disappointing reads

Review: The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

~ megs14malloy

The LibrariansThe Librarians by Sherry Thomas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

**2.5-stars**

The Librarians is set in a public library in Austin, Texas, and follows, you guessed it, a group of librarians, Hazel, Sophie, Astrid and Jonathan. They’re all very different, but have grown comfortable working with one another every day.

In fact, the library seems to be more than a workplace for them, it’s a safe haven from the outside world.

That is until two patrons are found dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night. It no longer feels quite so safe, not with a murderer afoot.

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I became obsessed with getting it. Who doesn’t want to read about librarians solving mysteries? I don’t know, probably some people, but I can’t get enough and I wanted this one badly.

After reading it though, I’m not sure quite how to react to it. It wasn’t to my tastes at all. It had a very different vibe to what I anticipated, though I bet a ton of Literary Fiction Readers will love it.

Even after the murder, which took a minute to get to BTW, but even after that, I thought, here we go, it’s gonna get fun now. But it didn’t. It never got fun. The amateur sleuthing was like at a 2 on a scale of 1-to-10.

To me, the mystery felt like a non-entity as it was buried so deep amongst the copious amount of character work, which never seemed to end. I don’t think I would have minded that as much, if I didn’t find the characters so bland and boring.

Overall, the tone was all Literary, and oh yeah, someone got murdered way back at the beginning. Way more Literary, and way less Murdery, than I wanted.

Nevertheless, don’t let my salt turn you away from this one. If you think it sounds interesting and you don’t mind all the character work, give it a shot. You could end up loving it.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it very much!

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Review: The Bloody Brick Road by Maude Royer

~ megs14malloy

The Bloody Brick Road: A Wizard of Oz Retelling (Volume 1)The Bloody Brick Road: A Wizard of Oz Retelling by Maude Royer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I feel robbed. I wanted a bloody and brutal Wizard of Oz retelling; thinking Slasher Horror, or something equally exciting and got nothing of the sort.

Giving a character the name Dorothy and incorporating red shoes, does not a Wizard of Oz retelling make. At the end of the day, this story felt like it was searching for an identity and required further edits.

The 1st-sentence of the Publisher’s synopsis I read states, ‘In this wildly creative, horror-soaked reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, nothing is as it seems in Dorothy’s dystopian nightmare.‘

Whoever wrote this, you lie. 1. This isn’t wildly-creative. 2. This is hardly a reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 3. This doesn’t feel dystopian at all.

Things you got right: 1. It’s a nightmare.

I’m not going to drag this out. It wasn’t for me. I’m sad I wasted 6-hours reading it, but am happy to be moving on. If it was going to go the Extreme Horror route, which it seemed it wanted to take due to the graphic fetish elements, it needed to lean much further in to get there.

The sad part is, there were inklings of a solid Serial Killer Police Procedural in here, but mashing it together with the other elements, it just didn’t work. It needed to be one or the other, or perhaps better blended than it was.

Overall, a very uneven read, nothing like what I was pitched. The dialogue was forced and laughable, and the graphic sexual elements felt absolutely ridiculous in this story.

Thank you to Gallery Books for the copy.

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Review: They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil

~ megs14malloy

They Fear Not Men in the WoodsThey Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

They Fear Not Men in the Woods follows Jen Monroe, who returns to her hometown in rural Washington after receiving word that her father’s remains have been found.

Her Dad, a forest ranger and avid conservationist, went missing 7-years prior while out in the backwoods. He was a knowledgeable survivalist, and Jen has always held out hope that he was still alive somehow, but it’s hard to argue against a positive dental identification.

Jen returns home, not just to attend her father’s funeral services, but also determined to figure out what really happened to him after his disappearance.

The homecoming is awkward. She’s been estranged from her mother for years, and their reunion goes about as well as expected, but Jen also feels distant from her friends. She just feels so different from the girl she used to be.

Nevertheless, when her ex-boyfriend suggests a camping trip in honor of her father’s memory, Jen sees it as the perfect opportunity to get back into the forest and maybe find the truth about what happened to her Dad.

Unfortunately, the dangers lurking in the forest are darker and more dangerous than she ever expected and now all of their lives are at risk.

While this book started out fairly strong for me, in spite of how abrasive I found the MC to be, it was still looking like a possible 4-star read. Unfortunately, the farther I got into it, the more I started to dislike it, until it ended up falling off an absolute cliff for me.

By the end, I was just grateful it was over.

It’s impossible for me to really go into what I didn’t like about this one without giving anything away. The reveal of what was going on in the forest, that’s where my brain just turned off completely to this story. I hated it.

I feel like the direction this takes is going to end up being divisive for Readers. You’re either going to be into it, or you’re not. I don’t see a lot of room for middle of the road opinions on this one.

I know McNeil is a talented author and I’ve enjoyed her work in the past, but this was not it for me. I found it cheesy and a little lame as far as the Horror elements went.

I know this sounds harsh, but I need to be honest about my experience, and that’s honestly what I walked away feeling. This is just my opinion though, and you shouldn’t let it keep you from reading this one if you want.

The fact that this was a miss certainly won’t keep me from picking up more works from Gretchen McNeil in the future. We can’t love them all.

Thank you to the publishers, DAW and RB Media, for providing me with copies to read and review. Even though the story didn’t work for me personally, I would recommend the audiobook, which was well-narrated by Justis Bolding.

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Review: The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

~ megs14malloy

The Staircase in the WoodsThe Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Normally, I would try to write a bit of a punchy synopsis of this book in order to entice other Readers to pick it up, but I’m at a loss here. I’ve literally got nothing.

While so many of my friends are loving this one, I’m finding myself yet again on Outlier Island, but not in a fun way.

I suppose it’s at this point where I should add in the obligatory, this is purely my personal opinion, statement. If you enjoyed this book, I am really, really happy that you did.

I’m not casting aspersions on this author, or their work. This story just absolutely, in no way, worked for me. There wasn’t one single, solitary moment, where I was enjoying my time reading this.

I struggled the whole way through. I didn’t like the writing, the characters, the action; none of it.

I pushed through because so many others were enjoying it, and I thought, it will turn around, it could get better. Sadly, for me, it never did.

I walk away, happy that it’s over and that I can move on with the rest of my life. Honestly, I have nothing further to say. Let’s all just forget this ever happened.

Thank you, Del Rey, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m sorry this is the shortest, most blunt review I’ve ever written.

Perhaps, I should have taken a min before writing it…

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Review: Pride or Die by C.L. Montblanc

~ megs14malloy

Pride or Die: A NovelPride or Die: A Novel by CL Montblanc
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Pride or Die follows Eleanora Finkel and her friends during their Senior year of high school in Texas. Eleanora has founded a LGBTQ+ Club at their school, which ends up playing a large role in this story.

During one of their meetings, the school’s head cheerleader, Kenley, is attacked right outside the classroom that the Club is meeting in, and she’s fairly badly injured.

Hearing the assault, the Club members rush out into the hall and find Kenley there on the floor. Suddenly, they find themselves the main suspects. Why?

I have no idea.

In order to clear their names, and ensure the survival of their Club, they must now investigate the crime and find out who really attacked Kenley.

I found the whole mystery a bit lackluster. Eleanora was running around like the sky was falling in, claiming she had to protect her friends because there was a homophobic murderer on the loose, yet no one was murdered and the person attacked was a popular straight girl who wasn’t even a member of their club?

It just seemed like, out of all the mysteries you could have developed, a very odd choice to me. Even after the Scooby-Doo like reveal, I was left scratching my head about it all.

Sadly, Pride or Die was not a hit for me. I love YA Mystery-Thrillers and do read a lot of them. Going into this, I was excited to get a strong Mystery, set in high school, following the members of an LGBTQ+ group.

Unfortunately, the MC, Eleanora, I found her personality to be so incredibly-grating, it was hard to focus on anything else. I’m happy she had a bit of self-reflection at the end, but it almost felt like too little, too late.

Honestly, I feel like the author did the story a disservice by only having that one perspective. I really enjoyed Noah and Tyler, Eleanor’s friends, as well as Kenley.

I wish I would have had the opportunity to get to know all of them more, but Eleanora was so self-absorbed, I really feel like I didn’t know anything about anyone else.

I hated the way every SINGLE PERSON, besides Eleanora’s three friends, were portrayed. Even the people showing her kindness, Eleanor judged and said critical things about.

I just found her perspective and outlook completely exasperating. There was zero nuance allowed and every single character was a stereotype of what that ‘type’ of person should be.

There were also so many odd, cringe-worthy moments, that I can’t really get into here without giving away important plot points, but yeah, chapter after chapter of that type of thing gets old quick.

I will say, the audiobook narrator, Ina Marie Smith, was really great. She was believable, vocally, as a teen, and she exuded emotion and sincerity throughout.

At the end of the day, this just wasn’t to my tastes. If you think the synopsis sounds intriguing though, I certainly encourage you to pick it up. Please don’t take my word for it. I’m sure many Readers will have fun with this one.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Even though it didn’t necessarily work for me, I’m glad I gave it a shot.

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Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

~ megs14malloy

Witchcraft for Wayward GirlsWitchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was easily one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. In fact, I was so excited for it, I started it a month early; not my normal process.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the way I thought it would.

This story, set in the Summer of 1970, follows a group of unwed teen mothers-to-be residing at the Wellwood Home for Girls in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s there that the girls will live throughout the full-term of their pregnancy.

Once their babies are born, in the majority of cases, they’re adopted out, and the girls can return back to their regular lives like nothing ever happened.

For those of you thinking it’s probably not as simple as all that, you’d be right.

We meet 15-year old, Fern (not her real name), on her long and silent ride to the Wellwood Home. We follow her as she settles in, makes friends and tries to navigate all going on with her body and her life; neither any longer in her control.

As Fern is struggling in these new depths of despair, she meets a traveling librarian with a special occult book about witchcraft, that offers a chance for Fern, and the other girls, to reclaim their power and autonomy.

As we all know, nothing comes for free, but these girls are about to learn that lesson the hard way. Before they know it, they’re in the greatest battle of their lives, not just with familial and societal expectations, but with powers much darker and more dangerous than any they’ve known before.

Y’all, I get it. I do and I’m in the minority opinion here, but I found this so incredibly boring. Around the 65%-point, we started to have some moments where I was fully-engaged, but even those ultimately felt too drawn out.

This took me 7-weeks to finish. I read like 30-other books in that same time period. Once I would set it down, there was nothing drawing me back again. It hurts to say this because of how much I love Grady Hendrix, but it’s true.

As mentioned above, it did pick up for me in the second-half, when things started to get more dangerous and gruesome, but overall, I just feel like it wasn’t the right story for my tastes.

The writing itself is fluid and easy to read. Additionally, there is some strong body horror, and the antagonists are disturbing and well-developed, which we love to see.

I also enjoyed the time period and setting that Hendrix chose for this one. I feel like that did add to the overall tone of the story. I also enjoyed the found family elements amongst the girls in the home.

Clearly, there were aspects I appreciated, I just couldn’t help but walk away feeling disappointed. Maybe it’s my own fault for building this one up in my head for so long, IDK.

Regardless, I’m still huge Hendrix fan and will continue to pick up every story he writes. Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

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Review: The Last Room on the Left by Lean Konen

~ megs14malloy

The Last Room on the LeftThe Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**2.5-stars rounded up**

Recently, Kerry’s life has been falling apart. She’s completely lost control. Her marriage, career and friendships are in shambles, but her drinking is stronger than ever.

With a deadline looming, Kerry knows she needs a change if she’s ever going to finish her book. Thus, she ends up accepting the position as an off-season Caretaker at a refurbished motel in a remote area of the Catskills.

Arriving at the motel, wholly-unprepared, I might add, for her assignment, Kerry immediately feels something is off. The motel is supposed to be abandoned, but someone’s stuff is littered throughout her room.

Feeling unsettled, but not quite sure what to do about it, Kerry tries to ignore the red flags blowing all around her. With a blizzard bearing down on the motel as well, she’s essentially trapped at the motel.

Circumstances go from bad to disastrous once Kerry notices a lifeless hand poking out of a snowbank. She thinks she may have found the owner of all those belongings, but who is it, and how did they end up dead and buried?

The Last Room on the Left had its moments. At times, it had me intrigued enough to think that it could turn out to be a 4-star read. By the end though, it just felt lackluster, predictable, and don’t even get me started on Kerry.

Additionally, I wish that it hadn’t been the comp to The Shining that sold this one to me, because it’s absolutely NOTHING like The Shining.

It’s funny, the more I think about this one, the less enthused I feel about it. I wanted so much more of an atmosphere and eerie/claustrophobic vibe, of which I got none.

Additionally, it left me with unanswered questions. Were there plot holes, or does my brain just not want to think about this one anymore?

From the very start I was annoyed by Kerry. Stupid mistake, after stupid mistake, had me feeling like, whatever happens to this woman, she deserves it.

I know that sounds awful. It’s a terrible thought, but you have to understand, I was compelled to feel that way because of the ridiculous stream of choices. Nevertheless, Kerry wasn’t the only character, LUCKILY, and I did end up enjoying the others.

As mentioned above, this did have moments and when I was in it, I was in it. I also felt it entertaining to try to figure out what the heck was actually going on. While certain portions felt quite predictable, others def took me by surprise.

I think perhaps the downfall of this was that I felt it was pitched to me a certain way, so my expectations were high, and focused in a particular direction, and when I didn’t get that, I was disappointed.

I don’t believe the comp phrase, a feminist take on The Shining, is being used anymore, at least I’m not seeing it in the current synopsis, and for that I’m grateful. I wouldn’t want others to go down the same route that I did with this one.

With all this being said, and with apologies for my grumpiness, I do believe I’m a minority opinion on this one, so if it sounds intriguing to you, please do pick it up.

There’s a book for every Reader and a Reader for every book. Sadly, this just wasn’t the best fit for me. In spite of that, I do very much want to thank the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I have enjoyed Leah Konen’s work in the past, and look forward to picking up future releases. This slight disappointment certainly isn’t enough to stop me!

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Review: So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

~ megs14malloy

So ThirstySo Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars heavily rounded up**

I feel so bad. My head hurts. I have many mixed feelings on So Thirsty. I love Rachel Harrison, and her quirky Cozy Horror style, but this wasn’t great for me.

Unfortunately, I was mainly bored. It took me close to a month to finish. I just felt no sense of urgency, or compulsion to pick it up again once I had set it down.

This is the 6th-book I have read of Harrison’s, most of which I have adored, but this one is down there on the list. If not the bottom, it is close.

However, even Harrison’s slowest story for me is better than many others, so there’s that.

In this story we follow Sloane, who at the start of the tale is gifted a Girls Trip from her husband for her birthday. She, along with her best friend, Naomi, will be staying in a cozy rental cottage for the weekend.

Sloane wasn’t looking forward to her birthday, but reconnecting with Naomi, somewhere away from home does sound like a relief. Sloane and her husband have been having some issues and it’s been weighing heavily on her.

Naomi lives a completely different lifestyle, traveling the world with her rock star boyfriend, and she’s always good for a distraction.

Once there though, Sloane still doesn’t feel into it. Naomi literally has to drag the smiles out of her. It’s a struggle and their relationship seems to be feeling the strain.

The second night there, Naomi has something a little irregular in the cards for them. A house party with an attractive group of mysterious strangers.

That’s the night that will change their lives forever.

Generally with Rachel Harrison’s books, I become attached and invested in the main character. Usually, I find them highly relatable and more often than not, feel like they think, or see the world, very similarly to me.

But I just couldn’t connect with Sloane. I didn’t care for her, she felt like a rain cloud. Sadly, I couldn’t stand Naomi either. I found them both insufferable. Sloane seemed like such a Debbie Downer and Naomi was a selfish, self-centered twat the majority of the time.

I did enjoy the Horror concepts and how a lot of the action played out, I just wish it would have been with a different cast of characters.

The 4-stars are for the vampire bits and the scenes involving body horror and dangerous circumstances. I actually feel like I am being quite generous as I now sit here reflecting upon this reading experience.

Nevertheless, you can’t fault Harrison’s writing style, or her ability to create nuanced characters, whether or not I personally enjoy them. I know so many Readers have loved this one, so I feel like a lot of it will depend on how much you’re able to connect with Sloane and Naomi’s story.

I will say the first half did work more for me than the second. Around the halfway point, it started to drag, even though, one would think because of the timeline of events, the second half should have been more exciting.

I think perhaps I was just over Sloane and Naomi by then.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

Regardless of how salty I sound, I do absolutely adore this author and am looking forward to reading whatever she chooses to deliver us next!

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Review: Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton

~ megs14malloy

Devils Kill DevilsDevils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After a promising beginning, Devils Kill Devils took a nosedive off a cliff, Thelma and Louise-style, for me.

I respect this author for their creativity, but I think someone should have reined this in and given it more focused perspectives. It was extremely difficult to follow.

I was excited for more from Johnny Compton after really enjoying The Spite House last year. This one sounded different content-wise, but I was looking forward to returning to Compton’s captivating storytelling.

While I can say I still enjoyed the quality of Compton’s writing: his word choices, the rhythm of his sentences, his descriptions in the Horror bits, the complex fantastical elements in this were not for me.

I won’t attempt to summarize what this story contains, because honestly, I only truly understood one perspective, Sarita, and by the end, even she’d lost me.

Admittedly, Horror Fantasy isn’t my fave subgenre, but this was strange, even for me, and I like some weird stuff.

I kept pushing on though, even once I stopped enjoying it, because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop; for the light-bulb moment where it would suddenly make sense.

Unfortunately, that never happened, and the further I got, the more disheartened I felt about the whole experience. Before you call me names, or trash me in the comments, I did read this with a friend and we both struggled to make sense of it, so I’m confident it’s not just me.

It almost felt like it was trying to do too much without an easily understandable structure. It was all over the place.

Jarring jumps between POVs, staying for long periods of time within character’s thoughts, which became boring, and huge info dumps regarding the world/concepts, are just a few of my complaints.

The later bits dragged for me as well and by the end, I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

With all this being said, this isn’t the end of the road for my relationship with Compton. Even though this one didn’t work for me, I will be picking up his next book.

I am hoping it goes back more to The Spite House territory than this, but only time will tell.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.

The audiobook narration from Imani Jade Powers was excellent and I do recommend that format if you are going to pick this one up.

Finally, a little reminder, just because this didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. If the synopsis sounds intriguing, give it a go. You’ve got nothing to lose and you could just find a new favorite!

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Review: Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura

~ megs14malloy

Raiders of the Lost HeartRaiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unfortunately, this Adult Romance was way more ewww than awww for me. As in, complete cringefest.

I am sooooo glad it’s over!!!

Let’s start with what I liked. The cover is adorable. It immediately made me what to pick this one up. I love the colors and how cute both of the characters look. It’s also giving strong adventure vibes.

I also enjoyed the very beginning of this story. I appreciated how quickly it kicked off. The author didn’t waste any time with filler stuff. We’re immediately swept away with Corrie as she’s pulled into an expedition in Mexico.

Also, I do tend to really enjoy the academic rivals-to-lovers trope and it seemed obvious that’s where this was going, which I was excited to see play out.

Very sadly, this is where my likes end. I won’t give you the full list of dislikes. I’m not here to be salty looking to turn anyone off from giving this book a shot, but I do like to keep it real with my personal reading experiences in my reviews.

After the successful set-up, nothing really happens. I was waiting for something to happen, something more than pointless bickering between our mains. Then they started hooking up and I WISHED WITH ALL MY HEART we could go back to nothing happening.

The steamy bits are soooo not to my tastes. I was legit yelling, ewwwwwww, at my audiobook and I’m not even joking. I wish I was. Descriptors like ‘lapping’ — just don’t and I def don’t want to hear about smooth, VEINY skin.

Before y’all come at me, it wasn’t just the steamy bits though, although that was huge part of it. I also hated both of the main characters.

Corrie was so annoying and I was beyond sick of hearing about how hot her body was and what horrible problems that caused for her. Her stunningly jaw-dropping double-Ds and taut ass had plagued her her whole life. Poor thing.

Ford was a jerk, who would fly off the handle over nothing and I detested the way they interacted with one another, both when they were fighting and then when they were all over each other. It was completely cringe. There’s honestly not a better way to describe it.

Uneventful, lackluster, boring, icky and disappointing. Clearly, not a new favorite, but alas, I am moving on and will wrap this up with the same thing I say every time I write a not so positive review:

Just because this didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. There’s a Reader for every book and book for every Reader. If this sounds good to you, check it out. If you love it, please come back and tell me how wrong I am!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I never give up on an author after one try, so would consider picking up more from Segura.

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