Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Thank you to Edelweiss, Penguin Publishing Group and Riverhead Books for providing an ARC for exchange for an honest review.

This was wonderful! It was original and lived up to the "African Game of Thrones" comparison.
I loved everything about this story and I could not put it down. I hope the author continues to write more stories such as this; maybe doing another trilogy along the same lines but of different African mythology.

5/5 stars

Alice & Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story

Thank you to Edelweiss and Prometheus Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

True crime is my favorite go-to genre, so when I saw this for an ARC through Edelweiss I was really excited to have the chance to read it.
I also really like Ron Franscell; I've read other books by him and like the way his stories flow.

Alice & Gerald was an interesting case for a writer to take on. It looks to be on the surface as open and shut and if law enforcement at the time had taken it seriously, it may have been. Instead it was ignored and went completely cold, as did the other murder tied to this.

These two clearly fed off of each other, and this book took a good in depth look at the relationships surrounding the people tied to the cases, not just the cases by themselves. I had never heard of this one before and I started doing research on my own as I was reading. Franscell's narrative is outstanding. Some parts are a little long, but I feel like it did the book justice.

I definitely would recommend this for fellow true crime lovers. It's a very interesting case and worth the read.

4/5 stars

The Beast is an Animal

DNF at about 75%

I just couldn't anymore.

The cover is so beautiful I didn't want to give up on reading this. But holy hell this was starting to become painful.

The first part of this book is really good and suspenseful; dramatic tension is everywhere. But by the second half...gone. Nothing. Flat and drawn out and I didn't care anymore about the characters or where the story was going. I really don't know what happened with the author's writing, but it changes drastically in the second part of the book.

Maybe the author lost interest too?

I have to say this was a first for me. I never have suddenly not cared about the characters in a book so much that I stopped reading this close to being finished.

2.5/5 stars

The Sisters of the Winter Wood

I was initially drawn to this book by the absolutely gorgeous cover. How can you not love this cover?
It certainly set the tone to the story and it did not disappoint.

The story itself was really atmospheric and beautiful. I loved the intertwining of history, cultures and folklore in this. I was captivated by this dark, fairy tale world and I loved every moment being there. I felt the use of Yiddish/Hebrew/Russian words brought an extra something and I liked that they were included so much.

The dual narrative was nice to read too. I liked the way that Laya's telling was written in verse. She was supposed to be the more dreamy of the two and I felt that fit her very well. Liba's narrative was more straight forward, emphasizing the loyalty she felt towards her family.

This was wonderful with a gorgeous cover to match. I can't wait for the author's next book!

4/5 stars

My Sister, the Serial Killer

This book blew me away.

I loved this mindfuck of a novella. I love the writing style, the way the story flowed, and how relatable it is; relatable in the way that one sibling is so perfect and the other feels left out. One sister is the resentful enabler while the other who is a serial killer content to let her sister clean up her mess and lie for her.

Although this book is a short and quick read, the details are wonderful and the story flows really well. I adore books that are set in Africa and this did not disappoint. I loved this satire by Braithwaite; it is funny in unexpected places and the plot itself was not necessarily predictable. You sympathize with Korede who is stuck, seemingly willingly, in her enabler role, and you don't like or dislike Ayoola. She is seemingly a normal, attention-seeking girl whose only real flaw is that she kills her boyfriends.

I can't wait to read more by this author. If this is her debut, she's going to be amazing.

5/5 stars

Leah on the Offbeat

I loved Simon vs. The Homo Sapien Agenda. I love how Albertalli writes. I am in the minority of not loving this book, but it wasn't a bad book.

Albertalli's story rest heavily on dialogue instead of descriptions, and it works really well. It makes for a quick read and it's very entertaining. For me, I just didn't like Leah very much. Parts of the book I liked her a lot and she was relate-able: like her torn feelings about Abby and how graduating high school really does go by fast. But I just couldn't actually like her.

I feel as though her character was shallow and lacked the depth that went into creating Simon in the previous novel. I felt like I didn't know Leah very well, and just couldn't get behind the character like I had been able to do for Simon. That being said: I will read every book that Albertalli writes no matter what. Her writing pulls you in and doesn't let go, and most of her characters stick with you. This may have not been my favorite, but I'm still glad I read it.

3/5 stars

Paperback Crush

Holy nostalgia!! This book was so fun!

I loved the book covers throughout: there were so many I recognized that I had completely forgotten about, and now I want to find them to read again. The author talked about books I've never heard of, getting into how the 70's YA fiction set the stage.

The history of how these books came to be and the taboo subjects the late 70's and early 80's produced was really interesting to read. Who thought a book about the history of YA books would be so compulsively readable?

It would have been nice to delve a little more on some of the series she mentions, and some sections (like the one on equestrian books) were a little sparse. I personally would have loved to have read a little more about the Thoroughbred series. I was a horse girl and those were my favorite books of all time.

The only thing that really bugged me about the writing was the author's political inserts. Mentioning Trump and Pence in a book about 80's and 90's YA fiction had zero place for that. I'm sure the author was trying to be funny, but that fell super flat and was really weird that it was there at all. Also, the book just ends. No warning, just literally ends with no tie-up or anything at all. I do wish that was done differently; the reader doesn't expect it and it's odd.

I will definitely be buying a copy of this book for myself, however. I truly enjoyed revisiting these books and a time that will never be reproduced. It would be great to go back to when these were sold new and experience it all over again.

4/5 stars