Audiobook Review: A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong+

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Narrator: Kate Handford
Title: A Rip Through Time

Series: A Rip Through Time #1
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, SciFi
Format: Audiobook 
Published: May 31, 2022
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona's body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it's too late

Review:

I've read some books by this author in the past. I enjoyed them and I wanted to read more, but you know how life goes.....other things took my attention. Blodeuedd strongly encouraged reading this and I needed a good historical fiction and a good mystery SO why not?

Here we follow Mallory in 2019. She is in Edinburgh to be by her dying grandmother's side. While out jogging one evening, she hears a woman in distress so she goes to investigate. She is a detective and helping people is so important to her. While down in the alley she is attacked and loses conciousness. When she awakes, she soon finds out she is in a strange body and it is 1869. She will have to adjust quickly to keep her job as a maid for the undertaker who moonlights as a medical examiner. He has just picked up an intriguing murder case that was similar to  the attack on herself. Her hope is to help catch the murderer and find her way back home. 

I was immediatly hooked from page one. I didn't want to stop listening! I had to know how everything was going to end. And that ending??? Awesome! I couldn't listen fast enough. 

Time travel stuff is soooooo particular and I am so picky with it. It has to make sense and be done well. I think the author did a fabulous jump juggling everything. Especially near the end when things happen. I won't spoil anything. 

Loved Mallory. Loved Dr. Gray and his sister. I can't wait to read more. They are a great set of characters. 

The narration was delightful. I enjoyed all her voices and how seamless her transitions were especially for Mallory who is faking a Scottish accent but is Canadian. Beautiful job. 

I want to say more, but I don't want to spoil anything!!! The twists and turns were great. I called the killer, but I was unsure so I was hesitant to think it. Plus......I wanted to be wrong. 

You need to read this if you like historical fiction and murder mysteries. 5 stars. 

 Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #55

Book Review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Author: Patrick Rothfuss

Title: The Name of the Wind

Series: The Kingkiller Chronicle #1

Genre: Fantasy, SciFi

Format: Ebook

Pages: 662

Published: March 27, 2007

Where I got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.

The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

Review:

I remember seeing a couple of people read this, but I honestly I forgot about it. When this was a book that was redeemed for me to read by a member of my Twitch community.

The story is told in Kyothe's own voice. He tells his own story. From a magically gifted young man to the most notorious wizard the world has ever seen. 

I love the whole concept and the whole way the story was written. You can't help but love a story told in someone's own words. It makes the story slightly biased and the narrator is slightly unreliable. 

Honestly, this felt like a roller coaster. I would be super into the story and having a blast, but then I would be over it. There were sections that for sure didn't help move the plot along or help any sort of character growth. I think this could've been slimmed down a wee bit. 

I also struggled to like Kyothe. He seemed like a spoiled and entitled snot. Sure, I love a good bad guy and complex characters. Love a character in grey! However, he just was not a nice person at times. It would've been fine if that was how he was in his youth, but I don't think he ever learned any of the lessons he was supposed to learn. No growth. Just idiocy. 

Even though I struggled to like the main character I did become invested in his story. I am curious about book 2. I am curious to see what the idiot does next. 

But yes, I enjoyed this overall. There were sections that needed a heavy red-lines and the character needs to grow up a bit, but I liked it. It is like those Fail videos you can't help but enjoy. I'll give this 3 stars.  

 Challenge(s):

- Library Love #30

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: And The Trees Stare Back by Gigi Griffis

Author Gigi Griffis

Narrated by Rachel Yong

Publication date Nov 4, 2025 by Tantor Media

Running time 9 hrs 20 min

To review/ Horror Mystery Fiction

Do not go into the bog, you will not come back. Vik knows this. She knows the trees move, the trees stare at you, the deity Soovana moves through the bog. But one day she goes to close with her little sister, and then, her sister Anna is gone. Just like so many others from this village.

Horror, mystery, but, see many others will fall into the creepiness of this nearby bog. But I am Finnish, my DNA is coded with centuries of trauma so I was all at once; The Russians did it. I could never fall into the spookiness of moving trees, and spotting a strange being with deer antlers on its head. Nope, Russians. That is what they do and always have done.

And Estonia, little brother, did the Soviets mess you up so much that you wanted to burn witches in 1989? It felt more like 1789.

So for me this was more a mystery, because something comes out of the bog, someone finally returns. How, why? What is this? It has been 5 years after all and she has not aged.

There is also the whole Estonia wanting freedom, getting out from under the Iron Fist of Soviet. Wanting to speak their language, being afraid when seeing soldiers. About friendship and family and how loss changes you.

A good book, not much horror when I went all logical, but that is the hazards of living here. But a good mystery. Like what was actually going on? And would they find out before they got killed?

Good narration. I felt she got the tone right for the book. Lots of emotions going on.

Soviet Estonia. In sixteen-year-old Vik's village—and the cursed forest that looms beyond—danger is everywhere. Soldiers threaten those who so much as dream of dissent. The villagers' words are sharp with accusations of witchcraft. And deep in the heart of the wood, a lantern-eyed spirit lies in wait to disappear those who wander too far past the trees.

Vik knows because five years ago, she led her little sister Anna over that invisible line—and never saw her again.

The only thing Vik has wished for since then is her sister's safe return. So when Anna stumbles back through the tree line on the anniversary of her disappearance, it's a miracle...Or is it a lie?

As unsettling inconsistencies between this girl and the one who vanished reveal themselves, Vik starts to doubt whether this Anna is her Anna—or something else entirely. Whoever she is, one thing is she was never meant to escape the trees.

And unless Vik can uncover the secrets of the forest, it's going to take her back.

Bests of October

Here are the best of the bests for October!!!! 

Best Book of the Month:

Blodeuedd - A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

"Best book of the month. A thrilling mystery"

Carole -  Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

"Lots of really good ones this month, but this was just a smidge better. ;)"

Best Movie of the Month:

Carole -  We Have a Ghost (2023)

"Fresh and fun. Humor and feels."

Blodeuedd - The Blackening (2022)

"I wanted something scary for Halloween, but not too scary, so humour and social commentary, perfect."

Best TV show of the Month:

Blodeuedd - Wednesday (s2) & Elsbeth

"I finally watched s2 of Wednesday. Elsbeth was a fun series too."

Carole - The Osbournes (s1-4)

"Revisited this show because...why not? I forgot how much I loved this family!"

Best Cover of the Month:

Carole's pick. 

Blodeuedd's pick

Honorable Mention(s):

Carole's pick(s):

"The last two of this series is just so good and you can't stop reading. When can I re-read the series ;)"