pickledpotato1021's reviews
183 reviews

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.”
TW: Mild gore
M trains as a Fulbright to help defend the world against criminals, but it's hard to tell who the real good guys are. I loved the deepening of the story, and the clarity of the bigger picture starting to peek through. I didn't like how people change sides so quickly though.

“The people of Godspeed have gone years without knowing about the stairs. And I can’t help but think: if they’ve forgotten stairs, what else have they forgotten?”
TW: Sexual harassment/assault briefly mentioned
Elder is in charge of the ship without using phydus, and finally solves some mystery's everyone's been wondering about. Answers to the open ended questions from the first book were finally answered, but there's a few more left over. Elder is too soft as a leader. It seems like there's always a bigger picture that we aren't seeing, even if we think we finally put the puzzle together.

“I might have the whole world now, but it’s not enough if I don’t get to share it with her.”
TW: Mild sexual scenes; Sexual harassment/assault briefly mentioned
The people from Earth and the ship are living together (kinda) and need to work together to survive the new planet as they are threatened by an unseen force. I love the finale, it honestly was well worth the over 1,000 pages it took to get there. All the puzzle pieces finally fit together, and it all made sense. I didn't like the fact some of the characters were so automatically unlikeable. If you're going to secretly establish a bad guy that seems like a good guy and then plot twists to a bad guy make them likable first so the plot twist hurts more. I hated Amy’s dad from the second he thawed out. He was just a prick man.

“You’re going to have to decide between your head and your heart. We all do.”
TW: Mild Violence
Mary is a descendent of magic, but magic died 13 years ago, and now with a string of crimes in her town she wants to be the one to solve them. I loved the idea and the concept of the story, but the writing was confusing, and not very engaging. I struggled to finish. My one question would be: Is this taking place as a precursor to the Disney villains or are they becoming the Disney villains?

“There was something so picture-perfect about it, something so not mine.”
TW: Gore; Domestic violence; Marital rape; Elder abuse; Murder; Incest; Drug abuse; Molestation; Mental health disorders; Suicide; Sexual scenes; Gaslighting; Child abuse; Psychological torture; Abortion
Ellie’s husband is dead. However she starts seeing him outside her window, and she’s become the target of a smear campaign online. She becomes determined to figure out the truth surrounding her abusive husband’s death. My Dead Husband was full of twists, full of turns, and had me hooked from the beginning. It was mildly TOO twisted for my taste, but it also had my mind blown at the end. The only reason I couldn’t give this story five stars is because of the sheer number of trigger warnings. It felt wrong giving such a twisted story five stars.

“I think the idea of me is better than the reality of me.”
TW: Abortion; Child abuse; Death; Murder; Infidelity; Consensual sexual scenes
Lowen arrives at famous author Verity’s home in order to finish her work as Verity has become unable to do so. Upon her arrival she finds a bone-chilling manuscript written by Verity herself, which she keeps away from Verity’s husband Jeremy. The best part of this book was when it was finally over. Not saying I liked the ending at all, I just liked the fact that the nightmare was finally over. The plot: stupid. The twists: BS. There's the improbability, the lack of emotion, there is nothing I enjoyed about this book. It is very obvious that the final twist in this trainwreck was only added because CoHo made the first twist too obvious and didn’t wanna fix it. The beginning death scene was unneeded! It was NEVER mentioned again. It was only there for the introduction of the male and female leads. It could have been replaced with a classic coffee shop spill. The second star was ONLY for the fact that while this book was truly horrible (which the CoHo cult will crucify anyone for saying), the writing style did keep me hooked, and I was hoping that the second twist, which was as painfully obvious as the first so CoHo’s cover up plan didn't work, wasn’t going to happen. But it did. And I hated it. *(Mini spoiler)* While CoHo says she’ll never say which is true, she alludes to the manuscript being true vs the letter, making the last 2 chapters as pointless as the disgusting contents of the manuscript that supposedly never happened.

“But it was just a story, and when one gaping plot hoke appeared, the whole thing unraveled.”
TW: Cult; Sexual descriptions; Infidelity
January and Gus both need to have books ready for their publishers, but they both have writer's block so they challenge each other to write in the opposite style. This story was a huge let down, there were some funny parts, and Gus wasn’t too bad but January was infuriating. She was more like a high schooler than a 30 year old woman. Gus is the only reason I gave this book three stars over tow, because he was redeemable and he was the one that made me laugh while January made me roll my eyes every page. This was a Hallmark move in a book, and I hate Hallmark movies.

“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”

TW/CW may be considered spoilers about certain themes or plot twists in the story
TW/CW: None

Milo is a dreadfully dull boy who finds everything around him just as dreadfully dull, until he’s gifted a wonderfully not dull tollbooth. I love everything about this book. It’s just so cute, so fun, and I will reread it every year. I love that I understand more now than I did when it was read to me when I was in 5th grade, and I will likely understand more and more as I reread it again and again. There is nothing I don't love to bits about this book.

“I have never been a pest in my life.”

TW/CW may be considered spoilers about certain themes or plot twists in the story
TW/CW: Child abuse; Bugs; Death of parents

James loses some magic seeds in the garden, and ends up traveling in a massive peach with some massive friends. It’s just a simple classic with silly characters, a goofy plot, and a satisfying ending. The pacing of the plot just seems funky to me, but it is a children’s novel so maybe that’s why. I just have one question: Why does every Roald Dahl book have such dark undertones?

“'Take pride in your pain,' her mother had always told her. 'You are stronger than those who have none.'”

Trigger/Content warnings may be considered spoilers about certain themes or plot twists in the story
TW/CW: Child abuse; Death of a parent; Ableism; Kidnapping/imprisonment

Kira is a crippled orphaned girl who has to use her ability to thread and weave to save her place in her community. I love the different perspective from the first book. Seeing outside the community into this one was very interesting. There are a lot of answered questions at the end of this one that really made me scratch my head but regardless I still loved it. It’s interesting how color plays polar opposites in The Giver and Gathering Blue.