Quick Reviews

Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth (2023)

Inspired by the 1916 shark attacks along the New Jersey shore, Silent Came the Monster is a fictionalized version of those events.  Dr. Halsey, after examining the body of the first victim, is convinced a shark is stalking the coastline, but many do not believe him.  After more people are killed, will they finally listen to him?  I don't often come across books set in New Jersey, so I was interested to read this; unfortunately, it had a lot of issues.  The story itself is intriguing, but the writing is lackluster, awkward, and often juvenile.  At times it felt like it wanted to be a nonfiction book because it included so many random facts.  The author also places the attacks in the bigger picture of the era (a world on verge of war, a medical epidemic claiming the lives of babies), but whenever the characters talked about these other events, it didn't feel natural or like it fit with the story.  I think the author did a great job with the research, but it didn't all come together for me in the way I wanted.  3 stars

Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Cordova (2023)

Ariel is a famous pop star who just wants to take some downtime before starting her next career move, but her father has other plans.  Ariel, however, decides to put herself first for once and decides to go on the road, anonymously, with an up-and-coming band and its dreamy lead singer, Eric.  Obviously, this is a Little Mermaid reimagining and I couldn't resist!  Elements of the story were cute - I liked seeing how the author took pieces of the story/movie and fit them into this new setting and time period.  Seeing Ariel try to act like a "regular" woman was fun, getting to experience all these things, some seemingly mundane, for the first time.  However, I had trouble connecting with Ariel and Eric.  Even though they are in their mid-to-late twenties, they just felt so young and immature.  The slow burn between them was just waaayyy too slow for me, and I thought the villanous character of Ariel's father was just a bit too much.  3 stars

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