I always get pretty excited when adult books show up with illustrations. Because let's be honest, the only thing readers like more than words is pictures, amiright? So when I heard Look What the Cat Dragged In had more than eighty pages of illustrations, I perked up. You add in some cute cats, and there's no way I can pass that up.

Initially, I really enjoyed where this story was headed. Penny's search for Popcorn interspersed with comic scenes from their life together set up a certain vibe and expectation for the narrative. And that expectation is fun. Obviously I knew going in that this was horror, but you can totally have fun and horror side by side. Unfortunately though, that wasn't really where this ended up.

So horror as a genre is incredibly diverse. A story can go in many different directions and still have it fall under the big horror umbrella, so I try to keep that in mind when reading. But if I had to pick one direction it can go that I dislike above all else, it would have to be gross (above gory, above scaring the bejesus out of me). So when we get to the core of this tale and it starts being gross, I deflated a little.

Now thankfully, this is a speedy read. With so many illustrations sprinkled throughout, you're flipping through the pages much faster than you would a regular book. And that middle part of the story where Penny doesn't know what's going on and it's just getting grosser and grosser? It's mercifully swift and passes by quickly. Once Penny puts two and two together, it's back to being a fun narrative again all the way to the conclusion.

I think it's worth talking about whether this story actually makes sense. As is with lots of books in the genre, when you really think about it, that answer tends to lean towards no, and they skate by on the strength of their spooky vibes. And I would say that's more or less accurate here as well, so just be sure to set your expectations if you decide to go for it.

Obviously, with all these illustrations (really the highlight of the story), you're going to want to read this book in physical format and not via audiobook. While you don't technically need the illustrations to understand what's going on, to miss them would detract quite a bit from the charm of this tale. And you certainly don't want to be left with mainly the gross bits.

All in all, this was okay. It wasn't the best horror I've ever read, it wasn't the worst. It wasn't the most nonsensical, nor was it the most coherent. It was quite middle of the road. But its one big allure is its seamless integration of all those illustrations, which added an immeasurable amount of uniqueness and freshness to the tale. And for that alone, it might be worth a spot on your overcrowded TBR. Especially if you're a cat lover.

Readaroo Rating: 3.5 stars

I can never resist a wedding thriller. Call me a romantic, but nothing sets my heart aflutter quite like the prospect of murder and mayhem on that special day. So I went into The Last One at the Wedding with high expectations. But unfortunately, it disappointed from pretty much beginning to end.

Frank hasn't spoken to his daughter Maggie in three years. So when he gets a phone call from her, he's rightfully thrilled. And he's even more so when he hears that she's getting married and wants him to walk her down the aisle. But when Frank arrives at the three-day wedding extravaganza, he starts to realize that all is not right.

The story is told from Frank's perspective, and honestly, probably my biggest problem is that I just never connected with him. While I don't always have to love and be chummy chummy with all my protagonists, I do have to understand them. And I just couldn't get there with Frank.

His paranoia reaches the level of making my eyes roll with practically every thought and every sentence. Sure, it eventually turns out that his paranoia is justified, for how else would we even have a story? But it didn't make reading his perspective any easier or any more fun.

But it's more than that. For some reason, Frank came off as extremely unlikable. Now a lot of authors write unlikable characters, and they have no bearing or may even add to my enjoyment of the story. But in this case, I have the uncomfortable feeling that Jason Rekulak may have accidentally made Frank unlikable, that he thought he was crafting a personable guy and instead created a weird and bumbling one.

There were so many moments when Frank would make an observation in his head or open his mouth to say something, and I would just cringe so hard. Like he saw a couple where the man is old and the woman is young and called them "unnatural, a freakish mutation of human biology." It felt so unnecessary and inappropriate, and I winced in embarrassment for him. And it was like this the whole way through.

I tell you, it's hard to enjoy a story when you're wincing and cringing at the main character's every thought. I should've been focused on the thrills, but instead I was mired in second-hand embarrassment.

But it wasn't just Frank. I felt like all the characters were slightly off, doing and saying things that no actual person would do and say in those situations. It's clear that each interaction was there to further a specific point in the plot line and they were shoehorned in to achieve that, no matter how awkward the result may be.

As for the twists, they were fine, although with the weird characterizations, it made it hard for me to really buy in to them. It felt like characters were just randomly assigned roles in the reveal, and when the time came, their personalities were bent and changed to further that goal.

So when we finally reached the end of the book, I understandably breathed a sigh of relief. But then I turned the page and there was a whole nother section left? I realize now that this is Rekulak's modus operandi. He likes to end his thrillers with a nice leisurely wrap-up, just to spell out in long form how everything works out for everyone, kind of like a HEA for thrillers. But there's a reason no one does them. I tolerated it for Hidden Pictures because I loved that story so much, but here, it just made a mediocre tale feel even longer.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

I try to approach books with minimal expectations. After all, there's nothing more disappointing than going into a much-hyped book with glee and coming out with vague puzzlement about whether we all read the same book. But try as I may, I often can't help myself. The heart wants what it wants, for why else would I be reading in the first place if not to be blown away?

And so I cracked open Hidden Pictures with my usual mix of tempered yet hopeful anticipation, waiting to see which way this book would fall. And I tell you, I knew from almost the very beginning. I was only four pages in when I dropped my library ebook, ran out to my local bookstore, and bought a physical copy so that I could own what I hoped would be a new favorite. And I was right.

Talk about a riveting experience. From the first page to the last, this book had me hooked. I didn't just read it, I inhaled it. The pages slipped through my hands and before I knew it, hours had passed. It's exactly the sort of immersiveness I love and crave in a story.

There is so much tension in here, my spine tingled from it. It was the perfect mix of spooky (not too much), thrilling (very), and mystery (puzzling), and I just ate it up. The mystery, in particularly, was compelling and fun, and I totally enjoyed armchair detecting along with Mallory as she tried to figure out what was going on.

The use of drawings in here has to be a stroke of genius. They are such an integral part of the story and added so much to the spooky ambience. It made it feel like I was reading something special and inimitable. And—let's be honest—even though we're all grownups, I bet we still get pretty excited when we see illustrations in our books, amirite?

That isn't to say this book is without flaws. In terms of sheer funness, the first half of the book definitely has the second half beat. That's probably because setting up a story isn't quite the same as finishing it. So as we start to approach the denouement with all of its twists and turns, there was a noticeable change in the vibe of the story. It went from the perfect amount of spine-tingling thrill to more of eyebrow-raising crazy chaos.

Which brings me to the question: can a story have too many twists? I think so, and I think that's what happened here. The main mystery is already interesting enough, but I think this book went a bit overboard as it wrapped everything up. The twists piled upon twists at the end started to max out my dopamine receptors, and all I felt was numbness in the face of so much mayhem.

But those are minor quibbles in the overall scheme of how much I enjoyed this story. In fact, I had so much fun that if I'm ranking books based solely on that criteria, this would have to be near the top. Just for that alone, and for how memorable it is, it gets all 5 stars from me.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!