The Rogue Book Reviewer

*This post contains very mild spoilers for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes * The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Suzanne Collins 5/5 I am not at all surprised by how much I enjoyed Suzanne Collins’ novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes . Collins has a very particular flare for imagination and writing that drags you in and makes you forget that you’re reading. The story is immersive, and ties in enough elements of the original series to make you feel like you’ve returned to Panem without feeling like she ripped off her own story for the money that additions to popular series can bring to an author. As anyone who has done any research knows, this book centers on the 10th annual Hunger Games and the main character is none other than the reviled President Coriolanus Snow, from the original series. In The Ballad though, Snow is an 18 year old student who has been roped into being a mentor for the girl tribute from District 12 while he is completing his final year at the Aca...

Chain of Gold - Cassandra Clare 3.5/5 I have not read anything by Cassandra Clare since The Mortal Instruments series which I read many, many years ago. I didn't read The Infernal Devices or The Dark Artifices series, though I did read The Red Scrolls of Magic recently which I absolutely loved. I was in school, and getting my life started when they came out and I just didn't have time time or money to devote to new series. So to say I am no longer overly familiar with her writing style would be an understatement. I am still familiar with the general world of the Shadowhunters as I am a huge fan of the Netflix show, even though I do recall that the show deviated a great deal from the books after a while. Overall, I liked the book. I liked the plot, the diverse cast of characters and familiar last names like Herondale, Fairchild, and Lightwood. I always appreciate Clare's take on love, her inclusion of LGBTQ characters (Magnus Bane is, and always will be, one of the ...

One With You by Sylvia Day 4/5 This post contains mild spoilers. I have finally completed Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series, which ended with One With You . It took years. I think when I first got my hands on them it was right in the middle of the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and only the first two or three books were out. So, this is quite literally years in the making. One With You has been out for quite a while but I hadn’t picked it up off of my book shelf. It was a mix of having other stuff to read and having no interest in continuing Gideon and Eva’s story. Anyways. I finally decided to commit to finishing the series but it had been so long since I’d read the other ones that I had to go read a synopsis of the novels and then it all just came rushing back. I remembered the books in detail. As far as conclusions go, it was pretty satisfying. Eva and Gideon had made massive strides with their mental health and really bloomed as a couple. I still find it absurd that al...

Anyone that read my review of Brave by Rose McGowan knows that I do not typically give a number rating for memoirs, because how can you reasonably rate someone else's life experiences? That doesn't mean that I don't hold Brave up as the standard of the awful memoir. I found myself consistently comparing Demi Moore's consistent reflection on what had happened in relation to herself with McGowan's constant blaming of everyone and everything around her for status as a victim.  This book is incredible.  I have always been a fan of Demi Moore, but didn't realize how few of her movies I had actually seen until I read the book. I had heard of her in a lot of them but I have seen her in relatively few movies. I know her, specifically, from G.I. Jane . I was barely nine years old when G.I. Jane came out and it was, and still is, one of my favourite movies. I was nine so I couldn't relate to her on an adult level but I watched a strong woman fight to overcome ...

2.5/5 As most of you know, I am not a connoisseur of horror.   I am a huge chicken. I don’t watch horror movies or shows, and I don’t read horror books. I’ve read The Talisman and Desperation by Stephen King and enjoyed both but while they are “horror” they are more creepy to me than actually scary. Those of you that follow me on Facebook are well aware that while reading this book I was super freaked out because I made the mistake of reading the book, at night, alone. Terrible decision, really. The book is about four people who go to the Belasco House, or “Hell House” commonly referred to as the Everest of haunted houses. In the 1920s the owner of the house, Emeric Belasco, would invite guests to come and live in excess. The best food, drink, and carnal pleasures, which eventually descended into utter chaos up to, and including, murder and cannibalism. A group of people went to cleanse the house two times prior to the current expedition which occurs in 1970. The four peopl...

5/5 I just powered through What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini. I went through it so fast and neglected just about everything else so I could get through it.  It is unexpected, and fractured much like Lena, who is a schizophrenic fresh out of an institution. The book is very unlike anything Josephine Angelini has written in the past - I've read all of her books and they rank very high on my favourites list.  The chapters are interspersed with italics which are recollections of the horrific thing Lena did back home in New York which ultimately caused her institutionalization. The present portions of the book happen in the woods far away from New York where her grandparents live.  The whole book is a roller coaster which leads you to the ultimate conclusion and I have to admit, I was really far in before I finally figured out who the murderer was. It was interesting, fast paced and a great read. The author makes you doubt everything you've read through Le...

1/5 How can I possibly describe the travesty that is After by Anna Todd...? I haven’t hated anything this much in... maybe ever? Needless to say, this post is going to be full of spoilers because there are just so many examples of why this book is awful. I originally picked the book up because it started popping up everywhere. Chapters had a huge display, a movie came out, it has over 1 BILLION reads on Wattpad, and it seemed like something that was right up my alley in terms of what I like to read. It’s based on One Direction fan fiction which threw me a bit but Fifty Shades of Grey started life as Twilight fan fiction so who am I to judge? This whole book boils down to three things: 1.        Tessa, the virginal “good girl” experiencing her sexual awakening with 2.        Hardin, the emotionally abusive “bad boy” with daddy issues, and 3.        A bet. There you go. That’s it. ...