laramie_moore's reviews
1184 reviews

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I listened to this book in two days. I loved this book, I loved the horror, I loved the mythology and I loved the Appalachian aspect. The narrators were so good. There were some times when I got confused listening as to who "the shadow" was narrating and would have caught on faster if I was reading the text. But still really well done. I was listening with a friend, and we stopped what we were doing to finish the last couple hours. We were hooked and had to know what was going to happen, we couldn't listen fast enough! This is perfect for Black History Month and ultimately for any time of the year. There's something about reading a horror book during February. 
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Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

I loved One Day...! I was so excited for this widget when it came through. I was not expecting a divorce book, I went in completely blind. But Scaachi writes about her divorce in such an interesting way. Emphasizing hindsight is 20/20. Talking about the disconnect between what she was going through in private and what she was showing in public. That was interesting to me. It's weird to talk about someone's lived experiences. The writing, as always, was great. Highly sarcastic and caustic. This was the first book i've read by someone my age about their divorce and it's so interesting to read about her since she's such a public figure in my world. 
Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is funny all the way through and halfway through that humor turns dark. Sanjana is so messy but working on herself. Her relationships are all hanging on by a thread. Both her sister and her best friend ask her to find a different place to live so Sanjana goes back to India to find her estranged husband which turns into a single, white (but not white), female type of situation. There's a cult, the mystery of where her husband went, and finally, the confirming of Sanjana's most profound beliefs. I like that this is a "closing doors" kind of book. Sanjana can see in real time how her life would have played out had she stayed with her dumb husband. This books has horror-esque qualities and I could not get enough. 
You'll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Other Stuff I Should Only Tell My Therapist by Kari Ferrell

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adventurous funny informative medium-paced

4.0

Kari starts at a young age, stealing from Walmart and escalates her antics as she grows older by frauding friends and finally ending up in jail for a while. Her run comes to an end while she is still an assistant at  Vice in NYC. A magazine uncovers her crimes and she is at the top of America's Most Wanted list. What Kari describes is truly mind boggling for me. While the writing was medium paced, Kari's life was not, she was constantly on the go or on the run. I l really liked Kari, and she has some bad habits but overall she is a good person and it's nice to see when she changes her life around. 
Hot Air: A Novel by Marcy Dermansky

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This short novel is a speed read. I had to know what each character was thinking throughout. Each chapter is based on a character's POV. Everyone has preconceived ideas about each other and are also completely unaware of how they are acting themselves. Johnny, Jonathan, Julia, and Joannie, including Lucy and Vivian are each unique and each terrible. Lucy because she's 8 and everyone else's 8 year old sucks. Johnny is one of those mid white men who think they are god's gift to earth and it was cringe reading his chapters - so really life-like. Jonathan is rich and completely in his own world but maybe the most self-aware out of all of them. Julia, Jonathan's wife is a philanthropist and wants a baby girl so bad when she leeches onto Lucy and starts to rethink having kids, which is good because she is so selfish! Julia was probably the worst because she's constantly nagging on Jonathan to be better and to be aware but really she needs to take her own advice. Joannie is supposed to be the relatable one, but she has no confidence in herself and it's disappointing. Vivian is similar, even though she thinks she's better than Joannie but in literally the exact same position or worse. Anyways, I love a good book on character development, or no character development seeing how this book finished. 
Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride

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reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I listened to this book and it was so slow it was hard to keep my attention. I think I would have liked it better if I had read it either by ebook or physical copy. It felt like a very dream-like narrative. I kept getting lost in what was actually happening and what she wanted to happened or what had happened in the past. I would re-read a hard copy.
Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Netgalley comped this to Death Valley by Melissa Broder, and it is similar except the husband and wife are both on a trip across the southwest. Eloise is narrating the entire book and speaking/journaling/writing a letter to Lewis, her husband. She is speaking from a distant future where everything happened has happened and more. It is unclear why they are apart for most of the book until the end and even that is a mystery. She talks about their journey from Vegas to LA and into Utah and New Mexico, places they visited, how Lewis and herself was feeling. She also tells secrets she kept from him during their trip. Lewis and Eloise navigate their own marriage perils and the death of Lewis' mother and his family and work. The pace of the book is slow but I liked that. It went the pace of a long car trip, where the roads wind around and not a lot happens and then a lot happens. I can't wait to hear other people's reviews.
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A little girl, her sister, their dad and another survivor are trying to make it out of what was New York City before the world was flooded. They are trying to make it to her mother's family farm in upstate New York.  Nonie, a little girl, tells the story in a dual timeline of the events leading up to the flood, what happened to their family after the flood, how they survived, up to her current trek across the water. This dystopian book is a prediction of what is to come if we do not get this world right. A story about survival, family, and what it means to survive in the face of extinction. I really enjoyed this book and have recommended to family already. The publication date was early January and have seen it everywhere! 
Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Reminiscent of How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell. This book dives deeper into the logistics of why we as a society are addicted to social media. The engineers and psychologists who got us to where we are today. I did like that Hari recognizes this is a systemic problem, one that cannot be solved individually. Unfortunately, massive amounts of change would have to happen at a CEO level for tech companies. And as we can see in today's world that change isn't going to happen. The bad of it all is just going to get worse. Hari does give great advice on how to combat slipping attention as individuals. I know Hari is a controversial figure and in a few years when he does something else problematic, I'll regret this review. But for now, I did find his advice helpful for me and my family.
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 I love family epics, it's one of the reasons I loved Black Cake. Charmaine Wilkerson is just as fresh and captivating this second time.
Ebby is such a complex character and I love her. I love how she deals with things in her own way while still reassuring her family she loves them.
The history of the jar, and therefore the Freeman family, and their test of time is beautiful.
Wilkerson has created such complex and nuanced characters who feel real. And they all have very complicated relationships with each other. Some chapters, from different people's perspectives, felt like reading diary entries. Even characters the reader may be rooting against, still can't entirely hate because you feel like you are getting to know real people, their inner most thoughts.
The plot is amazing. The twists and turns about what happened to Ebby's brother Baz, and the politics that follow his death are poignant.
This book travels the world. We go with Ebby from her family's home of Refuge County, Massachusetts to the countryside in France.
We follow the Freeman's early ancestors from their home country to working on a plantation in South Carolina. But the interesting part is they work as potters, they create pottery, which is how the jar, Old Mo came around. The writing is so good, the jar, Old Mo becomes its own character.
I learned so much about history, the racism of the past, but also the racism and microaggressions of the present.