Author: Charli

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs

Posted 07/21/2022 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Child Murder, Gore, Descriptions of Dead Bodies, Animal Cruelty, Attempted Murder, Mentions of DNA modification and vaccines. In the early 2000s, I fell in love with a TV show called Bones. I would later discover that the TV show was loosely based on the Temperance Brennan series of books by Kathy Reichs. Earlier this year, I decided I was going to make it a point to read/listen to as many of those books as I could. I didn’t get too far in, but I knew I had the 20th book in the series, The Bone Code, in my NetGalley queue. I finally got off my butt and read it. First things first, you don’t have to read the Temperance Brennan books in order to understand what’s going on. You’ll be given enough details to help you figure things out if previous books are referenced. So don’t let […]

Influencer Island by Kyle Rutk..

Posted 07/20/2022 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Gore, Sexual Assault, Drugs The premise of this book had me wanting to read it and so when I was granted an eARC I was thrilled. However, the book simply didn’t live up to expectations. First, none of the characters are in any way memorable. The only things I really remember about them are their names – Cal, Carrie, Tuck, Kiana, Bella, Nicki Mo, Trevor, etc.. But who they are, what they stand for? Not much to tell you because they just weren’t memorable to me. We didn’t get a decent enough background for any character to make them pop. Second, the POV just bounced around too much. Never knowing which point of view you’d get next or what they’d be talking about now didn’t set well with me. I like to have an idea of when point of view changes are coming and what’s going on. […]

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

Posted 07/19/2022 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Fire, Arson, Gore, Religious Fervor, Monsters, Animal Death I’ve had Small Favors in my TBR for well over a year. I actually own a signed hardcover copy of the book that I’d pre-ordered back before it came out. Now the book is out in paperback and I’m just now getting around to reading it. Go me. Erin A. Craig likes to do fairy tale retellings and from what I can gather, this one is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. At least that is what I’d guess from the favors – that was Rumpelstiltskin’s schtick after all. However, she does it in an unexpected way that makes you stop and think about it. It isn’t obvious at first. I love the setting of Amity Falls – an idyllic little town that is mostly self-contained, but still requires a little bit of help from the outside world. I honestly wonder […]

When Darkness Falls by Kathlee..

Posted 07/18/2022 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Trigger Warnings: Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse of a Child, Gore, Murder, Forced Suicide, Mental Health Related Illness/Diagnosis. When I picked up When Darkness Falls by Kathleen Harryman through NetGalley, I wasn’t expecting that the book had already come out in 2017 and had a sequel. While I haven’t yet read the sequel, I am going to give my thoughts on the first book. Our story is being narrated in the first person by a mysterious character whose name we will later learn is Lauren. Lauren has it out for Tracy and wants her gone. Pretty quickly into the book I deduced what was going on with Lauren and Tracy – which I will not be spoiling for you – although I had to wait until the end of the book to find out that I’d been correct the entire time. The characters are interesting enough – I felt Lauren was […]

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson

Posted 07/11/2022 by Charli in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

I’m going to be quite honest – this review will be short. I’ve been trying to keep to using the CAWPILE headings for my reviews, but for this book, I think I’m just going to keep it short and sweet. Duplicity is a decent book – it earned 3 stars, but it’s honestly nothing to write home about. For one thing, we start out with one plot line, then are slapped with a second plot line. We spend the majority of the book working on solving plot line #2, then go back and finish plot line #1 in a hurry. To me it almost felt like Shawn Wilson couldn’t figure out what he wanted to actually do with this book, so instead of separating the two plot lines into separate books, which I’d have preferred, he just did them both and hoped for the best. For me, the characters are […]