The Butcher's Masquerade

 The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman, 707 pages.

It's the sixth floor, which means the hunters are here and it's time to fight. The hunting grounds is a lush jungle full of both normal dungeon dangers and hunters from outside the game looking to murder crawlers for this equipment. But this floor is also the only place where outsiders can truly die in the dungeon, and Carl intends to make them bleed for it. It's time to start fighting back. 

I really enjoyed this entry to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. It is becoming increasingly obvious that this production is going off the tracks, as more and more elements from outside the game are becoming very relevant inside the dungeon. The alien corporation who runs Dungeon Crawler World is clearly losing control, and I'm very excited to see what kind of wild and chaotic plans can come out of that. I continue to find this series unbelievably addictive, and I'm looking forward to continuing it after what I'm sure will be a pretty short break.

The Gate of the Feral Gods

 The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman, 589 pages.

This is the fourth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, you can read my review of the first one here. After the crawlers started getting a little too unified at the end of the fourth floor, the powers-that-be decided that this floor they would be randomly split apart into hundreds of bubbles, each with four castles that must be defeated before anyone would be allowed to leave the bubble and meet up with anyone else. While less complicated than the train puzzles of the 4th floor, nothing is ever easy on Dungeon Crawler World, and Carl will have to rely on the low level and minimally confident people in the bubble with him to get out alive. 

I continue really enjoying watching this series build on itself. Each floor presents something similar enough to the rest of the series to be a satisfying continuation, while also being new and different enough to present really interesting problems. On top of that, events outside of the dungeon are becoming increasingly visible and relevant. I don't know if this is my favorite book in the series, it's a little simple compared to some of the others, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl (2025), 288 pgs. 

You've seen Married to Medicine; you've seen The Real Housewives of New Jersey; now, get ready for Garden State Goddesses! This up-and-coming reality TV series is on its third season, and Eden was just named show-runner, after years of hard work. Nothing can get in Eden's way, as she captures (and at times orchestrates) the drama between a dynamic cast, including Carmela, the sharp-tongued socialite, Renee, the more amenable business-woman, and Hope, the naive newcomer and Eden's cousin with whom she shares a dark past. The organized chaos of upper-class pettiness spirals out of control after a death in the Garden State Goddesses community. Everyone expects drama, not death--what can be done?

This book is so much fun, especially for reality TV lovers! The characters are catty, the plot is full of wild twists, and--best of all--the switching perspective of the story gives readers a chance to understand the world of reality TV through the players' eyes.

Carl's Doomsday Scenario

 Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman, 384 pages.

Carl and Princess Donut have reached the third floor of the giant dungeon themed game-show that used to be their planet, and the tutorial levels are over. The billions of people who died so far were just the start, and things only get more dangerous as they reach the Over City, the first of the urban dungeon levels. 

This book is a strong follow-up to Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the series. I am really enjoying watching the seeds being planted that I don't expect to come to fruition for several books yet. This is the kind of series that feels like it has its road-map from the start, and I think it's going to be very satisfying to follow along and see everything come together. This book continues to balance humor and emotional depth in a way I find impressive, and all of the things I loved in the first book are still present in this one. I find these books addictive, and I learned from my last mistake and put the next two on hold at once. 

Dungeon Crawler Carl

 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, 450 pages.

It's sheer dumb luck that finds Carl outside in the middle of the night, chasing his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend's prize-winning cat in too-small slippers and boxers, when every structure on the planet's surface is smashed flat in an instant. His only option now is descending into a planet-spanning dungeon freshly constructed under the planet's surface. He's on TV! Dungeon Crawler World is an intergalactic gameshow modeled on classic dungeon crawling video games, and survival is winning. 

This book was astoundingly fun, and honestly the official blurb does a better job selling it than I did. This first book in the series covers floors one and two of the dungeon, and does so in a way that's both fast-paced and very funny. What impresses me more, as a sign of good craft, is that Dinniman managed to write a character who doesn't disrupt that furthers the comedy aspects while being effected like a normal human being by the frankly staggering death toll of what is realistically an ongoing extinction event. I had a very hard time putting this book down, and "one more chaptered" myself late into the night multiple times while reading it. I'm very excited to get my hands on the second book in the series. 

Everyone Is Watching

Everyone Is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf, 320 pages

We've all heard this reality TV setup before: five strangers must live together in a giant house, do crazy challenges, and compete for a massive cash prize that only one person can win. One Lucky Winner, the reality show at the center of Everyone Is Watching, takes that idea and gives it a sinister twist, with truly dangerous additions to the competition (such as a sandbox laced with scorpions and a "Game Changer" token that's a switchblade). As the massive hit show progresses, the contestants become increasingly concerned that someone is out to get them, and that their presence on the show is anything but random. But the $10 million prize is too hard to give up on...

One of the blurbs on this book refers to it as "Big Brother meets Clue," and I guess I can see that — cameras everywhere, contestants who are linked but strangers to one another. The challenges are horrible, and there's a lot about this book that stretches the bounds of believability (that 20 million people would watch the torture without someone intervening, the bad guy not occurring to anyone, including the show's host, etc.). A quick read, but a meh one.

*This book will be published March 26, 2024.

The Charm Offensive

 The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun, 358 pages.

Kara wrote about this book here and I've got to say I agree with everything she said. This book pulled me in from the first page and held on until the end. This book was extremely cute and very thoughtful, I would definitely recommend it.

The Love Con

 The Love Con by Seressia Glass, 320 pages.

Kenya Davenport has just made it to the final round of the reality TV cosplay competition show Cosplay or No Way when the judges throw a complication for her into play. Their last challenge is a couples cosplay, and with Kenya extremely single. When the snootiest judge makes some comments about her competitor having an advantage because he's competing with his husband she impulsively claims that her best friend and roommate, Cameron Lassiter, is her boyfriend, and that they'll be competing together. Now they have to convince the film crew (and by extension the people in their lives) that they're dating for four weeks while they try desperately to complete two very complex costumes for the chance at $100,000 and the opportunity to help costume a major Hollywood production (not to mention the chance to make Kenya's parents take her dream career seriously and stop pushing her to use her engineering degree). 

So first off I feel like I need to address how completely unnecessary the fake dating is. They absolutely didn't have to do that. But it is clear from the first few chapters that they're both very into each other, so mostly it just ends up feeling like an extremely elaborate excuse to act on those feelings. Which is so completely stupid it is both hilarious and endearing. Is this a good book? I'm honestly not sure. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

The Charm Offensive

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun, 358 pages

For the last six years, Dev has been a producer/handler on the Bachelor-esque dating show, Ever After, helping craft compelling storylines of women finding their "prince" on national TV. This year, the prince is tech millionaire Charlie Winshaw, who is gorgeous and dashing...but awkward as all-get-out. Dev, however, has dealt with enough awkwardness to help Charlie work through his issues, and is soon assigned to be exclusively in charge of the show's male lead, assisting him through the masses of cutthroat women vying for his love. But as the season progresses, both Charlie and Dev start to realize they're falling for each other, which is not at all what Ever After's conservative producer wants to see on TV. Is there any way forward for them?

Oh my goodness, this is a wonderful book. It's sweet and kind and handles the complexities of sexual identity and mental health issues with so much care. It's refreshing and amazing, and I'm going to be recommending this to everyone. It's one of my favorites of the year.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall, 435 pages

Single mom Rosaline Palmer has a dead-end career working in a shop, and her dwindling financial resources aren't enough to make the needed repairs to her house or fund her future education. So OF COURSE signing on for a baking reality TV show in the hopes of winning its grand prize money is the right financial choice. On the way to the first weekend of filming, Rosaline meets another contestant and promptly falls into a relationship with him. But the longer she's on the show, the less comfortable she gets with him, and the more comfortable she gets with her own abilities.

OK, so let's first address the elephant in the room: yes, this baking show in the book may be called Bake Expectations and be filmed in a ballroom, but it's actually the Great British Bake Off. The challenges are remarkably similar and so are the judges and hosts. And Rosaline's relationship with her parents is so similar to that of Lorelai and her parents in Gilmore Girls that one can almost picture Hall binging both GBBO and Gilmore Girls while writing this. However, that's not to say that this is a bad book. It's actually quite charming and enjoyable, and I really appreciated Rosaline's personal journey. Check it out if you're a fan of GBBO and quirky romance.