NJ
I'm a sucker for any book that emphasises the power of words to shape who we are. There's so much exploration of current power dynamics and how those in power seek to keep the world exactly as it is. I enjoyed so much about this book.
2022: Upon reread, this book book is still such a gem. I found the HRs that were published in 2021 a bit disappointing and after spending the past week reading some of my earlier favorites, I can definitely say its them not me. I haven't gone of HR, its the books that aren't cutting it
After enjoying [b:Fair as a Star 53342294 Fair as a Star (Victorian Romantics, #1) Mimi Matthews https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1589846812l/53342294.SY75.jpg 82018204], I couldn't wait to start this novella. However, it was all over the place. I couldn't take the proposal scene seriously because the hero referred to the heroine as ‘little fool' and that gave me intense [b:Rebecca 17899948 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386605169l/17899948.SX50.jpg 46663] vibes.
This book was much longer than it needed to be. It could have been 20 pages shorter and the story would have been much better for it.
I liked both Taryn and Billy but I felt that at times Taryn was completely irrational. she was upset that Billy didn't propose on their first reconciliation date, but about 30 seconds later she was telling him that she wasn't ready to be back in a fully committed relationship. Which one is it? Are you ready for serious commitment or not?
The main reason this gets 2 stars instead of the 3 I was originally going to give it, is that it had one of my top 3 romance novel pet peeves. I absolutely hate it when the heroine has to sacrifice some career advancement for her relationship. I'm not here for it at all. The irritating thing is romance writers keep writing heroines who make these choices over and over and over again. Now, I know that real-life women often make sacrifices to balance career development and love for a myriad of complex, often difficult reasons. And, I don't seek to invalidate any of those reasons. However, in romance novels there is often very little reciprocity in terms of the sacrifices the heroines and heroes are expected to make. I've read at least two office romances this year where the heroine was the one who quit her job so their relationship could continue . Additionally, in this story, the two of them never even discuss the possibility of him moving to Germany for the duration of her career. She turns down the job offer despite finally getting the respect (and lack of harassment) she has always wanted.
After how much I loved [b:The Sword of Kaigen 41886271 The Sword of Kaigen M.L. Wang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546137241l/41886271.SX50.jpg 65383313], I was so excited to read another SPFBO winner. However, this was a miss for me. It was too plot-driven for my tastes with little character development. It was battle after battle and after the first couple of battles, I was tired of the whole schtick. I don't see myself reaching for another Hayes book anytime in the future.
None of the own voices reviews I've read thought this was an accurate portrayal of Islam so I'm going to give this a miss.
Read this last week but I can't remember whether I liked it or not. SO it was most likely just a meh read.
2021 isn't even halfway through and I already know this is going to be one of the best books I read this year. M.L Wang's characters are nuanced and complex and as someone who loves character-driven stories, I was blown away by how real Misaki and Marumo felt. These weren't pure individuals driven by a higher purpose; they were flawed, interesting people who had complicated and at times brutal relationships with their friends and family.
Talking only about the character development though is doing the book a great disservice. The action scenes are well-written and engaging. Wang is such a gifted writer. I can't wait to read more of her work.
I was prepared to like this book. I really was. A plot where the heroine proposes to the hero to save his ruined reputation? Sign me up.
However, there were irritating parts of this book that I just couldn't ignore. Firstly, 90% of the main characters' problems would not have existed if they were capable of simply talking to each other. In the first half of the book, I could understand their mutual wariness but after that point it just got tiring. What they really seemed to excel at doing was talking at each other. While they both made very salient points about the implications of the heroine's actions at the beginning of the book, they never have a conversation where they compromise and begin to see the other person's point of view. Although as readers who can peer into the minds of the characters, we see them begin to understand each other, we never see them have a discussion about this. I believe that this greatly contributes to the feelings of mistrust they both still have towards nearing the end of the book. However, I must admit that the line about love being a series of actions is perhaps one of my favourite romance novel quotes. If not for that this book would probably have received 2 stars.
Still, the book was well written and I'll try another Peckham book to see if my issues with this novel are resolved in some of her other books.
3.5 rounded down to a three. It was a good book but I didn't get emotionally invested in the characters. Liked the message though.
So may little things irritated me that I just couldn't continue. I might return at a later date though.
4.5 stars
Was totally ready to give it 5 stars until this moment,
“There's no place like Africa to set your head straight,” Vansh had declared
This moment including the whole discussion surrounding her trip to Malawi played uncomfortably into Western stereotypes about ‘going to Africa to find yourself' and it just irritated me. Had to bump it down 0.5 stars, which is a shame because I genuinely loved this book.
4.5 stars rounded down.
This is trilogy has so many good lines, I have to give Mark Lawrence that. Additionally, his character work is impeccable. I wanted a lot more from the Nona and Ara relationship though. I needed so much more than the little snippet we were given at the end. The romantic in me was crying out for more!!! . The friendships are developed so well over the course of this trilogy. Every intimate moment between the characters feels earned. As a reader, I knew what they had had to get through to be there and I truly believed in the strength of their bonds. Sister Apple's death wrecked me. If Ara had died too I would have rated this 1 star
Leaving this unrated because I'm not sure how I feel.
There's stuff to like here. Dare writes well, and this is evident even in her debut. However, the romance was a bit melodramatic at times there was a love quadrangle at one point . For the first half of the book, the heroine behaves in a very spoiled manner with no regard for anyone else. Then in the latter half of the book, the hero wants to wrap the heroine in gossamer silk for her own good . In this particular story, there was some childhood trauma that led to the hero's actions, but even with this background, I didn't enjoy the trope any more than I have in the past. I think if this trope were employed less, then in instances like this where it is explained by the hero's history (although not excused, I still think the hero needs to realise during the course of the book that such behaviour is harmful and in the end not very loving), I would find it a bit more palatable. However, every other alpha romance hero feels the need to protect the heroine for her own good. I don't know why love has to be equated with excessive protection to the point of being suffocating.
TW: sexual abuse of a minor
2.5 stars.
Dare writes well but a lot of issues that could have been delved into were sort of given a passing treatment. It was my first time reading a historical that attempted to address child sexual abuse in the Regency era and I felt like the execution left a lot to be desired.
While I liked the book, I didn't enjoy the central relationship. I was so happy with that ambiguous end. I thought: This is a healthy move, Marianne; you absolutely did the right thing.
Rooney does a good job of highlighting the harm we do to ourselves, and other people when we depend on others for validation and acceptance. So I think it is so interesting that even in the final version of their relationship, Marianne seems so dependent on Connell. There's a particular passage I can't get out of my head:
She was laughing then, and her face was red. She was in his power, he had chosen to redeem her, she was redeemed. It was so unlike him to behave that way in public that he must have been doing it on purpose, to please her. How strange to feel herself so completely under the control of another person, but also how ordinary. No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not. She knows he loves her, she doesn't wonder about that anymore.
Rooney critiques a need for social acceptance to such a large degree in this novel, that it seems an odd choice to have Marianne and Connell this dependent on each other. Even in the end, they haven't necessarily found a middle ground. In this particular passage it reads (to me anyway), that Marianne is accepting that she and Connel are co-dependent and that is ok. I think that an over-reliance on social acceptance and an overreliance on one person, are both perversions of what could otherwise be healthy relationships between ourselves and the people around us. So it is an interesting choice Rooney makes to have Marianne ‘accept' her codependent relationship, getting to the end of her book. To me, it reads as an indication that Marianne and Connell have not yet managed to be independent while maintaining healthy relationships. There's an all or nothing quality to their relationship that is present even at the end, which is why I think the book absolutely had to end the way it did.
In the book, we got to see Connell get therapy for his anxiety and depression, but we never got to see Marianne work through her own trauma and abuse. I think this may in part contribute to the state of their relationship. Considering Connell himself had contributed to her feelings of unworthiness, I couldn't believe in the health of their connection. Even in the last chapter. So I was overjoyed when the book ended with their separation. I feel perhaps they could reconnect later when they are healthier more mature versions of themselves and have a better relationship. For now, I was happy that this iteration of their relationship was dying.
The book made me feel many things, it is rare that I inhabit characters as fully as I inhabited Connell and Marianne. In fact, I'm absolutely certain that my strong feelings about this book have made this review an incoherent mess but
This book had a nice, quirky concept but its execution was weak.
Our protagonist is informed of his impending death and offered a deal with the devil: for every extra day he is alive, he needs to choose something that will totally disappear from the world. From this setup, I was expecting to read heart-wrenching moral dilemmas about the ethics of making things disappear for the whole world while wanting to eke out a few more moments out of life. I also thought I would be getting a deep exploration of grief when confronted so directly with one's own mortality. Instead, it was pretty blah.
The main character is selfish and apathetic and doesn't seem to consider any opinions, thoughts or feelings outside of his own when choosing the things that can disappear. Granted, by the end, the devil is the one choosing which things disappear (no surprise here, he is the devil after all). However, even then he should have considered what it would mean when he accepted the bargain. For example, when he is considering whether or not to make movies disappear, he doesn't seem to think about what that absence would mean for his ex-girlfriend - who loves movies so much she now lives above a cinema. What would the absence of movies mean for her? Will she forever feel incomplete? He neither considers no cares about what the answers to these questions are. The protagonists self-centredness would be okay if the book was seeking to highlight how inherently selfish humans really are, but by the end, we are supposed to buy the idea that humans are actually selfless because the protagonist cannot bring himself to make cats disappear. However, even that final decision is selfish, he doesn't decide to keep cats around because he's thinking of other people, he seems to do it because of the sentimental value cats hold for him . Besides, he hardly seems remorseful for the other things he made disappear.
Additionally, there seem to be no real-world implications for the things that disappear. How did the world not come grinding down to a halt when the clocks disappeared. What happened to all the people who worked in phone manufacturing, or in the movie industry, or even in the clock industry. Millions of people must supposedly have woken up unemployed. How did the world simply go on, when big changes had been made. I think this concept would have worked better if each bargain gave him an additional 2 months - 1 year, then he could really sit with and consider the impacts of his decisions, see how the world was different because of the self-interested choices he had made.
This book promised to deliver one man's journey of self-discovery, but in my opinion, it fell short.