michaelapr's reviews
74 reviews

adventurous emotional funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is getting 4 stars because I had a good time reading it. The ending left me extremely confused though.
I will also say that this book is not like The Mummy, I don't know why it's advertised like that except to get people to pick it up and the story is based in Egypt. Honestly advertising it this way is very misleading considering that the romance isn't like The Mummy and there are no horror/curses at all (the latter is honestly what I was expecting much to my disappointment).
I've never watched Death on the Nile so I can say much on that.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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

4.25

I had a fun time reading (actually listening) to this one! It was like Spiderwick Chronicles for adults and I loved it. It was a lot of fun with serious moments as well - just as any book about the fae should be.

The Reckoning by John Grisham

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challenging informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

I read this book for a book club and so I didn't DNF it. This book was a waste of time for me since I do not understand the point of this book - there was no thriller aspect, there wasn't much legal drama, and the "twist" was just stupid and felt like it was just put there.
This book was also just poorly written because:
1. It was structured in a way that made me drag through the story, especially during Part 2. Honestly this book turned into a historical fiction novel during Part 2, except a badly written one since I was left desensitized after all the info/trauma dumping. It felt like Grisham was like "No one talks about this part of WWII so I WILL"
2. He used passive voice the entire time and so you couldn't really care or understand the characters. It felt like you were being told step by step events and you weren't able to immersive yourself in the story at all.
This book should've been way shorter, by about 100 or so pages, since most of it was unnecessary.

Basically I have ultimately decided that John Grisham books and I are not meant to be friends. This is my 3rd book by him and hopefully it will be my last.

Content Warnings

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

What an excellently written story imagining and humanizing Shakespeare. Heartbreaking in the best way.
"Remember Me."

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is a fine story though it took way too long to get through. The writing style really dragged, not to mention the long chapters. This book was also all over the place - it's like the author decided to put every stereotypical life in the mountains in this book I swear - not to mention the many unnecessary meanderings of the main character. It still isn't a bad story, just not the best.
Also. Not really funny as advertised.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was... interesting to say the least. It was almost like a train wreck or a burning car on the side of the road, you don't want to look away because you want to see what happens (and how the situation can get worse in this case). The characters are unlikeable and their actions cause chaos as well as misery. 100% the flaws of these characters are the main focus of the book.
This is not a romance by the way. I don't know why people think it is. I've read in books and seen movies where people say they want a relationship like Catherine and Heathcliff - I don't understand what they could've missed. These people are like the 1800s version of Harley Quinn and Joker, except Catherine is less likable and Heathcliff is a bit more sympathetic at first before he starts getting his revenge. Emily Brontë really did say "I can make these insane, detestable characters worse together."
Luckily I had heard enough to suspect that this was not an actual romance, what I didn't expect was how absolutely insane these characters were going to be.
At least I can say I read this classic.

Aurora's End by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced