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“The Agathas” By Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson Review

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Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She’s not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice’s ex–best friend. And it doesn’t look like Brooke will be coming back. Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn’t have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter’s whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.

I need to admit here that I had no expectations for this book before I started reading it but now that I have read this book and have to review it, I need to say that this book is very very good. But as always I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about this book, then keep reading this review. 

The plot in this book was very good in this book, from the very beginning of this book I was completely hooked into the plot of this book. The beginning of this book is kinda slow, almost too slow for my liking but the deeper I got into this book I was more and more hooked into the plot of this book. I also liked the Agatha christie and Hercule Poirot comments in this book, which really made me fall in love with this book deeper. 

The plot in this book have hooked me so well that I had a very hard time putting this book down. Because I personally love YA mystery thriller books, and this book is the reason why I love those books. I personally love the small town mystery thriller involving teenagers solving a murder aspect of mystery books, and this book gives me exactly what I wanted and love about mystery books.

The characters in this book are very relatable and likable. Which really made me give this book extra points for doing. Because if I cant find myself liking the characters in a book am reading then its a huge red flag for me and the rating of that book wont be high. Both Alice and Iris are very relatable and likable, at the same time both of them have completely different characters and backstories. Alice is the rich girl and formerly the popular girl at the high school, where Iris is the poor girl, who is A grade student and likes to keep to herself and not drawn attention to herself. So we get those 2 different perspectives on life coming together and crashing together. Which made me like this book even better for me personally. 

At the same time the characters in this book felt like real human beings, which to me speaks how well the authors of this book have created the characters we get in this book. 

The writing in this book is very good and easy going. Which is pretty much typical for a YA book which this book is. The writing style was simple and easy going but at the same time it isn’t too simple. In a way the writing style does complement very well the easy going plot in this book. 

There is a huge plot twist at the end of this book, which I personally didn’t see it coming. Which in a way had blown my mind in a way because I have never suspected that character to be behind the murder. 

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Last Rites” By Ozzy Osbourne Review

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At the age of sixty-nine, Ozzy Osbourne was on a triumphant farewell tour, playing to sold-out arenas and rave reviews all around the world. Then disaster. In a matter of just a few weeks, he went from being hospitalised with a finger infection to having to abandon his tour – and all public life – as he faced near-total paralysis from the neck down. Last Rites is the shocking, bitterly hilarious, never-before-told story of Osbourne’s descent into hell. Along the way, he reflects on his extraordinary life and career – including his turbulent marriage to wife Sharon, his regrets over Black Sabbath’s reunion, encounters with fellow hellraisers including Slash, Bon Scott, John Bonham and Keith Moon and the harrowing final moments he spent with Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister.

I need to admit here that I wanted to read this book for a while now, because I have been a big fan of Ozzy Osbourne and black Sabbath ever since I can remember. And now that I have read this book I gotta admit that this book has is far better than I have expected it to be. 

Reading this book have made me realize how much Ozzy loved music and performing throughout his long career which made me love him so much better because this book makes it very clear that he lived and breathed music and being able to perform for his fans.

This book also shows how Ozzy complicated as a person was. Because this book talks about Ozzy’s life as an addict, as a he heavy metal icon, as a father, as a grandfather, as a husband and him struggling with his health in the 5 years or so before his dead. At the same time this book talks about how he made many friends in the music industry and the experience he had being THE Ozzy Osbourne. Which made me love him so much more because Ozzy takes us on a personal journey in a way in this book and we got to know more about him beyond just listening to his music or seeing him on stage. 

This book is Ozzy taking us on a journey where is Ozzy being honest, humorous, reflective, and unapologetically himself. Which in a way feels like we are actually having a talk with him rather than reading his book. Because this book talks a lot about things fans didn’t see throughout his career and what he and his family has been dealing with behind-the scenes.

This book also talks about Ozzy’s day to day life which gives us as fans a better look on how his life was like where we as fans couldn’t see. Which made me find him more relatable by reading about his day to day life and not only see him as the God of heavy metal. 

The writing in this book is very good, because it was very Ozzy-Osbourne-ish which made me personally feel like I was taking a look inside of Ozzy’s head and see all the bad shit he went through in his life. The writing in this book was very easy going and simple and at times it felt more like listening to Ozzy talk about his life in person rather than reading a book. Which of course made me give this book extra points for doing.

No matter how good this book is, it also made me very very sad and depressed. Because in a way this book is the last goodbye we got from Ozzy before his death in July 2025. 

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“The Making of a Witch: A Novel” By Judy Molland Review

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Inspired by true events, this novel tells the tale of young Alice Molland, who must grapple with accusations of witchcraft and the persecution of women with mysterious gifts in turbulent seventeenth-century England. In the tumultuous era of seventeenth-century Exeter, England, Alice Molland, age ten, is forced to attend the brutal execution of her mentor in the healing arts, Goody Luscombe, who has been condemned to death for witchcraft. In the years that follow, with her use of herbs such as mugwort, slippery elm, and comfrey, Alice becomes well known as a magical healer. But such gifts come accompanied by danger in the times she lives in.

Before we start this review, I need to thank Mindbuck Media Book Publicity for sending me a copy of this book before the realize date of this book. And even thou I have gotten this book for free and before the release of it I will keep this review 100% honest and be as neutral towards this book as I am towards other books and comic books I review on this website. But without making this intro longer than it already is, lets get into the review of this book. 

This book is set in the 17th century and it follows a resourceful young woman named Alice Molland who at the beginning of this book is 10 years old, but throughout this book gets older, more mature and more skilled as a healer. At the same time this we get England in the mid-1600s where the accusations of witchcraft and very rigid expectations for women are running wild. Which means that this book gives us a good picture of how the day-to-day life was like for most women with many women being accused of being witches and being sentenced to death because of those accusations. There is handful of deaths and violations in this book, which is important to keep in mind if those topics trigger you in any form. 

I personally find this period of time to be interesting, because I personally cant wrap my head around why we as humans would ever hang someone because of some random accusations. So it was very easy for me personally to accept the pre-release copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. 

The plot in this book is pretty intriguing and has a good premise overall. And I really enjoyed reading this book, but I couldn’t quite get into this book, because how fast the plot in this book. Because most chapters would skip weeks or months in advance mid-chapter which has pulled me out of the general plot of this book. And the subjects would change pretty quickly in this book. Like one paragraph would be about Alice talking with her mom and then the very next paragraph would be a complete 180 of that. It almost felt like the author was aiming for a chronological timeline of events (sort of like a history textbook) rather than giving us as readers a coherent plot in this book. 

All the events we get in this book feel more like “this happened, then this happened, then this happened and this happened” rather than a engaging storyline which would make me interested and engaged in it.

But the historical backdrop of the plot in this book feels very realistic and very well researched which is the main reason why I liked this book. I also found the exploration of herbal knowledge and the quiet resilience of women characters in the pretty harsh 17th century England to be very well written in this book. This book was also inspired by the real-life story of the author’s distant relative who is the main character in this book, made me give this book and the author extra points for. Because it takes courage to share family history with the world especially during the witch hunt era of humanity. 

The writing in this book was generally good, but there were times where the writing could have been improved because there were times (especially the first chapter) I was getting pretty annoyed at the continual mentions of Goody/Goodwife/Diana Luscombe when the characters and the overall context were already established in this book. It almost felt like the author was afraid that we would forget the context and time period of this book. 

The characters in this book were pretty well written. The characters we get in this book were pretty likable and relatable. Every character in this book had their own personalities and something that made them standout from the rest of the characters in this book. Which made me give this book extra points for doing. Because I personally put a lot of weight on the characters when it comes down to rating a book and writing a honest review of the book.

However there were times where I would get irritated at the characters at times. Because the characters would talking through information or narrate the information to each other like the other characters wouldn’t all have known perfectly well what was happening if no one has over-explain the events to them like someone would over-explain something to a toddler. 

There are also plenty of times where Alice (the main character of this book) was narrating context to herself like she didn’t grow up in the difficult time she was dealing with in this book. It felt more like the author was trying to point us as readers on where the plot was going by using the characters to explain everything to us. 

The characters in this book would also say something obvious like “you should hurry back before they close the gates”, and then the characters would stall just to remind us how brutal that era in humanity really was.

But overall I enjoyed this book, because it gives us a glimpse on how it was to be a woman in the mid-1600s England, with all the witch accusing and very strict rules for women were running wild. If you are interested in that time period as me personally, you should give this book a shot even though it isn’t the best book on this time period. But it does give us a unique point of view into this time period. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5 

“Good Spirits” By B.K. Borison Review

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Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other—get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife. But when he’s faced with Harriet York, the sweetest assignment he’s ever had, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future. Harriet York has no idea why she’s being haunted. She’s a good person—or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what’s expected of her. But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover there are threads that bind them together— and realize there might be more to moving on than expected.

I gotta admit that Christmas books tend to not work for me and I normally tend to DNF them pretty quickly since I cant just force myself to keep reading them since they feel like torture for me. But I’m still trying to get into them each Christmas. 

This book was very confusing to me on various topics. But the main confusing thing for me was Nolan aka the “ghost of Christmas past”. This book tries to sell it very bad that Nolan is a ghost but everything we read about him in this book just makes it seem like he is a immortal person with magic. The only ghostly thing about him was how hard the author tried to force us to believe that he was a ghost, which made me very annoyed, frustrated and confused because it was like the author of this book couldn’t get her mythology in order to actually make me think that Nolan was an actual ghost.

The characters in this book are pretty flat and shallow. All of the characters were also very boring and their whole personalities were what they did for work. Like Harriet thought she was a good person since she had inherited a antique store from her aunt, Nolan’s whole personality was that he had died young and now was a ghost of Christmas past. I personally hate when this happens in books where the character’s whole personality is about what they do work because I find it to be very annoying and frustrating. 

Harriet is practically a doormat with no personality and her whole existence was basically wearing pajamas and eating Christmas candy. She is the main reason why I DNF-ed this book and give this book such a low rating because I couldn’t stand her. From the very first page of this book I instantly hated her and wished that her Christmas lights wouldn’t work. 

The writing is very bad here, because it seems like a horny high schooler tried to write a Christmas book which was heavily based on “a Christmas carol” by Charles Dickens. The writing style in this book made me feel like the author didn’t care about giving us a good Christmas book but instead she was more interested in the paycheck she would get for publishing this book. 

The dialogues in this book were very cringy, generic and ridiculous. Because all of these dialogues in this book would never be used in real life. In a way all of the dialogues in this book are very childish and very unrealistic. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Snowflakes on Christmas Street” By Ivy Pembroke Review

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Meet Jack, the Christmas Street dog. Abandoned by his previous owners, he’s looking for a new family to love. Then there’s seven-year-old Teddy, who is not impressed at having to leave everything he knows behind in America because his dad, Sam, wanted to move back to England. Single father Sam will do anything to make his son happy again – and it looks like Jack might have a way to help. Jack also loves Bill, who has lived on Christmas Street for ever. Bill hates the way his street has changed over the years. He used to know everyone who lived there, but now he’s just the grumpy old man next door.

Once again another Christmas book which didn’t work for me. I think it just me being the problem when it comes to Christmas books, since am extra picky than normally when it comes to Christmas books and movies. 

The plot in this book is all over the place. The main character in this book is a dog and at times it made me very confused because the dog thinks and feels like a human being instead of a dog. Which really didn’t help me getting into the plot of this book because every few pages I needed to close this book and think about what was happening because I was so confused.

The plot in this book predictable story weighed down by cliché characters, clunky dialogue, and saccharine sentimentality. The biggest problem I had with this book is the plot being overstuffed and underdeveloped. The plot of this book has too many things happening but all of those things which is happening in this book feels very underdeveloped like the author wasn’t that into this book to make it actually good.

The conflicts in this book appear and resolve with almost no real tension, as if ticking off boxes on a Christmas-movie checklist. Which really made me feel like the author didn’t want to write this book but was interested in getting the paycheck from publishing this book so he just ticked off boxes on the generic Christmas movie / book list.

The characters, who should be the heart of a community-driven novel, feel more like cardboard cutouts than real people. All of the characters in this book have very generic personalities which cam easily be described with “the lonely one”, “the grumpy one,” “the kind neighbor” and so on it goes. Their emotional growth often comes in the form of sudden, unearned epiphanies rather than believable development. We are told they’re changing much more than we are shown it through meaningful action or nuanced interaction.

The dialogues in this book is another weak spot of this book. Because much of the dialogues reads as stilted and unnatural, heavy on exposition and light on subtext. People speak in tidy moral lessons and neat declarations instead of the messier, fragmented way real conversations unfold. This not only breaks immersion but also amplifies the book’s already heavy-handed message about community and kindness. The themes themselves are worthwhile; the delivery feels like being repeatedly hit over the head with a tinsel-wrapped hammer.

The pacing in this book drags on and on without an end. And the scenes in this book are very very repetitive. There are a lot of “cute” moments that seem included purely to be heartwarming, yet because the groundwork for genuine attachment isn’t laid, they end up feeling forced rather than moving. By the time the inevitable big emotional beats and festive set-pieces arrive, they feel obligatory instead of earned.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Addiction” By Jonathan Tepper Review

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Shooting Up chronicles Tepper’s childhood growing up in Madrid’s San Blas neighborhood, where his missionary parents founded a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation center during the height of Spain’s heroin epidemic. It is a tale of addiction, recovery, and loss seen through the eyes of an American boy navigating between his family’s dedication to helping others and the harsh realities of AIDS during a time of needle sharing. With lyrical prose and sharp-eyed honesty, he delivers an exceptionally powerful story of love and compassion. Shooting Up is a quietly devastating coming-of-age memoir that is as unsettling as it is unforgettable—a haunting exploration of belief, belonging, and the costs of sacrifice.

Before we start this review, I want to take the time and thank Jonathan Tepper for sending me a free copy of this book to read and review. I always try to be neutral about the books I read and review no matter if I am reviewing an author I hate, love or I am brand new to. And this review wont be any different even thou I got a free copy of this book.

The plot in this book is very interesting and engaging for me personally. I personally am not religious, but I found Jonathan Tepper’s life which we get told in this book very interesting. Jonathan Tepper was a kid to missionary parents who moved to Spain and started centers to help drug addicts to get clean through religion, kindness, love and physical work of recovering old furniture people would donate to the centers. 

A returning theme of this book is love, kindness and never losing the aspect of being hopeful. This book is very moving and emotional because Jonathan Tepper had grown up with drug addicts as his brothers and sisters because his parents were missionaries in Spain, and a lot of them had AIDS before medication for it was even created. So Jonathan Tepper describes that a lot of the drug addicts who had AIDS but who he also seen as good friends would die. So growing up he would struggle with the sense of death and how unfair death can be because even his younger brother had died in a fatal car crash.

At the same time the book has motivated me (at the very least) to overcome life’s adversities. Because the best thing we can do when someone close to us die is to keep living our lives and be as happy and hopeful as we can to honor their memories because real friends and family members would want us to be happy and not spend our entire lives in misery. This book also shows us that no matter what happens to us, we still have a chance at a good tomorrow as long as we don’t lose hope for a better future. 

This book also gave me a lot of things to think about which I personally haven’t thought about before reading this book. The big theme of this book is of course helping other people who are struggling, and this book shows that we dont have to have tons of money or have the perfect life ourselves to help others. Sometimes the best help we can give other people who are struggling is to give them love, kindness, compassion and hope that they can get out of the bad places they have gotten into.

This book talks about HIV crisis amongst drug users in Madrid, Spain in the 1980s. All the books I have read about this topic didnt exactly give examples of lives where a person was struggling in real time with being a drug user / ex-drug user who have gotten HIV from being a drug user. And this book gives us exactly that, which made me pretty hard to read at times because of how honest and clear Jonathan Tepper was in this book. And because of it I just couldn’t stop reading this book, because it found to be SO interesting. Because this book shows how challenging it is to live with the illness, but also how challenging it can be to live along side drug addicts who are HIV positive while trying to help them.

Because of the heavy and emotional plot this book has, it has a lot of heartbreaking and depression moments yet Jonathan Tepper is able to also give us joyful and hopeful moments through this book. Which made it a very good read for me personally. 

At the same time this book has a huge underdog vibe to it, because Jonathan Tepper and his real siblings didnt have a lot of money growing up, because they were a missionary family and most of the income their got from church or donations would go to the centers his parents created. Jonathan Tepper shows in this book that there was a period of time where this parents could send all of their kids to school, so they have also sent to school his oldest bother and Jonathan Tepper with his 2 other siblings would be homeschooled for a while. But he was still able to get accepted to a university in USA and eventually start his own company. And even thou his family didnt have a lot of money, they had some books at home which their parents would share with him and his siblings, which has ignited the urge in Jonathan Tepper and his siblings to be curious about learning and teach themselves things they were interested in. 

I personally am not a religious person, but I feel pretty happy that other people who have struggled much more than me personally could find help and guidance from God which helped them to overcome their addictions. This book also talks about religion a fair share, and the topic which have resonated with me personally is that you dont have to agree with everything that the religion say, you can choose to believe in the good parts and still call yourself religious. 

This book also talks about the fact that having missionary parents can be pretty hard at times, because the missionary parents can at times feel like they are spending more time with other people than their kids and that the parents belong more to other people than to their kids. Because of how much the missionary parents want to help other people who are struggling.

The writing style in this book is very good, because this book talks about some very heavy stuff, but the writing style in this book made it easier for me to read about those heavy stuff. Because the writing style in this book has something to it that made me feel that good things were just around the corner and not make me too depressed reading this book. The writing style was very easygoing and good, because it was in Jonathan Tepper’s perspective.

To end this review, I want to thank Jonathan Tepper again for the free copy. And say that this book is easily the best book I have read so far this year.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“The Gingerbread Bakery” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street. Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s wedding coming up, they’re about to spend a lot more time together. As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?

I need to admit here that this book is easily my favorite book in the “Dream Harbor” series. This book is the 5th book in the series, and I need to admit here that I waited for this book since I started this book, because this book is about Annie and Mac which had a enemies situation going on from the first book and this book actually gives us the why behind their enemies situation since book 1 in this series.

From the start of this book I was completely hooked into it, and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop reading it. I have read this book in 2 days which easily I could have shorted down to one day if I didn’t have to go to work. And the fact that it has been awhile since I read the previous book in this series made me even more hooked onto this book. Since I gotta admit that this series is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. 

The plot in this book has a huge Christmas vibe to it which made it even before because I read this book last year (2025) in late November so I gotta admit that I was already getting into the Christmas vibe early. At the same time the plot in this book is very sweet and fun which really got onto my guilty pleasure aspect I had with this whole series.

The plot in this book is big on the “second-chance” romance trop which never tends to work on me personally but in this book I completely loved it. Which was sort of weird for me because as Ive said above I hate the “second-chance” romance plots in books but the author of this book had written it in a way that had really worked well for me personally and made me actually enjoy it.

The writing in this book was very good. Because it was like the author of this book used the writing to completely grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of this book. And the fact that this book doesn’t use the romance book cliches phrases like “she bit her lower lip” or “she smiled with her lower lip” made me give this book a lot of extra points for and it made me like this book even more. 

The characters in this book, are very good. I may be biased here because I just spend 5 books with the same characters. But I genuinely believe that the characters are even better than they were in the previous books. Because at this point of this book being the 5th book in the series means that I had spend a lot of time with the characters and at this point I feel like I have known the characters for a very long time because of this I would have no problem being friends with all of the characters in this book and this series. 

The fact that this book and series takes place in a very small town, where everyone knowns each other is one of the main reasons why I love this series so much. Because I would kill to be born in such a town because there is something about such a town I find to very cozy and fun. 

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“An Occupied Grave” By A.G. Barnett Review

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A terrible surprise rocks a funeral when the wrong body is discovered in a freshly dug grave. Now Detective Inspector Brock and Detective Sergeant Poole must open up an old case and dig through the small village’s secrets to solve a murder!

I gotta admit here that I had some hopes for this book, because I tend to love mystery / thriller book but this one is all over the place. 

This book struggles a lot of maintaining point of view or character-building aspect which really annoyed me because it really made it hard for me personally to maintain my interested in this book and keep reading it which I had struggled to finish it.

The big murder reveal aspect of this book was none existent because from the moment when the killer was introduces in this book (which was pretty early on during the investigation) I immediately knew who the killer was because this book made it obvious who the killer was. Which really had taken out the enjoyment, suspense and mystery out of this book for me personally.

The plot in this book is very very slow, almost to the point where the main storyline of this book which is the investigation of who killed the person becomes a side quest for the main character instead of it being the main plot line of this book. Which really made me very bored and uninterested in the plot of this book. Because I read this book solely for the mystery aspect of it and not to learn everything about why the main character moved to the town of this book, his relationship with his father, him making friends and enemies at his new work and him unboxing his stuff in his new apartment. 

At times the plot of this book felt more like it was a character study on the main character instead of being a mystery book about an murder where the main character is a police detective. 

This book has also its fair share of bad grammar, and you know it is bad when a person like me who’s third language is English and makes my faire share of bad grammar notices the bad grammar in a English book. Im not gonna go hard on the bad grammar in this book since I also make my fair share of bad grammar mistakes so I’m only pointing out this aspect of this book. This book has also its fair share of of incorrect forms of the use of verbs, which really made me question my English skills but I was a little bit more assured about my English skills when I saw other people commenting on the bad grammar and incorrect use of verbs in this book.

The reason why I have given this book 2 stars instead of 1 star, is because the plot in this book had a lot of potential and had a good premise. This book could have been very good if the author have kept the focus on the investigation instead of getting sidetracked during this book and if the action in this book would have been faster. 

The characters are okay for the most part. The characters in this book was easily the best part of this book, because I found the characters in this book to be pretty likable and well written. All of the characters in this book had some kind of personalities to them or at the very least something which made them standout from the rest of the characters in this book. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Best American Series 2017: 16 Short Stories & Essays” By Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Review

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The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction.  This special edition contains selections from the following 2017 Best American Short Stories edited by Meg WolitzerThe Best American Essays edited by Leslie JamisonThe Best American Mystery Stories edited by John SandfordThe Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Sarah VowellThe Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Charles YuThe Best American Travel Writing edited by Lauren CollinsThe Best American Science and Nature Writing edited by Hope JahrenThe Best American Sports Writing edited by Howard Bryant  Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. The special guest editor then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish.  This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected – and most popular – of its kind.

I gotta admit that the only reason why I have read this book, is because it was free on amazon for kindles. So here I am reviewing this book after I tried and failed reading this book. But as always I will explain everything in this review.

This book involves 16 short stories and essays. I made it halfway through this book before I decided to DNF this book. Because all of the short stories and essays in this book are super boring and uninteresting for me at the very least. 

The short stories and essays in this book are about fiction, science, science fiction, sports and travel. Which are the topics which I tend to enjoy in books. But all of the short stories and essays in this book are very shallow and narrow. Which really made it seem to me like the authors of those short stories and essays in this book weren’t even interested in their short stories and essays to make them actually good.

The writing in those short stories and essays are of course different from short story to short story and from essay to essay because all of those short stories and essays in this book have been written by different people. But I gotta admit that the first short story in this book had the best writing out of all the short stories and essays in this book. All the writing styles in each short stories and essays in this book felt like I was reading a high school textbook because in my opinion those authors behind the short stories and essays in this book didn’t care enough to make those short stories and essays fun or interesting. 

The first half of this book wasn’t even half bad, but the second half of this book where I had DNF-ed this book felt like reading a mix between a high school textbook and a social media post which annoyed me. Because if I wanted to read a social media post I would have opened instagram and do my reading there. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Whisked Away” By Enola M. Douglas Review

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When Princess Reiyana unexpectedly presents as an Omega at age twenty, her future is no longer her own. Once a Beta with dreams of love and adventure, she is now a political prize—coveted by Alphas across the Nine Kingdoms.

I gotta admit that this book has taken me a while to finish because this book is entirely too long and has way too many descriptions in my opinion. 80% of this book is just descriptions of what is happening which had really made me uninterested, annoyed and bored of this book. 

The only reason why I have given this book a 2 star rating instead of a 1 star rating is because I really enjoyed the plot, and I think the plot had a lot of potential to be very good only if the descriptions were so long and huge as they were in this book. I found myself skipping paragraphs even pages because the descriptions were so long and boring in this book which is something I never do while reading a book.

The biggest issue I had with this book is the fact that the love triangle in this book is between the princess and two brothers, which made me pretty uncomfortable when during the spicy scenes in this book where the two brothers were sleeping with the princess at the same time. Which means that the romance theme of this book didn’t work for me at all, it only made it very uncomfortable for me personally because the 2 main guys in the love triangle in this book were brothers which I already mentioned.

But at the same time the romance aspect of this book felt very flat and lacked tension or chemistry between Princess Reiyana, Kaelin and Alarik. Which really made me question why I kept reading this book.

The characters in this book are a very mixed bag here. Because I found Princess Reiyana to be very annoying and frustrated. Because the entire book she was acting like a 10 year old throwing a tantrum just because her parents said “no” to her which didn’t make sense to me because Princess Reiyana is supposed to be 20 years old in this book so I was expecting her to be more mature than a 10 year old throwing a tantrum.

However I did like Kaelin and Alarik who are the two brothers which I mentioned above. There were times where Kaelin was annoying me a fair share during this book, because there were times where he acted like the consequences of this actions didn’t apply to him just because his father is the king and he is the heir to the throne. When it comes to Alarik was easily the best character in this book, I wish this book would spend more time on him because he was the best character in this book in m y opinion. 

The writing in this book was pretty simple and easygoing, which reminded me a lot of YA themed book rather than a fantasy book which this book claims to be on Goodreads. (Or at least it claims to be a “fantasy book” on Goodreads at the time of writing this review) 

The pacing in this book is very very slow, which makes this book very torturous to me personally because this book is over 600 pages long and at times it feels like this book would never end because the pacing of this book was so painfully slow. I personally think that this book would have been so much better if the pacing was faster which would make this book way shorter than 600 pages that it has. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5