rpweber15's reviews
260 reviews

A far better writer could have pulled off a Wizard of Oz retelling. This author missed the mark. I was disappointed in this…the writing is sloppy, there isn’t a whole lot of character development that makes sense, and I still don’t get the romance. I enjoyed this quick read enough to finish; it was entertaining enough, I suppose.

The structure of this novella is pretty ingenious and the writing is superb. I was very immersed in the middle of the story, but struggled a little at the beginning and end. This tiny novella attempted to tackle grief, mental health, identity, and climate issues all at once…it didn’t always work but when it did, it was a resounding slam dunk. Oh and the swampcore vibes, which now I totally get, were impeccable!

I just love Nick and Charlie! This volume is more of the same adorable angst, but maybe with a lot less plot. Volume 6 should be interesting!

I was struggling a bit with the first half of the book…it felt a bit aimless and nothing was happening. Then it came together and I was reminded just how charming Viv and her adventures are. I laughed out loud a few times and wish I could have some of the characters (Fern, Satchel, Potroast) as buddies in real life. I hope the author continues Viv’s adventures!

The tone of this book is really...weird. I've read a lot of reviews that referred to the humor and the Grady Hendrix blurb that said this book is "darkly funny." I'm a HUGE fan of dark humor/black comedy but I didn't really get that with this book. The tone was unsettling, not funny. It was painful, not humorous. Maybe I'm missing something? I don't know. I think the author was maybe trying to do too much and I think knowing about her her PhD training in clinical psychology screwed a little bit with my brain as I was reading this book. Maybe that factored into the vibes for me?

There is also a lot of repetition in this book...and a certain level of predictability that resulted in me figuring out a plot line pretty quickly into the story. However, with that said, I really quite enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. The ending is quite a wild ride but as some have suggested, was a bit rushed and didn't match the pacing of the overall book. The horror descriptions are pretty great and gory, though. The author really excelled at those descriptions! The characters are not particularly likeable...the living ones anyways. The ghosts (pranksters) were more interesting than the living characters and I feel like a short story anthology about their lives (and deaths) should be the author's next project!

Spoiler

The theme of domestic abuse/violence weighs REALLY heavy over this entire story. I appreciated that the author tackled this topic, as well as the topic of gaslighting, but I feel like it was maybe a little lost in the rest of the MANY details related to the actual haunted house and its captives. The author didn't quite stick the landing on balancing these issues with the actual haunted house, but as this is her debut novel, I'll happily give her next book a try!

Predictable yet very earnest and endearing! I think kids these days say “totes adorbs?”

A delightful story full of hilarious banter (seriously, I laughed out loud a lot) and lots of heart, all with the backdrop of grief. I'm not sure how it worked so well, given the stark contrasts of literally everything in it, but this was a really heartwarming story.

I really loved this book and am so excited for the story to continue! Ms. Chakraborty's writing is incredible...funny, tender, vivid, fiery. Did I mention funny? I know very little about Islam, so I had a lot of googling of some words and customs to do, but that just added to the story. The author clearly researched the heck out of the time period. The characters, even the non-human ones (who were ), were very human and incredibly relatable. I, too, am a woman over 40, but have lived a quieter life than our swashbuckling MC, Amina. Despite my lack of adventures on the high seas, I could related to Amina in so many ways. I very much appreciated the wisdom (and morals) of Amina and her ragtag team. This is the first of Chakraborty's books I've read but it certainly won't be the last!