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maddy707's reviews
125 reviews
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM by Hal Elrod
1.0
Self-help books are not for me. Boring. Maybe had 2 points I resonated with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I understand the insane hype about this book.
This was magnificent. From the very beginning it captivated me. The story was alluring and the character of Evelyn was compelling. I absolutely loved seeing all aspects of her life. The author did a fantastic job of making Evelyn complex and we see that in the decisions she made throughout her life.
The story was paced excellently and the writing style was simple and had some very profound moments. Knowing very little about the story going into it, I was surprised at where it went.
Overall this was excellent. Amazingly written and deeply emotional. I cried. I will forever cry over this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Hate crime and Death of parent
The Sorcerer of the North by John Flanagan
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I enjoyed this one. I’m not a massive fan of the 5 year time skip as I feel like there should’ve been another book of Will being an apprentice before becoming a fully-fledged Ranger. However, I did get used to it. The author does a good job of making a tonal distinction between young Will and adult Will while still feeling like the same character.
I love the inclusion of the dog. She is just so cute. Adding a dog makes every book better.
This book moved along at a brisk pace and kept my attention well. I like that we got to see some development of Alyss and Will’s relationship and I enjoyed her being in the story. I understand why Halt wasn’t including much in this book, but I missed him. However, a duel storyline probably would’ve taken away from the main storyline.
This book feels like part 1 to the story and I am looking forward to part 2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Body horror
The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Finally Halt and Will have been reunited! I do wish this book focused a little more on that point. But this was still an enjoyable instalment in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
The Maid by Nita Prose
mysterious
sad
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
2.0
I am conflicted about this book. Although there were aspects I enjoyed, those aspects also come with things I didn’t enjoy.
For the most part I liked the main character. Though the random quotes/catchphrases I found cringeworthy. The autism aspects of the character are pretty stereotypical but also don’t make much sense. On one page you have her struggling to understand emotions and facial expressions. On the next you have her perfectly understanding people's behaviour. It’s inconsistent.
This book is written in a first person perspective which I wasn’t a fan of at first but I eventually got used to it. FPP will always read like fan fiction to me in the beginning.
At the end of the book there is this really great scene showing us the moment that Gran died. It’s incredibly emotional… and then it’s ruined by the main character essentially murdering Gran upon her request. Why couldn’t she just go in her sleep and stop breathing normally. Why did she have to make the main character do that? Additionally, while I understand Gran was very important to Molly, the constant mentions of her death and the grief that Molly feels is so overdone. It feels like every single page Molly is talking about her Gran’s death. Like we get it, she’s dead and you are sad about it, anything else?
The writing of Detective Stark is so unprofessional and not at all how a detective would act. It’s like this was her first case ever. Every single time she spoke it irked me so bad. Not sure if the author intended for me to be so annoyed by her.
The part at the end where it is revealed that Molly knew who the killer was all along makes no sense and almost completely ruined the book for me. Molly has no reason to cover for the killer outside of not liking Mr Black. About 50% of this book would have been resolved much quicker if Molly just told the police that. There are no clues given to the reader at all that Molly knew who the killer was. It’s like the author threw it in there at the last minute. It honestly makes 0 sense at all. It’s so out of character.
The actual crime itself makes no sense. Why did nobody check the security cameras? Why is Molly arrested when there isn’t actually any substantial evidence towards her being the killer. Why isn’t there more investigation into Mr. Black’s day and his ex-wife. It just makes no sense at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was a quick and enjoyable atmospheric gothic horror. The writing style flowed well and I was able to picture this book perfectly while reading. The story was fast paced and intriguing and the goreyness of the story was well done. I enjoyed the casual queerness of this book. The relationship being WLW adds to the seduction the author tries to create with the whole blood stuff. If it was MLW the vibes wouldn’t be the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I was just so bored with this. It doesn’t hit the same as Divine Rivals and there wasn’t nearly enough romance for me. It just left something to be desired. The pacing was so slow through the first half, Dacre and Enva’s relationship wasn’t expanded upon nearly enough. The tone was so jarringly back and forth. And so much stuff was just randomly thrown in without much expansion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
emotional
funny
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Here’s what I liked:
The writing style. It’s exactly what I look for in a book. A balance between lyrical and not. The flow of the writing and the pacing of this book is perfect.
The character’s. I loved all of the main characters in this book, especially Iris and Roman.
The exploration of grief. It was beautifully written.
Here’s what I didn’t like (none of these things were enough to drag the book down for me):
Once the romance actually turned into a romance it went EXTREMELY QUICK. At first I didn’t like it but then the themes of the book came into play. This story tells us that life is fleeting because of the threat of war and how so much can be ripped away from someone in a single day. So the choice of Roman and Kitt getting married straight away actually makes sense when you think about it.
The ending is a bit miffy. It was so… abrupt. But again that’s what the book told us. I think it felt so rushed and quick because the author needs to lead into the next book, which I imagine is going to focus a lot more on the war. She just wasn’t able to do it as smoothly as it should’ve been. Maybe an extra 50 pages would have helped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism
Scrivener's Moon by Philip Reeve
adventurous
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? Yes
2.5
I wish I loved this as much as I loved the first 2 Fever Crumb books. I was finding this series to be so much more enjoyable then Mortal Engines. But this book just didn’t live up to the first 2.
There were too many characters and towards the end everything just felt complicated and clunky. I couldn’t follow along with what was happening. It wasn’t until Wavey died that the book even piqued my interest. But there were just so many different threads of this book that were left unfinished. For example, Dr Crumb’s writing just felt so out of character. I didn’t like it at all.
Something I did like about this book was the writing of Charlie Shallow. The sociopathic nature of him came across very well. I also enjoyed the whole bisexual arc Fever went through. I wasn’t expecting it and I found it endearing. Especially considering how much I liked Fever and Arlo together. The audiobook performance in this one was the best it’s ever been. Each character had a unique voice and it added a lot to being able to picture the characters.
Overall, I would say this book just feels unfinished with too much happening in it and some poor writing choices.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Animal death and Racism
The Icebound Land by John Flanagan
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
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
3.5