Category: Literary Criticism

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

Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

Normally I don’t like reading books with swindler female leads. I read Pretty Things a few years ago and I didn’t love it. Since then I have been a little gun shy when it comes to books featuring female swindlers but something about this book just kept nudging me to pick it up. Maybe it was the cute title, maybe it was tiger sexy looking cover. Who knows by I finally decided to take a chance and read this one. After all, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover or by other books that might be entirely different than what the current book promises to be.

This is also a debut novel and sometimes those are the best. There are no other works to be compared to, no other expectations to maintain or hit. Just the single book to win readers over and for me there is a certain excitement in that and I was eager to see if Rachel Koller Croft would be a hit for me as a debut novel.

Honestly I wasn’t sure what I was in store for based on the summary. Would it be a murder mystery? A thriller? A psychological thriller? Women’s fiction? Suspense? The beautiful cover suggests a thriller but will it include a murder? I am already intrigued by this book and I have only read the summary and seen the cover—clearly my curiosity was peaked so naturally I had to add this one to my review calendar. I couldn’t wait to see what I uncovered in this one.

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

Review: Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria

I first discovered Alexis Daria when I snagged a copy of You Had Me At Hola. I loved the premise of the book and the representation of so many Latinx characters and the whole Spanish soap opera angle really hooked me. I thought the stories were good and I loved the romances that bloomed off the pages. So naturally when I saw this new series come up for review, I was all about it! I also liked that this book featured a biracial romance. Overall it wasn’t a hard sell for me to pick this one up! And since today is Valentines Day I think this is an appropriate time to put out my review!

There was only one thing I was a little hesitant with this one. While I liked the idea of an on screen romance in You Had Me At Hola, I was less convinced about the on screen romance of a reality show. I think that is such a hard sell and for me it was a gamble. Daria does write solid romances so I decided not to over think it too much and just see how it played out but I did have some reservations about that part.

Alexis Daria RITA award for her debut novel (You Had Me At Hola) and since then she has written additional installments to that series as well as starting this new one, all of which have rapidly gained a devoted fan following. If you are looking for a hot and upcoming romance writer, then you came to the right place! Alexis Daria has crafted some great reads, that includes this book. The more books I read by Daria, the more excited I am for her to put out the next one! I am so happy to see this is part of a new series, while I was for the next Primas of Power book!

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

Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

When this book came out, I jumped at it! I have read the Grisha books, specifically the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and while I didn’t love every book, I remember feeling like they had a lot of imagination with ambitious characters and for a YA series, there was a lot to enjoy. But I never really read anything else from Leigh Bardugo after that trilogy. But naturally her books are quite popular and can be found on many shelves around the blog-o-sphere.

When I saw this one was coming out, I wasn’t exactly ready to buy it or even put it on my TBR—-until I started seeing all these posts and reviews about how good it was—-THEN I was jumping to get my hands on it. I even got an autographed copy that’s how excited I was for this one. Then it came and I read the opening prologue and decided it wasn’t for ‘right now’. Keep in mind it came out Oct 2019, so it SHOULD have been a ‘right now’ book for me based on the creepy content, but I had finished reading some other heavy horror books at the time and I just wasn’t up for it. So I put it on my bookshelf. Then COVID hit and I just wanted to read something happy. So there it sat for the next few years.

Until, Hell Bent was released a few weeks ago. I had a renewed interest in The Ninth House, since I ordered Hell Bent. I had no idea this was even meant to be a series, but evidently it is. And it’s an adult series, not YA—though the characters are more ‘new adult’ it’s definitely not YA, it’s geared toward the older reader. So I decided it was time to dust off my copy of The Ninth House and read it so I could read Hell Bent!

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

Review: The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

When I was first pitched this book, one thing stood out that made me not pass on it—-Guatemala. My husband is Guatemalan and there really aren’t books out there that feature his culture. Trust me I am always on the look out too! So when I saw that this book would have a Central American theme in it, I was totally on board to not only feature it but also review it!

I have been really loving thrillers and mysteries lately, and I have a special place in my heart for psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators. I featured this one back in early January and couldn’t wait to start reading it. In fact I rearranged some of my review calendar for this book so that should tell you how excited I was for this one. I wasn’t sure how much the Guatemalan angle would play in the story but just seeing it in the summary was enough to make me jump for this one!

This book was also selected as Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club pick for January so clearly it must be worth reading! Reese’s Book Club usually has some great reads. I know I have found quite a few thrillers thanks to her book club that I wouldn’t normally pick up to read. Since this book made her book club, a lot of readers have been hailing it as the thriller to set the tone for the new year. Obviously a lot of hype around this book though for me it was less about the hype and more about what the book promised to deliver—-and did it?

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Review: Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson (Audible Edition)

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson (Audible Edition)

When I saw this book, I absolutely knew I needed to read it! I thought the title was catchy and I couldn’t pass on it. I even downloaded a copy for Audible as well as ordering a hard copy. I was hat sure I would be devouring this book in a matter of days. In today’s modern world, so many women are fascinated by murder mysteries. I know for a fact that in my office of 10 women, 8 listen to murder podcasts while working or working out/cardio. Myself included! I love a good murder mystery.

It really is the ‘time of serial killers’ and I thought that having a romance where the main character is sure her neighbor is a serial killer, really hooked me, I mean when I was pregnant and a new mom, I was up in the middle of the night feeding my baby and our neighbor was constantly coming and going in the middle of the night (he is a teacher so I knew it wasn’t his job that took him away from home). I was convinced he was up to something nefarious. So this book sounded so appealing to me!

When this one came out, I was knee deep in all my Laura Griffin books so reading something light and romantic featuring serial killers sounded right up my alley. The book makes a note that there isn’t actually murder in the books so readers know they are getting an actual romance instead of a murder but I think that should have been implied by the summary, but I was thankful for the reminder as a reader anyway.

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