WITCHES OF BROOKLYN: SPELL OF A TIME - Sophie Escabasse

Witches of Brooklyn: Spell of a Time, book four in the magical graphic novel series, finds friends Effie and Garance discovering the mystery of a missing mermaid, Effie continuing her education in the art of magic when she learn she can not only hear animals talking, but now can communicate back! It takes some time travel to solve this one and find the missing mermaid ... and to me, that's where this volume of the series suffers from a slight letdown; the plot feels a bit forced here, even rushed toward the end. But with a series this strong, even a small letdown doesn't hurt too much, and the characters and whimsical art remain charming as always.  3.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: BRUCE WAYNE: NOT SUPER - Stuart Gibbs (writer), Berat Pekmezci (illustrator)

1st Line: "This is Gotham City."

Review: This new graphic novel, of a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne as a kid, opens in a Gotham City already all but decimated by crime and corruption. But with all its horrors, the worst of them for the young, rich, highly-intelligent but otherwise nerdy Bruce Wayne, orphaned after the murders of his parents, is none other than the Gotham Preparatory School for the Really, Really Gifted - his middle school. Here, all the students have some form of super power or another (The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Penguin, Catwoman, and more - all started off in middle grade here) ... except for Bruce, who only got into the school because his parents funded the building of it before their deaths, and remains a target for bullies for not having any powers of his own. But when fellow student Jack Napier, himself having no super powers except for conning his way into the school, begins bullying Bruce's friend, elementary student Dick Grayson, Bruce becomes determined to strike back - thus beginning his ascent to a career as a vigilante, even as his loyal butler Alfred and the school's vice-principal forbid it. But will Bruce get it together in time to foil Jack's plans for the Crime of the Semester? And what of Bane, Jack's new sidekick, who would be a formidable foe even for someone with superpowers?

Bruce Wayne: Not Super is terrific; a comedic look at the young, super-smart yet geeky Bruce completely out of his element as a young kid, formerly with the attention span of a goldfish, who may have finally found his calling. Also nice are the glimpses of a number of future DC superhero icons in their youth, but the story really does belong to the humor of Bruce wanting to save his city, agreeing to take a hyperactive Robin in tow as his sidekick, with no knowledge of how to fight and an arsenal of weapons thrown together in minutes - and potentially of harm more to the user than the bad guy - all while Alfred says no and remains in constant threat of sending the future Batman to his room. The poor kid, after all, can't even put a bat costume together; in it, he's mistaken for everything from a badger to a rat to even a prairie dog. Bruce pushes past it all, his pluck and determination to save Gotham City one villain at a time his true calling, and among writer Stuart Gibbs glib and funny humor and Berat Pekmezci's bursting-with-color art, the very basic but heartfelt beginnings of the boy who'd grow to become The Bat shines through. It's really good. So good, I already itch for a sequel.  4.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: SMALL SPACES - Katherine Arden

1st Line: "October in East Evansburg, and the last warm sun of the year slanted red through the sugar maples."

Review: A re-read of Katherine Arden's middle-grade debut, in preparation for reading the entire quartet now that book four is out - and what a joy to find I liked book one even more the second time around. Ollie Adler is a quiet, sad eleven-year-old girl with a chip on her shoulder, still grieving the death of her mother the year prior in a tragic accident. Highly intelligent and good-natured at heart, she's grown introverted and sullen, nose often buried in a book - which makes it irk her like crazy when, one day, she comes across a semi-hysterical woman about to throw a book in a river. The woman, making no sense to the young girl, claims she must destroy the book, but book-lover Ollie ends up swiping it instead, escaping on her bicycle. The small, very old book, Small Spaces, tells the very creepy story of The Smiling Man, who seems to exchange souls for favors - and when a field trip the next day finds Ollie's class in serious trouble, sinister happenings too similar to her book to be coincidence, Ollie must band together with two of her classmates (the flighty Coco, and hockey champ Brian) to find out what's going on. Especially when Ollie's broken watch - which belonged to her mother, and hasn't worked since she died - starts sending messages to the girl, warning her of danger.

Creepy, fun, and solidly plotted, this is such a terrific spooky read for anyone of any age, featuring a fast-paced writing and three classmates who grow into great friends, whom I can't wait to finally follow in the remaining books.  4.5/5 stars

Reading: A FATAL BOOKING - Victoria Gilbert

1st Line: "The only thing constant in life is change."

Review: Book three in Gilbert's Booklovers B&B Mystery series finds Charlotte Reed - owner of Chapters, the book-themed bed-and-breakfast in Beaufort, North Carolina - a bit at odds when about to greet a group of book club members coming to stay ... who seem to have all their events and menus planned ahead, leaving a lot less work for her! Led by a former colleague from Charlotte's teaching days, the group is focused on kid-lit and children's classics, events for which include a tea party directly out of Alice in Wonderland. But right off, Charlotte realizes the atmosphere among the group members themselves is anything but cute and cuddly, much of the animosity focused on a particularly loud, opinionated and shady jewelry store owner who seems to delight in rubbing everyone the wrong way - and when she turns up poisoned in the lush gardens at Chapters, Charlotte has to take on the role of sleuth again if she wants to get her own happily ever after.

One thing that makes this series so original is that author Victoria Gilbert has expertly woven in a backstory that includes espionage, in the form of Charlotte's great-aunt (who left Charlotte the B&B in her will) as a spy, back in day, with Charlotte's neighbor Ellen her former handler. It lends more credence to why Charlotte and Ellen want to investigate these crimes, if not why they have a knack for it (in fact, a third character related to the spy game background - Gavin Howard - was introduced in book two). But here, I really felt like the spy stuff was pushed more to the background, letting the current mystery shine, and that - combined with particularly strong plotting that makes you really suspect everyone in the book group, at one point or another - makes this my favorite in the series so far. And as much as I enjoyed the first two, that's saying a lot.  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK - Jennifer Hillier

1st Line: "There's a time and a place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn't it."

Review: Paris Peralta, a successful businesswoman married to decades-older actor/comedian Jimmy Peralta - currently enjoying a major comeback that has him back in the spotlight - isn't having her best day when found in her husband's bathroom, covered in blood and holding a straight razor, with Jimmy just a few feet away in a bathtub full of blood and water, dead. Immediately taken into custody as the potential killer, Paris's arrest is the stuff of front-page headlines, not just in Seattle but around the world. Jimmy was beloved, which of course now makes Paris hated - seen as a gold digger just after her dead husband's money - but oddly enough, what's really eating away at Paris is that the international attention she's now got might reveal an even deeper, darker secret from her past, tied to her roots in Canada and a woman named Ruby Reyes. Reyes herself is a convicted murderer, having stabbed a man to death twenty-five years prior. And now Ruby is up for parole ... and sending Paris letters, demanding money to keep the younger woman's secret. A lot of money.

Jennifer Hillier's latest, flipping back and forth in time and place, traces the story of these two women and the history of violence that connects them. It's a mystery-thriller that, for me, is a mystery first - the pacing, at times, coming off a bit slow for a thriller - and while the twists were not all that hard to figure out well in advance, as a mystery it does keep you guessing: who - or what - is Paris? Who set the basement fire that burned a young woman to death? What really happened the night Ruby Reyes was supposed to have gone whacko with a knife? It's my first Hillier novel, a mystery marketed as a thriller and to me a 4.5-star mystery wrapped up in a 3.5-star thriller, so am going to split the difference. Either way, definitely worth your time!  4/5 stars

Reading: THE DAUGHTER OF DOCTOR MOREAU - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

1st Line: "They'd be arriving that day, the two gentlemen, their boat gliding through the forest of mangroves."

Review: It's the last nineteenth century in Mexico, and far from the problems plaguing the Yucatan peninsula, the young beauty Carlota lives an insular live on the isolated jungle estate of her father, a doctor making great strides in his medical research. She gets along graciously with all the inhabitants of her home, including her father's stern yet reliable majordomo, who runs things overall for her father, and helps as she can (when he'll let her) with her father's work with the hybrids, who live behind the great house in camps beyond the short stone wall. But Dr. Moreau is only able to do his work by the financing of the Lizaldes, who own the house and all its property, and have been funding Dr. Moreau's work for years now, growing ever more impatient to see the results the scientist had promised them. When the young son of the Lizalde family, Eduardo, comes to see his father's property and immediately takes a fancy to the vibrant, beautiful and enchanting Carlota, his advances begin a chain of events that will have Carlota questioning her father, his sanity, his work, the safe and peaceful life she's enjoyed for so long ... and the hybrids; not just their origins, their role in the grand scheme of things, but their very existence.

This is my third Silvia Moreno-Garcia read (after Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night, both favorites), and in the first two books I marveled in her ability to not only write in a variety of genres, but also to create characters that seem to leap flesh-and-blood off the page from the book's first paragraph. Her research is also always impeccable, messages about race, classism, feminism woven into the text poignantly. In this, her reimagining of the classic H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (and no, you don't have to have read that book to read/enjoy this one), all these traits sing as loudly, making it beautifully written ... but for me, the book came up slightly lacking in its heroine. In the previous novels I mentioned reading, her lead character in each started off mild-mannered, even subservient; a woman caught up in the constraints of her time and place in history, acting how women were "supposed to act" until the circumstances of the book's story made her take charge of both herself and her life - making both of these heroines in the two previous novels women of great strength by The End. Here, along with the pacing feeling a bit slow at times, for me Carlota remains more caterpillar than butterfly throughout, the events of the book certainly putting her through a lot ... but then tissue always appearing when the tears come again, Carlota remaining (overall) stronger in general yet somehow still secondary to the man/men in charge, who she turns to to make the decisions (the very end improves on this, thankfully). Still so, so many great things about this novel - still a recommended read - but between Carlota's arc of growth not feeling complete and the sometimes awkward pacing, it somehow makes the book feel a bit incomplete and awkward as well.  3/5 stars

Reading: A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY - Brian D. Kennedy

1st Line: "Here's the thing about writing a good country song: It's really fricking hard."

Review: Brian D. Kennedy's debut novel is a heartwarming, funny, near-perfect m/m love story that begins when a 17-year-old gay country singer in Illinois, Emmett Maguire, takes the first steps to his music career when he lands a summer job at Wanda World, a theme park honoring (and owned by) country-western singing legend Wanda Jean Stubbs (think Dollywood/Dolly Parton, respectively). Traveling to Jackson Hole, Tennessee, Emmett learns right off that show biz isn't all glamour and autographs - never more so then when, dressed as a donkey's ass, he literally runs into tall, blond, well-built drink of water Luke Barnes, who appears the epitome of country-western singing hunk.

The irony is that Luke Barnes can't stand country music. He's the grandson of Verna Rose, a former country singer and and best friend to none other than Wanda Jean Stubbs herself, who left the business and the public eye many years before in the face of a huge scandal, finally passing away in obscurity. Luke has a big chip on his shoulder for the industry over his grandmother, whom he dearly loved, and when his mother's medical bills force him to find work in a restaurant at Wanda World (Luke's first step to his own dream of becoming a chef), that and Luke's deeply-closeted homosexuality make for an unhappy, stressed and sullen young man.

When Emmett and Luke cross paths again, Luke can't deny a spark. Emmett, for his part, is already so infatuated he's written a love song about Luke. But can a closeted, goodhearted hunk in denim ad flannel, forced to grow up fast (and deal with the stress that entails) and who can't stand country music, and a young, talented singer-songwriter who wants to be country music's first gay superstar, even build a friendship - let alone something more? And might Wanda Jean - Emmett's lifelong idol - really show up, unannounced, at one of the Wanda World shows he performs in, as she's sometimes wont to do?

A Little Bit Country quickly made it to my list of top ten favorite reads of 2022 - and may well be the best, most "fuzzy" romance I've ever read, period. Emmett, Luke, even the supporting characters come off a hundred percent authentic - even Wanda Jean Stubbs, when we do meet her, could have been easily over-done into caricature, but Kennedy makes her as warm and human as the others people populating this charming world. Everything here works; the romance grows organically from the characters and who they are, both humor and pathos perfectly balanced, and I particularly loved how the romance was part of the book but not 100% its focus; Emmett, Luke and company have lives and desires and issues outside the romance, and all are intertwined ... just as in real life (yet another reason the book is so terrific). You'll laugh out loud - you'll shed a tear or two at the end - you'll learn to appreciate big hair - this one has it all. A beautiful, beautifully-written and insanely sweet story ... and if this is his debut, all I can say is that Brian D. Kennedy has one heck of a career ahead of him.  5/5 stars

Reading: BIG NATE: DESTINED FOR AWESOMENESS - Mitch Watson, Elliott Owen & Sarah Allan (authors), based on characters created by Lincoln Peirce

1st Line: " 'Hey!' "

Review: Full disclosure: I am a HUGE fan of Big Nate and his world. Had I a bit more nerve, I would have been Nate as a child (though maybe a bit smarter about things), so between the sarcasm, narcissism, bad jokes, worse plots, and his battle with school teachers, administrators, and pretty much anyone in authority, I was geared for this one. Have read at least a dozen or more collections of Lincoln Peirce's about this irascible, slightly nuts sixth-grader over the last few years, so was ready.

But this one's different; it's actually the first of a series of books based on the new Paramount+ animated series starring Nate and his friends and family. Instead of a collection of comic strips, here you have full-color panels laying out three episodes from the show, complete with comic speech bubbles. Not having Paramount+, I haven't seen the show, so seeing all these beloved characters not just in color but in 3D was a bit jarring (not in a bad way). Further, instead of three-panel or Sunday paper vignettes that basically tell a single joke, here Nate's antics play out in three fully-narrative stories, each episode with its own beginning, middle and end. 

The Legend of the Gunting (probably my favorite), about Nate's herculean efforts to avoid one more detention for the week, is funny and goes nicely nuts with a new kid in school who makes Norman Bates look like Shirley Temple. Go Nate! It's Your Birthday, which went a bit over-the-top for me in regards to what I'd think even Nate would try to get away with, outlines the perils of (purposefully) misinterpreting how your dad tells you to use his credit card. Lastly, CATastrophe! is about Nate's crippling fear of felines ... and when he has to deal with one first-hand, in order to get a certain girl's attention and a class project completed.

Well done and a fun read ... but what blew my mind was when, not too far into the book, I realized how much the images reminded me of my own childhood obsession with ViewMaster reels. Between the speech bubbles and pop-out words to express action and the 3D animation, it was like clicking through an old ViewMaster again, and the warm memories that THAT brought alone only added to what was already a funny, enjoyable, action-packed read. (Available August 30)  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: HAM HELSING #2: MONSTER HUNTER - Rich Moyer

1st Line: "Ten years ago."

Review: Fresh off his notoriety from defeating evil in his first adventure, our semi-clueless but forever upbeat pig hero is invited with his crew of friends to hold court over his young fans at Camp Fish Head Lake.. Showing up ready to shine, Ham finds instead that all the camp counselors seem to be missing, or busy somewhere, so as the misfit kids start arriving the gang decides to chip in and coordinate the kids and run things, just until the counselors return.

Instead, the kids start disappearing and it seems a monster is stalking the camp! Can Ham Helsing live up to his rep and find out what is going on - not to mention defeat this new monster? It doesn't help when an old, very familial enemy from his past - along with one mean, manic chicken - also invade the camp, seeking their own form of revenge ... so I guess it's more like: Can Ham (not the most observant pig in the pen) and his crew save the kids, save the camp, AND save their reputations from all this evil?? I thought topping volume one of this graphic novel series for kids (with snarky humor to also ensnare the adults - and it works) was terrific, but volume two - with it's Friday the 13th-meet-Looney Tunes vibe - is even better, with both the stakes and the humor ratcheted up. I love Rich Moyer's sense of humor nearly as much as his artwork, both of which shine in this full-color second volume as the gang initially remains very clueless to the fact there even ARE camp kids disappearing, let alone they are being stalked, for the longest before catching on. Amidst the humor and silliness, the book's messages of friends sticking together, inclusion, and finding the strength you didn't even know you had in yourself to overcome a problem, are (as in book one) understated yet will hit home for kid readers. I also LOVE that book three seems to be on the way, via an end teaser here about an ancient clan of vampires on the rise. Funny (at times laugh-out-loud funny), spooky without being too scary for young readers, and just so, SO wonderful to look at (seriously, how has this NOT already been optioned for an animated series on FOX, or something?), this is not just another winner for Moyer, but a sequel that's even better than its predecessor, . You will never look at bacon in the same way after once again experiencing the hero that is ... HAM HELSING! (Available June 14)  4.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: TINY FOX AND GREAT BOAR #1: THERE - Berenika Kolomycka

1st Line: "This is Tiny Fox."

Review: In 2022 the artwork in children's books, picture books, graphic novels has really grown to an all-new level, the talent behind the illustrations sometimes so amazing, while reading you get sidetracked wondering how a certain page or graphic would look framed on your wall. Genuine art, and one reason that - as an adult - I will still read kid's books, graphic novels, and graphic novels to the grave.

Then, amidst the bluster and bright colors, the smoke and the noise, comes a book like Tiny Fox and Great Boar: There, a first-in-a-series picture book that beings with a young fox who, when he goes to sit under his favorite tree one day, discovers a boar already there. 

It's a story about friendship, the natural world, and knowing someone who has your back when that world gets scary. Of working together and compromise, and being apart without falling apart. It's a simple story of friendship, perfected by author Kolomyoka's equally gentle, simple watercolor illustrations. A great bedtime story - a great anytime story that deserves not to be overlooked among the bright colors and bluster. Adorable, and highly recommended; a keeper.  (Available April 12 in Hardcover)  4/5 stars

I received a free ARC of this title from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: SCI-FU BOOK 1: KICK IT OFF - Yehudi Mercado

1st Line: "This is a journey into sound."

Review: The 1980s are sort of my jam, as is New York. So a graphic novel about a young mix-master named Wax in Brooklyn who - along with his rapper partner/best friend and family - is transported to the far off planet of Discopia, where Wax must use his DJ-ing and kung fu skills to save a planet, had no trouble getting my attention. Even better, writer/artist Yehudi Mercado has populated these colorful, action-packed pages of this graphic novel with plenty of laughs, real friendships and relationships, and some deadly - if not altogether bright - intergalactic supervillains. From Wax's scenes of learning sci-fu in order to fight the baddies and a robot army, to the genuinely cool beats laid down on the pages of the fight scenes, opponents battling just as much to out-rhyme each other in the name of music as to winning the battle ... it all works here, for all ages. Great book, and I already can't wait for the sequel!  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Watching: DEATH ON THE NILE (2022)

Director: Kenneth Branagh

127m/PG-13

After the train wreck (pun intended) that director/star Branagh made out of Murder on the Orient Express, I approached Death on the Nile (one of my favorite books by Agatha Christie, whose work I have been reading for something like four decades) with nausea and trepidation. As expected, I hated it - but oddly, not for all the reasons I expected.

It's hard not to watch this one without comparing it to the wonderful 1978 film version starring Peter Ustinov - especially considering Branagh obviously borrowed ideas and dialogue from that one for his version - but to start, the story is about a young, beautiful heiress named Linnet Ridgeway (a wooden Gal Gadot), who has just betrayed her many long years of friendship with Jacqueline De Bellefort (Emma Mackey - and look quickly, you don't see much of her throughout) by stealing away Jackie's soon-to-be husband, Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer, former actor now publicity disaster) for herself. Married now, Linnet and Simon decide to honeymoon in Egypt, but soon find their celebration thwarted at every turn when Jackie suddenly and mysteriously shows up - wherever they go - to taunt and low-key threaten them. With the famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot making his own trip down the Nile, Jackie and Simon beseech him to help steer Jackie away ... but when Linnet is found shot to death in her bed one morning, Jackie with an iron-clad alibi, it's up to Poirot to ferret out the clues among the suspects on board (many of whom had plenty of reason, as it turns out, to hate Linnet), and discover the killer.

First, the elephant in the room: Branagh took obscene liberties with both the canon and Poirot's backstory, opening the film with a flashback scene that details how Poirot came to wear his famous and elegant mustache. It's ridiculously melodramatic, and comes off as nothing more than Kenneth Branagh showing off ... well, Kenneth Branagh.

And what I would soon realize, watching this, is that THAT is the problem with the film: Branagh doesn't understand how mysteries work, and Branagh wants only Branagh as the focus of the film, making sure he is in nearly every scene. Those of us who've loved Christie since childhood, and have watched and read in the mystery genre for decades, understand that, in mysteries, you generally start off introducing the detective (amateur or otherwise), and end with the detective's solution to wrap up the novel ... but in the middle, while the detective detects the actual focus is on the victim(s) - who they were, their past - and, more importantly, the suspects. You let the suspects interact with the detective and each other, telling their side of why they are innocent even as both detective and reader tries to muddle through what are lies and what are truths. The detective is there, but the suspects shine. Not with Branagh as Poirot. Here, he has put together a strong ensemble cast ... then doesn't let them shine. It's all about Poirot, his emotions and frustrations and reactions. With the exception of Sophie Okonedo, who grabs what Branagh gives her and rings every ounce of magnetism she can from it as Salome Otterbourne, the rest of the cast is filler. Totally unlike the 1978 version. Also different is that in that version viewers get a very strong sense of how Poirot came to his solution; how he followed the clues. Not so with Branagh's Poirot, who seems to pull it together from thin air. The scenes of Poirot and various suspects standing in the tiny meat freezer with Linnet's covered body, meat hanging around them, are unintentionally funny (and insulting, when in a later scene, Branagh seems to want to make it funny when Poirot actually straightens out one of the corpse's feet, as they stick out under the sheet, so both are pointing in the right direction). The effects are bloated - Egypt looks like it was colorized by Ted Turner on a bender - and I can't even get into the finale, where the solution comes with a loaded gun (see, Branagh's Poirot is a tough dude), deductions Poirot seems to have gleaned from nowhere, and one dead body that somehow remains standing up, even after death. And don't get me started on the tag scene at the end, which again gives both Christie and the canon she created the middle finger.

Sadly, Branagh is already committed to ripping Christie a new one yet again, with a third film. One can only hope he'll actually read a few of her books - or some mysteries in general - in the meantime, at the least. He's so talented an actor and director, but has no business doing both with these films, where you're talking ensemble pieces and not The Branagh Show.  1/5 stars

Reading: HONEY ROASTED - Cleo Coyle

1st Line: " 'Well, what do we have here?' "

Review: Especially as they are set in New York City - which will always have my heart - I have always wanted to try Cleo Coyle's "Coffeehouse Mystery" series. Though the newest, volume nineteen, might not have been the ideal place to start, I was intrigued by the premise when I got my hands on a copy.

Clare Cosi, who runs the Village Blend in Manhattan, is trying to balance her personal life (finding the ideal honeymoon spot for herself and soon-to-be-hubby, Detective Mike Quinn) along with her work (including test-driving her new Honey-Cinnamon Latte), when that very evening her coffeehouse is besieged by a swarm of exotic bees. After tracing their origin back to the penthouse home of none other than "Queen" Bea Hastings - close friend of Madame, Clare's mentor and owner of Village Blend - Clare and her ex discover Bea herself, hurt and unconscious after taking a fall from her rooftop hive. Was she pushed? The cops find "evidence" of an attempted suicide that Clare doesn't believe for a minute. But with the iconic beekeeper still out of commission in her hospital bed, fighting to survive, Clare must track down the old lady's attacker among a shifty chef, a fellow urban beekeeper seemingly not above stealing Bea's formula for success, and a lot more, all while trying to help Mike solve a string of murders ... and find out why, suddenly, he seems to have grown cold about their wedding plans.

Honey Roasted is well-written, with a gutsy heroine and a strong cast of supporting characters; Clare's continued frenemy-ship with her ex-husband - whom she will always remain connected to, via the coffeehouse - is particularly engaging. But in all honesty, this book took me longer to read than the majority of cozy mysteries I enjoy, and part of that is because of the incredible amount of research and factoids and information about bees, beekeeping, and honey (and all connected to it) that shows the author (actually a couple) did the research - but, for me, came off as way too much exposition and/or info-dumping, slowing the book to a crawl at times and making me not too anxious to pick it up again. Keeping things spoiler-free, I also have to admit that the crime/mystery wasn't very impactful for me either, it's very "vanilla" and sorry I can't say more - which meant the ultimate stake in solving it wasn't vital enough to keep me turning pages.

At 360 pages, it just felt too long and bloated, even sometimes ignoring the crime element of the book in favor of Clare and Mike's relationship issues. So while certainly well-written and meticulously researched, I'm thinking maybe this is just not the series for me?  2/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: SIGGY THE SOCCER DOG - Brian Frederick (author), Vivien Sárkány (illustrator)

1st Line: "Sigmund the dachshund lived in the little hamlet of Hope in the English county of Somerset."

Review: Siggy's young owner finds her dog napping in his bed, twisting and turning in the midst of a dream. A dream, it turns out, where Siggy is the star player on the Manchester United team! What plays out then, in this fun and action-packed picture book, is how Siggy and his team (all made up of different breeds of dogs) work together to win the championship game, with Siggy leading the pack! Kids who love sports or more active stories will love this especially, with full-color illustrations that are all over the page as the game gets closer and closer to its finish, Sarkany's stylishly exaggerated renderings of the dog players on both teams only adding to the feel of speed and movement to the story. Part of a series of picture books about Siggy, and even at my age will be checking out more!  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE IDHUN CHRONICLES VOL. 1: THE RESISTANCE - SEARCH - Laura Gallego & Andres Carrion Moratinos (authors), Studio Fenix (illustrator)

1st Line: "I've had this sense of foreboding all day."

Review: This is a review of the graphic novel - haven't watched the Netflix anime series yet - and the story itself is about Jack, a young boy from Earth whose parents are killed by an assassin (creature?) from another dimension, who himself is about to dispatch of Jack in the same way before the boy is rescued in the nick of time, taken away by a pair of young rebels and hidden away from harm in another realm. In time, Jack realizes he is caught in the middle of a war over Idhun, a magical world under threat of being taken over by some very, very bad guys, and though hotheaded and quick to act emotionally, Jack undergoes training to help the fight, everyone secure in the knowledge that there is something within Jack that may be the key to winning the war. 

The art is really nice here, but rarely have I read a graphic word so overpopulated with text, it actually overshadows the art. Sadly, the plot here is almost all tell and no show, past conflicts depicted in a panel or two if that, otherwise told by one character to another in huge passages of dialogue that bring both story and interest to a crawl. At only about 120 pages the book seems twice as long to slog through with all the dialogue (the book could have easily been longer, depicting conflict via art instead of text, and it would have been a much more exciting read), and by the end of the book it was disappointing to realize I was relieved to be done more than anything else. Hopefully the anime actually plays out most of the action on-screen, so will give it a go, but the graphic novel was a disappointing bust for me.  1.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: GALLANT - V. E. SCHWAB

1st Line: "The master of the house stands at the garden wall."

Review: A rebellious young orphaned girl named Olivia, who cannot speak and has the ability to see partially-formed ghosts, lives at the Merilance School for Girls (pretty much a rundown orphanage), her mother's journal (a complex book of writings and drawings essentially chronicling her mom's descent into madness) her only connection to the past. She's bullied by the nastier girls - though stands up for herself and gets her revenge in her own way - and in general has a tough go at the school until a letter arrives from her uncle, telling Olivia she has a family awaiting her, and a place at their home, named Gallant. A home - a family - a connection to others and the hopes of find out more about what happened to her mother and father, it's all Olivia's ever wanted, so though her mother's journal outright warns the young girl to stay away from Gallant, when the school sends her off Olivia is eager to learn of her new family and life.

Things don't go well from the start; Olivia arrives to find her uncle has passed away, and his son - her cousin Matthew, not that much older than Olivia - wants her gone. But a pair of older servants remind their young master that they can't send Olivia away after dark (cue creepy music in the background), and Olivia ends up hanging around the big, cold, decrepit Gallant the next few days, during which she discovers, beyond the garden, a large stretch of broken-down garden wall, complete with a gate, that no one in the house seems to want to talk about. With good reason, as it turns out, when Olivia ends up beyond the crumbling wall ... to find an alternate version of Gallant, dark and sinister and with a very different master, who has his own plans for Olivia. 

Though I have several of her novels, this was my first time reading V. E. Schwab and Gallant definitely has its moments; true to al I'd read and heard, Schwab's characters and writing style draw you in with atmosphere and suspense. Olivia is a sympathetic heroine with heart, and you want her to find answers even though they might not be good ones, and the alternate Gallant is beautifully envisioned and downright creepy. Yet through it all, I couldn't connect as much as I wanted with the characters, and at times the writing came off a little florid or over-done. Also, the ending felt a bit hurried, things resolved way too quickly/easily compared to the set-up, and overall - with as much YA as I've read - this is the first time I felt a YA novel I was reading was "written down" to or for a younger audience, which was a distraction. So, good enough that I look forward to reading more of Schwab's work, but overall this was a hit or miss for me.  3/5 stars

Reading: HARLEM PART 1 - Mikaël

1st Line: " 'With you, everythng is like the Model T.' my grandma would say."

Review: This gritty, engrossing graphic novel, set in Harlem in 1931, centers around Queenie, a French Antilles immigrant who's been running a lottery for over a decade that's made her into somewhat of a local legend ... and boss. A strong, intelligent woman determined to hang onto her own neighborhood, Queenie's story is one of everyday survival; never more than when, with Prohibition on its way out, up-and-coming gangster Dutch Schultz seeks to diversify both his business and hold over New York City, his harsh gaze falling to Harlem and the one thing standing in his way of acquisition: Queenie. This is only volume one, but after a bit of a slow start Queenie and the residents of Harlem - not to mention the neigborhood itself - blaze to life on the page, whether in the machinations of friends turned to enemies, steamy/forbidden sex, or the violence that explodes on the streets by way of showing who's in control. Dark in tone and with more depth than expected for a short graphic novel, the unfolding of Harlem in the wake of its birth is enthralling - and makes for a bloody good read.  4/5 stars

NOTE: I receied a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE PARIS APARTMENT - Lucy Foley

1st Line: "His fingers hover over the keyboard."

Review: After that ending to The Guest List, little could keep me away from Lucy Foley's next book - and starting right off on the creepy/claustrophobic side, The Paris Apartment opens with a young woman named Jess, newly-arrived in Paris from England, who's escaping from both life in London and the not-so-brilliant circumstances under which she left her last bartending job. She's shown up at the Paris apartment house of her older half-brother Ben, contacting him on very short notice so he couldn't exactly turn her away, and upon her arrival Jess feels something's more than a bit wrong. For one, Ben doesn't answer her attempts to enter the building gate, not her texts or calls. Then the tenant she does manage to sneak in behind anyway comes off even more creepy than the dark, foreboding four-story apartment building itself. Worse, when she finally makes her way to Ben's apartment on the third floor (it's just one apartment per floor), Jess soon learns that Ben is missing - and the more she digs into the situation, his neighbors, and Ben's too-quiet apartment itself, the more she realizes that something very, very bad might have happened to her half-brother ... and she might be next. Foley is an expert at creating super-creepy atmosphere, which was crawling up my neck by page 10, and though sometimes you may want to yell, "Woman, what are you DOING?" to Jess as she seemingly puts herself in harm's way, that's also a sign of caring enough about the character to feel that way at all, right? The other building tenants have their own secrets to hide - and, in some cases, will go to extraordinary lengths to hide them - and yes, the plot builds into one big twist I didn't see coming, partway through, that made the book, at least for me, hard to put down from then on. Though I was able to guess the end "twist" a bit early, and the finale itself comes off maybe a tiny big anti-climactic at first, it's a satisfying ending that, overall, makes this one a bit stronger, I think, than The Guest List. Shut your brain off for a bit, and just enjoy this suspenseful, more complex-than-expected thrill ride that's as fun as a rollercoaster, with nearly as many curves.  4/5 stars

Reading: DISNEY MANGA: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - THE BEAST'S TALE (FULL COLOR EDITION) - Mallory Reaves (author), Studio Dice/Gabriella Sinopoli (illustrator)

1st Line: "Once upon a time, in the hidden heart of France ... "

Review: Disney Manga's re-release of full-color versions of their retellings of Beauty and the Beast (based on the 2017 live-action film version) continues with this volume, told from the viewpoint of The Beast himself (volume one, as told through Belle's eyes, is also reviewed on this blog; just scroll down a bit). Whereas Belle's version was told with bright colors and optimism overall, beginning with her life in her quiet village with books as her favorite companions, this version starts with The Beast's decadent lifestyle and cruel rule as a monarch ... right up until he's punished for his vanity and bitterness by being turned into a beast for all eternity, once the magical rose loses its petals, unless he can find true love. Though both books are great and need to be bought/read as companion volumes, I preferred The Beast's tale, told in dark blues and blacks befitting his own mindset and temper ... even as Belle arrives and slowly but surely brings out the human in him again. As even the film put viewers more into Belle's line of vision/viewpoint, here it was really nice strictly seeing what unfolds solely through the eyes of the jaded, forlorn beast, up to the very end when ... well, you know what happens. Both book are bursting with color and life, telling this timeless and (for many) most favorite of love stories, but The Beast's pain and subsequent redemption resonated more with me - hence the extra half-star, much as I enjoy both books.  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: DISNEY MANGA: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - BELLE'S TALE (FULL COLOR EDITION) - Mallory Reaves (author), Studio Dice/Gabriella Sinopoli (illustrator)

1st Line: "Once upon a time, in the beautiful city of Paris ... "

Review: Disney Manga has re-released these two ediitions of Beauty and the Beast - one told from Belle's viewpoint, the other through the Beast's eyes - both based on the live-action film version from 2017. A smart move, as even the color scheme of each book differs depending on the character, and either way the images really pop like art from the page.This is Belle's tale, and in it you get the same essential classic story of the young book-loving girl who sets out to find her missing father before finding herself trapped in an enchanted castle, and here whether it's Belle's feelings on her father or her village, Gaston, or the Beast himself, readers are provided more depth into both her character and thoughts. It adds depth to the story, and works very well in manga form. Though I did like the Beast's version a bit better (scroll up for review), both are colorful, exciting takes to both characters and their love story - Belle's more introspective and quiet, the Beast's more aggressive and gruff - and together provide an even mre insightful tale as old as time than previously depicted.  3.5/5 stars

NOTE: I receved a free ARC of this title from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. 

Reading: THE TRANSCENDENT ONE-SIDED LOVE OF YOSHIDA THE CATCH VOL. 1 - Shizuki Fujisawa

1st Line: " 'Oh ... it's Yoshida-san, from the planning department!' "

Review: Yoshida is a young, very handsome business executive by day, very intelligent and successful in his job, his all-business aloofness adding to his mystique that sees so many women in his office crushing on him. Cool, sophisticated, Yoshida has his you-know-what together ... untiil after work, when he heads over to a tiny office where a crew of artists struggle with weekly deadlines to put out the latest issue of their manga, under the direction of the manga's creator and writer, the beautiful and super-focused workaholic Sena Shimakaze. Here, Yoshida - know as Chief - tries to hold the crew and weekly publication together even as he internally struggles with his own love for Sena; they've known each other since school, and he's been completely in love with her nearly all that time. Here, Yoshida's cool, together side frazzles and frays as he works hard to help Sena's manga - a publishing business he helped her to start - a success, while still unable to reveal his true feelings for her after all this time. Even the small office staff is Team Chief, recognizing his devotion and love for their boss and trying to hep bring them together but the problem is that Sensei (Sena) is so wrapped up in her work and business (plus, honestly, she's a scatterbrain), in all these years she is still not only a grown woman clueless to things like dating and finding a partner - but in all this time, she's never even once realized how incredibly ga-ga Yoshida is for her, which makes his orderly, together life anything but. Volume 1 sets up the situation and characters nicely, both humor and emotions sometimes over-the-top as you can expect with manga, and at times Sena is so darn dense as to what is going on around her - even when her entire staff is all but shoving the hapless, helpless Yoshida in her face - that you could all but smack her, but the humor is charming here, and poor Yoshida's struggle to make the love of his life see the light - and him - make for the pulling of a few heartstrings until Volume 2 comes along.  3.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: DEADLY DIRECTOR'S CUT - Vicki Delany

1st Line: " 'LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION!' "

Review: Book two of the prolific Delany's 1950s-set Catskill Summer Resort mystery series finds Haggerman's Hotel manager Elizabeth Grady's resort up to its armpits in drama. Multi-Academy Award-winning director Elias Theropodous has chosen to film a few key scenes of his latest masterpiece in the Catskills, and Haggerman's finds itself swarmed with actors, crew, tourists, ovely-curious guests - even hotel staff who'd rather watch a potential Oscar-winner being filmed over doing theirr jobs. Add to this the local sheriff and a small battalion of reporters from around the country, after the irascible, sexist and overbearing director has what appears to be a heart attack during a hotel event, and is reported DOA at the hospital, poisoned. With the safety level of her resort (not to mention kitchen) under attack, Elizabeth wastes no time in wading into the fray of hidden motives, scandalous backstories, and the questionable morals of movie industry types - most of whom seem to have had at least some gripe with the deceased director. 

Delany, one of my favorite cozy mystery writers, here yet again shows off her skills at introducing and handling a rather large, active cast of characters - on all sides of the law - without confusing the narrative or reader. The mystery kept me guessing, thanks also to the author's ability to deflectt blame toward this character one minute, then on another the next, and though I haven't read the first book in this series yet - Deadly Summer Nights - I was also very pleased to get the impression here that we learned a bit more about Elizabeth's past, as well as that of her aunt and mother (who also live at Haggerman's), bringing more depth to those characters. And while at first I felt the revelation of the killer to be a bit anti-climactic, as the explanation behind the motive and means continued, the reveal took on a sense of poignancy that was both unexpected and appreciated. Any complaint here would be nit-picking - I would liked to have gotten more than the occasional reminder or sense of the 1950s setting; I just didn't feel it as much, in general, while reading - but as always with Vicki Delany, this is a well-written, very entertaining mystery with a vivid setting, and characters I look forward to revisiting again and again, in book one and beyond. (Available March 1)  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: CHEF'S KISS - Jarrett Melendez (author), Danica Brine (illustrator), Hank Jones (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer)

1st Line: " 'Four years of college move-in days, you'd think I'd seen everything.' "

Review: Newly-graduated from college with his English degree, Ben Cook has moved into a house with three friends/roommates, and is officially ready to begin his journalism career. Only problem is, without experience no one will hire him. Even with his friends trying their best to keep his spirits up, a downtrodden Ben is at his lowest when he stumbles one day upon a small upscale restaurant with a "Help Wanted - No Experience Necessary" sign on the door. Between his love of cooking and need to keep the rent paid, Ben hurries in to apply ... running into Liam, a tall, Nordic-looking hunk with a warm smile and friendly manner who is more than happy to give Ben a chance at the job, though it's the bigger, louder, not-so-friendly owner who informs Ben of the three challenges he must face to secure the position - before introducing Ben to the pig who will judge his fate (yes, you read that right).

Can Ben pass the tests? Can Ben keep his heart from leaping out of his chest every time he gets within ten feet of Liam? And how does one cook for a finicky pig? Chef's Kiss answers all of this and more in a charming, off-beat, frothy and funny m/m romance that also has some great things to say about following your dreams - and your dreams, as opposed to those of others. The artwork is equally sweet, characters believable and very easy to like, and (thankfully) the romance isn't in any rush to bloom, but grows naturally from the story; it's nice that Ben doesn't spend all his time mooning over Liam, remembering real-world problems and being there for his own friends along the way ... as well as doing his best to win the resaurant job, if not Liam's heart.

No big plot twists - no shocking revelations or super-corny tropes - and this graphic novel is better for it. Like Ben's cooking: all-natural, delicious, and so easy on the palate. Great book; already hoping for a sequel! (Available April 12)  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY - Brendan Slocumb

1st Line: "On the morning of the worst, most earth-shattering day of Ray McMillian's life, he ordered room service: scrambled eggs for two, one side of regular bacon (for Nicole), one side of vegan sausage (for him), one coffee (for Nicole), one orange juice (for him)."

Review: Having been fascinated by the violin since childhood - never learned, as I didn't have one to practice with - the title alone suckered me into this incredibly skillful debut; a mystery that begins when the life of a Black violinist, whose career is just beginning to bloom, is shattered when his violin is stolen ... and held for a five-million dollar ransom.

Ray McMillian has spent his life loving - living for - classical music. Taking to the violin at an early age, playing seems to be the one thing that gives him genuine peace and happiness, even over the harsh criticism of his mother to just find a job at the local Popeye's, or the realiation that finding Black musicians in the leading orchestras of the world is more rare than a lottery win. Thankfully, Ray's always had Nana, and the opening of the book takes readers back and forth between the early stages of the investigation of the violin's theft, to how Ray grew up loving music and getting inspired by his grandmother ... and how a young Black man in rural North Carolina came to own a violin worth a five-million dollar ransom in the first place. Writer Brendan Slocumb, a natural storyteller, masterfully weaves Ray's backstory as a kid, who often only had his own dream to keep him going, in with the intense jealousy and bigotry he was forced to face in high school for his talent, to his getting out in the "real world" of college and adulthood, only to find that no matter how much fame or experience or talent he had, so much of life - so much of the struggle - still always boiled down to the color of his skin. Aside from a riveting mystery, what this first novel has to say about racial inequality and hate in this country toward its Black population, particularly Black men, is both powerful and enraging ... and a sickening commentary on how little progress we've made in America by 2022, even for those of us who understood that already. Slocumb's talent and TLC with his tale, however, means that the mystery of the missing violin and Ray's personal story (bat-shit greedy family, devoted grandma who became his rock, the teacher who changed his life, the injustices waged against him just because of his skin color) never ever over-shadow each other - and by the time I caught up with how Ray ended up with a Stradivarius everyone wants a piece of, how it was taken, and Ray's one-man hunt to find out who took it ... I was hooked, roaring through the last hundred pages or so hanging onto the coattails of one of the most believable, sympathetic fictional leading characters I've come across in a very, very long time. 

I still can't believe it's a debut. Also the first title already seto to appear on my Top 10 Reads of 2022 list, come December. A terrific page-turner of a read I still can't stop thinking about.  5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: SUMMERTIME RENDERING 1 & 2 - Yasuki Tanaka (author), Jocelyn Allen (translator)

1st Line (Vol. 1): "'Hey, Shimpei?'"

1st Line (Vol. 2): "It's so dark ..."

Review: Volumes one and two in the projected six-volume English-language omnibus editions of the hit manga Summertime Rendering (already slated for a live-action adaptation plus a real escape game) opens with our young hero, Shimpei Ajiro, arriving from Tokyo back to his old hometown on the island of Hitogashima for a funeral. Orphaned at a young age, Shimpei grew up with the Kofune family, in particular bonding with the two daughters - Ushio (his own age) and her younger sister Mio. It is Ushio's funeral that has brought Shimpeii back, and he is heartsick over the loss of his close friend and crush from drowning, as he reconnects with Mio and her father and the town residents - but almost right away Shimpei is overwhelmed when he is told that Ushio when found, had marks on her neck, as if strangled, making Shimpei wonder if she drowned, after all. Even worse, Shimpei starts to glimpse Ushio around town in the coming days - a ghost? Warning? - and things grow weirder from there as Shimpei tries to investigate, some of the locals turn more loco, and it becomes obvious that some sinister, deadly, very supernatural forces are about to turn Hitogashima and its residents upside down ... Shimpei squarely in their sights. 

OMG, I loved volume one of this manga so much! Over 350 pages and I careened through it mostly holding my breath, the stakes and violence and gore level growing higher and higher, ratcheting up the suspense up until the very, very climactic ending of volume one at the local Summer Festival. Plot, characterization, art, it's all pure gold here; artist/author Yasuki Tanaka knowing how to tell a story via characters you care about, just before all hell breaks loose and sanity goes out the window.  5/5 stars

Volume 2, picking right up after the events of the Summer Festival, took a tiny bit longer for me to get into with a slower start once the initial action plays out (it's so hard to write these reviews in particular without spoilers, which was why I put the two books into one review), but about a quarter of the way I was hooked again, and even though a manga I tore through all 350+ pages of volume two like my life depended on it, as well - disbelieving, afterward, when I read that four more volumes were to come. I can't IMAGINE the insanity to come, based on what's happened already! Both volumes heartily recommended must-haves for manga, mystery and horror lovers alike.  4.5/5 stars

(Volume 1 due in paperback late May - in hardcover in June, when volume 2 also drops!)

NOTE: I received free ARCs of both titles via Edelweiss and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE LAST HOUSE ON THE STREET - Diane Chamberlain

1st Line: "I'm in the middle of a call with a contractor when Natalie, our new administrative assistant, pokes her head into my office."

Review: Told in dual timelines, Diane Chamberlain's latest begins in 2010 with architect Kayla Carter, a woman still reeling from - and dealing with - the death of her husband, killed in an accident while building the dream home the two of them had planned and worked on together for years. Now that same home - the first finished residence in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new upscale development blossoming in Round Hill, North Carolina - is ready for move-in for both Kayla and her four-year-old daughter ... but Kayla can't decide if her dream house has now become a nightmare, especially when a strange, vaguely threatening woman drops by her office one day, seemingly knowing a bit too much about both Kayla and her tragedy.

Round Hill in 1965, still very much segregated and racist, is the bane of Ellie Hockley's existence when - taking after her deceased favorite aunt - the young activist decides to spend one summer off college by working with a program to help register local Black residents to vote. A young, white girl from a (by comparison) privileged family in town, Ellie's parents, brother - even the boy she may or may not be in love with - are vehemently opposed to the young womans putting herself in potential danger, even as their own prejudices and bigotry rise to the surface. But Ellie remains strong in her convictions of racial equality ... even in klan country, where aything could happen to a young, pretty white girl seemingly turning traitor against her own kind ...

The Last House on the Street is the story of both of these strong women, and how (or even if) their stories might converge in surprising - even shocking - ways. This was my first time reading Diane Chamberlain, after years of hearing so many great things about her work, and while I think I had a stronger connection to Ellie and her story, the book's trips back to 2010 were no less compelling, and 1965 Charmberlain does an intense job of revisiting a volatile, gut-wrenching time in this country's history that - sadly - still resonates today. I had some concerns that the 1965 story was told from the "white" point of view, but Chamberlain gives both Ellie and her story a dignity and earnestness that easily had you watching even the most shocking happen through the young girl's eyes; so much so, by halfway through the book, whenever I had to put it down I found myself constantly wanting to pick iit up again, whenever life intervened. Even if you can kind of guess where you think the ending is going, there are still surprises waiting - making this a compelling, dramatic read that already has me going over Ms. Chamberlain's backlist for more. (4.5/5 stars)

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: FUNGUS AND IRON Vol. 1 - Ayaka Katayama

1st Line: "Area D-18 ... that's where this story takes place."

Review: In a dystopian future, Amigasa rules and runs the world. Everything and everyone is sacrrified for the good of Amigasa, even as a resistance bulds to fight against their all-encompassing rule. Even soldiers within the walls of Area D-18 have been conditioned to readily give their lives to Amigasa ... all except the dyslexic Dante, a young soldier who still finds beauty and humor in his walled-in world, has a tendency to laugh in serious situations, and in short is the oddball who has never fit in with everyone else. Never is this more so than when a troop of soldiers is sent out of the walled encslosure of D-18 to fight the resistance - for most of them, including Dante, this is the first time they've ever even seen the world outside their compound - and all of them wind up dead, some even by their own hand, with the exception of Dante ... who finds not only a weird world full of giant mushrooms outside the wall, but also a young woman name Aoi; the first female he has ever seen. This graphic novel has so much crammed into it - mind control, science fiction fungus monsters, environmental messages, first love pangs, and enough violence to give Quentin Tarantino pause ... and yet with all that, I struggled to get through the book, honestly out of sheer boredom. Long patches of story that seems to go nowhere - or even make that much sense - became grating after awhile, and even a semi-cliffhanger ending couldn't propel me to have much interest in moving onto volume two. Some nice art; otherwise, sadly, a dud.  2/5 stars 

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: GHOULIA AND THE DOOMED MANOR (GHOULIA #4) - Barbara Cantini

1st Line: "One morning, the residents of Crumbling Manor woke to the ringing of the old telephone."

Review: In the fourth (and, it seems final - cue sad music!) volume to this kid's chapter-book series I've have loved from the start (think Wednesday Addams as done by Tim Burton), our beloved zombie gal Ghoulia actually heads off with her family from Crumbling Manor, for a trip to visit her Aunt Witch and cousin Dilbert at their lakeside house, Fancy Manor - a home so crumbling and rundown it in no way fits its name, but is also in such bad shape that the entire family is shocked one day when a For Sale sign is placed at its entrance! It seems the town has assumed the house has been abandoned all these years, and the bank has decided to sell it ... unless a living family member can be found to claim ownership. Problem is, Ghoulia and her entire family are technically - well - dead! As always with the series, this fourth volume is a joy to look at, with darkly-colorful artwork that somehow still comes off warm and charming; brings a smile to the face with each page. Sadly, the story here, though more complex than normal for a Ghoulia story, somehow feels a bit rushed - maybe even strained, as if author Cantini had a bit of trouble coming up with a fresh idea for this one. Still good, and still a great series; I just didn't feel quite the heart with this one as I did with its predecessors. That said, I already miss Ghoulia badly; this was like saying goodbye to an old friend.  3/5 stars 

January Wrap-Up: Slow Start, but One Most-Anticipated Down!

One of my book goals for 2022 is to get to my most-anticipated titles of the year sooner to their release date than later: hence Fiona Davis's The Magnolia Palace (see review), an entertaining fictional story wrapped around fact that had me often stopping my reading to look up images of various artworks mentioned in the book, which really gave the text extra resonance.

Beyond that, I caught up on the adventures of Big Nate and finished the next book in one of my favorite childrens series, The Haunted Library. And while Fearbook Club was a great graphic novel, the rest of January's reading was ... meh, at best. And did the month go fast!

Was well into a few other books that didn't get done by January 31st, but only have eight for the month because I went bat-you-know-what nuts in January with films! Had some streaming services ending that I decided not to renew, so check out the EIGHTEEN FILMS I watched in January below (as always, click on any image to enlarge). No reviews for them yet, - and this may take awhile (big surprise) - but already I feel like I watched more quality films in January than I did in most of 2021; hopefully a good sign.

Hope your 2022 started off well!