Unapologetic Reviews

I read Child X by Jamie Mustard for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 36 “A book about a mob (fiction or nonfiction)”. I interpreted “mob” more loosely here, as a high control group rather than organised crime. Though honestly, when it comes to Scientology, the book could fit the original intent of the prompt as well. This book is Jamie Mustard’s memoir about being born into Scientology and eventually leaving the movement at nineteen. I ended up feeling quite ambivalent about it, because there were parts I genuinely loved, and parts that I found frustrating. One of the strongest aspects of the book is just how intelligent it feels. Mustard constantly references history, literature, films, music, philosophy, and cultural events. The narration itself is also extremely sharp. His use of language is thoughtful and deliberate, and there is a real sense that this is somebody who thinks deeply about everything around him. Even ordinary moments are layered with associatio...

I received an ARC of Bloodstone by M.K. Deoradhán from the author in exchange for an honest review. I’m giving it three stars. I enjoyed the story, but there were enough issues that kept pulling me out of it. The novel follows Mel Hawkins, a 22-year-old American archaeologist, in 1936. It opens in Egypt and then moves through places, mainly in Italy. The premise is strong, and the beginning reflects that. There is no slow introduction. Things start happening immediately. You are dropped into movement, danger, and decisions from the first pages, and that sense of constant forward motion continues throughout the book. This is an adventure that keeps going. Mel is a first person present tense narrator, so we are fully inside her head at all times. That becomes one of the book’s biggest weaknesses. She constantly revisits earlier events, repeating what has already happened. It feels like the story does not trust the reader to remember. During action scenes, this becomes especially frustra...

I read Murder Is a Piece of Cake by Valerie Burns as part of the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge for prompt 14, “A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan”. Valerie Burns herself is not from Michigan, but the book clearly is set there, so it fits the prompt through the setting. The story takes place in New Bison, which is a fictional small town based on New Buffalo, Michigan. It has that classic cosy mystery atmosphere. Close knit community, familiar faces, and just enough secrets under the surface to keep things interesting. This is the second book in the Baker Street Mysteries series. I had already read and enjoyed the first one, so I decided to continue with the series. That turned out to be a very good decision, because the first book leaves a few threads open, and this one continues to build on them rather than resetting everything. The plot follows Maddy, who is still settling into her new life as a bakery owner. Her development is one of the strongest aspects...

I read Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt 12, “A book with "pop" or "sugar" in the title”. I gave it four stars. This is a straightforward cosy mystery. Maddie is an influencer in Los Angeles whose life collapses after she is left at the altar. She then inherits a bakery, a house, and a dog from her great aunt in a small town called New Buffalo. The will requires her to stay there for a year. Soon after she arrives, the town’s mayor is murdered, and she gets involved in the investigation, while using her influencer career to the advantage of her new bakery, and the whole town. The strongest part of the book is the cast. Maddie works as a main character because her situation forces a clear transition. She is used to a curated online life and has to adjust to a slower, more personal environment. That contrast drives a lot of the early interactions. The side characters are distinct and easy to keep track o...

I read Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 6, “A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight”. I went into this expecting a light but eventful romantic comedy, something built around Chloe’s list and the idea of her stepping out of her comfort zone. What I got instead was a very slow, very internal, and very repetitive romance that did not work for me. I ended up giving it two stars. The premise is simple and promising. Chloe Brown is a wealthy woman living in the UK who, after almost being run over by a car, creates a list of things she wants to do to “get a life.” She has fibromyalgia, which limits her energy and shapes how she navigates the world. To complete her list, she enlists the help of Red, the building’s handyman, who is also a painter. From there, the story focuses almost entirely on their developing relationship. The problem is that the list, which should have driven the narra...

I read Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris for the 2026 Popsugar Reading Challenge, prompt 30, “A travel ghost story”. I did not read it fully in print. I started the book, but it did not quite feel like Doctor Who on the page, so I switched to the abridged audiobook. That version worked much better for me and shaped my overall experience of the story. The novel is set in 1947 in India, during the final days of British rule. This is not just a backdrop. The setting is very present. There are tensions between communities, people moving, uncertainty about what comes next. The story builds on that instability and places a supernatural mystery into it. At first, the events appear ghostly. There are sightings, fear, and confusion. Gradually, the science fiction layer comes in, and the explanation shifts toward something more typical of Doctor Who, with an alien presence behind what initially looks like a haunting. The main characters are the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, which is on...

I read The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke as my April pick of the month for 2026. This is a collaborative novel written by Cat Clarke and V. E. Schwab, which already sets up an interesting premise before the story even begins. The novel follows six mid-list authors who are invited to a remote Scottish island by a famous, reclusive writer. The setting is very contained. A single house on a small island, cut off from the outside world, no devices, no communication, just the writers and their work. Once they arrive and sign strict NDAs, they are given their task. The famous author whose house they are staying in is already dead, and they must each write the final chapter of his unfinished manuscript. They have 72 hours to do it, submitting their work to an editor who stays separately in a nearby cottage. The cast is deliberately varied. Each writer comes from a different genre, which shapes both their voice and their approach to the challenge. There is a thriller-writing duo, Malc...

I read My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris, and this ended up being a much lighter, more playful read than I expected. I read it for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 10, “A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover.” The premise is simple but immediately appealing. It is a Regency romance, but structured as a choose your own adventure. You step into the role of the heroine and make decisions that shape the story. Not just small choices, but major ones. You decide where to go, how to react, and most importantly, who to pursue romantically. There are four possible love interests, each leading to a different version of the story. What worked well for me is how naturally the format fits the genre. Regency romance already revolves around social choices. Who you speak to. Who you avoid. Which invitation you accept. Here, those choices are literal. You turn the page and commit to them. On Kindle, this works especially smoothly. You click, and th...

After reading A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie, I wanted to see how the story translates to screen, particularly because this feels like a book that should benefit from its setting. I watched two adaptations: the 1983 American TV film and the 2013 ITV version from the Agatha Christie's Marple series. They approach the same material in very different ways. The 1983 adaptation is the more straightforward of the two. It updates the setting from the 1960s to the 1980s, which is immediately visible in the styling. The hair, the clothes, the overall look place it firmly in that decade. All the actors are American, including Miss Marple, who speaks with an American accent. This creates a slightly odd effect, because the character is still supposed to be from St Mary Mead. There is no attempt to reframe her as American, so the accent stands out. In terms of structure, this version stays close to the original story. The plot unfolds in a direct, almost procedural way. The key events ...

I read A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie for the 2026 Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, as the April selection. The novel was published in 1964 and is one of Christie’s more “exotic” settings, taking place on a Caribbean island inspired by her own travels. The story follows Miss Marple as she takes a holiday at a resort. An elderly retired military officer, Major Palgrave, spends his time telling stories from his past. At one point, he begins describing a case involving a murderer who managed to escape justice. While talking, he suddenly realises that the person he is describing is actually present at the resort. He attempts to show Miss Marple a photograph, but is interrupted. Shortly afterwards, he is found dead. The central mystery becomes identifying who he recognised and why that person needed him silenced. Structurally, this is a relatively simple mystery. The solution is seeded early, and there are multiple clues from the beginning that point towards the culprit. There is...

Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden is the sequel to Escaping Exodus, which I read for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge . As this is a duology , I continued straight on to finish the story. I rated this book four stars, and this review will include spoilers for both books. SPOILERS AHEAD!!! The novel takes place three years after the events of the first instalment. Seske now has an almost complete family unit, structured around the same multi-partner system established earlier, though her triad remains incomplete. The narrative perspective shifts noticeably. Adala is no longer a point of view character, while Doka becomes the second POV character. This change moves the focus away from the worker class perspective that was important in the first book. That layer of society is largely absent here. Instead, the book centres on the evolving relationship between the humans and the Zenzee , the living space organisms they inhabit. The core idea is an attempt at true symbiosis. The inhabitants ha...

I read Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 50, “A book about Afrofuturism .” The label fits, as the author herself describes it that way, but the book is more complex than a simple “Black people in space” premise. I gave it four and a half stars, which I round up to five in most places. The story is set in a society that lives inside large space creatures called beasts . These creatures travel in herds, and humans attach themselves to one, enter its body, and modify its internal structure to create a functioning habitat. The setting is very concrete. Biological structures are repurposed into living spaces, corridors, and systems that support daily life Each beast lasts approximately twelve years. When it dies, the society moves on to another and rebuilds everything. The key distinction is how different social classes experience this process. The elite class recreates their previous environment in exact detail, including layout and ...

Diana Wynne Jones ’s Howl ’s Moving Castle and Studio Ghibli ’s film adaptation are not simply different versions of the same story. They are different stories built from some of the same names, images, and character outlines. The film keeps Sophie , Howl, Calcifer , the moving castle, and the basic premise of Sophie being cursed into old age, but beyond that it changes characterisation, worldbuilding, plot structure, antagonists, and the entire central conflict. This is a spoiler comparison of both versions. Sophie’s character In the book, Sophie is much stronger, sharper, and more active. She begins as someone who has quietly accepted a limited life. She assumes that, as the eldest of three sisters in a fairy tale world, she is destined to fail. But once she is cursed, she becomes far more direct. She talks back. She interferes. She makes decisions. She does not simply drift through events. She pushes into them. She is also magically powerful, though she does not know it for most of ...