Review: The Hurricane Wars

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF @ pg 305 ( 65%)

When she first laid eyes on him, it was instant attraction.

That handsome visage, the clever words, his carefully assembled purple and gold robes. Even his fancy title drew her in - she'd never known the like. Everything about him screamed adventure, and she thought it was high time for some of that. He was perfect.

But when she got to know him - got to look a little closer, peer beneath that purple and gold attire - she discovered, much to her disappointment, that he was seriously lacking substance.

He was a romantic, that was certain, but with no charisma. His attempts to charm her were clumsy and obvious, which had the opposite - rather than desired - affect. Rather than falling in love with him, as she'd expected to do, she found herself pulling away. She'd avoid him as long as possible, spending time with others so that she didn't have to face his blunt attempts to woo her.

On top of that, he was fascinated with science and the workings of machines, while she was more interested in magic and flights of fancy. All she wanted was a simple story of magic, and he'd go on and on about wind and sails and the true heart of machines. Gods, it bored her.

She slowly, sadly began to realise that maybe it just wasn't going to work.

Maybe it's me, she thought, magnanimously giving benefit of the doubt. Maybe I'm just not putting in the effort I should be.

She regrouped, opening her heart to trying again. More than anything, she wanted this to work. It seemed like it should - why wasn't it??
So she let him talk on and on about people and things she cared nothing for. She let him prattle on about love and loathing, but finally his repeated insistence that LOVE was HATE wore her down. Could he not hear how ridiculous he sounded? And where was all the adventure he'd seemed to promise that first time she'd seen him? How could she have been so wrong?

She looked at him now in a new light.

Perhaps there would be others, easily wooed by romance, that would fall all over themselves for this handsome package. Perhaps others would enjoy his talk of engines and blurred lines of science. But it was time to face the truth of her own feelings: he just wasn't the one for her.
It was time for her to move on.

I hope you enjoyed this short piece of fiction which stands as my review.

In summary:
- Wanted action/adventure, got romance
- Not even good romance, just the constant 'but I HATE him/her!'
- Way too long
- Steampunk, which is really not my vibe
- Ships flying around a lot
- Promised dragons, got like a 2-page appearance
- Just not a lot of anything other than romance tropes
- Disappointing in every way

With thanks to Harper Collins for an ARC

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Review: Dead Girls Walking

Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Narrated by Tamika Katon-Donegal
Presented by RB Media

Man, I tuned out for SO MUCH of this audiobook. It wasn't what I expected and I just couldn't get into it.

The blurb suggests something like a slasher flick, with a group of black lesbian kids camping out at a horror camp. One of the camp counsellors, Temple, is the daughter of a convicted serial killer, and she's only got the gig so that she can dig up (literally) the truth about the death of her mum. Then a body turns up, and Temple 'fears that one of her father's "fans" might be mimicking his crimes.'

I was expecting a serial killer roaming the woods, picking off kids. I was expecting tense moments, dramatic kills, and the fear of someone lurking in the woods. I wanted eerie atmosphere and jump scares.

What I got was a multigenerational haunting with a lot of ridiculous supernatural stuff and Temple talking often about what a terrible person she is.

Honestly, it was just so dull to me. It seemed to go on forever - when I thought things were coming to a head and we were getting into the explanations and final battles, I was barely 50% through. And then it was just the same crap for the rest of the book. There was nothing that hooked me in and had me invested at all - by the end, I was just desperate for it to be over.

I was also really confused about who was a camper and who was a counsellor because they all seemed to be the same age? I thought counsellors were supposed to be older so they could look after campers? Not that I've ever been to one of these camps in my life ... but I read, ya know?

So essentially, because it wasn't what I was expecting and there was a lot of the same stuff happening repeatedly, I tuned out often and still never felt the need to go back and re-listen. I even literally fell asleep at one stage (which I guess is also kind of a compliment to the narrator because her voice was quite soothing).

Admittedly, I listened to most of it while sick and out of it with a cold, so that might have added to how easily I was distracted, but I did find it really hard to concentrate and stay with this one.

Horror lovers might enjoy it, but don't expect a slasher flick - this is something a bit different.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Wonder Woman (2023-) #7

Wonder Woman (2023-) #7 by Tom King
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Cheese and fkn crackers this was utter gutter.

I am actually DUMBER for reading it.

WW and Superman go shopping for a present for Batman.

Tom King tries and drastically fails to be funny.

There are cringey jokes in abundance and WW and Supes get a mani-pedi and I am so fkn MAD at Tom King for shitting all over WW like this. Who the eff let this guy write comics.

This comic is not even worth wiping yourself with.

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Review: The Hungry Dark

The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Emma Fenney
Presented by Dreamscape Media

Some excellent creepy vibes, though a bit long and meandering for my tastes.

I liked the setup, with the kids going missing and the Heedful Ones haunting our sham psychic. It was an interesting idea and it had me instantly intrigued.

Sadly, I lost interest very fast. There's a lot of family issues that I didn't care for, and didn't fully understand, to be honest. I felt it was unnecessary and slowed the story down considerably.

Freddy with his podcast was pretty predictable and again, didn't make too much sense to me. It seemed a thin excuse to get Ashley working on the case of the missing kids.

It just seemed like there were a lot of threadbare ideas holding this one together, and it never quite delivered. There were some cool spooky ideas but then it was back to mundane things; the storytelling just didn't have the consistency we needed to be properly impressed by all the eerie happenings.

I did enjoy the backstory of the setting, and there were still some great moments that held me captivated. But ultimately this one fell short of fully sucking me in.

The narration was fine, but again I was reading at 2x speed without any issues because it was so slow and full of pauses. There wasn't a huge amount of characterisation in the voices, and at times Freddy sounded a lot like Ashley. It wasn't a deal breaker, but it didn't add much to the story for me.

This may read better on paper, but it's slow in places which takes away from the creepiness this should have held well throughout. The setting and story is perfect for horror vibes, but the story wastes time with people drama, slowing things down to a more mundane pace.

If you're into crime stories with a supernatural twist, this one could work for you, but be prepared to wait patiently for the best stuff.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: The Teacher's Secret

The Teacher's Secret by Lauren North
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Emma Woods

A lot of twists and turns in this one!

Bit of a mixed bag, here. I had the narration on x2 because it was frustratingly slow and drawn out. A lot of extra info to set up all the red herrings, and the vagueness with no real point did get a little trying after a while.

Completely loathsome characters - I didn't like any of them at all and felt no sympathy for anyone involved - particularly once true colours were revealed, too!

Still, there was a lot of misdirection, and even though it was easy to guess things weren't what they seemed, there were still plenty of questions about what was actually going on. It kept me intrigued and keen to solve what was going on.

The story was probably a little heavy with extra information and unnecessary twists, but it was still intriguing and I did enjoy the guessing at everything. Crime lovers should find themselves easily entertained by this one.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Hellblazer: Rise and Fall

Hellblazer: Rise and Fall by Tom Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not quite what I was expecting from Tom Taylor, but still an interesting, standalone story.

There's a lot that goes unexplained, so it's probably not a great introduction for people looking to know more about John Constantine. There's a mention of him doing magic to impress his friends when he's younger, and then adult John is a full blown magician with no further explanation so you're forced to kind of just go along with it. So if you want the origin story look elsewhere.

As it is, though, this is a fun lil demonic story with some ... interesting ... characters.

The artwork is decent, with some great gory bits, too. It reminded me a lot of the artwork that usually accompanies a Garth Ennis comic, so I felt pretty at home with the style.

It's short but coherent and well structured. Not a lot of character development, but with a limited story like this I guess it's expected.

Not for newbies to the character, but not too bad as a standalone story.

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Review: A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits: The Amazing Journey of Ankh-Hap

A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits: The Amazing Journey of Ankh-Hap by Frank L. Holt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Nigel Patterson

A fascinating look into the mummy trade, and the life of one before and after death.

I really enjoyed the way this was laid out. There's a lot of info, but the way it's organised makes it easy to digest. This book discusses firstly the practice of mummification and its hows and whys, followed by some of the grievances these human remains suffered in later years. There's a lot of information on travelling mummies as attractions and display pieces for the rich, and how parts were often sold for various reasons - including medicinal.

There's an exploration of mummies in pop culture, and how it has impacted the societal view, turning these ancient remains into villainous figures. Further, there's the quest to determine whose remains are whose, and where, and how they got there.

Throughout, there's a focus on Ankh-Hap, a 'regular Joe' type figure, in comparison to the much more famous Tutankhamun.

I found it really easy to listen to, and fascinating. I appreciated the respect the author had, and the care he took to remind the reader that, ultimately, mummies are human remains that deserve to be treated as such.

As much as I enjoyed the audio, I think this book would really come alive with the images and figures mentioned in the audio. I'd love to have seen the accompanying photos, depictions and graphs. It was also a challenge when mummies were referred to by alphanumeric sequences, which I feel would easily be rectified by sight.

That said, I enjoyed the audio for its flawless pronunciation, which helped me really picture these historical figures instead of getting bogged down by the spelling of names.

It was an insightful, respectful exploration of mummies and their place in history as well as modern culture. I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject matter.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Crows and Ravens: Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Sacred Corvids

Crows and Ravens: Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Sacred Corvids by Rick de Yampert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Matt Weisgerber

This was a bit of a weird mix, to be honest.

I definitely tuned out more than once because it was a lot of information, but the myths and legends were still quite interesting. I was also fascinated by the concept of 'crow magic' as practiced by the author, but I don't think I'll be shapeshifting into a crow any time soon.

The author is clearly a crow/corvid NUT, and constantly refers to his crow friends that live in the trees around his house. His enthusiasm for the birds salted his words for me a bit - I found myself approaching all of his conclusions much more sceptically because he seemed to draw them based on his own predilections.

I think there was also a massive disadvantage to listening as opposed to reading, because all of the bird sounds were ridiculous and there also seemed to be a lot of parentheses used which really confused the narrative at times. Added to that, each chapter is concluded with a 'grimoire' - some aspect of 'crow magic' you can try for yourself. Having those parts read to me was a bit weird, though the background info was always interesting.

The myths and legends involved were fascinating, but I was often lost because of the sheer volume of information - sometimes just in the imparting of a particular figure's multiple names. Don't even get me started on the Irish ones - though I think I'm glad those were read out to me because I doubt I could have pronounced any of them.

It's a bit of a weird blend, having the folklore justify real world application of 'crow magic'. I keep using inverted commas for the term because it doesn't sit right with me. I'm a massive hippy and open to a lot of spiritual, magical ideas, but crow magic as described in this book is not one of them, I'm afraid. Interesting, but not something I'm sold on quite yet.

All the same, I did find listening to this audio gave me the tendency to look around outside more, and keep an eye out for corvids. It gave me a greater appreciation for the natural world, and inspired me to get more in touch with Mother Nature. So I don't think that's a bad thing.

It's certainly not a book I'd recommend to everyone - I think you have to be extremely open-minded and already inclined towards believing in real world magic. The narrator does well with the material he's given, but it's dense and hard to swallow at times.

That said, I think there will be some who take a lot from this. It hopefully will inspire the reader to look outside every now and then, and have a little more awareness in the world beyond all of our screens. And that's not such a bad thing at all.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Crash Course

Crash Course by Julie Whipple
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Heather Henderson.

Wow. This was far more captivating than I was expecting it to be!

It was a 'listen now' on Netgalley that I opted for mostly for lack of audio options. I was curious, but this gripped me immediately and I ended up really enjoying it.

It tells of United Flight 173, bound for Portland, Oregon, on December 28th, 1978. The plane crash-landed in a Portland neighbourhood, killing ten of the 189 on board. The crash had massive repercussions, not just for those involved directly but for aviation safety and cases of corporate vs consumer, among other things.

I do love my true crime, so the first part detailing the crash was fascinating. It was interesting to hear motivations behind decisions and what some of the thought processes were. This book does a great job of blending fact with storytelling, so it's never dry in delivery. The narrator helps bring the story alive with real people in the spotlight, and I did get quite invested in what happened to these people.

What follows the incident is a whole lot of finger-pointing and bureaucratic BS, and it's quite awful to listen to. There was negligence on the part of United Airlines, but as a large corporate entity they were more concerned in throwing money at making the problem go away. It never fails to distress me when I hear these stories of the justice system failing the people it's supposed to protect.

The layout of the book is fantastic - we get the incident, the practical consequences then finish with the personal impacts. It addresses the incident with respect to those involved, but doesn't shy away from calling out the wrongdoing either. It's a well-rounded, carefully researched account.

The narration was fantastic - a lively, easy to listen to voice that communicated the story brilliantly. It was essentially like listening to a crime podcast.

An intriguing, well told account that I'd easily recommend to true crime fans and those who enjoy similar podcasts.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: With a Little Luck

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Stacy Carolan.

I loved this, it was stinkin' adorable.

An ode to geeks everywhere.

Once again, I didn't realise I was reading a sequel, but as a bonus I actually read the first book a couple years back so it was an extra delight! I'd forgotten these characters, to be honest, but when I put it together it added extra fun.

Here's the plot: Jude is a Nerd (aaaaand I'm already sold) who loves to play D&D and draw comics (sold again). He stumbles on a D20 that somehow gives him unstoppable luck, and suddenly he's copping a wave of miracle occurrences. Which helps, because there's this girl he really likes ...

What I really loved most here was the way the characters were done. Maya in particular was a lot of fun, and I appreciated her development a lot. There were nowhere near as many cringe moments as I expected from a YA novel with this kind of plot - that's Marissa Meyer for you! Great characters and it's hard not to root for all of them.

There's several different elements to the story - nerd culture, music, fame, fortune, popularity etc - but it ties together effortlessly and flows nicely. I loved how many facets the characters had, and it was fun to see them exploring these things.

Also, as someone who has JUST done their first ever D&D session, it was bundles of fun listening to those references. Even my partner was giggling at some of the references, despite 'not listening'. XD

It was such wholesome, nerdy fun, and I enjoyed it immensely. The audio added a lot of fun, too, with roleplaying enhanced by music and sound effects.

A delightful, nerd adventure with a soft heart, this will have you cheering for everyone all at the same time. Even EZ won me over by the end.

Highly recommend this for nerds of all types, romance lovers, and people looking for a good bit of teenage fluff to waste a few hours with. I listened to the whole thing in a day and it was fantastic.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Like It Never Happened

Like It Never Happened by Jeff Hoffmann
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Less a thriller, more 'three straight white guys have a tough time because they were assholes as kids'.

Narrated by Noah Michael Levine.

I wanted this to be much more than it was.

The story centres around an incident, in a parking lot decades ago, that had 'deadly consequences'. From the get go, it's pretty obvious what the incident was and so any kind of tension that was supposed to be built on that, wasn't. The four boys hushed it all up for very thin reasons and decades later are faced with further consequences initiated by the death of one of them.

These are married men with troubled marriages, and for the most part the incident had nothing to do with that. The men are mostly just self-centred assholes, so it was a bit hard to find sympathy for them. The women are ball-busting go-getters with no time for their husbands' dramas.

Basically, I hated all of these characters.

There's supposed to be a thriller element from Naomi, wife of the deceased, because she's on a mission now to 'make them pay.' But she's just a journalist threatening them with the truth so it's pretty bland as far as thrillers go.

Mostly, the story is about how these three men regret the dumb thing they did but refuse to come clean because it will ruin lives they've already kind of ruined anyway.

Zero sympathy for any of these characters.

Narration was okay, but I didn't love the female voices. For some reason, men doing female voices sound so much more fake to me than women doing male voices. Aside from that, narration was fine. I was happy to listen to this at x1.5 speed so mercifully free of long pauses and dramatic slowness.

Can't say I'd recommend this one. Maybe if you're into family drama and broken marriages? But as a thriller it misses the mark.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Floating Hotel

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cozy lil space story with some excellent characters.

Somehow got from this exactly what I expected? It was a story about various random people in a hotel floating in space. I liked the chill vibe, to be honest. It was calm sci-fi - not something I've really experienced before!

Essentially, all of these characters have a past that led them to this floating hotel. Most are staff, escaping various things, but there are a few regulars as well who round out the story quite well.

I liked that each character's view progressed the story in its own way. There's no real jumping back and forth; the story marches steadily on, gaining greater insight into the players as we go.

No hectic terminology or wildly deep ideas. Just a soft lil space adventure featuring a bunch of misfits.

I do think things could have been a little more thrilling, but as it is I still enjoyed getting to know the characters and their stories. There were still plenty of moments that kept me invested in these people, the hotel, and the collective future of all.

With thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC

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Review: Shadow Baron

Shadow Baron by Davinia Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastically fun follow up to the first book.

WARNING: This review may contain spoilers for the first book, Notorious Sorcerer

I really love this world and its characters. The three stars of the series - Siyon, Zagiri and Anahid - have their own things to deal with yet they lean easily on one another, allowing their stories to intertwine without losing any drama. Siyon is dealing with his new role of Alchemist, Zagiri is trying to change policy to make Bezim a more equal city and Anahid finds herself dealing with a role she never expected to have.

Anahid really shone for me, this time around. Her story was fantastic and I really enjoyed seeing her develop more and more courage to be her own person. It's done really cleverly; nice and subtle. There was still plenty of drama to keep things interesting, but it was also fun just seeing her take on all these new challenges.

Siyon disappointed a little, but it's not entirely his fault. He freely admits he has no idea what he's doing, but it does mean his storyline is a bit of a confusing mess. Bits and pieces of magic without any decent explanation of what's going on. So I did at times find it a little pale a story in comparison to Anahid's, but it was still interesting to learn a little more about the magic/alchemy of this world and even meet some new characters (and creatures) through Siyon.

Zagiri is such a fantastic character, and even her political scheming couldn't bore me. She has pure intentions and the politics frustrated me on her behalf, making things a little more tricky. I wasn't too entertained by the rebellion talk, but it was great to see Zagiri developing, too, from who she was in the first book.

The storytelling is casual and easy, progressing things in an entertaining manner. There's a nice balance of viewpoints, and always something interesting happening. Some great moments, and a fantastic ending that's got me hanging out for the next one!

Really loved this book. Didn't enrapture me quite as much as the first - likely because I knew what level of entertainment to expect, this time around - but it was plenty of fun and a worthy follow up. I'm looking forward to what happens next.

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Review: Her Lost Soul

Her Lost Soul by Helen Phifer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Stephanie Canon

I didn't realise, going into this, that it's the second in a series. That didn't change anything for me at all. There are a few references to previous weird happenings that Maria has dealt with, but aside from that this was easily read as a standalone.

Another audio listen, and it was entertaining enough. The audio didn't really impact my read - I listened mostly attentively, and aside from most of the men sounding the same it was easy enough to hear the story as it was written.

Riley and her friends are exploring an old, abandoned mental institution (one of my favourite tropes) when she goes missing. Things about her disappearance are a little strange, so Detective Miller and her partner, Frankie, are put on the case.

These two worked well together, but I was happy to ignore most of the 'no we're just friends for real' stuff in favour of the actual story unfolding. We're given a second storyline from 1960, and I found that part particularly fascinating. Faye was an unexpected character that I was happy to meet, and I'll be googling for real-life similarities later today for sure.

Pacing was great, characters were fun and dynamic, and the story was intriguing. An easy listen.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Hereafter

Hereafter by Tara Hudson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amelia sure pants a lot for a ghost.

A romantic love story between a dead girl and an alive boy. Awww. So sweet.

I mock, but it wasn't too bad for what it was, to be honest.

Amelia is definitely not curious enough for me - she's been wandering for an indiscriminate amount of time but wakes up when she sees a boy drowning in the same river she drowned in. This forges an unusual connection between the two, and she's more interested in getting to know him than herself. PFFT.

I wanted to know EVERYTHING about this mystery girl, so I'm glad Josh took the initiative. I was insatiably curious about her history and who she was in life, and it kept me reading compulsively. It helps that the text is big and well-spaced so it was easy to devour on a readathon weekend.

There is of course a ghostly villain, but Eli was a bit pathetic. He's loathsome but seems kinda harmless? So I never felt threatened by him and didn't understand why Amelia did.

You really can't think too much about this one, because dead+alive romance makes ZERO SENSE but aside from that it was a cute lil romance. Still a better love story than Twilight.

Pace is decent, and the language is easy enough. This is a homely lil paranormal romance that questions all the same things the reader does. The characters are easy to like (Except Eli, but that's kind of the point, I guess) and there's enough balance between the soft romance and the paranormal action to keep everyone happy.

Not one that'll leave a mark, but sweet enough that I enjoyed the read.

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Review: The Poisons We Drink

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Lynette R Freeman

Story itself was a bit bland but the narration was A++ *chef's kiss*

I'd love to give a decent breakdown of the plot, but it confused me a lot so all I can tell you is that our main protagonist, Venus, makes love potions and eventually lands in hot water that she has to find a way out of. She is in some kind of debilitating pain for most of the story (for various reasons) and her family is generally a hot mess.

There are all kinds of twists and turns, and because I wasn't paying attention the whole time (the political intrigue was BORING) it was very hard to work out whose side people were actually on. It seemed like there was a lot of switching.

So very twisty, and if you're paying closer attention than me you'll likely catch a few enjoyable surprises.

I wasn't sold on the parent-hating this book seemed to favour. We're definitely seeing a teenage point of view here, with parents seeming to be the root cause of everything that goes wrong in this book. I wasn't real keen on it, and it was another thing that set my mind wandering, because I didn't really want to hear it.

That's the interesting thing about audio - if the opinions of the book aren't really shared then it's easy to tune out. I found a lot of the smaller moments really entertaining but missed the depth in a few of the bigger themes because they were wrapped up in packaging that didn't agree with me.

And there are a LOT of big themes here. There's a looooong list of trigger warnings at the start, so expect some heaviness going into this.

The lighter moments are really what kept me listening. There are some really fun scenes and interactions between characters sprinkled in amongst all the heaviness, and it was extra delightful listening to these because the narration was so fantastic.

And here we come to my absolute favourite part - the narration. Freeman did such an incredible job bringing these characters alive. Jay actually annoyed me SO MUCH but at the same time I adored that characterisation. This one gets an extra star from me just purely based on how much the narration added to the story. It was easy to differentiate between characters, and there was so much personality conveyed. Would happily listen to any audiobook from this narrator.

So while I don't think the story will entertain everyone, I would recommend this book purely on the strength of the narration. It was such a fun listen, even though the second half of the actual story dragged. Just those voices were enough to keep me going.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

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