Horse Talk Reviews

Through the Snow Globe by Annie Rains My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3 stars Ah yes nothing says Merry Christmas quite like re-living the day you bombed a job interview and your beloved fiance got hit by a truck because you shook a magic snow globe and made a Christmas wish. Who wouldn't want to see how many different ways that delivery truck can hunt down Linus (aforementioned fiance) to run him down and put him in a Christmas coma?? After failing the same horrible job interview for a promotion at work?? Not me, that's for sure. I had fun reading this book because after the first groundhog day loop Diana went through I wanted to see just how much more horrible it could get. And boy did it. Linus ended up in a coma after being hit by the delivery truck while riding his bike, as a passenger in a car, while walking, and while standing outside all at different times and situations. That truck had it out for his ass.  The rules of the snowglobe groundho...

Death's Bloom by Lily Mayne My rating: 1 of 5 stars DNF at 53% I guess I'm probably an outlier on this one! I have only read one other book by this author - Soul Eater - so it's entirely possible this is a case of writing-taste mismatch. No idea. Maybe if you're already a fan this will work better? • In general, I thought this was just super boring. Zero horror, definitely zero darkness. • Most of the time is taken up describing random daily tasks. • The characters were very flat, like cardboard. The severe case of instalove didn't help. • I skimmed the sex scenes because I didn't feel any chemistry between them, so I didn't feel like reading the extended fucking. • There's a few attempts at being spooky demon cow man, and a little uptick in spoop around the time I quit, but even those were pretty uninteresting to me. Overall, this was just not interesting to me, and was distinctly lacking in horror vibes. A real bumm...

Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Expected publication: October 4 2022 (i guess?) This was incredible, I’m not sure I can do it justice. Some thoughts, in no particular order: The creeping horror, the feeling of something is not right was done to perfection in these stories. Supernatural or human, the horror was something that was right in the corner of your eye, causing unease without being overt - I think that’s a balance that’s hard to achieve, and it really elevated the experience, to be right in the same space as the characters. The entire setup for this book was incredibly neat. It’s more one long story in snapshots, than a more traditional anthology/collection of short stories in my opinion. It follows one family through time, past, present, future, and I loved seeing all the different pieces connect through the book. It became all of one piece, by the end. The art! Incredible - this added to the atmosphere of the book so much. Perfect...

I Am God's Dagger by K.A. Merikan My rating: 4 of 5 stars The big appeal of this book is the horror tale, and I think it's better to go into it almost blind, so this review will be short. Do read the warnings, though. I thought the story was intriguing and the mystery fun. I just love the kind of themes the story revolves around; we have a creepy orphanage, an evil paian cult, and an angel that arrives just in time to help our naive, sheltered MC to get his revenge. The atmospheric, sometimes dream-like quality of the writing reminded me of another horror-themed Merikan's book, Where the Devil Says Goodnight, though maybe not as complex or evocative narratively. I think the strength of Where the Devil Says Goodnight was that every scene about it felt dream-like and elevated, including the romance scenes. The change in tone and pace in I am God's Dagger is more jarring in parts, and there's definitely a lull in the middle, where the book focuses...

I Am God's Dagger by K.A. Merikan My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a difficult review to write without spoiling the whole book so here are some notes that are hopefully not too generic. - I recommend going into this book without reading any spoilers if possible. Definitely look at the content warnings because there is some dark stuff in it but otherwise go in unbiased! - It starts out strong, drags for the middle portion, then really picks up towards the end. I had to push myself through the 40%-60% portion of the book before I was invested again. - For how dark the book is the romance and ending were very cute. - There is a CAT! - We were THIS CLOSE to emotional hair brushing and it didn't happen. :( - It's very Merikan, really. Not really the best work they've done but very distinctively theirs. - I am going to pretend the emotional hair brushing happens off page because otherwise what is the point in all of this pain! - Overall, if ...

Omega for the Pack by N.J. Lysk My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 0 of five horses But you didn't need to be trying to hurt someone to do it—all it took was chance or carelessness, or just plain ignorance. This is very existential erotic horror, right on brand for what I expected from a Lysk book. Especially when it's coupled with gender and gender roles in a society and not being in control of your own person. The horror of being slave to biology, being a slave to your own biology, trapped by society in a role you don't want but can't avoid...too real. The wolf thing added an interesting component of struggling within yourself, while also giving the world some framework. This had some degree of weird romance(?not the right word) - the alphas were all trying (well except maybe Gabriel, idk about him, I am suspicious) to help Ray adjust and be happy and take care of him...but Ray is still trapped. He adjusts a little by the end, in a way thats just to...

Witch 13 by Patrick R. Delaney My rating: 4 of 5 stars Expected Publication: June 7, 2022 View all my reviews     I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I expected to. The slow-building dread and tension through the beginning and the ramp up in action at the end were very well done. The middle section spends a lot of time on back story and point of view from other characters and tended to drag a bit. Some of the flashbacks got very repetitive but once the importance of these were made clear I understood why they were included. The weakest part of the book was the very, very end. The main character's story was not given enough time to breathe to make an impact in the way it could have. The same can be said for the lore of the witches which took a very long time to be revealed in the book. The ending would be improved with a bit more time spent on the witch and the main character and less time on the other side ...

False Feathers by Adara Wolf My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴 of 7 horses My original opinion was based on expecting more of an HEA, or perhaps something slightly less horror. Innocent(ish lol) me, having never read Adara Wolf or this series before.  Upon reflection, and having read much more Wolf, this is delightfully bleak. I had the wrong expectations going in originally, but it works for me now. My original review text, formerly a 3/5: This is kind of hard to review. First, it’s a retelling of a Grimm fairytale, which hedges it in for both plot and resolution. Extra challenge for a dark romance, which I think are especially difficult to pull off a HEA (or HFN, or a subjective HEA) in the first place, let alone when the end is already written for you. The kinks - they were a little matter of fact almost. It seemed to be more of a focus on humiliation than eroticism, which was fine, just not what I expected when I started this book. Aidan - poor bab...

Witch 13 by Patrick R. Delaney My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of 5 horses ARC difficulty: slight incline Expected publication: June 6th, 2022 "...and she wondered if it meant anything to be born on a night when the world was so angry." This was a solid read. Overall, it had very horror-movie vibes, in generally a good way. I loved the art throughout the book. It read in three distinct pieces to me.  1. The beginning: The prologue starts this off with 100% creepy factor and great imagery. We’re introduced to a lot of characters, and while the prose was dense at times, I found it didn’t take away from the story or building tension. This is the “characters begin to suspect something is wrong” phase, and it’s done well with creeping horror vibes. We also get to know the characters, especially Sterling, more through their thoughts. I’d have liked more delineation between present and flashbacks in the character POVs, because I got lost at times. 2. The middle: This is ...