Format: eARC

The Vinyl Underground by Rob R..

Posted 07/10/2023 by Charli in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Today is my stop on TBR & Beyond Blog Tours’ blog tour for The Vinyl Underground by Rob Rufus. This is a YA Contemporary novel set in 1968, during the Vietnam War. There will be some anti-war sentiments, racism, racial violence, and other possibly upsetting things in this book, so please, check the content warnings before reading. When I first saw The Vinyl Underground, I thought it was going to be a book about music. And it is… kind of. Music figures heavily into the book, but the main message of the book and the main plot have nothing to do with music. I should preface this by saying that my uncles both fought in Vietnam. Both of them volunteered and one of them actually volunteered to go over there twice. My family was lucky – both of my uncles came home. But a lot of my grandparents’ friends lost […]

Their Vicious Games by Joelle ..

Posted 07/04/2023 by Charli in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Their Vicious Games is nothing short of amazing. Think Squid Games meets The Hunger Games but in this case, the stakes are more than you might think. I’m going to say this now, Adina and Saint have my heart for the female characters. They’re strong, resilient, and while they may take crap at the beginning of The Finish, the certainly won’t take it forever. As far as the male characters go, the only one we see a lot of in the story that I actually like is Graham. He may be misguided and blinded by his love for Pierce, but he also appears to truly care about Adina at the very least. The rest of the characters honestly made me want to reach through the pages and slap them a few times. And can someone please tell me how you’re supposed to pronounce Penthesilea’s name? This story had a very […]

Blood Kings by Shade Owens

Posted 07/02/2023 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I love when a book moves through several genres and Blood Kings does that and does it well. As I read through the book, the dystopian vibes became very clear – the manner in which life-sentence prisoners are dealt with is very dystopian in nature. Then you have the horror, which is readily apparent in the way people are treating each other on these islands. I like Leo – he’s the kind of character that you want to root for. You want him to find a way out of the predicament he’s found himself in. You want him to get away, to win. Even if you haven’t got a clue what he’s actually winning if he does win… you want him to win. I also enjoy Niles. He’s a great “best friend” for Leo. Even though it seems like Leo cares more about Niles than Niles does about Leo, I’m […]

You Won’t Believe Me by ..

Posted 06/26/2023 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

You Won’t Believe Me by Cyn Balog was a ride from beginning to end. A fast paced Young Adult novel that is part thriller, part horror, and all awesome. You really only get to know two characters, Willow and Elijah. You get to know them, sort of. By the end of the book you won’t know what about them is real or isn’t. But that’s the beauty of the story. You just don’t know because you won’t know what to believe. Just as you think you know who these two are and what they are, a twist pops up and you’re back to square one with them. Brilliant. This is one of the most unique plots I’ve seen in a long time. You start out thinking something is horribly wrong but don’t know exactly what, then find out there was some sort of zombie apocalypse, but then a twist blows […]

The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Grif..

Posted 06/22/2023 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours blog tour for The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis, and I’m bringing you a review of the book. I’d actually already requested & been approved for this book through NetGalley prior to joining the tour, but hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet. I wish I’d read it sooner. If you have religious trauma, this may not be the book for you. If you are a believer, this book may tick you off or it could cause you to take a long look in the mirror. This book is a work of fiction, but it rings of some horrible truths – truths I’ve experienced in my own life. There are things that happen in this book that sound fantastical, like they couldn’t be real. But there are versions of these things that are, in fact, real. In fact, the author […]