Tag Archives: humorous

Book Review: Contagion, by Amanda Milo

I purchased an e-copy of Amanda Milo‘s Contagion.

One OCD neat freak alien.
One human woman.
Both are abducted and held captive in a very unsterile environment.
What more could go wrong?

Simmi: I’ve broken free and I’ve also freed the human who was held captive with me. But I don’t know where we are, and I don’t know where my home is. The local wildlife may be smaller than I am, and maybe they don’t have fangs near as large as mine, but I’m still terrified. My issues with germs–and my uncompromising avoidance of all the things that I’m afraid of coming into contact with–is going to get me killed in this wilderness.

Thankfully, Aurora lets me follow her.

Thankfully, she seems to know the way out of this endless and inhospitable woodland and desert biome.

But by the end of our journey, she’ll suspect she’s harboring a contagion. I have no way to know it, but she’s afraid to tell me. Afraid of how I’ll react once I find out what she’s carrying.

I have forgotten who recommended this to me. I probably saw it on TikTok. I wish I could remember, though, because I’d like to thank them. This was a joy to read. Simmi is just so very himself in every way, but all of those ways are courteous and self-aware. He’s hilarious and kind. Meanwhile, Aurora is steadfast, patient, and willing to look past Simmi’s frightening exoskeleton.

It wasn’t a perfect book for me, though. As much as I loved all of Simmi’s neuroses, it was a bit of a one-trick pony, and I did find myself tiring of it toward the end. And I didn’t realize when I picked it up that it is actually the second book in a series. So, I felt like I was missing out on book one. (That’s not the book’s fault, of course.) All in all, however, I’ll be looking for more of Milo’s work.

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Book Review: One Dark and Froggy Night, by Jade Greenberg

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I got myself in a little bit of a pickle. I couldn’t remember if I’d promised a review here on See Sadie Read or a promo over on Sadie’s Spotlight of One Dark and Froggy Night, by Jade Greenberg. So, I opted to do both, just in case. You can find more book and author information over on Sadie’s Spotlight.

Danny made the mistake of crossing the wrong witch. Now he’s a warty amphibian. At least until he learns his lesson.

When my witch ex turned me into a frog, I was pissed. But it didn’t take long for me to realize how good I got it. Life as a magic frog is figata, baby. Close to perfecto. But it has its downfalls. One formerly very big downfall to be exact.

Now the King of Atlantis is granting wishes to anyone who can help him find a lost mermaid fairy princess.

A magic wish is just what I need to live the perfect magic froggy life. All I got to do is find her.

If I was a mermaid and wanted to go missing, I’d go somewhere no one would expect to find me. Like the sky. No one would think to look there for a fish. But I’m a frog. How would I get to the sky?

This one’s a corundum, but I’m going to figure it out.

I thought I had it good before, but now that I know the impossible is possible, I got a plan. A big one. If you know what I mean.

This is a truly odd book to review. Danny is both intensely unlikable and adorably himbo at the same time. He is dumb as a box of rocks, but also not the most off-the-wall aspect of the story. Plus, for all his faults, he is actively becoming a better person before the readers’ eyes.

I think for me, I have to admit, though, that even if being ridiculous is the story’s purpose—it is literally the book’s shtick—it was just too much for me. I appreciate the nods to mysticism, mythology, and machismo. But it wasn’t quite the sort of humor I most appreciate. That, however, is wholly subjective, and the right reader will likely find this uproariously funny.

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Book Review of Wicked Appetite (Lizzy & Diesel #1), by Janet Evanovich

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I borrowed an audio copy of Janet Evanovich‘s Wicked Appetite from the library.

Description from Goodreads:

For centuries, treasure hunters have been eager to possess the stones, undeterred by their corrupting nature. The list is long — Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, to name a few. Now the Stones have found their way to Salem, Massachusetts, and so has Gerwulf Grimoire, adding himself to this rogues’ gallery of power seekers. He’s an uncommonly dangerous man, with a hunger for the forbidden, and a set of abilities that are way beyond ordinary. Abilities that he feels entitle him to possess anything he might desire.

That would include Elizabeth Tucker, the woman he needs to find the Stones. She’s freshly transplanted from New York City to Boston’s North Shore. With a new job as pastry chef at Dazzle’s bakery and an old house inherited from her Aunt Ophelia, her life is pretty much on track …until it’s suddenly derailed by a guy named Diesel, a rude monkey, and a ninja cat.

Lizzy can handle the monkey and the cat. She’s not sure about Diesel. He’s offering up his own set of unusual talents, promising to protect her from Grimoire. The kind of protection that Lizzy suspects might involve guarding her body day and night.

The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, greed, lust, envy wrath, sloth and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that is wicked. Diesel thinks it also pretty much covers everything that’s fun. And Lizzy thinks Diesel and the Seven Deadly Sins cover everything her mother warned her about.

Review:

I’ve wanted to try a Janet Evanovich book for a while. Everyone seemed to love them. But I was never certain where to start; there are so many of them. So, when I came across Wicked Appetite, clearly labeled book one in a series I jumped at it. (For the record, I think Diesel is a character from another of Evanovich’s series. But the book certainly stood alone.) After all the anticipation I was severely let down. I found the whole thing silly beyond belief. And not even endearingly silly, just stupid silly. I was irritated by all the onomatopoeia, the dialogue was ridiculous, the plot paper thin, and the characters shallow. I made it all these years without ever reading one of Evanovich’s books. It looks like I’ll go several more without them. I have no desire to read another one. Lorelei King did a fine job with the narration.