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ClareR (6054 KP) rated Build Your Home Around My Body in Books

Jul 28, 2021  
Build Your Home Around My Body
Build Your Home Around My Body
Violet Kupersmith | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this enchanting, horrific, beautiful story. Build Your House Around My Body is a difficult book to describe. There are at least three timelines, all relevant to what is happening in the present day to the main character, Winnie née Ngoan.

Winnie is a lost soul - she has gone to Vietnam to stay with family while she teaches English to Vietnamese students, hoping to find herself, but she seems to become more and more lost as the story progresses. She struggles with her dual identity as her mother is American, and her father is Vietnamese. The fact that she seems to deliberately sabotage her own life is the most tragic thing about her.

The time does jump around a bit, but this didn’t confuse me at all - the chapter headings made sure of that - in fact they gave some interesting history lessons (e.g. French colonialism, Japanese occupation).

It’s a weird and wonderful one (my favourite kind!), sometimes bordering on the grotesque (ditto). Bodily functions and food that I wasn’t sure about, galore! (I’d still try the food though, although I draw the line at dog…).

The supernatural elements showed that these things are still very much a part of Vietnamese culture (spirits and demons both feature).

Some parts are achingly sad, some made me feel a bit ill, and others were actually quite amusing. I couldn’t put this book down. The joy of it was that I didn’t know, couldn’t predict, what was going to happen next!

I’m really interested to see what Kupersmith writes next if this is her debut - what an imagination!
Many thanks to Jellybooks for giving me the chance to read this wonderful book.
  
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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Midlife Bounty Hunter (Forty Proof, #1) in Books

Jan 11, 2021  
Midlife Bounty Hunter (Forty Proof, #1)
Midlife Bounty Hunter (Forty Proof, #1)
Shannon Mayer | 2020
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've read a few books in the past by this author and enjoyed them, so I'm hoping this one plays out the same way.

It starts with Breena heading to a graveyard where she's supposed to be attending an interview but things take a decidedly paranormal turn when she meets a skeleton and is chased by a werewolf up a steep come-out-of-nowhere mountain where she finds out she's passed the interview and is now working for a group who do bounty work for the supernatural community.

I did enjoy this but I wasn't fully invested in it. The most exciting thing for me was Crash...and Breena trying to get her house back, but mainly Crash. There was just something about him that drew my attention and intrigued me. Him, I would like to see more of. The rest of the gang...meh. They didn't grow on me that much and I didn't feel like I grew to know them that well.

I feel I should mention Robert and Feish, too. They were the closest people - loosely used term - to Breena in this and they were pretty likeable in this one. I'm sure she'll grow closer to them over the course of the series and they'll turn into valuable allies.

One thing I wasn't a fan of: the continuous referral of her ex husband as "Himself" rather annoying after a while. Why not just "Him" or his name or even "ex"? He does sound like a piece of work, though, and I feel like seeing him get his comeuppance is going to be good.