The Aggressive Reader

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  • My Nonfiction Dilemma

    Information is power and we can learn new things from nonfiction books that fiction stories cannot provide. This is why I am trying to FORCE myself to read more nonfiction, and I have read three so far this year which is actually a great number for someone who never reads the nonfiction genre. I have already chosen my next three nonfiction reads and to be honest, I know I will not do well in describing the synopsis for each since I am so used to fiction, so I am also adding the inner flaps of each upcoming book! Let me know if you have read these and if I should be excited for them or if I shouldn’t even waste my time on them LOL.

    A self-help book? HELL YEAH I NEED SOME HELP!

    Bonus picture of my sweet girl named Happy begging for attention while I was taking my pictures!

  • Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

    Rating 4.5/5

    Spoilers: light

    Lesbian vampires? SAY NO MORE! This story was not what I was expecting at all but came out of it very satisfied. I never read the original story of Carmilla (which this is a type of retelling of), but I think I might look it up after this! All I know is the original story inspired Dracula by Bram Stoker, which I actually did not enjoy (I know…very un-goth of me), so I was surprised that this was a page turner for me.

    We follow Lenore who is married to a man who doesn’t give her the time of day but expects so much out of her. In her blindness, she stays devoted to him, not knowing any better and wanting to keep their life as extravagant as possible. Coming from a harsh childhood where she lost her parents in a violent carriage accident and had to live with her never satisfied aunt, she is willing to be put through anything just to move up in society. That is until Lenore and her husband come across Carmilla, who was in a carriage accident and is invited into their home to recover. What starts out as a simple situation starts to get…creepy. Something isn’t right with Carmilla, and she seems to have latched herself to Lenore and is feeding her ways to change her life and awakens a hunger in her that she didn’t know was there.

    Lenore was definitely the picture of a woman in this age with her mannerisms and how she was taught to think growing up. Man, am I happy someone finally made her SEE! What started as creepy turns into something completely horrific but beautiful at the same time with Carmilla and I should say, a bit freeing to read. I’ve already said satisfying but MY OH MY. The spice levels could have been higher and the pace in some areas could have been quicker which is the only reason I didn’t give it a full five stars, but I am happy I chose this one from my book subscription! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

    Thank you for following! Happy reading!

  • Sunrise On the Reaping

    Rating: 5/5

    Spoilers: I’m keeping it short, so I won’t give any spoilers because you all deserve to experience this all by yourselves!

    WOMAN DOWN! WOMAN DOWN! We got a pimp in distress! My heart ACHES! Now that’s what I’m talking about, Suzanne Collins! Bring me back to the heart break and insane after book depression that was brought on as well after The Hunger Games series. Sunrise On the Reaping was all I wanted and more! I craved this writing with A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and was sorely disappointed, but Collins has made her comeback!

    We follow Haymitch Abernathy at age 16, during his turn in the 50th Hunger Games and my emotions were not ready. When I talk about feeling like I want to know these characters and feel for them like in real life, this is what I’m talking ABOUT! Every single character was written so WELL! My heart actually broke for them which is hard for me these days because of how much I read and am introduced to SO MANY different characters. Remembering characters is usually a bust but the tributes of the 2nd Quarter Quell will not easily be forgotten.

    That’s all you get from me because if you are reading this and are also a fan of The Hunger games series, you need to go into this not knowing too much and just off what you know about Haymitch from the original series. You will not be disappointed.

    Thank you for reading and following! I would say happy reading but at this point, you better guard your heart with this one…

  • More Than a Review Book Discussions Announcement Numero Uno!

    Hello, my fellow AWESOME readers! I wanted to let y’all know of a new monthly segment where I will be going into deep discussions about one or two books a month! Yes, I know I already post reviews, but these are MORE THAN JUST REVIEWS! READ THE TITLE! WE ARE GOING HAM ON THESE BOOKS AND COMPLETELY BREAKING THEM DOWN TO THE KNITTY GRITTY! WE ARE LOOKING AT THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY! THESE WILL NOT BE REVIEWS, THEY WILL BE HARDCORE BOOK CLUB ANALYZING AND I BETTER SEE SOME THOUGHTS ON MY THOUGHTS AND JUST YOUR THOUGHTS AS WELL! Got it????

    I will be researching questions for each book to answer and yes, SPOILER ALERTS! I highly recommend that you read the book or books with me when I announce each month because I truly mean breaking them down to THE KNITTY GRITTY. Do you just want to see what I think and want all the details before going into a book even though it will spoil the ending? Well shit, go ahead and read the More Than a Review discussion anyway! It is whatever works for you, but I hope to hear your answers to some of the questions and your thoughts for any of it as well! We will be starting in April and there will be two book choices. Starting April 1st, we will be reading Count My Lies by Sophie Stava!

    Count My Lies follows a woman named Sloane, who doesn’t seem to know how to keep the lies out of her MOUTH! With such an uninteresting life, she makes up as much as she can to find some enjoyment where she can. What Sloane needs to remember is that she’s not the only one who does lie and that her lies land her a job with some people that she may be up for a competition for the most lies in one life…oh man. I totally over simplified that because I love going into mystery/thrillers not knowing much so I wanted to give y’all the same treatment! The spoilers and details don’t come until the DISCUSSION FOR HEAVENS SAKE!

    I will have to check but I am pretty sure this is a debut novel for this author, so I am excited to get started since I love supporting new authors! Stay tuned for the second book announcement!

    Happy reading!

    Gotta love the cat hair making its appearance in almost every book picture!

  • Suffer the Children by Craig Dilouie

    Rating: 4/5

    Spoiler level: Light

    So that was something! Something as in some immaculate writing and great depictions of grief that I was not expecting. I listened to the audiobook (obviously by the photo) and let’s say listening to it got difficult at times because of how painful this story is, but what starts with sadness, quickly turns to horror (MY FAVORITE)!

    In Suffer the Children, we follow a few POV’s in a world where every child that hasn’t hit puberty yet passes away. At first, there is absolutely no explanation, and the parents are reaching for answers. We follow a couple named Joan and Doug the most it seems, a single mother named Ramona, and a doctor named David and his wife, Nadine. We also get a couple surprise POV’s!

    This story was not what I was expecting AT ALL! I refuse to spoil too much for you, but things are not what they seem! At first, with so many children passing, it was difficult listening to the book, but I am HAPPY I continued! What an insane turn of events and showing a depiction of how crazy the world would get in a situation like this was done very well. All our POV’s shared completely different ways of grieving and situation handling and I enjoyed every one of them. Mostly Ramona’s excessiveness…IYKYK.

    I do feel like I would have enjoyed this story more if I read the physical book, just because I am picky about the narrators for audiobooks. The man who narrated it definitely wasn’t awful but very monotone at times where it was easy to zone out which WE DO NOT WANT! I CAN NOT MISS ANYTHING!!! He was cracking me up though with the voices for the kids and I think he should be responsible for most kid depictions on audiobooks. He did very well with it! Had my heart joyful and depressed for imaginary children.

    Suffer the Children does live up to the title. There are trigger warnings for child loss, suicide, and animal abuse (nothing too crazy). Also, heavy alcohol use (Well yeah, what else do you do when your children die out of nowhere with no explanation?) if that is something you don’t want in your reading material. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a FANTASTIC day!

    I would say happy reading but this one…was not so…happy…

  • It is TIME

  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

    Rating: 2/5

    Spoiler level: NOTHING BECAUSE WHAT COULD I SPOIL THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE INTERESTING?!

    Soooo, I got through it! Well, mostly. I already knew what happened the last one hundred pages so I DNF’d the HELL out of it! I first read this book when it was released in 2020 and couldn’t even get through the first one hundred pages so MASS improvement there. I still have to say…as a huge fan of The Hunger Games series, I was excited to get a villain origin story for Snow but was left so FRIKIN disappointed!

    First things first, why was the writing so dull? Was I the only one that thought that? The Hunger Games series was well written to me but this…THIS Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes just drained my interest so quickly. I continued to read just to see if it got better but again…DISAPPOINTMENT! These characters…I couldn’t have cared less about them and their stories…I have not read a book with characters this dry for a while…even Lucy Gray couldn’t hold my interest. I really expected more from this origin story. I expected to feel the pain of the characters but the only one I felt for was a boy in the games named Reaper who had nothing to do with Snow at all! Again, couldn’t care less about the others.

    We learn about Snow’s past and his hardships with losing his parents during the war, but why did the writing not really do his pain justice? I’m about to use the word again so get over it but it was all just so…dull. I expected more from this book because Suzanne Collins had blown me away before, but this story just wasn’t for me. The odds were not in my favor! I am hoping to be in love with Sunrise on the Reaping, which is coming out tomorrow, March 18th, and I am PUMPED for it! I will be MIA for all of tomorrow because I am ready for Haymitch’s story!

    Happy reading!

    This book is gorgeous though!

  • Does It Hurt? by H.D. Carlton

    Rating: 2/5

    Spoiler level: Light

    DNF close to 300 pages because yes, it was really starting to hurt…When it comes to DNF’s, there rarely is anything I have to say because I am LIVID that I wasted the time I did on a book that I felt nothing for! Oh, I felt a lot for the um, happenings between the characters in this book. Okay there’s SEX! And lots of it!

    I got what I wanted from an erotic romance but damn, I’d like a good story or at least enough of a story to go along with it. In Does It Hurt?, we follow our main character, Sawyer, who is on the run from something horrific that happened in her past and has to steal from men just to get further and further away from home. Sawyer be committing full on identity theft by taking their names as well. She ends up meeting an absolute hottie that likes to swim with sharks and he gives her the NIGHT OF HER LIFE! Of course, just for her to survive, she has to steal his identity like past flings, in which he obviously does not appreciate because WHO WOULD?! Based on the rest of what I read, he takes his anger out on her in some..concerning ways.

    Listen, I got the erotic scenes I wanted but it got to a point where it was nothing but SEX and I was like, “Where is my story?! Where is it?!” But hey, if you all are into these books just for the porn, then man, is this book for you! The characters are not my cup of tea but hell, some of those actions are! Sweet Jesus. I kind of hate that this is the first book I review since it was both not finished and not 100% enjoyed but hey, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen ALL the time.

    I repeat myself, you’ll get a kick out of this one if you’re looking for mostly erotica. I won’t judge if that’s you because a part of me knew exactly what I was getting into picking up a book by H.D. Carlton. Sometimes I’m just in that mood though and I know ya’ll get it!

    Thank you for stopping by today!

    H.D. Carlton..our book porn Queen!

    #HDCarlton #erotica #romance #doesithurt

  • The Evolution of my Reading

    You know what? I think a proper introduction to both me and what I actually like to READ is in order, because my reading selections have definitely changed for the most part since 2020. Am I reading more books that most people probably are avoiding instead of joining in on the trends? Maybe so but I’ve gotten a bit weirder as I age, and I see that as a good thing.

    First things first, my name is Mattie, and I am 28 years old. Only two years away from my thirties…SHEESH! My twenties have been a hell of a rollercoaster, and I expect my thirties to be a lot better! One thing that has never changed for me is my love of reading, even as a little girl, if I wasn’t terrorizing my classmates and family, then I had a book in my hand. But no kidding…I was a demon child. My VERY religious grandmother thought I was possessed at one point and shit…maybe I was with the way I acted LOL.

    I work a full-time job (because this world forces me too) so I obviously don’t get to read and write as much as I want to, and as all you know, there are always other responsibilities outside of a job that always needs to be completed…soooo yes, my hobby has been set to the side a lot lately which not only brings me sadness but causes my TBR to STACK up! Obviously, my responsibilities have to get done but I am starting to put more time into what makes me happy in this messed up world. I believe that you all should do the same.

    What do I love to read right now? HORROR, THRILLERS, and MYSTERIES…OH MY! Yes! Yes! I am a horror/thriller freak. Thrillers and mysteries have always been on my TBR growing up, but horror is actually quite new to me, as in just started reading more of it only two years ago. I used to be very huge into fantasy and historical fiction and still am interested in some fantasies but romantasy seems to be the name of the game right now…unfortunately for my unromantic ass. Are there romantasies that I’ve read that I’ve actually liked? Oh yes but it has gotten rarer with age. What I will say for any type of romance that I will read, THE MORE EROTIC, THE BETTER! I NEED THE DETAILS OF EVERYTHING!

    My current read as an example is Does it Hurt? by H.D. Carlton which I will review shortly and yes, that is what I mean by DETAILS! You’ve got other similar erotic romance like this then you better let me know in the comment section! But anyways, there will be books that I will read every now and then that force me outside my comfort zone and sometimes I will be surprised by how much I loved it…and sometimes it is exactly what I expected..WOMP WOMP. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you and reading what you think of certain books! I will be posting my first review soon so hang tight and get those judgements READY!

    PEACE!

  • Welcome Back…Again!

    Damn…I started this blog in 2020 and got too lazy to keep reviewing books and let the world make me give up on writing and keeping my book opinions to myself (I know, how could I do this?) but now that the world is in utter chaos again without a pandemic, I am back and full of so much love and RAGE for my hobby of reading and writing that I will not give up! I am full of thoughts for each book I read that will either have you screaming, “YES!” in agreement or have you raging and ready to hit me across the face with a saucepan and start kicking me in the ribs…but hey, we all have our different opinions that we are ready to fight for but just because we all don’t like the same stories, let’s take a chill pill, shall we?

    I did mention before when I started my blog in 2020, that I wanted to talk about mental health as another topic for my blog but let’s be honest, all of our mental health is completely screwed right now, and we all are riding that boat together. DO NOT GIVE UP! I DON’T CARE HOW BAD YOU THINK IT IS, YOU WILL NEVER GIVE UP! We will get through this mess together! I don’t plan on swaying too much from my current reads, but I definitely know what it’s like to be in a very dark place in life. You have no motivation to do what needs to be done or even take care of yourself. I promise you that these dark days will pass, and if the world gets worse, then shit, we are going down together! You are not alone in your fight! But yes, anyways, let’s get back to our escapism into other worlds and lives.

    PEACE!