Book Reviews for Q4 for 2021

In the last quarter of 2021, I read 18 books, primarily horror and thriller books. That’s a total of 94 books for the whole year, the most I’ve ever read. I have learned immensely, specifically about writing style and plot. Primarily, I’ve learned about myself and what type of books I enjoy reading. I hope to read even more books in 2022 and make it through my perennial to-be-read list.

Some apps I use for free eBooks and audiobooks are Libby and Hoopla. Additionally, I love shopping for used books on Thrift Books.

77. The Exorcist by: William Peter Blatty

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This book was horrifying and had me looking over my shoulder while reading. The descriptive language draws you in entirely. I bought this book about seven years ago, but I was always too afraid to pick it up. This was the perfect book to welcome the month of October and get me out of a month-long reading slump. I recommend it to any horror fans, but I’m sure most horror fans already know about this book.

78. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Category: Magical Realism

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This was an interesting concept, but the writing was a bit stale. When you visit this café in Japan, you can travel back in time, but you have to drink your cup of coffee before it gets cold to return to the present. I did enjoy that the reader received a recap at the end of how all the characters played out after visiting the past or the future. I think some descriptive language could have gotten lost in translation from Japanese to English.

79. Dracula by: Bram Stoker

Category: Classic Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: As a horror fan, this was on my “must-read” list for a while. I finally took the plunge this October and thoroughly enjoyed it. For some reason, I kept comparing Dracula to Frankenstein, which is one of my favorite books. This is a book any horror fan should read, to learn where the expansive world of vampire lore first originated. I appreciated the chapters being written as journal entries, but it made the story get a bit confusing once we got to the action scenes.

80. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by: Stephen King

Category: Horror Short Stories

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: It is always hard to rate a short story collection. I enjoyed some of these; others I felt indifferent towards. My favorite short story was Little Bad Kid, which features a man being followed by a red-headed 7-year-old his whole life, who kills his loved ones. This felt like typical King horror. Overall, this was a worthwhile read for any King fan, including some very creepy short stories.

81. The Death of Jane Lawrence by: Caitlin Starling

Category: Gothic Horror

Rating: ⭐️

Review: This book had great potential for excitement, but after I was 100 pages in, I knew this wasn’t for me. It reminds me of the book Mexican Gothic, which is another gothic romance in a haunted house. Jane marries a doctor in a small town and later discovers that he practices black magic and has created a haunted house with the spirit of his first wife. I did not like the magical aspect, I wish there would have been a worldly secret he was keeping, like keeping the bodies of any patients that died at his hands to keep from losing his license. If you liked Mexican Gothic, then you’ll probably like this book, but I disliked both.

82. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by: J. K. Rowling (MinaLima Edition)

Category: Young Adult Fantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: After purchasing this stunning edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I knew I had to re-read it. Although the story is the same, the detailed illustrations and interactive pop-ups create a unique reading experience and a new way to be introduced to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. The design team of MinaLima did an outstanding job with this book, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the rest of the series.

83. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by: J. K. Rowling (MinaLima Edition)

Category: Young Adult Fantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This is the second illustrated and popup edition in the Harry Potter series by the design team MinaLima. As expected, they did an outstanding job. I’m so excited to see how they can top themselves with Prisoner of Azkaban. I will always read these editions whenever I’m rereading this series.

84. If We Were Villains by: M. L. Rio

Category: Dark Academia

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This book reminded me of The Secret History, and I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the two books. I think this would have been a 5-star read for me if I was better versed in Shakespeare’s work. I will give it another chance after that happens. Overall, worth it if you enjoy the dark academia/ slightly pretentious thriller fiction.

85. Pillow Thoughts by: Courtney Peppernell

Category: Poetry

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: I picked this book up from the library because I remember how popular it was on Tumblr when I was a teenager. I’ve never been a fan of poetry, so I decided to skip it for so long. I enjoyed it, but I do not think I am the target audience for this book. It was a quick and easy read, so I don’t feel like I was robbed of my time.

86. Pillow Thoughts II: Healing the Heart by: Courtney Peppernell

Category: Poetry

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Review: The first book was more appealing than this one. As with the first book in this series, poetry has never been something I’ve willingly read outside of a classroom setting. I also think this book was dull to me was because her poems are about love and the different stages of falling in love and I’m typically not a romance reading, except for the classics.

87. Pillow Thoughts III: Mending the Mind by: Courtney Peppernell

Category: Poetry

Rating: ⭐️

Review: This is the third Pillow Thoughts book, and I liked it less than the first two. Perhaps I erred in reading all three consecutively. I believe that contributed to my boredom. Thankfully, the author's poetry style is short and quick, so I did not spend excessive time with this book. I think I’ll give other poetry books a chance in the future, but probably not another one from this author.

88. NOS4A2 by: Joe Hill

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This is the first Christmas-themed horror book I’ve heard of, and I’ve enjoyed all the other Joe Hill books that I have read, so I figured it was worth a shot. And while I also enjoyed this one, I felt it went on for too long. There were some very creepy scenes that made me a bit anxious, especially while reading this book at night. Overall, this is a unique concept for a book and definitely fun to read in December. I also find it funny that like his father, Stephen King, Hill has this odd obsession with describing every female character's breasts.

89. The Green Mile by: Stephen King

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: I’ve been making my way through all of Stephen King’s books, and The Green Mile was one I was ecstatic to tackle. Although I only gave it three stars, I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the impactful ending. It was slow to start, but this is definitely a story that will stick with me for a while. Even if you are not a fan of King’s traditional horror, you’ll enjoy this one.

90. Healing Crystals by: Karen Ryan

Category: Spirituality

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Review: For people that are new to the world of crystals, this book was awfully informative. However, I wish there were more images of the crystals being mentioned. I also found that the glossary of crystals was quite limited. I’m not sure how much I believe in the healing properties of crystals, but this book felt a little dull and the writing was rudimentary.

91. A Christmas Carol by: Charles Dickens

Category: Classic Fiction

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: I’ve seen many versions of this story told in movies, but I was excited to finally read it this Christmas season. I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed Dickens’ writing style. I wish his other books were not so long, but I know I should make the effort to read them. Overall, this is a classic Christmas tale that everybody should read. Even though Scrooge is obviously the villain, he’s surprisingly funny and owns some endearing qualities.

92. Billy Summers by: Stephen King

Category: Thriller

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: While this is not the very best Stephen King book, it is far from the worst. I found the main character to be slightly annoying, which made it difficult to feel any empathy for him. I found I only became interested in the story once Alice was introduced, and that was probably two-thirds of the way through. However, I enjoyed how the story kept cutting back to the memoir that Billy is writing, similar to the technique in Misery. If you enjoy crime thrillers, you might like this one more than I do.

93. The Chain by: Adrian McKinty

Category: Thriller

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

Review: This was such an engrossing thriller with a unique concept. A woman receives a call that her daughter has been kidnapped, and she must pay a ransom and kidnap another child to get her daughter back. The writing is fast-paced and even made me anxious while reading it. I actually couldn’t put this book down. I also enjoyed how the main character has a philosophy background, and there is a lot of philosophy woven into the story.

94. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by: Ottessa Moshfegh

Category: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Review: I was reluctant to read this book because it was wildly popular on TikTok, and BookTok has wronged me before. This book is an exploration of grief and depression. Although the main character is often insufferable, she has a way of drawing you back in. Unfortunately, I found the book to be lacking. I finished reading it and thought, “That's it?” This could be because this book is so hyped up on the internet. It is a pretty short book, so I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about grief and mental health, it just wasn't the book for me. Also, the constant references to Whoppi Goldberg felt like an inside joke that I was not a part of.

Here’s to another great year of reading and reviewing books in 2022! 📚🥂