The Geeky Bartender by Cassandra Reeder

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quarto Publishing Group – Race Point Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing treat for boozy nerds! I had high hopes for this book based off the gorgeous cover and amazingly it managed to match every single one. This is a beautiful collection of really interesting cocktails based off various nerdy and geeky properties. All the big names are here and there's bound to be one fandom for every type of geek. The majority of drinks are attempts to make real-life versions of drinks found in the series (for example, Butterbeer from Harry Potter or Soulstorm Brew from Oddworld). Some are generic geeky drinks (red health potion) and others are inspired by geeky worlds (Sonic Screwdriver).

The presentation of this book really impressed me. It's clear from the foreword that the author wants to make the cocktails as easy and as cheap to make as possible, and this shines throughout. No brands are used and while there are certainly fancy drinks here, there are also plenty of affordable ones. Every cocktail photo is stunning and no detail is too small to not include when it comes to presenting them in an appealing and fandom-relevant way. My little nerd heart was so happy to just view the pretty drinks and I really appreciated the care and love the author shows for each property she mentions.

The book also starts with some great general advice. Unlike some cocktail books, this is written in a very straightforward manner and once again, the tips for improving the appearance of the cocktails were incredibly simple but effective. Instead of assuming you're willing to spend hours prettying up your drinks, the book gives you several effective but easy methods to make them beautiful in almost no amount of time. These methods are then referenced in later recipes as suggestions but can easily be ignored if you want to keep things even simplier.

Overall, this book is by far the best cocktail book I have ever read in terms of including ingredients which are easy to acquire and also making drinks which are simply exciting to look at. This would make a wonderful present for the nerdy drinker in your life and I look forward to making a few of these at my next geeky party. I am very impressed!

Overall Rating:

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK in exchange for an honest review.

This book is trying really, really hard to be Big Little Lies. I almost wish it wasn't because this is actually a really great story and it feels a bit held back by the comparisons. Having said that, this is a really good book for people who enjoyed Big Little Lies and people who enjoy more contemporary-style thrillers in general.

Pretty Guilty Women is the story of four women who are attending a fancy resort for a wedding. Three of the women used to be friends in their college years, one of them is a wealthy older woman who befriends them at the resort. Each woman has a specific thing in her life she is struggling with. Emily has a dark past and is currently an alcoholic who hooks up with another wedding guest. Ginger is worried about her teenage daughter whilst Kate is terrified she will never have children. Lulu is on her fifth marriage but this time, it seems like her husband might leave her before she gets the chance. Just when all these women are at breaking point, a murder happens. And all four confess.

This is told very similarly to the aforementioned book, with each chapter starting and/or ending with a section taken from a police interview with one of the characters about the murder. I think this was the feature that bothered me the most. There is mystery about who is murdered but it also doesn't matter so much in terms of the majority of the story who that murdered person is. It's not like the narrative is woven with clues for you to decipher. I actually really liked the plot we got at the end of this book and I think it's a shame it wasn't more original and did more with that story throughout.

Being more positive, I would say most of the characters are engaging. Lulu was my favourite and I found all of the women's individual plotlines interesting. It was a little odd that the woman whose wedding it was had almost no presence or impact on the plot. It almost felt like she should have been the fourth woman as she was also friends with everyone else in college.

Overall, there isn't a lot going on in this book but I did really enjoy what there was. The writing is solid, the characters are interesting and I can see this being a brilliant holiday/beach read for a lot of people. I found it a bit lacking in general but I would love to see more by this author and I hope their next book plays to their strengths rather than mimicking another book.

Overall Rating:

.5

Strange Girls: Women in Horror Anthology edited by Azzurra Nox

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Twisted Wing Productions in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love horror, I really do. However, there's no denying I've had some bad luck with horror anthologies. There are very specific things I dislike and more often than not, they tend to crop up in anthologies. The idea of a horror anthology written entirely by women was so appealing to me because (sadly) a lot of the stuff I dislike tends to be written by male authors. Also, who doesn't want to support more female authors?

Amazingly, I was 100% correct in my assumptions. Almost all of these stories succeeded at being really intriguing tales of horror without any of the weird sexual elements, glorification of violence or other dodgy gender stuff I dislike. There is one exception to this-'The Eyes of the Dead' by Danielle R. Bailey is a particularly brutal tale about the aftermath of a rape. It wasn't a bad story by any means but it didn't really fit with the tone of the other stories and I felt like it was a bit too bleak for an anthology of this nature.

Having said that, there's a good mix of stories here in general. A fair few of them felt like they were too short and ended just as they were getting interesting which was a shame. Some of my favourites include 'Adam's Self-Portrait with Pears' by Rachel Bolton, 'Personal Demons' by Angelique Fawns, 'Cracked' by Regan Moore, 'Revival' by Madison Estes and 'A Song Only She Can Hear' by Wondra Vanian. There are some which are traditional horror but a lot of them had a dark fantasy side to them which was neat.

All in all, I'm very glad I read this collection and I would recommend it to anyone who has trouble finding a horror anthology that fits their tastes. I wouldn't say the tone is particularly feminist but it is a refreshing kind of horror and one I would love to see more of.

Overall Rating: