- Mr. Mercedes by Stephen Kings
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️_
Book Synopsis:
A retired police detective, a teenage black boy, and a neurotic woman team up to form an unlikely group of heroes who stop a killer known as Mr. Mercedes from detonating a bomb during a sold out pop concert in this novel by Stephen King.
Thoughts After Reading:
I knew nothing about this book when I first started. My friend just gave me the book and asked me what I thought of it when I was finished. So when King introduced the first characters of the book I was greatly surprised at the twist presented. The twist left me wanting more but was quickly disappointed. The story presented itself a loose mystery and I am not a fan of mystery books, so personal bias is coming into this. There were times that I didn’t want to put it down and others that I got so fed up with the endless details.
I can’t say I did not like it at all. I just felt King wrote this book in for the wrong time period. He put all the qualities of a Noir type book but set it to the present. I felt I was reading something an older man wrote but didn’t know the terms of the young.
What I liked were the characters, and and the final two paragraphs.
The rating I gave it was also influenced because I had just finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King, so this was a breath of fresh air in comparison to that book.
- Dry by Neal Shuterman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Book Synopsis:
When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival.
Thoughts After Reading:
This book is a Survivalist wet dream. It takes a perfect storm of unlikely events to occur all at once. Yet I can’t stop thinking of the show Star Trek making serval predictions for today’s world.
I loved this books. I may be a bit biased because the reference used throughout the book are about Southern California, which I spent a great deal of my life at.
What Shusterman did that I loved is the introduction of Sociology for young readers. He told how people will react in harsh situations, and looking it up there was validity to his words.
This is the second work I read by Neal Shuterman, the first being the Scythe Trilogy. If you love his linear style of writing this is defiantly the book for you.
- Crave by Tracy Wolff
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️_
Books Synopsis:
Her uncle’s exclusive and secretive boarding school is the last place she wants to be, but after the tragic deaths of both of her parents, she is left with no choice. It’s not long before she discovers that she has entered a world like nothing she has ever known
Thoughts After Reading:
The book first appeared to be a renamed Twilight novel. But halfway through, those resemblances disappear, and the narrative takes on a life of its own. The main character, Grace, initially shared a lot of similarities with Bella in that everyone was always battling to defend her and she eventually became the one who was guarding everyone. However, I believe that their partnership is superior to Bella and Edward’s. I don’t like to compare novels, but there was no avoiding it with this one because Twilight and this book were so similar.
The writing was excellent and was engrossed from start to finish. It was very skillfully done to incorporate a fantasy aspect into a contemporary setting. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and cannot wait to read the sequel.
- Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Book Synopsis:
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation.
Thoughts After Reading:
I hate mysteries. I read to let my imagination take me away to another place, not remember vital data as a story progresses. With that being said this is a good book. If you have read any of the previous works by Sarah J. Maas then you’ll like this story as well.
I am going to take a break from this series because I only read this books because my friend made numerous request of me to skip over the Throne of Glass series. I don’t know the reason but i fulfilled the request. Now that I did I need to go and catchup because at the end of her next Crescent City book the character from the previous series start to come together. At Least that is what I am told.
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Books Synopsis:
Lessons in Chemistry is about women’s lives, careers, and struggle for empowerment in the late 50s and early 60s. It follows the story of Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant chemist who is forced to become a television chef when she finds herself a young, single mother.
Thoughts After Reading:
I live in fantasy and dabble in Sci-Fi, so it is rare for me to go outside my norm. It is a breath of fresh air to break up the monotony of the usual troops that are littered throughout these genres; enemies to lovers, friends to nemesis, the chosen one, the list goes on. So for my friend to hand me this, it became an unexpected surprise. If you watch anime this book would fall into the genre of slice of life. It depicts a woman on the road to success 1950’s to 60’s, so you know it’s rough. I would like to imagine when woman talk of equal opportunity they use this book as a reference. I smiled, i shed a tear, and I was overall happy to have read this book. I don’t want to spoil anything for you in this book. Please read it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
- Fairy Tale by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️1/2 __ __
Book Synopsis:
Fairy Tale is a portal fantasy about 17-year-old Charlie Reade’s journey through the land of Empis, a fairy tale-inspired alternate reality that is under the control of dark forces.
Thoughts After Reading:
This was an okay read but it was either 200 pages too long or, and this is going to sound weird not long enough. King spent a great deal painting a vivid picture of the world we are introduced to before we get to the land of Fairy Tale. After that he skips over things that need more information and drags ass in other areas. He could have spent a little more time telling about how the current state of the world ended up the way it did.
I often think what would be a good place to start for newcomers to King. I can easily say this is not it. I’d recommend his other works like It, Mr. Mercedes (Wink Wink), or the gun slinger.
- The Toll by Neal Shuterman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️__
Book Synopsis:
It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver. This is conclusion Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.
I highly recommend reading the previous works before reading this or you may be lost.
Thoughts After Reading:
A solid ending for one of the best fantasy series I’ve come across. Considering how things progressed up to now, where it was continuously implied that population growth was a problem without a solution in the age of immortality, I thought this could end only one of two ways: either with with a lot of death or flying to another planet to inhabit. Turns out Shusterman had a slight variation of one of the two, which annoyed me greatly.
- Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 __
Book Synopsis:
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a student at Yale who is determined to break her friend, Darlington, out of purgatory. Alex and Dawes assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe, navigating a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets.
I highly recommend reading the previous works before reading this or you may be lost.
Thoughts After Reading:
This is the second book of the series “Ninth House” following our protagonist recuse her compatriot from the grips of hell. For those that liked her previous series “Shadow and Bone” this series is one that you Will surely enjoy. This is an adult series which deal with topics such as suicide, rape and drugs. Leigh Bardugo is a queen of build up and cliff hangers. Unfortunately her climax’s are short lived. I feel every time we come to a scene or part in her books she does a quick resolution to move on to the next scene. If you love stories where it’s more about the journey than the destination than this is your woman.
Every Day Man 