mr_cain's reviews
107 reviews

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense fast-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

A sweet little story.

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The Seas by Samantha Hunt

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

4.25

wow

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Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

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

3.0

underwhelmingly mediocre. each story had a strong premise and each failed to deliver any kind of interesting, tense, or emotional conclusion. The first two were quite gross--i guess for the shock value?--but weren't scary. Just yucky.

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Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
The constant + rapid POV is just kind of annoying and hard to follow for me.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

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

4.0

Fascinating concepts.

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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.
Meh
Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

One you have to think on after reading.

The way the author discusses the singular fat character is really uncomfortable.

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There There by Tommy Orange

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

interesting and well-written.
conclusion was underwhelming, random, and felt rushed>

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Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

I only docked .25 of a star because the pacing was so slow in the exposition. I understand she's establishing a whole host of characters and I do appreciate it, but it's a book you have to power through the first part of. 

This book genuinely kept me guessing. I did suspect the real culprit several times, but I waffled often. Hawkins does a great job supplying motive and details for each of the suspects without it feeling like a painfully deliberate red herring. 

Hawkins also makes the characters each their own and her style is distinct for each chapter in a different POV (i.e. Helen, Jules, + Sean's chapters all feel genuine vs. the same style with different names as many POV switching books seem to do). She provides a cast of characters who are complex and feel so real. Not every character is deeply complicated but they all have their own established psyches which I loved. 

I can easily call myself a Paula Hawkins fan after this.

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