Dear Readers, March was an okay month for reading I read 6 books this month. I read all but 1 book on my TBR.  My ratings for this month were the lowest average review so far since I started reviewing 3 and a half years ago 0 five star, 2 fours star and 4 three star. I read 1 graphic novel, 2 science fiction, and 2 horror this month, I read 3 books in a series, 3 advance reader copies (thanks to Netgalley). I only started 1 new series Stars and Bones

Four Star Reviews:

Sundial by Catriona Ward is a family dysfunction horror novel.  The novel is scary in a psychological way that chills the reader. This is Catriona Ward follow up to the blockbuster the Last House on Needless Street which I loved and rated 5 stars. Sundial is a little slower and more of a slow burn horror with lots of tension leading up to crazy twist. This novel has two main perspectives Rob the mother to two young girls Callie and Annie, Callie Rob’s daughter is the other perspective we view. The twists come all at the end and for the most part they’re good and make sense to the narrative. They’re two narratives one in the present which was super tense and one in the past takes a really long time to get going. Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for letting me read it. Sundial as published on March 1 2022.

Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell was my favorite book this month. It is a clevesr science fiction about the world’s survival after earth has already blown up. The novels plot is half the science fiction horror movie Life meets half of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. This novel gets pretty brutal and no one is safe. The pace of the novel is good as you and the character’s race for time and answers. The big Science Fiction ideas get a little heady but I felt I was able to follow along pretty well. The backstory for the plot and how the earthlings got to this moment in time was the highlight. Stars and Bones was brutal and gory at times as bodies are broken apart and reformed not always in the right way making them nightmare creatures. The narrative pick 6 characters to tell the story, we stay with Eryn for most of it and the other character fill in the past and other areas that are important to the narrative that she is not involved yet.  I read Stars and Bones thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books. Star and Bones by Gareth L. Powell is published on March 1 2022.

Three Star Reviews:

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is a fun domestic thriller. This is my third read of the four books Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have published. They really know how to twist a relationship and man are there some twists. I’m always captivated by  the relationships and how they are portrayed. The Golden Couple is super fast paced, and makes for a very fast read. The novel tells the story from two viewpoints, one the radical marriage councilor and the other the woman who cheated and wants to save her marriage. The character of Avery and her radical on the fringe marriage councilor was great, even if there was no mystery her approach to marriage counseling was so interesting. This book was my least favorite from these authors, which isn’t that bad since I have loved the last 2. My biggest issue was the story trying to tie the story in a nice bow, which was just a stretch, there was a side story that did not need to blend into the main story. Thanks to Netgally and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read this book for review. The Golden Couple is published on March 8 2022.

Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older is the second middle grade novel in Star War’s High Republic Series. I was blown away by the first book in this series and how the stories are about children but are still taken very seriously in the Star Wars Universe. This novel is way more connected to the High Republic’s other novels especially The Rising Storm. Reader might feel disappointed because the heroes that we spent time with time with in the first middle grade novel A Test of Courage are barely in this novel, we instead get new heroes that have not existed previously in the High Republic. Of the new young padawans Ram is might favorite which his force powers able to connect to machines than they do people. The story is really action packed character development takes a backseat.

Attack of the Mutant by R. L. Stine is the 25th Goosebumps in the regular series order. Attack of the Mutant definitely goes after that comic book audience. There’s so slight horror but more of an adventure. This is one I think I would have liked as a kid, I was a big comic book reader, but now as an adult that cares about story, this goosebumps has one heck of a gapping plot hole. This story is all about tease until you get to the end. The tease is good but it goes too far with just having jump scares and nothing solid. I did like the final twist at the end. When the do talk about comics in this novel it brings up Jack Kirby’s Captain America and Todd McFarland’s Spawn. I was a big fan of this episode of Goosebumps it featured Adam West and was a double episode.

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 12 by Stan Lee is the last volume that Stan Lee wrote a majority of the Spiderman issues, he still has input on the stories but does not write the scripts after this. This volume only two notable villains Doc Ock and Kraven the Hunter, then no name villains like Hammerhead, the misunderstood Gibbon, The Smasher and the Disrupter. Spiderman battles the Hulk and a hellbent Thunderbolt Ross which was actually the weakest issues even with sometimes cool battle scenes. We finally get the mystery solved of where Aunt May has been missing. This volume had the first reprise issues, a failed release of a new Spiderman series the Spectacular Spider-Man that only had 2 issues and was featured in Marvel Masterworks The Amazing Spider-Man volume 7, was republished.