Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:03:40 -0600WeeblyFri, 07 Mar 2025 22:29:48 GMThttp://bookwormishme.com/reviews/cats-peopleBy Tanya Guerrero
** Publication Date 1 April 2025 **
​5 stars


Call me a cat lady, or an animal lover, but I adored this novel. Told from multiple points of view, the best were the cat’s point of view. There were times Cat literally had me crying. So moving were this little stray’s words. Honestly I loved this one.


Cat is a stray on the streets of Brooklyn. He lives near a hedge where a really nice lady, he calls Rainbow Lady, comes to feed him and talk to him daily. Rainbow Lady is Núria, who volunteers to take care of strays. She has three cats of her own, and her paying job is as a barista. She adores the cats though. 


Next door to Cat’s hedge is Collin. Collin is a bestselling author with no ideas for his next book. He sees Núria visit Cat everyday and takes notice of her. She is the bright spot in his life these days even though they’ve never met. There’s also Omar, the mailman who has a smile for everyone, including Cat, who makes the delivery rounds with Omar. 


Add in Lily, the checkout girl from the grocery store, and Bong, the owner of the nearby bodega, and you’ve got a group of people who all care about Cat. And vice versa. Cat is very intuitive and brings such a spark of life to these people’s daily lives. He is a very special cat. Somehow his relationships with all of these humans brings the entire story, and this group of random people, together. He gives a story to remember.


Yes, I cried. I cannot remember the last time a book made me actually cry, but this one sure did. Cat’s commentary was the key. His sadness, joy, exuberance, pain, and love were so real. Honestly, if you’re a cat person, or maybe if you even like stories that make you feel good, you will like this one.

]]>Mon, 03 Mar 2025 20:52:16 GMThttp://bookwormishme.com/reviews/a-drop-of-corruptionBy Robert Jackson Bennett
** Publication Date 1 April 2025 **
5 stars

Robert Jackson Bennett has created a fantastical world that is both advanced and ancient in its ways. His writing brings this whole world to life. You can imagine the fretvine buildings, the seas, the leviathan. There is so much to absorb and capture in this unusual place with very unusual people. It’s wonderful. I was so excited to return and see what was in store for us this time around. 


Din and Ana return with another mystery to be solved. This time in the canton Yarrowdale, a Treasury officer has gone missing. From a fully locked and guarded room. This is the type of mystery only the brilliant and eccentric Ana Dolabra can explain. Though there will be a lot of challenges along the way. Cryptic messages, humans turned into plants, plants growing human parts. It’s a grisly one, but most in the Empire are. So many people with secrets and secret agendas. For Din, it’s hard to know who or what to believe. 


This time Din is paired with an Apoth named Malo. She’s a tough girl with a mouth full of hina root, the Yarrow version of chewing tobacco.. But she’s also smart and enhanced in such a way that she will be very useful to Din and Ana in their quest to find this mysterious Pale King that is wreaking havoc throughout Yarrowdale.


While you don’t necessarily need to read The Tainted Cup prior to this one, it will help explain Ana’s bizarre behaviors and Din’s backstory. Book one gives you a lot of background on the Empire, while this book brings more information about the Khanum to light. 


I just hope that this series goes on for a while. It’s an extraordinary place. Bennett’s words are magical. Please also take the time to read the Author’s Note at the end of the story. It was profound in its own way.
]]>Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:50:37 GMThttp://bookwormishme.com/reviews/heartwoodBy Amity Gaige
** Publication Date 1 April 2025 **
​4.75 stars

I love how this book is written from three distinct points of view. Two of them are so clearly connected. The third doesn’t reveal itself until much later. While it is a story of the Appalachian Trail and those who undertake it, it is also a story of finding yourself out there in the wilderness and realizing what ultimately makes you happy.


Sparrow is trying to do a flip flop on the AT. Starting in Harper’s Ferry, hiking to Maine, then ferrying back to Harper’s Ferry and continuing the rest of the trail south from there. Her ‘treasure’ spouse is the one doing all the driving. Meeting her at checkpoints. Taking her to hotels for a break. Restaurants for real food. Until Sparrow misses a checkpoint. 


Lena is the elderly scientist and forager, living in a retirement to death community. She has one real friend in the facility and mostly lives online talking to her Reddit buddy. They’ve never met, but she thinks him to be the master forager and outdoorsman that he portrays on the message boards. They have a private message conversation that goes back and forth for quite a while. Lena is lonely. She doesn’t think herself lonely, but estranged from her daughter, she truly has no one but the stranger online, and Warren, her community friend who goes foraging with her.


As a Maine Warden, Bev protects the massive outdoor lands of Maine. Search and rescue have been her forté, But that’s not all she does. She gives tickets, fines, and even breaks up domestic disputes in town if needed. When the call comes in that Sparrow has missed a check-in, Bev does what Bev does best. But when days pass and the mystery of Sparrow’s disappearance deepens, Bev wonders if her luck has run out. Will they ever find Sparrow?


As someone who loves the mountains, I would never dream of trying to through hike either the Pacific Crest or Appalachian Trail. I applaud those who do.  I love to read novels like this that immerse me in their worlds, but don’t require any muddy boots or hunger. Gaige has done such an amazing job of not only making the Trail a character in the story, but writing such deep characters. I fell in love with them all. 


Strongly recommend!!! If you loved Wild, you will love Heartwood. 

]]>Sun, 16 Feb 2025 20:36:00 GMThttp://bookwormishme.com/reviews/i-would-die-for-youBy Sandie Jones 
** Publication Date 25 March 2025 **
​4 stars 

Rock groupies have existed for as long as rock has existed. Maybe even before. Lots of books have approached the topic. This book tackles it in a different light. 


Sixteen year old Cassie is obsessed with Secret Oktober. She imagines that she’s going to be in a relationship with Ben Edwards, their lead singer. When she shows up at a pop-up event, she befriends Ameilia who has been a groupie for a while. Amelia knows the band and thinks she has a relationship with the drummer Michael. Amelia ropes Cassie into hanging out, skipping school and work, and following the band. 


Nicole is Cassie’s older sister. Nicole is a singer/songwriter who is working the circuit trying to make something of her career. When Nicole crosses paths with Ben, she does her best to keep him a secret from her sister. Nicole knows Cassie’s obsession and doesn’t want to hurt her in any way. But as Cassie and Amelia get in deeper with both their imagined relationships and the band, things turn ugly. 


The book jumps between current day and the 1980s. It develops into more than just a book about a band and relationships. It’s about hiding your past and having to confront it later in life. It’s about secrets that you never should have kept and truths that should have been told. I never expected the ending to turn out the way it did. It’s kind of wild. 


Enjoyed this one and would recommend it. Definitely kind of chick-lit with an edge.

]]>Sun, 16 Feb 2025 19:45:40 GMThttp://bookwormishme.com/reviews/breaking-the-dark-a-jessica-jones-marvel-crime-novelBy Lisa Jewell
** Publication Date 25 March 2025 **
​4 stars
I’m not even a Marvel fan! Honestly you don’t have to be to love this book. I’m a huge Lisa Jewell fan, so when I saw another novel by her, I didn’t even read the title. But here I am, not only having loved this book, but wanting more Jessica Jones.


Since this takes place in the Marvel Universe, I’m sure a lot of you know all about Jessica Jones. For those of you who don’t, it appears that Ms. Jones has taken a leave of absence from the superhero life after being brainwashed and forced to commit heinous crimes. Now she’s a self-employed private detective living and working in Hell’s Kitchen. 


When approached by a very fancy mom to find out what’s wrong with her teens, Jessica initially wants to say no. But having no other jobs in the future and needing the income, she names an outrageous price and takes on what she thinks are just teens being teens. Until they aren’t. These teens are strange. Nothing normal about them. Which leads Jessica to a small town in England and a very strange social media beauty influencer.


Alongside all this is Jessica’s somewhat relationship with another superhero, Luke. Will they or won’t they? Are they or aren’t they? It’s just a side story to the real mystery. 


With Lisa Jewell’s ability to spin an amazing mystery, this novel rocks. As an initiate to the Marvel Universe, I have to say, I might need to dig in a little deeper now. I think they were genius to ask someone as talented as Ms. Jewell to write a little story for Ms. Jones. ]]>