Month: August 2024

Title: The Society for Soulless Girls

Author: Laura Steven

Genre: fantasy/horror

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

The premise of this book sounded so interesting. Girls in college, previous murders happened there, mystery, love interests, supernatural, and dark, but gah, this book was just not good at all. I was really bored and disappointed.

Alice and Lottie are roommates who don’t like each other at all. However, Alice participates in a ritual that splits her soul. Lottie tries to discover the secret of the murders when a classmate also dies. I did finish this book, but it was a chore. I didn’t like either main character, and there was a random side character who also splits her soul, but she had no purpose in the book.

This book tried to do too much, but it ended up not doing anything very well.

Title: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

Author: Celeste Connally

Genre: historical fiction mystery

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book

I was skeptical about this book solely based on the title. I think it’s a bit silly, however, this book was much more fun than I was expecting. Set in 1815, Petra’s love has died, so she decides to never marry. Society has deemed her a spinster, of course. When one of Petra’s friends dies, she’s shocked because her friend was never ill.

Although Petra is shunned by most of society, she loves who she is and accepts others, as well. She has no problem with how she lives, whether two women love each other, or if they choose to marry or have children. However, the men of society disagree and are making sure their women are properly “looked after,” so to speak. This book started off a bit slow and features a lot of characters, but once the actual mystery of the book was revealed, it flew by. I was really pleased with how enjoyable this book was.

Title: The Trap

Author: Ava Glass

Genre: Thriller

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this advanced copy.

I love the Emma Makepeace books but note that you have to read them in order. First is Alias Emma, then The Traitor, and The Trap is the third installment. We find Emma having to find out what the Russians have planned for the G7 summit.

Emma has to go undercover (of course) and get close to a man who has ties to the Russians involved. She has to romance him, get close to him, and try to get him to divulge what he knows. Is he a willing participant with Russia? If so, Emma might be in grave danger.

These books are so much fun, tightly written, and feature an excellent, strong female main character. And while some thrillers feature graphic content, these are mostly rated PG-13 for more sensitive readers. I highly recommend this series.

Title: Wayward

Author: Chuck Wendig

Stars: Five

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I loved Wanderers and flew through this giant book in a few days. And when I saw there was a sequel, I knew I would be reading it. I’m a big fan of Chuck Wendig Black River Orchard and The Book of Accidents are also excellent. I loved that I could feel pieces of other horror apocalyptic books in this one, namely The Stand and Swan Song.

The story picks up five years after Wanderers ends and we see our beloved sleepwalkers and shepherds again. To say too much would be to spoil the entire series, so I’ll just say this was an excellent sequel and I loved returning to this world. If you are a fan of dystopian, apocalyptic books, this duology is a must-read.