Dear Readers, August was a good month for reading catching up on my TBR, I ended up all books on my monthly TBR and read one extra. I reread some old favorites, 3 horror, 1 graphic novel, 1 mystery.   I read 6 books this month, 2 five stars, 2 four stars, 1 three star and 1 two star. I read 3 books that are part of a book series.

Five Star Reviews:

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is an epic horror novel about a new vampire that steals children to stay young. The novel is no holes barred and will show you the ugly side of life and even the hero, the novel will kill characters you care about as well. This novel is going to be like “Die Hard” in the sense that this is a Christmas novel, where Christmas is heavily featured I would say not but there is room for argument, and it would make a pretty messed up version of a Christmas novel. Charlie Manx is a great terrifying villain who thinks he’s doing the right thing as he rids children of their parents and all emotions except innocence which turns the kids into innocent monsters. The hero Victoria or Vic is a deeply flawed character with a lot of strength and heart. This book is full of interesting side characters Bing, Charlie Manx’s assistant is hilarious yet terrifying. He’s like a kid constantly throwing violent tantrums, but doing this as an adult is frightening on so many levels. Hill writes one of the best Epilogues which catches you up on future events, finishes the story, and shows that all the horror is still not over.

A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab is a dark fantasy about multiple London’s controlled mostly by magic (except our world) in the 1800s and the Era of Mad King George. A Darker Shade of Magic is the first book in the Shades of Magic trilogy. The book features 4 London’s Grey London which is 1800’s London grey from the smokestacks and has no magic, Red London is where the Main character lives where magic is not used by everybody but those who do use it to enrich their lives, White London uses magic to corrupt and is in constant war, and Black London is a place where magic grew to powerful it imploded. Black London is cut off but its magic sometimes bleeds over it White London. The world-building is excellent and I never got confused about what London I was in. The pace moves pretty well until the ending where it picks up leading to a wonderful Climax. This is a novel of great main characters Kell and Lila are worlds apart literally. Kell is royalty but kind of hates the attention and would rather not be noticed. Lila is a thief who prefers to look androgynous and is frequently mistaken for a man, to her delight. Lila was an interesting character that bordered on being annoying to being one of my favorites which is a crazy balance, In the end, I put her in the like category slightly more than the annoying. The ending was fantastic it ramped up the action and left enough unresolved plot lines for the next book.

Four Star Reviews:

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim is an eye-opening crazy serial killer/psychological horror debut. I will say more people need to read this book for the discussions, I hated the main character but she goes to a level of crazy that at the end I kind of liked. It is a kind of feminist where most of the men are sexist, and the killer hunts, but not all of them. This novel reminded me of the lead characters in Death Note and the movie Nightcrawlers. Where both characters went off the deep end and at the end of the day are psychopathic, but you’re kind of rooting for them just to pull it off. The novel portrays the second-generation Korean family very well. It nails how the mother is all about family but a man kind of trumps that, and they’re so demure that they never have the what do you think of this man I’m seeing talk. Most of the men in this story are trash the way they fantasize about Asian women and treat women in general. The characters are well written I’ve known a few of the men and women described in the book. The pace for this story is super fast as it is a fairly short book. The horror aspect is told in dreams mainly you will question reality as the main character does. The ending is the best part as a character really breaks bad, and pulls off a fantastic ending. I read The Eyes Are the Best Part thanks to Netgalley and Erewhon Books giving me a copy in exchange for a review. Eyes Are the Best Part was published on June 25, 2024.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 2: Learning Curve by Brian Michael Bendis is a re-imagining of Spiderman’s origin with some things changing and some staying the same. In the comics at this time Spiderman was in his 30’s and was past issue 500 of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Ultimate Spiderman is a fresh new take on Spiderman in High School for the new millennium. This volume titled Learning Curve will focus on Spiderman learning the ins and outs of being a superhero. I like how Parker’s job at the Bugle has been updated he’s not just a photographer but also an IT problem solver for the newspaper’s website. The main villains are the Kingpin and The Enforcers. I was happy that both sets of characters stayed pretty much the same. Peter Parker confides in one character that he is Spiderman which was a shock to me just how long it took for that reveal in the original, but I’m intrigued with where this will go. Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 2: Learning Curve collects Ultimate Spider-Man issues 8-13.

Three Star Reviews:

Goosebumps: Chicken, Chicken by R.L. Stine is Goosebumps book 53 in the original series order. I have read and watched a couple of Goosebumps blogs where they rate Chicken, Chicken as one of the worst Goosebumps books in the series and I did not feel that way, it is not great but the story made sense and for the most part, was focused. I liked the final twist a lot, and it was pretty memorable. I find turning into a chicken terrifying, and I thought Stine’s descriptions were pretty good I imagined the pain of having to remove feathers daily and how much pain that would bring. If my lips began to harden and form a beak I would be terrifying. I think the reason this book is so low is it will have dialogue consisting of “clucks” and “bucks”, but I will give Stine some credit as he mixes them up. I liked the witch who cursed them and I do the kids to blame for it. The pace is a little slow until the brother and sister start to change which is at 40%.

Two Star reviews:

First Win Lies By Ashley Elston is a psychological thriller about an organization of con men and women. The idea of long conning into a domestic partnership is great and had me hooked very fast, if the narrative stuck with this it would be five stars, but in the middle, the novel takes a turn that I was interested in at first until I figured everything out and was waiting for the turn that did not appear. The flashbacks really slowed down the pace with only 2 out of the 10 were written exciting. There are turns in the story that were written so unexciting. There was one turn where the main character finds out someone close to her is working for her mysterious boss, she doesn’t try to figure out when they got turned if they were not the person they were the whole time. The main boss Mr. Smith has been operating this organization for twenty-plus years operates it so stupidly, at first he is everywhere and knows everything then he talks to an informant just down the hall without watching the door for the main character. The first half of this book is executed so well and the back half goes to pieces there’s still some clever writing here and there but as a whole, I was disappointed with how it was told.