Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Let me just start out saying that I personally had a lot of problems with this book.

There are some misogynistic themes that greatly disturbed me and completely turned me off from reading this book. This book centers around an abusive father-daughter relationship and the way that the father was trying to act towards the daughter or completely control her was a pain to watch. I could definitively empathize with Beatrice and understand her motives in doing what she did. There were also lots of anti-Jewish themes that really bothered me personally because it's hard to see a character that's so deeply flawed and in my opinion an insane lunatic to downgrade his ethnic culture so much.

I wasn't engaged at all in the content, (i.e. I really didn't care to see what was going to happen next). Jacobson's word choice was very heavy and almost thick to get through. As someone who is ESL (English second language) there was some harder to define vocabulary that I just couldn't understand the meaning. So many times in this book did I express a strong desire to DNF, but I kept pushing on just for the sake of it.

It should be noted that I am not a fan of Shakespeare, nor am I familiar with the background of the play "The Merchant in Venice" so that definitively must have detracted from my reading experience. I was lost in the story because I didn't know what was going on, or what this author was even drawing a parallel to.

This book, this author just didn't work out for me. I was slightly grossed out by the focus of circumcision as the most important "plot point" or "conflict" in this book. It was just repetitive and unnecessary to the other parts of what the story was trying to convey (through Shylock's lectures/advice and Strulovitch monotonous internal monologues.) Overall, I think that I may have been better off without reading this book, and I don't think that I'll be continuing with the Hogarth Shakespeare series any further.

**Thanks to bloggingforbooks and the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.**

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The Book of Mirrors by E.O. Chirovici
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[actual rating: 3.5]

Decently fast-paced thriller that looks for suitable for TV.

During most of the book, I felt completely addicted and rooted to the spot. I just wanted to pause life and drop everything to concentrate on this plot line. And that my friends, to me is the sign of an excellent thriller. This starts as a classic whodunit but takes some dark and twisty turns, exactly my type of spice.

I would classify this as a literary thriller set in the world of academia. Yes you've heard me right. Something that I haven't seen done before is that the three main characters were interacting with a manuscript of the deceased Flynn. There's a curious literary agent, who gets this mysterious query letter from Richard Flynn a couple of days before he dies claiming to know what happened at the murder scene of Wieder. Then there's a journalist who is hired to investigate this and digs very deeply into the history of this murder and possibly another missing manuscript. Lastly, the police officer that was on that case during that time, is now retired, but wants to follow up since this new information is uncovered.

There are three separate character's POV, which felt a little bit disorienting. It's like I was waiting for one of the character's to physically appear in another character's part, but it somehow never worked out that way. Not the great spider-web affect that I was expecting, more like lots of interviews and false leads. On the other hand, I can't resist multiple POVs, because they provide so much more flavor and intensity to a thriller that I just can't help but devour.

**Thanks to NetGalley the publisher for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.**

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My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[actual rating: 4.25 stars]

Extremely mature and realistic, but also genuinely funny. Oh, did I mention how “real” this book was?

As my first Kinsella novel, this was the ideal escapist story that I was looking for. We follow a career-driven young adult, Katie (Cat) whose dream it is to be successful in London.This progression in her internship knocks her out when she is fired and loses her job. So she now has to wear the “Farmer Katie” hat and help her Dad with his newly opened camping site.

Being a millennial, the aspect of using social media to spread this not-so-perfect message was very appreciative. Of course, not everything is as it seems on Instagram and with the upbeat stories that she tells to reassure her Dad. Kinsella doesn’t sugarcoat it with Katie, she tells it with things like budgeting, not having enough money for your own apartment, and the crazy experiences of commuting.

This is some British chick-lit, but it’s like anything I’ve ever read. Of course granted, this is the first Kinsella book that I’ve tried (what have I been doing with my life??). There was some hilarious romantic comedy, where I was just loudly laughing out loud and holding my breath at other points. The romantic aspect is complicated, but I love me a slow burn, yee?

Hands-down my favorite character was Demeter. She was so complex and interesting; there were completely other sides to her personality that we didn’t see coming before. It’s a fascinating thing how we really got into Katie’s headspace and saw a shift in the perception of her boss who had an apparently “perfect life.” Around the halfway point, I had a lot of empathy and was on board with the motives and character of Demeter. I thought that their relationship was so special to see through the Katie who has grown up and matured a lot since the beginning of the book.

At the beginning, I thought that it was a little bit slow plotwise and I had a hard time getting into it. But once Katie hit the bottom of her career and life options, things started happened and she started changing and I could not put it down. (That’s why I read it in 2 days.) Needless to say, I was hooked and so that’s why you should go and read this too!


**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for my honest review.**


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Her Nightly Embrace by Adi Tantimedh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book follows Ravi and his eccentric colleagues, who is introduced to a completely new way of life. Ravi is an Indian man who is a native Brit, and has been an English teacher, studied religious studies, and now steps into a whole new world of private investigations, and the reader gets dragged along in it with him. There are four distinctive sections of the story, wrote like separate scripts, which now makes sense because I later found out that this book is going to be adapted for TV. So, this types of plotline and writing style is perfect for this media consumption.

Mystery thrillers are becoming one of my go-to genres, and although this one kept my attention enough to compel me through, I just didn't think that the characters were fleshed out enough. We know the bare minimums of background, personality, and how these people operate, but I wish that the author could have elaborated on quirks and pet peeves and all those fun things that make a character unique. None of these characters were unique in my opinion, all of them were just generic people that I have seen done over and over again in generic thrillers. Stereotypes, if you could call them that.

Warning: there is much profanity in this book. I wouldn't say that it's meant for younger audiences, because while searching around there was 42 instances where the 'f' word was used. Complete insensitivity to younger(ish) readers such as myself, so just thought that this is a fair shoutout.

Overall, thought this books to be "meh" and the gaps between the bones of the story could be filled a little bit more, if you see what I mean.

Thanks to NetGalley the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

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The Shock of Survival by Nicole Field
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[actual rating: 4.5]

In this story, we follow three main characters that all have their unique scars after they've won a bleak war that changed their lives forever. Ophelia is a stubborn kick-ass character who won't back down and is trying to just find herself and her own way in the world (a.k.a exactly my type of character). Then there Ben (short for Benedict) that is guilt-tripping himself into faults but stands as the leader of the threesome group of special magic users. I loved his character probably the most, because he's mysterious character that seemed undecipherable in my eyes. Alyxx is an intimate friend to our MC, who lives in a tree in the woods and has an adorable tail and pointed ears. She really reminded me of the "mother character" who was always out there trying to be protective to the MC, even when she necessarily didn't need that protection always. Then there's Dylan, who although he isn't that well-developed plays a key role in the war efforts and what happened in the plot line.

I think that this book did a brilliant job of subtly introducing us to the idea of polygamous relationship(s), and a real representation of the main bisexual character was excellently done. Why is this so rare? Because this book is #ownvoices we get a story that has personal experiences, which just enhances the diverse representation that I was looking for within this book.

Personally, my favorite stories are those intricate emotional shock stories after something traumatic happens, because: I think that we know that we can imagine what happened during the war, but the afterwords if just as important, if not even more to experience. This is a wonderful journey, that doesn't end when we end it there with them, and spans throughout the whole story in such a profound way that it really moved me. Because these characters were mainly 18 or 19, I got a distinct feeling that these were almost vets of the war and I felt like I could greater relate to modern day soldiers who come out of serving during wartime.

One of my favorite tropes was utilized here, the "best-friend-turns-to-lover" because I absolutely adore seeing a blossoming friendship grow and develop. It just absolutely warms my heart and gives me a fuzzy feeling. Although, to be clear the romance wasn't the "central" part of the story to my interpretation, rather a side plot that flowed into the river of the main plot.

My only big problem with this story in general, was that was some lacking backstory. All the mentions of the "war" were very vague and generic. I just didn't get the history of what exactly had happened and what a big deal or not this was and I think that would have been beneficial to the world-building. I do understand that there was some back and forth skipping between the time periods (5 years before, 2 years before, etc.) but that wasn't enough to give me a mental map of what happened during that dark gap in these characters' lives, which by the way, played a very central theme.

Overall, would absolutely recommend this brilliant book to everyone. Thank you so much Nik, for writing such a moving masterpiece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange to my honest review.

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Gilded Cage by Vic James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While enjoyable...this book is quite unforgettable in the sea of fantasy books that I've recently read. Nothing specific made it stand out.

Well folks, get ready for an unpopular opinion. In the moment, I really did enjoy reading this story unfold, but it seems like the premise is pretty generic. There are "blueblooded Equals" and then the rest of the "commoners" that have to serve a ten year prison sentence before they turn seniors (sixty). I've heard this book being compared to Red Queen, and if you loved that book, great! this is a read-alike for that. But unfortunately, as much as I tried I didn't end up falling in love with this book or the Red Queen.

A lot of the world-building didn't make sense, a lot of the magical elements didn't make sense. And I'm not the type of readers to just completely ignore plot-holes. Here are at least some of the things that I found lacking in explanation: [mild spoilers insue]

~If the Equals were skilled in magic, why did they need the slaves to serve them? Couldn't they just have magically done things with the click of a finger, without having to care and maintain for those extra bodies? I don't understand how this helps the general well-being or politics/economy of the body of Equals.

~My first thought when I opened this book was: how convenient that one of these characters were probably going to start a rebellion. What an unoriginal plot device that has been overused to death and I'm just so tired of. If you think about it logically, in the long history of this institution of slavery there must have been some uprising or rebellion. What happens now that just suddenly spurs this change by again (a main character)?

I have and will always adore books that run with multiple POVs, if they're done well. And because this is a very character-driven (more than plot-driven) story, we do get to experience growth and maturity alongside the time period that we view these characters. At first, I did have to write down each character and who they are in the big picture, because the author was throwing so many names at us. There are so many characters coming at the plotline at different angles and hammering away at the bigger puzzle, that I was pleasantly surprised that this was decently done.

[Pro tip from readers: Please put a table of contents with characters in the back of your book. It would be greatly appreciated instead of just making us write everything out for ourselves.Make it easy on us publisher, eh?]

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my review.**

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Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let me preface this review by saying: This is my first Atwood book and I've never read "The Tempest" play, so I had no background experience while treading in. Sadly, this majorly detracted from my reading experience, but also why I give her the benefit of the doubt and may give her another shot from me in the future.

This book is all about this "professionally-wronged" produce, Felix, who is determined to make his dream of "The Tempest" become a reality. So he gets a teaching job at Literacy Through Theatre to prisoners at Burgess Correctional Institution and creates art. This is all a subplot against gaining some sort of revenge/retribution on his enemies.

I wish I could say that the form of this writing blew me away, I wish that I could say that Atwood absolutely outdid herself, but for me neither of those things are true. I found the execution of this retelling extremely fascinating, how (from what I understand) the play was playing out in real live, as well as on the screen.

There was no connection made with her writing style-dry and witty- or the her main character-Felix-which I could not understand for the life of me. I can give it to her: this concept is unique but bears no surprise, because this is just a water-logged and revised version of The Tempest from what I was lead to understand.

Thanks to Bloggingforbooks for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.



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The River at Night by Erica Ferencik
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A predictable unremarkable survival story that I couldn't get fully into. Far fetched and bizarre, which is something that I ultimately have no tolerance for.

I had some high expectations going into this, reading the editor's note, and was excited at the prospect of trying out my hand with this thriller. Earlier this year I read a great book with a similar plot, One Was Lost, so I would much rather recommend that one if you're on the look-out for these types of survival stories, the ones that you hear about on TV.

First of all, there are four "main" character, but we end up with only one boring narrator. I would like to see some more in-depth character building, with multiple POVs perhaps mixed in for the world-building. For me, there was no emotional or physical connection to the character, although I can appreciate the back story that the author was able to build. I can identify two or three of the characters that were just simply a plot device, and one of them was mentally ill/mute and it felt like he wasn't a 'real' character, and I have a real problem with misinterpretation of these sensitive topics.

Also, there was some unfair portrayal of rural people living in Maine and these city "elitists" that Wini and her 3 other friends representative. It really bothered me from the getgo on the inaccuracies of writing a story in this way, and then portraying these fleeting characters.

The plot is completely unrealistic and unsurprising, and I just found the idea of these extremely "cartoon" villains completely absurd and far-fetched. I just don't think that the author was able to pull this narrative off realistically, and that's the biggest no-no in these types of books that I can't afford to appreciate.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this in exchange for a review.**

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The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A unique perspective into Communist Russia, and how far someone is willing to go to secure their possible escape from the rezien. Absolutely met all of my high expectations.

This inter-generational tale is just really a family saga in which it shows how the three generations are going to be affected by the actions of their parents, and how that manifests into their lives. It was an absolutely fascinating long, and although long it held my attention consistently throughout.
After finishing this book, I felt like I had gotten to grow up with the central character Florie and I was so thankful to be on this extraordinary journey of life with her. It rarely happens that I feel so emotionally connected to a specific character that I can looked back in hindsight and puzzle together motives, circumstances, thought process, etc

Taking a step back from the story, I can see that this is truly a spider web or characters and events aligning and that is some advanced writer's craft. I genuinely enjoyed how well-done the multiple POVs and timelines where done, because that type of weaving is serious work.

The length was extremely long for a historical fiction in my experience, but if you really want to get into it, it's worth the long haul. Granted, there are lots of disorienting rougher transitions that made me experience a slight case of vertigo, but if you could look past those spots I think that you could truly learn something out of this.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with and ARC**


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Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Completely startling thriller... an unputdownable whodunit.

When your knuckles are white, your spine is hunched towards the screen, eyes glued to the words, you that this has got to be one of your favorite reading experiences, right?

This breath-taker is all about the murder and investigation of Hattie Hoffman. She the perfect student, daughter, friend; but you already know all of those stereotypes before going into this compelling story. What makes it a train ride is that its a whodunit with many unexpected twists and turns, which can be refreshing.

Who and why are the 2 biggest questions that must be asked, by the Sheriff Del, also a family friend of the victim's friend. There is immense character growth, and I think that he may have been my favorite police character that I had seen in a long time. Generally, I absolutely love having thrillers with multiple POVs with a law enforcer, but this guy had emotional connections to the victims so it was unique to see it from that perspective.

As a page-flipper, I am pleasantly surprised at the depth of conflicting emotions displayed here. It takes a close look at the boundaries of right and wrong, religion, curses, what is and means,etc. By the end you laugh and cry with these and have an overall better empathy as a person. Which is exactly why you should go and read this book.

**Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.**


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Abandon Me by Melissa Febos
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It's always so hard for me to "rate" memoirs, because these are people's lives that we are talking about here. And it takes some gut to be so open and honest to many readers about some of your very private experiences. Don't get me wrong, I love memoirs, but I feel like I've read so many of them that I can be picky about which ones I prefer over others.

I found the content is this novel overly sexual. While I'm trying to not judge anyone here, I was personally put off from reading it. Sure, I could appreciate the voice of introspection that the author was putting forth, but there were no transitions from one scene to another. The "chapters" skipped around in timeline, story, and pace. As much as I tried to keep up with it, this memoir just didn't engage me in a way that I would have wanted it to.

Some of the writing felt like "stream of consciousness" and while it makes the appearance be very "raw" it also seems like some of the writing was unedited. On one hand it was extremely fearlessly vulnerable, with the opening of the mental space that the author put us in, I just don't know if I was personally ready to explore those themes in this memoir. There wasn't any clear construction, more freestyle which made it harder to grasp what the point that she was trying to convey.

I didn't feel compelled to pick it up, to continue on reading, but I was intrigued enough to keep on reading. This review seems to be full of contradictions, just as the book seems to be.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.


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I See You by Clare Mackintosh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've come to the conclusion that Clare Mackintosh isn't the author for me. Earlier this year I picked up her debut novel "I Let You Go" because of high praise from trusted bookish peeps, but I ended up not loving it that much, or at best feeling lukewarm about it. When this ARC came up on NetGalley, because the last name felt familiar I decided to give it another chance.

I thought that as a whole, this book was extremely unrealistic in the sense that who would do this? I don't want to get into spoilers, because after all this is a whodunit, but I just could not understand why the said characters did what they did and how they played it off. Overall, I just had a lot of disbelief at some of the circumstances, so it wasn't exactly the fun realistic thriller that I had high hopes for, based on the synopsis.

There is a solid buildup growing, increased anxiety, tension, and paranoia that I was dragged into as a reader. I believe that's really an art, and the author did perform extremely well in that area. What added to that is that you have the POV of the stalker, who is tracking a character unknowingly and we get a look into his twisted thoughts.

Two POVs are split in this book, which usually don't work out for me that well. It's between what I would consider the MC Zoe Walker and a police detective Kelly Swift. I just thought that there was some unnecessary baggage and subplots from both sides, and I got slightly bored and just wished that those were overall cut-out.

One thing that I didn't know is that this is similar in a very specific way to Girl on the Train, in the sense that a lot of the setting is in the London Underground train system, and it has those creepy vibes. I personally hated Girl on the Train, because that book my my hair stand on end and gave me actual goosebumps.

In the end, while this was an entertaining thriller, it's very forgettable and I just feel "meh" about it.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange of my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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The Mortifications by Derek Palacio
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Extremely quirky and extremely bizarre.

This felt like magical realism for me, because while there weren't any "apparent" ghosts, you could feel their pulse throughout the story, which is completely fascinating to me. But at a point, the author went too much into psycho-analyzing the characters' choices, motivations, and decisions. And to be quite honest, I didn't care to listen to pages of their agony or analyzing all of their thoughts.

Towards the middle of the book, I started feeling completely disconnected to the characters and plotline. I was so bored that I actually kept on yawning-granted I read this mostly at night,but- that just goes to show that this book truly wasn't really keeping my attention in check.

I have a think for disliking dysfunctional family sagas, which isn't what I first expected when this book got into my hands. Expecting that it was going to highlight the immigrant experience more in-depth, which it did slightly, but that's the part of the book that I felt very lacking. There are just some disturbing things going on in the dialogue between some of the characters, and I personally wasn't compelled to keep on picking it up.

**Thanks for Blogging for Books for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.**

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