Review: Bird Box

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who needs Stephen King when you have Josh Malerman?

This is the first horror book I've read that legitimately creeped me the heck out. This was crazy spooky, and I loved it so much. I got it on Halloween, hoping I could be even just the slightest bit creeped out on such a ~spooky~ night, and wow, this was amazing.

This switches off between past and present experiences of Malorie, but both timelines seem to merge together the more you read on. In the present, she's raised her kids not to see outside. She has trained them to hear very well, and finally, they make an escape to freedom. They have to row down a river blindfolded with dangers lurking about around them. In the past timeline, Malorie joins a house full of survivors trying their best to be safe from the unknown dangers around them. Over time, arguments fight and everyone starts to psychologically break down.

This is 100% a book you have to read in bed, at night, and in the dark. It had me backed up against the wall of my bed scared to look out into the dark. Every moving shadow I saw actually made me tense up. There's something about the danger lurking about here, where no one knows what it is, and that's honestly scarier than some killer clown or disease-ridden zombies.

It really messes with the characters' minds.

The writing was so amazing. It made me feel like I was right there along with everybody the whole time.

I would recommend this book to everyone looking for a good scare.

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Review: Mr. Splitfoot

Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a spooky audiobook I listened to on my rides to and from home and college. It was very creepy, not in a "spooky" way, per se, but just the gist of it itself. These orphans are raised by an overbearing, abusive pastor. Ruth, one of the children, ends up taking her pregnant niece on an adventure, and the two worlds intertwine slowly, and secrets come out.

The ending was creepy and sweet at the same time! A good book.

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Review: The Tethered Mage

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for an advanced e-book copy of this story! All opinions are still my own and are not influenced in any way.

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso is a young adult, fantasy novel about an esteemed heir, Amalia Cornaro, who, by accident, becomes a Falconer. Falconers control Falcons: mages with different and distinct powers, and Amalia ends up with one of the most powerful. With this newfound power, Amalia is thrust into political situations and must stop her country and a neighboring country from going to war.

This book was so amazing, and I really hope you all read it when it comes out. The characters were all so flushed out. You really ended up rooting for the main three. These three characters' personalities worked so well together that it was a pleasure to experience their interactions and feelings.

This book is full of mystery - there seems to be about three mysteries going on at once. Caruso did not fail to surprise me. The different plots were so well entwined, and I'm obsessed. The plot twists were not predictable (at least to me), which makes the whole story even more interesting. Who's behind all this?! Gotta read to find out!

The writing style was beautiful and had me basically watching the whole story play out in my head. It's difficult these days to find a book with such great writing that that happens, but this did not fail to disappoint!

This book is very much politics. I do have trouble sometimes wrapping my head around all the different people and still did so here for a good half of the book. The politics doesn't take away from the action (although it is all intertwined); there are still plenty of action scenes to keep your attention.

View all my reviews

Review: The Tethered Mage

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for an advanced e-book copy of this story! All opinions are still my own and are not influenced in any way.

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso is a young adult, fantasy novel about an esteemed heir, Amalia Cornaro, who, by accident, becomes a Falconer. Falconers control Falcons: mages with different and distinct powers, and Amalia ends up with one of the most powerful. With this newfound power, Amalia is thrust into political situations and must stop her country and a neighboring country from going to war.

This book was so amazing, and I really hope you all read it when it comes out. The characters were all so flushed out. You really ended up rooting for the main three. These three characters' personalities worked so well together that it was a pleasure to experience their interactions and feelings.

This book is full of mystery - there seems to be about three mysteries going on at once. Caruso did not fail to surprise me. The different plots were so well entwined, and I'm obsessed. The plot twists were not predictable (at least to me), which makes the whole story even more interesting. Who's behind all this?! Gotta read to find out!

The writing style was beautiful and had me basically watching the whole story play out in my head. It's difficult these days to find a book with such great writing that that happens, but this did not fail to disappoint!

This book is very much politics. I do have trouble sometimes wrapping my head around all the different people and still did so here for a good half of the book. The politics doesn't take away from the action (although it is all intertwined); there are still plenty of action scenes to keep your attention.

View all my reviews

Review: The Tethered Mage

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for an advanced e-book copy of this story! All opinions are still my own and are not influenced in any way.

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso is a young adult, fantasy novel about an esteemed heir, Amalia Cornaro, who, by accident, becomes a Falconer. Falconers control Falcons: mages with different and distinct powers, and Amalia ends up with one of the most powerful. With this newfound power, Amalia is thrust into political situations and must stop her country and a neighboring country from going to war.

This book was so amazing, and I really hope you all read it when it comes out. The characters were all so flushed out. You really ended up rooting for the main three. These three characters' personalities worked so well together that it was a pleasure to experience their interactions and feelings.

This book is full of mystery - there seems to be about three mysteries going on at once. Caruso did not fail to surprise me. The different plots were so well entwined, and I'm obsessed. The plot twists were not predictable (at least to me), which makes the whole story even more interesting. Who's behind all this?! Gotta read to find out!

The writing style was beautiful and had me basically watching the whole story play out in my head. It's difficult these days to find a book with such great writing that that happens, but this did not fail to disappoint!

This book is very much politics. I do have trouble sometimes wrapping my head around all the different people and still did so here for a good half of the book. The politics doesn't take away from the action (although it is all intertwined); there are still plenty of action scenes to keep your attention.

View all my reviews

Review: The Winner's Curse

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A big thank you to this book for getting me out of my reading slump ❤️

This book was so good! It was definitely the fantasy book I needed to get out of my school-induced reading slump. It had me hooked from the start with a badass character named Kestrel, who's actually not that good at fighting. This is different from the new trend of kickass female characters that all know how to kill a man. This didn't make her any less badass--she was still super clever and used that to her advantage all the time.

She's sort of like a second-rate Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass. Or maybe I just kept thinking of how the cover looked so much like Queen of Shadows... Honestly...



The romance seemed forced to me, but that may be because I didn't care much for Arin. I 100% understood why he did what he did, but I also 100% did not trust him or care for him. He hurt Kestrel but she still ended up falling for him, which honestly just pissed me off. I mean I'm not for slavery or anything, but I was honestly rooting for Kestrel to win here (to be fair, she doesn't really condone slavery either).

Their relationship was not healthy. I do not approve. Kestrel should've stuck with Ronan.

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Review: A Love to Remember

A Love to Remember by Bronwen Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Love to Remember is a historical romance novel about Rose and Phillip, two people who have always loved each other but refused to marry. Eventually, Rose does want to marry and have children, but Phillip is still dead set against that lifestyle, so they break up. Unfortunately, they still have feelings for each other and have to cope with being alone. Will they end up back together, stay friends, or what?

I didn't really like the plot until the last 1/3 of the book, where everything became high stakes and dangerous. Rose was the typical "strong, independent woman" up to a point where she seemed to just become useless and dependent on Phillip for everything. I understand wanting to marry, there's nothing wrong with that, but she just becomes so helpless and fragile.

The romance was interesting. There weren't many sex scenes, which surprised me, considering most adult romance novels have one almost every chapter. The relationship between Phillip and Rose was very dependent and needy, and it seemed a bit uncomfortable to read about at times.

The book wasn't amazing, but for what it was, it wasn't horrible. If you want a quick, sappy romance novel with some actually decent plot, this is for you.

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