goatsrsexy's reviews
581 reviews

What a terrifying story. And having read Yellowface last month, it seems this is my summer of books about narcissistic authors.

I went into this book mostly blind, I had it on hold at the library but I keep things on hold for a really long time so who knows when I added it. The whole time I was reading I just felt this sense of dread, I was so so uncomfortable. 

Some parts of it, especially the climax, felt a little bit rushed and unrealistic, but I did really enjoy the experience. I like seeing an unlikeable protagonist that is still a deep character with explanations for her actions, and this was done very well.

There's a fair amount of trauma dumping and descriptions of SA and grooming.

This is definitely the densest science fiction book I've read, and I found a lot of the actual science parts to be too much to comprehend which made me bored. But on the other hand, I've never read a book about such a non human alien, and that was extremely interesting. It came close to being alien romance if you want to look at it that way. I definitely enjoyed it overall.

I just got bored and wanted it off my list. It is interesting and I'll come back to it

Such a sweet love story I actually teared up a few times which is rare for me with rom coms. 

Mona Awad is one of my favourite authors of all time. She introduced me to surrealism in novels and she is the perfect writer for this genre. The way she writes makes it so easy to immerse yourself in the delirium of her stories. I was so excited (and honoured) to receive an earc of her newest book, Rouge.

Rouge was like a weird nightmarish fairytale. A very loose Snow White adaptation, with some very strong commentary on beauty standards and self esteem. It had some painful but beautiful commentary on mother-daughter relationships. It also had weird cults, red jellyfish, and Tom Cruise.

What is it actually about? A woman named Belle who is completely obsessed with skincare and beauty. Her mother dies suddenly and when Belle goes to take care of things, she discovers her mother was a member of some kind of mysterious spa. The spa keeps offering Belle free treatments and they work amazingly, but they come at a steep cost.

If you've read any of Awads previous novels, you know that it's impossible to really describe the plot. You just have to dive in and find your way through. I expect that people will take a lot of different things from Rouge and your interpretation could be completely different from mind. I mean mine. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

I really enjoyed this! I've been off YA for a while so I was hesitant when I started but I quickly got into it. I loved the boarding school setting and the friendship themes. And the romance was super cute.

This one had such a wild premise but it felt kinda flat

"That's the one thing you never took from me. I stopped loving others. I stopped loving myself. I stopped loving my family when loving them became too much. But I never stopped loving this big, absurd, beautiful ensemble we all form together."


Oh wow. This was a very good book. It revolves around a serial killer but it's not about him really, it's about survival and it's also about the love women have for each other that just seems to be part of our programming. 

This was such a unique read for me. I've never read anything quite like it. It definitely had me on the edge of my seat the whole time but it also had me pondering a lot.

Yellowface 100% exceeded my expectations (and they were already high). This was so fast paced and readable, couldn't put it down, couldn't look away from the horror of it all. June is a super unlikeable person full of jealousy and unhappiness, but near the end when she was really spiralling couldn't help sympathizing with her a bit too. She was such a fleshed out character, I hated her but also understood her so well. The whole time was reading this book kept being amazed at how well Rebecca got into the mind of a character like this. The way she was completely oblivious to her casual racism and micro aggressions were super familiar, I've known a lot of people just like June. It was also super interesting to read all the details about the publishing world. It all sounds terrible and it's definitely given me some new empathy for authors in general.

Oh boy this one was definitely the best yet! The world building!! The Pemalites! The Chee! The dogs! The violence!!! I loved it so much.