four women
Dark, Fiction, Literary, Magical realism, Women's

The Four Women by Michelle Keill A Complex, Emotional, Smart And Incredibly Dark Tale

The Four Women is a strange, unique story you can’t quite make something of, at first. The strongest thing about it is that it’s littered with dark premonitions and foreboding, but it’s dosed so measuredly that it will keep you guessing about why what happens will happen – even if you’ve known it will happen ever since you’ve started reading…

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winter of the witch
Dark, Fantasy, Fiction, Loved-it, Magic, Well known books, Women's

Why I Loved The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden Incredibly Dark, Centers Around Women's Issues And Has The Strongest Protagonist Ever

I am so lucky to have been able to read The Winter of the Witch before its release! I have been following this series ever since I started blogging, and I have to say, I think The Winter of the Witch is the best installment. This doesn’t happen very often! We all know that it’s usually the first book that’s the best, and…

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anomaly by michael rutger
Dark, Fiction, NetGalley, Thiller / Mystery

[Thriller] Cavern Mysteries And Minotaurs: Lots of Promise, Middling Delivery The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

I was very excited to read The Anomaly after I got the publisher’s invitation. There was promise of conspiracy, ancient secrets, danger and fright – anything ranging from Indiana Jones to Uncharted and all that. Exciting! I was kind of sad when at 40% of the book, nothing much had really happened, and when at 70% it just lost me. I…

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thousand perfect notes
Dark, Fiction, Loved-it, NetGalley, Rising star, YA

[YA] Incredibly Touching, Relatable And Musical – It Has Captured My Heart <3 5 Reasons To Read A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews, AKA Our Own Cait @ PaperFury!

I am intensely flapping my arms and squawking like a poor abandoned pterodactyl baby at the excitement of actually having been able to read a review copy of A Thousand Perfect Notes! (Thanks for staying with my review after that sentence.) My emotions towards Cait’s book can be described roughly as such, starting from when I found out she was…

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the strain series
Dark, Dystopian, Fiction, Nope, Problematic, Well known books

[Thriller] The Strain Series, AKA The Popular Series With ONE Woman & Next To NO PoC It Started Off Great... But Then There Were All Those Problems

This series is… ahem. Mostly interesting in the way The Strain series degrades as you go. Book one is promising! Book two is just plain boring and a little far fetched, plus you start getting mysoginy fatigue and realizing you have not seen a single non-white person yet. Book three? Pure bull. Pure, unadulterated, illogical nonsense. It was almost entertaining…

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vicious real life super heroes
Dark, Fantasy, Non-fiction, Well known books

[General lit] Vicious..ly Odd, But Really Good? + Added Reality For Kicks Vicious by V.E. Schwab + Real Life Super Heroes by Nadia Fezzani

Trying my first V.E. Schwab book, I wasn’t sure what to expect – her books seem to be really big in the community, and yet I didn’t even know which kind of books they were. Would it be funny, sad, jokey or filled with adventure? I should have known better. I mean, I know the book world now mostly goes…

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little friend
Buddy read, Dark, Fiction, Literary, Well known books

[Literary] Great Social Commentary, But Poor Reading Experience The Little Friend by Donna Tartt - Buddy Read with JJ @ This Dark Material!

It seems I can never go a month without a buddy read! And that’s good, because they’re so much fun. This time, me and JJ @ This Dark Material read The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. Tartt is actually one of my favorite authors, although previously I had just read one book by her – The Goldfinch, which is one of my…

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freshwater
Dark, Diversity, Edelweiss, Fiction, Illness, Loved-it, Magical realism, Other-cultures, Rising star, Women's

Mythological + #OwnVoices + Mental Health = Fascinating Novel!! Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

I cannot believe Freshwater is a debut novel. Akwaeke Emezi is a rising star, an incredible writer, and I hope to see many more masterpieces by her. Will I be re-reading this one? Oh, yeah – definitely. And you know what it means when I say I would reread a book. Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★★★★ 5 stars…

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the king of bones and ashes
Dark, Fantasy, Fiction, Loved-it, Magic, NetGalley, Other-cultures, Urban fantasy

Witches of New Orleans and Dark Nightly Terrors The King of Bones and Ashes by J.D. Horn

This time I’m happy to share with you a review for The King of Bones and Ashes, which was offered to me for review and came as an unbelievably pleasant and unexpected surprise! Now I find myself wanting to read the other books by J.D. Horn (which I remember seeing around a couple of years ago), because this was an incredibly engaging…

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plague charmer
Dark, Fiction, Historical, Loved-it, Magical realism, NetGalley

The Plague Charmer by Karen Maitland Dark, Atmospheric And Very Medieval

If you like reading well researched, incredibly atmospheric, not sugar-coated historical novels about the middle ages, The Plague Charmer is just for you. My review of this wonderful book has been long overdue, so let’s start. Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★★★✬ 4.5 stars Life is pretty tough in the middle ages – work is hard, food is…

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an unkindness of ghosts rivers solomon
Dark, Diversity, Edelweiss, Fiction, Illness, Loved-it, Other-cultures, Rising star, Scifi, Scifi month, Society, Women's

Genuine, Unapologetically Diverse And Absolutely Brilliant An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Shiver shiver, tremble tremble. I am not nervous about writing this review at all. I do not have any of my typical book was too good to write a review for it jumbles. Nope. Feeling at my most confident here. *escapes* Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★★★★  5+++ stars Can we just agree to make this book as…

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contemporary scifi musts
Dark, Fiction, Loved-it, Nerdy and proud, Other-cultures, Scifi, Scifi month, Society, Well known books

Contemporary Sci-Fi Musts Remembrance of Earth's Past And Why You Should Know It

So there’s this sci-fi series that I like to fangirl about. Scratch that – everyone I know who’s read it basically fangirls about it. My boyfriend included. (Yes. It actually worked. I made my boyfriend start a series. Imagine that??) This series is called Remembrance of Earth’s Past and I’ll give you a couple reasons why you should know about it and…

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In Case I Go by Angie Abdou
Dark, Diversity, Edelweiss, Fiction, Loved-it, Magical realism, Women's

Haunting, Haunted, Sad and Diverse – In Case I Go by Angie Abdou A book that can't decide between horror and historical, and that's a good thing

Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★★★☆  4 stars In Case I Go caught my eye instantly. The blurb makes you feel like it’s a book struggling with its identity – should I be a horror? A historical novel? Just a contemporary with magical realism? AND I LOVE THIS. Mixtures between genres make the best stories! If you’ve…

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Dark, Diversity, Edelweiss, Fiction, Well known books

You Know They Both Die At The End, But You Still Read It. They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★★☆☆  3 stars Oh, Adam Silvera. The King of #feels, The Ruler of #BringMeDown. Despite all the hype and excitement about receiving the review copy, I was… not a very happy camper while reading this. So, when it comes to this book as an experience, I’ve got three things to talk to…

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Dark, Fiction, NetGalley, Thiller / Mystery

Dark Southern Thriller About Family Secrets – Or Is It Really? Burying The Honeysuckle Girls by Emily Carpenter

Check out on Goodreads Get at Book Depository ★★✬☆☆  2.5 stars Good, important topic. Nice suspense. Okay execution. Almost unbearable characters. I guess it was alright? This book has been lying around on my Kindle for at least a year. It’s one of the first NetGalley eARCs I’ve downloaded, and to be honest, the premise sounded fab: Althea, fresh out…

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