ARC

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Swimming lessons, a hot coast guard rescuer, Key West charm, plus a 160 lb great dane? The Love Haters by Katherine Center has a recipe of elements perfect for a sweet and bubbly summer cocktail of a read. Featuring a fun and light-hearted plot with a bit of added substance from heavier topics like body image and public scrutiny, The Love Haters delivers a solid romcom experience, despite being a bit formulaic and predictable. Although I had a few minor nitpicks regarding the overall pacing and how the novel executed some of its more dramatic moments, I still found it very entertaining and worth reading. Mixing the tropes of a fish out of water (or in this case, surrounded by water) with the disheartened and romance skeptic, Katie’s story is one that’s both fun to read as well as one that’s quite relatable. Apart from the main plot involving Katie trying to produce a promotional film featuring an unwilling real-life hero in an effort to keep her job, there’s a secondary storyline involving body image and self-acceptance. While…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Amazon Original Stories via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Eleven Numbers is a loosely government political/espionage themed thriller involving mathematics and system passwords. Mathematics professor Nathan Tyler is recruited by the US Government to gain access to Russia’s weaponry system protected by encryption designed by a famed (and fictional for the story) Russian mathematician. Consisting of two layers of passcodes, one that has eleven possible numerical options, Tyler is tasked with determining which is the key. Best known for his long-running Jack Reacher series, Lee Child is a veteran of crime thrillers and this short story has good pacing and is engaging to read. As a mathematician and an unorthodox character for a crime thriller, Eleven Numbers obviously lacks the action compared to Child’s other works but makes up for it with unexpected twists and more dialogue-focused “action”. One prominent plot twist flips the whole story on its head and made me want to go back and re-read the 2nd half of the short story to check for earlier signs of the surprise. While the the mathematics angle is unique, I personally felt like the overall premise…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Amazon Original Stories via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Knight and the Butcherbird is an intriguing dark fantasy short story that tells a brief, yet compelling tale in a modern world where shapeshifting monsters or “demons” roam the forests and wastelands. Narrated by Shrike, the rural community’s seventeen year old historian, the short story follows the arrival of legendary Knight who is summoned to the community to kill a demon that had been seen in the area. The only problem is the demon he’s been summoned to kill is Shrike’s wife May, a fellow villager who slowly transformed into a monster. Skillfully invoking a folklore/grimm fairytale vibe and incorporating dystopian and caste elements, The Knight and the Butcherbird is condensed yet imaginative and makes full use of its limited page counts to tell its satisfying and self-contained story. Featuring the Knight’s story within the overall story, I found the focal plot twist involving the Knight’s secret to be well done, with crucial clues subtlety presented within Shrike’s stories. I previously read Harrow’s full-length novel Starling House and while I had some reservations with its plot and…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Smith Publicity / Amble Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. For all the glitz, glamour, power and fortune the film and greater entertainment industry of Hollywood offered in the 1950’s, it also served far more instances of lies, betrayals, pain, and in Mark B. Perry’s historical fiction novel, heartbreak. Arriving with naturally good looks and big dreams of stardom, And Introducing Dexter Gaines chronicles Dan Root’s life-changing meeting with Hollywood power couple Milford “Milly” Langen and Lillian Sinclair, his persona transformation into future leading man Dexter Gaines, and the harsh consequences that come with a life in the entertainment industry. Historically accurate (at least to my very limited knowledge of the Golden Age of Hollywood), dramatically narrated, and full of fun celebrity appearances, Perry’s novel is a solid historical fiction entry paired with a heartbreaking and moving LGBTQ+/Queer storyline. Well plotted and paced, thematically strong, and executed in an entirely tasteful and classy manner (more on that shortly), I thoroughly enjoyed Perry’s novel and found it to be a very well-rounded and satisfying read. Before getting into the actual review for And Introducing Dexter Gaines, there are…

The following review is based on a complimentary copy for review purposes provided by Melville House Publishing via Netgalley, thanks for the reviewing opportunity. Part speculative fiction, part Asian American character drama, Jinwoo Chong’s debut novel Flux is an incredibly complex story filled to the brim with incredible character work details. Despite being billed as a science fiction/time-travel associated story, the sci-fi elements largely take a back seat to Chong’s frank and startlingly good exploration of topics including biracial cultural identity, queer labels, the power of image, Asian portrayals in media, and the ever present theme of guilt. A unique blend of genres, this is easily one of the most ambitiously written novels I’ve read this year while simultaneously being one of the most difficult novels to recommend to others due to how tricky and alienating its presentation can be. While I found it to be an amazing and fascinating read, I acknowledge I’m also the exact match for the type of reader this book is clearly suited for; one that is a critical reader fully immersed in the story, reading between lines. One of the primary reasons why I believe Flux has such polarizing reviews is due to the…