maggers94's reviews
172 reviews

Don't Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

For half of this I wanted to strangle all the characters, but the ending had me racing to finish it. My biggest gripe with this and what brings it down is that Richard is just all around awful. I know he has to be written in a way to make Chloe’s story believable, but then Helen’s reveal at the end is hard to believe because if he was so afraid of Chloe why the fuck would he let her stay, be such a complete dick to his wife, give Chloe ammo to torture her by telling her about her mother’s PPD, and at no point take his wife’s side when she’s telling him Chloe’s doing the exact behaviors he knows she’s guilty of before? The whole wanting to believe the best in her just doesn’t seem valid enough to cover all that. Just all around terrible cast of characters, but a quick easy thriller to read.

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this! It was semi-slow in the very beginning, but quickly picked up pace. I did find there were a couple instances where the language felt too modern and took me out of the 1600s setting, which is probably what keeps this from being 5 stars for me.

When She Returned by Lucinda Berry

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 - still not a huge fan of the way Lucinda Berry does first person multiple POVs and some of her writing feels too simplistic, but this one is the first of her books I actually enjoyed, probably because the characters weren’t completely insufferable. I liked the cult aspect a lot, and thought it was pretty well done in how it followed Kate. The 11 year timeline did feel a little wonky since everything was somewhat condensed, but enjoyable overall still

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I figured out where this was going fairly on, but Lisa Jewell does such a good job of building suspense with her writing that I didn’t mind that. Loved all the different threads each character created and how they all came together

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I just didn’t get as sucked into this as I thought I would and figured out where it was going about halfway through. The very, very end did have a nice small twist I wasn’t expecting, but I was just somewhat underwhelmed by everything up to that point.

Look In the Mirror by Catherine Steadman

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot, particularly the writing, but something about it left me wanting more. I think I wanted more time spent on Nina in the rooms. It felt like it was building up so much suspense to that, but the few interactions in the room felt underwhelming. I think the concept reminded me somewhat of The Last One, but it didn’t quite grab me as much as that did.

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was so good and definitely creepy. It reads almost like a movie, complete with lots suspense, and I spent the entire time wondering where it was going to go. My only complaint is that the ending definitely feels unresolved. You end up feeling like you have no idea what's real and what isn't, just like Eve does, which in some ways is great. There were just so many threads that I wanted a resolution of, and you definitely won't get a buttoned up explanation. Overall, a really great read!

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I’m so conflicted because I loved the writing in this, but if you asked me to explain anything about this book I couldn’t possibly do it. I spent the entire time not knowing what was going on, but yet really enjoying the ride

How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Took me forever to come back and finish this and it was just meh. Kitty is insufferable, and I feel like the book fluctuates between wanting to make fun of her shallow version of girl-boss feminism or being really earnest about her being some sort of feminist hero. There’d be moments where I’d think, this so clearly must be satire, and Kitty would start a rant that was clearly supposed to be some profound social commentary that undid it

Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was fine, but just didn't really do it for me. I loved From Below because the setting and the imagery just fully made me feel the terror and the claustrophobia of the characters. Something about this book just didn't quite give me that same feeling. I think a lot of it is because Dorran and Winterbourne just don't feel like that they belong in the time period that Clare is from. I understand that it's supposed to explain why Dorran's a little strange, but it just made him feel out of place or like all of this was some weird delusion. The fact that the house has been there for hundreds of years, but no one knows about it, or that they barely had modern technology just felt off. Then the imagery of Madeline and her maids all being crammed in vans to travel to this other estate felt completely out of tune with the picture that was painted of them all. It felt like the story was building up to a completely different plot about Winterbourne and Dorran, so when it turned out he was telling the truth and his weirdness was completely unrelated to the incident that caused Clare's crash, it was almost a let down. I will still give the second book a change, but this was a little bit of letdown after how good From Below was.