The Carrow Haunt is Darcy Coates newest release. It's about a girl named Remy that gives tours of the famously haunted Carrow House. On one of her tours, a guest asks if she will proposition the owner to allow a group of people including Remy, to stay at Carrow House for a couple of weeks in order to study the paranormal phenomena up close and personal. Not willing to pass up a chance to experience some of the sightings she talks about in her tours everyday, Remy agrees to participate;  and the owner, a huge paranormal enthusiast, jumps on the chance, with the stipulation that she has to be included in the guest list too. None of the guests are quite prepared though, for the terrifying experience Carrow House has in store for them.  

So this is the second book I've ever read by Darcy Coates and I was just as impressed with it as I was with Craven Manor. I love a good ghost and haunted house story and she's delivered in both books. The Carrow Haunt was deliciously creepy and suspenseful! Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I'm definitely looking forward to reading a lot more of her books. 

I like this! It was standard, as far as M/M goes, but has the distinction of being set in the Outback. Charlie and Travis were fun, and it was nice to see Travis pull Charles out of his shell and self-loathing. I really liked Ma and George, too. (Though I did get a little annoyed with the chapter headers, gotta be honest.)

This is a short read though, barely longer than novella length, so we don't get to see much of the other workers on the ranch, who are basically just there as set dressing. A lot of the relationship development between Charlie and Travis was set in the bedroom too, and after one-and-a-half standard sex scenes, I just started skipping them altogether. There was still enough development outside the bedroom for me to appreciate why they're clearly good together, so that was good.

The next one looks longer, so hopefully it'll have more meat on its bones. And be better formatted. The formatting for this book was all over the place. It though Ch 6 was Ch 8, for instance, and thought the book was complete when I was still at 70%. 

This was tough for me. I love Eggers' work, and so much of this is what I would expect from him, but there are parts that just left me irritated, confused, or extremely stressed out for this unprepared, ill-equipped, mother of two, who displays an almost stunning lack of judgment when she takes her children on an inspired but completely unplanned trip to Alaska. The children, of course, are perfectly sweet, beautiful, wise little Yodas, who manage to charm even when they are at their worst.

Despite this, I was rooting for Josie. I bookmarked my audio-book and listened to one part several times — describing how we went from 4 parent visits a year at school to 46-hours' worth of recommended involvement (in a month). So, I cheered for Josie, even when she did some super questionable things (did anyone besides Josie not figure out the jumpsuits immediately?). And I almost made it all the way through. With about an hour or so left, Josie composes some music, and the story went from completely unrealistic yet kind of sweet and brave, to you have got to be kidding me. I considered Josie's musical scoring a charming affectation, a cute little character trait, but this was completely bizarre and almost offensive (to all musicians, everywhere, and I am not a musician). It went right off the rails for me after that.

There are some awesome, radical, refreshing ideas here about parenting and life, and it would have been so great if the rest of it had measured up to that great promise. Based on some other comments, I am guessing the geography is not well-researched, which seems a shame, and also easily avoidable. Any Eggers fans out there? Curious to know your thoughts.

...how freaking fantastic this book was! It was so damn good! But man I hate that its over! I'm going to miss the crew, even AIDAN, especially AIDAN!! 

I thought Obsidio was way better then Gemina- and just as good if not better, then even Illuminae. Don't get me wrong Gemina was good but I honestly thought it had way too much of a teenage vibe to it. A lot of the dialogue and banter got on my nerves, so I was desperately hoping I would be spared in Obsidio. And thank the heavens Obsidio did not take on that tone at all! It was an amazing work of art! This is one series that I can actually see myself re-reading/listening to over and over again! 

Series: Sharpe #4 (Chronological Order)

This book started off quite strong, and I was initially enjoying Sharpe at sea (not his usual environment), but I felt things went downhill somewhat when we left the Calliope with its amusing merchant. I also didn't find the sea battle at Trafalgar to be as interesting as the battles in the previous books. Oh well. Let's hope I like the next one better!

Previous updates:

36 %

31 %

28 %