Tag: BookReviews

Dark and Smooth

Dark and Smooth

by ajcwrites ♥ 1 Comment

Spoopy, scary, just in time for spooky season. This book actually came out in May of this year but I got around to it within the last month.

I feel like King needs no introduction. A master of his craft, and refined with age, I find myself completely absorbed with his newer stuff. Don’t come for me on the old stuff, some of that is good too, but a little before my time. (28! So young, and yet, so old. Don’t believe me? Ask my fucking knees).

It’s a book of short stories! A couple of the stories are anything but short, but that’s okay!

In this collection, King insists we readers keep coming back for more, because we like it darker, and darker, and darker. Most of the pieces in this book absolutely deliver on that front.

Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream is about one man’s brush with clairvoyance, and man, is it good. We follow Danny’s story after he has a dream of where the body of a dead girl is located. This launches a series of events as Danny quickly begins to regret telling anyone about her, as he’s now the prime suspect in her murder investigation. You’ve got to read it to get the full impact, of course, but this one kept me glued to the edge of my seat. I listened to it and read it on my Kindle.

Another standout is Rattlesnakes. Vic Trenton visits the Florida Golf Coast to escape torturous memories of his dead wife and son. He stays in a friend’s McMansion, where odd and odder things begin to happen. Things are moved around where they shouldn’t be, he’s having crazy dreams and the old woman next door might be at the center of it. It’s a slam dunk of a story.

You Like It Darker is a pricey read if you’re buying on Kindle. And King has enough money. But I won’t tell you what to do with yours. Hit up your local library for this one, on Libby, CloudLibrary, or in person, of course! Go say hi to your favorite librarian and if you don’t have a favorite librarian, go make friends with one!

Till next time.

Thanks for reading,

Alicia

4 Books For The Long Weekend and Beyond

4 Books For The Long Weekend and Beyond

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello! I work with some of the most impressive speed readers I’ve ever met. I wish I read at a faster rate so that I could make content more quickly, but alas, I tend to read at least 6 things at once, and (Can I be honest?) only finish half.

Anyways, I compiled this short list of books for you to read, because why not? You need something to do this weekend if you don’t like going outside and barbecuing. So, here are 4 books that I like in general and why:

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

You knew Miss Maas was going to make it on here, right? Yeah, you did. I should point out that you need to read the other books in the ACOTAR series before you get to this deliciously, finger licking good latest installment. As a writer that’s partial to writing fantasy, I aspire to weave an emotionally fraught story as good as this one.

Without spoiling too much, the book focuses on Nesta Archeron, the eldest sister of the Archeron women. Nesta is tested by her own abilities and by the mouth-watering Cassian, one of the strongest fae warriors seen in millennia. Cassian takes Nesta under his wing (and body, sorry, sorry) and teaches her what it means to be a Warrior.

Nesta is her own worst enemy, and you can expect to see plenty of self-sabotage, magic, and unwieldy tempers in this book. I cannot reiterate enough though, you gotta read the other books in the ACOTAR series. Honestly, I could use this entire blog post to try and convince you to read the ACOTAR series but we just don’t have the time.

Onward!

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kaylnn Baron

Ooh, spooky scary! I love a good teen horror novel, especially a slasher. (I feel like the slasher isn’t as respected anymore. As a young millennial, I’m offended) I feel like this particular niche is becoming more and more popular lately with works like Out There Screaming and All These Sunken Souls.

The story takes place at what is essentially an overnight haunted house. Except the haunted house is a bunch of cabins on a presumably haunted lake. We follow the main character Charity, who has ascended to the coveted role of the Final Girl at Camp Mirror Lake. She’s been employed there for years and when she finally receives the promotion, she’s thrilled.

Until things start to go very, very, wrong.

Her boss is suddenly absent, her friends are acting strangely, their cell signal doesn’t work, and when her friends start disappearing? The opportunity of her teenage lifetime turns into a nightmare.

Filled with mystery and absolutely heart-pounding, I started thinking about this book today and got a small chill. I devoured this book in maybe 2 days, and it is an undeniable slam dunk for the author, Kalynn Baron. Baron doesn’t usually write horror but I am so glad she tried her hand at it.

Next!

The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

This is one of my favorite mysteries and you could probably finish it in a weekend. It’s a mystery but we see the recurring themes of the impact of a narcissistic parent, loneliness, and not feeling good enough.

The story follows three Chinese American brothers: Dagou, Ming and James.

Dagou aspires to take over his Dad’s restaurant. Leo Chao is a boisterous, at times cruel man that wants to be seen as one of the Joneses in their small community in the fictional town of Haven, Wisconsin. Leo has tried to assimilate his Chinese family into this predominantly White community, but even after years of serving their neighbors some of the best Chinese food they’ll ever have and holding his own as a business man, the Chaos are still looked at as outsiders, and face prejudice daily.

Ming is the successful, wealthy son that made a life for himself outside of Haven, and tries his hardest not to look back until Leo’s death.

James is a young college student, scared of being alone and even more afraid of being a failure. James tries to navigate the pitfalls of first love while trying to keep his parents out of his affairs at college.

When Leo Chao is found frozen to death in the freezer of the Chao’s family restaurant, an investigation is launched into who might have locked him in there.

The public suspects who they think is the obvious choice: Dagou. Since Dagou has been a frequent target of Leo’s cruelty, and was most recently publicly embarrassed by him hours before his death, Dagou is put on trial and is effectively at the mercy of the small town residents that have never really seen him as one of their own. Meanwhile, James and Ming are on a mission to find out what really happened, while harboring small doubts themselves.

Even while they fight to prove Dagou’s innocence in court, the question still lingers- Did Dagou kill their father?

One more!

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

I’m not even completely done with this one, but I can tell you right now that is so damn good. The story is a queer romance set in the US in the 1950s.

My eyes have been glued to my screen as I read Nick and Andy’s story. Nick is an established reporter who is hiding his gayness from his family and his coworkers. After all, the 50s were not a great time for queer people. What I like is that while there are reminders of the progress we’ve made since this decade, Sebastian does such a good job of making you forget the perils of being a gay man in the 1950s and offers up a soul-warming, and at times heartbreaking romance between two men.

Andy is a certified mess. He is disorganized, he’s constantly losing his keys, and he feels that he will never be competent enough to live up to his father’s expectations and take on the role of running his father’s longstanding newspaper, The Chronicle. Nick works at the Chronicle and he is at first reluctant to spend any time with his boss’ son, but Andy is just too… helpless to ignore. While Andy isn’t good for much else, he does a fantastic job of melting the ice around Nick’s heart.

This is a cute, sweet story that I can’t wait to finish– you should finish it with me and tell me what you think in the comments!

And that is it, my dear people! Let me know what you’ve read, and if there’s anything else I should have mentioned on this to list to start on the long weekend.

I would normally tell you about where to get these books, but I honestly want you to visit your local library, whether digitally or in person, and pick up these books. Not judging if you’d prefer to dog ear your own copy from a brick and mortar book store though!

Stay weird~

I Don’t Know, a Ghost Maybe?

I Don’t Know, a Ghost Maybe?

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello! Welcome back to ajcreads. I’m back after a month or so, and going forward, I want to try and at least post biweekly for you guys. I’ve been busy writing my YA fantasy novel (more on that in a few weeks), and reading, and working my daytime job. Anywho, I can’t wait to tell you about Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.

If you read one of my previous posts, Creepy, Creaky Houses, you would know that I am a Sager Fangirl. Sager doesn’t miss, struggle, or falter. Home Before Dark is another slam dunk in Sager’s catalog. Did you know that Riley Sager is actually a pseudonym ? Well, now you do.

So, let’s get into it. Home Before Dark, is a heart pounding thriller that may or may not be a ghost story. I had plenty of fun guessing in between feeling my spine tingle from all of the spooky scary stuff going on in the book.

The story centers around Maggie Holt. She is the only daughter of infamous writer Ewan Holt, and Ewan has recently died due to an illness. Upon his deathbed, Ewan asks Maggie to never return to the subject of the book that made him so famous: Baneberry Hall. Maggie and her family fled Baneberry Hall, a massive estate, when she was five. Ewan wrote about the estate in his wildly successful book, House of Horrors.

The legacy of the book and the controversy surrounding the infamous house where several random and grisly deaths have occurred has followed Maggie her entire life. So much so that she can hardly get away from questions from a nosy receptionist at the lawyer’s office that tells her what Ewan left her in his will.

Ewan has left not only a sizeable amount of money for Maggie, but to her absolute shock, he’s left her Baneberry Hall. Maggie had assumed that her father sold it, but he’d kept it all these years. She ultimately goes back on her promise to not go back to Baneberry Hall due to a burning curiosity to visit the place that her parents fled from when she was so young, but to also fix it up and sell for a profit since she’s a designer.

When Maggie returns to Baneberry Hall, things are instantly sketchy. I mean, some of the stuff happening is an instant hell no for me (for real, like pack it up, turn around, no amount of money is worth this, send me my check) Ghostlike activity keeps happening in the house, people may or may not be breaking into the house to say they did for bragging rights, and Maggie is never too sure who she can trust while she investigates the past and tries to learn the true story of what happened 25 years ago at Baneberry Hall.

This novel was absolutely addictive. I listened to it on Audible and I read the physical book from my library (ahem, go to the library, go right now). This story is a spine chilling mystery that constantly begs the question, are ghosts real? Sager almost instantly drops you into Maggie’s body, and every emotion is so visceral and just fucking scary. So creepy, so good, so compulsively readable.

I would advise you to find out by picking up a copy of the book here or you can find a library in your city and borrow it from there. Beware, it might be difficult to get your hands on a copy of this title.

Have you read this one? Let me know in the comments! Are there any other books that you guys want me to read so that I can do the hard work of finding out if it’s good or not? If it is good, it will appear on the blog. I make a point to keep this a book recommendation blog and I only post about what I liked.

Keep it weird until next time (I know I will)

Keep Reading!

Keep Reading!

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Welcome back to ajcreads! I’ve been gone for a while because I can’t seem to finish any book that I start.

However, I recently finished Austin Kleon’s Keep Going and I have good things to say. I’ve been a fan of Austin Kleon since when I read his first book, Steal Like an Artist, shortly after I graduated high school in 2013. I remember being enthralled by his message that we have to stay creative even when we’re feeling uninspired and like nothing we make is original. (Side note: there’s no such thing as an original work these days. Every thing has been done, just do your best version of it!)

Keep Going did not disappoint. While so many terrible things are happening in the world right now, it’s crazy important for us to keep going as creatives. I know a lot of you might be doing Camp NanoWriMo next month, and maybe you should give this a read before you set off on your next challenge.

It’s a brief read, and there are illustrations throughout the book. Winter is a challenging time for me, so I needed the pick me up of something inspiring. Kleon touches on how we can stay creative by doing things like staying off of social media and maybe turning your phone on airplane mode, developing and maintaining a practice practice of your craft, and even having a special spot to do what you do.

This is a great read for creatives that are crawling out of the Winter Sad and need a pick me up to start doing what we as artists need to do most: make things.

You can buy Keep Going here. Or, you can use this unseasonably warm weather (72 degrees in Februrary here in Kansas) as an opportunity to go to the library and pick up a copy.

I want to hear your thoughts on how you stay inspired and motivated to keep going in those down periods. Like, comment, subscribe, and let’s start a conversation!

Till next time!

Alicia

Good Girls Get Dragons

Good Girls Get Dragons

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Violet Sorrengail, a petite but whip smart daughter of one of the commanding generals of the Kingdom of Navarre, is in for the ride (see what I did there?) of her life when she is forced to enroll in the Rider’s Quadrant of Navarre’s war college.

Frail and having been initially trained to join the Scribe quadrant, Violet will have to hope that a dragon doesn’t leave her in a pile of ash, and actually chooses her to be its rider.

This is the fantasy I’ve been looking for forever. It has been literal years since a fantasy like this kept me on the edge of my seat, and dying for more with each scene. Fourth Wing is sensual, and addictive, and left me in that place where you have a silent scream in your throat while the characters do their thing.

Violet is forced to ride alongside some of the descendants of Navarre’s traitors, men and women who led a rebellion many years ago. More than a few of them have a score they’d like to settle with General Sorrengail.

I should mention that there is a sensual, satisfying slow burn to look forward to with the one guy she shouldn’t want. Her life is on the line, and her heart is too when she comes face to face with one of the strongest men that wear the Rebellion Relic, Zayden Ryerson.

To make matters worse for her but even sweeter for us, Zayden happens to be her Wing Leader this year.

While Violet can depend on her smarts to help her escape certain death, she might not truly survive and thrive without Zayden’s help, especially since he might want to get even with General Sorrengail, too.

Ah! I don’t want to spoil too much. Just know that I am internally screaming along with you. This is a long read and will keep you busy for a while so treat yourself to it here or visit your local library.

The sequel, Iron Flame, comes out this November.

Don’t forget to subscribe and come back when I post my next book rec.

See you next time!

The Universe Provides a Fake Boyfriend: How to Fall in Love When It’s Most Inconvenient

The Universe Provides a Fake Boyfriend: How to Fall in Love When It’s Most Inconvenient

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, readers! I’m back with another book review. Thank you to those of you who have started receiving updates for my posts, it means a lot! Please follow for more fun!

Anyways, let’s get to today’s book recommendation: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert.

Hibbert has knocked it out of the park on this one, yet again. I’ve made it my mission to finish the entire Brown Sisters series and tell you all about them on this blog.

This is the story of Dani Brown, an aggressively driven PhD student coming up on the event that will make or break her career. Dani is whip-smart, drop-dead sexy, and entirely opposed to romantic commitment. Men and women have flown in and out of her orbit like satellites, and nothing ever sticks. And that’s how Dani (a shameless heartbreaker) likes it.

Dani asks the universe to provide her with her next fuck buddy, and to her delight, it takes the form of an enormous, sensitive, and delectable ex rugby player– Zafir Ansari.

However, what’s the catch to delighting in this delicious gift from the universe?

She’s falling for him.

Yes, Dani Brown’s commitment to staying uncommitted is tested when Zafir asks her to be his fake girlfriend after a pic of Zafir holding Dani after saving her from a broken elevator goes completely viral. #DrRugBae begins to circulation online and people can’t get enough of them. He asks for her help in the hopes that the attention they’re getting will help TackleIt, his rugby nonprofit for young men.

This book is so cute. Zafir is actually one of my all-time favorite male leads in a romance novel. He’s a lover of romance books (same), fiercely protective, and you can’t help but cheer him on as he forges a new path for himself after the tragic death of his father and brother. With Dani’s love and fantastic breasts (her words, not mine) he just might be able to move on.

I highly recommend this one, I’ll be reading and reviewing the last book in the series, Act Your Age, Eve Brown, as soon as I can.

You can get a copy of Take a Hint, Dani Brown here or you can make your daily trip down to your local library. (What do you mean, you don’t go daily? What’s the matter with you? Get down there now!)

Until next time! Thanks for reading.

Red Hot: How to Get a Life 101

Red Hot: How to Get a Life 101

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, hello! I have so many great books to tell you about, and today’s book is Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.

Let me start by saying that this book has made me a forever fangirl of Hibbert’s. It’s sweet and sexy and it kept me busy for about three days. I can’t think of a better way to procrastinate writing my own romance book, frankly.

So, let’s get into it.

Serious and ultimately misunderstood, Chloe Brown doesn’t have a life. Or, at least, she doesn’t have the life she wants. She usually prefers to stay in her apartment due to the chronic pain she experiences from living with fibromyalgia. Chloe supports herself by being a freelance web designer and she also has the safety net of her well-off family if shit really hits the fan.

Chloe is a creature of habit. When she deviates from her daily routine by attempting to rescue a cat that she thinks is stuck in a tree, she’s ultimately saved by her building super, Red. Her super cute, paints with his shirt off and window open at night building super.

Chloe and Red’s relationship is already tinged with tension because of Chloe’s wealth and general standoffish personality. However, despite his best efforts, Red is drawn to who Chloe might be under her prickly exterior, and so he allows Chloe to employ him in her plan to complete her list of ‘get a life’ activities. In exchange, she promises him a website that he can display his art on.

The push and pull between them as they accidentally deviate from their plans and end up toying with the possibility of forever will leave you squirming in your seat. Hibbert does a fantastic job of building up tortuous sexual tension.

It’s hot, cute, and I was sad to see it go when I finished the book. Oh, and one last thing!

Red is such a believable, irresistible, and fresh character. Hibbert pushes against society’s expectations of men as it relates to trauma and obliterates the macho man narrative.

This is the first in the Brown Sisters series, and I will be reading and reviewing the other two books soon.

You can get a copy of Get a Life, Chloe Brown here or you can visit your local library, an institution we must protect until the end of time.

Thanks for reading, until next time!

Can I Be a Teenager Again?

Can I Be a Teenager Again?

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This book was everything I needed to end my YA novel drought. Its a romance wrapped up in a story of independence and self exploration.

The story goes like this: Rishi and Dimple, two recent high school graduates from traditional Indian families, meet each other at a six week camp for web development. Dimple is going there to meet her coding idol, while Rishi is there to bag a wife and honor his parent’s wishes for him to have an arranged marriage.

I love stories of arranged marriages because that almost always guarantees that the marriage will become anything but arranged when the characters fall in love.

Few notes about this book:

  • A super fast, super light read
  • It will have you feeling rage both for the characters and at the characters
  • Will leave you feeling fuzzy because of how sweet the romance is, if you’re the kind of person that wants to feel a certain way when you read a book.

Overall, this book was excellent. I would give it a rating but I don’t do that– I make a point to only review books I adored, so there’s no point in rating it because its by default incredible to me, and with that said, I hope they’re incredible for you too! 🙂

See you next time!

You can get a copy of When Dimple Met Rishi here, or you can say hi to your local librarian!

I Wanna Be Like Noni

I Wanna Be Like Noni

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Hello, readers! Its been a bit since I’ve posted on here because I am a mess. I’m a depressed, historically unorganized, and squirelly mess. You know who else is a mess?

Noni Blake.

This book kept me company over the last couple of weeks and I think that its perfect timing that I’ve finished it the week of Valentine’s Day.

Here’s what I loved about this book:

  • Its a hilarious and clumsy story of how love can sneak up on you
  • Its an easy read, and its not predictable at any point
  • Claire Christian convinces you to live vicariously through Noni. Do you have an urge you’ve been resisting? One that would be more in line with who you are? Then you will identify with Noni and the rapid snowballing of every decision she makes throughout the course of the novel.

With everything going on, its easy to forget to allow ourselves pleasure. Noni Blake allows herself several months of unrestricted pleasure after she fails to cope with the end of a nine year relationship. She decides to take a long break overseas, and that trip turns into an Eat, Pray, Love, style pleasure quest, but with a lot more jokes.

Ultimately, I loved that Claire Christian helps us keep one thing in mind: we often live our lives the opposite of how we should, with pleasure squeezed in where we can get it, and our priorities at the center. We should be living our lives in reverse.

Pleasure should be at the center of your life, and the rest should follow.

You can pick up a copy of Its Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake here. Or you can visit your local library.

Scary Faeries

Scary Faeries

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello readers! I recently finished Darling There Are Wolves In The Woods, and I’m still missing it!

I’ve read a lot of stories about the Fae, many of them were more fantastical and in some cases lighter, but DTAWITD skips that route. This novel, the first in the Wicked Woods Chronicles, is both a satisfying and terrifying romance.

The reader is pulled throughout a terrifying world of faeries, witches, wolves, and just about anything else that could scare the shit out of you while keeping you completely absorbed.

The story does not hold back on showing us the dark side of the faerie world as the protagonist, Teya, makes her way through the scary woods with a handsome faerie, Laphaniel, by her side.

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Hush The Woods Are Darker Still because I’m not ready to step out of the world that L.V. Russell has created.

You can grab a digital copy of Darling There Are Wolves In The Woods here.