cardigoth

This made me sad the way that reading your own journal can make you sad. But it also made me sad in other ways. It felt like a worse version of my life and I mean that as a compliment.

Strange. Interesting. Quotable. But I wished I was reading something else.

This book reads like CM Nascosta wrote a semi-spicy cozy in an afternoon. This is a draft, not a finished novel and the sex doesn't even add anything. Skip this.

I was getting pretty annoyed thinking that I knew what this book was getting at. It's not this big reveal, but there are things that were surprisingly sweet. It reminded me a lot of [b:The Very Nice Box 54310999 The Very Nice Box Laura Blackett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1614098065l/54310999.SY75.jpg 84747772], but it was happier overall.

I'm very ambivalent on this. I appreciate having read this, though, so I guess that's something.

When I first started this book, I was annoyed by her perspective. I realize now this was the only in-road to get from where we are to where we need to be on the subject of “cancel culture,” “bad people,” “bad artists,” etc. However, the most poignant chapters were only a small percentage of this book. She spends, maybe, too much time describing the kinds of “bad” people can be, only to come to the conclusion that we must love who and what we love because love isn't only for the perfect. Anyway, if you're interested in the topic, it's a worthy read overall.

From the moment I cracked this open, I knew it was going to be a five star book. Just so heartbreaking the whole time, even in its hopefulness. Hopeful in its heartbreak too. Anyway, just read it.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. It was fine.

Cute and hot and mindless, hooray.

Beautiful, painful, marvelous, tender.

2.5 stars rounded to 3. I just didn't connect to these characters at all. Even with the bonus “epistolary” secret identity thing, I was underwhelmed.

Dual narration is why this gets 3 stars. Otherwise, middling.

This was never really going to hit for me because of the relationship dynamic but I've liked all the other Jacquot novellas so far so I gave it a shot. Very little character development and kind of disjointed.

This took me like 20 minutes to read and it was still just a waste of time.

It was fine. I appreciate a full cast of voices, but not a super strong story.

Well, I'm glad there was a happy ending. As cute as some of the funeral, hometown stuff was, I don't know that I needed to read a book where more than half of it was about that. This reads a little bit more like women's fiction or YA than romance and that's a bit of a disappointment. It was cutesy and pretty tame and Benji didn't exist enough for it to be a romance. It had a twist I expected but another twist I didn't expect. I thought I'd never read this because it was so boring when I first picked it up, so I'm glad I gave it another try... but meh. If it didn't have death, ghosts, and a funeral home in it, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Oof. I hated the dad from moment one. I guess I'm glad that Sylvie didn't get ritualistically sacrificed, but I suppose that's not the point. It seems the point is how victims feel even when they're removed from their circumstances, but... it's still hard. I will say it's an interesting setting for sure. Folk horror vibes.

Sad and shocking in a lot of the same ways as these cult memoirs usually are, but this one lacked something I can't put my finger on. It was certainly upsetting, certainly horrific. Maybe I wanted more about the religion? In any case, it's serviceable.

2.5 stars rounded up. I can't explain exactly why this kept my attention. I think it was the cozy cabin vibes and the few interesting bits of world-building. I will try to read the sequel. I'm so bad at reading romance sequels.

3.5 stars rounded up because this kept my attention the whole way through. The main reason I choose to read this over many other similar books was the “found footage” trope and I wish there had been a little more of that.

I was pretty certain this “twist” was going to be that the brother, Michael, was the killer the whole time. It just had that feeling. Especially when Michael showed his violent side, I felt pretty certain. But this was written well enough that I doubted myself a bit, suspected Brian and Lucas each for a moment, and that's worth crediting.

Cute. Very cute.

Thimble was my favorite. Will possibly read the prequel. Not my favorite cozy, by far, but I liked how much it was about coffee and baked goods.

This has surprisingly been very enjoyable. Vying for second place among Emily Henry books I've read.

A little too references-made-into-a-narrative for my taste. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

Honestly, just read The Dare instead unless you're really into cars and high school drama.