Category: Book Review

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras

The second I saw this cover for the cover reveal, I nearly swooned! It’s so pretty and I absolutely love the colors—plus the pose was absolutely eye catching. I couldn’t WAIT to start reading it! I was never a fan of West Side Story, I think I watched the film once in high school and just never felt invested in the story, even though it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling.

However, I could totally get excited for this book even if it was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story. I couldn’t wait to see the story come to life in the pages of this book. Plus mariachi and margaritas? It’s literally the perfect book to read this spring on a beach somewhere! I am so excited to finally share a bit about this book with you guys and of course share my thoughts.

This is my first book by Priscilla Oliveras but it won’t be my last! I have seen a number of other books by Oliveras pop up on my radar off and on over the years but it was this book that finally made me want to read her books! I am so thrilled to discover this amazing new to me author! I loved this book and I cannot wait for the next one! Also today is Cinco de Mayo so I thought this would be the perfect book to review in celebration of Latinx heritage!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Emily Henry earned a spot on my auto buy author list after Beach Read! I absolutely fell in love with her! She is charing witty and her story telling style is second to none. I love how her rom-com characters interact and have so much chemistry together. People We Meet on Vacation was equally as charming a follow up to Beach Read and absolutely put me in the mood to travel! ‘

When I saw this book was coming out—one I needed NO convincing to read this not with a title like Book Lovers! For me personally I love an enemies to lovers trope over the friends to lovers troupe which is why I liked Beach Read a little better than People We Meet on Vacation. I personally felt like the chemistry and tension was better in Beach Read and that is generally the case for me when I pick up an enemies to lovers troupe. So when I saw that this latest novel featured an enemies to lovers plot I was all for it!

This book has me written all over it. I was absolutely primed to fall in love with this book before even picking it up. Emily Henry is simply a fantastic writer and I cannot say enough good things about this latest book! I knew I would enjoy this one but I was not fully prepared for just HOW much I was going to love it. If you don’t read anything else this spring—read this one!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: A Perilous Perspective (Lady Darby Mysteries #10) by Anna Lee Huber

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: A Perilous Perspective (Lady Darby Mysteries #10) by Anna Lee Huber

Ten books?! How in the world are we are ten books already in this series?! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday that I found this series and devoured all the books (at that time five) in like one sitting! This series overall has been completely solid. There were books I liked better than others and for different reasons but I would rate this entire series as five stars. SOLID!

I love Anna Lee Huber’s writing style and other books she has written but the Lady Darby books stand out above the others and I cannot say enough good things. Some of the books you can jump around in the series but honestly I think this is a series better read beginning to end. Not only area the characters great and the mysteries engaging, but you really gain a full appreciation for the character relationships and larger narrative.

Yes I know this cover is stunning and maybe you haven’t read the other books and just want to start here, by all means go for it but if you want to fully appreciate Kiera and Gage as well as the nuances of this book (and there are plenty of them and references from other books), then you definitely want to go back and read the other books—-pretty cover or not! For one this book features Kiera’s cousin, Rye, and if you miss the other books you will miss out on fully appreciating their relationship so basically read the other books first!

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Review: When Blood Lies (Sebastian St Cyr #17) by C. S. Harris

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: When Blood Lies (Sebastian St Cyr #17) by C. S. Harris

The Sebastian St Cyr mystery series has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. I started off reading the series randomly and our of order and then I went back and started from the beginning and read them all again in order. I absolutely love this series even if at times it feels a little scripted meaning it follows a formula. I still have loved the mysteries and characters so much and every time I see a new book is coming out I absolutely rearrange my calendar for it!

If you like smart historical mysteries with some grit that doesn’t transition over into ‘disturbing’ then this is a great series for you. As I said, I have read the books out of order and was ok, however I did feel like I connected with the characters and the larger narrative much better after reading the series beginning to end. If you haven’t read the series beginning to end but maybe most of the book then you should be ok with this one, however if you haven’t read the other books at all, I would say this probably isn’t the one you want to start with.

This book focuses on Sebastian’s own family history that has been teased through a number of other books in the series. It’s basically what I would call the ‘ultimate’ mystery for Sebastian and the larger narrative. So if you haven’t read all of the books you can probably get by with having only read a few but if you haven’t read any then I think new readers will be lost in this book or at the very least miss all the nuances and significances of the story.

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Review: As Good As Dead (A Good Girls’ Guide to Murder #3) by Holly Jackson

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: As Good As Dead (A Good Girls’ Guide to Murder #3) by Holly Jackson

Say hello to the worst book I have read this year—-and frankly, the last decade. I have had books that I did not finish and books that just left me feeling lukewarm or even disappointed but none have left me feeling absolute shock and frustration. The second book in the series had me feeling a little bland about Pip as a main character so when this one came out, I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to read it but a friend of mine read it and basically said it was awful but she wanted to discuss with someone—-so here we are, thank you peer pressure.

As you move into reading my review of this one, know that I normally don’t post spoilers but frankly there is no way around that for this review. If you haven’t read the other books or you are planning on reading this one you might want to skip my review all together as there WILL be spoilers. So consider yourself warned.

Normally, if I am not feeling a book, I usually set it down and shelf it as DNF, but in this case there was just so much wrong with this book that I felt obligated to read until the end with the hope that it would improve but sadly it did not. I also try to refrain from fully ripping a book as I try to be respectful of authors and their creative license, and that still remains true in this case, there are good points but they did not balance out enough for me to even remotely enjoy this final installment.

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