My SPOILER ALERT Book Reviews!

🔮 The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong – Adorable Fantasy, But… Yawn? Confession: I wanted to LOVE this book. The author is Asian American (like me!) and wrote this while her father was battling cancer, so I came in rooting hard for it. But honestly? I found it… kinda boring. Sorry! It was cute, it was endearing, but it just didn’t hook me. Maybe I’ve just overdosed on fantasy lately (not even my fave genre). Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½/5 Genre: YA fantasy / adventure Author: Julie Leong (debut novel!) Published: 2024 ⚠️ Trigger Warnings (TW) Parental death & grief (Tao’s father, Mash’s missing daughter) Child abduction/missing child (Leah’s storyline) Xenophobia / prejudice (Tao faces discrimination) Mild violence & danger (raiders, magical confrontations) Abandonment trauma (Tao’s complicated family dynamics) 🚨 Spoiler Alert! Full plot ahead — I’m spilling EVERYTHING. If you want to read fresh, grab it on Amazon here (affiliate link – h...

😵 Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis – Mythology for the Confused (aka Me) Full disclosure: I am hopeless with mythology. Seriously, every time I try to read it, my brain short-circuits. Names blur, gods get cranky, and I’m left wondering if I missed a memo. This book? No exception. But hey, I tried! And I kinda liked it… so let’s dive in. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨✩ (3.5/5) Genre: Mythological retelling, fantasy, philosophical Author: C.S. Lewis (yep, Chronicles of Narnia guy – but don’t expect fauns and wardrobes here) Published: 1956 ⚠️ Trigger Warnings (TW) Before we go any further, here are some potential triggers you might want to know: Sacrifice (yep, human kind) Plague, famine, and drought (aka apocalypse starter pack) Parental neglect (daddy issues incoming) Self-loathing (our narrator is harsh on herself) Death of siblings (emotional gut punch) Religious trauma/conflict with the gods (aka the core theme) Spoiler Alert! 🚨 I’m about to spill E...

  🎻 The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb — Full Review + Spoilers “When your priceless violin goes missing… and everyone’s a suspect.” ⚠️ Trigger Warnings This book tackles some heavy and intense topics, including: Racism and racial discrimination (in classical music + daily life) Family greed and exploitation Police profiling Death of a grandparent Theft, betrayal, and manipulation Financial and emotional abuse 📚 Quick Facts Title: The Violin Conspiracy Author: Brendan Slocumb Genre: Mystery / Contemporary / Music Fiction Published: 2022 (Debut Novel) Vibe: Classical music meets family drama + whodunit vibes My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2 (3.5 out of 5) 🚨 Spoiler Warning Full plot details below (including who stole the violin!). If you want to go in blind, stop here and grab the book first. 🎶 Plot Summary (FULL SPOILERS) “Practice, practice, practice… and racism.” Ray McMillian, a talented Black violinist, is preparing for the Tchaikovsky...

✨ Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow ⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 5 ⭐ Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction 📖 Format Read: Hardcover 📦 Buy on Amazon (affiliate link) First Things First: A Fantasy Hater’s Confession 😅 Let me just say it: I don’t like fantasy. Or, more accurately, fantasy doesn’t usually like me. But somehow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January slipped through my reality-loving defenses. Maybe it's the concept (any fellow Portal fans out there?!)—a story about jumping through doors into magical new worlds ? That’s the kind of fantasy I can get behind. And this book? It’s like reading poetry on a breeze. Harrow’s writing is gorgeous, magical, and slow in the best and worst ways . 🚪 Spoiler Warning! Full plot breakdown ahead. You’ve been warned. 🌀 Overview Published in 2019, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is the debut novel from Alix E. Harrow and blends historical fiction, magical realism, and portal fantasy . It’s a ...

  📚 Book Review: Less by Andrew Sean Greer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Spoiler Alert! This review includes major plot points and the ending. ✈️ A Pulitzer-Winning Midlife Crisis? Less is a satirical novel that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction , which kind of set my expectations sky-high. I went into it thinking I’d be blown away. And... I wasn’t. I wasn’t underwhelmed either—it’s just one of those books that constantly had me waffling. I’d laugh on one page, then yawn on the next. I found parts of it clever and touching, but others slow and even empty-feeling. In the end, I landed on 3.5 out of 5 stars . It’s not that I disliked the book—it’s beautifully written, sharply observant, and often funny. But despite all that, I found myself dragging my feet to finish. And for a relatively short novel, that says something. 🐌 🧠 Quick Overview Arthur Less, a nearly-50-year-old midlist writer, is trying to dodge attending his ex-boyfriend’s wedding. His brilliant plan? Accept eve...

  📚 Book Review: A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5/5) Genre: True Crime / Memoir Trigger Warnings: Rape, murder, racism, police brutality, false confession, grief, suicide, capital punishment, trauma 🧠 Overview (Spoiler-Free) A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath is Jeanine Cummins’ deeply personal recounting of a horrific crime that tore through her family in 1991. Her cousins, Julie and Robin Kerry , were raped and murdered on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri, while her teenage brother Tom Cummins barely survived the attack—and was then wrongfully treated as the prime suspect. The book isn’t your standard true crime read. It’s not focused on sensationalizing the killers or unraveling a mystery. Instead, it’s about grief, injustice, and how trauma reshapes a family’s entire world. Cummins chooses to center the victims’ lives and the emotional wreckage left behind. But here’s the thing: while it’s well-written and c...

  🚍 Book Review: Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig ⭐️ Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars A meandering, quirky road trip with charm—but not a whole lot of urgency. ⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This review includes full plot details and ending spoilers , so if you haven’t read Last Bus to Wisdom and don’t want the journey spoiled, go grab the book first and come back later! 🧭 Quick Summary: Last Bus to Wisdom was the final novel by beloved author Ivan Doig, who passed away before its 2015 release. It’s a coming-of-age story wrapped in a nostalgic, slow-burning 1950s Greyhound adventure . The book is set mostly in Montana and Wisconsin, and it follows 11-year-old Donal Cameron , a redheaded rascal who’s more Huck Finn than Harry Potter. Donal is sent away for the summer when his Gram (the ranch cook) needs surgery. He’s shipped off from Montana to his never-before-met great-aunt Kate in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Let’s just say that goes... poorly. 🧳 Plot Summary (Spoilers Ahead!) 📍 Part 1: Montan...

  🎤🔥 The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo – Book Review (3.5/5 Stars) 🖋️ A coming-of-age novel-in-verse that punches you in the feelings, one poetic stanza at a time. 📚 Affiliate link : Get The Poet X on Amazon ⚠️ Spoiler Alert! This review contains FULL SPOILERS including the ending. Proceed only if you're cool with finding out how Xiomara’s poetic rebellion turns out. 💭 My Thoughts — “Wait… is this nonfiction?” I accidentally wandered into poetry territory , and I’m not even mad about it. The Poet X is written entirely in verse — not the rhyming, Shakespearean kind, but more like slam poetry, straight from the soul and seasoned with teenage angst. And as someone who doesn’t love poetry , I still found myself laughing out loud , raising my eyebrows in admiration, and wondering if Xiomara was a real person (spoiler: she’s not, but it feels that real). That said, I wasn’t completely hooked. While I admired the writing and voice , and I appreciated the realistic take on girlho...

  😱 The Whispers by Ashley Audrain — Book Review (⭐ 3.5/5) ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t read The Whispers and don’t want all the messy secrets of these suburban lives spilled, turn back now. I’m about to unpack everything — the twists, the betrayals, the whispers that these characters should’ve listened to! 👉 Grab The Whispers on Amazon (affiliate link) 📌 Overview The Whispers (2023) is Ashley Audrain ’s follow-up to The Push . And yep — you can tell it’s by the same author. The same unsettling tension simmers beneath the surface of domestic life, only this time we’re tangled in the lives of four women: Whitney , Blair , Rebecca , and Mara . This is a dark, twisty psychological thriller about motherhood , marriage , secrets , and what happens when you pretend not to hear those little internal alarms — those whispers that something is terribly wrong. 🚩 Trigger Warnings ✔️ Child abuse / neglect ✔️ Miscarriage and child loss ✔️ Suicide (including ideation) ✔️ Self...

  🎩 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — Book Review (⭐ 3.5/5) ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: If you don’t want to know how this quiet little butler’s tale really ends (yes, there are emotions under that stiff upper lip!), you might want to back out now. Because I’m about to spill all the subtle heartbreak. 👉 Get The Remains of the Day on Amazon (affiliate link) 📚 Overview The Remains of the Day (1989) is one of those books where you think, “Nothing’s happening, right?” but then bam — the quiet emotional devastation sneaks up on you. Written by Kazuo Ishiguro , it tells the story of Stevens , a lifelong butler who realizes, way too late, that he may have wasted his life in the service of the wrong man… and missed out on love in the process. It won the Booker Prize and was adapted into a 1993 film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson (which, let’s be honest, is worth watching just for their repressed longing looks). 🚗 Plot Summary: A Road Trip of Regrets Meet Stevens : th...

  🎯 The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea — Book Review (⭐ 3.5/5) ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: If you don’t want the big twists (and the killer’s identity!) ruined for you, back out now! Because I’m about to spill everything . 👉 Grab The Girl Who Was Taken on Amazon (affiliate link) 📚 Overview The Girl Who Was Taken (2017) is a crime thriller by bestselling author Charlie Donlea , known for writing twisty, female-driven mysteries. This one takes place in the small (fictional) town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina and follows two kidnapped teens — one who escapes and one who doesn’t — and the dark web of secrets that unravels as the truth comes to light. 🕵️ Plot Summary: Kidnappings, Killers, and One Big “Wait, WHAT?!” Moment We start with two high school girls: 👉 Megan McDonald — escapes her abductor after two weeks in a bunker. She becomes an overnight celebrity thanks to her survival story. 👉 Nicole Cutty — still missing, her case quickly fades from public interest. Enter Liv...

  ⭐ A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny — Book Review with Spoilers Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5 out of 5 stars — started strong, but that ending…) Genre: Cozy Mystery, Detective Series, Crime Fiction Sequel to: Still Life (and yes, you should read that one first ) 👉 Buy A Fatal Grace on Amazon ⚠️ Spoiler Alert! I’m about to break down all the twists, turns, and the big reveal — so if you haven’t read A Fatal Grace , go grab it first and come back when you’re ready! 📌 A Fatal Grace — The Setup Welcome back to Three Pines , where the people are quirky, the food is delicious, and murder happens more often than you’d expect for such a charming little village. In this sequel to Still Life , our beloved Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is back to solve a new crime — the shocking death of CC de Poitiers , an outsider who managed to make everyone in town hate her in record time. Seriously. CC is awful — mean to her husband Lyon , cruel to her daughter Crie , and just generally the worst. C...

  🌙 Book Review (With Spoilers!): The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James ⭐️ 3.5 out of 5 stars | Genre: Mystery / Supernatural Thriller Spoilers ahead! This is your last warning if you're not ready to know who lived, who died, and who just vanished and ghosted everybody for decades... literally. 📍 Welcome to the Creepiest Motel in Fell, NY Simone St. James serves up a ghost story with a true crime twist , and let me tell you— The Sun Down Motel has all the vibes: ✔️ Cold spots ✔️ Ghost women floating in the hallway ✔️ Dingy motel carpets you can smell through the page I read this one fast. I needed answers. Unfortunately, some of the answers made me want to write angry letters to fictional characters. 🧵 Let’s Break It Down: The Dual Timeline Plot (Spoilers Included!) 👻 1982 Timeline – Meet Viv Viv Delaney is 20, newly arrived in Fell, New York, and working the night shift at—you guessed it—the Sun Down Motel . The place is sketchy, cheap, and also haunted as hell . Viv ...

  If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin – A Tragic YA Love Story (Spoiler Warning – Major plot twists ahead!) Looking for an emotional, fast-paced YA romance to curl up with this summer? Let me introduce you to If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin —a heartbreaking coming-of-age novel that leans hard into the genre's familiar tropes: childhood friends, missed chances, love triangles, and the gut-punch of tragedy. And just in case it isn’t clear yet: spoilers ahead! The Goodreads summary heavily hints at what’s coming, but if you want to go in blind, now’s your cue to close the tab. What’s If He Had Been with Me About? The story centers on Autumn Davis and Finny Smith , childhood best friends who grew up next door to each other. Their moms are best friends too, so it’s kind of a given that they’d be inseparable as kids. But, as so often happens, middle school hits , hormones strike, social groups shift, and they drift apart. Still, they remain neighbors and quietly orbit eac...

  The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden – Twisty, Dark, and Full of Plot Holes (Spoiler Warning! This review contains major spoilers.) So… I’m a big fan of Freida McFadden , and I’ve read a good chunk of her thrillers (and plan to read them all eventually). But The Housemaid series? Honestly, not my favorite. I know The Housemaid is by far her most popular book, but I’ve always felt like it wasn’t one of her strongest. Still, I was hoping The Housemaid’s Secret would redeem the series for me. It didn’t. What’s the Setup? In The Housemaid’s Secret , we’re back with Millie Calloway , now working full-time as a housemaid for wealthy families—usually ones with abusive husbands. Thanks to her actions in the first book (you know, the kind that involve “solving problems” permanently), she’s got a quiet reputation for helping women in bad situations. At the beginning of the book, she’s working for Amber Degraw , taking care of the house and Amber’s baby, Olive . That is, until Olive...