natreadthat's reviews
385 reviews

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted sad 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? No

3.5

This read like a children’s book for adults. It was both whimsical and wholesome, but certainly not realistic. And perhaps that’s the point. 
 
I loved that the story revolved around children who fell in love with books and, within those books, found a place to belong. I did get Willy Wonka vibes in that I couldn’t quite tell if I should like the beloved author of the famous Clock Island book series or be slightly creeped out by his need to save children. Yet the story was endearing. A young woman hopes to adopt a precious, traumatized boy. An elderly author hopes to save the now-adult children who long ago ran away to beloved Clock Island. 
 
Although The Wishing Game is marketed as adult fiction, it felt more YA to me. This one’s for you if you’re looking for a quick, imaginative read with familial trauma, riddles and rhymes, found family, and unique characters.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Undiplomatic: How My Attitude Created the Best Kind of Trouble by Deesha Dyer

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

We love a good trouble maker. 

Deesha Dyer was an underdog. She was 31 without a degree or connections when she applied for the White House internship. With zero expectations for a callback, she couldn’t believe when she got an interview or when she landed the job. That internship changed her life. 

Despite grit and a blossoming career, Deesha’s imposter syndrome haunted her in each new position. I think there’s something for everyone laced in these pages. Thanks to her candidness and vulnerability, I saw a bit of myself in her as she struggled to see her own successes and recognize her right to be in that space. It’s always inspiring to hear the stories of badass women! 

What a great read! I love a good memoir and it’s not often that we get to hear about the inner-workings of the White House. Not me perusing the job postings to see what’s out there after finishing this—maybe in another life. 🤪
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

How does a child disappearing affect a family? How does it affect the child?

You have an inkling about what happens to Ruthie at the beginning of the novel, but you’re left wondering why, and how. The story portrays one mother’s love, another family’s loss, lies, and finding the truth. I expected to love it as so many others did and while the story itself was intriguing, it was slower than I prefer and I didn’t particularly connect with any of the characters. That said, it made me wonder about the similar stories indigenous families are known to have experienced. 

The Berry Pickers is a complex, dual-POV, almost-mystery. I know it’ll be highly discussed in book clubs all over. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark informative 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? No

3.5

Oooookay, here we go. 

I finished this a few days ago and still can’t decide how I feel!!! After such a mic-drop moment at the end of CC2, my expectations were obviously through the roof for CC3. So why didn’t this hit the mark for me like everything else SJM has ever written??? Am I alone here?!

Let me try to get through this spoiler-free. As always, SJM knows how to weave a fantastical, complex plot together and she’s a master at world-building. But this book felt like one big info dump. There was too much going on (while simultaneously not a lot going on) and too many POVs to feel close to any of the characters, except Ruhn and Lidia—loveeee them. 

Sadly, I wasn’t in the SJM chokehold I usually am when a new book of her’s comes out. This just wasn’t it for me. But as always, eager to see what’s next. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake

Go to review page

  • 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

3.5

Lovers to enemies. Enemies to lovers. 
A modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling complete with family drama and forbidden relationships, plus quite a few twists thrown into the mix. The story revolves around two powerful witch clans who have been rivals for over a decade: the Antonovas and the Fedorovs. 

The characters felt realistic, multi-faceted, and thankfully, developed without being entirely predictable. Which was great, especially since I’m not a huge play-lover so the characters are ultimately what kept me tuned in. But I did enjoy being surprised multiple times for a retelling! 

This is my third book by Blake and each time I’m reminded that I love how she writes—always so poetic. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Twenty years after the disappearance of her younger sister, Flora, the book of Whisperwood comes across Hazel’s desk at work. Considering the only person who knows about Whisperwood is her long-gone sister, Hazel immediately tries to track down its author, whom she hopes—somehow—is Flora. 
 
Toggling between WWII and the 1960’s, the reader is front row to fourteen year-old Hazel and five-year old Flora as they evacuate war-torn London and adult Hazel as she reels at the possibility of Flora still being alive. 
 
I picked up this book blind and wanted to love it. It’s historical fiction, whimsy, and centers around the magic of storytelling. Despite wanting to know how everything works out, I just wasn’t invested in the characters as much as I expected to be. Perhaps it was because the lead-up was way too slow, or how it felt just a tad too long. Either way, it was a great display of the love between two close-knit sisters, how storytelling can change the trajectory of your life, and reconciling with loss. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Happy Place by Emily Henry

Go to review page

emotional reflective 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

3.5

Harriet is heading to her happy place: the east coast cabin where her best friends meet up annually. This is the trip she takes from med school, full of drinking wine, eating copious amounts of delicious food, and enjoying the coast surrounded by her favorite people in the world. Plus, she can finally tell them that her fiancé, Wyn, broke up with her. Except, he’s there when she walks in…and he’s acting like they’re still happily engaged. 

I loved the “moral” of the story. Henry showcased adult friendships—especially long distance ones—to a T and just how hard they can be. I totally resonated with missing the past and yearning for the ease of friendships as a young adult. I still miss college and let’s be real, corporate America sucks.

So why 3.5 stars? Mostly because I wanted to reach right into the book and slap these damn characters. Apparently, the miscommunication trope is not for me. 🤪 That said, I loooooved Book Lovers so I bet there are other Emily Henry books out there I’ll enjoy more!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-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? No

3.5

There are only two rules in Aunt Annalea’s apartment: 
  1. Never wear your shoes inside
  2. Never fall in love with anyone in the apartment

Her aunt always said, in that conspiratorial way of hers, that the apartment was magical. On a day when Clementine is wading through the grief of her aunt’s passing, she’s transported back in time, seven years to be exact, to find a strange, handsome man in her apartment—turns out Annalea wasn’t lying. 
And guess what happens next? Yep, Clementine falls in love. 

The premise of this book had all the right things: a magical apartment, time traveling element, growing romance between the main characters, and characters with internal struggles. And yet, I still didn’t love it. It’s not that it was bad, it was more that I didn’t have time to fall for the characters before they were falling for each other. A fast burn can work, sure, but this one felt predictably forced solely to fit the plot. Plus, I wish I hadn’t been able to guess every twist. What I did enjoy was the peek into the publishing and restaurant industries, the aunt-niece bond, and how haunting grief can be. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

First book of 2024! ❤️‍🔥

This quick, six-hour audiobook had me going back and forth between “this feels too woo-woo for me” and “wow, that was really profound”. 

bell hooks is best known for her writings on race, feminism, and class, focusing on the exploration of the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender. All About Love, unsurprisingly, focuses on love, our misguided expectations of it, and how flawed our understanding of it can be. 

I’m not a self-help book girl most of the time, so I struggled through parts of this. It’s broken down into thirteen chapters ranging from values, romance, spirituality, community, loss, and commitment among a few others. The community chapter resonated with me the most and I think everyone should read it. Other chapters lost my interest pretty quickly either because they weren’t personally applicable to me or felt too subjective. That being said, I appreciate how open hooks is about love and her thoughts on how it can change the world. We need something to do just that and loving one another more freely, especially those from outside our circles, certainly can help. 

If you’re an introspective person who wants to better understand love and improve your relationships (and don’t mind self-help vibes), you’ll likely enjoy this one.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

Go to review page

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? No

4.5

June Farrow has grown up in the shadow of her mother’s descent into madness and eventual disappearance. After her grandmother finally succumbs to the same sickness, June is determined to put an end to the centuries-long curse that plagues the Farrow women. 
 
This one kind of blew my mind a bit. It started off as a slow burn (and I mean slooooow), but once the plot picked up I couldn’t put it down. At points, I was so engulfed in the story that I felt like I was uncovering June’s family secrets right alongside her. I love when a book has me thinking I’ve figured it all out and then slaps me in the face with a plot twist. Talk about chef’s kiss. I really enjoyed this one! 
 
For those of you that like magical realism, family drama, and time traveling tales, this one is for you! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings