Review: The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ALC and an ARC of this book via Netgalley all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller.  Georgia has been accused of murdering her younger sister, but instead of prison she has been placed in a psychiatric institution on hold while she awaits trial.  She is completely aware of what is going on, but to give herself time she is pretending to have a mental break.  Unbeknownst to Amanda, Georgia is her twin and the only one she wants to talk to while she is locked up awaiting trial.  Amanda and Georgia were both adopted as newborns but neither  knew they were a twin.  They both lived very different lives growing up, and Amanda is determined to find out how they are connected and find out the truth about her new sister.  She unravels a web of lies and manipulation in a world of wealth she doesn't understand.  As she pretends to be part of Georgia's world to find the truth, she realizes that there is much more to the story than anyone let on.  

I found this to be very entertaining and fast paced.  The story alternates between Mandy and Georgia's points of view.  We get to learn about their lives growing up and who they are today.  How their relationships with their families shaped them and how things progressed to the night of the murder of Annabelle the younger sister.  There were plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and a big unexpected twist at the end that I never saw coming.   

January LaVoy remains one of my favorite narrators and she did a wonderful job with this.  She is so talented and did different voices for the different characters so you can always tell what is going on and who is speaking.

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Review: Angel Down: A Novel by Daniel Kraus

Angel Down: A Novel by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided a ARC of this book via Netgalley and Atria books, all opinions are my own.

I loved Whalefall by Daniel Krause, however this book is much different.  This is set on the battlefields of WWI and follows Cyril Bagger as he trudges through the trenches and the mud (there is so much mud).  Bagger isn't the best soldier nor is he a great guy, however when he stumbles across an angel his tune changes a bit.  He spent his time prior his service in the Army running cons, and now he swindles his fellow soldiers every chance he gets and he stays as far away from the action as he can get.  When he and his mates are sent to rescue a shrieking comrade they find something very different.  The each have very different experiences with the angel that Bagger finds and it either brings out the worst or the best in each man.

This book while it has chapters is written as one big long sentence.  There are plenty of commas, but there isn't much other punctuation if there is any.  It was an interesting choice for writing style.  I'm not a huge fan of stream of conscious style writing, and it typically doesn't work for me.   The pace is also very slow.  We don't meet the angel until many chapters in and much of that time is Bagger and his fellow soldiers tromping through mud contemplating their existence, which is probably a fairly accurate portrayal of what a soldier was going through at that time in France.  The story focuses on Bagger's experiences and what is happening around him.  Parts of this story are very gory and graphic which adds to the atmosphere.  Each person who lays eyes on the angel has a very deep and personal reaction, and is forced to have an internal struggle the longer they are in her presence.  They battle their internal demons and see who wins.

Overall I thought this was a very unique take on WWI historical horror.  I really enjoyed Bagger's growth and his relationship with Arno.  Overall the writing style and pacing on this one wasn't for me, I tend to enjoy this style more as an audiobook especially with the slower pace.  The conflict and challenges each soldier faced were interesting and really captured the human condition.

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Review: The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully

The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties Program.  In full transparency I did end up listening to the audiobook via my library, but as usual all opinions are my own.

This was such a fun cozy mystery.  I hope this ends up being a series, I would love to go on future cases with Olivia and Merritt.  Aubrey Merritt is a renowned Private Investigator, and she is looking for an assistant.  Enter Olivia Blunt, a fact checker for an online news outlet with no investigative experience but a fascination in detectives and mysteries.  Eager to learn the business and earn the respect of the famous PI, Olivia is determined to do her best and become a PI herself.

When a case takes them to Vermont, Olivia and Merritt must determine if a socialite and matriarch of the Summersworth family took her own life or was murdered.  Olivia's empathy for the family, the deceased, and the suspects often leaves her questioning Merritt's tactics and investigative practices.  She often jumps to conclusions and goes with the easiest solution instead of slowing down and looking at the bigger picture, something Merritt coaches her on.  As the duo questions friends and family members the case has many red herrings and slowly reveals several different motives.  Olivia makes lots of mistakes and thinks she is doing a terrible job on the case, however she uncovers several key clues that Merritt is able to use to solve the case.  

I thought this was really entertaining and fun.  Olivia at times bumbles around trying to please Merritt and ultimately displeases her grumpy boss, but she learns new skills and finds clues at every turn.  Merritt was very gruff and stoic and essentially impossible to impress, so nothing Olivia ever does is going to be right which adds to the humor of the book.  The banter and sarcasm isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it.  I expect if the series continues these two are eventually going to get along swimmingly.  I liked how the author kept you guessing who-dun-it with all of the characters and plot lines.  I wasn't sure until the very end, I was close, but who I thought ended up not being the culprit.

Overall if you are looking for a fun, cozy mystery, I highly recommend this one.  

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Review: The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is a strange one!  If you liked the way A Deadly Education was written, this is told in a similar style which I enjoyed, however this does bounce back and forth between "then" and "now" which made me feel like I missed something.  Frequently I hadn't been given that information yet, but with only the audiobook with was hard to reference. I had alot of "ah ha" moments with the reveals as the book progressed.  This is one of those books that I feel will make sense on a reread where you can really take in all of those points that you missed the first time.  Having read several of Khaw's books now, this on par for their writing style and you are either going to love it or leave it.  Khaw uses alot of deliberately descriptive words that you don't hear very often which again is going to appeal to some while it will be a turn off to others.

This book is fairly gory, so if you aren't a fan of descriptive gore, viscera, and blood this isn't a good one for you.  There is far more gore than dark academia.  The characters don't spend much time in the classroom developing skills or learning about their abilities.  Hellebore Academy is a place for children who have developed paranormal abilities or who are paranormal by nature.  Some students apply for entrance, but some like Alessa Li are going about their lives and appear at Hellebore in the next minute against their will. Alessa wants nothing to do with Hellebore, however she isn't able to leave the grounds.  Hellebore promises students they will be able to live normal lives after their tenure at the academy, but the education is strange and graduation day proves to be an even stranger and gruesome event.  Those who survive the graduation ceremony are locked in the library and must work together in the days they have left to survive.  This is filled with strange relationships, monsters, body horror, prophesies, and more.  This is one you really have to experience for yourself.  Once I understood the format of the book and the timeline I really became hooked into the story and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The narration was well done.  The narrator does different voices for the many characters and really captures the creepy tone of the academy.

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Review: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was delightful. I'm a huge fan of cozy scifi and cozy fantasy and this fits more of the cozy scifi bill. This follows a found family of robots who were abandoned by their humans several months ago. They were all contracted to make mediocre food for takeout, but now they have no purpose. They put their heads and coin together and decide to open their own restaurant making food they want to serve as their head chef has always wanted to make noodles that humans would actually want to eat. They each have talents to support their venture and when the their noodle business starts becoming a success they are all elated. Then the negative reviews come in threatening their hard work. The robots have to band together again to save their beloved noodle shop and thrive in a world that despite having rights for robots, still doesn't love them.

This was so wonderful. For being a novella, this packs in a ton of social commentary while still having a great storyline about found family and hope even if the characters are robots. The author's choice to use robots as metaphor for humans in this post-war San Francisco was brilliant.

I really enjoyed the narrator, they did voices for each of the characters which was important to distinguish which bot was which. If you are a fan of Becky Chambers or Travis Baldree I highly recommend this.

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Review: The Golden Age of Magic by Luanne G. Smith

The Golden Age of Magic by Luanne G. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC via Brilliance Audio and Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

Set in 1920s Hollywood, this follows Celeste, who is essentially a junior fairy godmother out on her first solo mission.  She left France when another of her order felt slighted and her mentor felt it was best for her to leave the country until tempers settled.  She is in search of her first protégé to nudge them to greatness with their inherent talents.  In Hollywood she is drawn to a talented yet unknown seamstress working hard on the set of a movie.  She also finds darkness and chaos on the set, which makes her mission more complicated than anticipated.  

I thought the author did a good job explaining the magic.  The sisterhood of the Fées Gardiennes and their counterparts the Skulks were also well explained, though it does take until the end of the book to get the information.  This has a slight romance subplot, but it doesn't really go anywhere.  Perhaps that develops more as the series progresses.  I anticipate we will get to know Celeste more as well as the series progresses and she grows into her role as a full fledged Fées Gardiennes.  I'm anxious to see how the series progresses and learn more about the other members of the order.

Overall I really enjoyed the plot and the concept of the book.  The narrator did a good job with the story and the characters.  

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Review: In the Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy

In the Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This follows Imogen, a siren in hiding.  She is the ward of a strange and abusive king who is making a show of her upcoming marriage to the captain of his guard.  When the handsome king from a neighboring country recognizes her though they have never met, things begin to unravel for Imogen.  She decides she must escape her prison of a home and the friendly king Theo may be her only hope of protection.  Imogen and Theo form a blood bond and embark on a journey to not only save her from her keeper but to save Theo's kingdom.  

I seem to be in the minority, but I thought this was just OK.  The concept was really interesting, but as a fantasy lover, so many things were left unexplained.  For example, why do the sirens have wings instead of tails? That is clearly a deliberate choice the author made to deviate from other siren/mermaid tales we've seen in the past, but we never get an explanation why or what they are for.  Also Imogen doesn't spend much time in the water so we never get to see her use her wings and she doesn't fly.  Maybe that will be made clear in the future.  As a romance reader I didn't feel the tension and chemistry between the two main characters, so I wasn't drawn into the romance aspect of the story.  I wanted more development of their relationship and character development overall.

I would have liked more development and information on the myths and lore of the world.  It was only in the last few chapters that we get a bit of backstory on the goddess Ligea and the deity Eusia.  We don't get much information on the other gods and goddesses of the world.  We also don't get alot of development of the magic system.  Imogen knows she is a siren, but she can't control her power at the beginning of the book.  She has one lesson with Theo then she seemingly is all powerful and can control her powers with no problem.   The concept of the Mage Seer was interesting but it left me confused and I felt like I missed something despite reading those parts over a few times.  I'm hoping we get more in the next book as Imogen's journey continues.

Overall this is a good start to the series, and I'm interested to see where it goes.  

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