Review: The Missing Sister by Elle Marr Narrated by Sarah Naughton

 

As always, Elle Marr never fails to impress and her narrator is excellently selected. 

The Missing Sister is about twin sisters. Shayna flies to Paris when she finds out her sister Angela is dead and she has to identify the body. When she gets to Paris, she finds Angela's boyfriend, Seb, who is desperate to find her. Shayna goes to her sister's apartment where a note written in their secret twin language reveals that her sister is not dead and she should trust no one. Shayna begins trying to figure out what exactly happened to her sister and finds herself on a wild goose chase as her sense of reality deteriorates. 

This book is fascinating. The clues left for Shayna leave her questioning how well she knows her sister. It's also interesting to read about someone trying to solve a mystery when they are in a country they are unfamiliar with and have very limited ability with the native language. These facts force Shayna to go against her sister's wishes and talk to strangers with the help of different interpreters. She finds herself trying to figure out who exactly she is supposed to not trust. 

I found myself wondering if Angela really was alive or if she had since been killed after writing the note. I was also questioning Shayna's grasp on reality as she became more desperate and more sleep deprived. I think we all can understand the desperation of trying to figure out how to save someone we love. 

If you're looking for a mystery, I highly recommend checking this book out. Elle Marr is an extremely talented writer and quickly becoming one of my favorites. I will say, I am sadly caught up on all her current works. The narration in this audiobook is well done. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I recommend. 

As always, be sure to check content warnings. There are descriptions of corpses, kidnapping, sex trafficking, and more present in this book. Please check StroyGraph for a more comprehensive list of possible content warnings. Happy reading and see you soon. 

Also, feel free to share any recommendations for audiobooks as I am looking for new ones at the moment. 

Review: Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nacosta

 

I must admit that I was a bit skeptical when I saw this title on Tiktok. I know I've read dragon romance and alien romance, but minotaurs, I thought maybe that crossed a line. However, I decided to give it a try. It was on Kindle Unlimited so the stakes were low if I didn't like it. The worst that could happen is my mom deciding to check out our kindle account and wondering what on earth I was reading. 

If you like monster romance, this is the book for you. Violet finds herself needing a job after she graduates with a master's degree or she'll be forced to move back home with her parents. She finds and adds for a job as a milking attendant and decides to apply. She has no idea what to expect when she comes in to interview and finds out she will be obtaining semen from minotaurs as their hormones are good for making human performance pills (you know, blue chew, viagra). She's a bit taken aback, but she really needs this job. She decides to give it a chance. 

Violet is the only human working on the farm (it's not an actual farm, think more of a factory). Her training goes well, she makes friends, and then it's her turn to milk her first minotaur. She's not expecting the lust she feels when she encounters him. I know, it sounds a bit silly, but if you push through that, it's actually a really sweet, really sexy story. 

The first part of the book is heavy on the spice with almost none in the middle as the relationship is building. The spice picks back up towards the end, but the book is quickly over by that point. It's a good read if you need a break from the more serious parts of life and just want to imagine being a fairytale girl who falls for beasts. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and will admit I downloaded the second book right away. 

The content warnings for this one are minimal as it is mostly just explicit sexual content. However, I still recommend going to StoryGraph to check for any additional content warnings. 

As always, happy reading and I'll see y'all soon with a review for a book that comes out very soon. 

Review: Othello by William Shakespeare

 

Like The Merchant of Venice, I read Othello for my Shakespeare and Race course. This is the second time I've read Othello although the first time I was a sophomore in high school so my reading was not very deep. I will also say it is very different to look at Shakespeare's works through a racial lens. I think it can be easy to ignore the racial aspects of Shakespeare by casting them off as a product of the time, however, Shakespeare's works are inherently tied to how the English were defining themselves against other peoples. 

When I first read Othello, I really enjoyed it. I love Othello's passion and the love story between him and Desdemona although it doesn't end well. Iago is also just such a devious villain. I loved the exaggeration of the characters. 

Reading the book now wasn't quite as fun as the first time I read the book. Iago is deeply racist and his decision to bring Othello's downfall is tied to that. So many characters that were otherwise not involved get tied up in Iago's schemes and suffer for them. It's fascinating how everyone blindly trusts him with seemingly no evidence of his honesty. 

Even though I really love Othello, it's important to remember this is Shakespeare's representation of a black man. Othello was meant to be played by a white man in blackface. That really complicates how you read the text. I'm not sure I've fully developed my feelings on this. 

Review: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

 

Hester is somewhat of a retelling of The Scalet Letter, but in my opinion, that doesn't fully do it justice. I read The Scarlet Letter in 11th grade English and although I wrote a pretty good essay about it, I didn't like the book. It just had a tone of wallowing in self-pity (which is what I equate Nathaniel Hawthorne to). 

Hester is the story of Isobel Gamble, a woman who has synaesthesia. (This is the second book I've read with a character with this condition and I love reading these characters). Isobel grows up being told to hide this secret and eventually marries a doctor who she hopes will protect her. Unfortunately, he's kind of the worst so they end up moving to Salem to start a new life. Isobel's husband leaves her penniless and reboards the ship to find ingredients for his doctor's business. In Salem, Isobel has to work for a woman who makes her create gloves in secret. She also begins a friendship with Nat Hathorne. 

This book is very well written. I loved Isobel and loved reading her story. She goes through so much but keeps pushing herself through it all. The love, friendships between women, and perseverance of a woman are remarkable. I think the main point is that Hester is a strong character and Isobel demonstrates that. The other point is Nathaniel Hawthorne is the worst ( and this is just from reading this book and The Scarlet Letter). Honestly, this is the book I'd have much rather read in place of The Scarlet Letter. It comes out on October 4th of this year so be sure to either preorder or look out for its upcoming release. 

I cannot recommend this book enough and it's perfect for a fall vibes read. I will say there are some content warnings to be aware of drug abuse, sexual content (not explicit), racism, slavery, blood, vomit, etc. As always, check out StoryGraph for a full list of content warnings as provided by readers. 

Happy reading and see you soon. 

Review: Strangers We Know by Elle Marr, Narrated by Janet Song, Alexander Cendese, and Lauren Ezzo

 

This is the second book I've read by Elle Marr. I previously listened to Lies We Bury and that review is available on the blog for those who are interested. Elle Marr writes excellent thrillers with Asian American heroines. In Strangers We Know, we follow Ivy Han as she attempts to uncover the secrets of her birth family. Faced with unexplained chronic illness, she hopes her birth family can shed the light on the issue, but when she finds out she's related to a serial killer, her search expands to trying to figure out what happened in her family's hometown and who the Full Moon Killer is. 

The book shows you the perspectives of three characters each voiced by a different actor in the audiobook: Ivy, Tatum (Ivy's mother), and Samson (an unknown young man). The characters slowly help us piece together the puzzle of the Full Moon Killer and what happened to Ivy's birth mother. I was on the edge of my seat eager to find out what happened. Marr once again had me trying to figure out the truth before I had all the pieces and was surprised by her ending. She is an excellent writer and seems to always have very talented readers for her audiobook. 

If you like audiobooks and you like thrillers, I highly recommend checking this book out. Otherwise, you can find it on Kindle Unlimited if you have a subscription. Marr takes us through a journey of what it's like to be adopted and wonder about your birth family, what it means to have your chosen family, and how far a person will go to get answers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. 

Given that it is a thriller there are of course content warnings. This book talks extensively about death, describes physical assault, discusses body gore, and contains sexual themes. As always, I'll point my readers towards StoryGraph for a full list of content warnings as provided by other readers. Overall, this was a great book to read during my spooky season reading months. I will be writing again soon as I'm almost done with an Advanced Reader Copy of a book that comes out in October and have (a lot) more that are due in October. 

As always, happy reading. 

Review: The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh

 

September means the official start of spooky season and I'd been eyeing this book for quite some time. The Girls Are Never Gone is about a diabetic ghost hunter who takes an internship at a house that she was told is haunted. Dare and her service dog, Waffles, head to the haunted house with the hopes of solving the mysterious death of one of the previous owners' daughters. The house has a history of accidents in the huge lake beside it. As Dare begins to investigate, she also begins to fall for the new owner's daughter, Quinn. The girls encounter more and find themselves in more and more danger as the book goes on. 

I personally really enjoyed this book. It was a great way to start fall. The mystery seemed to grow with every new chapter and I was eager to find out why the house was haunted. It was also very cool to see a diabetic heroine which is something I haven't encountered before. The fact that it was sapphic only added to my enjoyment. This kind of representation is super important in YA. 

I pretty much read the last fourth of the book in one sitting because I was so eager to find out what happened. I will admit that although this wasn't super scary, I did have plenty of weird dreams whilst reading. I will say Dare is quite the skeptic which did get annoying at times, but her eagerness to get to the bottom of what was going on in the house was admirable. This was also a good break from the heavy readings I've been doing lately although it is in no way missing the dark aspects of horror. 

This book is definitely a lot lighter on the content warnings than my typical reads, but there are definitely some ick factors, discussion of death, discussion of corpses, and more. As always I recommend checking out the full list of content warnings on StoryGraph before reading. If you're looking for a book to add to your spooky season reading list, this is one to add for sure. 

As always happy reading. I'll be posting more reviews soon as I try to reach my goal of 60 books this year.