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@justines_books

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Reader.Reviewer 🇨🇦🌈
152/200
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🎧:
📖: Arctic Predator, too many to list
📱: The Calamity Club, Not Your Final Girl

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⭐️Review: Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent⭐️

Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Format: Paperback
Published: June 12th, 2018 by Gallery/ Scout Press
My Thoughts: I saw this book at the secondhand bookstore or thrift store or a little free library I can’t quite recall but the premise sounded interesting. Then the author Liz Nugent actually came to Calgary for a wordfest event so I bumped it up on my TBR. This one was good, it had multiple POV’s of the murder that happened plus everytime we came back to a character more information was relayed to us. The characters all kind of crossed paths and knew things that they weren’t letting on. I just found it to be straight forward and not as exciting as I was hoping. Even when the twists were revealed they didn’t really shock me it was more like “oh that makes sense why”. Characters were also decent, the people you thought would be the bad guys weren’t and the ones you didn’t think would be possibly are.
I would still recommend this read to others. I did pick up Strange Sally Diamond and even one really likes it so can’t wait to dive into that one.

QOTD: Do you enjoy mystery thrillers?

#lyinginwait #mysterythriller #liznugent #mysterythrillerreads #mysterythrillerbooks by @justines_books

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3 hours ago

⭐️Review: Dead Girl Blues by David Sodergren⭐️

Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Horror Mystery
Format: Paperback
Published: May 20th, 2025 by Paperbacks and Pugs
My Thoughts: This was the book for October for our year long David Sodergren Readalong in one of the groups I am in. This one wasn’t my favourite. It was a bit confusing at first going back and forth between characters POV’s. I actually thought it was going to be told in dual timelines but it ended pretty quickly lol (if you know you know). I do like that our main character was a sex worker/ adult entertainer (sorry I don’t know the exact correct term) and it was showing the dark side of that and how easily it can be for something to happen to them and no one really care.
I did like that Willow was so set on finding out what happened and put herself in danger to find out. I don’t think I would have done that much. This one read a bit different than the rest I have read by him. It was still gory but maybe not detailed if that makes any sense. I did have some questions when I got to the end but I don’t think you’re supposed to know the answers and that’s hard for me ahaha. I need to know all the things.
I think if you want to tip toe into this type of genre this book would be fine. It wasn’t as totally horrifying as some of his other works but still has the themes of hurting women by bad men. So I would be selective who I recommend it to.

QOTD: Have you ever done a large bookclub or read a long?

#horror #horrormystery #davidsodergren #deadgirlblues #readalongbookclub by @justines_books

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14 hours ago

Thank you so much @wordfest for the amazing weekend and @ellie.foumbi and @tidydissolve for entertaining us and our requests. I can’t wait to see more from you both. And thanks to @jessicastellaa for always being funny and so friendly to your fans. Thanks @creepy.chapters and @alexas.nook for coming with me form the trip and @krudereads for joining in the @tandemcollectiveglobal reading group picture!

#wordfest #anewkindofcleanreadalong #elliefoumbi #iainreid #jessicajohns by @justines_books

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a day ago

Join me for a local book event called @chinooks.and.books this is my second time attending this event. I brought @alexas.nook and @creepy.chapters with me we also hit up the local secondhand book store and went to Calgary for another event. Can’t wait for this again next year. Thanks @brennabaileybooks and @camilla_tracy for the lovely editions. by @justines_books

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a day ago

Last night I got to experience my first Literary death match thanks to @readingwiththechoob telling us it’s one of the really good shows to see. Took her advice and was not disappointed! It is such a cool concept, guest judges who are authors themselves judging four other authors work that has to be read in under 5mins. Each author showed us such different works and I loved them all. Richard ultimately pulled offthe win after and never before seen four person finale after the judges rescinded their initial vote of Kim Fu losing to Richard. Daniel and Jessica made it such a hard choice that they called everyone back in for the final pound where the winner was chosen by chance with a game of “unscramble the book title” where the titles had been out through Google Translate into multiple languages then back to English. It was very entertaining and I will absolutely be prioritizing this one next year. I was a bit sad to miss @joss.richard when she couldn’t make it but @jessicastellaa was the perfect person to attend in her place. @dzompare and Richard Kelly Kemick had us almost in tears they were so funny. All around 10/10 would attend again. Thanks to @wordfest for the great show.

#wordfest #wordfestimaginairium #literarydeathmatch #authorevent #bookevent by @justines_books

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2 days ago

Unbox some Book Mail with me!! And Hank you so much to @tandemcollectiveglobal and @simonschusterca for sending this book my way so I can join in on the read-along. If you want to join in let me know I’ll also post the other creators who are joining so you can see what they are saying as well. The read along starts to day and I can’t wait!

@_touch.my.shelf
@azeebooks
@alexas.nook
@bergamotandbooks
@aliterarygoodtime
@creepy.chapters
@coolmomsreadbooks
@michellegodardricher
@book2baker
@nicoledreamsofbooks
@sheyreads.ca
@have.book.will.travel
@yolandaannmarie.reads
@readbetween.the.wines
@covert_chapters
@fallon.reads
@littleredlibrary
@krudereads
@letsbebookish
@sara.loves.stories

#anewkindofcleanreadalong #tandemreadalong #bookmail #unboxing #horrorbooks by @justines_books

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3 days ago

⭐️Review: it’s Different This Time by Joss Richard⭐️

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Romance
Format: Paperback
Published: September 30th, 2025 by Viking
My Thoughts: So I have been seeing this book everywhere and with the release of Joss’s new book and her coming to wordfest and me grabbing tickets for the show I needed to read it. I actually found it free at my library’s like sale table (I did donate money for it) but it was fate. Then a few of my friends wanted to buddy read it so we did. I really liked it. I had a fun time with it, it was so sweet and I did almost cry a few times. It was a unique idea with the interesting the same building and then them coming to terms with how they felt about each other even though they were trying to fight it. I do love a second chance romance if it’s for the right reasons ahha and this one was. I also liked seeing how their careers had evolved since the last time they had spoken. And their realizations. Overall it was almost perfect. I can’t wait to meet Joss and grab her second book. Oh and honestly for a debut it was such a knockout!

#autumnromance #itsdifferentthistime #jossrichard #contemporaryromance #romancereads by @justines_books

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5 days ago

⭐️Review: House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson⭐️

Rating: 4 Stars
Genre: Horror
Format: Hardcover
Published: September 27th, 2022 by Ace
My Thoughts: I grabbed this book once upon a time from a local second hand bookstore because I had seen it I believe on Booksandlala’s channel and knew I needed it and I had read The Year of The Witching as well. Plus it’s sapphic vampires so how could I say no. And have you seen this gorgeous cover?? I did want to get it read for a gay book swap but didn’t end up finishing it. Anyways, I did enjoy the story, I love reading about Marion’s life in the slums and how she was always looking for better for herself. It was crappy to hear about how her brother treated her as property and a cash cow but I guess in those times that’s exactly what happened. I think he ended up getting what he deserved. I found the jobs of the blood maids interesting, I hadn’t heard of that before but makes sense as people would go through any lengths for their health or not health, for looks lol. The setting was also perfect, huge lurking manor filled with the rich who think they are above everyone especially the help in any capacity. I liked that our rich lady of the house was in love with our poor little main character and loved her blood. It was an interesting dynamic, especially because there were other blood maids who felt that they were all big to be the one chosen. The pacing was a bit odd, it was fast in the beginning, slowed down quite a bit in the middle section and then picked back up at the end.
I would still recommend this read to others and plan to pop it in the next book swap .

#horror #sapphicvampires #queerhorror #houseofhunger #sapphichorror by @justines_books

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6 days ago

⭐️Review: Love Antidote by Brynn Weaver⭐️

Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Dark Romance
Format: eARC
Published: September 15th, 2026 by Amazon Original Stories
My Thoughts: Thank you to Amazon Originals and NetGalley for letting me read and enjoy this novella or short story I guess is more like it at a mere 64 pages.
Butcher & Blackbird was just fine for me so I wanted to give Brynn Weaver another chance because so many people love her. After reading this one I just still don’t think she’s for me. Like it was a fine short story but I needed more. It’s just two assassins meets at a target they both share and then fall madly in love and do it a lot. The end.

#shortstory #loveantidote #brynnweaver #darkromance #darkromancenovella by @justines_books

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8 days ago

⭐️Review: Reconciling A Lifelong Struggle To Belong by Larry Grant⭐️

Rating: 4 Stars
Genre: Indigenous Nonfiction
Format: Paperback
Published: September 9th, 2025 by ECW Press
My Thoughts: Thank you to ECW Press for sending this one my way to read and enjoy.

This was such an interesting way to write a book, we are following Larry through different areas of Vancouver and he was telling us what had changed in different areas since he was a kid and then he goes into a story from childhood. I really enjoyed that. It was also interesting to learn the history family lost their status due to his father being Chinese but it overall saved them from being sent to residential school. It really showed me a lot of things I wasn’t aware of prior to reading this book.
Thanks Larry for sharing your story with us and I’d recommend this one to everyone and have already passed it onto a friend.

QOTD: Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong?

#indigenousreads #indigenousbooks #larrygrant #reconciling #indigenousnonfiction by @justines_books

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8 days ago

⭐️Review: Please Remain Seated by Marcus Kliewer⭐️

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Genre: Horror Short Stories
Format: Audiobook
Published: September 26th, 2026 Simon & Schuster Audio Originals
My Thoughts: Thank you so much to SimonAudio for sending me a gifted copy of this audiobook to listen to and enjoy.

I’m a fan of Marcus Kliewer so when I saw he had a new book out I needed to get my grubby little mitts on it and I did it. This is a 3 story, short story collection. The cool part was they were all narrated by different narrators which I appreciate and certain parts were the dynamic audio with sounds effects and whatnot so that was also awesome.
I think my favourite story was Please Remain Seated, it was the longest and most fleshed out in my opinion. I loved the trapped on an airplane plot but with monsters. They all gave the “trapped” feeling and did it well. I’ll be thinking twice next time I fly somewhere. Backroads was good, it gave the creep factor and I liked that we didn’t know how we could trust but someone was better than something. It will have me checking my rear view mirrors for unusual things. Anomaly was I think the weirdest for sure. Again that trapped but under the sea is very scary because you can’t go anywhere. And what they found was so wild.
I would recommend this book to others but they’d have to like weird books ahha.

QOTD: Do you enjoy short stories?

#pleasereaminseated #horrorshortstories #shortstories #marcuskliewer #audiobooks by @justines_books

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9 days ago

⭐️Review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey⭐️

Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Queer Western
Format: Hardcover
Published: February 4th, 2020 by TOR
My Thoughts: picked this book up because I have a few others by this author and also it queer and I read queer all year lol. Byways I loved that it was a western, honestly some of my favourite books are westerns so that sells me. I like that we had a range of queer characters even though it was a dangerous time for them, they knew sometimes they needed to hide themselves and others they trusted the people they were with. The whole novella read quick but it was a bit slower paced for me. I needed more details all around which isn’t uncommon for me. But I did like it and I saw that a second book is supposed to be released in 2027 so I may try to snag myself a copy to see where our characters go from here.
I may or may not recommend this one, maybe I’d base it on the second book or depending who I’m recommending it too.

QOTD: do you like westerns?

#queerwesternbook #uprightwomenwanted #sarahgailey #sapphicreads #sapphicbooks by @justines_books

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9 days ago