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The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

I received a free e-ARC of The Mary Shelley Club thanks to Fierce Reads in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

When I got the email that I’d won an arc of this book, y’all, I was so excited. The synopsis for this sounded so good and I’m always down for a good thriller-mystery.

In this book we follow Rachel, new to Manchester Prep after an attack at her home leaves her needing a new start. Struggling to fit in, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious and secretive Mary Shelley Club, where members find pleasure in scaring others. But as these members soon find out when they become the target of the pranks, alls fair in pranks and fear.

The Mary Shelley Club: The Nitty Gritty

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting and I enjoyed the journey we took throughout the book. I would have liked to get more character background on a few of the characters in the story, but overall what we were given was sufficient.

Moldavsky did an excellent job showcasing the dynamics of the different members of the group, as well as the different members of the school. We can see how socioeconomic status impacted various interactions and consequently the group and group members’s agenda.

The ending was not quite what I was expecting. I didn’t see part of it coming–which isn’t a bad thing, it just surprised me a little. It was sort of open-ended, which left room for a possible sequel. I think a sequel to this book would be interesting.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries, horror movies (or not—I don’t and still enjoyed this book!), and books where you don’t know who you can trust.

The Mary Shelley Club is available for purchase, so hurry to get your copy today!

The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

The Project by Courtney Summers

I received a free e-ARC of The Project thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

When I saw that Courtney Summers had a new book coming out, I was so excited. I read Sadie and I enjoyed it and gave that one 4/5 stars. I’d heard such good things about The Project and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

We follow Lo as she searches for her sister Bea, who has become a member of The Unity Project after a tragic accident left them parentless. Trying to expose The Unity Project as the cult she believes it to be, Lo goes to work investigating and asking questions. But when she gets close to Lev Warren to expose him for who and what he is, she begins to question everything she thought she knew.

The synopsis sounded good and I know I already like Summers’s writing style. Unfortunately, the execution of it didn’t pan out for my personal tastes.

The Project: The Scoop

This is being marketed as a thriller, and it is about a cult. Honestly, I didn’t get any thriller vibes at all. It felt too dry. There were times where I think it could have been trying to lead up to that point, but it never really got there for me. There just wasn’t enough suspense built.

In regards to the cult aspect, I wanted more. We are told that people in The Unity Project are engrossed and enthusiastic members. We only really got to know a handful of people and how it’s impacted them, so I just wanted more detail. I also wanted answers to some of the questions that Lo went in search of but were just kind of forgotten about.

Most of the characters were kind of flat for me, so I didn’t care about most of the characters. Some of the character traits didn’t make sense for the roles.

Overall, the story wasn’t terrible. If it hadn’t been marketed as a thriller/mystery, I personally would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, there wasn’t anything wrong with the story, it just wasn’t for me.

I know that I have an unpopular opinion. Although this book was a miss for me, I will still read other books by Summers. I encourage you to read some of the other reviews about this book, especially those that did enjoy this book.

Publication is set for 2/2.

The Project by Courtney Summers — Cover of The Project from My Netgalley Account

The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly

*Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. You can read more here.

I received a free e-ARC of The Frozen Crown thanks to BookRiot and HarperVoyager US in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

In this story we’re following Princess Askia of Seravesh as she travels to Vishir hoping to procure an army to defend her land. Radovan, the ruthless ruler of the Roven Empire, has been slaying villages inside her borders. Askia has run out of options. But life at Vishir takes political finesse, which is something Askia has little experience in. But Askia has a secret that is dangerous should it be found out. Can she secure an alliance while maintaining her secret? Can she save Seravesh?

Okay y’all, when I read the premise, I knew I had to read this as soon as I could. This book did not disappoint. It has a little bit of everything in it: politics, magic, romance, and war.

The Frozen Crown: My Thoughts

The magic system in this book is awesome. I look forward to book two because I really want more of it. The magic is in the form of witches, of which there are different kinds. I don’t want to give too much away, because I think it’s better to find out about it all as you’re reading. However, Kelly included that part of the magic system can be manipulated. That was very interesting and although I’ve seen similar things done in other books, I liked the way it was portrayed here. I’d really like to see more of it fleshed out in book two.

The characters were written well. Kelly did a great job portraying the conflicting emotions and situations that Askia and others were/would be in. We could see from some actions that certain characters took the slippery political slope and the games that they had to play at court.

One thing that I will say about this book is that I was confused at the beginning. Once I figured out what was going on, it was still a while for me to get into the “can’t put it down” groove. The ending felt a bit predictable and rushed. I enjoy a good cliffhanger, but I wish the ending would have happened a little differently. Regardless, I enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy!

The Frozen Crown will be available for purchase in January 2021.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

I read The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White as one of my buddy reads this month. Since it was a retelling of a classic with a female protagonist, I was really excited to read it.

We follow Elizabeth, a girl who was taken in by the Frankensteins as a child. Given food, shelter, and everything she could want or need, she’s to befriend Victor and be his companion. Together since childhood, they forge a tight knit bond. But appearances are often only surface deep and what’s lurking beneath the depths are hideous secrets better left unspoken. We follow her journey to finding Victor, the truth, and ultimately, herself.

I was really excited going into this book. A twist on a classic with a strong female protagonist? Sign me up! For some reason, I had also had notions that it was Elizabeth going mad that we were going to be reading about. And, I love a good story with an unreliable narrator, so that was another check in this books column. While the book wasn’t bad, my own expectations had caused me to be disappointed with it.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein: The Nitty-Gritty

First of all, let me reiterate, this was a good book. The reason I was disappointed with it is because I had my own expectations that weren’t met. I really enjoyed the characterization of Elizabeth. The way that we are privy to Elizabeth’s thoughts as she questions her motives and her courses of actions, I thought this was excellent. It made her character more authentic and showed her desperation. The employment of flashbacks was done well. I’m not sure if I would have preferred it done in a different way or not; that’s something I wondered about as well while reading.

One thing that bothered me was that, despite the fact that this was a retelling with a female protagonist, I still felt like it was mainly about Victor. Even though we are reading through Elizabeth’s point of view, the whole story is centered around Victor and his madness and his brilliance. I understand their relationship and why this was, but it just felt like it was still mostly Victor’s story. I wanted more of Elizabeth.

Overall, this book was good. It wasn’t what I had been expecting but it wasn’t a bad read. I enjoyed reading it but I can’t say it gave me too many spooky vibes, which is what I was hoping for. I do think it’s a good read and you should check it out, especially if you’re looking for a twist on the classic.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

Halloween Sugar Cookies and Pumpkin Books

Last weekend, our fun Fall activity was making Halloween sugar cookies. Now, I don’t know about you, but I love any excuse for a sweet treat. Thankfully, sugar cookies are an easy snack to make and you can change them up for different holidays. Plus, involving K was super easy. Most of the Halloween cookie cutters were still packed away, but we found a few: a pumpkin, a leaf, and a cat.

Now I’ll be honest, I left the baking up to K and his grammie this time. I supervised and took pictures. I did help K when he started to help roll out the dough–he could become an excellent pastry chef one day. After the cookies had baked to perfection, it was time to sample! Grammie and K had done a great job. When we finished our sampling, we took what was left of the cookies– it’s almost the holidays so none of the extra cookies consumed count right?–and it was time to frost!

I think this was K’s favorite part. We didn’t have orange frosting so we used vanilla and dyed it orange and he got a small taste. Needless to say, we have a new frosting fiend in our house. The cookies turned out beautifully. But most importantly, they turned out delicious. And when it comes to cookies, that’s really all that matters right?

Halloween Reads To Go With Our Halloween Sugar Cookies

K also got a new book: You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie with illustrations by Natalie Marshall. This is a fun Halloween-themed board book with cutouts. K loves these books and enjoys turning the pages to see what’s on the other side of the cutout. Another book that K received was Happy Halloween, Little Critter! by Mercer Mayer. This has flaps on the pages that shows which critter is in which costume and he loves finding out who is under the flap. I’m so glad that books have fun ways to make reading entertaining for children!

I had a really fun weekend baking Halloween sugar cookies and reading Halloween books with my son and my mom. I’m enjoying making new traditions with him as he grows up. Do you have any Fall or Halloween traditions with your children?

You're My Little Pumpkin Pie board book Illustrated by Natalie Marshall

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