Book Review: Kallista by Sian B. Claven
Kallista
Series: The Butcher #2
Author: Sian B. Claven
Published: February 15, 2018
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 10-12, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
All her life Kalli thought that her sister had lost her mind, seeing a ghost everywhere and associating it with death. Kalli wants her own answers though, and spends her life working towards being granted access to the Butcher files and solving the deaths that rocked their community all those years ago.
Things take a turn for the worst when the haunting figure from her sisters’ twisted mind starts appearing to Kalli and she is left questioning her sanity and whether the Butcher is back.
Kalli must find the answers before it’s too late.
Before she sees the skeleton girl one more time.
Before she meets her own demise.
Jessica’s Review:
I have the whole Butcher series on kindle, but Claven was wonderful enough to send me Kallista on audio as I can get to audiobooks much quicker than kindle or physical books due to my daily commute. My review for the first in the series, Tatum, is here.
Kallista is the second in the Butcher series and takes place 10 years after the events of Tatum. Kallista (Kalli) is determined to find the Butcher and is working to become a profiler and we go on this journey with her! We have two pov: Kalli and The Butcher himself! I was invested in the whole story, and cannot decide which pov I preferred! I was rooting for Kalli but loved getting into the disturbing and depraved mind of The Butcher. And I was dying of curiosity the whole novel: Just WHO is The Butcher?!!??!!?
Besides the mystery of The Butcher, we have a horror and thriller novel with paranormal take on it that will keep you reading. I also enjoyed this as we see that the skeleton girl is back! Just an FYI: This series deals with an extremely disturbing serial killer and Claven doesn’t hold back with the violence and goriness as she tells us her tale, so reader prepare yourself. But I can’t help that I enjoy the dark and disturbing!
I really enjoyed everything about this continuing story. Kallista kept building to a very intense climax and just when you think the story is over, Claven comes back with one more “gotcha” moment! I can’t wait to see where the series goes next, and thankfully Claven also sent me the audio of the third novel: Sylvana, so I can start it right away!
Book Review: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Sundial
Author: Catriona Ward
Published: March 1, 2022
304 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
You can’t escape what’s in your blood…
All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.
She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.
Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…
The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future.
Kim’s Review:
This is an odd one. I’m not sure why it was put in the horror section; I would classify it more as a thriller. I wasn’t actually scared by this book, but that twist was pretty crazy. There were too many annoying things in it for me to say that I liked it. I hated how Rob let her husband walk all over her; how Falcon didn’t raise the girls, just let them run wild; how Rob let Callie know that she preferred Annie … I was just too annoyed to really enjoy any of it. Honestly the only thing that saved this book was the twist; it was a struggle to get there, but it was twisty all right. I can’t really say that I’d recommend this book, but I also wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it. So it was just meh.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
The Chemist
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Narrator: Ellen Archer
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 12-22, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
Jessica’s Review:
I listened to the audiobook version for a book club I am joining. I don’t think I would have ever picked it up on my own otherwise, but I am so glad I did!! I enjoyed The Chemist immensely. It has just about everything a reader could want: Action, thriller, a strong female lead who is tiny in stature, and there is even some romance! There is also the world’s best canine sidekick with the best name ever!
I had read the Twilight series as just about everyone else many years ago and had seen the movie The Host, but not read the novel, so I wasn’t sure where Meyer was going to go with The Chemist. I got a different novel than I was expecting based on the title, and I wasn’t really expecting much going in.
This was a good novel that kept me interested. I had figured one ‘twist’ out early thanks to me being a heavy thriller reader, and at first, I wasn’t sure about the novel. But I liked our female character, she can definitely do damage despite her size: In fact she can torture when needed and she is good at it too! For me the torture was just graphic enough to make the reader squirm just a little.
I liked all of our three main characters and main dog sidekick. The whole novel I kept thinking “Don’t let anything happen to the dog!” The Chemist is a fast-paced novel that would have kept me turning the pages if I had read the physical book. I never lost interest in what was coming next. I’m glad we had a strong female lead in this novel. This is a long novel at over 500 pages, but never lagged and worth the read. The audiobook was narrated by Ellen Archer and she brought the novel to life for me. The epilogue wrapped things up nicely. I don’t see there ever being another novel, so it brought a good conclusion to The Chemist for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK