Posts tagged with action-and-suspense
A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
I admit it: I have resisted reading Sarah J. Maas's enormously popular A Court of Thorns and Roses, despite recommendations from several friends. I have tried a few of her books before, and—while they were undeniably readable—they felt vaguely generic, like she'd been handed an AI-generated list of hot literature trends for young women aged 16 to 21 and told to do her damnedest to fit them all into 400 pages...
Just think of the insurance!
I'm not sure what an "event series" actually is (it's just a fancy way of saying "miniseries", right?), but USA has shelled out for a high-profile show called Treadstone, based on the world of Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne novels...
The Grand Dark, by Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey's The Grand Dark reads like he took the little-seen but super fun 2012 film Premium Rush (bike messengers! Crooked cops! Underachieving young adults!) and filtered it through a Grand Guignol-inspired lens. His protagonist is a young man named Largo, who relies on drugs and macabre entertainment to muffle his intense anxiety about the rapidly crumbling world around him...
Stop trying to make Henry Cavill happen.
Hmm. They're doing their best to emphasize the "based on a book series" angle, rather than the "muuuuch better known as a video game" approach to promote The Witcher, but this doesn't look like Netflix's answer to the high-minded fantasy of Game of Thrones...
That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire
That Ain't Witchcraft is the eighth novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and the author deserves all the fun-book awards: she keeps trotting out installment after installment, each just as lively, imaginative, and entertaining as the others. I've read more impressive standalone fantasies, but I can't remember another series delivering so consistently and fast...
Weekly Book Giveaway: That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire
This week's Book Giveaway is That Ain't Witchcraft, the eighth installment in Seanan McGuire's ridiculously entertaining InCryptid series. A full review will follow shortly; this giveaway will run through 7/26/19...
The Lovely and the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
In the note at the end of her most recent book, The Lovely and the Lost, author Jennifer Lynn Barnes acknowledges the debt this story owes to two of her earlier series: The Naturals and Raised by Wolves. Of course, lots of writers recycle their own work, although I was a little taken aback...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Lovely and the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Our latest Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Lovely and the Lost, which sounds like a soap opera and I am sincerely hoping is not a standalone. (I am much more invested in this book than in Barnes's previous effort.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/22/19...
Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts
In many of her recent standalones, Nora Roberts has minimized the tropes of romance writing in favor of straight action/suspense. That's fine—the romantic elements of her books are the bits she is most prone to recycling—but I do wish she wasn't so fond of really lingering on the POV of her villains. I don't need to read an additional hundred pages of manufactured drama between her protagonists, but...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts
Our latest Book Giveaway is Nora Roberts's Shelter in Place. It's definitely one of her more impressive recent offerings (which, admittedly, isn't saying much), but skip it if you are in any way triggered by scenes of mass shootings. A full review will follow shortly, and this review will run through 7/5/19...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Wind Off the Small Isles, by Mary Stewart
This week's Book Giveaway is The Wind Off the Small Isles, by Mary Stewart. I'm really happy that Hodder Books reprinted this little-known 1968 novella (along with a recently rediscovered short story, "The Lost One"), but I'm not sure I would describe it as a "beloved modern classic". Maybe "long-lost treasure", if they were looking for a superlative...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Storm Cursed, by Patricia Briggs
Our latest Book Giveaway is Storm Cursed, the 11th book in Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson series. (Why are the titles in this series so generic-fantasy-lite? I've already read the book, and I still couldn't tell you what "storm cursed" refers to.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/31/19...
The Plotters, by Un-Su Kim
I am a big fan of the John Wick movies. They're stylish, they're fast-paced, and the violence is so over-the-top it is essentially meaningless. It's like a ballet about a bloodbath. Sadly (for my movie-watching plans, not for the rest of my life), I have a one-year-old baby, so my chances of seeing John Wick 3 are pretty remote right now, but the fine people at Doubleday sent me a copy of Un-Su Kim's The Plotters, which checks a lot of the same boxes...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Plotters, by Un-su Kim
This week's Book Giveaway is The Plotters, an action-and-suspense thriller that is as far from this as humanly possible, while still being shelved in roughly the same section. A full review will follow shortly...
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
First published in 1936, Georgette Heyer's The Talisman Ring is a story built around a MacGuffin, with a theatrical setting and a highly mannered cast of characters. It's a tribute to the author's skill that she manages to transform such a slight, silly confection of a story into one of her most endearing books...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
Our latest Book Giveaway is Georgette Heyer's The Talisman Ring, one of the author's most delightfully ridiculous books (and my favorite of her non-Regency historical novels). A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman
While browsing through a stack of battered paperbacks at a used book sale, I was delighted to run across a very old copy of Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax. I had read it—and loved it—as a kid, but I had concerns about how well it would hold up, and felt that a $1 copy in readable condition was the perfect way for me to revisit the story...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman
This week's Book Giveaway is Dorothy Gilman's 1966 novel The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, arguably the platonic ideal of an airplane book (clever, amusing, and enjoyably far-fetched). A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
Smooth Criminals: Issues 1 & 2, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith
I had hopes for Smooth Criminals, the second comic from the creators of Misfit City. Unfortunately, there is an art to pacing a comic series that creators Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith still haven't mastered, and...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Smooth Criminals: Issues 1 & 2, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith
Our current Book Giveaway is the first two issues of Smooth Criminals, the second comic by Misfit City creators Kurt Lustgarten and Kerstin "Kiwi" Smith. A full review will follow shortly, but here's a spoiler: they still have some kinks to work out. This giveaway will run through 3/09/19...
Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Jennifer Lynn Barnes's books must have great elevator pitches: cheerleader spies! Magic-granting tattoos! Teenage FBI agents! Unfortunately, her latest effort, Little White Lies, doesn't fully lean in to the wildness of its Gilmore Girls-meets-Peyton Place premise. Barnes is a solid writer, but her books are never as cheesy as they sound, and this was a story that could have used significantly more cheese...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This week's Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's latest, Little White Lies, which combines some girl-power crime-fighting with a Gilmore Girls-inspired premise. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 12/28/18...
The Dark Days Deceit, by Alison Goodman
Maybe this is a sign that I'm thinking too much about baked goods right now, but Alison Goodman's The Dark Days Deceit reminded me very much of one of those professionally decorated sugar cookies—technically impressive, but not that much fun to consume...
Archenemies, by Marissa Meyer
Archenemies, the second book in Marissa Meyer's Renegades series, picks up immediately after the events of the first. Heroine Nova Artino is still working as a double agent, torn between her loyalty to the villains who raised her and the morally-questionable “superheroes” who control her city...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Archenemies, by Marissa Meyer
This week's Book Giveaway is Archenemies, the sequel to Marissa Meyer's Renegades. We had some realllly big problems with Renegades, but the sequel, at least at first glance, seems to be looking up. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/23/18...
Huh
How did I miss the previous trailers for this new Robin Hood movie? Why does it look so terrible? (And why are the costumes so weird?) If it didn't have a reasonably big-name cast, I'd assume this was, like, a Syfy original series...
An Easy Death, by Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris knows what works for her. All of her books feature working-class protagonists, vividly imagined worlds, and a bizarre notion of romantic chemistry. Her latest effort, An Easy Death, takes those familiar elements in unexpected directions, but her basic formula is still present...
Priest of Bones, by Peter McLean
Peter McLean's new novel Priest of Bones centers around someone competently handling an unusual job (one of my favorite things to read about!), but features loads of sexual violence (one of my least favorite things to read about!). Your enjoyment of this book will hinge upon your interest in the former, and your tolerance for the latter...
Does someone rip off a wig?
I finally saw the trailer for A Simple Favor. I had no idea it was based on a book until I read a review describing it as a "campy" take on Gone Girl. Gone Girl already seemed pretty camp to me...
Stars Uncharted, by S.K. Dunstall
I'm not surprised that there's a promotional quote on the front of S. K. Dunstall's new novel Stars Uncharted comparing it to the popular book/TV series The Expanse. The two stories have a number of similarities (multiple narrators, ragtag space explorers, nods to film noir), but Dunstall's book has its own strengths and weaknesses...