michaelapr's reviews
93 reviews

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is a fast read that was fun and sad at the same time. It was interesting to me to read a World War II book that was more on the direct aftermath of the war and looking back on it (but still fresh, sense the war ended). There aren't a lot of books that explore that so it was nice to see a fresh take. I also liked the story told in letters - that always makes a story go faster. 
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Book Lovers by Emily Henry

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was like reading a really fun romcom and it's a good time. It's rare that I enjoy a romance book like I did this one.
Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark

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funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

2.75

I hesitate to give this book anything below 3 stars based on the fact the average rating is 4 stars - but here I go. I don't listen to this podcast regularly, but I do enjoy it every now and then. What I was expecting was something similar to the podcast, which would be mostly talk about murder cases with a mix of the author's real lives. This is not what I got - which was okay! However, what was not really okay was how repetitive the stories were, and how I could not for the life of me distinguish between the two author's voices (even while listening to them). 
I'll be honest though, "self help" books may not be for me. And I'm probably not in the age range for these life stories to be relevant. But also - none of this advice or anecdotes had insight that I hadn't heard before. It wasn't new to me, it didn't make me see the world differently. So that's why it gets 2 stars. It gets the .75 because the best parts really were when they started talking about specific murders, which is what I enjoy about their podcast in the first place.
The Martian by Andy Weir

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adventurous funny inspiring tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Safe Haven by Hannah Alexander

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-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

3.0

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The Cypress House by Michael Koryta

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

3.75

I expected this to be a completely different book, instead it surprised me in a great way. I really enjoyed this story and it had a good ending.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-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

4.0

A sweet story that made me laugh and gave me an ending I wanted. Sometimes that's exactly what you need.
People who would like this: Fans of Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (albeit more lighthearted and arguably faster paced), Fans of the X-Men (comics or movies)
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
I ended up not finishing this book. It just wasn't catching me. This is also not really an Odyssey retelling, which is what I was expecting. Instead it's more of an imagining of the aftermath of the Odyssey and I wasn't really thrilled with that aspect - or where it was going.
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

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emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

2.75

This was going to be a solid 3 star read until the end. It was a typical Ng ending, ambiguous and sad but unlike her other two books, I was not left with much hope at the end. There was no life can suck but there's still hope for these people kind of ending, it felt like everything the characters had done was futile. Hence the 2.75 rating. This is labelled as a dystopian book but, as I kept noting throughout reading, it feels more like a alternate reality or a thought experiment than a dystopian. This is mostly due to the fact that some of what happens in this book is either happening right now (or some version of it) or could actually happen in the future. This is not a "look at this extreme, way in the future world where I explore some of the problems we have in modern day" this is a "this future is very realistic and feels like we're heading right for it" sort of story.  I've read other books of this sort and liked it, but this one was a sadder version. I also this that this book got a little lost in words, which did slow it down and seemed out of place in the genre it was trying to be in. There were parts of this book that did not need to be as long as it was due to all the details - although I was listening to the audiobook, so that might have been a contributing factor.
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The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0