Review: Compulsion by Martina Boone

Title: Compulsion
Author: Martina Boone
Series: The Heirs of Watson Island, book #1
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
Source: received from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Beautiful Creatures meets The Body Finder in this spellbinding new trilogy.

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

All it took for me to add Compulsion to my TBR was a look at that gorgeous cover and seeing a Southern gothic romance tag. I loved how this story started out, too...with Barrie who has a gift for finding lost things becoming a lost thing herself. What I didn't love was the fact that when I added this book to my must-read list, I was under the impression that it was a stand-alone. I should have known better, right? And maybe it's been a series since I first heard about it, I don't know, but I don't think Goodreads mentioned that at first or I wouldn't have been nearly as excited about the book. It's not that I didn't enjoy the novel -- I most definitely did -- but I'm trying to keep the number of new series I start to a minimum these days. Also, I read in the acknowledgements that the author had so-and-so to thank for helping her turn this into a trilogy. So, it wasn't a planned series to begin with. And I still don't think it needed to be. Anyway, that's more my issue than any fault of the story's.

Compulsion embodied everything I love about Southern gothic romances: the eerie setting, complete with old, decrepit mansions; restless spirits; peculiar townsfolk; and a romance that seemed destined in the stars. This book also includes a centuries old curse, warring founding families, and psychic abilities that have been passed down for generations. And yet, even with all of that, the story dragged its feet for the first half of the book or so. Not to the point that I was considering not finishing the book, just in the way that many a story from Southerners tends to require a lengthy build-up before getting to the good stuff.

That said, the romance took no time at all to develop between Barrie and Eight. But, I wouldn't exactly call it insta-love because their attraction is pretty much fated. While the Colesworths have always been feuding with the Watsons and the Beauforts, the latter two have always been drawn to each other. It's all curses and magic, but that doesn't make it any less real for these characters, despite how much Barrie fights her feelings for Eight. She's already lost so much before making it to Watson's Landing, and she doesn't want to add Eight to that list. Because of Eight's gift, Barrie can't be sure that what's going on between them is real, and she's just so afraid of being hurt, of being left behind. I did find Barrie's back-and-forth feelings -- her constant wavering and wondering if loving Eight would be worth it -- to be somewhat annoying in the beginning, but I forgave her that when it seemed like she was legitimately starting to trust him. Barrie just wouldn't allow herself to fall for Eight's Southern charm...at least not at first.

It impressed me how comfortable the author made these two with each other, despite their misgivings, even from their very first encounter. They just conversed so easily, had that easy banter of a couple who'd known each other all their lives. And I think that's part of the reason that this didn't seem like insta-love to me. The characters may have been initially attracted to each other, but they spent the entirety of the book getting to know one another. While I didn't immediately connect to these characters, I felt their connection.

I enjoyed all of the backstory for these families, even if it was slow-going getting to the bottom of the curse and how everything fit together. But it gave me time to get to know the side characters, as well, even the ones that weren't physically present. It was better that I was slowly introduced to them all because admittedly, the family histories were a tad confusing at times. Lots of brothers and sisters and betrayals and missing people to worry about. And after discovering all of the secrets and magic that had been hidden on Watson's Landing all those years, I thought the ending would be more suspenseful, but I guess that's where the beginning of a "spellbinding new trilogy" comes in.

I think that as far as meeting my expectations goes, this book succeeded. Based on my initial reasons for wanting to read Compulsion, I got exactly what I was hoping for. I really enjoyed this story, but I was hoping for a really compelling resolution in this book. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that I don't think a series is warranted here. I would have much rather gotten my ending here in this book and then moved on to read the next awesome story from Martina Boone.

GIF it to me straight:

Yep, that's what I'll be doing for the sequel since this is not the stand-alone I was hoping for. :(

About the author:

Martina Boone was born in Prague and spoke several languages before learning English. Her first teacher in the U.S. made fun of her for not pronouncing the "wh" sound right, so she set out to master "all the words”—she's still working on that! In the meantime she’s writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she'd love to visit.

If you like romance steeped in mystery, mayhem, Spanish moss, and a bit of magic, she hopes you'll look forward to meeting Barrie, Eight, Cassie, Pru, Seven and the other characters of Watson Island.

Find Martina:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest

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Labels: beautiful covers, book trailers, gothic mystery, magic, martina boone, reviews, simon schuster, southern gothic romance, the heirs of watson island

Review: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Unmade
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy, book #3
Publisher: Random House BFYR
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

This final book in the Lynburn Legacy is a wild, entertaining ride from beginning to shocking end.

I don't think I'll ever love Untold or Unmade as much as I did Unspoken, especially since I adored that original cover design on the hardcover and have never really come to terms with the redesign. But Unmade was a very fitting end for our friends in Sorry-in-the-Vale, and I'm sad to be saying goodbye to them.

I think I've mentioned a time or two how difficult it is to review a series finale without spoiling anything in the previous books, so this won't be my typical review. I will say that I wish I'd re-read the first two books in preparation for this final installment, not because I was missing or had forgotten any vital information, but because the witty repartee and humorous interactions between the characters might have made this sad, sad goodbye more bearable.

Thank you, Sarah, above all for these characters. For Kami and Sulky and Blondie and Rusty and Jon Glass and every bit of comic relief you bestowed upon them. They deserved it. I'll never forget -- or forgive you for -- what you've put them through, those that were sacrificed, and those that live on so that those sacrifices were not in vain. Thank you for making sure that, while they suffered, they always had a good support system, that they had each other in the end and always. I know what you did and why you did it but it doesn't make the hurt any less.

I'll miss visiting Sorry-in-the-Vale, the Sorrier River, the Crying Pools, the tolling of the bells...everything that made this sleepy little village quaint and magical and real. I'll miss Kami's newspaper. I'll miss her bond with Jared and Ash but also the love she held for her own brothers. I'll miss Aurimere and the secrets it held. I'm going to miss it all.

This final book was perfectly plotted, well-paced, full of the dark, snarky humor I've come to expect from the author. Kami still rocks as a quirky, independent, take-charge protagonist and I wouldn't have wanted her to change for the world. She's going to remain one of my favorites, without a doubt. I can't say I'm 100% happy with how this story finishes but I have my reasons. And they'd be spoilery if I told you, so you'll just have to trust me that this is a worthy end. I'm happy but heartbroken, which is honestly how I always expect to feel at the end of a treasured trilogy, so in that respect, Unmade is pretty par for the course.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Sarah Rees Brennan is Irish and currently lives in Dublin. For a short stint, she lived in New York and became involved with a wide circle of writers who encouraged and supported her, including Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. She has developed a wide audience through her popular blog, mistful.livejournal.com, where she writes movie parodies, book reviews and some stories.

Find Sarah:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

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Labels: all the feels, all the swoons, cover redesigns, favorites, gothic mystery, magic, must-read, random house, reviews, sarah rees brennan, the lynburn legacy

{Audiobook} Review: Blythewood by Carol Goodman

Title: Blythewood
Author: Carol Goodman
Narrator:  Leslie Bellair
Series: Blythewood, book #1
Length:  12 hrs 8 mins
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication Date: October 8, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Welcome to Blythewood.

At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she’s on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.

But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes.

Vivid and atmospheric, full of mystery and magic, this romantic page-turner by bestselling author Carol Goodman tells the story of a world on the brink of change and the girl who is the catalyst for it all.

I haven't had the best of luck with boarding school novels lately.  So many of them are flat and contain the same old, same old:  magic, mystery, and secrets, and they're all very blasé about it.  So, it was with some trepidation that I began this audiobook, despite knowing that several of my friends had already loved the story.

I don't know if it's the combination of a truly worthy protagonist and a brilliant audiobook narrator, but I can safely say that I am back on the boarding school bandwagon.  I loved Leslie Bellair's narration in Tarnish, so I was fairly certain she'd do Blythewood justice.  Bellair beautifully portrayed Ava as a girl who's not quite sure of her sanity and also not certain of her place in the world.  I'd say she far-exceeded my expectations when it comes to the narration.

My first instinct is to compare this story to Harry Potter because there are quite a few similarities, but that would be doing this book a great injustice because as far as writing and story go, the two books couldn't be more different.  Historical fiction and fantasy combine in this story to create a magical world shrouded in mystery. Blythewood is magical realism at its best, as far as I'm concerned, and setting the story in the early 20th century made it that much more enjoyable for me, especially when other events from history coincide and intertwine with the story.  This book is far from light, and including real-life tragic events from history gave the book a more realistic feel, making it all the more engaging.

These events also play an important role in Ava's life...Ava who's already suffered a tragic loss of her own. It's all a bit much and has Ava questioning her sanity, but she's a survivor.  She's not perfect and she doesn't have the ability to magic herself out of a jam; she's just a girl who's trying to make the best out of a bad situation.  And along the way, she makes some friends, both among her peers at school and among her teachers and their acquaintances, but she also makes a truly menacing enemy, one who may know Ava's story better than she does.

Another aspect of this story that I found particularly intriguing was the balance between light and dark, between good and evil.  I think when it comes to magic in a story, it's always important to highlight the differences but also to stress that there are gray areas, even if the opinion is not popular.  The Darklings, the fae, and the other inhabitants of the Blythe Wood are just such a gray area, and I can't wait to delve further into that magic in future installments.

I also need more of the romance from the next book.  The relationship that develops in Blythewood is forbidden in nature and very slow-burning, so much so that I wondered if anything would even become of it in this book.  Especially when the author seemed to be pushing another love interest into the mix.  Though nothing develops with that young man, there are indications that his presence is important and that even if Ava doesn't have feelings for him, he clearly does for her.  I'd buy into that romantic aspect more if I had been shown his feelings rather than having been told about them by another character.  Either way, it's going to be interesting to see how this all develops, especially after certain revelations at the end of this book.  Ava is going to have to overcome some prejudices and come to terms with who she really is before anything can really happen, though.

Honestly, I don't think any review I write can effectively convey the awesomeness of this story.  It's slow-going at first but well worth the build-up.  It's such a unique take on faerie lore intermixed with that of angels and demons and everything in between.  I was disappointed to learn that it wasn't a stand-alone as I'd originally thought, but I'm also elated to know that there's more of this story to be told.  I haven't had my fill of this magical world yet, and I am ever so intrigued by those Darklings and whatever else lurks in the shadows of the Blythe Wood.

About the author:

Carol Goodman is the author of The Lake of Dead Languages, The Fairwick Chronicles, Watchtower Trilogy (with husband Lee Slonimsky), and the forthcoming young adult Blythewood series. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Greensboro Review, Literal Latt, The Midwest Quarterly, and Other Voices. After graduation from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin, she taught Latin for several years in Austin, Texas. She then received an M.F.A. in fiction from the New School University. Goodman currently teaches writing at SUNY New Paltz and lives with her family in the Hudson Valley.

Find Carol:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: angels, audiobooks, blythewood, carol goodman, faeries, gothic mystery, historical fiction, magic, penguin, reviews

Review: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Untold
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy, book #2
Publisher: Random House BFYR
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Free from bonds, but not each other...

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?’

Oh, the angst!  The denial!  The sacrifices!

I loved Unspoken...in fact, I think I might have deemed it my favorite read of 2012.  And I was crushed by that ending...hopelessly crushed, as many readers were.  I didn't know if I'd ever be able to pick up the pieces of my wrecked heart after what Brennan did to it.

But the heart is a frail, fickle thing, and as much as I wanted to despise the author for what she put me through in the first book, I also wanted to give her the chance to make amends with Untold, to pick me up and put me back together after the heartbreak I suffered.  Kinda like Kami needed to be put back together.

Many have despaired at the lack of action, the lack of forward movement in this sequel.  And it's kind of true...this book doesn't really serve to advance the story much.  There's a war brewing between those evil sorcerers led by Rob Lynburn and those who wish only to protect Sorry-in-the-Vale.  But it's like the most mild-mannered war ever.  There is a battle scene, and it does get kind of cray-cray, but other than that, the two opposing sides seem almost pleasant toward each other.

This book mostly revolves around Kami amassing an army of her own and preparing them for battle.  She entrusts Rusty and Angela to teach them all self-defense moves.  Rusty.  *sigh*  Kami helps mastermind a plan to aide the magical and non-magical folks alike in disposing of the evil sorcerers' powers, if only temporarily. She even brushes up on her history of the Lynburns and Sorry-in-the-Vale in hopes of discovering some secret that helped destroy the evil Lynburns all those years ago.  Essentially, Kami really takes charge of the situation, but I don't think we'll really see any of this come to fruition until the next book, sadly.

But where others are claiming the story suffers from the banter and quips, I have to disagree.  That was one of the more resplendent qualities in the first book, and I was glad to see that it survived, even if the link between Kami and Jared didn't.  (And boy, do I miss that.)  I guess I'm just really happy about it because after the ending in Unspoken, I was just so afraid that Jared would go missing, as love interests are wont to do in sequels.  But he's there...or at least as present as Jared Lynburn ever is.  And he's grumpy as all get out.

This book is just so damn angsty.  I mean, I get it...after having been able to talk to each other without ever uttering a word, after knowing what each other was thinking for their entire lives, not being able to read each other is really taking a toll on Jared and Kami.  And then there are just so many misunderstandings and things left unsaid and gah...So. Many. Feelings.  And not just with Kami and Jared.  There's the weirdness between Angela and Holly.  And it seems like Rusty may have developed a little crush of his own.  And Ash is steadfastly trying to get out of the friends zone, with little success.  Poor guy can't catch a break, but I guess them's the breaks when you help your crazy dad with his blood sacrifices in order to gain more power.

Maybe this sequel didn't quite live up to my expectations, but those expectations might have been were wholly unrealistic to begin with.  I think this second installment did just what a sequel is supposed to do: built upon a world I've already come to love and entirely cemented my affection for the characters I've grown to care for so completely.  And so, even though I was really disappointed with the cover redesign -- and I mean REALLY disappointed -- I still think this book was awesome.  The series thus far is among my favorites, as is most of what Sarah Rees Brennan writes.


(And I always picture Knives when I think of Kami. :D)

In case you missed it, The Night After I Lost You is a short story told from Ash's POV, and it's free here.

About the author:

Sarah Rees Brennan is Irish and currently lives in Dublin. For a short stint, she lived in New York and became involved with a wide circle of writers who encouraged and supported her, including Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. She has developed a wide audience through her popular blog, mistful.livejournal.com, where she writes movie parodies, book reviews and some stories.

Find Sarah:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

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Labels: all the feels, all the swoons, cover redesigns, favorites, gothic mystery, magic, must-read, random house, reviews, sarah rees brennan, the lynburn legacy

Teaser Tuesday #77: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's what I'm teasing this week:

Title: Untold
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy, book #2
Publisher: Random House BFYR
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Free from bonds, but not each other...

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?’

My teaser:

    "I wasn't following you home so I could break into your house and steal your underwear," Jared pointed out.  "There are sorcerers killing people in this town.  I wanted to make sure you got home safe."

- p. 147

Well, at least it sounds like Jared is being his normal self.  I was afraid things would continue to be painfully awkward between him and Kami for the duration of this book after the events that unfolded in Unspoken. Speaking of, I am terribly unhappy with the cover change for this series.  The other cover was just...so unique.  This new design is woefully unimaginative.

What are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

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Labels: favorites, gothic mystery, magic, must-read, random house, sarah rees brennan, teaser tuesday, the lynburn legacy

Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Series: Between, book #1
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: August 15, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was one of my mostly highly anticipated titles this year.  I screamed like the fangirl that I am when an ARC arrived on my doorstep.  I know that practically all of the reviewers I trust have devoured this book, and yet I made myself wait till now to read it.  I wanted to forget everything I'd read about the novel so that I could go into it with a clear head.  And it absolutely lived up to my expectations.

Far and above everything else, I think my favorite aspect of this novel was the moral questions it asked of the reader.  River is deliciously devilish, and it would serve Violet well not to believe a word he utters, but his actions are not always those of malice.  Give a boy a god-like power and expect him to become addicted to what he can do and trust that he will take it too far.  Except, is it morally and ethically wrong if his actions are those of retribution on souls who've committed great misdeeds?  If it wasn't his place to judge the wrong-doers, why was he given this power?

Violet knows better than to give her heart to this boy.  Even before she knew what River was capable of, she was wary of him.  And yet...there's something about him that draws her in.  Vi resists her feelings for River, especially once she seriously has to consider how evil he might be, but her will is no match for River's magnetism.  That is, until the truth of that magnetism is revealed, and then we're all left wondering whether any of it was real.

Throughout this novel, I continued to question why I was okay with River as the love interest.  He is not inherently evil, but his actions do speak loud and clear.  Knowing what he has done, what he will probably continue to do, how is it that I still ship this romance between him and Violet?  I think it speaks to the beautiful prose that I can almost accept River and his sense of justice, no matter how misbegotten it is.

The setting of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea gives this novel a very gothic feel, with the White's extravagant house  -- named the Citizen Kane by their deceased grandmother -- on a cliff, the crashing sea below it, and a graveyard full of children fending off the devil. Very macabre indeed.  The White children are isolated from the rest of the town, left on their own at the Citizen over the summer while their parents travel abroad.  Yet, Violet is even further ostracized, partly by choice.  She doesn't fit in, and her brother makes every attempt to ensure she knows it.

Despite initially despising Luke for how he treated Violet, he did grow on me.  And it was nice to see River give him his comeuppance a time or two.  All of the characters in this novel seemed a bit morally ambiguous in the beginning, but each endeared themselves to me in one way or another...eventually.  (Well, except that one guy.)  Even Frankie, dead as she was, was an ever-present facet in Violet's life, and I found myself wishing for more than just her old letters and clothing to get to know her by.

I wanted to love this book so badly, and I'm relieved and ecstatic that the story was everything I'd hoped it would be.  The eccentric dialogue and the easy banter pulled me into this little circle of strangeness from the very first page, and I'm excited to see where the author takes the story in the next installment, especially after seeing the title:  Between the Spark and the Burn.  I'm officially creeped out by what this title implies, but I'm also very, very intrigued.  Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a stellar debut, one sure to conjure up its fair share of nightmares.

Rating:  

About the author:

April Genevieve Tucholke is a full-time writer who digs classic movies, redheaded villains, big kitchens, and discussing murder at the dinner table. She and her husband—a librarian, former rare-book dealer, and journalist—live in Oregon. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is her first novel.

Find April:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter

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Labels: april genevieve tucholke, between, dac 2013, demons, favorites, gothic mystery, must-read, penguin, reviews