Mahala

I had originally rated this 4 and changed it to 5 stars because Sam's story is haunting me. This book hurt to read in the best way.

I went into this with high expectations because I've devoured and loved and sobbed at every other Sepetys book. As always, I was anxious to learn about history that I, unfortunately, knew very little about. And the book did accomplish that much. I was disappointed by this one in a few ways, though. There were so many characters and so many POVs that I kept forgetting who was who. It jumped around a lot in POV and made it a little confusing to keep up. The pacing was dreadfully slow. Like ... slooooooooow. It makes me sad because I know this book had so much potential, knowing how incredible of a writer Sepetys is. But it fell flat. There was hardly any emotion, which was odd as it dealt with SUCH heavy and heartbreaking topics. Coming out of this, I felt like I learned about history, but not read a novel.

If you've followed me for awhile, you've probably noticed how few five star ratings I give out. There are two objectives that have to be met: Did it make me feel ALL the feels? (Usually meaning did it make me scream cry and/or sob uncontrollably to the point where I think about the book the next day and cry?) And will I reread this infinitely? So yeah, it's pretty rarely that a book fits both these conditions. This one fit neither. This novel didn't make me sob and I will probably never reread it. But I'm giving it five stars. Let's dive in.

What I enjoyed:
This is my first Wally Lamb book, but it won't be my last. He's an incredibly gifted writer. To write a 900 page book that kept my attention all the way through is really a talent. To write a book about a character that is SO unforgivingly everything I despise about baby boomers that I didn't hate, frankly, is astounding. (Don't @ me, I'm not sorry.) The protagonist, Dominick, is so real to me. I rooted for him while simultaneously thinking he was the worst. He was a complex and very flawed character, a real person. All the characters were so well written.

This was a HARD read. Reading this wrecked me. I won't be able to read it again. But not in the way that books usually wreck me. It was DIFFICULT to read about the onset and progression and ultimate extremes of Thomas' schizophrenia. And coming from a home where a close family member deals with very untreated mental illness, it hurt. It was so so hard to read the anger and resentment and burden that Dominick felt about caring for Thomas because I've felt it myself. Dude, it was a tough read. But it was tough because it was so real. The writing was just so spot on. The ricocheting between love and hate, ach.

What I didn't enjoy:
Strangely, I thought I would feel more -something- when the big event happened. I'm not sure why. And I can't tell if I am content with that or not. Otherwise, I have no complaints, honestly.

Would I recommend?
Okay, trigger warnings abound. Just to name a few: Domestic abuse, emotional abuse, death, infant death, suicide, violence, rape, paranoia, mental illness. There's so many, I'm sure I've forgotten some. Please do your due diligence and research it if you have triggers. If you like heavy subject matter and realistic fiction, yes. Just yes. If you prefer your fiction to be very fictionalized, no. Definitely no. Happy reading. :)

I had high hopes (or rather standards) for And The Mountains Echoed considering the undying adoration for Hosseini's first two novels. This one was really disappointing in the way that it read. My main issue was that it had too many characters; it jumped from one to another, breaking up the story and causing me to flip back through the book multiple times trying to figure out who this character now telling the story is. Hosseini broke up this story into pieces, so many pieces that I honestly don't know what story he was trying to tell anymore. It lacked in feeling and flow and made me yearn for the powerful voice I read in The Kite Runner. I won't stop reading Hosseini but I won't have such high hopes for his next book and that's what is most disappointing.

Anna is an American living in Switzerland with her Swiss husband, Bruno, and their children. She's clearly depressed and lonely, still feeling isolated by a language barrier after all these years. She has no girlfriends and her husband is emotionally unavailable. So Anna starts having affairs. It starts with one, but she quickly loses control and can't keep up with her own lies. Things just spiral. (It was only a kiss, how did it end up like this? It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss!)

So ngl, I picked up this book because the cover is beautiful. I didn't really care what it was about; it was a novel, and the cover was gorgeous. Having no expectations, I can't say I was disappointed. But I didn't love it. Anna's depression and total apathy to anyone but her own self is palpable and difficult to read at times. She's not an easily likable protagonist even if she's somewhat understandable at times. Trying to sort through her deception and lies and affairs is frustrating. She's going to therapy but lying to her therapist. She refuses to try to make friends. It's just frustrating.

One thing I was really impressed by was how the timeline could change in almost every paragraph and, without any explanation, we knew exactly what was going on. From a therapy appointment, to what Anna was currently doing, to a few years prior. The timeline skipped around A LOT, but it was never confusing. And that's not easy to do. So props to the author for that. All in all, though, I wouldn't read it again and it was pretty forgettable, hence the three star review.

Would I recommend?
I'd say pass on this one, unless you have a very specific set of things you want in a book and this fits it perfectly.

My least favorite in the series so far. It was still a decent read, but it could have been 200-300 pages. 700 pages was entirely too long and drawn out, I felt like barely anything happened.

Spoilers start here so stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled!

I feel like Tamlin deserves forgiveness and happiness now. I'm starting to become sympathetic to him now because he has been betrayed by all the people closest to him at this point. He's saved Feyre's life AND Rhys's now. It's enough. He needs to work through his anger, go to therapy, and then he deserves a real mate and better friends tbh. I mean, I personally don't want to read details about it, but I'd like just a couple sentences saying he has a mate and is happy. That's all. Outside of that, I'm so anxious to read more about Cassian and Nesta.

10 stars out of 5. I am OBSESSED.

You all know what The Great Gatsby is about so no synopsis here. As always, I don't love writing reviews about classics because there's a million out there better than mine. And I also don't usually like the classics.

Although, this time I had pretty high hopes as I've read Fitzgerald before and really enjoyed his writing style. He's one of my favorite classic writers. This was a little disappointing just because I didn't love it as much as the others I've read. The first half was a little slow, the descriptions were a lot, the plot setup was at a snail's pace.
But the second half was a lot better, I thought. Super sad, all around. 90% of the characters are so easily dislikeable. But the other 10% are just so sad. But it has such lovely iconic quotes. Anyway, 3.5 stars. I'd love for Jeff Bezos to finally acknowledge we want half stars.

When I found this book I was actually looking for another of the author's books (About A Boy.) The used bookstore that I frequent didn't have what I was looking for, but they had this one instead. It sounded interesting, I've never read anything by this author before, so I figured I might as well try it out. I would probably normally never have picked up this book or given it a second thought because I despise the cover, but I know the author is generally well thought of so.. shrugs.

There are 4 characters with very different backgrounds and stories. The chapters (at most a few pages each) switch from one character to another. I appreciated how well Hornby captured the language and writing style of each character, as well as their different thought patterns. Jess in particular seemed a difficult one, and I loved how well she was written, she really stood out, writing-wise. The other three were well written but I sometimes felt that their characters blended together.

This book is separated into three parts. I found the first part to be interesting, though not entirely captivating. There really isn't much to say about it. The second part was sort of dreadful, I felt like it droned on and on. It was less dialogue, more train of thought and not much action. I understand that it was probably necessary to the story as it showed how each character moved through the time they allotted themselves when choosing whether to stay alive or not. The third part was my favorite. It really showed character development and another side of each of them. I appreciated that there was no huge turning point for any of them that made them want to stay alive. It was much more realistic in that way. It was just...life. There was no big happy ending or sad ending. It just ended. And I loved that.

It was a book about life. I loved that each of the characters were so different, it really showed especially in the last part. Everyone has their own struggle. Everyone has their own way of getting through it or not getting through it.

Would I recommend this book?

I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. If you are (or have been) depressed, it could be triggering. It's VERY English, so if that's not your thing, you probably won't enjoy it. I would recommend it for someone who isn't triggered by mental illness. If you have ever had a suicidal thought, I think you will probably relate to someone in this book. Honestly, it was good but I'm not sure who I'd recommend it for!

Rating: 3.5/5

The length of this review is going to be relative to the length of this book, short. This is one of those cases where I saw the movie first because Alexis Bledel in the early 2000s? Of course I'm going to watch it. Thanks to that gem, I did not know that Winnie is actually only 10 years old in the book. So I was like, “Oh, the story must be completely different then.” Haha no, sweetie. The hundred and something year old man who looks to be 17 still asks a 10 year old to marry him. Okay. I know that when this book was published in the 70s, there was a lot more latchkey kids and parents oblivious to the serial killers running rampant, but that plot point is creepy now and I'm willing to bet it was creepy then. And if not, shame on everyone. I UNDERSTAND that this dude wants some action and has been alone for 100 years, but telling a 10 year old you just met to become immortal and marry you when she's 17 is creep city and I couldn't get behind it.

Otherwise, interesting storyline. Loved Winnie's obsession with the frog, that was honestly my favorite part. And it is a storyline that made me think. Unfortunately, I think the creative liberties the movie took actually made this story way better. I just didn't vibe with the Tuck family in the book, but Winnie was sweet and deserves the world. Anyway, 2/5 stars because proposing marriage to children is creepy.

Would I recommend?
It's a v v quick read (I read it in a couple hours) if you want to check this classic off your list. Otherwise, meh.

I've never seen the movie so I figured I might as well read the book after all this time. It's cute and funny and nostalgic, reminds me a bit of the Angus, Thongs (Georgia Nicholson) series, but for adults. Haha. I imagine if this was written now, it'd be extremely problematic. It's kind of annoying at parts, especially how she records her weight and calories eaten every day and then beats herself up about it. It seems she has a genuine eating disorder that isn't at all addressed, but instead made into a joke. It's not cute. I'm trying to chalk it up to the time period because for some reason people didn't know better even though they should have. So if you push that part aside, it was cute and funny. I'd read the second one just to pass the time. But it's nothing to write home about.

Would I recommend?
Eh. Did you like the Georgia Nicholson series as a kid/teen? Then sure. Or do you like 90s-ish british humour? Sure. Otherwise, may be a pass.
Trigger warning for ED.

I'm going to be honest with you, I would never have chosen this book on my own. But it's what my book club voted on, so I gave it a shot. The premise of the story is that Rosie is a Michelin chef whose husband is having an affair and wants a divorce. So Rosie decides she needs to get out of the city and drunkenly purchases a pink bus to open a traveling tea shop in. Adventures ensue.

Pros: It was a sweet book, I'll give it that. It's cutesy and a quick read. Rosie is a sweet character but seemed a bit all over the map. My favorite character was Aria. I don't know what to say about her without giving anything away, but she's the only character that didn't seem just totally surface.
That's about it for pros, tbh.

Cons: The intro seemed a bit rushed to me as I was reading it. When Rosie finds out about the affair almost immediately, the scene is literally only about a page long and the divorce is being processed. Years of marriage settled into divorce in a few sentences? It seemed to me that the author just wanted to get to the main plot and wrap up the backstory as quickly as possible. But it was so quick it was just totally unbelievable.

Max. Max is a fellow “van-lifer” who sells vegan sugar free foods. There's nothing wrong with that. But he's constantly degrading Rosie for her choice to make, eat, and sell comfort foods. He's always trying to get her to change who she is and become vegan despite her protests against it. It's too much. He's made out to be the PERFECT man, physically fit, kind, healthy, adventurous, talented, etc. The list goes on forever. This man is the most one dimensional character I've ever seen, he has NO flaws whatsoever. He drives me crazy because he is the most vanilla character ever written.

The fact that Rosie is pushing herself and being pushed by others to start a new relationship before her divorce is even finalized. I thought this book was going to be about Rosie starting a new life and figuring out who she is and making friends, etc. Instead, it's a “love story” with no real emotion. It's got a love triangle and enemies to friends. Need I say more?

Anyway, the ending is YIKES and I won't say more lest I spoil it for any poor soul wanting to read it.

Would I recommend?
No, this is so very vanilla and forgettable. It's cute, but you could read literally anything else and remember it more.

I decided to sleep on this one before I reviewed it. I desperately wanted to give it four stars for two reasons. One, because I had hyped this series up in my head for so long that I was dying to be obsessed with it. I wanted so badly to love it. Two, because I did actually love some of the characters. Let's get into that.

Things I enjoyed:

Lara Jean, Kitty, and their dad were brilliant. The family dynamic was written masterfully. So well that I would assume the writer drew on some of her own experiences but maybe she's just that good. Idk but I loved reading about the Song sisters and their family. (Notice I left out Margot. I have mixed feelings on her for now. Maybe the next two books will clear it up.) The way they all took care of each other and tried to be their best for each other and their dad in the absence of their mom was portrayed so perfectly. Ugh, I adored it.

Things I did not enjoy:

THE LOVE TRIANGLE. And also, the enemies to friends trope. I feel like every book I've read in quarantine has had one or both of these and it's exhausting. Why does it always need to happen this way? Why? I have consumed so much media about this being everyone's FAVORITE couple and everyone's favorite ship and it truly could be because after all that I was expecting something that would knock my socks off, but it felt very lackluster to me. I don't think Lara Jean should end up with either of them. They both seem selfish and not good enough for her. And the enemies to friends plot was so strong that I felt like there were no sparks ever. It was so negative for so long.


Would I recommend?
Begrudgingly, yes. It's a quick and good read. I really really enjoyed reading about the Song sisters and that makes it worth it, I think. I will be reading the second one.

I'm not gonna actually review this because it's overdone but I will say this has so much animal abuse in it. If you cannot handle that, do not read it.

I really wanted to love this book. It was a great concept, being told from the stalker's POV. I just wasn't gripped by the story. There wasn't a point where I had to know what happened next. The writing was good, the concept was interesting, I just felt like it wasn't well executed. There was nothing that drew me in. I felt like it relied on violence and supposed ‘shock value' rather than actual substance, though I didn't think anything Joe did was surprising. Maybe it's just me and I've read too many thrillers! Either way, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping I would.

I'm gonna need this to be adapted to film and directed by JJ Abrams.

I truly thought the current state of romance novels was just not for me. I haven't enjoyed one so much since I was a teenager reading YA romance. This had me giggling and kicking my feet, and of course crying, which is the true sign of a 5 star read for me. 10/10 would recommend and will spend the next decade looking for a romance as perfect as this one.

Alex, Suzette, and their daughter Hanna live the ideal life on the surface. Seemingly happy family, financially well off, beautiful home. But 7-year-old Hanna has never spoken. In fact, she's not as sweet as she seems, tormenting her mother when they're alone but sweet as candy to her dad. We come into the story when it seems both Hanna and Suzette are reaching their breaking point.

To Suzette, it seems that Hanna has it out for her and she doesn't know why. Throughout, we hear from her on how her Crohn's makes her feel less than and hear fears of whether she's failed as a parent, made her daughter this way, deserves to be retaliated against. We also hear from Hanna, the things she sees in her head and the behind the scenes of the things she does to her mother, how she feels about Mommy and Daddy really.

I won't say much more because you should experience this book for yourself, I don't want to spoil a single thing. This story is masterfully told and the author seems to have done a lot of research in a lot of areas. I absolutely couldn't put this down, I read it all in somewhere around 26 hours even though I'm working and running a house because I was determined to find out what happened next. The only reason this received 4 stars instead of 5 from me is because the ending seemed a little lackluster to me. I understand it and I like it, even. But I just was waiting for even just one chilling sentence or something at the end. However, Baby Teeth has convinced me I don't want children anymore. I'll definitely be here to see what this author does next.

Would I recommend?
If you like psychological thrillers, definitely yes.

A Little Something Different is about college students Lea and Gabe. Everyone can see their chemistry, except for them sometimes. That's why their meet-cute story is told from 14 different viewpoints, none of them theirs.

I cannot tell you how many times I've picked up this book in any number of bookstores, carried it around, found something I thought sounded better, and then put this one back. SO many times. Finally, I saw it at my local book exchange and committed. It doesn't hurt that it has a few small books on the cover, which works for one of my PopSugar challenges.

I didn't have high hopes for this book for some reason (I just always had a feeling), so I wasn't necessarily disappointed in it. This is some fluff writing, y'all. This is absolutely the least inventive story you'll read this year. Boy meets girl, boy and girl stare at each other for an entire semester without talking, boy and girl finally talk. That's the plot. There's little to no character development. We never hear from Gabe or Lea, which is actually okay, but that means we never find out anything about them.

Honestly, the only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one was because of the 14 viewpoints. We hear from people like a Starbucks barista, a teacher's spouse, and a squirrel (my favorite part of the book.) That was super neat. I loved reading it from all those perspectives and the concept of being outside looking in. But it also fell flat.

Would I recommend?
For the plot, definitely no. But if you're looking for a quick read and are intrigued by the 14 viewpoints, it's not the worst thing.

“We are so young. We are so young.”

I've had this on my TBR list for years, years. Of course, as it went viral, I hyped it up in my mind. And then I deflated all that hype before I read it because I've grown more cynical in the past years. I assumed it was just a bestseller because the author died. I don't mean to be cold, really. Her death was a true tragedy, so horrifying, and I cried years ago when I read about. I also cried when I read the beautiful introduction and again when I read The Opposite of Loneliness, the essay. And to that point, I was wrong. I was wrong to judge preemptively.

Marina would have been a great writer of our time. That doesn't mean she would have gotten published or had success, but she was an incredible writer. In the fiction section, I was drawn into every single story. I didn't want to put it down until I found out what happened. Her characters were real people that I could see. And that's a feat with short stories, it's difficult to write a character that real, with a backstory, in a few pages while also telling the story. But she did it.

And in the nonfiction section, Marina somehow managed to make Yale sound interesting enough to hold my attention. Not sorry, Universities are not the place for me. Her musings about life are young and unfinished, but insightful. I wish she had more time, she deserves more time. Of course she does.

Would I recommend this?

Yes, if you enjoy short stories, essays, and realism.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've never read this author before and as soon as I saw that it was the first in a collection of detective novels, I was a little turned off. But my expectations were exceeded for sure.

This novel follows DI Natalie as she tries to solve who is abducting and murdering young girls in the area. The beginning started off a little slow and I feel it had just a tad too much about her personal life as a start. However, a couple chapters in it really picked up.

I have trouble finding mysteries I like that don't seem totally obvious early in the book. This was not one of those books. I thought it might be but it quickly turned into a thick plot with many, many suspects, like... everyone. I read it in 2 days, picking it up any free moment I had. And here I am at midnight, having stayed up to finish it because I couldn't go to bed not knowing the ending!

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Maybe I wouldn't like to read the same type of story every day but if you want a break from your normal routine of not reading a lot of mysteries, pick it up. And as an added bonus, if you love British procedural television, you'll love this!

3.5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Line Between appealed to me because I'm going through a mystery phase and the description drew me in. This is an apocalyptic thriller mixed with a cult escape. Protagonist Wynter escapes from a cult she has been a part of since childhood only to enter a world where a mysterious virus is quickly spreading.

On one hand, I really enjoyed this book because the writing was captivating, I couldn't put it down until I knew what happened. On the other hand, although this book is a work of fiction, it still seemed too much of a stretch. I think we could have enjoyed more character and story development had the author stuck to either a book about a cult or a book about a viral apocalypse. The blending of two detailed stories seemed like too much.

Would I recommend The Line Between? Listen, if you read a lot and you're just looking for a book to hold your attention to read, yes. It's worth a few hours of your time. But if you read 5 books a year, this novel is not worthy of taking one of those sacred spots.

Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. However, no thanks to UPS who left it out in the rain and destroyed it.

As always, Khaled Hosseini's latest work is a beautiful, heartbreaking, and realistic piece. If you have ever read his work before, I don't need to tell you that this is well written. The illustrations by Dan Williams flow perfectly with the feel of the story. If you are a human being, you should read and reflect on this short story.

3.5 stars but rounded up to 4 on Goodreads because I like her.

My Squirrel Days is weird. I've never read anything like it. I cannot figure out what's true or false, really happened or largely exaggerated. It reads like the author is, in fact, Erin Hannon. It's very strange and funny, but also confusing. Is Ellie just like Erin in real life? Or is she playing a character for the book to be funny??? Truly wonder if I will ever know the answer.

Anyway, a couple things I did really enjoy were the type of humor used and the way each chapter or section was labeled by a role she's played in life.

Would I recommend? For fans of The Office or Kimmy Schmidt, yes. Everyone else, probably not.

My expectations were exceeded by this book. The last few celebrity memoirs I read were strange, slow, and baffling. So I had sort of medium expectations for this one, even though I've always adored Busy Philipps. But she hit it out of the park.

Busy is funny, but she's also (sometimes) painfully honest, open, and real. This book felt a little raw at times, it was so honest. I'm sure there are some pieces she kept private, but I wasn't expecting to cry at the end of every single chapter about her personal life. Nor was I expecting to sob through an entire chapter. Unlike some celebrity memoirs that seem so disconnected from reality, Busy made it easy for the reader to find common ground with her. She was a kid growing up in the suburbs. And now she's a wife and mom with real struggles and triumphs like the rest of us.

I just felt a LOT while reading this book and I'm SO glad she didn't listen when people told her no one would want to read it. Because I did, I do, and I will read anything she writes from now on. So much talent. Truly, what a sparkly human.

Also, I'm obsessed with her writing style and the fact that she wrote so much in all caps and the editor left it that way. I feel that on a cellular level.


Would I recommend?
Definitely yes if you enjoy a good memoir. But if you have triggers, look up trigger warnings first.


P. S. Craig and Jeff can actually KISS IT.