bexellency's reviews
953 reviews

I really liked the idea of a science fiction novels where storytelling was central and precious.  Found the story made some jumps that my willing suspension of disbelief struggled with.  But overall a sweet story.

Not a winner for me.  Just went on and on and I mostly didn’t care about the characters.  Too much baseball and too much show tunes, all in the same book?!?  I found the Hucky storyline hard to believe.  And how affluent is this school?  Kids meeting with an advisor all the time?  I was lucky if the guidance counselor had time more than once a year.  I dunno, I wasn’t drawn to the characters and the story didn’t speak to me.

More solid than they’ve been in a while.  Stronger mystery, less burdened with the cozy fluff.

What a sea of purple prose.  Florid, flowery, etc.  which was fun at the start, but not enough so to carry a novel.  So this will be a one book foray into the genre for me.  Also, more explicit in one scene than I was expecting, but it’s been a long time since I read romance so perhaps my calibration for the genre is off.

I didn’t find this one nearly as good as the first one.  Maybe because you already know Lucky and her world, so you’re missing that fun journey of discovering her and her world view.

Meh.  The redemption story doesn’t work for me.  Ove is an inflexible jerk and never becomes endearing to me as the reader, although he does build connections with other characters.  I don’t embrace the popular appeal.

Good read (okay, listen).  I didn’t really know who Linda sarsour was, but I liked her essay read in American Like Me so tried her memoir and I’m glad I did.  Very approachable and readable.  Activists engage with hard topics, but that doesn’t make the book a downer.

Made an okay beach read, but really, this ridiculous book is terrible.  It’s not especially funny.  I don’t understand why there is a crazy hold list at the library?  I didn’t quite get through it as my Mexican beach read and wanted to leave it behind, thinking I’d just borrow from the library to finish, but it’s a 17 week wait for the ebook, so I hauled it home, finishing it on the airplane.  I know it’s meant to be a romp, but it’s too heavy handed on the absurdity to actually be fun and poking fun at the horror that is the orange cheeto president just isn’t actually entertaining for me.

Sweet enough book.  Easy way to learn a little about historical events that were before my time, but too recent to get much coverage in school.  Book is a bit pedantic in talking about the history; the device of curious Carolyn not being strong enough to offset look explanations in reponse.  And the transitions between chapters lack finesse are frequently abrupt.  But it's a good little story that moves along well.  Although what's up with the bedroom set thing? Was that a 70s thing?

Peak Amber Ruffin energy here.  Bubbly and over the top.  It's a bit much but on brand and I. A keep upn for the short length of this book.  The audio book was a hoot and they did a great job of substituting for the photos that are apparently in the physical book.