Book Review: Prey by Rachel Vincent

Prey

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Prey 〰️

This is my second time reading this series, and while I love it more than my first read, I seem to have noticed a lot of issues that I didn't pick up before. Again, though it has flaws, it wasn't able to take away from my enjoyment. I'll just rant about them below.

-I loved this book. It had lots of action, and Faythe felt more involved in her own story than in any of the other books. But it did feel like there were four stories Vincent was trying to tell, all very interesting ones, but we only get tidbits of two of the stories (Kaci and her need to shift and Manx and her trial and aftereffects). Then we get two main stories playing simultaneously: Faythe searching for Marc and her dad fighting for his position on the council. It was a lot. As much as I enjoyed them all, perhaps they could have been in another book, so there wasn't so much going on all at once.

-I know they need to eat a lot, and junk food doesn't bother them because of their super-fast metabolism, but surely it would benefit them more to eat healthier? They eat so much junk and frozen food. The only time they eat a good meal is when Faythe's mom cooks up something, which she apparently does often, but most of the characters are usually out on duty and, thus, resorting to eating junk.

-I'm glad Faythe regrets the sex with Jace because it was wrong on so many levels for both of them. I get they were grieving and trying to feel something other than death, but this wasn't the way to go at it. Faythe let Jace do it because she wanted to forget, but now she's cheated on Marc, and they were both drunk and grieving and probably wouldn't have done it in their right minds. Still, this wasn't a cute romantic scene. I'm not sure if it was meant to be that or not, however.

-Then, right after Faythe realizes how messed up it is, Jace tries to gaslight her, saying it's the only thing he's done right: he loves her, she's all he has left now, they both wanted it and so on. Not cool, Jace. Grief isn't an excuse for his behaviour.

-I mentioned the junk food they ate in my last review, but failed to mention all the Coke they drank. Is water not good enough for them? At one point, Faythe drinks three twenty-ounce Cokes in a four-hour drive.

That said, this book really wanted you to feel ALL the emotions. Vincent's writing is masterful at capturing all the ups and downs of everyone's trials and tribulations. I know some people find Faythe annoying, but I love her smart talk and still think she's a badass, strong female lead, and I would love to be her friend. She may be a bit immature, but hey, I'm in my 30s and can also be immature, so I relate.

Book Review: Pride by Rachel Vincent

Pride

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Pride 〰️

I really enjoyed my second re-read of this book, especially since I read this series so long ago that I forgot most of it, and it’s like reading it fresh again. As with the other books, there were some issues. (Can you say toxic masculinity in the book?) But just because some things irked me or just made me question things, none of it took away my enjoyment from this book, hence the high rating. This series has some flaws, for sure. (Like some racist undertone and all the toxic masculinity). But I’m still having a blast reading it, which is odd for this third book since there is a lot of (cat) politics, which I’m not a fan of, and the fact that most of the book takes place inside a cabin. Faythe is yet again essentially locked up in another book. (Well, she wasn’t as much in the second book, but she spent most of her time “locked up” in book one and always has someone watching her in any book).

So, here are a few mini rants(ish) regarding this book.

-I'm not too fond of politics. And this book has a lot of politics, albeit with cats. At least Vincent can make it more interesting because it has to do with cats rather than human politics. 

-I don’t think it was wise to be calling the stray Hannibal so close to Kaci. Sure, she may not have been listening, being in shock and all, but still. They even made it a point to make sure she wasn’t listening during their conversation (but in regards to another topic), so they had to have known she could pick up on the man-eater’s name and that it would hurt her even more, to know what they think of people like her, even if she did it out of instinct and survival rather than on purpose. Just felt a little insensitive to me.  

-I’ve wondered this with the first three books, but more so now. Do these people not have jobs? I mean, some seem to, but like they take a lot of time away from work and yet aren’t fired for it. I know where business comes first, but if they want to keep the human facade going, sometimes I wonder if the humans would question why they take so much time off work all the time. I mean, they wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it’s because they’re werecats, but they’d have to know something is up. And if the werecats are hellbent on not having humans figure out their existence, they’re not really helping themselves. (I could just be thinking way too much into this.)

-What do they plan on doing with the cabins they rented? I know they’re good at clean-up, but they really wrecked the whole place and surrounding areas. I know the novel didn’t take place over a long period of time, but what if they have to stay longer to clean up the mess? I’m sure there are other people who booked the cabins. (This is a minor nitpick point for me, however).

-This point isn’t a negative remark. I want to say how awesome it is that we get to see a Bruin in this book. If memory serves, we’ll see Thunderbirds at some point in the subsequent novels, though I can’t recall if we'll see Keller again. Well, okay. I lied. There is a slight negative to this point (though it has nothing to do with Vincent’s writing). I would love to know more about Bruins and see more than one in action. Especially a female Bruin. Are they as rare as tabbies? That’s a question I hope to see answered, as I can’t recall if it gets brought up in later volumes.

That said, I’d still recommend this series to urban fantasy fans and shifters. I think the world-building keeps getting better with each book, and I love Faythe and her sass. (Though she could learn to tone it down when her life depended on it. Which it often does. I mean, I get needing to say what she has to say, but sometimes it gets her into more trouble than it’s worth).

Book Review: Rogue by Rachel Vincent

Rogue

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Rogue 〰️

This is my second read of this series. I first read the series in the early 2010s. I remember enjoying it, but because many years have passed, I don't remember much of what happened other than a few key things. So, I'm excited to dive back into one of Vi’s earlier works.

I mentioned in my review of Stray that Faythe calling her dad "daddy" felt kind of weird, seeing how, nowadays, older women tend to (but not always) use that word in a sexual way. Thankfully, though she still calls Greg "daddy," she doesn't use the word as often. I almost thought Vincent decided to have that word removed from the book, but around 100 pages in, she finally said it for the first time—still, not a big deal. I'm curious to see how often Faythe uses "daddy" in the subsequent few volumes.

Also, I see Marc still has anger issues, although he seems to have tamed some of it. Perhaps it's because he's with Faythe now? Either way, the toxic masculinity is strong with him. I get he can be a great guy, and he is caring, but I do wonder what Faythe sees in him at the moment.

That said, I don't see anything else that bothers me in this novel. I think the first book had many flaws (despite my enjoyment), but the second book upped the stakes, action and emotion. Though Faythe can act immaturely, she's still a strong, badass female lead, and I love reading her story.

Book Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent

Stray

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Stray 〰️

This is my second time reading this series. I originally read them probably around 2012ish? I can’t recall. But it’s been long enough that reading it now feels like the first time. I’m excited to dive back into Vincent’s first series to see if they still hold up. And I know this is only the first book, but you know what? They do. Sure, there are some issues that I’ve noticed now that I, for some reason, didn’t pick up back then, but that doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of Vincent’s work. There is a reason everything she writes is an auto-buy and usually a re-read. (Though her Soul Screamers series will always be my first love and my favourite). 

So, let’s get a few things that bothered me out of the way. (Kinda rant?)

-Every time Faythe calls her dad “Daddy," it kinda creeps me out. I think it’s because people use “daddy” in a more sexual way these days. I know this book was written in the mid-2000s, and the sexual meaning wasn’t around (or as popular. It could have been around, but I didn’t realize it). Still, I can’t help but picture Faythe, a full-grown adult, getting all childish and pouty when she calls her dad “daddy.” (Nothing wrong with still calling your parents mommy and daddy at an older age. I’m just saying adults using “daddy” these days hold a different meaning most of the time).

-I forgot about how Marc was super territorial, to the point where it’s toxic masculinity. It wasn’t romantic. It was kinda gross. I forgot how most of the series goes, but I know Marc is endgame for Faythe, and the attempted love triangle with Jace was also weird. The fact that her parents basically forced her to be with Marc (yes, she still wants him, but that’s besides the point), is also creepy. Giving me arranged marriage vibes. I’m not sure how I feel about Marc at the moment. I think I like Jace more, but I do remember that Marc grew on me in later volumes, so we’ll see if that still holds true. He really needs to stop claiming Faythe, however. I mean, yes, they’re together at the end of the first book, but the moment they reunite, he literally claims her and maims his competition. And he gets rewarded for his behaviour by getting Faythe in the end. 

-And last, when she has sex with Marc for the first time, she’s technically cheating on Andrew. I know she realizes the consequences of it right in the next chapter, but yeah. Also, as conceptual as it was, it wasn’t since she was still drunk. I’m aware they have consensual romantic advances later, but she still hasn’t broken up with Andrew at that point. I’m not a fan of cheaters. 

-Most of the action happens in the last third of the book. The first half had Faythe essentially reminiscing about her childhood and deciding which dude she wanted to be with. Also, if you think about it, Faythe spends 80%ish of this book as a captive of sorts. I mean, she wasn’t truly captive at the ranch, but she was under heavy watch and guarded. Then, she was actually captured and spent a good chunk of time in a cage. At least Vincent’s writing is so good that the fact doesn’t matter because she still makes it an engaging read.

That all being said, I loved this book more this read than my first. I absolutely love Faythe as a character. She’s a smart-talking, badass, strong female lead that we can definitely root for. I love her passion and resolve about everything. I totally get her desire for freedom, especially since she knows she’ll eventually have the burden of keeping the Pride alive. Vincent can also make each character distinct and unique despite having many of them to go around. I can’t wait to continue with this series and have my heartstrings pulled at again. I can’t recall what will happen, but I do remember the series hitting me in the feels.

If you love shifters, cat puns (and cats!), excellent writing and a lovable MC, be sure to pick up Stray. (And while you’re at it, get the rest of the series so you can start right away).

Just know that there are some pretty dark scenes in the book's latter half, so consider this your trigger warning.

Book Review: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Love on the Brain

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Love on the Brain 〰️

First off, this book has its flaws (I’ll get into a few issues I had), but I still had fun reading it. Even if a book has a lot of (sometimes irritating) issues, I’ll still probably rate it pretty high because of my enjoyment level. What can I say? I pretty much enjoy everything I read, even if sometimes the MC pisses me off.

This is the third Hazelwood book I’ve read in a row and the fourth book of hers I’ve read in total. I read in some reviews before that Hazelwood’s work is pretty formulaic, and you know what? They aren’t wrong. All her books include women in STEM (love this fact; pretty sure it’s a selling point for her books, to be honest), a super tiny, almost miscue female MC, a giant, no like GIANT of a man with a six-pack for days male love interest, usually some sort of miscommunication, lots of science talk, and various spicy scenes. (Even her YA debut, Check & Mate, has all of these components, except replace science talk with chess and an off-scene sex scene, but lots of talk of sex).

Don’t get me wrong, her work may be formulaic, but why fix what’s not broken? I love reading her stories despite them all being pretty similar. Plus, she usually has some LGBTQ+ others in the MC or some side characters, and it’s always treated as normal, so I’m here for that.

Now that all being said, here are a few things that irked me about this book. I’ll be going into spoilers of sorts here, so be warned.

-Bee, our MC has this super popular Twitter account that’s popular in the science world, and she befriends another science Twitter guy. It’s so apparent that Levi is SHMAC, the guy she’s been talking to and that he’s always been into Bee. (And that he’s talking about Bee to Bee without her realizing it).

But like all Hazelwood books, it seems like no one can be proper adults and have a conversation. Or, at the very least, stop interrupting each other so the truth can come out earlier.

-She has random fainting spells, but doctors don’t understand why. My guess? For plot convenience.

-Levi keeps saying he doesn’t hate Bee or despise her, yet she still thinks he hates her guts for most of the novel.

-Hell, despite their first kiss, she still thinks Levi used and no longer is. Then they have sex (multiple times), and she still thinks he’s not into her.

-Also, like, where did the NASA cat come from? How did it get inside NASA, and how did no one besides Bee and Levi see the cat???

As I’ve said before in other Hazelwood book reviews, all of the MC's problems could be solved in a five-minute talk if they acted like adults and had a conversation and also stopped interrupting each other so they could hear the full story. Then again, we wouldn’t have a story, but still. I have issues with the miscommunication trope.

Despite all these issues, I’m still rating it four stars and recommending it because I really did enjoy my read. I had fun and learned some cool brain (and definitely lots of Madam Curies) facts I wasn’t aware of. Was it my favourite Hazelwood book? No. Love, Theoretically, still takes the cake on that one. But I still had a good time.

Book Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

The Love Hypothesis

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The Love Hypothesis 〰️

This is the third book I’ve read by Hazelwood (the second being her YA debut, Check & Mate), and I really enjoyed my read. I do wonder why this book is in the third person when all (as far as I can tell) of her other books are in the first person. That’s not a complaint; I'm just wondering.

I love reading about women in STEM. Makes me feel smarter than I actually am. Although I will say I felt like Olive wasn’t as smart as she’s supposed to be sometimes. Only at the end did she use her smarts to fix all the issues. And for someone who is supposed to be uber smart (I suppose this goes for Adam, too), they both don’t think to have an adult conversation about their feelings. It’s the miscommunication trope discount cousin, lying by omission/assuming the other person doesn’t feel the same, so they don’t say anything at all. It’s very annoying. I get it; we wouldn’t have a third-act conflict if they talked sooner, but, like, it’s annoying. (Though I hate the miscommunication so much more). If these adults actually discussed the things they heard from people and talked about what was really going on, it would save everyone the heartache.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this book. I love the LGBTQ+ rep. I also find it fascinating to hear about academia since I know absolutely nothing about it. Hazelwood is the only author I know (I’m sure there are plenty of others) who writes books about women in STEM and all that science stuff. Makes me feel like I can learn a little bit while not actually trying to learn.

The romance in this book was cute. It’s been a while since I’ve read a good grumpy meets sunshine trope done so well. I didn’t find the spicy scenes super spicy, and that’s okay. It was pretty tame as far as spice goes. I think the spice in Love, Theoretically was a lot spicier. However, I have trouble believing that Adam was into Olive since the first time they met in the bathroom. Like, yeah, he could find her attractive and vibe with her, but by the end of the book, it felt like we were supposed to believe he was in love at first sight. Now, if they interacted over the years, even just running into each other for some science thing or something, then I can see him loving her by the time they start their fake dating.

Speaking of fake dating, I’ve read a lot of fake dating tropes lately. They were okay. But I feel The Love Hypothesis is the one that does it right. (Although I wish Adam wasn’t already infatuated with Olive at the start, and they both fell in love naturally as their fake dating progresses; we can’t have everything). I enjoyed how Hazelwood handled this fake dating scenario. 

I know I ranted about a few things, but they’re minor things in the long haul. I really enjoyed this book. Not as much as Love, Theoretically, but enough that I will keep reading Hazelwood’s books.

Book Review: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör

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Horrorstör 〰️

I know this is Hendrix's earlier works, but this is the third of his books I've read. I enjoyed both The Final Girl Support Group and How to Sell a Haunted House, but this book? This book is by far the best work I've read. Actually, it's one of the best horror books I've read in a while.

The concept of setting a horror story inside a discount Ikea was genius. Ask anyone who has worked in retail, especially after closing. It's scary enough. Add actual supernatural stuff to the mix, and you've got a great recipe for success.

I will say, however, that every time Hendrix wrote the name of one of the furniture pieces, I "blah blah blahed" over them like I was reading a name in a fantasy book. Again, I love the idea of a discount Ikea, but like, could you remind me which particular type of furniture we're interacting with instead of using its (I'm assuming) Swedish name?

I also super enjoyed all the art. It added to the creepy factor. And I love how each chapter title is a piece of furniture that will be used in said chapter. I love even more that they get more sinister as the novel progresses, but still sound like something you'd find in an Orsk flier. And the copyright is a part of the Orsk catalogue, and the author's photo is an employee ID? Genius, really.

My only issue (and it's a small nitpick since this book is short) was that Amy surrendered to her "treatment" awfully fast and then was snapped out of it just as quickly. For some reason, out of everything, that was the most unbelievable.

I do wish we could have gotten more scenes, like when Amy and Matt got lost and had to use their camera to find the way back because the camera's reality was distorted. That was pretty cool and creepy.

But all in all, this was an excellent, refreshing, quick horror read. Does it have flaws? Absolutely. But I can look past them to enjoy the retail gimmick that made this an enjoyable read.

Book Review: The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

The Spanish Love Deception

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The Spanish Love Deception 〰️

Actual Rating: 3.5/5

So, I accidentally read the second book (The American Roommate Experiment) first, not knowing it was a spinoff. (It reads perfectly well as a standalone if you are a dumbass like me and want to start there). I absolutely loved the second book. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy and all that weird jazz. I absolutely loved Rosie and her story. So I thought, now I HAVE to read the first book, see more of Rosie (but obviously in the background), see how Lina and Aaron get together and so on.

Usually, a second book can be a hit or a miss. Sometimes, they're just as good as the first. Sometimes better. Sometimes, they don't live up to the expectations. The second book (which was my first) was a smash hit with me. Now that I've finally read the first book? I feel like it's the crappy sequel.

Don't get me wrong, I still very much enjoyed the read. But it was nowhere near as good as the second book and had some issues. They only get to Spain like halfway though the book so it takes until then for things to start getting all romancy. That Open House thing Lina had to plan at the start that was made a big deal of? It's barely mentioned until the end and hardly happens on the page. (Which I guess is a good thing as that would have been boring to read, but like, why include it at all?) Also, the book's first half seems to set Lina up for an ED, and it gets pretty serious for a bit. But then Aaron is basically like, don't do that, and she's like, okay, and then it was never brought up again? I'm not sure why it was included if there wasn't a) going to be a discussion on it or b) not going to go anywhere. Actually, it didn't need to be in the novel at all.

Also, this book is full of the miscommunication trope, second cousin, not talking about your feelings as an adult to another adult. The book could have been so much shorter if Lina just talked about what she felt about Aaron and asked if he wasn't pretending to like her. It irked it. So much that I used the word irked.

At least when the romance started to happen (which took a hot min), I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy it as much as Rosie's story.

As a side note, I also expected more of Rosie in this book, seeing how she got her own novel. I thought fans probably read the first book and couldn't get enough of her, so that's why Armas had to write her story. (She's barely in it or mentioned compared to how long this book was). Not that this is a big issue; I just wondered why Armas decided to write Rosie's story. Though, as spoilers for me, we do see a bit of how Lina and Aaron end up, and they cameo, so there's that.

So, I guess I'm unsure how to feel about this book. I truly liked it, but I also didn't. It's weird. I'd still recommend it, but I also recommend book two more.