Review: The House With The Golden Door by Elodie Harper

 

I started this series back in 2024 and I gave the first book The Wolf Den 4 stars. I enjoyed the ancient roman time period and the fact that this takes place in Pompei. It has taken my library a long time to finally get this book in stock and I had high expectations. 

I ended up giving this a 3 star because I enjoyed some parts, especially with the rumblings of Mt. Vesuvius. It doesn't erupt in this book and it is only mentioned the one time. This book suffers from second book syndrome and it dragged. 

Amara is finally a freed woman and is living in the house her lover is renting for her. She has her own slaves and she is distraught over leaving her friends at the brothel. She makes a deal with Felix and she gets ownership of Victoria and Britannica. She immediately gives them their freedom and she has to find out a way to pay Felix for them.

She ends up selling Victoria as a sex slave and musician which she doesn't mind at all. Britannica starts teaching Amara how to fight and she gets a new life goal of becoming a gladiator. Amara is really stupid in this book and makes a lot of questionable choices. One is that she falls in love with Rufus' slave Philo, who is tasked with keeping an eye on the house and to spy on Amara.

Amara eventually gets pregnant by said slave and Rufus can't deal with that gossip because he is soon to be married. He lets Amara go but he is still looking after them because he believes the child is his. If he found out that he is not the father, Amara would be sold back into slavery and the baby would automatically become a slave because of her father Philo. 

The book ends with Amara becoming a concubine once again to a wealthier and richer patron and leaving Pompei for Rome. She has to leave her baby behind and she will only be able to see her once a year. 

This book was very repetitve and dragged and it was basically one big pissing contest or a my dick is bigger than your dick. Amara made stupid decisions and people are becoming pawns to her.

Review: Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie *SPOILERS*

 

Another Agatha Christie read for my reading challenge. I am slowly getting through her works. I am finding these quite forgettable and I have not gotten a 5 star yet. 

In this, Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings investigate the murder of Lord Edgware. Hercule Poirot had met with his wife, Jane an actress, the day before and she wanted him done in because she wanted to marry another man. Poirot met with Lord Edgware to see if he would divorce his wife Jane. 

Jane was surpried to hear that he had agreed to a divorce. The next day, Lord edgware was found murdered in his study. His daughter and maid all agree that they saw Jane do it. Hercule Poirot immediately starts investigating.

I was a little annoyed with Jane because when she found out about the murder, she immediately started buy clothes for the funeral and trying on hats and fainting and straight up acting. People close to Jane are adament that she killed him, but there is eye witnesses that say that she was at a dinner party at the time of the murder.

There are two more murders that follow and one is a comedian who does impersonations. She did an impersonation of Jane and Jane loved it. She is found with pince-nez in her handbag and she was not someone who wore glasses. 

Poirot comes to the conclusion of who did the murders and we find out that it was in fact Jane who killed her husband. 

The ending was truly crazy and would be grounds to throw her ass in the loony bin because she write to Poirot from prison saying that she had no idea he was that smart and that she hopes to have a wax statue of herself in a museum some day because she thought her plan was genius. Un freaking believable. 

Review: The Mandalorian Manga Volume 1 by Yusuke Osawa

 

I am obsessed with Star Wars and I love The Mandalorian. Grogu is my love and I can not wait to see the movie later this month. I was at a library event with my kids and they saw volume 3 on the shelf and they wanted to read it. I requested this one and it is basically the first episode of the first season.

We see Mando going into a bar and saving the target of the bounty. We see him put the guy in carbonite on the epic Razor Crest. If you haven't watched the first season, watch it and then read this because it will help you remember names and all that. 

This is definitely targeted towards children, but I likw seeing the cutie illustrations of Grogu.

Review: This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

 

This was a book that I read for a Goodreads reading challenge and the reviews that I heard and watched for this told me that I would be crying my eyes out the whole time.

The first two chapters had me sobbing and hugging Cayce super tight. Then I finished and gave this book a two star. I did not cry anymore, just a couple of sniffles but nothing else. This book became so relatable and not in the good way. I did hug my hubby a couple more times, but there was a part with the mother in law and that gave me anxiety because I do not have a good relationship with mine... its basically non existent and there is a lot of tension and no contact for a reason.

I thought that the mother in law would want to have a talk about money and that is a big red flag and if you couldn't tell, that is the whole problem with mine. So while reading, I was dreading getting to the conversation but thankfully it did not go in that direction. 

The other thing I predicted about a 1/3 of the way in and it is one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate when a spouse dies and the other moves on a year or two later. I am not a fan and I would not get with anyone else if something like this happened and it is very obvious from the beginning who the love interest will be.

The last thing that hit me in a hard way and I just could not give this a 5 star is that Alfie, the bookstore owner took over after his dad passed away.... FROM PANCREATIC CANCER. 

It is like this book was written with all of the trauma that is currently affecting my life because my mom has pancreatic cancer. I read that part and I immediately threw the book down. I just could not deal with this book anymore and I did not even care about the books that was left behind for Tilly. 

Review: The Dustin Experiment by J.L. D'Amato

 

One of my new favorite Stranger Things books. This has made it to my top three because the author made Dustin have experiences without retelling an episode of the show, like some of the previous Stranger Things books,  ie Runaway Max. 

I also really loved Eddie in this book and found him to be written better than his own book Flight of Icarus. 

I have been waiting since last year to read this, before the fifth season started actually and my library took forever in ordering it and then someone requested it and kept it longer than the three week limit. 

Anyways, Dustin has always been my favorite character and the events in this book take place during the beginning of season 4.

The boys have just started high school and they are missing Will and El. Max is absent and we learn why in the show. Dustin is trying to keep the group together, but Lucas is joining the basketball team and hanging out with the enemies. Mike and Dustin join the Hellfire Club and honestly, I can't sing Eddie's praises enough.

Dustin wants to enter the science fair with the guys, but they are not in it. Dustin fixes Eddie's amp and walkman and he gets an idea for his project. Eddie introduces him to the heavy metal music that makes Eddie Eddie. 

Dustin asks Eddie to take him to the science fair and they go. We learn that Eddie is afraid of ducks because one of the participants has a duck named Frodo Quackins and he can do tricks. I love that we got some Lord of the Rings refrences because it is fitting. 

Dustin goes on a side quest while at the science fair to figure out who is sabotaging projects. He figures it out and makes some new friends along the way. He also has to figure out what he wants to do because he gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend an elite science school. He has to choose between his passion and his friends.

This book is my 2nd favorite out of all of the Stranger Things books that I have read. Nothing will beat the first book where we learn the origin of Eleven and her birth parents. My third favorite is Hopper's book. 

Review: Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren

 

still reading the little short stories when my kids have library events. This one took me a month to read, not because it sucked but didn't have time to sit and read on my phone. I did give this a 4 star because I really enjoyed it and it was memorable. 

This is about Veronica who just left her dude bro job because she was not appreciated enough and one day she joins this zoom meeting that is not hers. She secretly stays and watched the presentation and she is apalled by how bad the marketing is. She lets the people know that this company will sink and how bad their marketing scheme is, and then she dips out.

Jude, the CEO of this company tracks her down and emails her offering her a month retainer to help them gets the project off the ground. She refuses and eventually she agrees when she is offered 7000 a month, along with a new desk chair... which made me giggle.

What both of these people don't know is that they have interacted before... on multiple occasions in a specific place where they have a love for their mailman Larry. 

The progression of the relationship was cute and I loved their banter. A good romance book with banter will always be a win for me. This short also solidifies my love for Christina Lauren writing, even if this is my second reading of their work.

Review: Attack on Titan volume 1 by Hajime Isayama

 

I do not need to be starting another Manga series, but my kids want to read it with me. To be honest the cover does nothing for me and makes me not interested. 

The very beginning was very confusing because it throws you straight into the story. We follow a boy named Eren and his sister. Eren is talking about the titans with the gate guards and they are just chilling and living life. Eren says that he wants to leave the walled city and he wants to join the survey corps because he hates being caged. 

Eren tells his parents that he wants to join the survey corps and they lose their minds. He runs off after his mom forbids him to join and then they see a titan that is over 50 meters tall, which is the height of the wall around the city.

The titan punches a hole in the wall and all of the little titans get in and start eating the people. Eren's mom is trapped unfer the rubble of the house and the kids are trying to save her and they get picked up by a neighbor who rushes them to safety leaving the mom behind. We see a titan pick her up and maybe snap her spine and then throws her into it's mouth, which was graphic as hell.

We learn that the colossus titan made it through the outer wall and now all of the survivors are behind the second inner wall close to the center. Eren vows to end every last titan on Earth. We are then shown a group or batallion size of people listening to a instructor. He then calls out 10 people who will be on the front line and be expected to give up their lives if the colossus titan attacks again. The first person is Eren's sister and then Eren gets called. 

The ten get the opportunity to join between three sections. The one that the top ten is exclusive to is the military police where they will be next to the king and be comfortable and not have much to do. Jean and Eren get into a fist fight because Jean is talking about how he can relax when he becomes an MP and Eren is pissed because he thinks that is the reason why so many people died in the attack because they were lazy and not prepared because of the relaxed mindeset. 

I am curious as to what Eren's father injected him with after his mother died. It gives him splitting headaches. I am betting that Eren's dad has something to do with the titans because he wanted to show Eren something in the basement before the colossus titan appeared.

The colossus titan shows back up and punches through the second gate. Eren finds out that he is intelligent. He goes to attack and thinks he does but realizes that the titan has vanished. I am getting bored because I am not interested in the same coversations and scenes. 

After the attack, the commanders go back to splitting up the garrison to where they are needed and Eren is wondering about the origins of the titans. We learn that they have no sexual organs and that they have survived over 100 years without eating, so they eat people purely for killing purposes. They also regenerate their heads if they get cut off. 

Once again there is another attack and the top ten students get descimated. Eren gets his leg bitten off an we see a flashback of when he was little and he was shown a book by Armin about the outside world and the sea and salt and deserts. Eren gets eaten and it is implied that he does it on purpose because he wants to see the outside world.

The volume ends there and I can safely say that I will not be continuing this series because I was bored.