Channi
This was a good enough read. I would definitely read another novel by Fagan, and I had fun with some parts. However, there were too many perspectives and the ending was really just... okay.
First Time Caller is pretty well-written and funny, but I was not invested in the romance, which is a problem when you're reading a romcom. I liked Lucy a lot, but Aiden was grating, especially towards the end. Also, there were to many side-plots, which left all of them feeling half-baked.
It pains me how little I liked this novel. While I enjoy Christina and Lauren's writing style and am not opposed to reading more of their books, The Unhoneymooners is one of the least romantic romances I've ever read. Most of the blame falls on how every single main character is kind of the worst. This felt like watching an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia where The Gang Gets In A RomCom.
1) Rae Rose stans must be insufferable 😩
2) Noah was so unlikable?
3) The town spent the first half of the novel pushing these two together and the second half being like “noooo don't get together”
This is the silliest vampire romance novel I have ever read, and that's by design. I appreciated all the oddness My Vampire Plus One harbors, from its accountant protagonist to the strange and endearing nocturnal love interest. While this wasn't a work of art by any means, I had a fun time and sometimes, that's good enough.
I really wasn’t sure how to rate this book. Emily Henry is one of my favorite authors and what works here works really well, but at the same time I had some issues with the story.
Starting with what works well: as usual, Emily Henry is such a good writer. She can have me laughing out loud one moment and holding back tears the next. Alice is a great protagonist— I found her to be so likable and layered. Additionally, there are plenty of surprises that are fun to unravel.
Now, onto the critiques: There are so many moving pieces in Great Big Beautiful Life, and I think the story would’ve benefited from cutting some parts out and focusing in on certain, more integral elements. Some questions are still unanswered by the end of the novel, which is really frustrating. Additionally, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the love story, which was not the main focus of this novel but still big enough to matter.
Silvia Moreno Garcia's writing is, as usual, stellar. Yet, the slow pace and disproportionate focus on the courting bogged down this ambitious retelling of The Island Of Dr Moreau. I loved the end, but it was such a slow crawl to that ending.
The second book in Sutano's series feels like an unnecessary sequel. I had some fun, but also found the charm of the first book had worn off a little bit.
The Orphanage was compelling, but the narrator was very unlikable. I think that was part of the point, but it made the first half of this book super boring to get through.
The saving grace in this book comes after the main character has reached the Orphanage. The second half of the book is great, has some very strong characters, and is very exciting!
Read with my daughter, this is the first chapter book we've completed together. She was enamored with Ramona!
This is required reading. RF Kuang is such a talented author, and the way she weaves together complex concepts while also creating deep characters is amazing. The first 100 pages are a little slow compared to the rest, but overall Babel is just such a masterpiece.
Horror rarely truly unnerves me anymore, but Sawkill Girls accomplished just that. I honestly loved this book and would be happy to read more Claire Legrand.
I really enjoyed We Deserve Monuments. The generational pain that it explores is really well-done and Avery is a great protagonist. At times, the writing can be oddly paced and the ending is a little odd.
THIS LEFT ME SOBBING. I love reality tv almost as much as I love reading romances, so I felt pretty confident I would like this going in, but didn't expect to like it this much!
Charlie is an absolute gem. I need a sequel for Daphne (please).
Notes On An Execution is enthralling and scathing, but not for the reasons most stories around crime are. This novel focuses mostly on the women impacted by atrocities a man commits. I loved Danya Kukafka's writing style. Overall, this was pretty spectacular.
Solnit is a wordsmith with a gift for exploring roses, politics, climate change, beauty, truth, and George Orwell in a way that overlaps and merits a lot of reflection from the reader. I nearly gave this book a 5-star rating for the section “Retreats and Attacks”, which I will carry with me for the rest of my days. However, sometimes I felt Solnit might've jumped around a little too much. Overall, I loved this book and I hope other readers love it as much as I did.
None Of This Is True was such a rollercoaster! This went from a 5 star read to a 2 star read then back up within the last 25%. Ultimately, it veers too close to pedo apologetics and that dampened my reading experience. However, the suspense and tension-building are great. I recommend the audiobook for this novel.
Everything about The Secret History is nuanced, but nothing more nuanced than the way this book made me feel. The first 200 pages are overwhelmingly boring that I almost dnf'd, the rest is certainly compelling, though often uncomfortable. Everybody is so unlikable, but nobody more than Richard: a walking embodiment of sexism and internalized homophobia, choosing his own isolation and knowingly deciding that the only who he would dare relate to are the most pretentious people he could find.
I understand a lot of this was the point and acknowledge that The Secret History is a blueprint for many novels, but I find some dark academia has explored the same themes in a way that I personally found more nuanced and interesting.
Mad Honey is so well-written and complex, giving the reader so much to focus on and leaving them with so much to consider. The story itself is compelling, and the two main characters are very well-defined. There's a lot of aspects that don't make for an easy read— the language can be dense and the subject matter is often heavy. However, I'm glad this was my first read of the year.
This was a very cute book but the tonal shifts kind of gave me whiplash and some of the pacing is downright odd. I liked it, but think that the story should've been longer to help the transitions of emotions, stakes, and plot points make more sense.