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Make Them Bleed (Pretty Deadly Things #1)
Make Them Bleed (Pretty Deadly Things #1)
Logan Chance | 2025 | Contemporary, Crime, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
dark, but good.
Independent reviewer for BookSirens, I was gifted my copy of this book.

THis is book 1 in a new series by Logan Chance, and it spins off Men of MAddox Security (I think, since I read that series and Dean Maddox pops up here!) But you don't need to have read those for this to make sense. Arrow popped up at some point in the other series, is all.

Juno's sister was murdered, while she live streamed. And Juno sets about finding her killers and getting some justice, somehow. She resorts to the dark web, and meets a masked man who offers to help. Said masked man is none other than her best friend, Arrow, who puts trackers on her computer, so he could keeps a eye on what she was doing in the dark web. CAn he keep his identity a secret, while helping Juno??

Ohhhh! I liked this, a lot!

Juno and Arrow are perfect for each other, even if they have been friends for years!

What I loved most about this, was when Juno finds out who the masked man is, and what he has done, she's not mad, or angry. She understands WHY Arrow does what he does. What she does feel, though, is a whoosh (almost, since it's been brewing a while!) of attraction to Arrow and she forces the issue. Loved the way she does that.

It's dark, Arby, Juno's sister is murdered live streaming. There are some darker forces at work here but I did NOT see where they were coming from. So well played on that front, Mr Chance!

It's steamy, once Juno and Arrow get their act together!

It has some funnier moments, but I wouldn't call this a romantic comedy. Emotional in places, very much so.

A character, right at the beginning, has a say and I wasn't sure why he did for a long time. But it does become clear, in the end.

A huge supporting cast, who I believe will get their own stories. Looking forward to that.

But heads up about this one. The murder is live streamed, and on page, from a viewer's POV. Harrowing reading, but I do think it is needed.

4 VERY good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini | 2008 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.3 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautifully written (0 more)
Events that seem over dramatic or outlandish in the later parts of the book (0 more)
An eye opening and jarring exploration into the plight of women in the middle east
If I had to pick one word to sum up this book: it would be powerful. I thought that The Kite Runner was an emotional roller coaster, A Thousand Splendid Suns leaves its predecessor in the dust. This book made me smile, it made me cry, and at times I became so violently angry over the cruel circumstances faced by the book’s heroines that I had to put it down for a while to calm myself. The story utterly destroyed me and shook me to my core. It is rare indeed for a book to make me feel such a wide variety of emotions.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a beautiful historical fiction set to the backdrop in a war torn Afghanistan fresh off the fall of Najibullah’s government. The book takes us through the violent struggle between rival militias that eventually leads to the rise of the Taliban. The story follows first a young girl named Mariam, a bastard child forced with her abusive mother to live secluded in the countryside. Later she is forced into marriage with a much older man obsessed with having another son. The story then picks up with the birth of another young girl named Laila. The book continues to switch narratives between the two women until they are eventually brought together by circumstance. Together the girls face immeasurable hardship, vividly showing the dreadful reality for many women in the middle east.

The overall tone of the novel is intense, with the story taking many heart-wrenching turns. It opened my eyes to a part of the world that I had previously known little about. My childhood in the 1990’s was comfortable and safe, a far cry from the horrors faced by women and children during the same time period on the other side of the globe; it was like stepping into another world.

I’ve found that twice now, I liked the first half of Khaled Hosseini’s books better than the second half. The later plot lines usually seem a little far-fetched to me, but it doesn’t change the overall satisfaction I get from the book. The book covers the topics of the relationship between women, a perfect compliment to The Kite Runner‘s themes of relationships between men. This beautiful book is a masterpiece and the very best of Hosseini’s work. Be prepared to cry though, this one is hard on the emotions.