Review: What We Did to Survive

What We Did to Survive by Megan Lally
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for my pre-release copy of What We Did to Survive by Megan Lally. Below is my honest review.

I loved the first two Megan Lally books. They were so much fun. This one was good as well, but didn't carry that same... je ne sais quoi... for me. There was a lot of bickering in this one - understandable considering the situation they were all in, but it felt a lot more juvenile than YA. I did like the characters, and the plot overall was decent. The villain was realistic and very close to the idea of "everyone knows a douchebag like this" (but maybe without the willingness to kill LOL). The twist at the end didn't feel original and kind of killed the emotional payoff of what they went through for me.

All in all, 3.5 stars rounded up. Still a fun read, but not my favorite of Lally's books.

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Review: A Deadly Inheritance

A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tundra for the pre-release copy of Kelley Armstrong's A Deadly Inheritance. Below you'll find my honest review.

This is my first of Kelley Armstrong's YA novels. I've read a huge chunk of her adult catalogue and she's one of my insta-buy authors, so I figured it was time to give the YAs a shot when I saw this one available for request on Netgalley.

I'm glad I did. This was a solid YA mystery with lots of twists and turns and (mostly) believable sleuthing by the main characters. I loved the setting and the characters, and the main character wasn't insufferable like in so many YA stories.

But it also wasn't perfect. There were a few things that felt out of place for teenagers in today's world like mentions of "smelling his aftershave" (I'm 41 and know NO adults that use aftershave now, so would a teenage boy be using it? I dunno, but it felt off to me) or "layaway plans" (I had to net-search to even see if there are stores left that offer layaway still! Maybe this is sign of my privilege to never having had to use layaway, I guess?).

And the biggest thing I have to gripe about is the romance aspect. I'm pretty danged liberal, and I'm not judgmental of weird relationships between consenting adults, but having a group of teenagers basically be in a throuple after knowing each other for a few months was odd. It wouldn't have even been a problem for me at all if it wasn't made such a huge focus, distracting from the mystery. Kudos to Armstrong for showing that not all relationships have to meet some traditional guidelines, but it shouldn't be getting in the way of the main plot of the novel.

All in all, I really enjoyed it and will definitely read more of Armstrong's YA back catalogue. She's one of my top fave authors.

Highly recommended for fans of Inheritance Games, Truly Devious, YA dark academia, mysteries, secret societies, etc.

Three and a half stars rounded up to four.

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Review: Daughter of Crows

Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Ace for the prerelease copy of Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence. Below you'll find my honest review.

Mark Lawrence is the King of Trilogies. It's just fact. Every trilogy he writes is immaculately well done, with the story spread over three volumes just right, and each feeling like its own complete volume in that trilogy. Daughter of Crows is further proof of his rightful crowning as King of Trilogies.

This one follows characters from the Academy of Kindness, where a bunch of girls go to train, but also to die - only three will survive and bear the title of Kindness, and then go out into the world meting out justice.

This story jumps around and follows multiple POVs through different time periods, and not everything is as it seems.

Also there are some magical elements to the story, some warring factions, some interesting mythological lore-borrowing (like the Morrigan), etc.

A little bit of a pacing issue for me in some parts, but not something I feel like everyone will find to be the case.

Highly recommended for fantasy fans, 4.5 stars rounded up.

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Review: Wolf Worm

Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the pre-release copy of Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher. Below you'll find my honest review.

This was my first T. Kingfisher. It won't be my last. I regret not jumping on the bandwagon sooner on this one.

Absolute banger of a tale - meticulously precise in the scientific and artistic aspects, clever twists, a fantastic protaganist, a creepy setting, an entertaining plot, an extra little OOMPH that I didn't expect but am really thrilled with, and some really gross skin-crawling wolf worms.

Five stars, knocked it out of the park, recommended for any and all horror fans.

(Warning: this book is not for the squeamish. Wolf worms are absolutely nasty little things. I'm seriously rethinking ever going outside again.)

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Review: Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw

Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw by Eric LaRocca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Saga Press for the pre-release copy of Wretch by Eric LaRocca. Below is my honest review.

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this one. It was quite compelling to read, but it was also pretty hard to read in other places. It was definitely disturbing, and touched on some dark and triggering subjects. Overall, I enjoyed it - it was really hard to put down once it got going - but the characters weren't likable, so I didn't feel myself rooting for anyone. And the ending was a little meh overall. There were some draggy parts too.

3.5 stars, rounded down - a good story with some execution issues.

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Review: Kidney Stone Buster: The Quick Guide to Prevent Stones Fast

Kidney Stone Buster: The Quick Guide to Prevent Stones Fast by Anthony Dat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Butterfly Effects

Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Seanan McGuire's Butterfly Effects. Below is my honest review.

It's no secret that Seanan McGuire is one of my absolute favorite authors. I'll shout about her works from the mountain tops. She's so good! And this one is further proof that she walks around on the daily with ENTIRE WORLDS living in her head. I have no idea how she gets anything done when all of these stories and characters and alternate dimensions and storylines all take up space in her noggin!

But she gets them down on paper and shares them with us, and I'm thankful for that.

This one picks up some of the threads left behind after Sarah's books and weaves them back into the main story again, and I am absolutely thrilled with how this one went down. What a ride!

I can't say too much without spoiling things, but I think if you've read the rest of the series, the payoff of some longstanding story threads will really satisfy you.

Five stars, highly recommended, but you're going to spoil most of the rest of the series if you pick this one up first. It's a culmination of so many character storylines that it's a bad place to start.

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