The books were good this week.
I needed one hell of a palette cleanser after all the heavy books in a row last week. This definitely supplied said cleanser. Not overly goofy, but with a happy ending and funny moments to keep the story from spiraling.
Food & Fangs: A Monster Hotel Story by Sayla MasseMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
** I received a copy of this book for free from BookSirens; my review is my own, and I leave it voluntarily.
I really enjoyed the balance of humor and melancholy in this book. It had that specific feeling of a Hallmark movie after a bad day. I feel the need to explain that better, I watch Hallmark movies because you know the ending already, and you know everyone is going to be happy and the movie will not destroy you emotionally, and I like that after a bad day, I’m attempting to make this sound like a good thing, to me it is a good thing.
Light enough to be comforting, but with enough undercurrent that it didn’t feel completely empty. The found-family dynamics were one of my favorite parts. Everyone felt like they genuinely belonged together, and the relationships had a warmth that carried a lot of the story.
I also really appreciated that the girl is the vampire this time. It doesn’t just feel like a gender-swapped version of something else I’ve already read.
The book does move quickly and at times feels a bit rushed. The romance especially develops pretty fast. That said, I found it forgivable here, partly because it’s a short, quick read, and partly because the overall tone worked for me. It drifts between a little melancholy and a bit funny depending on the scene, and that mix mostly landed.
If you love vampire books (like me, I’ll basically read anything with a vampire in it), this is an easy one to recommend. It’s charming and has a heart, and a happy ending.
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I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie AutumnMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
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I am 100% the target audience for this book. So close to a five star read for me…
The Dead Earth Protocol by Graeme ButlerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
** I received a copy of this book for free from BookSirens; my review is my own, and I leave it voluntarily.
I loved this book so much! I am a sucker for a good Mars sci-fi, and this one scratched that itch perfectly. The prose is done quite well — clean, readable, and confident without ever getting in its own way. The world-building is on point. The dystopian setup with the AI Foreman running the underground Mars mining colony feels lived-in and oppressive in the best way. The rigid control over jobs, rations, and every aspect of daily life is handled with real weight, and the quiet criticism of massive companies and CEOs lands solidly without ever turning into a lecture. It all feels purposeful and grounded, which is exactly what I want from this kind of story.
My biggest issue, and the reason I deducted 0.5 stars, is the point-of-view structure. The book switches POVs across all three major components/locations, and that choice repeatedly steals the moments of discovery from the reader. What should have been surprising or impactful instead gets spoiled by the narrative jumping ahead. In particular, the discovery of the people on the surface would have hit much harder if the perspective hadn’t switched when it did. I’m not saying I would cut any material, as I think all of it is necessary (and quite good) but, I would switch a few chapters to allow the reader more time to speculate (this is my favorite part of sci-fi, attempting to figure out before they tell me, example in the spoiler) (view spoiler)
Overall it’s a solid dystopian sci-fi with strong world-building – definitely worth the read for any sci-fi lovers, and even if it’s not your usual thing I think this one could be a good intro.
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I am willing to wait for the payoff, and I love extraneous detail, but this tested even me…
The Outcasts by Michael MurrayMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
** I received a copy of this book for free from a goodreads giveaway; my review is my own, and I leave it voluntarily.
The prose itself is fine — clean, no weird grammar or anything that pulled me out of the story. That part worked without issue.
The story itself is genuinely good. The Outcasts were easily the strongest part of the book. Their friendship actually felt real, the tension between them was solid, and those sections carried a lot of the emotional weight for me. Alex was my favorite character by a decent margin, and I found myself most invested whenever the focus stayed on that group. There’s real heart in their dynamic, and the way the book handles their outsider status and the bond between them is one of the things that kept me reading.
That said, I had some bigger issues with the structure and the tone. There are just way too many POVs, and the book gets bogged down in detail more often than it should. The entire story covers barley a week of time, yet it feels noticeably longer because so much space is given to moments and perspectives that didn’t need that much weight. I just wish some of the other sections (especially the sheriff’s) had been highlighted less. Those parts slowed everything down and pulled attention away from what was actually working.I also really wasn’t on board with how grimdark it leaned. The mystery takes on this darker, heavier tone that started to sit wrong with me the further it went. It wasn’t just a little dark — it felt like the book kept pushing that grim edge, and it began to weigh the whole thing down.
It’s a mixed bag overall. The core story and the friendship work, the writing is clean, and there’s real potential in the setup. But the extra POVs and the grimdark lean made it harder to stay fully invested than it needed to be.
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You know, Mary Shelley may have ruined this for me, this is a great little horror tale, just don’t go expecting “Frankenstein” levels of greatness.
The Vampyre by John William PolidoriMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dawn of the sexy vampires!
The atmosphere worked great for me — it has that classic gothic horror vibe with the aristocratic, seductive vampire at the center. Lord Ruthven feels like the clear ancestor of every charming bloodsucker that came after him. The historical context is hilarious when you know the backstory (the whole Villa Diodati ghost-story challenge), though I still think Frankenstein is the best thing that came out of that particular think tank.
Nothing really didn’t work for me here. It’s short, atmospheric, and leans fully into the gothic horror sexy-vampire theme. I especially liked the ending.
A fun, foundational read that still holds up as the starting point for the modern vampire we know today.
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What a messed up little thriller. I liked this a lot, it’s like an airport find – In a good way.
Not a Word by Linwood BarclayMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
** I received a copy of this book for free from a goodreads giveaway; my review is my own, and I leave it voluntarily.
Wow, that was messed up.
The twists worked well enough for me and kept the story moving at a solid pace. I was genuinely invested in how everything would unravel, even when it went in directions I didn’t fully expect, and it went in quite a few.(view spoiler)
The main character is what stuck with me the most. He’s so deep in the middle of everything and somehow manages to see absolutely none of it. That combination of being completely immersed and still missing the obvious made him weirdly compelling. You keep waiting for him to catch up, and the fact that he doesn’t for so long is part of what makes the book work.
The mother, on the other hand, is almost comically villainous. She’s written with such broad strokes that it sometimes undercuts the darker tone the rest of the book is going for. Speaking of tone, this one stays pretty dark throughout.
Overall it’s a solid thriller with some genuinely unsettling turns and a main character who holds your attention even when (or maybe because) he’s in over his head. Lord is it messy, in a mostly a good way.
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I had the absolute pleasure of listening to this author talk with my class. The book is quite good for expanding on that as the talk was only about an hour (obviously cannot cover everything and questions in that time). I recognize that as an engineering student it was probably an easier read for me but I do think the author does a good job of making this book quite readable, so if you are curious about how we get the power that we legitimately cannot function without, I highly recommend this book.
New York Power by Joseph J. CunninghamMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve had the opportunity to listen to this author give a talk, and I loved the book just as much. As engineering students we aren’t taught a lot of the history behind the systems we study, most of our courses jump straight into the technical side without ever explaining how we ended up with the infrastructure we have. This book fills that gap in a really satisfying way, and it’s genuinely fun to learn why things are the way they are today.
The historical detail and engineering explanations are excellent. Cunningham walks through the early arc-lighting systems on Broadway, Edison’s Pearl Street station, the enormous challenges of serving the dense load of midtown Manhattan, the practical realities of AC versus DC (handled far more calmly and accurately than the usual “War of the Currents” narrative), the dual-frequency systems that existed for years, and the long, messy process of building out the city’s power infrastructure. He manages to cover a lot of ground without ever feeling rushed or superficial.
The writing style is slightly witty but mostly professional. It has an educational tone, yet it is definitely more enjoyable to read than a textbook, even when the prose itself feels similar. Importantly, the electrical details are not so dense that a non-engineer would be lost. You can follow the story and still come away with a solid understanding of why the systems developed the way they did. That balance is harder to pull off than it looks.
Nothing really dragged for me. One detail that especially stuck out was the story of the cops cutting down the overhead power lines after they were outlawed, because the companies simply ignored the order to bury them. That kind of concrete, slightly absurd historical moment is exactly what makes this book so engaging. It turns what could have been a dry institutional history into something that feels lived-in and human (and pretty hilarious).
Highly recommended if you want the history of how New York got its power, without the usual dramatized version of the current wars. Whether you’re an engineering student, a practicing engineer, or just someone curious about how the modern city was built, this one is worth your time.
And Joseph J. Cunningham: if you’re reading this, please, please, please narrate this into an audiobook. After hearing you speak, I can’t imagine anyone else doing it justice. Your delivery in person was perfect for this material: clear, engaged, and just a little bit humorous. An audiobook in your voice would be so fun.
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Love, love, love – Had a great week!