Book Review: BBC Doctor Who: The Blood Test by James Goss

The Blood Cell by James Goss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quick and an okay read. It was action-y like the show, but it was told by the point of view of the Governor who ran the Prison. He tells us how he runs the place with Bentley and how everyone was his friend. But when he meets the Twelfth Doctor, he gets so annoyed with him escaping and has tried to make a deal with him, keeping him in his cell. But when the killings begin, that’s when he has no choice but to deal with the Doctor as he and Clara help him stop the murder.

I thought it was fine to me, to be honest. I haven’t been watching Doctor Who in a while, and reading this brought me back to the world. But seeing it through the Governor’s eyes kinda annoyed me, because he reduced the Doctor to nothing but a number, which I really didn’t like, and think that ‘oh, he did so many crimes, he’s a bad person’ when in reality, the doctor wants to help people and save them.

The only funny parts that came up in the book was Clara coming by and showing up with signs and stuff, and when she finally got in the jail, she was actually pretty helpful. She was her usual, cheery self, which I liked. But the Blood Cell…eh it wasn’t that scary, to be honest. It was just a cell with a weird Custodian in it, looking for “the perfect specimen” which was just…okay. Cool beans. But I’m glad everyone on level 7 was saved, and wasn’t that surprised that the Governor was a hated man in HomeWorld.

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Book Review: Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dragonlance has been around for a long time, and now reading the first book made me so happy to read it, but I realize that some of the characters kinda tick me the hell off. I’ll get into more later, but for now, let’s talk about my thoughts.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight is a fantasy novel split into two books-one is meeting the characters and them going on an adventure to help a barbarian chieftain named Goldmoon and her lover Riverwind, to return a staff that’s blue and also find the disks of the goddess Mishakal. The second half of the group has them pick up a couple people to go to Pax Thakas so they can stop the Dragon Lord Verminaard and his dragon, Ember, from attacking the eleven city and also in the process save the miners and their families that Verminaard has kept far away from the workers, hiring draconians and gully dwarves. Book one was kinda slow for me and it irritated me, mostly because of Raistlin rushing everyone to get to Xak Tsarsoth, but then when I read book two, that’s when things started to pick up, and I started to like it even more.

The whole relationship thing was good, though the one I just felt like it was forced was Tanis and Laurana, even though they have been friends/lovers since they were children. Laurana annoyed me, mostly because she acts like Tanis still wants her, when I don’t think he does. When he tells her that he fell for Kitiara, Caramon and Raistlin’s half-sister, she got angry enough to get the ring back, then turned around and followed him to Pax Thakas. Like girl, really?? You love him that much?? Calm down.

And Raistlin??? Even though he annoyed me about his rushing people to get someplace, I actually like the mage-to a fault. I’m suspecting him for some reason, like I don’t really trust him that much. But I’m gonna keep a close eye on him. Caramon, he’s cool, honestly. He and Raistlin reminds me SO MUCH of Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry-Vergil wanting to be alone, Dante chasing after him.

Strum is the least likeable one I liked. He just annoyed me for some reason, and I kind of wanted him to stop, tbh. Yes, he’s a Knight of Solamina, but he takes it too far in some parts of the book that I silently wanted him to shut up and either let Tanis lead or quit suspecting Raistlin because you don’t like him, my guy.

Sheesh.

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Book Review: Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith

Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First time reading anything by Ms. Ali Smith, and I have to say…it was alright. Nothing to run home too, tbh. The stories were short, sweet, and had different themes throughout it-death, love, sometimes books and poetry. These shorts, though don’t really talk about libraries, have one character centered into the stories and they are going through things that don’t talk about libraries. But in between the stories, they do have people talking about what the library means to them and what they did for them or how they used to go as a child and how libraries made them.

This was a very interesting book and my first time, like I said, reading a short story collection. Some of the words felt like they were like run-on sentences, but the rest felt like stories I can slip into a little bit so I can read more short stories every once in a while-maybe from an anthology or something like that. Do I want to read more of Ali Smith’s work? Maybe, even though these short stories were cute and short. I think the only ones I liked were Grass and The Poet. The rest were alright, nothing to run home and tell mama about, tbh.

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Three Book Reviews-the rest of October

Murder in the Drawing Room by C.J. Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little bit confusing with finding out who's cheating on the husband (or wife), then turns into a murder when the wife is dead in her drawing room. Cleopatra and Harry Armitage solves the case of whodoneit, and I have to save, even though this one is my least favorite one out of the three I've read, I've really enjoyed this one. I loved Cleo and Harry's banter, I loved how Cleo was fighting so hard to find what she wanted, and the whole other storyline about the cook pocketing the money was funny, not gonna lie. Still liked it though.

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Gothghul Hollow by Anna Stephens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Killer. Sorceress. Scholar. Priest.

These four people team up to stop a beast that is attacking the Hollows and unraveling a mystery that starts with one word: Mhurghast.

I really enjoyed this book. It was short, yes, but it was a good short novel that deals with magic, murder, a beast that turns out to be something else, and also a mystery. My favorite out of all of them was the sharpshooter Runar and the sorceress Erdea. The priest Tiberius was okay, but the father, A-A-ric (dang right I did it like that inner-city school skit by Key and Peele) I really didn’t like, mostly because he kept sheltering Erdea with everything and it was really ticking me off.

The beast reminded me oddly of the tale of the Beast of Gevaudan in the beginning, but then as the mystery of Mhurgast starts to unravel, starting with Erdea’s mother, Hepizibah I think her name was. She started to do research on the Four Heralds, and then it became her obsession as she worked so hard on figuring it out, that when she gave birth to Erdea, the beast came and took her, leaving baby Erdea there.

The hint of a romance is there between Erdea and Runar, the sharpshooter, but it wasn’t much, which is very refreshing and it didn’t overpower the story. The four of them worked to unravel the mystery of the Mhurghast, and when they did in the end, it turned out to be a vampire named Genevieve Dieudonne, which I have to say, I’ve never read a fantasy that had a vampire in it, and I kinda like it. Genevieve is very interesting as a character and I want to read more of her story. Who was she? Why was she the beast? What did she learn that could help them solve the mystery of the Mhurghast? I want to know more, but maybe one day I will.

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Blood and Fog by Nancy Holder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So this Buffy novel fell flat for me. Yes, it takes place in season six, and yes, it does have the Spuffy pairing, but in all honesty, it fell flat for me. The whole thing with Buffy hiding her relationship with Buffy was just weird, then Xander, Tara, Dawn or Anya was barely in it, maybe like a couple of seconds before they disappeared. Angelus, Darla and Dru was in it as well, but as a flashback.

Jack the Ripper as a fae was…okay?? I guess??? It didn’t feel like I should be all scared of him and stuff. He was just all, “I’m going to unleash hell on Sunnydale with a fog, unalive 12 women and become and god” and I was all like…okay? Can you do something more sinister, more evil, I guess? But I guess he can’t??? And the whole Tuatha thing was weird as well, along with the thing of ‘Buffy’s blood is going to drip by her enemy’ and it turns out to be…Willow??? Of all people??

(I know why, since I’ve watched season six).

This just fell flat for me, sadly, and then the other side story of Giles in England was just weird as hell as well. But while I did hear the flashbacks of the Fanged Four (which I actually liked because they made the book much better, to be honest) I did hear Dru’s voice, and maybe Darla’s?? But throughout the book I did hear Spike’s voice, so there’s that.

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All the Books I've Read in October-Book Reviews

 Hello friends!

Today's post is a long one, because today is all the books I've read in October-with three more to come. So this is a two parter, because I've about around eight-nine books??? And I actually enjoyed them?? So let's get started on this very long book review.

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The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really good book. It reminded me of the old 90s show I loved as a kid, which was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but more adultier and with chaos involved (I realize that I like books with chaos in them). Rhys and Vivienne’s second chance relationship was so cute to read, and having this set in my homestate made this book feel more cozy and funnier than ever. Also, I love the opening line, “Don’t ever mix witchcraft and vodka.” As soon as I saw this line, that’s when I knew I was going to love it.

The book opens with Vivienne placing a curse on her ex, Rhys Penhallow, drunk on vodka. Years later, he comes back to fix the ley lines…only to find out that Vivi placed a curse on him that she thought was a joke. Turns out that it wasn’t a joke, and the chaos that happens around Graves Glen are horrendously funny-the skeletons coming to life, Rhys’ tires popping, and also the ghost of a student who was trying to summon an ancestor of Vivienne who was going to be sold by some ghost hunter or something like that.

Rhys and Vivienne does get back together, but when they found out the real reason why the ley lines are so fucked up, thanks to their respective ancestors, the Jones witches go to the cave and fix it, unlike the first time Rhys and Vivienne goes and they unleashed a curse on the whole town when Rhys went to fix it. Even though that ending kinda went flat for me, I wanted more than just “the Jones witches did this, and now the town is saved, hooray!” I kinda wanted a little bit more.

Hopefully in book two it’ll be much better and the ending much better as well because I really love this book and the ending just fell a bit flat for me, that’s all.

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The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, T. Kingfisher has blown it out the park for for with this horror novel and I loved every bit of it. The plot was so good that I stuck with the ride and I was on the edge of my seat to the end. This has to be one my favorites of all time, and that I would honestly reread this book over and over again because it was THAT good.

This was about a woman who went through a divorce and is working and living in her uncle’s taxidermy museum. One day a hole appeared in another dimension, and she and her friend, Simon, went through it. They start to explore it, learning about this other dimension, which they thought was another world. While they were in that world, they learned about the bus with all those kids in the chair, an army that was in there but somehow none of them got out. So Simon and Carrot got out (don’t remember her name, I’m sorry about that) and then Carrot started having some very bad dreams about that world.

So she had Simon handcuff her down so she won’t move, but she kept going back to that world, even when she had Simon fix the wall and make everything safe again, but that monster from the other world came out and possessed a taxidermied animal and attacked…

Then all the other forest animals came alive and attacked the taxidermied animal and won, sending the thing back to hell where it belonged, and Prince (that’s right, Bambi’s daddy) even helped defend her!! God I love that about that Prince (even though I’ve never seen Bambi, only as an adult, I believe) and then everything was back to normal. I know the husband called and tried to talk to her, but she was kinda not into it or not paying attention to him?? And then the uncle that runs the place had to go to the hospital, so she was alone in running the place.

I truly enjoyed this one, gonna give more of T. Kingfisher books a go because they are SO GOOD.

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Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So Daisy Jones and the Six is my new favorite book. I read this book with the audiobook, and the experience was so good. I loved every bit of the audiobook, listening to the different voices that goes to the different characters as they tell the story of how this band became big in the seventies. I thought while I was reading this book that this band was real, but the more I read and listen to the audiobook, the more I fell in love with the characters.

My favorites are Daisy, Karen Karen, Graham, Simone and Camilla. CAMILLA IS BEST GIRL AND SHE DID NOTHING WRONG, YES SIRRR. All she did was be the best wife to Billy and the greatest mother ever, but seeing Daisy and Billy on stage during SNL I think?? I think she was really mad, but she didn’t want to say anything. But when she visited Daisy??? And told her to leave??? Honestly, that’s one of the most shocking things I’ve ever read in a book, mostly because I wasn't expecting that from her, but I felt like Camilla was in the right??? I think??

The whole KarenGraham situation felt like a fast car crash that was waiting to happen. I loved them together, but when he got mad because she went to get an abortion because she didn’t want the baby? Yeeeahh that’s when I wanted to punch Graham in the face. Because it was HER decision to get that abortion because she didn’t want kids. I know Graham wanted kids, thinking that her keeping it would change her mind, but I stand with Karen and her decision.

Billy…I don’t like him. In fact, I hated Billy throughout the book (and I know when the show comes out, my hatred for Billy will come out). To me, Billy was this bully that wanted everything that he wanted, not giving one damn about who he hurt or who he stepped over. And yes, he tried to resist Daisy so much-I mean, he TRIED, I will give him that. But each goddamn song he wrote? Was about Camilla. Every. Goddamned. Song. I’m glad Daisy challenged him to change tune, because if I did live back then, I wouldn’t want to hear about Billy and Camilla. When Daisy told him to “put a little darkness” in the lyrics, I silently thanked her.

I really really enjoyed this book and I want to read more from this author.

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Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, Vol. 1 by Yuji Kaku
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a really interesting manga. I really liked Gabimaru and the fact that he's alive for his wife. The girl-Yamada Asaemon-was there for his many executions, and tells him that he's picked for looking for an elixir that'll make the Shogun immortal. And where is this said elixir? On a long, hidden island where monsters lurk.

I really liked Gabimaru and how he's calm, cool and collected he is, then slip into this mode where he just kills everyone. There is a bit of a trigger warning of bloody hands groping Asaemon's chest and depictions of murder, but other than that it was very enjoyable read.

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In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Alexandra Roselyn recommended this book, I ordered immediately and read it. And I loved every bit of it. I really loved how this book deal with grief and how she made this book so cozy that I wanted to live in the B&B and never, ever leave. I really loved this book so much, and I realize that I liked cozy mysteries if they have a witchy characters in there-and murders. Oh and if they can do magic. And they have really good food as well.

Brynn Warren lives in Evenfall with her aunties, Evanora and Isadora, and they own and run a B&B. Brynn had stopped using her magic when her husband, Adam, died one fateful day. They have a very bad-tempered guest named Constance Graves who mysteriously died in thier home…and the police thinks that it was Aunt Nora who did it. Not wanting her auntie to be in jail forever, Brynn decides to go and solve the case.

This book felt like a mixture of Witches of East End meets Practical Magic meets a murder and it WAS SO GOOD. This book, like I said before, deals with grief as you watch Brynn go through her grief, and that her aunties were trying to help her. When she told them that she was stop doing magic, her auntie Nora didn’t believe her and told her that her magic was the one that’s making all of those cracks and things that were happening each time they were doing magic.

At the end, when they found out who did it, it was quite shocking (in fact, I didn’t even know that they did that) and Brynn talking to Constance’s ghost was pretty good. I really enjoyed this book and I’m going to read more of this series.

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A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cozy mystery written by a BIPOC author? Sold. Esme Addison is the first author that I’ve come across that writes cozy mystery, and I enjoyed this one. It was cute, cozy, and also, witchy. It does drop a bit because of the confusing history lessons about the Warsaw mermaid (that I found that I really liked), but this also felt like a really nice small town soap opera, with daughters of mayors and another family warring with another family, and a love triangle between Alexandra, Dylan and Jack?

And also ATHENA IS BEST GIRL THROUGHOUT THE BOOK?? Yes, please.

Alexandra Daniels had just lost her job and her father, and she and her adorable dog Athena moves to Bellamy Bay to live with her family-her aunt and her two cousins. She starts to work at their apothecary, Botikana, and one day a man named Randy comes in, asking for some tea and something else, and her aunt made a scene…to the point that she’s accused of murder! Her aunt swears that she didn’t do it, and Alex decides to solve the case, since the police thinks that she did it.

Alex goes to Dylan to help after a bit of magical screwups are happening around town, and finds out that it was his sister Brynn who’s doing all of this all for the reality office and the land that supposedly have the Warsaw Shield. This does also deal with magic from a baby witch, which I find that I really like to read about, because most books just have witches that just know what they’re doing. And also seeing everything through Alex’s eyes was also kind of refreshing, because you get to see everything that happens in the town of Bellamy Bay and her life.

Even though at the end Dylan ticked me off for what he did (like my guy, BUT WHY), I started to ship them together, though now that I think about it…I kinda wanted her with Jack SO MUCH. At least he won’t hurt her and all that. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book, would like to read more from the author.

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Book Reviews: Nettle and Bone and Curse the Day

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my first time reading a T. Kingfisher novel, and I have to say, this book DID NOT disappoint. This book is now a huge favorite fantasy, and I want to read more of T. Kingfisher’s novels, because I fell in love with the writing, I fell in love with the characters, and most of all, this book sucked me in hard.

This book is about a girl named Marra who’s family has been married to the Harbor Kingdom for years. Her sister is about to marry Prince Voling who likes to put his hands on his brides. Once her sister dies without giving the kingdom a heir, that’s when the Prince marries her other sister, and Marra was sent to the Lady of Grackles convent, where she learned how to sew and deliver babies. Oddly, her sister keeps getting pregnant and having babies, and Marra couldn’t take it anymore. So she goes see a dust-wife, who gives her three tasks:

Sew a cloak of nettle and bone
Create a bonedog
Catch the moon in a jar

Marra does those things, and that’s when she and the dust-wife, along with her demon chicken (look, you HAD me at demon chicken, and THE DEMON CHICKEN IS BEST GIRL IN THE BOOK, TO THIS DAY) goes to the goblin market to get a knight. Along with Bonedog (also BONEDOG IS BEST BOY AS WELL. BOTH DEMON CHICKEN AND BONEDOG ARE THE BEST) they go into the market and free a knight named Fenris, who wanted to die by…and this cracked me up…going to a fairy ring and sleeping there. Well the dust-wife and Marra freed him so he joined along, and they went to Marra’s kingdom to get one more person…

Marra’s godmother. Who, it turns out, is her great-aunt. So all of them goes to the kingdom and meets with the Prince’s godmother, who is tied to the old king, to give immortality to her and to protect his bloodline. So they come up with a plan to king the current King, and it does go swimmingly, since Agnes, the dark grandmother, replaced the original godmother and pretty much cursed the child (and give him good health, of course), and before you can shout “Well, crap” Fenris does the Jaime Lannister (ha ha) and kills the king.

Whoopie.

So…now what? What happens now??

Well for one, Marra’s sister, Kanna, I believe her name is, is now Queen, and the dust-wife went back to her cottage, Agnes took over the old godmother’s place and Fenris was supposed to die by thirst, but thanks to some quick thinking, he didn’t die. Instead, he, Marra, and Bonedog (who was killed and was brought back) are going on another adventure, one I wish them both well.

I really loved this book-even finished it before class even started, that’s how good it was-and I would reread this book all over again, just to revisit these characters once more.

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Curse the Day by Annabel Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hi, hello, I find that I’m starting to like cozy mysteries, especially if it involves witches of some kind, which I’m starting to love SO MUCH.

So this cozy mystery was recommended to me by Darling Desi on youtube, and it has all the witchy, spooky vibes I was looking for. It’s also a Brittany Book (a book in which things happen that you can’t explain, makes you laugh real hard to the point that you can’t breathe sometimes, and also a whole bunch of diversity) and I couldn’t stop reading it until it was done. Emma Hart is now one of my favorite witches, and I am going to read this whole entire series, along with more works by Annabel Chase.

Emma Hart was once a human lawyer who one day stops and sees a man about to jump to his death. Stopping her car, she gets out and tells him not to…only to find out that homeboy is an ANGEL. WITH WINGS. Since she’s afraid of heights, she clings on to him as they fly down safely…and her car plummets to the river. Emma tries to leave, but then she smacked into a invisible wall. Turns out…she’s a witch. And she is whisked away to Spellbound, where everyone from every supernatural and fantasy race you can THINK of lives there. She then hears of a vampire named Garreth who was killed and now she’d taken his job and his home, along with his cat Magpie. During the day, she works as a lawyer who’s working on her first case-a stealing jewelry case with a goblin named Monford, who, turns out, killed Garreth, along with getting his hands on some jewels, and at night or whenever she can, she goes to a school to learn magic (in which she’s getting better at, but in the beginning, she sucks at). Also she does rub elbows with the local vampires (including Demetrius Hunt, who sounds fine as hell).

This was so cozy, funny, reminds me a bit of Once Upon a Time, and also I wanna live in this town forever and never leave. I want to know what happens next in this series, I want to know how Emma’s life is now that she’s a witch, and also enjoy this cozy town of Spellbound, because I really love this town so much.

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A Very Huge Book Review Post-August/September

 Sooo guess who haven't done a SINGLE book review in so long???

Me. 

Well I have reasons-school, reading a lot, FORGETTING to post up books after I get done reading them...so I'm going to do this quite differently. Instead of just posting up full book reviews, I'm going to do one sentence reviews of these books, because they deserve it, and then I'll be back on my one post review posts soon. 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenon, performed by Richard Armitage

Five Stars

I was distracted by Richard's voice to forget what happened in this book, but I really enjoyed the horror and creepy parts.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Five Stars

Loved it all, found Calcifer funny AF, and I didn't know that Howl was Welsh. 

Lore Olympus volume one by Rachel Smythe

Five Stars

Any Hades and Persephone retelling is a book for me. 

Pathfinder Tales: Shy Knives by Sam Sykes

Five Stars

It has centaurs in it, and a bunch of political intrigue. Need I say more??

A Certain Appeal by Vanessa King

Four stars

A pride and prejudice retelling, but has burlesque in it. Really didn't like Wickham in this, really didn't. 

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

Five Stars

I'm conviced that Eammon is a druid, and also I hate Solmir with a passion. Can't wait to get to book two. 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Five Stars

I found my new favorite genre when I read this book. Loved every bit of this book. 

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

Five Stars

Has all my favorite gothic literature tropes and loved every bit of it. I want more of Caitlin Starling's writing, please

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Five Stars

Two writers writing two different books??? And trying not to fall in love??? You got me, Miss Henry. 

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean

Four Stars

A scandal, grumpy Scot who hates England, and a woman who's been alone all her life. Sounds like a really good book, yes? Yes. 

The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

Five Stars

A prince goes to another country and fights a pirate queen who can control bones. Sounds really cool and the art was incredible.

The Red Palace by June Hur

Five Stars

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Right next to Iron Widow and Legendborn for favorites of the year.