In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely on the cosier side of cosy mystery. In the Winter Woods is the story of Declan, a mystery writer who gets caught up in a real murder investigation when he goes to a wintery cabin in an attempt to write a new book. Soon he also starts to fall for the local commissioner but must clear his own name before they can date.

This book was a very easy and quick read, with some nice winter scenes and some good characters. I think its main flaw is that it commits to neither the mystery aspect nor the romance aspect. I would not mind at all if one ended up being neglected for the other, but unfortunately in this case neither is really developed and the book suffers for it. I never really had a sense of fear or tension, nor did I swoon over the characters getting to know each other. It's a shame because this has such potential and I loved the idea of it. But it was hard for me to see why the characters were actually falling for each other at all beyond initial attraction.

Having said that, if you're looking for some easy-going and queer to read over the holidays, this isn't a bad option. I would love to see more books like this and I did enjoy reading it, even if it might not stay in my mind for very long.

Overall Rating:

Christmas Evil by Mark L'Estrange

 

Pretty disappointed with this on the whole. It wasn't awful but there were three key things which stopped me enjoying it as much as I could:

1. Too many exclamation marks! Writers should use these very rarely and it felt like every story had at least five. They were unnecessary and became very annoying to me

2. The stories followed a pattern of 'x goes somewhere, encounters weird people, weird people or x end up being a secret monster'. This wasn't every story but it was a huge chunk of them and it became very repetitive

3. Finally, one of the stories had a weird scene where some lesbians pretend to be straight to make a guy buy them expensive champagne, then mock him and make out in front of him. This added nothing to the story and just alienated me as a reader because it was presented as such a typical thing to happen and like, people don't do that?? The sexual content wasn't huge in this horror collection and certainly not compared to some others I've read, but sometimes it cropped up in weird ways (like a young boy looking up the skirt of a young girl, again for no reason) and it was always distracting when it did. I have nothing against sexual content but it has to add something and not just be a confusing aside

Overall, there are far worse horror collections out there but I still feel this needed a good editor to clean it up.

Overall Rating:

Little Bones by N V Peacock

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Little Bones is a thriller with a lot of elements. At its core, it's the story of Cherry, a woman who is the daughter of a famous serial killer, Mr. Bones. When a child in her local area goes missing, a new podcast accuses her of being involved. Next her own son vanishes and she must deal with trying to find out what's happened to him whilst also being accused of murdering him herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. Ordinarily I don't like missing children books, and I wouldn't actually have requested this ARC if I'd known the main character's child also went missing (this happens very early on but is absent from the blurb). Having said that, this completely won me over by the end. Cherry was a fantastically complex protagonist and I loved it when the book focused on her childhood with her serial killer father and how it had affected her as an adult. These moments were infrequent but fantastic when they happened.

The main strength of this thriller is it manages to be interesting, which sounds like a low bar but honestly it does it so well. There are plenty of characters and what's more, they have a role in the narrative beyond 'potential suspect'. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller but it has a solid story and you feel like Cherry is a real person acting mostly reasonable (she still makes the odd thriller protagonist mistake but I can forgive her for that). I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I found the eventual ending satisfying. It does go on a bit after the ending but that might have been due to me being more used to written thrillers which I can read faster than listening.

Speaking of the audiobook, I was pretty pleased with the narrator. I liked the different voices and it made it really easy to follow what was going on, even whilst doing other tasks. I have two minor gripes: firstly, the voice for Mr. Bones was a little annoying just because it was so gruff and the use of 'mon cherie' was so repetitive. I also found it very annoying to listen to the phrase 'Little Bones' so many times, though this is a fault of the author and not the narrator. I couldn't help thinking it would make a fantastic drinking game.

Overall, this is a solid and entertaining thriller and definitely worth the listen/read if you're a fan of the genre. Just be aware that it is a missing child story primarily as I feel this aspect is hidden somewhat (at least, the fact the main character also loses her child is hidden) and the blurb does suggest more of a focus on the unreliable narrator angle which isn't a big part of it. But I thoroughly enjoyed Little Bones and would strongly suggest checking it out.

Overall Rating:

Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good themed horror book. The sound of a Christmas horror set in an 80s office was too good to resist. Alas, Secret Santa feels very mismarketed to me. This isn't really a horror book, at least not in the way it's implied to be. Secret Santa tells the story of Lussi, a woman who gets a job at a publishing office after the boss dies. Soon after, she receives a cursed object in the company's secret santa exchange. The blurb says that 'Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie,' but that simply doesn't happen. One coworker dies quite gruesomely but it's not really a slew of slasher kills. Instead we get a weird cult plot and a lot of scenes of Lussi going around, trying to get clues.

I will say, I did really like Lussi as a protagonist. She was smart, interesting and I cared about her life. She was probably my favourite part of the book and I wish she'd been put in a more interesting plot. I also liked the elements of the publishing world and I thought these created potential for a good story. Sadly the book also moves away from the office atmosphere a fair bit, and I never really felt like her coworkers mattered much in the grand scheme of things.

If this book had been marketed as a crime noir or something similar, I think it would have better luck reaching an audience who might appreciate it. As it is, I lost interest as soon as I realised this wasn't going to be the kind of book I thought I was going to get based off the cover and blurb. I don't tend to judge books based off my expectations but in this case, it does feel like I was deliberately misled. I will say the author has huge potential though and if you like how this book does sound from my description, then definitely check it out. Just make sure you know what kind of book you will be reading.

Overall Rating:

Silent Night by Nell Pattison

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins Audio UK in exchange for an honest review.

Had I realised this was a police procedural type book, I probably wouldn't have requested it. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by Silent Night. Paige is a deaf interpreter hired by the police to help out when a student and teacher go missing at a school for the deaf. When the teacher is found dead, the hunt for the student intensifies but with both students and staff keeping secrets, this is definitely not a clear cut case.

There was a lot going on in this book in a good way and having the main character being an interpreter did add a nice spin on the usual detective story. I liked the main character on the whole and I thought her past and life added to the plot greatly which isn't always the case with these thrillers. In particular, her relationships with her sister and her ex were some of my favourite parts of the book, and they really drove the emotional core of the story.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I would definitely recommend it this way. The main narrator was great and easy to listen to. There was an additional deaf narrator brought in to narrate some chapters from a student's point of view, something which is fantastic in concept but I feel isn't executed well. Those chapters are simply not very clear and I really struggled to make out what was happening in them. I don't think this is the fault of the narrator but more to do with the way it was recorded/produced as it mostly seems to be a volume issue, at least for me. It's a shame because it really added to the tone of the book and I think it's a fantastic decision representation-wise.

Overall, Silent Night is an engaging police procedural thriller with a unique and interesting setting. There is a lot of meat to the plot but it never feels confusing, and the strong relationship with the characters keeps you invested throughout. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and if you like police procedurals, I'm sure you will love this more than I do.

Overall Rating:

.5

Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Atlantic Books in exchange for an honest review.

Having previously read a thriller by this author and been really impressed, I was hoping for so much more from this book. Rewind is the story of Audrey, a protagonist so inconsequential she didn't even appear on the blurb or in anyone else's reviews. But while the blurb claims this is the story of Natalie, in reality she doesn't play much of a part in it aside from being murdered. Audrey is the wannabe reporter investigating her disappearance and what I would consider the true protagonist. Natalie is an influencer and our murder victim, a woman who gets attacked while investigating somewhere she thinks her husband might have cheated on her at.

Rewind is ultimately a fairly boring story with a needlessly confusing setup. The blurb got me pretty excited and I normally don't mind stories told out of time, but the way this is set up makes it a little pointless. The PAUSES, REWINDS, FAST FORWARDS do little apart from indicate that the story is taking place in the present or the past. The video aspect of the murder is extremely straightforward and not really part of the actual plot at all. There aren't any twists, nothing surprised me and I didn't really care about any of the characters. It was all so generic.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this thriller. It's a shame because it has a lot of elements I love (I really like thrillers based around social media influencers, and that's a pretty hot topic atm) but everything was so dull and straightforward. If you prefer very linear thrillers, you might like this one but otherwise there isn't much to recommend.

Overall Rating:

The House Mate by Nina Manning

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Boldwood Books UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller! The House Mate is the tale of Regi, a woman suffering from OCD who moves into a student houseshare after mysteriously uprooting her life. She quickly becomes obsessed with an Instagram cleaner, as well as a troll of said cleaner who won't stop posting nasty comments.

Firstly, I really liked the unique set up of this book. I've never read a thriller set in a student houseshare and Regi herself was a really interesting character to read about. There were so many unique elements which really made this stand out as a thriller and kept me paying attention. I normally zone out or miss details when listening to a thriller audiobook, but that didn't happen here. Manning is a skilled thriller writer and I definitely want to check out her other work now. I also found the OCD rep pretty decent on the whole, although it is a relatively minor part of the book.

Sadly this book was a little let down by the fact it had so much going on. Whilst reading it, I liked this element a lot but when you reach the conclusion and find out what's going on, there are large plot points which don't seem to matter much at all. The houseshare elements trailed off towards the end and the book became more generic without them. A lot of the earlier tension is lost as characters or plot points just disappear, and it's a shame to learn how much didn't really matter in the end. It's still a good read and I'm glad those elements were there, I just wish they'd been better woven into the story.

Overall, The House Mate definitely stands out as a thriller and has some really engaging, interesting stuff going on. It falls a bit flat near the end but it is still worth the read and it certainly won't be a book I forget in a hurry. It also works really well as an audiobook and I would recommend listening to it if you're so inclined. I look forward to reading Manning's other work.

Overall Rating:

.5

Hot to Trot by M.C. Beaton & R.W. Green

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Blackstone Audiobooks in exchange for an honest review.

I am a little behind on the Agatha Raisin series but the good thing about these books is you can usually jump in and there isn't much of an ongoing story. As per usual Agatha is between men, with the potential rekindling of her relationship with James being interrupted by Charles' impending wedding to a rather horrible woman. When said horrible woman is murdered, Agatha finds herself a suspect and is forced to investigate to clear her name,

What I like about these books is you always know what to expect. They make for easy reading and even easier listening, and I really enjoyed experiencing an Agatha mystery as an audiobook. It has inspired me to go back and relisten to the whole series.

As for Hot to Trot itself, it is an enjoyable romp. These mysteries are never very complex or deep, but I always enjoy going along with Agatha for the ride. This one has a lot of travelling and a cast of interesting characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're a fan of Agatha, this installment won't disappoint.

Overall Rating:

The Charmed Wife by Ogla Grushin

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.

The Charmed Wife poses an interesting question: what happens when the magic goes out of Cinderella's marriage? Feeling unloved and embittered by the false dream she has been sold, our main character seeks out a witch to cast a spell to kill her fairytale prince. Just as they are about to cast it however, the fairy godmother shows up and urges her to look back on her relationship and whether things are as bad as they seem.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book. It has a dreamy, fairytale style sprinkled with humor and thought-provoking imagery. It takes an interesting look at what life for Cinderella would actually be like, and I particularly enjoyed the asides about the saga of her two pet mice. That honestly was my favourite part of it and I wish it had continued throughout the entire book.

Halfway through however, this book changes gear and here it got a bit less enjoyable for me. A lot of different fairytales start appearing and this was great at first but quickly became crammed and a bit tiresome. I felt like the plot had gotten away from the author and I wanted to get back to it. The ending I cannot discuss without spoilers so highlight the text to see: I think the decision to have it all be a potential delusion could have worked a bit better but it was woven in so messily into the multiple fairytale stuff that was going on, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. And personally I would have preferred to stay in the fairytale world as I found that more insightful and that it worked better as a metaphor. The final scene with the prince revealing he never got what he wanted either is very powerful, and it doesn't need the real world muddying the waters.

Having said that, this book was incredibly creative and I found myself very absorbed and invested in the story. It is unlike anything I have read before in a really great way, and I was completely enchanted seeing where it would go. It's definitely a powerful book and one I know will stick with me for a while.

Overall Rating:

How Love Actually Ruined Christmas by Gary Raymond

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Parthian Books in exchange for an honest review.

I have no strong attachment to Love Actually. I saw it for the first time two years ago and found it pretty ridiculous but one of the better Christmas movies (honestly there are few Christmas movies I actually like, which in itself is a kind of crime). The second I saw this book though, I was excited. I love sarcastic takedowns of romcoms and honestly, one of the things I love about the genre is how insane the plots can get and how unrealistic they are. I was not disappointed with this book!

This review will be short because honestly, the cover tells you everything you want to know. I was worried this book would be bitter, an adult man cheerlessly tearing apart a movie aimed at women with no awareness of his lack of a place in doing that. Thankfully this book was extremely funny and one of the reasons the author dislikes the movie is the misogyny contained in the film so there was no trace of 'girl hate'. The best way to describe this book is imagine you're watching the movie along with a funny friend who hates it. It is framed as a scene-by-scene recap with comments inserted about the film/plot/production. No deeper analysis is offered particularly (except for a brief intro dissecting the cultural impact of the film) but it isn't needed. This is clearly a book written for entertainment rather than academic merit.

Overall, if you want a fun nonfiction Christmas book to entertain you while the TV shows Love Actually for the fourth time this year, then you can't go wrong with this. I loved the light, humorous style and I think the author did a fantastic job of getting the balance right between hatred and entertainment.

Overall Rating:

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret by now that I am obsessed with the Wayward Children series. I have yet to read an installment I didn't like and Across the Green Grass Fields is no exception. This is a standalone in the series which is always appreciated, and this book follows the story of Regan, a horse-loving girl who finds her door after a particularly traumatic incident at school. Behind this door is a world of centaurs and unicorns, where humans have a destiny they must fulfill. Regan however just wants to enjoy life with her newfound family.

This is a brilliant installment in the series and I definitely recommend it if you have enjoyed the others. The usual entertaining writing style is here, as are the engaging characters and great worldbuilding. I will say that I found this plot a little lacking compared to the others. I'm not sure what it was but there didn't feel a huge amount going on and the ending left me wanting. This is possibly my least favourite of the books so far, but that really isn't saying much given my love of the series. It's sort of the same as saying light roast is my least favourite coffee-it's still all great.

That aside, there is plenty here to like for fans of the series. Regan gives us a brilliant intersex protagonist. The world is as creative and as fun to explore as ever. I 100% recommend this book and this series for anyone who wants a whimsical but poignant fantasy series with tons of great rep and even greater stories.

Overall Rating:

Beach Read by Emily Henry

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Books (UK) in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy. I am a fussy romance reader but damn, did this book knock it out of the park! Beach Read is the story of January (I promise her name is not indicative of the type of book this is) a romance author who is struggling to pen her latest work after a shocking truth about her dead father is revealed. Having lost her faith in love, she goes to her father's secret beach house in the hopes of being able to finish her latest book. Whilst there, she runs into an old college crush/rival, Augustus. Gus pens only cynical literary fiction so in a bid to stimulate her creative juices, January bets him they can't write a book in each other's genres. Hijinks and sexual tension ensue.

The best way I can describe the romance in this book is to compare it to Pride and Prejudice. You have the reserved, somewhat grouchy male love interest and the bright, judgmental female determined that he has already dismissed her and so she has nothing to lose in teasing him mercilessly. It is obvious from the start that January has misjudged Gus but the slow build of their friendship and their sexual tension is utterly delicious. This book made me swoon, cry, turned me on and put me on tenterhooks. In short, exactly what I want from my romance fiction.

In summary, everything good you've probably already heard about this book is true. It 100% deserves the hype and I only have the most minor of gripes with it. Firstly, I think the title of Beach Read works well on the surface but the beach setting is almost never used within the story and also they never really make the link in-text to romance novels being 'beach reads' which is a shame. Secondly, it becomes comical how often the characters are interrupted right when they are about to have sex. Apart from these incredibly minor niggles, Beach Read is amazing and I recommend it to anyone who wants a genuinely good, well-written and engaging romance.

Overall Rating:

.5