Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪.5

Elisa is convinced that her brother-in-law, Josh, is a murderer. Why? Because his fiancée has suddenly disappeared and his first wife died mysteriously. It’s almost too obvious. But no one believes her. When Josh brings over his new girlfriend, alarm bells start going off for Elisa and she becomes set on figuring out the truth behind Josh.

This really just felt like a scramble of thriller tropes and stereotypes mashed into one. Unreliable female narrator with past trauma that makes her question herself? Check. Possibly murderous relatives? Check. Did I want to know what happened? Yes. But did I enjoy getting there? Not particularly.

This wasn’t an especially shocking thriller and I had trouble getting invested in Elisa’s concerns because she was annoying. That being said, it’s decent if you’re looking for something to scratch a thriller itch.

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The Replacement Wife on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, mystery

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

What a perfect fall read. If We Were Villains takes place at an elite boarding school and centers on a group of seniors in the acting program. We know early on that our protagonist, Oliver, ends up in jail for murder, and we learn through flashbacks what led to him being convicted.

As with many academia-centered books, there are a lot of central characters and, as is usual for me, I found it hard to keep track of everyone. There are a lot of changing intra-group dynamics and those were focused on more than the actual background or characteristics of each particular person. I wish I had gotten a chance to really know them all a bit more.

The atmosphere of this book is fantastic. I could practically feel the creaky old boarding school drenched in the legacy of thespians past. The acting program focuses solely on Shakespeare, so there are a lot of passages interspersed throughout the story. This is fun to some extent, but I found myself skimming them toward the end. I do think they were creatively intertwined with the narrative, but it was a little over the top for me.

This one was kind of a mixed bag for me. Overall, I thought the setting was incredibly interesting and well crafted, but I wish the characters had more development and I was not satisfied with the ending.

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Buy If We Were Villains at an indie bookstore near you 
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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

The main premise of Payback’s a Witch felt pretty overdone, with Emmy returning to her magical town of Thistle Grove after years of self-imposed exile to serve her family’s role as arbiter for a spellcasting tournament. That being said, I got major tri-wizard tournament vibes, which was really fun and unexpected.

Emmy joins forces with a couple acquaintances, Linden and Talia, who have all been hurt by Gareth Blackmoore, expected tournament champion. While working to exact revenge on her ex though, Emmy finds that she can’t keep her mind off Talia. The romance was fun and sexy and I loveddd Talia’s badass nature and the way she bantered with Emmy.

I think the general revenge plot needed a little more background in order for me to understand why these ladies would go to suchhh great measures to get back at Gareth. It seemed excessive to get the entire town involved on such a large scale. I also wished there had been a little more world-building. Some of the witchy/paranormal elements seemed to come out of nowhere which was a little jarring.

Overall a cute witchy fall read with a great romance, but not super compelling otherwise.

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Buy Payback’s a Witch at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley Books
Fantasy/Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

What a warm hug of a book. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is part found-family, part romance, part witchy fantasy and completely heartwarming. Mika Moon exists in a world where witches are taught not to spend time together for fear of causing unanticipated harm. Her magic has been used by those around her all her life and has a result of these two circumstances, she lives in solidarity, never staying in one place for long. When she is brought into Nowhere House to care for three mentor-less witches, Mika realizes that love might not be as far out of reach as she expected.

I got majorrr The House in the Cerulean Sea vibes from this book. The three young witches are quirky and there comments are so funny and on the nose. The rest of the cast of characters is just as unique and lovable and the way they welcomed Mika in was beautiful. Mandanna created details about each character that made them so interesting. The relationships, both romantic and platonic, were multifaceted and made for such a unique way of telling Mika’s story.

I was such a huge fan of the writing style. It’s witty and funny and doesn’t shy away from profanity, but in a way that’s amusing and adds to characters’ personalities. There were so many layers to this story and so much eccentricity, but it all worked together to form a vivid plot with some of my favorite characters I’ve crossed paths with in a long time. 

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I liked The Kiss Curse much more than the first book in the series. Sterling brought back the impeccably atmospheric spooky small town of Graves Glen while upgrading the plot and introducing two sassy new characters.

Gwyn (Vivi’s cousin, if you’ve read book 1) runs a witchcraft shop in town that finds itself with a new competitor when Wells Penhallow returns to his family home and opens his own store. Obviously, it’s not long before sparks fly between grumpy Wells and fiery Gwyn. Their enemies to lovers relationship is electric and steamy and I enjoyed seeing them slowly grow into a team. Both characters were witty and had well-crafted personalities that made me love getting to know them.

There is such a jumble of genres in this book, and I was intrigued by the mystery element and invested in figuring out what was happening in the town. The plot was primarily romance-focused, but I enjoyed the other pieces as well.

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Buy The Kiss Curse at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

The Ex Hex is a cute, spooky fall romance that checked a lot of boxes, but never invested me past surface level. When Vivi’s ex, Rhys, breaks up with her, she and her best friend pretend to place a curse on him in an amusing scented-candle-and-alcohol-induced act of defiance. Upon his return to the town of Graves Glen nine years later, Vivi begins to worry that what was meant to be a joke may have done more harm than she intended.

This is a perfect book to read in the fall. The small town charm is wonderfully done, and their obsession with Halloween made for the ideal witchy atmosphere. The romance is steamy and the chemistry between Vivi and Rhys was palpable.

The actual plot? Honestly, not much happened. The ‘action’ felt pretty draggy for me, and I enjoyed meeting the characters and the world-building in the first half of the book much more than the actual plot later on.

A+ vibes, C+ plot.

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Book Review, Fiction, mystery, thriller

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham ~ Book Review

Morgan

Minotaur Books
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I’m not sure why this book didn’t quite click for me. It has all the makings of a great thriller, with Chloe grappling with the impending 20th anniversary of when her father was convicted of a series of murders and sent to jail. When teenage girls begin to go missing again, Chloe has to face the fact that there may be a copycat killer on the loose.

From the beginning, Chloe voices how difficult romantic relationships have been for her given her family history. The framing is meant to make the reader automatically question her fiancé Daniel, and I felt like this was being forced too much throughout the book. There were twists that intrigued and surprised me, but the red herrings were frustrating.

The writing style was a little flowery for me and it seemed at odds with the tense content of the story. I would have preferred if it was more cut and dry so the action could unfold faster.

Overall, this was a fine thriller, but nothing earth-shattering.

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Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee ~ Book Review

Morgan

Grand Central Publishing
Historical Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

I’m not a big historical fiction reader, so I don’t know if this is uncommon for this kind of book, but I was blown away by the sheer breadth that Pachinko covered. It starts with young Sunja follows her and her family for generations. It did a fantastic job of showing how her choices and the choices of those around her informed the generations that came after her.

This story focuses heavily on tensions between Korea and Japan and how Sunja’s Korean family is treated in Japan. There is an incredible amount of history and historical commentary, but it is woven seamlessly into the characters’ lives.

This is a long sprawling book, and I do feel that I got to know the characters in the beginning much better than those later on. The ending felt a bit rushed in comparison, and I wished these had been a bit more balanced. I got a little confused about who was who toward the end.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks ~ Book Review

Morgan

Grand Central Publishing
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I saw The Last Song movie years ago and remembered it fondly so I was excited to go into this one. It was a perfect read for the end of summer (yes, this review is very delayed). Ronnie and her brother are dropped off to spend the summer with their dad in his beach town. The characters in this story were flawed and complex in a realistic way, and it played on complicated family dynamics (especially with a moody teenager) that tugged at my heart.

The setting was described in a way that made the town and its inhabitants come to life. I loved the way that sea turtles brought people together, and the passion around saving their eggs was a catalyst for much of the relationship building in the story.

This was an odd book for me because I loved the story itself, but the writing style really bothered me. The descriptions, particularly of the teenagers, made me really aware that a man was writing, and with a female teenage protagonist, there was some disconnect that was noticeable enough that it kept drawing me out of the story.

I also felt like the antagonist was kind of introduced for no reason, and I think the story would have been just as powerful if he was removed. He seemed like a random character and his motivations for pursuing Ronnie so rampantly were not fleshed out beyond him constantly objectifying her.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance, YA

We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han ~ Book Review

Morgan

Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
YA Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪

Well, this one kind of went off the rails for me. The characters are in college in this book, and the nostalgic summer beach house vibe is kind of lost to their more grown up realities.  I really think that the series would have benefited from ending after the second book, because Belly’s choices surrounding her romantic life in this one really made me lose a lot of respect for her.

It felt like nothing of note really happened in the middle of this book. There was a big shocking (not in a good way – in a laughable way) moment at the beginning and then a rushed ending. It’s hard to give a real review without spoilers, so I’ll mostly leave it at that.

This was a quick read, and Belly and her boys are fantastic escapism that kept me sucked in, but overall, I would recommend skipping this one and remembering the characters as they are in the first two books of the series.

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Buy We’ll Always Have Summer at an indie bookstore near you
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