Meagan

I was ready to rate this way higher but it fully jumped the shark in the last chapter. A deux ex machina (or several in quick succession in this case) is not a satisfying way to end a suspense novel.

This audiobook had a profound impact on me. I listened to it over a few weeks because there was a lot to get through and digest but I would 100% recommend it. An incredible documentation of loss, trauma and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

This book has my heart. The whole thing feels like the best and worst nostalgia and I absolutely loved it.

I really enjoyed this book but first off, I had to knock a star off for pet death. It always makes me really uncomfortable when this is used as a plot point and I'm not sure I've ever seen an instance of it that I really felt was justifiable. I don't think it was warranted here either.

So. It turns out the audiobook I was listening to was an adapted American version, with the original book being set in Britain. I had a look at some of the differences and I have to be honest, it weirds me out and I don't get why they did it. I can only guess that it must have been for marketing reasons but finding out you're reading an adapted version halfway through is jarring. It was also really obvious in places once you know there's something up (words like “fancied”, “cheeky” and “roundabout” were left in). I think the location makes a huge difference so I might reread, except with the actual original version, at some point.

Still, it was a good book and I did enjoy it. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

This was adorable. To be fair, this wouldn't normally be my kind of book, but it's Lin, so I figured I'd give it a try, especially when I found out he voices the audiobook. Overall just a comforting, sweet and soothing experience.

I adored this book, and I really didn't expect to. I tried listening to the audiobook because of the hype around the book and couldn't get into it, so I gave up pretty quickly. But something made me go back and try again, and I'm really glad I did. (The instrumental version of Honeycomb at the end was such a nice surprise.)

In terms of story, I really liked how open-ended it was about what happened (if anything) between Billy and Daisy after Camilla's death.

I'm not sure how I feel about the twist with Julia being the one writing the story, and it seemed a little too convenient that Camila wasn't around to speak about that last conversation with Daisy. Still, I found that a pretty minor flaw in what was overall a really enjoyable book.

Like I mentioned, I listened to the audiobook so I can't compare it to the experience of reading the physical book but it felt really alive as an audiobook, with the characters so vivid. The voice acting was excellent. Highly recommended.

4.5. This was SO cute, my only complaint is that the book was over so soon (but at least there are the sequels!)

3.5 stars.

This short little book ??? just three hours in audiobook form ??? was interesting, if a little repetitive in places.

Japanese convenience stores have a somewhat legendary status around the world and, having never been to Japan, this setting was a big part of what drew me to this book. I did feel like I got a good glimpse into that environment.

While Keiko, the main character, is never explicitly described as being on the spectrum, she reads as an autistic-coded character as she has difficulty understanding social norms and actively masks to blend in socially. I liked Keiko and found her interesting, but most other characters, especially her group of girlfriends, came off as insipid and two-dimensional ??? though perhaps this is done on purpose, given the book's overall message, which I think is something along the lines of: there may be a “right” and “wrong” way to live according to society, but sometimes this is entirely at odds with what is right or wrong for an individual, and it is more important to follow your own path, regardless of what society may think.

Overall, I would say while I enjoyed this book well enough, it wasn't a standout. Had it been significantly longer I may have bailed before the end of the book, but since it was so short I felt I may as well finish it. Everything was tied up well, although the circularity of the plot made it feel like there wasn't much character development.

This was a fun read. The production of the audiobook is pretty good. I definitely got wrapped up in this book although let's be honest, Jack has very few redeeming qualities apart from his dramatic romantic speeches. Still, I was glad to finally see them together at the end.

For me, I think the hype around this book had a negative impact on how I experienced it. I had high expectations and they weren't met at all.
The twist was very predictable, so the 12-hour audiobook felt ploddingly slow at times. Sure, I went back and forth on who I thought the murderer was a few times but wasn't at all surprised at the reveal. It also didn't feel realistic to me that such a pariah of the community wouldn't be convicted regardless of whether she was guilty or not.
I love poetry but even for me the frequent injections of poetry from “Amanda Hamilton” became annoying.
That's not to say this isn't a well written book. There's a lot of beautiful, vivid imagery. But this one just didn't do it for me.

This book was fascinating and made me think about the therapist/patient relationship in a way I never had before. Lori's writing is funny, insightful and informative. Definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time.

I'd give this 2.5 stars.
The good: Interesting subject matter, I couldn't put this book down.
The bad: So much potential was skipped over in favour of keeping the plot moving. I feel like the book was overly focused on the ‘what' (events happening during the course of the book) and not the ‘why' (psychological aspects and character exploration).

Maggie O'Farrell has a way of reaching right through the pages to your heart.

4.5 stars.

3.5 stars. I finished this one pretty quickly but I have a feeling I'll be thinking about it for a while yet.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is so good at creating epic, decades-spanning stories that draw you in. This is no exception.

4 stars. Might have been 4.5 but the present-day narrative pulled the story down.

Good god, Frances has to be one of the least likeable main characters I've come across in quite some time. And the ending maddened me.

And yet, Sally Rooney remains Sally Rooney. I adore this woman's writing so much that I happily sat through an eight and a half hour audiobook despite getting more and more annoyed with Frances and how she hurts those around her, and by extension herself, through her needlessly harsh barbed remarks and secret keeping.

Bobbi, on the other hand, I gradually grew to like, even though she is arguably as obnoxious as Frances. I have no idea why this happened.

4.5 stars.

This book was incredible. Highly recommend the audio book, read by Jennette herself. I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, and most of all I very frequently exclaimed, out loud, “what the fuck?!” Because there was just that much crazy shit going on.

Big content warning for parental abuse and eating disorders.

Looking back on this year, I've read good, bad and mediocre books. Mostly mediocre, really. But I've also read a handful of truly amazing books that I'll remember for years to come. This is one of them.

This barely scrapes 2.5 stars for me. I almost rated it two stars, but added a half star is for the fact that this book did keep me interested in it long enough to finish it.

I liked the premise and the jumping back and forth between Monica and Jennifer five years ago. But the ending was so sloppy in so many ways that it made the nearly 10 hours spent listening to the audiobook feel like a waste.

There were way too many red herrings here, with no clues given to the actual killer, so when we did find out his identity it was out of nowhere. Plus, because there are all these little details trying to misdirect the reader, I had absolutely no recollection of the small things that turned out to be important to figuring out the killer in the end crucial in the end - specifically the earring and a dog bite scar.

I also didn't feel the motivations for the murder were believable, and there were just too many little coincidences used to explain things. The whole way through there's this sense that you're going to find out how everything is connected and why they died, but it boils down to the most boring explanation possible: coincidence.

Unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. Sally Rooney is fast becoming one of my favourite writers.

The tone of the ending was a bit strange though, and the introduction of the pandemic very abrupt.

Throughout the book, the emails between Alice and Eileen often felt a little overwrought. The two of them had such a similar outlook on life that at times it felt like someone writing themselves letters back and forth, in the manner that a person might play chess against themselves.

Still, it was well worth a read and most of all I loved stepping back into Sally Rooney's writing. So full of detail yet simple at the same time.

2.5 stars rounded down to 2.

While I was impressed by some of the twists, the writing style utterly killed this for me. The constant overuse of heavy-handed, clunky metaphors and similes grated on me throughout the entire book. They were so cliched that it became easy to guess where the author was going with the metaphor right as she started one. The amount of sentences that started with, “People are like (insert object here)” was truly baffling.

The characters were thoroughly unlikeable. I wasn't able to root for any of them, and I feel indifferent about the ending. Sam's chapter was a nice touch though, and I felt things were tied up fairly well. Still, this book was not for me.

This has been my favourite volume of Heartstopper so far, which is saying a lot because I've loved every single one.

What makes this volume stand out to me is the nuanced way it deals with mental illness in teenagers. It's a frank depiction and it doesn't skim over the ugly parts of mental illness the way a lot of other YA fiction has a tendency to do. I also thought the book did a good job of illustrating the complexities of being the partner of someone with a mental illness.

This one is an easy five star rating as far as I'm concerned.

Rounded up from 3.5. I liked Poppy. I didn't much like Alex. While I enjoyed this book, I didn't really buy into their relationship so that fell flat for me. Still a fun read though.

Though this short story is commonly thought of as an epilogue to Normal People (being set later than the book even though it was written before the book), I don't know if I feel that way about it.
This doesn't quite feel like the right or true ending to me somehow, mainly because their characters are much more evolved in the book and this almost seems like a regression, especially on Connell's part. But also, my point of view on this is undoubtedly influenced by wanting these two to end up together, which is of course not what happens here.
Still, I loved dipping back into Marianne and Connell's world.