Review - The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman (The Left Hand of God Series Book 1)

 

3 in 5 stars rating

This is a re-read book. Do I remember when I read it and if I like it or not? NO 

I only remembered the name of the MC and the city! But in my defense I'm not a big fan of Dystopian or Si-Fi genre in general. 

Let's talk about this book: 

In the hellish Sanctuary of the Redeemer, young boys are trained from the age of five to be unthinking soldiers. Cale, the most promising, is singled out for punishment for the most trivial offenses but one day, Cale stops a Redeemer from dissecting a girl and he and his two friends, Vague Henri and Kleist, escape the Sanctuary with the girl named Riba and go on the lam with the destination of Memphis.

The Redeemers believe life is sin and salvation only comes through blood and pain. Thus, torture is a common form of discipline and the methods used made me uncomfortable as well as how they brainwashed the boys as well as how the conditions they where. 

While Cale is in Memphis learning about everything, Bosco (his Redeemer Tutor) believe that Cale is the most important human being in the world and will stop at nothing to secure his return. Cale has a destiny that is not revealed until the end, but we do learn that, as the result of a particular “talent,” he’s virtually unbeatable in combat. And here comes the bigger hole ever: Bosco decide to attack the city with the only purpose to have Cale back.

Where is the logic of that? I mean I understood that the information from the spy was that the 3 boys was in the city but even... how to make sure that they was still there during the attack or that they will came back for any reason? How to confirm that Cale was not dead when he run to save Simon? Or that he didn't run away with his friends as so many times they talked about? 

Bosco got lucky as Cale found a correspondent love and he didn't got killed by the Mond during is stay in the city!  

Also the violence is extreme and well described but the story is told through multiple viewpoints with clumsy transitions as look like the author remembered an idea and follow it. 

We jump from Cale to a Redeemer without notice in the same chapter where we pass from a friendship to a plot to conquer the city. And the same happens when we talk about Riba... she appear from nowhere with an update of her new life and then it get suspended in the middle to come back to Cale and his friends trying to understand everything.

We have very good aspects to the story and very good charactes with tons of room to develop and to connect with the MC so I hope the book 2 will be better but I'm not impressed at all so far

 

Review - The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

5 in 5 Star Rating

Nothing is what it look like in the last house of Needle Street and if you think something is real maybe is not. 

Everything started with the case of the Missing Child 11 years ago and Ted was a suspect but nothing was found against him. He was just fitting into the profile of the raptor. Dee lost her baby sister that day and want to find the true by herself. Olivia have a mission that is to help Ted, Ted have problems and blackout during hours or days without remembering what happened or have done during that period and Lauren is... well a problematic teenager

It was not east to follow the events as I was finding "errors". At first I though about a a different timeline when it was Ted and Olivia but only at the end it was explained and I was hooked by the explanation! 

During the full read my mind was trying to understand the motives of Ted and the connection between him and the missing child. 

If you think he is connected well you are half correct! But not in the way you think he is. 

Twists one after the other will keep you hooked to the pages wanting to go the the center of the situation and solving the mystery of the missing child, Dee and Ted. 

It was 1am when I finished read and I can tell you that I jumped from my bed when all pieces started to fit together. 

I think my expression was like this after reading all the explanation of Ted to his new-to-be friend:

I can only says this without causing spoilers: The brain is a great machine capable of everything.

It was really something to read! And if you like thrillers and crime books with a challenge for you then pick up this book as it deserve your attention! 

Unboxing - December 2022

 

Hey Readers! 

Today I want to share my newest box from Fairyloot.

What is Fairyloot? It's a monthly subscription group that will provide you fantasy books for YA and NA! 

At the moment Adult box is only for the book but the YA one have also cute stuff coming with. 

If you want to know more click HERE and subscribe! 

And now let's go to the unboxing! 

The YA Box came with: 

• Book Sleeve inspired from the Book Caraval
• Carousel Bookends inspired from the theme of the month (Come one, Come All)
• Mythology Bookmarks: Aphrodite and Ares 
• A Face Towel inspired by The Night Circus
• Tarot Cards set features Lei as the Sun and Wren and the Moon (characters from Girls of Papers and Fire)
• YA Book of the Month with redesigned cover, sprayed edges and artwork on the endpapers + signed

And the book is Cruel Illusions! 

For the adult book the subscription is only for the book and the theme was Faerie Lore and this is the book: 

January themes are:

• YA: Hidden Worlds
• Adult: Sinister Secrets

 

Review - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

 

5 in 5 star review book

TW: this book have several triggers so please make sure to read them before reading the book: rape (mention of) and extreme violence described) are 2 of them

Ok after 3 chapters done I had 4 questions: 

Who is Anna? 

Who and why Aiden is there? 

Who is the Footman? 

The Black Plague Doctor is an ally or an enemy?

In the first 30 pages of this book I got very confused as I was expecting that Aiden was introduced as a guest and only after the host situation will start... but to think that I was as confused as Aiden itself was something that the author took time to plot and I simply loved it! 

Aiden (that have no memories of his life) need to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle in 8 days otherwise he need to start over and without the information he collected so far. But the Plage Doctor advise him: 2 more persons also are trying to solve that mystery.

While Aiden start his journey he want to know who is Anna and if she is a friend or not as it's the only name that he remember so far. 

He will make allies and 1 big enemy that have also a say so to the infamous Footman (who's mission is making sure Aiden's hosts dye)

During my reading I was certain that the killer was one person and BAM a twist making sure it was not that person.... change my mind to point to another suspect and BAM another twist! So after a while my mind started to work to find answers and to seed if a new clue was there but always with the theory of a suicide going wrong.

I was grabbing my book and my mind was like this: 

I was thrilled by all the information and was trying to find answers but some mentions in the book was like clues to solve this mystery and the biggest question was indeed why the guns was different! 

I can tell that the last 10% of the book was not easy to follow as it was so much information that I needed to re-read some parts because I wanted to know the true! 

Not only we can finally understand who is the killer of Evelyn Hardcastle as we uncover the truth about Thomas death, a missing boy, why Helena Hardcastle went missing the full day and some more mysteries.

Also I got under the impression that the Plague Doctor will simply accept any proof and name from Aiden as it was clear that he wanted him out of that situation.

Did the Plague Doctor got his hand all over this situation to make sure Aiden's wish came true?

Also the last information given from The Plague Doctor suggest that this never happened and that actually events change according with what Aiden decisions was.  So my biggest mystery question is: The killer is anyone that Aiden's events lead on and any name could have free then at any moment?

Simply Genius! 

Review - Next Door by Blake Pierce (series Chloe Fine book 1)

 

4 in 5 Stars 

This is my first read of 2023 and it was a Kindle one 

I'm familiar with Pierce writing and the genre she use in the books so I knew it will be a good book and a good start for 2023.

Blake have severals series of and this is the one of Chloe Fine (they are 6 books) 

Chloe Fine, intern of FBI Evidence Response Team, finds herself forced to confront her own dark past when her troubled twin sister needs her help and that happens when Chloe think that her life if perfect: engaged to the love of her life, moving back to her town, being closer to her sister and having the chance to start her carrier in the FBI.

As she begins to see the underside she finds herself haunted by her own demons and Danielle situation force her to deal with them. 

As this is the 1st book of a series it's kind of slow as you need to understand all the MC point and also the connections from past to present. 

I was about 30% of the book when something hit me about the twin sister: she admit to be paranoid, not liking to go outside, antisocial, need meds to control the moods.... and if we join the way she act sometimes my mind was screaming 2 words about Danielle: Depression or Bipolar

But you know it's not  hard to understand that she is depressive and worst: that Chloe only cope better the symptomes. 

What look like a passion crime turn out to be a most dark crime: a conspiracy one and all in the name of true love! Yes because it's a 17 years old secret love that started everything and want to end everything! 

At that point of the book I was processing all the information and trying to link the real killer

I knew that it was someone form the past life of Chloe and Danielle. 
The letters was a clear evidence that that person was not happy with Danielle and knew too much about her life! Plus! The last letter show that the person knew what happened in the party few hours before so it the name of the killer was there! 

The creepy fact about everything in that book was to see how manipulative the person was to make that conspiracy plan and that perfect towns are full of gossip

Not to mention how easy they point fingers....

Like it's in the book: "it’s sometimes better that we don’t understand why people kill"  and the reason of this one was pretty as the picture show

But I was more than happy to see that the red flags with Steven was not only for my mind but for real (happy because the actions in the book ended up making me be proud of Chloe) but since I know Pierce, I'm certain that if I pick up the volume 2 that I will hear more about that fiancé and that I will not be happy with it 

As it was in Kindle you can find my highlights of the book HERE

Don't forget to follow me! 

Welcome 2023!

 

Hope that 2022 was good for you and that 2023 will be better! 

If you got a hard 2022 don't worry! 2023 will be your year of victory and everything will be better with a sunshine just for you 💗

Now.... 

What BeBookHooked will do in 2023? 

A lot more than in 2022 and without a burnout! 

You will be still expecting to have a lot of reviews as this year as my challenge will be to read 100 books! 

And more! 

This year I want to include unboxing posts of my Fairyloot monthly boxes and also glimpse of my personal life... It's hard to me to "expose" myself online but it's a work in progress and I promise that you will see the blogger more often! 

In 2023 you will have posts with more images than last year too... 

My goals are normals and boring but if you are curious about them feel free: 

• I want to save money
• I want to take care of my mental health 
• I want to eat less junky food and drink more water
• I want to be less multitasking at work 

See? nothing special... apart the reading goal AHAH

And you? what are your goals for 2023? Did you reach the ones in 2022 or failed some like me? 

Oh and please don't forget to click in "follow" so you can check any new post :)