"Little Lovely Things"

“Little Lovely Things”

Written by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Review written by Diana Iozzia

To be perfectly honest, this book was completely different than what I expected it to be. “Little Lovely Things” is about a woman named Claire who has a terribly, sickly reaction to a vaccine and takes Benadryl. She becomes severely ill while driving her daughters to school. She chooses to pull over in a seemingly vacant gas station, throws up in the bathroom, and loses consciousness. She awakens to see that her car is missing, as well as her daughters, Andrea and Lily.

This novel sounded to me like a mystery. It sounded like we were eagerly anticipating the resolution, to see how the cops and Claire beat the clock to rescue her children. However, this took a sadder note, rather than thrilling. This book was reminiscent of “Room” and “The Glass Castle”, studying the adults and the children that surround this plot. In my head, I started to realize that I must have misinterpreted the premise. After re-reading it, I noticed that it was a bit desperate in description, but this book reads easier and calmer.

We read through Claire’s perspective as she tries to find her children. We read through Moira, who with her cousin (and lover) Eamon, kidnap the girls to rescue them from who they think is a druggie mother. Moira ends up raising one of the children, Andrea, later named Colleen. We also read through Colleen’s perspective. We lastly read through Jay’s perspective, a Native American man, who finds Lily and then believes he can use his psychic abilities to find Andrea. A nice addition to this story is that all of these characters’ perspectives are told in third person, rather than the frantic pacing of first person.

I found this book to be great in some ways and then disappointing in others. Although I enjoyed that this wasn’t grisly or terrifying, it still left that feeling of fear and danger looming like a storm cloud. Although we believed that Andrea / Colleen was safe in Moira’s hands, how well can we trust someone who would kidnap a child (no matter if she thought she was rescuing them)? I loved the pacing, the characters, and the description. No scene felt too long. No character felt unnecessary.

There is an element of the story that I wasn’t enamored of. Jay, although a sweet and caring character, is highly unrealistic. I won’t explain all of the details. However, know that Jay’s psychic powers are completely redundant and far too common in solving mysteries. I’ve read two books in the past week that have involved an intuition, and I feel it’s a tired trope.

I highly recommend this book, but definitely go into it not believing it to be a thriller. This was definitely suspenseful, but it had that endearing grip of an emotional and important fiction.

I received this book for free. I was given the opportunity to read and review it, and I chose to do so.

"The Crash"

“The Crash”
Written by Lisa Drakeford
Review written by Diana Iozzia


In reading “The Crash”, I found myself wondering a few questions. Why do we decide a book premise is interesting to us? Is a premise interesting if it contains familiar tropes or plot devices that are appealing?  On a similar note, do we also choose books that remind us of others, in hoping that we would feel the same way when reading it? Either way, I’m not entirely sure why I decided to read “The Crash”. As I began reading through it, I found myself like it less and less. Is this a fault of the author or myself? Let’s explore.

The premise of “The Crash” starts when a car with three people destroys the living room of a small family in England, leaving some characters injured and all characters forever changed by this event. The players in this story are:
• Sophie, a simple, ‘average’ teen.
• Tye, Sophie’s best friend, on the verge of coming out as gay.
• Jordan, Tye’s hidden boyfriend.
• Deano, an abusive delinquent.
• Gemma, a naïve girlfriend of Deano
• Harry, protective brother of Gemma.
• Issy, a young neighbor who is abused along with her mother by her evil stepfather.

When Sophie’s living room is crashed into by Deano, Gemma, and Harry, this event sets off a domino effect. Tye becomes so injured he’s in a coma. Harry breaks his ankle and becomes close with Sophie. Issy involves herself, pointlessly. Deano is on the run.

We experience the story through multiple third-person perspectives. Issy and Gemma’s storylines mirror each other. Gemma’s perspective is told two years prior, when she and Deano met. Under his influence, she was involved in a few serious crimes. Under Issy’s stepfather’s abuse, Issy’s young life is affected deeply. We experience the story mainly through Sophie’s eyes as she puts the pieces together of those around her and completes the story to figure out what really happened.

The results of this book are disappointing. This was a very easy to read book without many complex characters or confusing plot lines. This book felt reminiscent of “Big Little Lies”, “The Slap”, “Dirty Little Secrets”, “Never Have I Ever”, and a few other neighborhood-based, dramatic thrillers. I felt the story revealed important details about each character, but I never felt the reveals propelled the plot in any way. There wasn’t a conflict to me, rather than just a mystery that (I guess) needed to be unfolded.

In conclusion, there’s no clear resolution for most of the characters and none of them do seem truly happy. I enjoyed the writing style and dialogue of this story, which lead me to believe I would enjoy more from this author. Hopefully, the characters would be more fleshed out, they would develop, and the plot would be more interesting next time. I do recommend this book to those who enjoyed the books I mentioned earlier. The small-town vibe, the close neighbors, and the character study of a story definitely are reminiscent of those books. I hope to read more by Lisa Drakeford in the future.

"The Perfect Fraud"

“The Perfect Fraud”

Written by Ellen Lacorte

Review by Diana Iozzia

I have not been so fascinated and horrified by a psychological thriller in at least a few months. “The Perfect Fraud” has two parallel plot lines, from two very different characters. However, once the two stories converge, the story kicks off on an even more terrifying road, absolutely driving me speechless.

I have always been very sensitive towards thrillers, mysteries, and horror books and films in which children are in peril. This book absolutely spoke to me, as we begin reading about mother, Rena, whose four-year-old daughter has been sick with many different symptoms her entire life so far. With horrible stomach pains and digestive issues, Stephanie has been through the ringer, needing constant medication, a strict diet, and lots of medical attention. Instantly, after learning a lot about psychology, true crime, and medicine, I was immediately concerned that Stephanie could be a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This illness affects parents who find a need to fix and heal their sick children, but in reality, the parents make the children even sicker in many different ways. I soon realized that I was right, after finding out that Stephanie had repeated episodes of extremely high sodium levels, which is often the most fatal way parents hurt their children when suffering from M.B.P. This is a very fast realization, within the first 30 pages or so.

I believe that the narrative allows us to find out about Rena as quickly as possible, rather than allow this disorder to be a plot twist. I believe we are to suspect her and become more terrified as the story progresses. Like most doctors, friends, and family, the reader, like myself, wants Rena to not be hurting Stephanie. We want her to be sick but not sick because her mother is poisoning her. We also grow deeply more haunted and fearful as the choices Rena makes towards Stephanie seem to progress more dangerously.

In the parallel storyline, we receive a more ordinary character, named Claire. Claire is quite unhappy in her marriage. She is informed that her father, who had been ill for most of her childhood into adulthood, has had a severe stroke. She was told to come home. We learn more about Claire throughout her beginning arc. Claire had small psychic abilities when she was young. For example, she was able to guess presents perfectly before opening them. In Claire’s current perspective, she meets Rena on the plane and becomes instantly uncomfortable around her. Claire offers to give Rena a psychic analysis and a tarot card reading if Rena were ever to visit Sedona, where Claire lives.

After this chance meeting, Claire begins to see more psychic dreams and visions and is able to accurately predict all of her customers’ readings. Claire begins to spit up salt water. Claire eventually develops her thoughts and begins to confirm our suspicions: she too thinks that Rena could be poisoning her daughter and lying to medical professionals. She jumps into action, knowing she must Stephanie before it’s too late.

There are some aspects that I wasn’t thrilled by, but the entire rest of the story overshadows them. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Claire’s perspective, with all of the psychic readings. I understand the intention, that they are a means to an end, but it certainly felt a little slow at some points. Additionally, Rena keeps a mommy blog, posting about her daughter’s ailments and speaking to other mommies who have sick children as well. I felt these purposely dumb and grammatically incorrect blog posts felt redundant, but I can see why they were included. They have an important comment at the end of each from Rena’s sister, Janet, who constantly seeks out her sister out of fear of danger for Rena and Stephanie. Lastly, I felt the climax and resolution were a bit rushed. I definitely enjoyed both aspects, but I would have preferred a little more time spent.

In conclusion, this is another new favorite thriller for me. It was new to me to read a psychological and domestic thriller that crossed into factious disorders and Munchausen syndrome by proxy. I was worried at first that this would be exploitative, since there are many forms of media speaking about these specific illnesses lately. I worried that it was a bit like jumping on the bandwagon, but my fears didn’t come to fruition. Although the story included these themes, I felt that the story was not exploitative or cruel to true life victims who have suffered the same fate.

I give this book a five star review out of five stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to read and review as part of a blog tour for Harper Collins. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity. I absolutely loved it.

"The Night Circus"

“The Night Circus”
Written by Erin Morgenstern
Review written by Diana Iozzia


“The Night Circus” is one of the most famous fantasy novels of the past 10 years. Published in 2011, this novel about a competition between magicians is told in the most glorious setting. The Circus of Dreams travels mysteriously by a magical train and is only open after midnight. This novel includes many story elements, different plot lines, and many eccentric characters, while centering around the fight to the death magical competition.

Celia Bowman was raised by her selfish and uncaring father, Hector, who is better known as Prospero onstage. He has planned to host a competition between him and his rival, A.H., who has been raising an orphan, Marco, to dual Celia once they are of an appropriate age and skill level. Celia and Marco have begun to fall in love and will do anything to safe each other from this fate. In addition, we meet many other characters. The creator and the owner of the circus is Mr. Chandresh Lefevre, a reclusive yet luxurious host. In partnering with many other characters, he and they continue to have this spectacular circus. Lastly, there is another lead storyline, following Bailey, a local teen, and twin performers, Poppet and Widget. Poppet and Widget befriend Bailey and teach him how to perform some illusions. As his storyline progresses, we start to understand his relevance and his importance to the circus.

Easily the most interesting part of this book is the circus itself. The many interesting illusions, the tents, the exhibits, the types of performers and performances. This is a magical book that excels, just based on the magic. The bits before each chapter explaining about the circus was great and absolutely launched you right into the story. The quotes by characters about the circus were fun to read and opulent. I loved learning about the Ice Room, the Cloud Maze, Chandresh’s mansion, the statue performers, and more.

To be honest, I felt that the romance really ruined the book for me. Celia and Marco meet, because Marco helps create the circus tents and acts, while Celia uses her magic to transport the circus and fuel it. So, naturally, they would bump into teach other. They become aware that they are each other’s rival, but they do not wish to enter the competition, knowing that it will leave one of them dead and the other alive. Their romance feels very convenient and forced, without any interesting characteristics or flaws for the other to reflect or repel. I feel that in a romance novel, you should have something that the characters don’t have in common. A fear, a friendship, a hobby, a plan. They just sync up in an unnatural way. The romance and dialogue felt very generic, with many cheesy lines. The characters seemed to fall in love at first sight, which perhaps is not enough for me to justify their need to possibly kill each other. They don’t feel so passionate and so starstruck that I worry for them. The story ends in a very obvious way, but I felt that there should have been more. This book felt too short. There were many characters I would have loved to learn about more, especially Chandresh and Isobel. Isobel was the first love of Marco, who joined the circus as a fortune teller to be with him. We hardly saw any of her, so it was hard to consider her an important or even present character.

An important question that is hardly answered is: Who are the true villains? We can acknowledge that those who agree to enter young magicians are villainous and apathetic to those who enter, showing a true lack of love. But then, the conclusion led me to wonder if selfishness out of love could create a villain? If you are willing to give up everything for love and throw it upon someone who doesn’t really know what to expect, aren’t you responsible and selfish for just throwing away your responsibility? Although this story was for adults, I felt the ultimate decisions that Celia and Marco made to survive deeply impacted those around them in negative ways. I would be so happy to debate this, if anyone wants to reach out on Instagram!

Lastly, this should be a miniseries or just a book series. There was so much more that needed to be incorporated, and because it wasn’t, the book felt confusing and empty. I rate this about 3.5 out of 5.

I think that others may enjoy this story more than I did. Most importantly, I had extremely high expectations to read this book. I think you’d enjoy this book if you loved “The Prestige”, “Tuck Everlasting” and “Station Eleven”, for those simpler magical yet mysterious stories.

"Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer"

“Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer”

Written by Katie Alender

Review written by Diana Iozzia

Recently, I’ve been into reading young adult horror novels. Perhaps, this is a trip down memory lane for me, as teen horror used to be my favorite genre when I was in middle and high school. However, I have found that I’ve also loved historical fiction with a twist of horror. In addition, I’ve been listening to these types of books on audiobook, because I feel they do not always need undivided attention. After a long day of working with wild two year-olds, it helps to relax with an audiobook and not focus intently. These three recent reading preferences allowed me to begin listening to “Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer” on audiobook.

“Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer” was written by Katie Alender, most popularly known for her “Bad Girls Don’t Die” series. I personally read that series as a young teen, maybe fourteen or thirteen. In listening to the audiobook, I felt that this reading experience was much more dramatic, fun, and whimsical, since this takes place in an unrealistic ghostly Paris. Teenage Colette and her classmates are visiting Paris, France on a summer field trip. We receive her first-person perspective and then a third person perspective following the ghost of Marie Antoinette. While Colette unravels the mystery, she also falls in love, becomes a more mature person, and decides who her real friends are. Colette discovers that the ghost of the queen has been killing the descendants of the family that betrayed her during the final days of Marie’s life, leading to her death. Colette must unearth the secrets and figure out how to save herself and her loved ones from true disaster.

This is a fun read, with lots of ridiculous dialogue, characters, and plot. But it’s really entertaining, which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed listening to the accents of the characters, the beautiful French imagery, and the soapy friendships and romance. Also, I liked the historical fiction angle. Although this was far less gory and murderous as I had hoped it would be, I do understand that it is primarily for teens. This felt like “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” in France instead of Italy, with a bit of murder thrown in. I also found myself curious to learn more about the French Revolution as a result. This book also reminded me of the recent French Revolution story “Enchantee” by Gina Trelease.

I implore you to listen to the audiobook, instead of only reading a physical copy. I found that the audiobook highly increased my interest and made it much more entertaining. Although this could be cheesy from time to time, I think it was worth the fun.

"A Nearly Normal Family"

“A Nearly Normal Family”

Written by M.T. Edvardsson

Review written by Diana Iozzia 

“A Nearly Normal Family” was a very enigmatic and intriguing thriller, offering a refreshing perspective from the father of a girl who has been accused of murder. Edvardsson creates very realistic, average characters but makes them captivating by manipulating their thoughts and actions, which in turn manipulate the readers’ thoughts and reactions.

Stella is accused of murdering a man much older than herself, although she is only eighteen, a decent student, and an innocent young girl. However, as our story develops, we start to realize that she wasn’t so innocent and she wasn’t such a great daughter. Her father, a pastor, and her mother, a defense attorney, risk everything to prove their daughter innocent: even though they are not sure of her innocence.

This thriller is considered to be a legal thriller, which would be a useful way to describe this genre. In my opinion, I think it has a great premise, but the characters are much more of a focus, than the legal proceedings. I felt this was much less of a legal thriller and more like a very complex domestic thriller.

In part 1, we read through Adam’s perspective. As Stella’s father, he speaks all about how he and his wife raised her. He speaks about all of the problems they faced disciplining her, which gives a great insight into her personality. In part 2, we hear from Stella in her jail cell, as she awaits her trial. She tells us all of her sides of things, which are not too different from Adam’s. Interestingly enough, although the whole family’s side of the story, this does not feel redundant or boring. It’s intriguing to see who believes what and which lies they are telling, almost like playing game of Clue or deducing like Sherlock Holmes. In part three, we hear from Stella’s mother and Adam’s wife, Ulrika. Her side of the story is much more intense and certainly the most shocking one.

The court procession builds to a trial with Stella and her best friend. Both girls could have murdered Christopher, a possibly pedophilic and abusive man. But who was really there? Was it either of them?

Let’s talk about the ending without giving it away at all. Although I thought it have might have went in a different direction, I still felt satisfied how it played out. This is just one of those stories that requires a skeleton-like review, hardly enough details, because you really just have to read it for yourself. I think this story offers a lot of poignant and effective questions for this genre: What is guilt? What is innocence? How far would you go to protect the ones you love?

I received this book in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Celadon Books for the opportunity.

"Wooing Cadie McCaffrey"

“Wooing Cadie McCaffrey”

Written by Bethany Turner

Review written by Diana Iozzia

It has been an incredibly long journey to find a favorite romantic comedy in book form. There have been many terrible tropes I’ve read through, manipulative characters, and tiring pop culture references that make the characters seem funny. While “Wooing Cadie McCaffrey” has some of those misery-inducing tropes, this book flips them and shows how romantic comedies can be sweet and hilarious, without boomboxes, hundreds of flowers, and chasing down romantic conquests in New York City. This was easily the most enduring romantic comedy written as a book, that I have ever read. This is instantly a new favorite for me, and I plan to read it many times in my life.

When I first was offered the chance to read this book, I was hesitant, as I had noticed it was from one of the Christian publishing imprints from Harper Collins. As an atheist, I was expecting something from Nicholas Sparks’s caliber. However, don’t let the publishing imprint scare you off. There’s a little bit of praying and there are characters discussing their abstinence and chastity beliefs. Other than that, the main focus was elsewhere: on one of the sweetest and most honest relationships I’ve seen in years.

This romantic comedy has all of the wonderful aspects that I look for in this type of book or movie. The characters should be good people. I am tired of a love interest being awkward and creepy in their conquests, hunting women down and beating up other men to win the heart. I have been tired of women or men lying about themselves or manipulating to win the person over. Nora Ephron’s films have always been a favorite, but there’s always a small element of deceit. There’s no deceit here. Every character truly cares about each other. Our main characters, Cadie and Will, are so genuine and so hilarious! Man, the meet-cute is easily the best part of the book and frankly had me laughing out loud, which is something that very rarely happens when I read.

Let’s speak about the premise. The alternating time jumps and the perspectives allow for an interesting narration technique. We jump back and forth in time of Cadie’s and Will’s relationship. Cadie explains to us that she absolutely loves Will, but she feels he will never be ready to reach the next step of their relationship: marriage. After losing their virginities to each other, four years into their relationship, Cadie and Will are devastated, as they wanted to wait until marriage. Cadie loses sight and love for Will, so she decides to break up with him. Will seeks out help from their friends (who are GREAT side characters) to win and woo Cadie back. This occurs in an endearing way, not in a psycho “why don’t you love me? I’m going to make you love me” way.

This book is so refreshing and so sweet. I felt it was heartwarming, honest, cute, and exhilarating. I loved watching Cadie and Will miss each other and find ways to catch up with each other, knowing that they would find their way back to each other.

I personally believe this is a new favorite. I cannot explain any more how much this book amazes me. I would love to see this as a film. I feel like every favorite aspect of romantic comedies is mixed in here. Even some of the cheesier tropes, like the big, crazy Hail Mary of an apology. I’m also begging for a sequel and to read every book by Bethany Turner.

P.S. What an amazing epilogue.

P.P.S. I love all the baseball and sports stuff! It’s so great to see well-fleshed out career settings in a rom com.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes.

"Star-Crossed"

“Star-Crossed”
Written by Minnie Darke
Review written by Diana Iozzia


“Star-Crossed” is a zany, romantic comedy, inspired by zodiac astrology. Our main characters, Justine and Nick, are meant for each other. Well, if the universe needs to be meddled with a little bit, why not try? Justine works for a popular Australian magazine. When she bumps into an old friend and first crush, Nick, her world is set on a completely different tilt. She does not share his favorite interest, reading horoscopes and interpreting how they relate to his life. Justine begins rewriting the Aquarius horoscope, in hopes that he’ll come to his sense and realize that she’s the one for him. What could possibly go wrong?


This is a silly, wild ride with a lot of heart, drawing upon the cute and fun tropes that are in my favorite romantic comedies. I’ve always loved the zany woman, the dog that brings everyone together, the oddball coworkers, and of course, the true loves that find their way to each other, no matter the odds.


Justine and Nick are absolutely adorable characters. I feel like depending on your personality, you could easily fall in love with one or the other. They are charming, kind, and loving.


Lastly, there’s a lot of cool Shakespeare moments and references, as Nick is playing Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet”!


This is one of those super fun romantic comedies that we absolutely have to share with the world. There are a lot of completely unrealistic moments full of serendipity. You'll definitely have to suspend your disbelief often. This isn't a very deep book. I don't think you'll understand the meaning of life or the secrets of the universe, but it was a nice, pleasant read. I think my enjoyment of this would have been severely improved if I knew more about zodiacs and horoscopes, but I feel Minnie Darke gave enough information, so I didn't feel lost. I think this would be a lovely and cute movie, similar to the ones created by Nora Ephron or starred in by Julia Roberts. I hope you have a chance to read it and I hope you love it!


I received a copy in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes.

"Internalize"

“Internalize”

Written by J.A. Handville

Review written by Diana Iozzia

“Internalize” is a collection of poetry by the self-published poet, Joshua Handville, a.k.a. J.A. Handville. His poetry collection is separated into two “hemispheres”, which equates to one half of the book dedicated to his past and the other hemisphere about hope.

Joshua Handville’s poetry is about mental health, heartbreak, self-worth, and how we treat others. Typically, this is not the type of poetry I am drawn to, but I agreed to read his collection and tell you my thoughts about it. To be honest, I’m not really a fan. This type of poetry is not my type, so I personally did not enjoy it that much. However, if you flock to his certain genres of poetry, I am sure you’d enjoy them.

To me, the poetry seems a bit flashy and a bit forced. Common idioms and expressions are thrown into the pages, but I would hope for a little more than that. I often hope for poetry to be a bit more imaginative, including metaphors, similes, and personification. Showing can be more effective than telling. There are a few illustrations throughout the book, but I was under the initial impression that this would be much more influenced by pictures than it was. Let me tell you which poems I enjoyed most. One interesting element about J.A. Handville’s poetry is that it had a dark, eloquent nature to it, similar to Edgar Allan Poe and the Rod Serling introductions of “The Twilight Zone”.

“Inkwell of Heartache”

“This Hard Place of Weakness and Silence”

“Torn Between Her and I”

“A World Away”

“Darkness and Light”

“Internal War”

“Perspective Change”

“Dying Embers”

“Breathe New Life”

In conclusion, I enjoyed the poetry on a base level. This poetry just wasn’t for me, but I can appreciate the time and effort.

Thank you to the writer for sending me a copy to read and review.

"My Best Friend's Exorcism"

“My Best Friend’s Exorcism”

Written by Grady Hendrix

Review written by Diana Iozzia

Every few years, I find a new coming-of-age story about friendship that is worth every admiration. Never did I think that I would find it in a book about teenager girls, one of which has been possessed by a demon. However, this book was absolutely spectacular, and you won’t be able to avoid my recommendations of it, until the end of time. Grady Hendrix was a new author to me, but he’s always been in the periphery, writing notable horror or about it, such as “We Sold Our Souls”, “Horrorstör”, and “Paperbacks from Hell”. I had spotted “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” on the audiobook app I use, Hoopla, and decided to give it a try.

“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” follows our main character, Abby, through a third person perspective that felt very intuitive but refreshing. I have been a bit tired lately of first person, especially for young adult fiction. We meet Abby quickly in a flash forward, talking about the exorcist. Then, we jump back to young Abby in the younger years, meeting Gretchen for the first time, when only Gretchen arrives at Abby’s roller rink birthday party. We see the girls become fast friends, in a fashion that screams 80s nostalgia. Then, we continue through the story until the ultimate moment that Abby’s and Gretchen’s lives are changed forever.

There are so many incredible marvels within this book. The setting, location, time, and atmosphere provide for a very nostalgic childhood, even though I wasn’t a child during this era. I feel that the 80s time periods allow for fun references, old jokes, catchphrases, and iconic objects from the time period, including music, TV, clothing, and films. Abby’s favorite film is “E.T.” I find this movie to be inspirational for this book, especially the true friendship between a boy and his odd friend. Abby, Gretchen, and their friends go to a Catholic school, which gives an interesting look back into the ideals and morals at the time. The preachers talk about the influence of drugs, sex, and sins, which can be a bit overbearing at times, but it allows for a well-represented school experience. The portrayal of middle and high school is so real and authentic, which hardly comes across in teen fiction. I felt that this book had a perfect balance of serious life difficulties, mental health representation, laugh out loud comedy, friendship, and fantastic horror elements. In addition, I do not feel in teen fiction that the parents are well-written. These parents were very fleshed out, cared about the children, and had an important presence.

For a book so grounded in reality, this book does go to some wicked places, and boy, is it jaw-dropping once we arrive there. Naturally, a book about an exorcism has certain tropes it needs to include. We usually read about the catalyst, the moment the demon is unleashed. There are characters introduced that are the caring loved ones, who want the demon out of the inhabitant. Also, as exorcisms are often Catholic-based, we need a priest. All of these elements are created in a way that allowed this book to feel more than just an exorcism story. I compared this tale to many different films and books, and it impressed more than all of them. I felt that Grady Hendrix drew from all of the great exorcism films and the great horror friendship novels and created a beautiful Frankenstein’s monster.

As far as the actual horrific elements included in this story, I was very surprised by the depths the story would go. There were types of creepy actions and creatures that are not often portrayed in horror, so it was refreshing. The most intense scene in this story for me will obviously not be spoiled by me. If you’ve read the book, just think of the pelican. The horrific imagery was supremely enhanced by the audiobook narrator. In listening to the audiobook, I found that my enjoyment of the story would have been far different. Naturally, an audiobook is often narrated faster than the average person would take to read the story, or myself at least. However, the actual quality of the narration was fantastic. We often get snippets of eerie music. The narrator uses great inflection and narrates each character in a slightly different way. During the actual exorcism, I was a bit speechless.

The conclusion of this story was absolutely wonderful, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any differently.

An aspect that I wished would have been explored more is the actual origin of the demon that inhabits Gretchen. We receive detail about when and how this occurs but not enough detail about why the demon was set free. In addition, I would have liked to know a bit more about the running motif through the story, which was anatomy. It felt a bit underwhelming, to be so sprinkled through. Another slightly odd thing about this story was the age appropriateness. I felt that this book would be more appropriate for older teens, perhaps 16 – 18, due to sexual content, cursing, and some disturbing language. I wouldn’t shy away from it if you dislike that in books as an adult, but I would just warn it for the teens.

I have a great belief that you’ll enjoy this book if you enjoy: “Jennifer’s Body”, “The Exorcist” (duh), “The Birds”, “IT” (the remake), “Stand by Me”, “Stranger Things”, “E.T.”, “The Omen”, “Rosemary’s Baby”. and R.L. Stine’s books.

In conclusion, I will be recommending this book forever. This was one of those random books I decided to take a chance on, and I will be forever looking for more books like this. This was an incredible ride, and I hope you give it a chance. Try listening to the audiobook; I really believe my enjoyment of the book was extremely enhanced. That’s it. I could go on for another five pages if I let myself.

"The Passengers"

“The Passengers”

Written by John Marrs

Review written by Diana Iozzia

Pitched as a dystopian, sci-fi thriller, this book succeeds as a thriller that takes place in a dystopian England instead. After the implementation of completely self-driven cars, the citizens of the United Kingdom find themselves a bit torn, since they dislike the lack of control or override. A hacker hijacks these self-driven cars with a cast of characters inside, prompting a small judicial group and the world through social media to decide who lives and dies.

This felt very reminiscent of a tech-based dystopian film or television show. I’ve seen many people relate it to the ultra-popular “Black Mirror”, which reflects how the world would react in certain scenarios based on a downfall caused by modern technology. I would agree this book follows this sort of premise well. I feel that all too common after the popularization of “Black Mirror”, authors and TV / film writers capitalize upon this premise. In one way, I’m a big fan of the genre, but I lose interest in the medium once it becomes to unrealistic. I find that the dystopian element of the story has to be slightly realistic, as if it makes sense that our society could get to this point. In “The Passengers”, a hacker hijacking self-driven cars seems possible to me. I do not feel this is all too imaginary and implausible.

Although the book has many positive points, such as the interesting technological elements, the book falls short for me. I enjoyed learning about how this society exists in different ways compared to the real society in today’s world. For example, to charge these self-driven cars, there are chargers implanted in the roads of roundabouts, drive-throughs, parking spaces, at stop lights, and more. In addition, there were some places such as the Princess Charlotte Hospital that would realistically come to fruition. However, the plausible dystopian elements also mirrored the impossible ones that I felt were just too much for this story. The book would have been just fine without DNA testing for security clearance in public buildings. There are mentions of tech contact lenses. I felt that we didn’t need these many elements to scream “FUTURE” at us. We understood.

Another downfall of this book was the actual hijacking plot. It was entertaining to learn the secrets of these seemingly innocent citizens who are placed in peril. It was exciting wondering who would make it out alive. However, without giving full spoilers, the actual payoff of the hijacking event was utterly disappointing. I had hoped for a much better climax and explanation who the hacker was and their motivations. It fell very flat for me. In addition, Libby, the seemingly random jury member who the book focused on heavily, was just too much. It felt very repetitive.

My favorite element of this book was the chapter beginnings. Most chapters had a phone related or social media reaction to the events unfolding. We saw news headlines, small articles, trending hashtags, fake Reddit forum postings, GPS locations, ‘tweets’, the car instructional manual, polls, music playlists, online quizzes, fake Wikipedia pages, and more. This added so much to the story, giving us easy exposition in creative ways. It also kept us updated with time and the reactions of the world. Basically, we only had two main locations: in the cars with the victims and the jury office, so it allowed us to jump back into the social media without feeling too detached from the characters. This ‘real time’ social media buzz felt realistic and what I would imagine could occur in a similar scenario to this.

Lastly, I recommend this book heavily. Although the ending was a bit passive for me and I had expected more, I think this is a very successful book. I would hope for more from this author and could enjoy this book as a Netflix original movie. I think if you’re looking for sci-fi dystopian similar to “Black Mirror”, this is a good place. I’m very picky about this genre, and I approve of this. I also think that once this book is fully published, it could be a very interesting audiobook.

I received a complementary advanced reader’s edition of the book in exchange for reviewing purposes. Thank you to my beloved Berkley Publishing. You rock.