Strange Bedfellows

 Amanda Mortlock

Rating: ⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Romance + Fantasy

Strange Bedfellows has a very interesting premise, which is why the book caught my attention, and I decided to get it from NetGalley. The story is about a girl (Cleo) who can transform into a cat. She takes the form of the cat of her new love interest, Wes, who is also a witch! Their pets also have their own POVs and the story gets more complicated when Cleo decides that she wants to know what Wes is hiding. 

Multiple POVs are not my favorite thing in fiction, but I have no problem with it if it is well implemented. I usually don't have much trouble with multiple POVs, especially when the character's name is clearly given at the beginning of each chapter, but somehow I still found myself getting more confused the further I got into the book. The multiple plot threads, supernatural elements, and new ideas being introduced made tracking everything become a chore. The book seems to assume that adding more and more ideas will make the story more interesting, but it may have the opposite effect when those ideas aren't given enough room to develop. At some point I found myself trying to remember who was connected to whom rather than simply enjoying the story.

I can’t say I enjoyed the romance side of the story. I never felt much chemistry between the characters. I think it is very hard to be invested in their relationship when that chemistry is lacking. Another thing is that despite being an adult story, it gave me the vibes of YA books. This is not a bad thing, but it is not what I was expecting. I also feel a little more character development would have made a difference. 

If I have to pinpoint the biggest issue of the book, it would be its worldbuilding. There are many interesting concepts, yet they are not built upon or explained to make the fantasy side of the story work or make sense. There may be a good story buried underneath all these ideas, but for me there were just too many of them competing for attention. The original premise was interesting enough to get me to pick up the book, but the more I read, the less it worked for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes

• Love
• Transformation
• Identity
• Magic
• Friendship
• Power

Out of Body

Chris Vanjonack

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror + Short Stories

Out of Body is a collection of short stories with a horror theme. The stories had some very interesting concepts, and that was most probably the biggest reason why I kept reading and being invested in them. I think the author had quite creative ideas combined with interesting situations. So I can say there was definitely enough originality to keep things interesting.

Unfortunately, I feel the horror side of these stories was not quite what I was hoping for. I went into this expecting something that would feel more genuinely creepy or unsettling, but the horror elements didn't have quite the impact I was hoping for. It felt more like a collection of fast-paced speculative stories with some horror mixed in.

The stories move very fast. Sometimes they moved so quickly that I felt like I had to run while reading them, if you know what I mean. I also didn't think the open ending worked for every story. Leaving some things unresolved can be effective, but when so many stories don't really give you a resolution, I started asking myself, "What's the point?" In some cases, I wanted just a little more closure.

Overall, this is a book with excellent concepts, and I recommend it for a one-time read to experience these ideas. The writing style is simple and easy to follow. If not for the writing or the stories, I feel the concepts used here will keep readers and fans of the horror and science fiction genres engaged and invested. I would give it a solid 3-star rating. I just wish I loved it more. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes:

• Identity
• Death
• After Death
• Morality
• Grief
• Loss

I Am the Monster Under the Bed

Emily Zinnikas

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror + Mystery Thriller

I Am the Monster Under the Bed is the story of Willa, who returns to her hometown years after a devastating massacre that left her as the only survivor. As she tries to confront what happened, memories of the strange entity that visited her under her bed as a child begin to resurface, while the mysteries surrounding the town, the forest, and the killings gradually come back into focus.

I went into this expecting a horror novel, but for me, it worked much better as a mystery thriller with supernatural elements. Surprisingly, I found the atmosphere rather lacking for a horror story. There are certainly some creepy ideas and moments, but I never felt that sustained sense of dread or unease that I look for in horror. The book's premise is probably its strongest element, particularly the idea of a childhood "monster" that may be something considerably more complicated than a child's imagination.

My bigger issue was that there are simply too many ideas packed into the story. There is enough material here for a very intriguing supernatural mystery, but the novel keeps introducing additional concepts and plot threads, which made the overall story feel somewhat scattered. The pacing also felt uneven throughout—some sections moved nicely, followed by stretches that felt much slower than they needed to be. I kept waiting for everything to come together in a more satisfying way.

There were a few genuinely interesting moments, and I can see why the premise has appealed to so many readers. Unfortunately, those moments were too sporadic to push the book into like or love territory for me. It wasn't a bad read, but it never quite became the atmospheric horror story I was hoping for, nor did the mystery fully compensate for that. A decent 3-star read with an interesting premise that ultimately felt more ambitious than successful.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes

• Guilt
• Trauma
• Memory
• Fear
• Isolation
• Secrets

Time to Burn

Ellery Lloyd

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller

This is a time travel story that doesn’t go as planned. Tempus Tours, a huge tech company, is offering commercial time travel trips to wealthy people who want to capture important historical events. Phoebe Hunt, an award-winning filmmaker, is asked to make a documentary film about the whole thing and to witness at the same time the return of a group from their trip to the past. But things do not go as planned, and Phoebe finds herself in a challenging situation that needs her prompt action.

I found Time to Burn entertaining enough to give it 3.5 stars, although I was hoping for something stronger from its time-travel premise. I went into it thinking about some of the time-travel movies I have watched and loved, such as Predestination, Frequency, Pleasantville, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Somewhere in Time. Those stories each have their own distinct identity and, in different ways, manage to make their use of time travel feel emotionally or conceptually memorable. Time to Burn certainly kept me interested, but I never felt that same sense of discovery or lasting impact.

The biggest weakness for me was the character development. There is plenty happening to the characters, but I didn't feel that they developed enough for me to become particularly invested in them emotionally. The plot somehow became convoluted as the story progressed. There are lots of twists, timelines, revelations, and connections, and that can make it difficult to keep track of everything. I totally appreciate the ambition that the authors were going for, but I think the story might have benefited from being a little less complicated—putting more emphasis on its characters rather than continually adding another layer to the plot.

Ultimately, this was a fun and entertaining read, and that entertainment value is what carries it to 3.5 stars for me. I enjoyed the premise and wanted to see where everything would lead, even when the story became unnecessarily complicated. At the same time, I don't feel that Time to Burn has quite the identity that will make it memorable to me. I can appreciate what it was trying to do, but compared with the time-travel stories that have really stayed with me, this one feels more like an enjoyable read that I'll eventually move on from than a book I'll be thinking about long after finishing it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes:

• Time Travel
• Power
• Wealth
• Fate
• Preservation of the Past

Beginning Middle End

Valeria Luiselli

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Literary Fiction

Beginning Middle End is a story that follows a mother and her daughter on a road trip through Sicily. They go to places where they share lots of family history, memories, storytelling, and their own shifting relationship. As the two travel together, the novel moves through a wide range of ideas and observations, allowing the present journey to intersect with the past and with larger questions about identity, migration, motherhood, and the stories we construct about ourselves and others.

Having also read Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, I couldn't help noticing how familiar the central setup felt. Both novels place a family on a road trip and use that journey as a framework for exploring much larger ideas. I gave Lost Children Archive three stars as well, and I found myself arriving at a remarkably similar reaction here. There is plenty to admire in Luiselli's approach, but the journey itself never became compelling enough for me to feel fully invested in where it was going.

That said, the problem was certainly not the writing. Luiselli's prose is beautiful, and I appreciated many of the subjects the novel engages with. As someone who loves literary fiction, I was quite happy to follow its reflections and digressions, at least in principle, and there is no shortage of interesting material beneath the surface. The novel is thoughtful and often intelligent, but I occasionally felt that my admiration for what it was doing was greater than my enjoyment of actually reading it.

Ultimately, the pacing was simply too slow for me. The story takes its time—and then takes a little more of it—and although that deliberate rhythm may work for readers who are completely absorbed by Luiselli's voice, I found myself waiting for the journey to gain a stronger sense of momentum. There is a great deal here that I genuinely liked, particularly the prose and the ideas, but the novel never quite came together in a way that made me want to rate it higher. A thoughtful and beautifully written book, then, but one that, for me, remained more admirable than engaging.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes

• Motherhood
• Family History
• Identity
• Road Trip
• Migration
• Mythology

The Haunting of James Hastings

 Christopher Ransom

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror

The Haunting of James Hastings follows James, a man who is struggling with the death of his wife, Sarah. His grief takes an increasingly unsettling turn when he begins to believe that she may somehow be returning—or perhaps haunting him through another woman. From there, the line between the supernatural and James's deteriorating state of mind becomes less clear. Is he genuinely being haunted, or is grief pushing him toward a complete break from reality? The story plays with that uncertainty throughout, though the answers, or lack of them, may not work equally well for everyone.

I had owned this book for years and finally picked it up as part of my attempt to make some progress on my physical TBR. Honestly, I have no idea why I bought it in the first place. My best guess is that I found it heavily discounted at a bookshop, thought the cover looked suitably creepy, and decided that was reason enough to bring it home. Since the ratings weren't exactly encouraging, I went in with very low expectations. In a way, that may have helped, because I wasn't waiting for it to become the next great horror novel.

There were moments when the book showed some promise. The idea of mixing grief, psychological instability, and a possible haunting could have made for something genuinely unsettling, and at times the story does create a suitably strange atmosphere. Still, it never quite came together for me. The pacing often feels sluggish, and the plot appears to wander into directions that add more confusion than tension. James himself is also not the easiest character to spend several hundred pages with. That may be intentional—he is clearly not meant to be a straightforwardly sympathetic protagonist—but it also made it harder for me to become invested in what was happening to him.

In the end, The Haunting of James Hastings was neither as bad as its lower ratings had led me to expect nor good enough to surprise me. I can see why some readers might appreciate its psychological ambiguity and the increasingly strange direction the story takes. For me, though, very little of it stuck once I finished. It wasn't terrible, and I don't regret finally taking it off my physical TBR, but it was ultimately a forgettable read. One more book cleared from the shelves—and, unfortunately for this one, straight into the unhaul pile.

Key Themes:

• Grief
• Loss
• Guilt
• Reality vs. Illusion

Unsayable

Michael Cunningham

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Nonfiction

Michael Cunningham’s Unsayable is a memoir of sorts, though it deliberately avoids presenting itself as a complete account of his life. Instead, Cunningham looks back at the experiences, childhood, people, places, books, and moments that have shaped him, particularly his development as a writer. The book moves between personal recollections and reflections on literature, memory, creativity, and the strange process of turning lived experience into something that can be put into words. Rather than attempting to document every stage of his life, Cunningham selects particular fragments that seem meaningful enough to revisit.

Much of the book is concerned with the relationship between life and writing. The author reflects on the books and writers who influenced him, along with his own development and the way his understanding of writing has changed throughout his career. These sections give the book something of a hybrid identity: part memoir, part meditation on literature, and part conversation about the craft of writing. It is less interested in telling a complete chronological story than in examining the moments and ideas that have stayed with him. 

This is my third book by Cunningham, after The Hours, which remains a five-star favorite for me, and Day, which I rated three stars. Unsayable lands comfortably between those two at four stars. I found the glimpses into Cunningham’s life fascinating, even though this is clearly not a full memoir. There is certainly plenty that has been left unsaid—I don't necessarily see that as a flaw. It feels as though Cunningham deliberately wanted to keep the book tight and simple, sharing only what he felt was worth putting on the page rather than trying to give us an exhaustive account of his life. What he does choose to share is often intimate, thoughtful, and interesting enough to make the omissions feel less important.

The biggest strength, unsurprisingly, is the prose. Cunningham can write beautifully, and I honestly expected nothing less after reading The Hours. There is a quietness to his writing that suits the reflective nature of the book, and I often found myself appreciating the way he expressed an idea as much as the idea itself. For me, the quality of the writing is what elevates Unsayable above being simply an interesting collection of autobiographical reflections.

I also enjoyed the structure more than I expected to. The chapters are small, sometimes feeling almost like individual snapshots, and that makes the book remarkably easy to move through. I could pick it up and read several sections without feeling as though I had committed myself to a long, continuous narrative. In fact, the short chapters make you fly through it, and the book benefits considerably from that sense of momentum. At the same time, the fragmented structure means it doesn't always feel like a completely cohesive memoir, and some reflections inevitably left a stronger impression than others.

Ultimately, Unsayable worked for me because it feels sincere without trying too hard to reveal everything. It isn't the definitive Cunningham memoir, nor does it attempt to be one, but what he does choose to put on the page is consistently interesting, and the writing is frequently gorgeous. I still prefer The Hours, which remains the strongest of the three Cunningham books I've read, but Unsayable is a meaningful step up from my experience with Day.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes:

• Life Vs. Fiction
• Identity
• Self Discovery
• Language
• Aging