lindsaylhunter's reviews
170 reviews

Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers

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

3.5

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Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

History is a silent record of people who could not leave, it is a record of those who did not have a choice, you cannot leave when you have nowhere to go and have not the means to go there, you cannot leave when your children cannot get a passport, cannot go when your feet are rooted in the earth and to leave means tearing off your feet. 

Jesus. This book will cut off your air supply. The paragraph structure forces your eyes to keep moving from left to right and sooner or later you'll feel the panic start to set in.
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Rouge by Mona Awad

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Second half was better, though the ending fell flat. If you told me I had to reread this one I think I'd cry.
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This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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challenging dark tense fast-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

3.5

Every evening I see a red sky bleed over blue water and think of us. Have you ever watched this kind of sunset? The colours don't blend: the redder the sky the bluer the water, as we tilt away from the sun.

I'll not lie - the first half of this book had me wondering what the hell all the fuss was about. It felt almost impossible to sink my teeth into the novel because of the prose and the apparent lack of world-building. Then the second half hit. The prose started making more sense and the characters' plight felt real. Beautiful, convoluted and twisting, I'd take this kind of romance over anything by Ali Hazelwood any day of the week.
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Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A deep dive into the long lives of three siblings left adrift in England when they lose their family. Their exploration of grief is harrowing.

This one could easily be a five star read for me - next time I read it, it will be the print version and not the audiobook (though it was beautifully read).
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Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes

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

3.5

"At a certain age... everything
we've done is no longer enough. It was useful only in making us what we are. And just as we are, now that we're truly ourselves, what we've wanted to be or could be, we'd like to start to live again, consciously, according to our current tastes. Instead, we have to continue to live the life we chose when we were someone else."

A journey into the mind of a discontented middle-aged woman who wages an internal war against the constructs that have shaped her life up until now. Timeless, and so beautifully written - just a little slow to get into initially.
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Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell

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funny informative medium-paced

4.0

If you want to insult a woman, call her a prostitute. If you want to insult a man, call him a woman.

A bit heavy on the millennial humour here and there, but a really enjoyable and informative read. Montell's next book is already on my radar.
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Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Nicey written (ignoring, you know, the graphic descriptions of excrement and vomit). I feel like a lot of it went over my head what with me not being much of a movie buff, but I don't think it's fair to criticise the book for that. Anyone who's film literate and into dark tales would get a real kick out of this one!
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The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

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dark mysterious

1.5

I would describe this book as irreverent, offbeat and unsettling, though I can describe it in a single word as 'boring'.
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Penance by Eliza Clark

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Felt a bit like reading an adult Jacqueline Wilson novel (which I'm not mad about). Definitely not as good as Boy Parts but still enjoyable and very bingeable.
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