Em
Overall I really did enjoy this book and plan on continuing the series. I liked how easily we got to experience the city with her. I feel like this could be easily made to a great movie. My big gripe is that sometimes I felt like Cassidy had a ~i'm not like other girls~ attitude which I don't like reading about regardless of the targeted age demographic.
This was a book that I was really excited about because of representation across the board.
However what it lacked for me was just a little more depth. One of the major plot points in this doesn't feel very organic. I understand why the story may have been left open ended like it was so you are never sure if she did the “right” thing.
It just felt like it really missed the mark for me.
There are rules to these things. Everything is survivable.I haven't really gotten into the subcategory of horror of haunted houses so The September House was one of the first. One of the reviewers I follow said it felt similar to [a:Grady Hendrix 4826394 Grady Hendrix https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1542284521p2/4826394.jpg]'s style of writing. That really spoke to me especially in the first act. Margaret will not move out of her home - regardless of who else inhabits it. She can handle the bloody walls, her furniture being moved around, the ghosts in their various forms of brutality that they had suffered. There are rules and she simply has to follow them. She just has to make it through September.
This was intense and thoughtful telling of the hunt for the Golden State Killer. Do not go into this expecting just facts about GSK. What we often do not get in true crime is focus on victims beyond the worst moments. McNamara gave us details about them. She made sure that they were human. Some of this was very difficult to listen to. We were given a window into how these cold cases are investigated by those who are shaken by these crimes and refuse to let these killers continue to go unpunished.
Okay - I've finally figured out why I haven't given Gailey higher than a 3 star yet.
Gailey has this ability to come up with really fascinating plots. Magic for Liars is about a non magical woman being asked to solve a murder mystery at a magical school. We also have some familial drama. Between Magic for Liars and River of Teeth I realized just how much character exploration we get. We get really interesting and nuanced individuals that I want to read about. What I want from their plots is to have more to it. If it's a mystery I want to be taken aback when we come to the reveals.
My big issue lies with the need for further details. Maybe it's just how I am as a reader but I want to be able to really envision the surroundings and feel as though I'm a part of the scenery. This is something I had a hard time with when reading River of Teeth as well.
I will continue to check out their work and can't wait to see how their next book reads.
Besides some intensely millennial phrases this was a good time. If you aren't a fan of body horror pass on this one. I did love how we got different point of views that were woven together in the end.
although it was really cute and ultimately a happy ending there is a forced outing and I just was not a fan of that AT ALL. obviously look to trans and nonbinary reviewers for their opinions as well before deciding if this book is for you!
Y'all this book was so great.
I savored this book. It is full of longing, there is a mystery, and it explores the class dynamics of Herrath.
Nirrim lives on an island full of rulings and tithes. If a rule is broken - a tithe must be paid. When she unexpectedly meets Sid her eyes are opened to the possibility that not everything is how it should be.
I am still not over Rutkoski delivering main characters who I love even among their flaws. Throughout this whole book I adored Sid because I am a predictable queer. And sweet Nirrim!? As much as I am a fan of this romance I also love the investigation into the High Caste magic.
Nothing brought me as joy lately as screaming at my audiobook. I'm in deep. I'd like six books please.
Morrigan has always been told that every bad thing in life has been the result of her being born on the wrong day. One of the cursed children she has known that she will not make it past her eleventh birthday. Even within her own home she has not felt as if she has had a place. Until one day she is swept into a world that is unlike her own...
This storytelling brought me back to the absolute joy I felt while reading as a child. There was something so magical about Nevermoor and the world that Morrigan was brought into. Jupiter is the type of overseeing adult who makes questionable decisions but ultimately wants the best even if he might not do it in the best way. This story brought me back to feelings I had when I first read H.P.
What I absolutely adore about this story is how much growth we can see in Morrigan's life within the time frame of this story.
Please do yourself a favor and listen or read this book.
[reread 2020] I continue to absolutely love this book and how it feels like a warm hug. Lots of Morrigan's negative self talk is so true to how I talk to myself as an adult. I know I comped this for HP previously and still holds true but the immediate adults in Morrigan's life and found family seem to actually do a lot more for her than HPs did for him?
Thunderhead provided where Scythe did not. To be honest I wasn't sure if it would be worth continuing the series but I ended up picking it up again after all of the hype over the release of [b:The Toll 43822024 The Toll (Arc of a Scythe, #3) Neal Shusterman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558117336l/43822024.SY75.jpg 59222476]. Wow. This is a major improvement from the first book. This is where the plot really took off. I understand now that Scythe was just laying the groundwork for the rest of the series. So much happened and was honestly so fun to read.
I have been struggling with how to get my thoughts out about this novella. Other reviewers have done much better than me. My heart just hurts so much over this Medusa retelling. How absolutely human she is and that she is seen as the monster. There is such beautiful prose. Please read this.
I don't even know how to process this book rn
first impressions:
- loved the 2000s chat style
- I had been looking for a horror book that left me feeling uneasy and Eric LaRocca DELIVERED!!
This was a book that was suggested in a thread about women slowly going mad and the unhinged women trope. Maybe because I went into it with that sort of expectation I was disappointed overall with where it ended up going. It also doesn't help that this is what I read soon after finishing [b:When Darkness Loves Us 868727 When Darkness Loves Us Elizabeth Engstrom https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1666975701l/868727.SY75.jpg 854113] which delivers much more on this premise. Overall I do feel like this was a decent book but not exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the chance to read this arc!
Having read Ward's other work I knew that I enjoyed it but Needless Street was just not for me. Sundial was a chance to try out her work again and WOW it didn't disappoint.
Rob seems to have her life together - a home, a family, a husband - but behind closed doors her husband is abusive and her eldest daughter is showing troubling signs like collecting bones. To protect Callie from her husband she decides to bring her back to her childhood home Sundial.
This book was full of twists and honestly just delivered so well on the promise of psychological horror. It was such a delight to piece together any of the twists before they came but still managed to be surprised by pieces I didn't see coming.
Listening to the audiobook was the way to go for this. I just wanted to keep on listening. This story explores teenage exploration with sex / male gaze and questioning religion. This was such a stunning book and I am excited to pick up more of her work!