Review: Half His Age - Jeanette McCurdy - January 2026 Hello everyone, and welcome back to our little corner of the internet! It's your favourite book blogger, The Phantom Paragrapher, curling up on the sofa with a warm cuppa to chat about our latest read. I finally dove into Half His Age by Jeanette McCurdy. After seeing the initial buzz, I was practically vibrating with excitement. Given the provocative title, I went in expecting something gritty and transgressive perhaps something in the vein of Alissa Nutting's Tampa, which famously and chillingly echoed the Mary Kay Letourneau case. I was braced for a dark, psychological deep-dive into the power dynamics of a taboo relationship. Instead, I found something much closer to our teenage TV screens. The story felt less like a heavy literary scandal and far more like a Pretty Little Liars subplot specifically, major Ezra and Aria vibes. The novel follows Waldo as she pursues her Creative Writing teacher, Mr. Korgy, and that ...

Review: Defy - Book #0.5 Sinners of Saint Series - LJ Shen - January 2017 I have to admit I wasn't sure what I would be getting with this book, but I had heard lots about LJ Shen and her titles. I wasn't too impressed with this one, but I haven't let that sour my opinion of her. I think it was just the wrong one of her books for me to start with. I was in the mood for a quick read and was gifted this book in an Elfster book exchange. it was also the perfect size for a quick read being a novella. Defy is the start of a Bullymance-type Elite Boys series where a group of boys aka Sinners of Saint rule the school and get away with everything. In this one it is a case of forbidden love with the student Jaimie first blackmailing his teacher Melody into a forbidden romance and then as the book goes on, we learn that Melody went along with it to stick it to Jaimie's mother who is her boss as the school principal. Of course, we all know that these stories don't flow with a...