The nitty-gritty: A visceral and bloody tale of a power struggle between two vampires. On the train, in the tunnels, it is quiet. Nearly last train. Everyone is detritus. As is she. She closes her eyes and floats. Her hands are getting colder. Her heart feels weak. Her wrist aches. Throbs. Insistently. She goes to […]
The nitty-gritty: A fast-paced adventure in space with some cool world-building ideas, but with too much of an emphasis on the romance, it lost me in the second half. Color me conflicted. I read lots of enthusiastic reviews of Shadow Run before I dove in, and based on its high ratings on Goodreads, I was […]
The nitty-gritty: Not my favorite of the books so far, but still a very funny and imaginative installment in the Sin du Jour series. At some point I thought maybe Matt Wallace’s series would start to feel “been there, done that,” but thankfully, he seems to have an unlimited supply of humorous fodder up his sleeves, […]
The nitty-gritty: More Alice in Wonderland than The Night Circus, Garber’s debut is full of atmosphere and magic, but left me confused and scratching my head as well. I was so excited when I won a copy of Caraval from Goodreads, and I was even more excited when I got my act together and read […]
The nitty-gritty: A fun and fast start to a series with spaceships, dragons and plenty of action. I do love when publishers decide to re-release older books in order to make them available to a new audience, and when I heard about Dragon and Thief, a book originally published in 2003, I thought I’d give […]
Translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm The nitty-gritty: An atmospheric and creepy ghost story that kept me turning the pages, but ultimately suffered from awkward writing and plotting. I thought it would be nice to close out the month with a ghost story, especially since today is Halloween! I was initially drawn to The Graveyard Apartment […]
The nitty-gritty: Weird and atmospheric, this short novella will mesmerize some readers, but may be just too strange for others. Her mouth split in a smile, the first expression he’d seen of her other than intent study. She stopped pacing, hands resting on her hips. There was no moon, but Jackson would have sworn (and […]
The nitty-gritty: Potential not quite realized, but a fantastic premise full of hilarious dialogue and some hard-hitting emotional moments near the end. And once again a cool cover and a really good idea grab my attention and I immediately hit that “request” button! Down with the Shine does have a great concept: a girl is […]
The nitty-gritty: A short but powerful twist on the Lovecraftian tale, a story that didn’t quite work for me, but overall an interesting, clever and atmospheric tale. Mystery lingered in the air like the scent of a scorched book. It wasn’t until I had finished reading The Ballad of Black Tom that I found out […]
The nitty-gritty: More literary ramble than horror, Mamatas’ bleak look at a changed world is beautifully written with sharp spikes of sudden violence. I signed up for drilling because I couldn’t get down to Mexico. I needed to experience life, to find something to write about. I needed pocket money. My credit score was immaterial, my […]