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eri_cat93's reviews
263 reviews
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Just Like Home is a gripping, eerie book that kept me wondering what the hell was happening straight through the end.
After a traumatic childhood (putting it mildly) that left her estranged from her mother, now adult Vera is summoned home to get the house in order during her mother's final days. The story starts off slow and creepy, revealing bits and pieces of Vera's dark childhood and happenings she still doesn't quite understand as an adult. Between confronting her memories of this home and dealing with the artist her mother allowed in to "gain inspiration" from the terrors of this house, girl has a lot going on. She has to confront the house, her unloving mother, and the fact that she might be more like her long gone, loving father than she'd like to admit.
The back half of this book is scary and unexpected and gross and messed up all in the best ways. I will admit though, I'm torn between the ending being surprising & sufficiently creepy, or just a little cheesy with some spooky sprinkled on top.
After a traumatic childhood (putting it mildly) that left her estranged from her mother, now adult Vera is summoned home to get the house in order during her mother's final days. The story starts off slow and creepy, revealing bits and pieces of Vera's dark childhood and happenings she still doesn't quite understand as an adult. Between confronting her memories of this home and dealing with the artist her mother allowed in to "gain inspiration" from the terrors of this house, girl has a lot going on. She has to confront the house, her unloving mother, and the fact that she might be more like her long gone, loving father than she'd like to admit.
The back half of this book is scary and unexpected and gross and messed up all in the best ways. I will admit though, I'm torn between the ending being surprising & sufficiently creepy, or just a little cheesy with some spooky sprinkled on top.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse
Marked by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Alright, well I read this one because I remembered reading it in high school & being OBSESSED but couldn’t actually remember much about it - and turns out that I get why high school Erica was into it, but now it leaves a lot to be desired even for a YA book.
Zoey is suddenly marked as a future vampire so it’s off to vampire school for her! Of course in typical YA style, she’s *special* and somehow this book manages to be the diary of a *not like other girls* girl, incredibly sexist & homophobic, and just plain dull. The book reads like the intro 5 chapters of a book except it takes 300 pages and then it ends without any real plot.
Zoey is suddenly marked as a future vampire so it’s off to vampire school for her! Of course in typical YA style, she’s *special* and somehow this book manages to be the diary of a *not like other girls* girl, incredibly sexist & homophobic, and just plain dull. The book reads like the intro 5 chapters of a book except it takes 300 pages and then it ends without any real plot.
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia and Sexism
Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5ish. This book is exactly what you think a mystery/thriller/who-dun-it will be.
Cleo is a young college student who has made questionable life choices in the name of rebelling against her cares-too-much-and-cant-express-affection-well mother, Kat. When Kat goes missing, Cleo infuriatingly ignores everything the police are telling her and decides to investigate on her own.
As she tries to track her down, Cleo learns there is more to her mother than meets the eye.
The story is fast paced and exciting, but a bit cluttered at times and the ending was very lackluster and a bit of a BOOM, here's the plot twist ok now everything is resolved, ok The End.
Cleo is a young college student who has made questionable life choices in the name of rebelling against her cares-too-much-and-cant-express-affection-well mother, Kat. When Kat goes missing, Cleo infuriatingly ignores everything the police are telling her and decides to investigate on her own.
As she tries to track her down, Cleo learns there is more to her mother than meets the eye.
The story is fast paced and exciting, but a bit cluttered at times and the ending was very lackluster and a bit of a BOOM, here's the plot twist ok now everything is resolved, ok The End.
I Hate Running and You Can Too: How to Get Started, Keep Going, and Make Sense of an Irrational Passion by Brendan Leonard
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
An Anonymous Girl by Sarah Pekkanen, Greer Hendricks
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Exes and O's by Amy Lea
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a beautiful story of how our lives are informed by those who came before us and so inform those who come after. We follow the story of generations of women through a tapestry from pre-partition India to present day America.
Full of love and heart ache and mistakes and consequences, this book captures so much of the complexity of being a woman at various stages of life. It also examines the ideas of legacy, birth right, inevitabilities, and how immense power is both a blessing and a curse.
Full of love and heart ache and mistakes and consequences, this book captures so much of the complexity of being a woman at various stages of life. It also examines the ideas of legacy, birth right, inevitabilities, and how immense power is both a blessing and a curse.
Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences by Mark Siddall
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.25
Thorn Tree by Max Ludington
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
This story follows several characters & their intertwined lives through current narrative and flashbacks.
Daniel became an unlikely artist after the sudden death of his girlfriend & now loves a quiet life as a retired teacher.
Celia, an up and coming actress & recovering addict, lives in the main house next to Daniel’s (when she’s not on set) with her son and semi-reformed POS father Jack.
We follow our characters through their past and present, discovering all of the ways they’re unknowingly connected. The journey takes us through drug use, prison, the art scene, and a cult.
Overall, the stories told here are interesting and engaging, but get a bit lost in the final 1/4 of the book. There are too many characters which leads to development and arcs getting rushed and at times lost.
This story follows several characters & their intertwined lives through current narrative and flashbacks.
Daniel became an unlikely artist after the sudden death of his girlfriend & now loves a quiet life as a retired teacher.
Celia, an up and coming actress & recovering addict, lives in the main house next to Daniel’s (when she’s not on set) with her son and semi-reformed POS father Jack.
We follow our characters through their past and present, discovering all of the ways they’re unknowingly connected. The journey takes us through drug use, prison, the art scene, and a cult.
Overall, the stories told here are interesting and engaging, but get a bit lost in the final 1/4 of the book. There are too many characters which leads to development and arcs getting rushed and at times lost.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide
Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This was such an interesting, engaging book until…it just wasn’t. The first 1/3 to 1/2 had me hooked - a futuristic world where a simple cheek swab popped into a machine can give you a finite list of actions that will make you happier and the story of people administering the swabs. A teenager struggling after recovering from major mental illness and helping a friend through their own trauma. The story was well written and had me wondering where we’d go next
But then all of the stories just…changed. We followed the same characters but left behind these first, unfinished plot lines and jumped around to a different story. Truly I don’t think any of the plots or character arcs came to a conclusion, they just drifted off and the book jumped somewhere else. That, on top of changing narrative styles & narrators mid chapter, left this book feeling chaotic and dissatisfying.
But then all of the stories just…changed. We followed the same characters but left behind these first, unfinished plot lines and jumped around to a different story. Truly I don’t think any of the plots or character arcs came to a conclusion, they just drifted off and the book jumped somewhere else. That, on top of changing narrative styles & narrators mid chapter, left this book feeling chaotic and dissatisfying.