Hello Dear Readers,

February has come and gone. I read 7 books this month out of my 10 TBR. I read the best of books and the worst of books. One of the books I read might be my favorite book of the year.

I rated 1 book five stars, 1 book four and a half stars, 2 books four stars, 1 book three stars, 1 book two and a half stars, and 1 book two stars. I started The Sundowner’s Dance by Todd Keisling but could not finish it. I still have to read Platform Decay and The Winter People. 

I went to AuthorCon VI at the end of the month, it was amazing I had such a great time, and got so many signatures from Clay McLeod Chapman, Brian Keene, CJ Leede, Ronald Malfi, Jennifer McMahon, Mary Sangiovanni, Nick Roberts, Chris Panatier, Todd Keisling, James Kaine, John Ward, Jay Bower, V. Castro, and so many more.

I started a Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@readingwithmyeyes my first videos covered the before and after of AuthorCon VI.

Five Stars:

Kin by Tayari Jones could be the best book of the year. It is an immersive, character-driven historical novel set in the Deep South. It is an empowering story of femininity and found family. The narrative voice is clear, and the emotions are raw. Although it is historical fiction, the novel mirrors many issues that still resonate today. Every character has something compelling going on, and they feel vivid, almost like figures from a stage play. 

The story travels to unexpected places as life unfolds for both girls. Some turns lead to hope, others to heartbreak, but the novel is never dull. The pacing is steady, and I found it difficult to put down. I was deeply invested in both the main characters and the supporting cast.

 Kin is an Oprah book club selection. 

Four and a Half Stars:

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman is a clever horror novel about ghosts and drug addiction. Ghost is a drug that allows the user to see and conjure the dead. What could possibly go wrong? And what happens if you overdose on Ghost?

The concept is fantastic. Chapman draws sharp parallels between hauntings and addiction. Dealers ask, “Do you want to get haunted?” and users say, “Don’t harsh my haunt.” The wordplay works because it goes deeper than slang. The main characters are haunted by the choices they made that led to a friend’s death. That friend had an addictive personality and was a user before he died. Now they are addicted to his ghost.

Ghost Eaters feels like The Sixth Sense meets Fight Club. It is an unusual combination, but it works. It took me a little time to warm up to the Fight Club-like cult aspect, but by the end, I appreciated what Chapman was doing with it.

Four Stars:

Carrie by Stephen King is a novel about a troubled girl with special powers. Carrie’s story is a tragic one, the story of a villain shaped and forced into that role by society. The heartbreaking part is that everything could have been prevented. If the people around her had offered compassion instead of cruelty, the blood would not have flowed. Carrie is both a character study and a sociological experiment played out by the entire town of Chamberlain.

Carrie is told in a docudrama style, which I had forgotten. The story unfolds through newspaper articles, biography excerpts, interviews, police reports, and Carrie’s own perspective. This format works extremely well leading up to the prom. Afterward, though, I felt the aftermath relied too heavily on outside voices from townspeople we had not previously met.

The symbolism of childhood turning into womanhood runs throughout the novel. King uses religion, prom, and a baptism of blood and fire to explore that transformation. In terms of metaphor and theme, Carrie might be some of King’s best writing, especially in the first half.

My Pet Werewolf by James Kaine is a werewolf horror novel mixed with family drama. It is a solid entry in the genre that sticks closely to traditional werewolf lore. The curse is transmitted by a bite, and the transformation follows the lunar cycle.

The story reminded me of Apt Pupil by Stephen King. In that novella, a teenager believes he can control an elderly Nazi officer who appears harmless. Here, a teen believes he can control a werewolf while it is in human form, only to discover that once it transforms, it has teeth and claws he cannot command.

The plot is simple but well told. I was invested in Brady’s story and could relate to the protective older-brother role. The sibling dynamic between Brady and his sister is the emotional core of the book.

Three Stars:

Dollface by Lindy Ryan is a suburban slasher horror about the cult-like conformity of PTA groups, the masks people wear to fit into society, and the makeup used to hide who they really are. The killer in Dollface wants everyone to stop hiding behind those masks.

The premise is simple: Jill has just moved to the New Jersey suburbs and reluctantly joins the cult-like PTA. Soon, members begin getting stalked and murdered. Jill, a horror writer by trade, realizes she is living in a slasher scenario and must use her genre knowledge to survive.

The writing reminded me of My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, where encyclopedic horror knowledge becomes a survival tool. Jill’s narration jumps rapidly from thought to thought, movie reference to flashback, which takes time to adjust to. Ryan also leans heavily on long, run-on sentences that occasionally left me breathless while reading.

Two and a Half Stars:

Pendergast: The Beginning by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is a prequel in the long-running Pendergast series. Pendergast: The Beginning is book 23 in publication order, but in the series’ internal timeline it is book 0.5. I chose to start the series here.

A.X.L. Pendergast is a fascinating character. He has to be, considering he has carried 23 books. Pendergast: The Beginning does not tell his very first case; instead, it focuses on the final case he was assigned to an office and the last time he worked as a junior agent. When he first appears in Relic, he is already a fully independent agent. This book explores the case that earned him that freedom.

The book starts out very strong, with a compelling serial killer at the center of the mystery. About halfway through, however, the story shifts direction. I was patient, waiting for something equally compelling, or even stronger, to replace it. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Two Stars:

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane is the sixth and final book in the Kenzie and Gennaro detective series. It offers a hopeful farewell that tries to balance the light and dark sides of human nature.

Moonlight Mile serves as a sequel to the series’ best entry, Gone, Baby, Gone, the only book in the series to receive a film adaptation. In that novel, four-year-old Amanda McCready went missing, and Kenzie and Gennaro were hired to bring her back. During the case, however, they were forced to confront a painful question: what if she was better off away from her drunken, neglectful mother? The fallout from that decision split the detectives apart for a time. Now, 12 years later, Amanda is 16 and missing once again.

This case is far more emotional, forcing the detectives to confront whether they regret their past decisions. The mystery itself, though, is too straightforward and lacks the masterful twists I expect from Lehane. I kept waiting for a major final reveal. There is a small twist, but it functions more as a character reveal than a case-changing development.