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bybrookenelson's reviews
171 reviews
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
He’s just like me (for a week every month)
Right Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West by Charlie Kirk
informative
reflective
medium-paced
1.0
I didn’t start this book with the intention of leaving a negative review, but by the end let’s just say I had a strong distaste for much of its content.
A real quote from the book, by the way:
“A woman’s physical attractiveness peaks in her early 20s, and after that time gradually declines. A woman who only starts serious husband-hunting when she is 30 will find that she is already past her peak physical appeal.”
How did his beautiful wife in her mid-30s feel about reading that? Because I’d have the divorce papers on the kitchen counter the next morning.
(That being said, Kirk did bring up some points I appreciated, particularly regarding religion and promiscuity in modern culture. Those chapters and a couple more brought up a wealth of ideas to consider, and I’m glad I read those parts. So let’s be clear, I’m highly annoyed and I strongly disagree with many of Kirk’s points, but this book was not a total loss for me. There is always information and insight to be gleaned, even from literature that goes against our beliefs and morals.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Misogyny
Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
So I have...thoughts on this book.
Honestly, after being so impressed with The Chalice of the Gods, I was less than impressed by this story. Was it bad? Not at all. Did it have that spark that made it special like books 1, 5, and 6 (for me)? Also, no.
If you're a long time PJO fan, read this one. Keep going. Because there's going to be an 8th to round out this particular storyline that begins with the 6th. But maybe don't expect the world of it. It was cute but nothing groundbreaking, nothing new and special in my opinion. It's a good filler book, and that's about all I can give it.
(Total side note but I could also do with less obvious Disney advertisement sprinkled in. I know, I know. But ugh.)
Honestly, after being so impressed with The Chalice of the Gods, I was less than impressed by this story. Was it bad? Not at all. Did it have that spark that made it special like books 1, 5, and 6 (for me)? Also, no.
If you're a long time PJO fan, read this one. Keep going. Because there's going to be an 8th to round out this particular storyline that begins with the 6th. But maybe don't expect the world of it. It was cute but nothing groundbreaking, nothing new and special in my opinion. It's a good filler book, and that's about all I can give it.
(Total side note but I could also do with less obvious Disney advertisement sprinkled in. I know, I know. But ugh.)
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
3.0
I am truly disappointed in this book. Reading Final Girls made me an instant Riley Sager fan. I love a good thriller, and he writes fantastic characters. Even in this book, I instantly liked the MC, as well as the side characters. Where this really fell short for me was the explanation at the end. It felt like what happens when you don't know how to end a story reasonably, so you start going with absurd explanations that only kind of explain the previous events.
I don't think it had to be this way either. I had so many theories about what might be happening, but when it got down to it in the book, all I kept asking myself was, "this isn't really the explanation he went with, right?" It felt much goofier than I expected from him.
I'm going to try out another one of his books, and I truly hope the next one is different.
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I don't think it had to be this way either. I had so many theories about what might be happening, but when it got down to it in the book, all I kept asking myself was, "this isn't really the explanation he went with, right?" It felt much goofier than I expected from him.
I'm going to try out another one of his books, and I truly hope the next one is different.
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The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
4.0
Not as many twists and turns as I expected, but this was a fun read with an intriguing cast.
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
2.0
Plot: ★☆☆☆☆
Characters: ★☆☆☆☆
Writing: ★★★☆☆
Concept: ★★★★☆
Vibes (can't explain this one, you just feel it): ★★☆☆☆
I'm sorry to say, this was just not the book for me.
Note: As I sit here writing this displeased review, I want to let you, on the other end of the internet, know that I'm not discouraging reading this book. But I think it sometimes helps to know what you're getting into before you start a book. If it sounds like your thing, go for it. After all, this is just one person's thoughts.
Weird thing I didn't care for #1: Bisexuality is used as a "surprising" plot point. I don't know how else to describe it without spoiling part of the story, which I won't do. But I don't see how this major plot point could possibly be "mysterious" unless you've never heard of bisexual people. Alas, I have. And 200-some pages of drawing out this "mystery"? Really?
Weird thing I didn't care for #2: I had pretty much every mystery worked out long before it was revealed. Which may be a me problem. But I never do that. Either way, I wasn't very surprised, which left me a little disappointed.
Weird thing I didn't care for #3: I didn't really feel invested in any of the characters. It wasn't that they weren't well written; it's just none of them resonated with me.
Weird thing I didn't care for #4: Every plot point is sex-related. I kid you not. No part of this story, mysterious or otherwise, exists without being deeply entrenched in something having to do with sex. Honestly, it gets a tad bit boring and repetitive by the halfway mark.
As a counterpoint, I want to say that I do enjoy Lucy Foley's writing style. That is far from being one of my issues. I think she has a unique and interesting voice. I would gladly read something of hers if there was different content, so no complaints there!
I'm sorry, Lucy. I really did want to enjoy this. But I hope it finds its way to all the right people, even if that doesn't include me.
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Characters: ★☆☆☆☆
Writing: ★★★☆☆
Concept: ★★★★☆
Vibes (can't explain this one, you just feel it): ★★☆☆☆
I'm sorry to say, this was just not the book for me.
Note: As I sit here writing this displeased review, I want to let you, on the other end of the internet, know that I'm not discouraging reading this book. But I think it sometimes helps to know what you're getting into before you start a book. If it sounds like your thing, go for it. After all, this is just one person's thoughts.
Weird thing I didn't care for #1: Bisexuality is used as a "surprising" plot point. I don't know how else to describe it without spoiling part of the story, which I won't do. But I don't see how this major plot point could possibly be "mysterious" unless you've never heard of bisexual people. Alas, I have. And 200-some pages of drawing out this "mystery"? Really?
Weird thing I didn't care for #2: I had pretty much every mystery worked out long before it was revealed. Which may be a me problem. But I never do that. Either way, I wasn't very surprised, which left me a little disappointed.
Weird thing I didn't care for #3: I didn't really feel invested in any of the characters. It wasn't that they weren't well written; it's just none of them resonated with me.
Weird thing I didn't care for #4: Every plot point is sex-related. I kid you not. No part of this story, mysterious or otherwise, exists without being deeply entrenched in something having to do with sex. Honestly, it gets a tad bit boring and repetitive by the halfway mark.
As a counterpoint, I want to say that I do enjoy Lucy Foley's writing style. That is far from being one of my issues. I think she has a unique and interesting voice. I would gladly read something of hers if there was different content, so no complaints there!
I'm sorry, Lucy. I really did want to enjoy this. But I hope it finds its way to all the right people, even if that doesn't include me.
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One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke
2.0
2 stars: ⭐️⭐️
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
In the interest of complete honesty, this was not a book I enjoyed. Just for context, I say this as a 22-year-old woman whose favorite genre is thrillers with female main characters, which is precisely what One of the Girls is.
My first issue arose when I realized I didn't actually like many, if any, of the six main characters, all women in their thirties as far as I can tell. We have the heavy-drinker-partier type, the absolutely-downtrodden-personality type, the couple who hangs all over each other the whole weekend while using the word "babe" an inordinate amount of times. Based on the vast differences between the women, I hoped to connect with at least one of them. But I ended up really feeling nothing.
One problem I had that skirts between a character issue and a writing issue is the repetition. When one woman's feelings are described a certain way, in very specific words, it is almost a certainty that her feelings will be described in a following chapter in the exact same words. It gets repetitive very quickly. I can't tell you how many times one of the women felt a tightening in her breast. I mean, come on, there has to be another way to describe that.
Moreover, the whole book carries a distinct pro-female, anti-male tone that feels a lot more like an inserted author bias than the opinions of the characters, which makes it painfully easy to draw a map of what will happen at the end. Overarching themes are fine; overarching themes that make the story predictable are...less fine. But for the sake of not spoiling, I promise not to say anything further. I just prefer books that are more mysterious throughout, including the end, such as You Are Not Alone and Final Girls.
That said, I always wish a new story success, whether it's my cup of tea or not, and I do hope this book finds its way to the right people, even though I wasn't one of them.
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Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
In the interest of complete honesty, this was not a book I enjoyed. Just for context, I say this as a 22-year-old woman whose favorite genre is thrillers with female main characters, which is precisely what One of the Girls is.
My first issue arose when I realized I didn't actually like many, if any, of the six main characters, all women in their thirties as far as I can tell. We have the heavy-drinker-partier type, the absolutely-downtrodden-personality type, the couple who hangs all over each other the whole weekend while using the word "babe" an inordinate amount of times. Based on the vast differences between the women, I hoped to connect with at least one of them. But I ended up really feeling nothing.
One problem I had that skirts between a character issue and a writing issue is the repetition. When one woman's feelings are described a certain way, in very specific words, it is almost a certainty that her feelings will be described in a following chapter in the exact same words. It gets repetitive very quickly. I can't tell you how many times one of the women felt a tightening in her breast. I mean, come on, there has to be another way to describe that.
Moreover, the whole book carries a distinct pro-female, anti-male tone that feels a lot more like an inserted author bias than the opinions of the characters, which makes it painfully easy to draw a map of what will happen at the end. Overarching themes are fine; overarching themes that make the story predictable are...less fine. But for the sake of not spoiling, I promise not to say anything further. I just prefer books that are more mysterious throughout, including the end, such as You Are Not Alone and Final Girls.
That said, I always wish a new story success, whether it's my cup of tea or not, and I do hope this book finds its way to the right people, even though I wasn't one of them.
My Blog | My Books | Instagram | Pinterest
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
3.0
3 stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be frank, I am disappointed.
The Night Shift reads a lot like a knockoff of Riley Sager's Final Girls, only with three points of view and a focus on the legal side of things. I had high hopes; it's undoubtedly a good premise, and when I began, I felt a glimmer of hope. But it was quickly extinguished by the mediocre manner of storytelling and somewhat boring cast of characters.
I typically like stories told from multiple points of view, which is why I was, yet again, so surprised by this book. Two of the main characters narrating the story are varying levels of unlikable, and the other is enjoyable but a bit boring. I truly did not care what happened to any of the three of them. The only character I truly felt anything for was a side character who was discarded in the most boring way possible by the end.
On top of that, (and I'm not usually one to complain about this), but the writing of women was just offputting. The female FBI agent was the only tolerable woman of importance in the story, and she referred to an abortion as "taking care of the baby." Yuck. Just use the word "aborting," please.
The plot, on the other hand, starts off a little hard to follow because of the jumping from one character to another. Or maybe it was just because I was bored. But it eventually resolved itself to a pace I could enjoy a little more, with plot points that I was able to follow and even be intrigued by. The conclusion was pleasant, though it didn't address a number of important issues displayed earlier in the book.
That said, there is more good than bad to The Night Shift. I did eventually find myself wondering what would happen. But it's not one I would recommend to people with my similar taste in thrillers and mysteries. (If you're more interested in the legal side of things and you don't mind some odd writing of female characters, this might actually be the perfect book for you.) The best explanation I can give for The Night Shift is how I started this review: a slightly disappointing retelling of Final Girls with a less-than-sympathetic cast.
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Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be frank, I am disappointed.
The Night Shift reads a lot like a knockoff of Riley Sager's Final Girls, only with three points of view and a focus on the legal side of things. I had high hopes; it's undoubtedly a good premise, and when I began, I felt a glimmer of hope. But it was quickly extinguished by the mediocre manner of storytelling and somewhat boring cast of characters.
I typically like stories told from multiple points of view, which is why I was, yet again, so surprised by this book. Two of the main characters narrating the story are varying levels of unlikable, and the other is enjoyable but a bit boring. I truly did not care what happened to any of the three of them. The only character I truly felt anything for was a side character who was discarded in the most boring way possible by the end.
On top of that, (and I'm not usually one to complain about this), but the writing of women was just offputting. The female FBI agent was the only tolerable woman of importance in the story, and she referred to an abortion as "taking care of the baby." Yuck. Just use the word "aborting," please.
The plot, on the other hand, starts off a little hard to follow because of the jumping from one character to another. Or maybe it was just because I was bored. But it eventually resolved itself to a pace I could enjoy a little more, with plot points that I was able to follow and even be intrigued by. The conclusion was pleasant, though it didn't address a number of important issues displayed earlier in the book.
That said, there is more good than bad to The Night Shift. I did eventually find myself wondering what would happen. But it's not one I would recommend to people with my similar taste in thrillers and mysteries. (If you're more interested in the legal side of things and you don't mind some odd writing of female characters, this might actually be the perfect book for you.) The best explanation I can give for The Night Shift is how I started this review: a slightly disappointing retelling of Final Girls with a less-than-sympathetic cast.
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Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
3.0
I DNFed this a long time ago but I actually ended up picking it back up. It's kinda gross but so intriguing I had to finish it, so for that, I'm bumping it up to three stars.
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My Blog | My Books | My Twitter | My Instagram