booksamongstfriends's reviews
738 reviews

2.5 rounded up.

Was this an OK book? Yes. Am I going to rave about it to all my friends? No.

This book is a chill read to just pass the time on the weekend. There were moments where it felt like it could've gone really dark, which would’ve been fun, or really cheesy, which would’ve been perfectly fine and super cute. However, the majority of the book felt extremely repetitive.

From the very start, I was initially happy that we jumped right into it. Our main character immediately grasps the context of the attic and gets on board with the program. And I mean, what’s hard to get? One husband goes up, a new one comes down.

Now, unlike the main character, once I would’ve got me a Kofi Siriboe, Jason Momoa, Dev Patel, or anybody from my top charts—or a chef with a sense of humor—the attic would’ve been locked up! It just seemed like she would get someone she was attracted to and then send them back, then get someone she wasn’t attracted to and send them back, and then back and forth like this. Then she got her ex, and we all saw how that went. The one guy she liked went back into the attic on his own accord by accident, and then the attic sent back people but couldn’t send back the guy she liked. One of the more interesting parts of the book is when she is willing to harm or drug someone to coax them back into the attic. Again, leaning into the darker aspects of our need for choice and control rather than selection. But even this felt somewhat comical. By the end of it, you felt like she just settled. And you really didn’t care.

I found myself bored reading this and felt like she would’ve been happier earlier in the book. I’m well aware that this book is about choice, especially in a world of swiping left and swiping right where dating culture is in shambles. It recognizes that sometimes the best option is the one right in front of you—that maybe the love of your life is the guy working at the grocery store you’ve been going to for two years, or the person you see at the coffee shop every other Wednesday for the past six months. Part of the struggle of living in a world with infinite choices is making a decision and sticking by it. But I didn’t need 352 pages to come to that consensus.

Overall, "Husbands" is worth a read if you're looking for something light and easy, but don't expect it to leave a lasting impression.

Also, why not just stay single?

2.5 rounded up.

“The fun is in the jumping, mon amie.’
—
But what if it’s in the landing?’”

Quite frankly, reading this book I was bored. I read this book after The Husbands, and there were clearly some major similarities. It ultimately made it clear that I was disinterested in both books. Are they books that you could get through and finish? For sure. But are they books I’ll go back and read again? Definitely not.

I do think there’s a particular audience for this book, especially if you’re someone who enjoys self-help and that kind of ambiguous feeling of being seen through poster quotes. This book definitely gave me those moments where it just wanted to drop inspirational quotes to feel profound, even though we didn’t really go through enough depth to get there. In the beginning, I was really engrossed with the concept and the look into mental health and how our character’s depression had led her to this point and her position in the Midnight Library—the simple concept of looking at her life through her regrets. But it also felt like we didn’t get enough of her present life to feel connected to her, so just as she became lost in these versions of herself and others, so do we. Not really caring about the result and really being able to see what was coming a mile away.

Overall, this book is about realizing that your life is what you make it, seeing that there is still opportunity in your life to change it for the better, that there is always potential to come back or turn your life around or turn it into something that you desire. While I enjoyed the conversations about mental illness and health, I thought maybe there could’ve been another way she ended up in the Midnight Library. Taking the approach of depression and ending one’s life made it seem like that was the turn it took to make her life better. It wasn’t changing and getting a new job. It wasn’t pursuing a different love. Through all her pursuits and all her visions of life and choices that she could’ve made, it was ultimately her decision to die that positioned her to repair connections and shape her perspectives with her family and friends around her. I do think that was a little bit of a hazardous approach to the book, and I wonder if the author fully thought about how someone could read this and leave with that message as well. Or see it as some performative act of attention-seeking.

I think this book would’ve been better as a short story. For all the author said, they could’ve used fewer pages.

“Someone who needs you, even just a little – who needs you to like or love them – seeing their weakness is disturbing and repellent. It’s ugly but it’s true.”

When I finished reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of the saying “be careful what you wish for.” This book dives deep into longing, obsession, desire, pain, self-harm, love, friendship, admiration, and, as the title states, desperation. It’s an interesting look into the layers and levels that one will go to, both performative and honest, to upkeep and control relationships. Even at times, the parts of oneself that are sacrificed to said cause or given away.

This book follows the life of an unnamed woman who has given herself to her passions of lust and desire. Through falling into a relationship with a man she desires so strongly to be with, a writer named Ciaran, we see what unfolds when obsession leads your purpose. A deliberately dirty and depressing outlook on recognition and being seen. Reading this book felt like watching a dog chase a toy on a treadmill—animalistic and distant, but also laid bare in the fact that everyone has pined for something they thought they needed, bent in a way they thought they wouldn’t for someone.

Sadly, Ciaran is watching the experiment with us. He knows his positioning and wields his power accordingly, until our lead learns just how this treadmill works. It’s then when our unnamed character gets her toy only to play with it and rip it to shreds, but also ripping parts of herself in the process. Because, like anything you were once obsessed with, you become bored but never want to share it. Though eventually, you let it go. You outgrow it.

2.5 rounded up. Am I supposed to feel bad for the dad? Or the mom? The only character I really wanted to hear from was the daughter, and I really didn’t get to hear from her until the end of the book. This book was very disappointing. I was so excited to read it; I even tried to get an advance reader copy and did not get one, so maybe I should’ve taken that as a sign.

One of my pet peeves with books is when they really hype up a secret and then the secret is very mild or tame. Especially in today’s crazy culture and world, where you could really be pushing the bounds on what the secret is, especially when it comes to family or generational literature. Because off the top, when he tells us in the beginning he’s the father of this child and he’s been sober for all these years, now he wants to be the daddy? What has stopped you from pursuing a relationship with her, especially if you are the biological father legally?

Just again, sometimes the books are like this for books' sake. Like the mom just up and taking the baby and saying, “Well, I want my kid to be native”… but babe your kid is half-white. And as a black woman, I completely understand the cultural impact of her decision. But where it lost me was when her daughter got sick and had been sick at a very young age, and she knew that her real father was right across the river.

A lot of the characters and their choices were based on selfishness, and it really made it hard to feel bad for any of them or really care about what happened. Even the whole secret with his dad and the hunting incident. This huge guilt and relationship with his mother who has dementia. It just felt like an additional storyline to add some vegetables into the pot in hopes that it will finally boil over.

But unfortunately, you asked for a beef stew, and there wasn’t enough broth or meat, so some of these additional storylines didn’t do much to make the soup tasty, and the flame wasn’t that high up. So by the end of the book, you feel like you’re getting served a lukewarm bowl of a mediocre version of a dish you really wanted. But apparently, the author ran out of the actual ingredients to make it and just threw some other stuff in there instead.

This book would’ve been so much better if he didn’t know that it was his daughter for some time. If the author had spent more time going in depth into the relationship between Mary and the main character. If being native played an even larger role in the separation of him and Mary instead of just a literal river and her choice to withhold their daughter. We got a moments of council decisions in a sense taking responsibility out of their hands. It made the culture seem like an overbearing parent and less of something they were both ingrained in within their own ways. I was especially annoyed with fathers death. It would’ve made sense if he actually had some kind of involvement or at least had been present for the incident with his stepfather. I’m not even going to start on the random friend who drinks and hangs around; it’s just again more vegetables. This book ultimately left me unsatisfied. I was the friend who was invited over, promised a feast, and still had to go to Wendy’s after I left.

This collection kind of falls in the middle for me. Out of the 18 essays, only about four really resonated or felt relatable. The essays cover themes like parenting, motherhood, marriage, and married life, specifically being married to a celebrity. However, I didn't know who her husband was, and quite honestly, the best essays were those that didn't focus on his fame.

The standout essays for me were those that explored her relationship with her mother, her personal experiences, and the dynamics of her marriage and interactions with her kids, all without the overshadowing presence of her husband's celebrity status. Overall, while some readers might connect more deeply with this author, I found that the majority of the essays stuck to their themes but felt like they could belong to a different, more generalized collection.

Essential essays:

"Love Means Nothing (In Tennis)"
"The Fixer"
"I've Tried Being Nice"
"On Being Nice"
"Empty Nest"
While this was an easy read, it was just okay, with a few standout essays.

Told in dual timelines, I found myself more drawn into the backstory and history of Red Grove than the present-day mystery of trying to find Luce’s mom. This was likely because the sisterhood and connection between the characters in the past felt more genuine or better told. While there were some interesting dynamics between Gloria, Luce, and Gem, these connections seemed primarily used to catalyze the uncovering of Red Grove’s secrets. They didn’t always seem necessary or important to readers.

It was my understanding that Gloria had powers, and it’s quite clear. She never really wanted to be a parent and probably wouldn’t have been if the attack against her sister didn’t take place. So, everything in her life feels like she’s doing it out of obligation. Gem is someone who could physically take care of herself and was even taking care of Gloria’s child until she was attacked. We get a small section where Gloria talks about her relationship with her sister. But ultimately, it felt like the author gave her a sister as a way to make Luce and Gloria’s mother-daughter relationship seem more troubled. Gloria could’ve still been a young mother struggling with postpartum depression and having trouble raising her kids, not really a fan of going to Red Grove, but ended up there out of lack of resources and seeing it as a community that would help her. We didn’t need Gem as a character. Even if you keep the sister plot, the death in the beginning felt unnecessary for Gloria to “disappear.” This place already had unwanted attention, and she knew it had its secrets and was against Red Grove. She already wanted to talk to a reporter.

I would’ve preferred to find out that more people were going missing or dying, and Red Grove was covering it up. I also wondered if these kids were going to school, working, or driving off campus. What does the day-to-day look like? These little details matter. We read about them performing historic reenactments, yet no one else in the town caught on or became suspicious? Then we get into the paranormal and the strange, while saying it’s not magical at the same time. Then they’re seeing a mummy, and we’re discussing interconnectedness, the story of the dead through the living and nature. The story brings us back to the power and danger of community and groupthink, and the reality that sometimes women hurt women to protect themselves from men.

I honestly think I would’ve loved this book if it was just about how Red Grove came to be in the past. Following the story of the sisters, their journey, beating the brutality of having to fight for survival not only in the elements but against the brothers, would’ve been amazing. What this book gave me, I could’ve done without. The whole ending with Una and her minions was obvious from the beginning. While I couldn’t stand Luce and thought she was naive, this book was partially about her coming of age, as well as Gloria wanting more for herself and her children. It explores sacrifice in parenting and sisterhood, and what it takes to build a community and what it looks like when one falls apart. This isn’t one of my favorite reads, but that doesn’t mean someone else won’t enjoy it.

I can’t say I’m surprised by the book. I’m more surprised by people's reaction to it.

JUST MY PIECE

As a millennial, I was really excited to read Honey and travel back into the time capsule of the late '90s and early 2000s pop era. I don't think anybody growing up in that time didn't watch MTV, music videos, TRL, and relish in the feeling of what it would be like to be famous—a pop star in a boy band or girl group, buying magazines, and having posters on the wall. With the current hype of memoirs and documentaries highlighting the behind-the-scenes traumas and dramas of that time, I was even more excited to see what would happen in this book.

I think Honey is a chill read and enjoyable enough to pass the time. Unfortunately, I don't think the author pushed it as far as she could have. The early 2000s was a time when misogyny was rampant. The expectations of women in the media were not only clearly sexualized but stereotypical. We saw this in multiple formats of entertainment, not even touching on issues of sexuality and body image. While it felt like the author started to say something, she never pushed the conversation far enough, ultimately making the book feel very safe.

I even felt Banta’s choice to choose a white celebrity was safe, knowing there were groups like TLC and Destiny’s Child around this time. Shows like Making the Band, solo artists like JLo and Selena, and young TV stars becoming pop stars offered so many interesting angles she could've explored. This isn't to say that our main character doesn’t face obstacles, or that the characters around her don’t. It just felt like a lot of the issues weren’t unique to the industry and the main character’s voice never felt personalized or deep enough to deliver the messages the author was scratching the surface of, or to connect with.

Many of her relationships were overly sexualized, which seemed like a missed opportunity to explore other facets of misogyny in the industry. It felt like the author used sex to display misogyny when there were so many more examples that could've been used. I thought maybe the boyfriend might try to steal a song or she might have to battle with going independent, but it seemed like the most challenging aspect of her career was a relationship she knew wasn’t good for her, and the byproduct of that. Though we do see the author begin to explore themes of optics, male gaze, and sexual identity. It all came back to another hookup. For instance, when introduced to Axel, I hoped for a platonic relationship that would focus on Amber’s growth, but it turned into another physical relationship. There was also the introduction of another relationship that felt random, and unnecessary.

Even the side characters with their obstacles and issues were quickly resolved or dropped. For example, Gwen, who could’ve potentially sabotaged Amber’s career, gets an easy forgiveness without true conversational understanding. For me, this book played it safe. With a topic and an era that went so big all the time, I expected so much more.

However, I did enjoy the detailed capture of the time. The interviews, the songs, the magazine clip questionnaires really transported me back. Having the audiobook in addition truly enhanced this experience, capturing that 2000s feeling with different voices making it feel like an episode of TRL. You could really feel that energy and effort vibrate from the pages and through your headphones. One thing I would've liked was actual singing for the songs. It felt odd to have music but then just spoken lyrics over top. But hey, I’m just being greedy.

In general, this book is a celebration and a shining light on the 2000s and what it meant to be a rising star. In some ways, it reminded me of watching Crossroads, watching young kids find themselves, discover each other, and mature in the public eye. While I may have wanted something edgier, I think this will be successful, and I hope to see more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC!

There’s not much for me to say about this book.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t enjoy reading it. I think it tried so hard to be good and seem interesting, but the story kind of just drags on. You could skip to 50% of this book and still be sitting at the dinner table with nobody saying anything. The incident that occurred is supposed to be shocking, but everything after that wasn’t.

This book is aimed to draw focus around the lengths parents will go to and the moral dilemmas they face when it comes to protecting their children. But I think they could’ve introduced the incident a lot earlier and had more discussion about the fallout and everything that came after these revelations. It felt like we spent so much time trying to build up what was supposed to be suspense at this dinner table that you ultimately kind of just lose interest.