Carla Reighard

Great characters!

Revisado: 04-18-25

This is the next book in the Numina Parable series. My reviews are more about my impressions of stories than a recap of the blurb.

The story is more in the style of Grimm’s Fairy Tales than Disney stories. It does have some gore and there was a point where I was going to yell at the author for killing a character I liked, but hang on before you explode 😂 I won’t say more to avoid spoilers.

I like the characters. This story focused on the triplets: Primrose, Poppy, and Posy, who were only 10 YO in the last book. They went through a traumatic experience in previous story so it does impact their behavior and choices in this book.

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This book kept my attention from beginning to end.

Revisado: 04-18-25

I don’t give spoilers and my reviews are more about my impressions than retelling a book blurb.

You won’t be disappointed reading this book if you enjoy when a murder mystery meet’s Gilded Age. It’s like A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting was combined with And Then There We’re None.

I love a good murder mystery, but I’ve never read one set in the Gilded Age. Honestly, I like modern stories written about that time period more than actual stories written during that time period. The writing styles have changed and I appreciate modern authors who can take us back in time.

The narrator was superb and I was glad I could finally “read” this book when it became available on audiobook.

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A great job of putting me into the scene!

Revisado: 03-10-25

I really liked this book. I didn’t know this was a fairy tale type story, but duh, Carla, troll is in the title. It fits perfectly for my #2025YearOfFairyTales goals to read more fairy tales. It’s more the style of Grimm’s tales than Disney stories, but I don’t mind a little gore. It was easy to like the characters and the story kept me engaged. When Sparrow faces the witch, it’s truly creepy. The author & narrator did a great job of putting me into the scene. 🫣😳

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Fast-Paced

Revisado: 02-07-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Into The Churn was an exciting fast-paced read. I found myself looking for opportunities to listen to the audiobook outside my normal times. This book had the perfect formula of action, loveable characters, and romance to be a winner for me. It has joined a short list of one of my sci-fi fantasy favorites tied with The Illuminae Files.

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Favorite classic story with unprofessional narrator

Revisado: 01-31-25

I overall love this classic series. Anne is my favorite character. I bought this set to own all books in one but the narrator mispronounced some words and there were several odd glitches/sounds or cut off words like the recording stopped and started up again in the middle of a word. Is this AI or an unprofessional recording? The cover obviously is AI, but since I like the story I tolerated the narrator. The voice was pleasant enough but had little expression.

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I didn’t want to stop listening.

Revisado: 05-17-24

I didn’t want to put this book down. I did put it down when adulting made it hard for me to read the physical paperback, but I immediately downloaded the audiobook when I discovered it was out. I finished it quickly. I loved the narrator. She was great at changing her voice for each character and made it easy for me to differentiate between each of them. This isn’t always the case with other audiobooks.


I knew some things ahead of time about the castle moving and how it was compared to Howl’s Moving Castle. I even read HMC, but … I didn’t like Howl’s in a way to be memorable. The Magic Collector, in my opinion, is better and will live rent free in my mind for a long time. My opinions are hugely swayed by characters in stories, and it was so easy to fall in love with each of them—except for the villains.


Previous reviews mentioned words like gothic, cozy, and Howl’s Castle a lot, but since I don’t read a lot of gothic, I was thinking this was more of a regency fantasy meets some ghosts and magical characters. I’m really bad at writing reviews and I don’t read with a critical mind. I read for pure pleasure and TMC gave me exactly that. Fantasy is my favorite genre, but with this book I enjoyed the ghosts, the clean closed-door romance, and the uniqueness of this story no matter what genre it is. It’s definitely one of my favorites in 2024.

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The MC is gutsy like Katniss Everdeen, but good like Anne Shirley — I love her!

Revisado: 03-05-24

Guardian perfectly ties up all the loose ends for the Children of the Consortium series. I wanted to keep reading to find out how it ends, but I didn’t want it to end, because of that nasty book hangover syndrome.

The main character starts out bald and doesn’t have a name, but I love her. She’s kind, values life, and is selfless. When the odds are against her, she doesn’t grow bitter. She’s definitely someone you want to win. Perhaps she’s a bit of Anne of Green Gables (my favorite character) meets a future dystopian world. She’s gutsy like Katniss Everdeen, but good like Anne Shirley.

If you like sci-fi stories with heart, you need to read this series. It has lots of action, nasty villains, a contagious lab created virus, and great characters. Before reading this series, I always said my favorite sci-fi books were, The Lunar Chronicles and The Illuminae Files, but COTC values are deeper. Now I have three favorite sci-fi series to recommend to anyone who wants to listen. Yes, this genre is in the adult age group unlike my other YA favorites, but it’s clean. I think it’s appropriate for most teens as long as a little violence and disgusting oversized cockroaches don’t give you nightmares.

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Uniquely imaginative

Revisado: 01-02-24

A uniquely imaginative story I can’t compare to any others. The narrator does superbly with accents and change in characters. Enjoyed listening to this.

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Being a failure myself . . .

Revisado: 09-20-23

The Gift of Failure isn’t my typical YA or MG fantasy/sci-fi read. I follow the author’s podcast. I’m not political on my social media pages, but I don’t trust main-stream media & find my news from other sources. That being said, this book was about Dan Bongino’s life from childhood to present day and how failures molded him. It only has a little about his political views, which is fine since I’m on the same page as Dan.

He grew up in New York, so at least on audiobook, he has some salty language, but it’s real and honest. I appreciate his sincerity—his truthfulness. He’s a former NY City Cop, Secret Service agent, and even ran for some political offices. I have nothing in common with Bongino except failure follows me wherever I go. His words resonated with me and my own failures. The reasons I’m still alive today and won’t give up writing books, is because I learned from failure, the theme of Dan’s book.

I especially enjoyed how each chapter began with quotes about failure by highly successful people. I think we all need to know that other people, including famous, successful people, didn’t always finish first or have all their attempts work out immediately. That’s why I read this outside my normal reads. It’s the boost of “keep going Carla” that I needed.
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” ~ Thomas Edison

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Couldn’t put down

Revisado: 07-11-23

Since I’m a sci-fi fan, this book grabbed my attention immediately. The story kept me listening as I hoped for the Recorder to find her humanity and escape the life forced on her. She proved the heart of who we truly are cant’t be erased no matter what physical alterations are done through science and medicine.

I loved the friendships that developed (found family trope) and the mysteries behind a deadly virus. There was even a murder to solve.

My review skills are weak, so don’t rely on my words to choose this story. I suggest if you’re a fan of The Illuminae Files or Skyward, this book has the same elements as those stories but with more heart.

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