a really fun read and it makes me want to explore more books by Cynthia Murphy.
Perfect Villains by Jennifer Torres
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
This book was adorable. It’s about two young ladies who are at the school for young Royals, but they really want to be at the school for villains. They tried playing pranks on the other girls at the school just to have them not turn out the way they were expecting. Is there a real villain at the school? I think so but I also think it’s what helps drive this story. Altogether, this would be a fun series that those who like princesses are going to want to read again and again.
I have a complaint for scholastic. The word princess or princesses is only used three times in this entire book. Instead, the book is a mix of Spanish and English known as Spanglish. Repetitively throughout this book, the words, Princesa, and Princessa’s, as well as professas, are used instead of its equivalent. I think Scholastic is not using the Spanglish in the title of the book and only let it be throughout the pages. We need more diverse books and hiding the diversity under the pages instead of on the cover is a bad move. The princesses may sell more then princessas but if scholastic bothered to use the Spanglish, they might find the book had more staying power in classrooms and on shelves.
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is the third and final book in the girls guide to murder. I loved book one, two was entertaining, but I’m really annoyed with Book 3. They give Pip drug problem. Barely a drug problem. She just really needs to sleep, and she needs the chemical enhancement to do it. She’s not doing well after the events of book 2. She needs one more, one more true crime to solve and get it out of her system. She set out to solve one murder, but ends up falling down the rabbit hole of a different event. Throughout the course of all this, it feels like the drug issue dissipates. I hate that it’s there. It does have a bigger plot point, but it’s not needed. They could’ve made the same plot in a different manner. I think the ending is more true life to what might actually happen in similar circumstances, but I really didn’t like it. My dislike of book 3 in the series will not keep me from reading anything else by this author. I have already bought them and plan to read them. But part of me wishes I could go back in time and not read book 3.
Pip's Adventure by Ashling Lindsay
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
This is a book about pip finding a friend. Pipp is happy to be alone with no one and nothing. Until something takes him out on an adventure. There he meets a friend and realizes that friendship helps make a big world feel more homely. This was a nice book. It was a tad long, but overall the stories and the illustrations work together while. (Take note, the title may have changed. I read it as Pip’s Adventure, but I am finding it online as The Other Side of the Valley)
Paul the Peacock by Tilly Matthews
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When Paul loses all his feathers in storm, he learns that your actions have consequences. You’re not special just because you’re beautiful. If you don’t treat people right when you need something they might not be around. This book was lovely and fun. The illustrations are exactly what one would expect from Happy Yak, and the story fits perfectly with all their other books. There’s a reason Happy Yak is one of my favorite publishing imprints.
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
slow-paced
3.0
I read this book in high school For the most part I loved it but hated the ending so much that I threw it across the classroom right after i finished it. The rest of the class was taking a test on the Scarlet letter. UGGGGGHHHHHHHH
Oliver the Osprey by Ron Zera
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
This is a book I would not recommend. Because there are potentially hazardous things included in its pages. The author is trying to talk about a story between some birds and some kids that last through the years. But within the story, the kids feed ducks bread to keep the ducks away from the fish to help the birds. You shouldn’t feed ducks bread. They’re harming one animal to help another. Later in the story, they want to help the bird build a nest by offering its shoes and a yo-yo. To me that’s putting your garbage out in nature instead of where it should be. Then you have the section of where they’re trying to touch, this wild animal. There were just so many things about this book based on the content of the story that means I would never carry it in my library. Add that that the book looks and feels very self-published and not in a good way. This book feels like a high school student was rushing through an assignment to get it turned in.