The Painting by Charis Cotter

“It was a painting, set in a heavy wooden frame carved into thick swirls. A grassy foreground, a road leading through rocky hills to a lighthouse, and a vast ocean beyond. Something about it seemed familiar.”

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Annie loves painting, her mother wants her to read more books and do better in school. It’s suffice to say that Annie and her mother don’t really see eye to eye. One day Annie finds an old painting of a lighthouse in the attic. She’s instantly drawn to it so she takes it to her room. Her mother on the other hand, wish that painting never leave the attic. Not long after that, Annie’s mother slips into a coma after a car crash accident. Since then strange things begin to happen to Annie. One night, she got sucked into the old painting she found in the attic. Inside that painting she meet a girl who lives in the lighthouse named Claire. Claire relationship with her mother, Maisie, is fraught, just like Annie and her mom. Annie then try to help them mending their relationship while also hoping that somehow it could also help her relationship with her mom and revives her mother from coma, and bring an answer as to why she could travel into the painting and why she is destined to meet Claire.

City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson (ARC)

“People don’t look for revenge to make them happy.

They do it because they must.”

City of Saints and Thieves tells a story about a girl named Tina, who escaped from Congo with her mom years ago as refuges and begin their new safer life in Sangui City. Unfortunately for them, safe doesn’t last long. Her mother was murdered, shot dead in the middle of the night. Seeking for revenge, Tina spends her life on the street and training as a master thief with local gang, the Goondas. Four years went by, and now her job with the Goondas brings her back to a place where her mother was killed and open a path for Tina to avenged her mother’s death. But revenge is not an easy game to play as the faces from the past starting to haunt her and unravel some dark truths that Tina might not ready to face.

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

“She crossed over death to call me. I crossed through Hell to find her.”

What’s that? Did I made a pentagram for this book? Nah, it’s just a star, I promise. ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º) Girl of Nightmares is the second and final book of Anna duology by Kendare Blake. The story picks up months after the event in Anna Dressed in Blood. Cas couldn’t move on. He’s seeing Anna everywhere. He see her in his dreams, and sometime he sees him in waking nightmares. But Cas noticed that these aren’t just daydreams. He doesn’t know what happened to Anna, but he knows something is wrong. Now Cas is trying to look for an answer, and he will give everything to returns the favor and make sure that Anna is okay.

Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1)

“But hey, at least we’ll have this strange story to tell, love and death and blood and daddy-issues. And holy crap, I’m a psychiatrist’s wet dream.”

It’s October, and that means it’s Halloween month, and that means I have to read at least one horror book. I just feel like I have to, because I like ghost stories. So when I saw that Retri from @darklingreads and a couple of other bookstagram made a bookclub and chose Anna Dressed in Blood as their October read, I decided to read it too.

The Armageddon Rag

"What's the use of messing around in things you don't understand?"

The Armageddon Rag is a mystery/fantasy book written by George R. R. Martin, who I’m sure you know by his well-known and most beloved works, A Song of Ice and Fire. This book revolves around Sandy Blair, a journalist turns novelist who investigates the murder of a rock promoter, James Lynch and its weird circumstances around it. This circumstances set off Blair to not only find out who killed Lynch but also launched a suspicion towards Blair’s favorite rock band, The Nazgul, and their connection to Lynch. During his investigation, Blair unfolds many secrets surrounding, Lynch, The Nazgul, and the occult mystery surrounding rock and roll world at that time.

Dangerous Girls

“Wouldn’t we all look guilty, if someone searched hard enough?”

I’ve got to start this review with cussing, sorry, but HOLY FUCKING HELL!!!! This book, this damn book! I don’t understand why are there so few people talking about this beautiful book? AAARGGHH!!! Okay, I need to calm down and carry on with the review.