Cozy Nook

[mycozynook]

One for my Enemy by Olivie Blake Review

In New York City where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters, each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless, and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.

After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.

If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first. *Summary by Goodreads

Rating: 1/5⭐

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What even is this book? I wouldn't call it a good retelling of Romeo & Juliet.. nor do I understand why the characters have Russian names or the use of Baba Yaga and Koschei if you could just as easily give them any other regular name and nothing would change. The magic system is never explained, it could even be non existent. The only reason it exists seems to be so that the characters can die and resurrect themselves whenever they want! I couldn't understand what was going on half the time or the reasoning behind their actions at all. Also.. why does everyone go to "The Bridge" when something goes wrong? Aren't they 2 very powerful families supposedly? But they keep running to the one fae guy, who seems like he should be a character from another book entirely. This book just seems like a big mess to me. I was really hoping to enjoy it, but alas.. it was sadly very disappointing.

[mycozynook]

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo Review

In post-war Tokyo, still recovering from the devastating wartime bombing raids, a patrolling policeman passing The Black Cat Café makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a woman, lying in a hastily dug hole, with a dead black cat by her side. The woman’s face is disfigured beyond recognition, and the café’s black cat seems alive and well, so where did the two corpses come from, and why were they buried in the café’s garden? *Summary by Goodreads

Rating 3.5/5⭐

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"Murder at the Black Cat Cafe" is a stand-alone mystery, where detective Kosuke Kindaichi has to get to the bottom of two murders. There are 2 separate mysteries in this novel, one takes place at the Black Cat Cafe and the second one is told through a series of letters.

The first mystery really shocked me! I believed that, because of the conversation the detective had with his friend at the beginning of the novel, that I was pretty sure of the twist that was going to follow in the story. But I was wrong, I read the last pages of the mystery completely amazed. It was also atmospheric and interesting to see post-war Tokyo.

Rating: 3⭐

The second mystery I enjoyed even more though. I really liked the way the story was told through the letters and I was kept at the edge of my sit pretty much the whole way through. Even through the letters it was very nicely descriptive so that I could picture everything and get in the mood.

Rating: 4⭐

Thank you NetGalley and Steerforth & Puskin for this ARC!

[mycozynook]

Wilder Girls by Rory Power Review

"Wilder Girls" is a Sci-fi / Horror book about a private school for girls (from 6th to 12th grade), located on an island on the coast of Maine. The story takes place 18 months after the outbreak of a strange virus, which mutates the bodies of the girls, killing them slowly. The girls mustn't break the quarantine and leave the school grounds. But what will our protagonist do, when her best friend suddenly goes missing? Will she break quarantine to save her friend's life?

Rating: 3.5/5⭐

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I actually enjoyed this book even though I had been skeptical at first, since it was quite slow paced. What threw me off more though is the fact that the book takes place a year and a half after the outbreak. I believe living through those first horrors with the girls would have been more unsettling. Hetty's friendship with Byatt and her complex relationship with Reese were interesting to read about. I would have liked to explore Reese's and Byatt's relationship more and get to know the girls on a deeper level though. Being the author's debut novel I believe it's quite good. Other than that I wish it would have a sequel to answer all of the questions that remained in the end. Usually I don't like an "open ending", but to be honest it didn't bother me that much this time.