Month: May 2025

Kate’s Review: “Murder Land”

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Book: “Murder Land” by Carlyn Greenwald

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, May 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Where You Can Get That Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Murder Land opens tonight. Not everyone will survive. Buckle up for a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

Seventeen-year-old Billie feels like she is on top of the world. She gets to spend the summer with her best friend, sparks are flying with her crush, and she has received a promotion to ride operator for one of the most buzzworthy new attractions in the theme park she works at. But the first night on the new job takes a dark turn when her creepy coworker mysteriously dies…on her ride, when she isn’t authorized to be running it.

At first, it seems like he died by heart attack, but by the time she returns to the body with help, it looks like a broken neck. Had she just imagined him sitting upright a few minutes ago? It’s as if someone is trying to pin his death on her, and she has one night to figure out who is really responsible before she is blamed.

Billie recruits the help of her friends to sneak around the park after-hours and search for the truth. But as the night stretches on and more people wind up dead, Billie realizes she may not make it out of Murder Land alive. And her friends may know more than they’re letting on.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an eARC via NetGalley!

Outside of Disney World, I am not REALLY a fan of theme parks. We have a couple here in Minnesota, there’s Valley Fair a bit south of the cities, and the Mall of America has Nickelodeon Universe, which my five year old loves and I only tolerate for her sake (also, here’s some lore: it USED to be called Camp Snoopy and was Peanuts themed, but alas, those days are long over). But even though I don’t really like theme or amusement parks, I do love the idea of a horror or thriller novel set in one. It just opens up so many different opportunities for suspense and horror. Because of this I was definitely interested in checking out “Murder Land” by Carlyn Greenwald, a new YA thriller that has a murderous night at a popular theme park as its premise. Nickelodeon Universe could NEVER. Plus I really like that cover. It just screams Santa Cruz Boardwalk by way of “The Lost Boys”.

No vampires, though. (source)

But promising premise and my own dorky associations aside, I am sorry to say that, for me, an old hat connoisseur of the thriller genre, “Murder Land” was a bit of a let down.

But first, the good. As I mentioned above, the premise and potential of this story is off the charts for me. There is a precedent in thrillers and horror stories for theme parks or carnivals or festivals to be unique and unsettling settings, and I, for one, wouldn’t be opposed to more of it. And that translates over to “Murder Land”, with clear homages to places like Knotts Berry Farm. And I always love a theme of greedy corporations hoping to hide scandals for profit purposes, and the conspiracies that can come to fruition because of it. And also, as a YA thriller, I could see this being a solid introduction to the thriller genre, as there is definitely a plotted out mystery that does feel planned and thought out. I also love a device that uses epistolary or ‘found footage’, so the way that we have transcripts from a website/channel that is all about the history of CaliforniaLand and references ‘urban exploration’ along with it. That all worked for me.

But, on the flip side, I am definitely not the target audience for this book, and I have read so many thrillers over the years, that nothing about “Murder Land” really stood out to me despite all of the potential that it had. I thought that our main characters, rounded out by protagonist Billie and her friend group Grace, Leon, and Sawyer, were pretty cookie cutter in their personalities and their relationships with each other. We have a bit of a love quadrangle going on, which I can usually grin and bear if it’s basically sidelined, but within this story, taking place in ONE night with lots of death and murder and tragedy at hand, it felt clunky and out of place. I also felt that the way that the reveals were done, outside of a few in the transcripts, didn’t have that much weight. I think this is probably due to the fact that I wasn’t as invested in the story because I wasn’t as invested in the characters, but I DO feel like even if I don’t connect with any characters in a thriller I can still be, well, thrilled. And I wasn’t held in much suspense as this story was going. I do think that it’s very possible (maybe even probable) that if I was a teen reading this it would have worked better, but for this forty year old, it just didn’t click.

Overall I think that this didn’t work for me because I’m not the audience it caters to. “Murder Land” was a disappointment for me, but it probably won’t be for everyone!

Rating 6: This is a solid thriller for the age group it is intended for, but seasoned thriller fans in general may be a little underwhelmed.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder Land” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Releases of May 2025”.

Highlights: May 2025

Summer is so close we can taste it! We have a cabin trip planned with book club at the end of the month, the sun stays out later and later, and we have a few books that we are very much looking forward to as we start to march towards the changing season! Here’s what we are excited about this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “The Knight and the Moth” by Rachel Gillig

Publication Date: May 20, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I read “One Dark Window” back when it came out, but didn’t connect with it. From there, I watched the entire duology become something of a phenomenon within the fantasy genre and began to wonder if maybe it was just me?? That being the case, I was excited to see the author coming out with the start to a new duology, and this time debuting in adult fantasy fiction! Books that tackle destiny, prophesy, and free will are also often right up my alley, so I’m definitely excited to see what Gillig will do with these themes!

Book: “Anji Kills a King” by Evan Leikam

Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Why I’m Interested: It feels like it’s been too long since I’ve read a debut epic fantasy book, and this one looks just about perfect! Not only does it sound like it’s going to be a “travelling” fantasy book, of the sort where people trudge back and forth across the land ala “Lord of the Rings,” but who wouldn’t be interested in a book with this unique of a title and cover?! I really don’t know what to expect with this one, and that’s half the fun!

Book: “The Devils” by Joe Abercrombie

Publication: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Yes, yes, I’m one of those rare fantasy fans who HASN’T yet read a Joe Abercrombie book. Mostly this is become grimdark fantasy isn’t often my thing, and that’s what he primarily writes. But this one, with its focus on an oddball troupe of characters forced to march a would-be empress across a dangerous landscape sounded too good to resist! And who knows, maybe I’ll be a convert and will have an entire backlist of fantasy titles to check out! I’m a bit nervous about the large cast of POV characters, as that’s often a particular sticking point for me. But Abercrombie has to be as popular as he is for some reason, so I’ll trust that he has it well in hand.

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Bochica” by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro

Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This is the first of two Gothic haunted house tales that I wanted to mention this month, and this one has been on my radar for a long while. In 1920s Columbia a family moves into a huge and foreboding mansion called La Casona. They are haunted by visions and nightmares of an angry spirit trapped on the property, leading to tragedy when the mother falls to her death and the father tries to burn the house down with his daughter inside. Though she escapes, the daughter can’t forget, and finds herself back at La Casona, hoping to get answers about her mother’s death and her father’s actions. But whatever was there before is still there….

Book: “Lore Olympus: Volume 8” by Rachel Smythe

Publication Date: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I am still absolutely adoring this series by Rachel Smythe, and after reading and reviewing a book about the Persephone Myth in YA Fiction with my friend David for a classics journal I got all the more hyped for the newest Volume of the romantic and thrilling retelling of Persephone and Hades. When we left off Persephone and Demeter were on trial for the coverup they did of Persephone’s unapproved smiting of mortals, and now Zeus is going to have to render a verdict. But Hades will do anything to keep Persephone safe, and it will surely lead to a showdown between brothers that could wreak havoc on Olympus and beyond. Especially when a truth about Apollo is revealed.

Book: “The Manor of Dreams” by Christina Li

Publication Date: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This sounds like it has the dynamics of a classic haunted house story, with some shades of Hollywood secrecy and questions of identity and generational trauma. Vivian Yin is a lauded Hollywood starlet, who became the first Chinese American to win an Oscar for Best Actress, and who leaves an old and glamorous mansion behind when she dies. Her family expects to inherit it, but then another estranged family connected to the house pops up, staking their claim as per the will, and leading to both families moving in to fight it out on paper. But something is haunting the house, and things get to the point where the feuding families may need to band together to confront the presence as well as their own secrets and resentments.

Serena’s Review: “Last Chance to Save the World”

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Book: “Last Chance to Save the World” by Beth Revis

Publishing Info: DAW, April 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: After a few weeks trapped on board a spaceship with Ada (and, oh look, there’s only one bed), Rian has to admit that maybe Ada’s rebels have a point. The nanobots poised to be unleashed on Earth are infected with malware that will ultimately leave the residents of Earth in a worse position than they’re in now. But is it too late?

Ada and Rian arrive on Earth with little time to spare. Together, they have to break into a high-security facility and infect the nanobots with a counter-virus before they’re released in order to give Earth a fighting chance. And if Ada happens to notice some great tech laying around in this high-security facility she shouldn’t have access to and then happens to steal a bunch of it when Rian’s not looking? Well, he knew who she was before he teamed up with her. And if he wants it back, he’s going to have to catch her first. 

With countless twists and turns, this enemies-to-lovers slow-burn and high-tension romance plays on a Sherlock and Moriarity character dynamic rooted in science fiction with a heavy romance and mystery angle.

Previously Reviewed: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing” and “How to Steal a Galaxy”

Review: I’ve been really enjoying this series of science fiction/romance novellas, so it was with a heavy heart that I picked up this, the final one in the trilogy! But, like the ones that came before, it delivered on every level! And in many ways, this one was even more satisfying than the ones that came before as we finally got to see Ada’s long game come into play. By this point in the series, readers are familiar with not only Ada’s methods, but also the narrative tricks the author uses to emphasize the bewilderment that Rian must feel, tugged along mostly blind in Ada’s chaotic wake. And like in the first two books, it was incredibly gratifying to see everything slot into place, even if it was a bit easier to predict just what Ada was up to.

Instead, many of the new twists and turns and surprises came in the form of deeper reveals into Ada’s history. I don’t want to go into too many details, as many of the late-stage events are tied up in all of this, but I really enjoyed some of the new characters we met, and the ways in which they shone a light on Ada’s life and the shaping of her unique moral compass.

It was also nice getting to spend as much time with Rian and Ada together, more than we’ve seen in the previous books it seems. After now reading the last planned book in this series, I will say that I think these novellas will work better for science fiction/heist readers who also enjoy a dash of romance than for strict romance readers. For some of those readers, they may be a bit disappointed, as the series doesn’t adhere closely to all of the conventions of the romance genre that they might expect. That said, I think the ending for this trilogy was perfect, and really the only thing that made sense for these characters. Anything else would have compromised core portions of their identities in a way that I think would have undercut the excellent work that had gone into creating them.

I also really enjoyed the themes of environmental justice and the ways in which humanity has a tendency to hurt not only the world around us but everyone living in it. There was a short conversation about pigeons that really hit home in a way that was surprising, given that it was a…conversation about pigeons! And throughout, the balance between the exploration of these themes, the fast-moving action of the plot, and the quippy love story was all navigated expertly. I definitely recommend this trilogy to all science fiction/heist readers who are looking for a fun, fast series to consume!

Rating 8: Ada leaves a chaotic wake everywhere she goes, and Rian and the readers are just along for the fun that is the ride!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Last Chance to Save the World” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Books of 2025

Serena’s Review: “Behooved”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Behooved” by M. Stevenson

Publishing Info: Bramble, May 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Bianca knows her duty comes before her heart. So when the threat of war looms, she agrees to marry the neighboring kingdom’s heir. But not all royal weddings are a fairytale, and Prince Aric, Bianca’s betrothed, is cold, aloof, and seems to hate her on sight.

To make matters worse, on their wedding night, an assassination attempt goes awry―leaving Aric magically transformed into a horse. Bianca does what any bride in this situation would do: she mounts her new husband and rides away to safety.

Sunset returns Aric to human form, but they soon discover the assassination attempt is part of a larger plot against the throne. Worse, Bianca has been framed for Aric’s murder, and she’s now saddled with a husband who is a horse by day and a frustratingly attractive man by night.

As an unexpected romance begins galloping away with their hearts, Bianca and Aric must rely on each other to unravel the curse and save the throne.

Review: Right off the bat, the comparisons to “My Lady Jane” are inescapable! Who knew there could be two fantasy novels where the love interest is cursed to turn into a horse by day?? Unfortunately, while this one did have a few high points, I mostly set it down wishing that stupid Amazon hadn’t cancelled the “My Lady Jane” show!

I do think this book is at its best when it was leaning into its romcom elements. The absurdity, the banter, and the swift-moving romance are all best appreciated in line with tropes found romcoms. In these moments, the characters were amusing and the love story sweet, if a bit underdeveloped. On the other hand, I think the book struggled when approached from a fantasy perspective. There simply wasn’t enough “there” there. The magic system was incredibly ill-defined and there were many plot moments where, if you allowed your brain to turn back on, you’d be left scratching your head.

I also struggled to enjoy the main character. While I appreciate the author’s creation of a character who suffers from chronic illness, I think the execution was too heavy handed to be very effective. In the first few chapters, especially, it feels as if this is the only aspect of Bianca’s character that anyone cares about, including Bianca herself! It’s referenced a truly boggling number of times in a very small number of pages. Of course, this is an important part of her life and is a source of friction between her and her parents, who see this only as a weakness. However, I began to feel as if Bianca didn’t have anything else making up her character either, defining herself completely around this one aspect of herself, which seems completely contrary to how one should understand people who live with chronic illnesses.

I also struggled with the romance itself. Alas, the story leans heavily into the miscommunication trope, one of the banes of my existence. The wild leaps of logic were truly baffling at times. For example, on the night of the attack, Aric and Bianca are both attacked. But for some reason Aric goes on to think that Bianca was behind it all? And, as is so often the case with this trope, much of the confusion and animosity between them could have easily been solved with a few very short conversations.

Overall, this was an ok read. Strangely, this is one of those cases where I feel like the book would have been better served to have leaned more fully into the comedy aspects of the story. The attempts at serious fantasy elements or its handling of important themes all became stumbling blocks to my enjoyment of the book. That said, straight romcom readers may enjoy this one more than me! Especially if you don’t care as much about the fantasy portions of the story!

Rating 7: While the book did have some sweet and funny moments, I struggled to enjoy it due to its weaker main character and the heavy use of the miscommunication trope.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Behooved” can be found on this Goodreads list:2025 Cozy Fantasy Romance

Ripley’s Reviews: “Ripley Under Ground” (2005)

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

“Ripley’s Reviews” is an ongoing series where I will review every book in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripley” Series, as well as multiple screen adaptations of the novels. I will post my reviews on the first Thursday of the month, and delve into the twisted mind of one Tom Ripley and all the various interpretations that he has come to life within. Up next is the fourth film adaptation of a “Ripley” book I’m covering, the 2005 film “Ripley Under Ground”.

Film: “Ripley Under Ground” (2005)

When I was doing my research on adaptations on the Ripliad, one of the films that was mentioned was the movie “Ripley Under Ground”, though many times it was also mentioned that it wasn’t easy to find. I had NEVER heard of this adaptation of a Tom Ripley book, which intrigued me. I was even more intrigued when I saw that Barry Pepper was playing Tom, as I know him from films like “The Green Mile” and “Crawl” and the thought of him as Ripley was interesting. This film came out to very limited release in 2005, and yes I can confirm it wasn’t an easy film to find on streaming (I couldn’t even find a trailer that wasn’t in German, hence the lack of link above). But I did find it, and committed to watching it as part of the Ripley series on the blog. After all, just because it was kind of lost to time, it had some promise. It’s a Ripley story! It has a cast. Wellll…. sadly, it’s the weakest adaptation yet, and it’s not even close.

I’m going to spoil some things in this, because without doing so I can’t fully explain some of my issues with the film. Fair warning!

It’s a very…. confusing adaptation. Firstly, this movie has basically treated this story like a standalone story, erasing “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and therein completely shifting Ripley’s backstory, history of violence, and desperation to keep up appearances. Instead he’s a poor wannabe actor (no Dickie Greenleaf murder, no money to inherit from his parents) who does have a history of conning people (after all, he cons his way out of paying rent, and has conned his way into his theater school), but has NO history of the murder and sociopathy the original character has. We’ve seen a standalone film of a sequel before, as “The American Friend” is very much a standalone and a very different Ripley. But for this kind of change to work, I REALLY need a, well, TALENTED Mr. Ripley to make up for it. Dennis Hopper brings that. Barry Pepper, unfortunately, does not. He barely has anything of a personality to speak of, and because of that is not compelling at all. It also removes a lot of his darker impulses, basically changing the one very clear murder Ripley commits in the book to an accident that Ripley has to clean up after. And to make things even more strange and confusing, the movie decides that Heloise… yes, Ripley’s naive and generally harmless wife Heloise… has to be something of a femme fatal and become a HUGE accomplice to him in his crimes, even going to far as to suggesting that they murder her father for his fortune right before the credits roll.

Just some REALLY weird choices being made here. (source)

I’ve been kind of mean to Barry Pepper, and but it’s warranted because I would say he’s probably the weakest member of the cast. Everyone else does a pretty good job. Willem Dafoe chews the scenery as art collector Murchison, even if at times it’s a little over the top. I quite enjoyed Alan Cumming as Ripley’s co-conspirator Jeff Constant, and we got a bit of a gender bent other co-conspirator with Claire Forlani as Cynthia, Derwatt’s girlfriend at the time of his death. Tom Wilkinson is the detective on the case, and I always like seeing him in things. But the stand out is Ian Hart as the guilt ridden and unstable Bernard, the friend that Ripley et al pressure into forging the paintings after they all witness Derwatt’s death. It’s a shame because I did enjoy the ensemble (OH AND ALSO we have a small role for Simon Callow of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Amadeus” fame!), but with the lead being so lackluster it really brought the rest of the movie down. You really have to have an engaging Tom Ripley for a Tom Ripley film to work.

“Ripley Under Ground” was a baffling and disappointing adaptation. It’s pretty clear there is a reason that it has fallen by the wayside when compared to other films that strive to tell the Tom Ripley story. Up next I’m going to do something a little different. There isn’t a film adaptation of “The Boy Who Followed Ripley”. But there IS a BBC Radio Program adaptation, with Ian Hart (yes the same Ian Hart from above) as Tom Ripley, and Nicholas Hoult as Frank! So that’s up next!