A roundup of several more small reviews I wrote in Spring 2025. Beware of spoilers!
Title: A Most Extraordinary Pursuit
Author: Juliana Gray
Series: Emmaline Truelove #1
I liked Emma well enough, but there was a lot going on. 1. She inexplicably sees and converses with dead people; I think the intent is for her to wrestle with her conscience Jiminy Cricket-style, but it comes across more like she’s having full-on hallucinations. Frequently. 2. People are inexplicably moving through time, and turns out Whatshisname can manipulate time? Kind of? 3. There’s a suspicious death and a missing heir to locate. 4. The epigraphs, a story-within-a-story retelling the same story we’re reading from a different perspective–sound confusing? It was.
Then there was Silverton, the love interest, who had charm and charisma coming out his ears, but I’m with Emma–his promiscuity was a major turnoff for me. I hope she makes sure he kicks that habit before marrying him.
So while the premise–the adventure of finding the heir after the father dies suspiciously and investigating what’s happened–appealed to me, and I like the lead character, everything else going on splashed over me like buckets of clashing paint colors. The overall effect felt weird and incongruous. I’m not surprised the series only has two installments. Well, two and a half.
Title: Once Charmed, Twice Cursed
Author: Shaylin Gandhi
Series: n/a
Thank you to Shaylin Gandhi, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a very simple story with a lot of angst. It don’t believe it’s marketed as YA but it read like YA. By simple I mean it was a straightforward plot, no subplots. Very Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending. A boy and a girl want each other but the worlds says no. One day they say fuck you, world, and get together anyway. The end.
That’s not to say I didn’t like it. This was a lovely romance that I enjoyed listening to, though I could have done without the explicit sex. The narrator, Kimberly M. Wetherell, was excellent. Bria came across as a little airheaded, but sailing through life with fantastic luck doesn’t exactly cultivate problem-solving skills, as the narrative points out. Weston was a little self-flagellating, but when you claw through life experiencing nothing but adversity and disdain, you’re not likely to have much confidence, again as the narrative points out. Overall it was an intriguing premise with thoughtful execution.
Title: Booked for Murder
Author: P. J. Nelson
Series: Old Juniper Bookstore Mystery #1
Thank you to P. J. Nelson, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNFing at 49%. It’s not necessarily a bad book, but it’s boring me and I’m only half paying attention at this point. The plot was front-loaded with action, but now it’s just women at various points of middle age—a failed actress, a female priest, and a college professor—talking, talking, talking. The writing’s not particularly funny, nor is anyone charismatic enough to hold up this sagging middle with sheer personality. The only character I care about is Tandy’s poor boyfriend. No one else has made much of an impression, and the lead is pretty blah. She didn’t want to be there as a kid, she doesn’t want to be there now, she doesn’t even particularly want to investigate, so I’m wondering—if the MC gives zero shits, why should I? If you’re going to be just another cozy mystery set in a bookstore, you’d better have a unique, captivating voice, and this book does not. Not to my taste, moving on.
Title: Death at the Highland Loch
Author: Lydia Travers
Series: Lady Poppy Proudfoot #1
Thank you to Lydia Travers, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this cozy mystery! Lady Poppy is a likeable and sympathetic lead, accompanied by the darling Majors. She’s intelligent without being arrogant, playful without being immature. I did lose track a bit of who was who among the secondaries, but still followed along well enough. The references to the previous series was a little heavy-handed for my taste. I’m not sure this book is particularly memorable, but it was pleasant to listen to while I worked outside. If Travers’s other books were at my library, I’d listen to more, but they’re not. Bummer. Sarah Barron was an excellent narrator and handled the accents well, as far as I could tell.
Title: A Most Parisian Murder
Author: Millicent Binks
Series: Opal Laplume Mystery #1
Thank you to Millicent Banks, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF 39%. I’m bored and don’t really care about the characters or the story. We also haven’t gotten much into the murder, either—it’s there, but there’s no tension or stakes. The stakes will probably come sooner or later but I doubt the tension will rise.
Opal is nice enough but doesn’t have much personality or charisma. Kind of airheaded, actually, or perhaps that’s naivete. Also, I don’t see a good reason why Opal should want to get involved other than she obnoxiously believes she’s the most observant person in the world and could easily figure out whodunit if the stupid police would just let her. Her fascination with hats and feathers is not something I can relate to, nor do I care about show business.
I’m not sure who the love interest was meant to be, it wasn’t clear yet at 39%, but if it’s the detective, yikes. Neither the author nor the narrator, Antonia Beamish, did him any favors.
And I have a huge peeve with the writing—those jarring switches to first person inner thoughts, usually italicized in print. They’re awkward and clunky and unskillful normally, but they’re so bad in this book they made me physically cringe. There’s no reason a writer needs to switch voice and pov to deliver one sentiment.
The book just overall isn’t to my taste. Why did I bother requesting it? Well I don’t give a fig about the Amish, yet I love Linda Castillo’s series. It depends on the writer. I hoped I’d love it, but alas.
Title: Reign of Cinders and Glass
Author: Linsey Hall and Veronica Douglas
Series: Fated Fairytales #1
Much thanks to Linsey Hall, Veronica Douglas, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is an interesting retelling of Cinderella. A good book, not a great one. Ella’s likeable and sympathetic, though she seemed rather overpowered. She can converse with and control plants and animals? And explode magic heart things? Pretty convenient. Cassian doesn’t have much personality beyond resentful grouch and being fixated on Ella. I didn’t enjoy his character much, and the narrator for him, Daniel Henning, made it 100% worse. I very much disliked his narration. He chewed the scenery so hard and gave Cassian a high-pitched whiny voice that would be more suited to an ingratiating assistant or underling that we’re not supposed to like. Or a villain in a children’s novel. I just didn’t like his voice or style. Jesse Vilinsky as Ella was better, though at times she was melodramatic, too. I love narrators who can deliver emotion and add depth to the script, but these two needed to dial it back a tad.
With Ella’s sister being Belle, I’m guessing a Beauty and the Beast retelling is next. I’m also guessing Cassian’s brother is the Beast. *googles* Kingdom of Roses and Flames, slated for next spring, which is a surprisingly long time away for a writer who seems to put out ten books a freakin’ year. I’m not jealous, you’re jealous.
Title: All We Lost Was Everything
Author: Sloan Harlow
Series: n/a
Thank you to Sloan Harlow, Penguin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a half-assed double murder mystery-slash-thriller wrapped in the angsty and dramatic life of a teenager, delivered at times like YA women’s fiction and at others a romance. This book wanted to be ALLLLL the genres, and it was supremely annoying. Also there was a love triangle, which was supremely annoying as well. I wanted to DNF this several times, but held out for the solution to the mystery. And when I realized my instincts about whodunit had been right from the beginning, it felt so lame. Harlow did a great job building it up and making it seem super dark and complex, and it really wasn’t. Also, Logan’s POV was superfluous. If it had been a true dual-POV romance, it would have been more useful, but not necessary with the focus always on River. These books that can’t decide which genre they want to fit in drive me nuts, because the story is inevitably unfocused and the execution messy.
And I don’t care if books suggest teenagers have sex; that’s just reality. And I’ve read my share of erotic new adult romances. But while the teenagers here weren’t minors, with all the emphasis on parents and school life, they felt like children. So it felt pretty icky to experience their sexploits in graphic detail. Skipped that.
Overall, not to my taste. I had hoped for more sleuthing and less Romeo and Juliet.
Title: A Simple Twist of Fate
Author: April Asher
Series: ?
Thanks to April Asher, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was fun! As a romance it was kind of lazy—avoid, avoid, kiss, done deal; they’re fated, both single, and already in love, so there was zero conflict—but as an urban fantasy it was really interesting, the comingling of creatures and realm lore, though the supernatural species were all talked about as if a reader well-versed in fantasy is a given. I wish either of those aspects had been expounded on rather than focusing on the trite small town festival subplot. The challenges were entertaining and explored the secondary characters well, but it was truly superfluous and beside the point of the more important plots. Absolute filler. Some of that time could have gone toward foreshadowing and building tension for the “plot twist” in which Harry’s offered a job back in NYC, because that came out of nowhere for the reader as much as the characters.
I couldn’t get used to the name Harry referring to a woman, and the hero was a little too broody and one-note. Despite Grace’s teenage attitude, she was my favorite character, probably because there was plenty of conflict, emotion, and mystery surrounding her–not that I didn’t immediately know what she was, even without the spoiler on the cover.
I couldn’t find mention of this being the start of a series, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of subsequent installments; there’s at least three or four other romances to see to fruition. I enjoyed myself enough to be interested in those, but god I hope they involve more intriguing conflict and higher stakes than that of winning a silly contest and a sure-thing romance.
