Tag: audiobook

ARC Book Review: The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Horror + Historical Fiction
Length: 384 pages
Author: C.J. Cooke
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 8th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A mother must fight for her daughter’s life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.

Clem gets a call that is every mother’s worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn’t recognize her mother. And she doesn’t answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

Clem travels the site of her daughter’s accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin’s strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?

Thank you Berkley for the gifted copy (Berkley Partner) and PRH Audio for the audiobook.

WELL THIS FREAKED ME OUT A BIT.

I am in my horror reading era apparently and have found myself enjoying another one! This went back and forth between past and present and I liked waiting for that moment of collision where all the pieces made sense. This is definitely on the darker side and doesn’t shy away from some awful things that made it hard to listen to at times.

The pacing did drag somewhat and I spent a lot of time waiting for the other foot to drop. I did like the atmosphere and it is perfect for the spooky season. It covers a lot of ground and leaves you feeling haunted.

Overall audience notes:

  • Horror Historical Fiction
  • Language: moderate
  • Violence: high
  • Content Warnings: persecution of women (including torture, false imprisonment), abuse, cult behaviors, loss of life, murder, extensive burn wounds

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Book Review: We Three Kings by Kristen Bailey

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Holiday Romance
Length: 346 pages
Author: Kristen Bailey
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Release Date: October 14th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Maggie Field was looking forward to a solo Christmas in her cosy London flat – before her three workmates decided to liven things up for her.

Maggie loves her job as head of IT at a financial firm, and her three geeky but lovable work buddies. And when they invite her to stay with each of them for the holidays, she can’t resist the chance to get to know them better.

But then her boss tells her she has to make one of her beloved team redundant, and Maggie is distraught. Frank’s work is his world, Jasper’s sarcastic humour is everything, and Leo…well, he’s talented, professional, confusingly attractive, dependable, and funny… Maggie definitely doesn’t want to lose him.

With her career and her heart on the line, Maggie sets off on the Christmas adventure of a lifetime, from playing fake girlfriend at a lavish wedding, to rescuing baby foxes on a posh country estate, to chasing a very confused donkey on Christmas Day in the Lake District. She can’t ignore the sparks between her and Leo – but she also can’t avoid her dilemma.

Can she find a way to keep her work family together, and maybe even find true love under the mistletoe?

A hilarious and heartfelt celebration of friendship, workplace romance, and finding where you belong. Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Beth O’Leary, this festive rom-com will have you laughing, crying, and reaching for the mince pies.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the audiobook.

UNEXPECTED.

I went into this very blind, only knowing that I liked Bailey’s Christmas romance last year. I did like the audiobook narration for this one and found it to be an easy listen. This was a bit more fiction than I was expecting but I think the heart of this story was wonderful and this was a genuinely kind book.

Maggie Field was adorable and sweet and I loved her character. And her found family work friends were the perfect group to follow around for the holidays. I loved the laugh inducing antics and the quiet, bond forming moments too. It’s a heartfelt read that was full of festive cheer. I actually really liked the way the ending came together and it was a bit of joy in my day to finish this one.

Overall audience notes:

  • Holiday Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door

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Book Review: The Cheerleaders (The Cheerleaders #1) by Kara Thomas

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Thriller
Length: 384 pages
Author: Kara Thomas
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: July 31st, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.

Thank you Get Underlined for the gifted copy.

GOOD ENDING.

That ending really brought this whole book together for me. Gosh I’m still thinking about it. This is the way I enjoy thrillers coming to a close, with that last gasp scene that makes you look at the story/a character in a different light.

There was one plot point I didn’t love in this book that still doesn’t feel like it was a necessary aspect. Luckily it was a small piece or I think I would have had a harder time reading. It’s a great and fast paced audiobook. One that I got through in a day.

I liked the complexity of the story and wow it hits some hard themes too. It’s messy and filled with characters that you can’t decide whether you like them or not. I’ve really enjoyed reading through multiple Kara Thomas books and plan to continue with new releases. I like the way she crafts thrillers a lot.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Thriller
  • Language: low
  • Romance: innuendo, mentions of nights together
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: murder, suicide (off page, recounted), statutory rape, pedophilia, abortion, death of loved ones, gun violence, car accident, domestic violence

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Book Review: The Champions by Kara Thomas

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 336 pages
Author: Kara Thomas
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: August 27th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town’s deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.

It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls’ killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school’s championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes–something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past.

Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team’s latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team.

It’s becoming clear Sunnybrook’s golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago?

As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she’s the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left–people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.

Thank you GetUnderlined for the gifted copy!

NEW FAVORITE.

This is easily my current favorite Kara Thomas book. I was hooked from this book from the beginning. It’s a complex story with some heavy themes and topics and wow did it hit me with a gut punch as the reveals started coming out.

I really liked the main character, Hadley. I enjoy a thriller book that has a character you don’t feel forced to hate. Hadley didn’t do everything right, but she did try and worked hard to find the truth.

It’s a short audiobook with another fast paced timeline. I love that Thomas writes short books because the story is not bogged down by side quests that don’t fulfill the full plot line. It’s easy to binge read and great for fall.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: low
  • Romance: none
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: gang rape, cheating (in school and on people), seizure, hit and run (resulting in a death), domestic violence, hazing, underage drinking

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