Reviews written by Kelly Goodwin

Can I take a minute to fangirl over Julie Kagawa? Cause this lady knows how to write a page-turner! The Lost Prince wasted no time creating suspense and building mystery, instantly capturing my full attention and guaranteeing that I wouldn’t be able to put it down until I had unravelled...

Obvious racism and stereotypes aside, Revealing Eden is a poorly written book with weak dialogue, characters who lack any character growth and a haphazard and nonsensical plot. Skepticism over the books overt racist undertones is the only reason I picked up Revealing Eden, and morbid fascination is the only reason...

Saving June was an emotional read, with moments of gut-wrenching sorrow interlaced with lighter, playful moments, that worked together to make a truly memorable reading experience. A slightly unnecessary plot twist, moments of forced meaningfulness and a lacklustre romance did give me pause, but Harrington’s writing remained captivating until Saving...

Just in time for Halloween, I picked up Ten hoping to be on the edge of my seat as I jumped into a murder-mystery thriller, where a killer lurked in the shadows! And while there was definitely a killer lurking, I felt very little suspense as Ten’s plot seemed to...

Murder, demonic possession and exorcism? Possess had all of the ingredients for something I should have really enjoyed. And while I did enjoy it’s fast-paced plot and smooth writing, a glaringly obvious inconsistency, flat secondary characters and a somewhat forced romance did have me scratching my head. ...

Split into four different love stories, Fallen in Love was heartwarming and a fun addition to Lauren Kate’s Fallen series. Fallen in Love’s first story, Love Where You Least Expect It: The Valentine of Shelby and Miles, was adorable. I loved seeing the lighter side to both...

Deceptively disturbing, Renegade starts off relatively utopianesque, merely hinting at the possibility of darker themes to come. As Evie’s memories beging to resurface, and she stumbles upon horrifying truth after horrifying truth, you quickly realize that Renegade is anything but a utopian in the face of Mother’s twisted and gruesome...

Absolutely gripping from start to finish, Howard has woven a whimsical and magical tale that has left me both thrilled and enchanted! Splintered’s evocative imagery brought Wonderland and its inhabitants to life, lyrical prose had me dancing along its pages, while complex characterization gave the story depth and meaning. ...

Thought-provoking and intelligent, with Rot & Ruin Maberry has created a post-apocalyptic world that questions the slaughter of those inflicted with disease. Told through the eyes of a naive young boy on an unintentional quest for enlightenment, we got to witness the harshness of his reality first hand as he...

Hauntingly beautiful, filled with the heartbreak of impossible choices and the separation from those you love, Days of Blood & Starlight is the much darker sequel to Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Stunningly vivid prose that spoke of pain and desperation, a tension-filled atmosphere that teetered on the hopes of...

Marketed as a retelling of Frankenstein, I expected a lot more of that kind of tale – the science behind the doctor’s crazed experiments, his creation’s loneliness over being such a mix-matched creature, the ultimate betrayal and then battle between creator and creation. Broken’s constant use of the words Shelley...

While A Shimmer of Angels started off quite promising – a young girl institutionalized for three years for seeing wings? That’s gotta result in some pretty cool psychological twists, right? – it quickly escalated into the oh-so-stereotypical paranormal romance where the protagonist is clumsy-and-plain yet every-guy-says-she’s-gorgeous, white-winged angels are good...

Dualed had the potential to blow me away: an interesting concept where in a futuristic world where it’s killed or be killed by your genetic twin, a badass heroine trained in knives and guns and lethal with both, and the tension of a would-be romance. Unfortunately the concept was underdeveloped,...

I really enjoyed the first half of Black City. But with the introduction of insta-love, everything that was enjoyable about the first half – political scandal, world-building, intrigue – was made background noise to the growing crescendo of the protagonists’ exceedingly exasperating love story. As Black City...

Good pacing, the suspense of a murder-mystery and an interesting paranormal-ish twist combined to make Slide a pretty entertaining read. While I did find the plot to be a little predictable, guessing the murderer relatively early on, and even though high school stereotypes were unabashedly exploited, I empathized with the...