Initial Impressions 3/19/20: I was desperate for a new fantasy series, craving an adult series and not so interested in YA at the moment, so I reachedInitial Impressions 3/19/20: I was desperate for a new fantasy series, craving an adult series and not so interested in YA at the moment, so I reached out to a Brandon Sanderson Facebook group for recommendations and they gave me literally like 50 (granted, a lot of them were repeats, but still). Out of all of those, Brent Week's Lightbringer series was one of the ones that was recommended the most so I selected that one and started THE BLACK PRISM! I can definitely see how it's a hit with Sanderson fans and I really enjoyed it as well!
The beginning of the book was a little slow for me, but that could be because I'm still trying to break a reading slump and it's a tough choice to force a new series to break it, but I think we may be edging out! It took me just a little bit to figure out who all the characters are and to become invested in them, but I think that was more of a mood/me thing than it was a book thing. The writing style as far as the structure of the book goes is pretty similar to Sanderson's -- the book is told in the third person and we get multiple characters POVs (still all from the third person) but it's not too many that it's hard to follow. We get to know the essential characters and some you know are super important right off the bat whereas others take a little while to get their important plot points moving. It's a fun balance of taking the side of the hero and letting the series develop with a little intrigue, not rushing into everything all at once.
The magic system is probably the most talked-about thing about this series because it's COLORFUL. Those who can perform magic ("drafters") can do so based on specific color properties. Some are associated with two colors instead of one, usually associated next to each other on the rainbow scale. Some have the ability to use three. Some can use all the colors. It's a pretty neat system and it sort of reminded me a little bit of Sanderson's Mistborn magic system but with colors and a less rigid adherence. Mistborn kind of has a black & white this-metal-does-this and you can only have one power or else you have them all, and this colorful magic system in THE BLACK PRISM allows for a bit more variance making things even more complicated! The only thing I wish is that I would have loved to have things spelled out juuuust a bit more as far as what colors can really do what with their magical abilities. We do get to see what each color does and what they can do with it but since there are seven colors (technically two are out of the visible spectrum -- super violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and sub red) and yes, I did watch a YouTube video about this after finishing the book so I could get a better grip on it. With so much going on in the book, it's hard to remember what everything is (probably especially while listening since I'm not actually seeing the words on the page) and it's harder to remember things when there are seven different ones to remember! What's also cool is that Drafters also have different personality traits/ways of thinking based on their color and there's a limit to how much magic they can use before it eventually breaks them.
The magic system definitely did hook me into the book right away, but things really got interesting around maybe 35% of the way into the book when the first big twist is revealed. It really changed my entire way of thinking and without giving anything away, I started questioning a lot of things, including who even is good and who is bad, or is there even a good and a bad? There are still a lot of things that we don't know in the first book and I love that a lot of that is being left for later books so we have a little more intrigue left for the series to develop.
The only thing that I really didn't like about my experience reading this book was the narrator. I think if there was a good narrator, it would have been even more amazing (can Michael Kramer just narrate all fantasy novels, please?) but the voices that this narrator (Simon Vance) chose were really weird sometimes and he was just kind of blah in his narration. I'm much more drawn to people who are actually acting out the book and a lot of this was just kind of reading words on the page and it was a little bit dull, but not too bad that I won't keep listening (which is good since that's the only way I have time to read). The voice for the Prism was just plain bizarre, making him sound almost kind of stupid or almost like a surfer-type voice? It was a super weird choice and I'm surprised that's what it ended up being after editing & production, but hey, maybe he's supposed to sound that way? We'll also see what future books are like because who knows, there may be some changes.
I need to start something else next but I'm definitely coming back to this series right after to continue binge reading! ...more
Initial Impressions 3/3/20: I had suuuuuper high hopes for this book hearing so many rave reviews but overall I just found it really lacking in any soInitial Impressions 3/3/20: I had suuuuuper high hopes for this book hearing so many rave reviews but overall I just found it really lacking in any sort of world-building. The beginning of the book talks about this taking place on a planet in space, and the characters actually do travel through space to get to another planet, but it's not really mentioned what the planets are, if this is the Milky Way Galaxy as we know it, if it's totally fictional, if it's in the future, if it's a fictional galaxy, etc. I just had so many questions and this world would have been SO COOL if I could have only known a bit more about the setting and the history of this universe.
History was the other thing I was really lacking from the world-building, knowing pretty little until the end of the book and even then, I still had questions that I'd like answered in the first book of the series and not later on (assuming that the questions do get answered later). Maybe I just questioned too many things where the readers are "supposed to" just follow the course of the book but it just didn't quite pull me in with the information that we were given. I'm not sure why necromancy was important to this universe or where it came from or even really how it worked. It was magical, yes, and it had a system to it, but I just would have loved to explore it a little bit more so we could have more of a working knowledge and then it could be used even more later in the book or in later books. I don't need things spelled out for me but I just wanted a little more in one realm or the other so maybe I didn't end up questioning everything and feeling a little lost.
I did like the character interactions. There were a lot of characters once the different Houses got together but that didn't bother me as much as it did for some other reviewers. I was able to tell the important ones apart, sort of how you kind of forget anyone who wasn't important in the Hunger Games and you just remember the important tributes. (Because that's really kind of what it was like...) I really wanted to learn MORE about Gideon, because you do learn a lot. Given how the book ended, I'm not sure if some of the big questions will be answered, because we were certainly led to a few and then abandoned there...
I didn't really care for the middle of the book at all. It's a murder mystery in this weird mansion that's totally isolated for no apparent reason except to lock these people up together and make them go through random challenges. It was almost like The Hunger Games meets Red Rising meets Saw meets Clue, but all with necromancy on a future-like planet. Yes? I would have rather spent ALL that time actually seeing a part of ANY of the planets/worlds since the Ninth was quickly abandoned. We don't really get to see anything with these characters locked up in an old mansion the whole book. The murder-mystery vibe was not what I had in mind when I picked up a book that was fantasy/sci-fi and since I wasn't expecting it, I was kind of confused when it all started that this was the point of the book.
I'm not sure if I'm going to continue the series at this point but I really do want some more answers based on what I read here. You know me, I love a good sassy, bad-ass, swearing-like-a-sailor heroine and I did, but I just needed a little more from everything in this book and I feel a little let down.
Also, I did listen to the audiobook and everyone raved about the narrator. She did a good Gideon voice, loved the cursing gusto, but she was just okay for me. Not as stellar as I had hoped. ...more
Initial Impressions 2/26/20: 3.5 - 4 stars I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this one, including being stuck on a cruise ship/luxury boat (whateverInitial Impressions 2/26/20: 3.5 - 4 stars I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this one, including being stuck on a cruise ship/luxury boat (whatever you want to call it) so that there's really kind of nowhere to escape! There were a few things that were a little over-the-top to me (view spoiler)[ like you're telling me there are not two but THREE women who just happen to pass identically for each other? Or close enough that two of them are identical and one is close enough to use someone else's identity...? Nah. (hide spoiler)] but the book overall was really enjoyable! Ruth Ware did a great job with the suspense on this one. I did get a little distracted in the middle before things started unraveling so I lost a tiny bit of focus but really good read overall! ...more
Initial Impressions 2/24/20: Another Mary Kubica book that fails to impress me but I still feel compelled to keep reading them... I won't give anythinInitial Impressions 2/24/20: Another Mary Kubica book that fails to impress me but I still feel compelled to keep reading them... I won't give anything away directly in my review but there some heavy hints at spoilers so reader, beware!
Something I realized with THE OTHER MRS that I just often find her main characters to be a little irritating and naive. Not every thriller heroine has to be so naive and in the dark in order to harbor a big twist and I feel like it's always the same tone.
This book also felt like it fell prone to some of the psychological thriller tropes and ends up trying too hard in many places. I hoped I didn't know what was going on with the different chapters and POVs in the first quarter of the book but that was a pretty easy one to figure out and something that is way overused and also really uncommon. That only shocks an audience so many times. The inclusion of Imogen as the creepy niece was just so unnecessary and she was really only there to be a scapegoat and be the obvious person to blame things on when really she was just a sad and grieving teen. (We all knew it really wasn't going to be her anyway.)
I was hoping for a few more good twists and I did get one that I didn't see coming. Added to that was the unraveling of the mystery of Morgan's murder which I also didn't quite piece together, so there were still things that made the book interesting for me and that compelled me to stay interested.
I really didn't love the ending and didn't really find that believable. Because of what we found out about Sadie, I really don't know if she'd be able to keep her children........ I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be safe for them, but okay. I also think the title is kind of stupid and gives away a LOT if you really think about it at all. I would have loved to see something else as the title to plant more doubt in the minds of the readers instead of basically spoon-feeding them a twist.
This was more of the more outlandish of Mary Kubica's books that you have to have a interest in a dramatic, theatrical twist versus some of her other books that just have some nice secrets that seem much more realistic. Obviously we know things like this do exist blah blah blah and that's why we get exciting books using things like this at plot points but it seemed a bit forced in THE OTHER MRS. ...more
Initial Impressions 3/24/20: This was a really interesting read that really kept me guessing the whole time, even at the end! I've read a lot of psychInitial Impressions 3/24/20: This was a really interesting read that really kept me guessing the whole time, even at the end! I've read a lot of psychological thrillers and it's easy to fall victim to a pattern and I was happy to feel like ALL EYES ON HER still really kept me guessing throughout the whole book. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn does a great job of leading readers down a couple of different paths so the narrative is always changing and there's always huge points of doubt for each major suspect, including the alleged murder victim himself.
ALL EYES ON HER does a great job at showing the human side of people and how people are not just black and white. From the main character, accused murdered Tabitha Cousins, to even the smaller side characters who show shades of jealousy, insecurity, and just the need to be needed, everyone in this book added a shade of grey to every side of the story and made the lines blur perfectly so that the readers can't tell if any of these motives had a part in Mark's death or if it's just people with human emotions sharing their experiences. There are also a lot of instances where girls need to stand up for themselves and the warring sides of girls sticking together (best friends, sisters) at all costs and girls taking each other down because of shaming, jealousy, and assumptions. There are so many different relationships and accusations that are explored here.
There were just a couple of things that I didn't totally care for that kept me from loving this book just a bit more. Each character chapter is the character telling their own story so it's really in their own voice, but some voices are a bit choppy. I get that it's like the character is speaking to the reader but I think a couple things could have been structured a little bit better with a bit better of a flow and a couple instances where outright confessions could have been a little more elegant instead of just blurted out onto the page.
The other thing I didn't quite love was the ending, and I'll put this one in spoilers in case you don't want to read about it because it can be a little bit of a spoiler. (view spoiler)[The ending was just a little too ambiguous for me. We finally get to hear a chapter from Tabby's POV and by the end of the book, the reader still isn't really sure if she killed Mark or if everything was an accident or if someone else plotted this to happen. I guess that's the way things go in real life and sometimes we don't ever get to know the outright truth but my personal preference is to know what the real story is. (hide spoiler)] I also felt like there were a few things that were put into play for evidence and there were just a couple loose ends that didn't really get tied up. The author did a great job at planting these seeds throughout the book to really cast doubt in every direction but I would have loved to see just a couple more things explained because it kind of felt like there were a couple pieces missing that were going to get wrapped up by the end of the book.
ALL EYES ON HER was definitely a fun and interesting read and it kept me hooked the whole time! I think I would have liked for things to be just a bit neater but the whole book really does show the messy sides of life, that things don't always have straight-forward answers, and no person is just good or bad. It's one I'd still recommend and I hope it'll be a good staple in YA thrillers!
Initial Impressions 2/20/20: 4.25 - 4.5 stars First of all, if you want to read this book and you're willing to roll with psychological thrillers, DON'Initial Impressions 2/20/20: 4.25 - 4.5 stars First of all, if you want to read this book and you're willing to roll with psychological thrillers, DON'T read any reviews before you read it. (Yes, even the non-spoilery ones because they still contain small spoilers.) It's best to go in blind aside from knowing the main character is in a relationship where the husband has three wives. That's all I knew and it made the experience that much better.
This book was absolutely bonkers. There's frequently a point in pscyhchological thrillers as things are being set up where you wonder where exactly this book is crazy because it doesn't seem *too* bad... and then the world explodes. There were multiple explosions in this book and unreliable narrator action like crazy. After the tipping point, I never knew who to trust and what the hell was going on.
The book was still interesting up to that point too. The concept of multiple wives was kind of annoying and gross but it was still unusual and it had me curious to see why anyone would agree to that and how the main character would even be okay with it considering she wanted Seth all to herself. The answers pretty much blew my mind and it was way more than I was thinking, and I've read a lot of crazy psych thrillers.
This book takes you on a roller coaster ride, especially after about halfway through. I kind of like the fact that even after the book was over, I still kind of don't really know what to believe. You're led down a path that provides you with an answer but it still isn't quite wrapped up in a shiny bow. I actually kind of like it. It left me thinking about what would happen next which was neat!
So a couple of spoilery points here --> (view spoiler)[ I didn't love the reason WHY the psychotic break happens here. I get that it's a very, very real thing that could happen after the loss of a baby, but I'm kind of sick of infertility/baby issues being the cause of psychotic breaks. I guess the reason why it bothers me is probably the reason why people have such a hard time with it, so it makes perfect sense, but I don't love being reminded of it and I feel like it's the source of 90% of the psychological thrillers that I read with female main characters. It's not that I find it unrealistic, but it just happens a lot. I guess that's a more complicated thought to unpack later, haha. (hide spoiler)]...more
This was a really enjoyable read! First quick thoughts are that I really, really liked the characters and how weInitial impressions 2/12/20: 3.5 stars
This was a really enjoyable read! First quick thoughts are that I really, really liked the characters and how well-developed they were. Clearly a lot of thought went into them, their stories, and their relationships. I felt like the plot could have been a little tighter, especially with the reasoning behind the undead thing. I also loved the tone! It was wonderfully campy and sassy in the beginning and the end. The middle got a little slower and more series which wasn’t a bad thing but it lost a little lightness and I love the smarminess and dark humor. I think a little more of that plus a little more plot development would have really pushed the rating/feelings higher. ...more
Initial Impressions 2/11/20: This was my first full-length Stephen King book and I really enjoyed it!! I don't read a lot of horror (that's not thrillInitial Impressions 2/11/20: This was my first full-length Stephen King book and I really enjoyed it!! I don't read a lot of horror (that's not thriller) so I didn't really know what to expect, but it's a little similar to the adult thrillers that I've read so far. A lot of the beginning was more set-up for the story and the horror/thrills really came more around the second half and later. It wasn't a bad thing but it definitely does take some time to set the book up and start some foreshadowing.
I was very, very interested in the story and really intrigued by the whole concept! I liked how it was handled too. There were hints leading up to the event of the interactions with the Pet Sematary (and out into the more mystical) and then even more when the actual horriric events occur.
Since this was my first Stephen King book, I really didn't know exactly how we'll I'd agree with the writing. I've heard some poor things about other books and did listen to another novellla that I really didn't care for style-wise, but I really, really enjoyed PET SEMATARY! I really agreed with the general pacing and some of the choice wording reminded me of some of my favorite authors of today.
I was actually surprised that it wasn't more horrific considering how much Stephen King has become an icon of horror today! I've ready so many psychological thrillers that have been so effed up that I could have imagined a lot more, especially since this was deemed the book that scared King himself. Granted, there were some super chilling moments that totally got me freaked out and despite the fact that I was outside in the broad daylight at the moment, I felt the need to constantly check over my shoulder.
I really enjoyed this book and I'm defintely looking forward to trying more Stephen King books! I'm so glad I enjoyed it and I can't wait for more creepy crawly reads! ...more
Initial Impressions 2/7/20: 3.5 stars While I was engaged the whole time, I feel like this book took until halfway through to even get good. I was inteInitial Impressions 2/7/20: 3.5 stars While I was engaged the whole time, I feel like this book took until halfway through to even get good. I was interested in the characters and what might happen, but there weren’t really any big points of intrigue until I was already about 45% of the way in when some of the q u e s t i o n s start to pop up.
Once we started to get some intrigue, I felt like a few things were a little predictable. Some of it was really good because while I thought it was predictable, my *actual* guesses were still not quite correct.... but they did follow a pretty well-worn path that’s used a lot in mystery/thrillers. I think it just didn’t quite pack the punch I was looking for to really surprise me.
Initial Impressions 2/4/20: Sadly, this is my least favorite of the series so far. A lot of time was spent going over things that already happened andInitial Impressions 2/4/20: Sadly, this is my least favorite of the series so far. A lot of time was spent going over things that already happened and I really didn’t like Jack recounting a story, telling it to the other characters. It felt like a huge case of snow instead of tell and because these stories are so short, I just didn’t have the tolerance to have a character tell about something that happened off-screen previously.
This book went back to the Moors, Jack & Jill’s world, but I guess I just wasn’t interested in spending more time there, as weirdly creepy as it is. I was looking forward to exploring something new and I think I’m just having a hard time getting the vibe of the overall series. Some are almost independent stories about a child and their door, and others push plot forward and have evolved a sort of murder mystery. But then we get this book and it’s not a new world and it kind of closes a chapter. I don’t know what happens from here. I actually don’t even know if there are more books. I was assuming so! While it may not be fair to the book, it just wasn’t what I was hoping for here. ...more
Initial Impressions 2/4/20: This was such a fun read while still poignant and romantic all at the same time! I really, really loved the characters andInitial Impressions 2/4/20: This was such a fun read while still poignant and romantic all at the same time! I really, really loved the characters and how real they felt. I really loved that it was third person POV, which I feel like a lot of romances are in first person. It still followed Alex as the “main” main character while seeing Henry’s story from Alex’s side and I really enjoyed the structure of the book!
The chemistry was wonderful. I did most just a little bit of steam with the book like I do with most hate-to-love stories once the tension is broken. I just loved Alex’s sassy banter and his witty personality! He still was all of those things once the romance started blooming but I loved the cheeky banter a bit more when the tension was still there! The romance was so very sweet and wonderful though.
There were a few things that I didn’t love that took me out of the book but overall I still really enjoyed this from start to finish. I loved the messy, real characters. I loved that neither of Alex’s parents had to be villains because his parents were divorced. It was just a marriage that didn’t work out but they were both still good parents. The alt-history thing was very fun, obviously fictionalizing the First Family in America and the Royal Family in Britain. A very well-written book with a lot of awesome messages. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/28/20: I grabbed this one because I needed a short, quick read and I've been meaning to read some Stephen King! I just really diInitial Impressions 1/28/20: I grabbed this one because I needed a short, quick read and I've been meaning to read some Stephen King! I just really didn't enjoy this one because it was kind of annoying, to be frank, and didn't really bring anything new to the "I think my spouse might be a serial killer" concept. Being a thriller reader, it's something I've read many times before and can be exciting and new, but this book just wasn't. Darcy was naive and annoying and her relationship with her husband was irritating with their stupid sayings. It was just a little TOO old fashioned for something that's supposed to be a modern novel.
The ending was somewhat predictable, though I just let it take me where it did since I was listening on super-speed since I hated the narrator so much. This novella wasn't bad but to me, it wasn't really worth the listen. It's nothing that hasn't been done before and the characters could have been way better. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/27/20: 3.75 stars I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one! I thought I wasn't going to connect with it and I was strangelInitial Impressions 1/27/20: 3.75 stars I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one! I thought I wasn't going to connect with it and I was strangely really in tune with Liv and her story. Right from the start, waking up after the accident, I could picture myself in her shoes and it was just a really interesting story.
I think Jessi Kirby did a great job with the whole concept of Liv's memory loss after the accident. It had the potential to be annoying or cheesy but for as big as it was within the story, it didn't feel like it was overly played out or dramatized. Liv had understandable reactions to it all and she had moments of panic as well as moments of "oh well, let's just see how it goes". I liked that everything wasn't all "woe is me" and she tries to take charge of the situation at times while letting herself fall apart and feel sad at others.
There was also potential for a lot of unnecessary drama and I thought it was going to head there but the book did a good job at keeping things realistic and not just throwing more drama into a book just for the sake of it being there. There were things that were hinted at and either turned into something or fizzled out. I really liked that not everything was this huge bomb ready to blow up in Liv's face when she discovered the truth of something.
The ending happened just a little too quickly for my tastes. I really appreciated that it wasn't an overly long book and I love quick reads, but I was hoping for just a little bit more closure, and not even with her memory. I think I just wanted another short paragraph or chapter to really end the book and give it a feeling that the book was over and we were satisfied with where it left off. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/17/20: Actual rating probably just short of four stars, but rounding up THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO wasn't something I woulInitial Impressions 1/17/20: Actual rating probably just short of four stars, but rounding up THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO wasn't something I would have ever picked up for myself but because of rave reviews from friends, I decided to give it a go!
The relationships in this book were beautifully complex. There are life-consuming romances, friendships, and familial relationships and I really enjoyed the overall message about family and true love that it contained. To get to it, there was a ton of messy bits, desperate moments to get the one that got away, and discovering how to find yourself, both on your own and who you are with the ones you love. Like Evelyn said herself, this is not a 100% nice story and she was not a good person, but the messiness of the book is just messy enough to know that it could be real.
I don't love books about Hollywood/acting/celebrity, so that did take away from the book a bit for me. There's so much to live up to regarding the expectation of fans, how stupid things that don't affect your career can affect your career, and all of that is just a bit tiresome and frustrating for me. And yet, I can also totally understand it because it's just life on a grander scale with a bigger base of people to judge you. We all keep secrets because we don't want to be judged or thought less of. We don't want to struggle to earn a family member's love. We want to escape the demons of our past and define our own futures. Even though I didn't really care about the celebrity part of it all (not in a bad way, I just don't care for it), there were a lot of insightful things that came along with it.
There is a twist in this book that I somewhat knew about but still didn't see coming. It actually made me a little bit mad in its delivery so I had to take a step back before I could rate my overall feelings about the book. Evelyn has a beautiful soul in many ways and in maybe as many ways, she's also selfish and I found her selfishness in the bomb that was dropped at the end of the book to be harsh. I guess there's no good way to do it but I felt like there was a better way. It's really not out of character so I don't feel like it was there just for the sake of the book. It didn't feel like it was wrong but it was frustrating, even though I could totally see it as something Evelyn's character would (and did) do.
I think it's just hard to rate a story that's so emotional and has so many messy parts. The characters aren't perfect and sometimes they're not likable. There is selfishness and there is selflessness. I think the book captured the rawness that can be present every day and how lonely it was for Evelyn once she was on her own and everyone she loved was gone. I didn't fully love it but I think it's something I'll keep thinking about when I look back on it down the road. ...more
Initial Impressions 3/31/20: By the time I got around to reading this book, it was incredibly hyped, which never bodes well for me, but I always hope,Initial Impressions 3/31/20: By the time I got around to reading this book, it was incredibly hyped, which never bodes well for me, but I always hope, ya know? I always hope...
Anyway, I actually don't even think the hype did me in here but I was able to go into this book mostly blind and form my own opinions, which was great.
The book was enjoyable and I didn't hate it but nothing really had me loving it. The concept was incredibly interesting and the different magic systems, culture, setting, and twists were definitely worthy of a full novel/series but there was a lot that I was missing as far as the actual meat and potatoes of the story here. The characters didn't draw me in. I got to know them, sure, but by the end of the book, I still feel like I didn't really know anything about them besides their abilities. I don't even know why some of the side characters were there, where they came from, or who they were. The main characters definitely had some real potential but I never really came to care about any of them. Kill off any main character and I really wouldn't have minded or reacted. I just never felt any connection to any of them, as hard as I tried. The world was super interesting but I needed a lot more time with it. I almost wish that this was written more like adult fantasy and we had gotten to spend WAY more time with every aspect of this book. This book is only 385 pages long, which is a decent size for a YA novel but whereas most of the time I complain about books dragging on, here I would have liked at least another 100 pages where the author really spent time extrapolating on world-building, from magic to setting to politics. I wanted more of all of it! There were a lot of really good starts to all of these but I just needed more more more. I mention the adult fantasy because I like how many adult fantasy writers choose to use more pages to establish these big worlds and I think WICKED SAINTS definitely could have benefitted from that. I know it's the first book in the series but I also think it's crucial in the first book to establish some major characteristics of all of these AND include a lot of details and not save everything for later books. I felt like I understood the basics of how the magic worked but ask me to repeat it back to you and I can tell you there are saints & beads and books & blood and that's about all I got. There are places mentioned but I don't know what this world/country is overall. There's some religion but there are a lot of different beliefs happening and I really just wanted to get to know everything in further detail. A lot of sequences or conclusions felt rushed. I was listening to the audiobook and I always listen while I work, but since I was already not as connected to the book as I hoped, if my mind drifted for even a minute, I was totally lost. I feel like there were a lot of things that were just told to us, or things that characters assumed or concluded that maybe should have been debated a bit more. I feel like some things were just taken at someone's word or at face value and then if I missed even a part of what was going on, all of a sudden we were on something different and I had no idea how we got there. The book was ending and I didn't even realize we were coming to the conclusion because it just all of a sudden kind of started. There's a lot of repetition and the romance was blah. I get the attraction, trust me I do. But I feel like on several occasions, Nadya might have tried a little bit harder to talk herself out of her attraction to Malachiasz. It was like, "Oh, I shouldn't. But I can't resist, okay let's kiss." I really wished this would have been more of a slooooowwwww burn and I think some of the kissing came too quickly and too often. He was also mentioned as a monster a LOT and maybe you should question a monster just a little bit more? Just sayin...
WICKED SAINTS wasn't a bad read for me but it also wasn't amazing or even above average. There was so much potential here but I just really couldn't connect with anything, and it wasn't in a negative way, more of a blah way. I edged on liking it and really tried, but it just didn't click anywhere for me as much as I waited for it. I would recommend it for Leigh Bardugo fans because it definitely has a Grishaverse vibe, so that's really kind of what had me hanging on in some ways, but the writing and plotting and world didn't compare to Leigh for me. I really wish this had been written as adult or pitched as adult instead of YA and if the writing style and level hit up there too, I think I would have enjoyed it much, much more. I'm still interested and I hope a lot of this will pick up in the second book so I think I'll still give that a try. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/9/20: 4.25 - 4.5 stars I think this may be one of favorite Christina Lauren books, alongside The Unhoneymooners! I looooved the cInitial Impressions 1/9/20: 4.25 - 4.5 stars I think this may be one of favorite Christina Lauren books, alongside The Unhoneymooners! I looooved the chemistry between Macy and Elliot. I'm such a sucker for second chance romances PLUS friends to more. UGH. It just tore at me and creeped right inside all my feels.
I feel like this was one of the better story structures too! The love story was prominent but there were still missing pieces of the fallout that were hidden until the end of the book. I didn't feel like the "mystery" was too drawn out at all, which is usually an issue I have, and I had a couple guesses that were wrong too, so that was interesting too! The one piece I didn't like was a bit at the end and the reason why the past-relationship fell apart. It just wasn't something I could really deal with and meh, I didn't find it too forgivable BUT I just really did root for them the whole time.
The characters were just great in this book. Each and every one of them felt so real and so perfect. I loved the love that you could feel from each one of them! The family aspect was fantastic and it made me want to jump right into the story. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/7/20: I don't know what movie trailer I saw but it gave me a totally different impression than what I just read... BUT I'm actuaInitial Impressions 1/7/20: I don't know what movie trailer I saw but it gave me a totally different impression than what I just read... BUT I'm actually glad that it did because without it, I don't think I ever would have really been drawn to read THE GOLDFINCH. I also have to say that I don't think I would have enjoyed as much -- or really at all -- if I hadn't listened to the audiobook. The beginning was a little slow and drawn out, spending a lot of time elaborating on Theo's childhood and the events that took him across the country and back after the incident and the death of his mother. I feel like if I were just sitting here reading this book in print, I really wouldn't have been as interested and I probably would have gotten bored. Something about the audiobook narrator really captivated me and got me interested in Theo's life in a way that felt really unique. I really ended up getting fully invested in these characters and the audiobook really brought them to life!
The book is mostly character-driven, I'd say, until things start to conclude towards the end. Thankfully I did end up getting really invested in the characters and really enjoyed how these experiences shaped them. The ending was also quite interesting and I really appreciated how it all came together. I was a little worried with how things were spiraling and I felt satisfied overall with how everything concluded. There were a couple of moments at the end where I just wanted it to end already and could have done without a couple flowery paragraphs/chapters at the very, very end but overall, I really liked it.
It's hard to say if I'd recommend it. This isn't the sort of book I usually read anyway so it's hard to say who would enjoy it or even if I could tell my close friends to read it. I do think that it's one of those books that you have to at least be somewhat invested in at the very beginning and cling to throughout. If you're bored at the beginning, I think you'll only grow to resent the slow, character-focused plot. ...more
Initial impressions 1/2/20: Admittedly, I wasn’t really interested in The Martian until the movie was coming out but I’ve been wanting to read more scInitial impressions 1/2/20: Admittedly, I wasn’t really interested in The Martian until the movie was coming out but I’ve been wanting to read more sci-fi lately and this was the perfect time to read it!
I really had fun reading this one! The beginning was a little bit slower and I was a little worried when it was a lot of traveling log. Mark’s voice was very entertaining but it felt a little slow and redundant with just his voice for a while. I’m glad that we got other POVs with the crew in Houston and the other mission crew members.
The ending was very exciting!! It really picked up a bit more about halfway through and the ending was just fantastic. The first and last lines are just perfect too. ...more
This was a really pleasant surprise! I always go in hoping/expecting to enjoy a book but I really liked a lot of different things about this book. TheThis was a really pleasant surprise! I always go in hoping/expecting to enjoy a book but I really liked a lot of different things about this book. The characters were great and I really liked how they worked through their inevitable conflict. They wanted what was best for each other and reacted based on what happened in their own lives/to their parents and tried to do “the right thing”.
It did get a little long and I feel like a couple things could have been more concise but then biggest thing was that I would have scrapped the whole beginning. Kind of a spoiler but not because A) it’s the beginning of the book and B) it literally has no effect on the rest of the book but I did not like the “oops wrong twin” in. Jessica has a crush on one twin, mistakes his brother for him, and then the romance is with the “mistaken” twin. I would have rather spent more time on the hate-to-love aspect and more drawn out sexual tension rather than wasting time on something that didn’t really come into play anywhere else.
I loved the brother relationship and Jessica’s family too. Neither was perfect but both were honest and I really liked seeing some real-type relationships and less ideal and fairy tale. ...more
Initial Impressions 1/20/20: I finally got around to reading LET IT SNOW after some significant snowfall this year, so it felt appropriate! I had no iInitial Impressions 1/20/20: I finally got around to reading LET IT SNOW after some significant snowfall this year, so it felt appropriate! I had no idea what to expect and I've had some misses with all of these authors, but I wanted to give it a try!
The book contains three separate stories but it's really fun because they all blend into one another. I think it would be fun to see other authors add on to this existing narrative and keep blending and blending but I highly doubt that would happen haha. I just saw the potential for things to keep going with other characters.
The individual stories were just okay. They were short but that wasn't really an issue. I think it was more what each author chose do with the space/time allotted and some of them had to much random plot going on when I felt like they could have been more character driven and focused on the characters and the developing relationships. I also would have loved to see some different kinds of stories instead of three romances. Each romance was different in how it came about (strangers meeting, friends to more, fixing a relationship), but I think it would have been more well-rounded to maybe see some more familial relationships or a focus on friends. These elements were in the book but I think it would have been cooler to have more of a different focus since at least one already has a romance and that kind of satisfies that desire.
I had been wanting to read this for a while but mostly because of the Netflix movie, so we'll see how that goes too! I've heard conflicting things so I'm interested to see what I feel in comparison to the book! ...more
I didn’t really love this one, sadly, mostly because of the characters and a little bit because of the writing.
IInitial Impressiosn 11/15/19: 3 - 3.5
I didn’t really love this one, sadly, mostly because of the characters and a little bit because of the writing.
I really didn’t like Nina much at all, which was surprising seeing how much we had in common. I think I found it hard to read about her since she was so stiff and inflexible in her plans. I understand that it helped her anxiety to have hey day fully planned out but I just knew it would lead to self-sabotaging which I don’t love as a plot device in general. Not to say it was unrealistic because it very much was something that happens but I just didn’t care for the way it was written and how it all played out. Nina just felt a little too closed off to me and her character felt a little too surface-level at times, as did all the characters for me.
I thought it was weird that we got random bits of Tom’s POV (they’re all told through the third person, but still weird to be thrown in there quickly and randomly) and we barely got to know him. I didn’t get to know his personality much at all and he kind of just seemed like this Prince Charming instead of having a good dialogue with Nina and getting to be a part of her life.
The family story was great and was a lot of fun, actually. I liked that it forced Nina out of her shell and she actually got to know some pretty cool people as well as find a family.
The pop culture references were fantastic and I loved the trivia aspect of the book too. I just wish I enjoyed the characters and relationships. It would have been a hit if I had. ...more
Brittany S.
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