sarahscupofcoffee's reviews
319 reviews

This is a reread for me and it didn’t disappoint! When revisiting a beloved series (especially ones with movie adaptations), there are often feelings of unease. Will I not love it as much? Are there problematic elements that will ruin the experience and the nostalgia that I didn’t catch when I was younger? Is it even well written? Have I been in love with this book and recommending this book under old pretenses?

Not in this case.

Catching Fire was my favorite in the series because it truly had me gagged the first time I read it. I loved the gruesome nature of it, how they made the actual arena and quell twisted to suit the Capitol’s needs. I also loved the twists at the end and the characters.

The only reason I’m knocking off a star is because of the pacing. I feel as though the “before” and set up lasted forever, even though it was needed to understand the dynamics inside the arena. I felt like parts of the book dragged, but they were still captivating and needed. Such a great second book.

Reviewing and rating memoirs is always difficult for me. How am I supposed to review someone’s life story? I try to review all books from a place of enjoyment instead of technical criticism, but I’m a bit conflicted here.

I watch Toni and Ryan’s podcast and when I realized that Toni wrote a book, I had to read it. Obvious book nerd here. I grabbed the audio through my library and was hooked after the first thirty minutes of listening. I bought  physical copy to immersion read with.

While I loved so many things about this memoir, I struggled with a few as well. I was often confused about the timeline because her stories were not in chronological order. The best memoirs, in my opinion, read like fiction or are meticulously organized. This was neither. 

I was struggling to find the overarching theme of the book or what messaging we were supposed to find as readers. Grief obviously played a huge role, which I really appreciated and the parts that included her mother made me cry, but this book felt more like a journal than a memoir.

Like I said, there were so many great moments in this book. I laughed, I cried, I took notes and I plan on following some of Toni’s advice. (I need a therapist.) Her stories were so relatable and I loved hearing about her love story with Taubs. Do I wish there was more Ryan? Yes. I feel as though she should write some blog post or something about her history with Ryan, since I feel like I know them both as a unit. I’d love to hear those stories.

Anyway, I really connected with Toni on having children (or the choice not to), embarrassing situations, and how grieving can suck ass. 

I had the absolute best time reading this and I need the sequel right now. I'm obsessed with this story, the world, and all of the characters in it. 

If you're looking for a fantasy with a romantic plot and regency era spring vibes... this is for you. I feel like spring is the season of the fae and Sasha Peyton Smith filled her world with flowers and bargains for us.

This is technically YA, but I have some gripes with it. Yes, it's bloody, violent, and can be very dark at some points (we're dealing with fae here)... but those aren't the parts I had issues with. I am a firm believer that YA should not have explicit sex scenes. I'm not a prude and do enjoy a well written sex scene (which I think were well done here), but I love YA fantasy romance books because they tend to lean into the tension rather than the physical release of it. I live for the anticipation and the yearning, not so much the touching.

Don't get me wrong, I loved this book for what it was, but if I were still a school librarian, I would not have this book in my collection for students to read, which is a problem if it's considered young adult.

However, this is not the reason I deducted a star. I absolutely loved this book and was tearing through it at a rapid pace. I was fully prepared to give this a five star rating until the last thirty pages of the book. I thought that the twists were well plotted, but poorly executed. It was a lot like the villain at the end of the movie explaining how and why they did everything.

When I heard that the author of Lovelight Farms wrote a story inspired by Sleepless in Seattle, I was hooked. I loved most things about this book and it was a blast to read. I especially enjoyed the audio. 

My main issue was the romance, which is the heart of the book. I loved their chemistry and them as a couple, but I don’t like the explaining away of their feelings. This happens a lot in romance books and I hate it every time. The “it’s just a crush” and then making excuses for feeling the way they do. The “let’s be casual and have fun,” when it’s clearly more than that. I guess I don’t like the underestimating of relationships and emotions that lead up to them.

I did love pretty much everything else. I loved that she’s a mechanic. I love that he’s the grumpy radio host about love. I love watching them both do their jobs and meet somewhere in the middle of their respective lives. I love the bits between chapters when we get to see glimpses of show transcripts. And the ending. I really loved the ending. 

My first five star rating of 2025 goes to the first book to rip my heart out. Read with a box of tissues, although I was fine (and I was not anticipating that I would be) until the very end. I saw this movie YEARS ago and I forgot everything except that I liked it. It made me feel something, so when I saw this book at Goodwill... I picked it up without knowing what I was getting myself into.

I was in a reading slump, having just DNFed two books and rated a book 2 stars, and was wondering if I even liked reading anymore. I remembered that I hauled this one and that I liked the movie, so surely I would love the book.

Oh. My. Dear. God.

This was slow, but in the best way. Louisa is a quirky, funny, and all around adorable human being that stumbled into a job after being forced out of a cafe she loved and was comfortable in. Out of options, she accepted a role helping a grumpy, sarcastic quadriplegic that taught her about life as she softened his edges.

This book teaches us that comfort zones can be harmful and that you can find love in the most unexpected places.

Highly recommend. 

Look at this cover. Doesn’t it scream  Valentine’s Day?? Do yourself a favor and pick up another one though. There are plenty of books with hearts on the cover.

The only reason I didn’t give this one star is because I didn’t regret finishing it. One stars are for books I wish I DNFed, but this one was just very frustrating.

At first, I was eating the cringe up. I was listening to the audiobook, so maybe that’s why I didn’t mind it as much. However, the cringe never went away or got easier to listen to. The main character was constantly saying “my dude” and using other slang that made me crinkle my nose. Aside from that, she was also really annoying. 

I love a hyper fixation, don’t get me wrong. I also love true crime and think the point of her dissertation was amazing. She’s a PHD student and working on her presentation throughout the whole novel. There were only two parts I loved about this book and that was one of them. I liked hearing about the true crime elements and her takes on them. In the same breath, she was annoying as hell when she would bring them up at uninvited times. It wasn’t cute.

She also used her childhood trauma (valid) and her obsession with true crime (not so valid) to refute love. She never thought that love was for her, so obviously she had to be a horrible human when she was actually starting to catch feelings. She treated Sam like garbage and I hated it because, even though Sam was a tad underdeveloped in my opinion, he was a great person that she was shitting all over.

The other shining light of this book were Conner and Shani. I really loved them and their dynamic. I wish it was their story that I was reading. I also liked the library involvement. Why were the side characters more developed than the main characters?? Ugh.

The tone of this book was also very silly and quirky, which is why I liked it at first. But when things started to get spicy (if we can even call it that), it seems way off base. The language didn’t match the tone at all and it felt very disjointed. 

One of my biggest  😑 moments is a spoiler and happens at the very end.

That big dissertation that she worked her ass on the entire book? The one where she finally drums up the courage and asks people to support her for? We didn’t even get to see her presentation. We know she graduated because of a one liner from the epilogue, but that’s it. And also, we don’t know where she’s going to end up living or where she’s going to get a job. We’re left in this gray area with so many untied strings. Biggest pet peeve in books.

Overall, I hated this book. I’m so happy for you if you were able to find some fun in it though!

Ugh! I’ve been DNFing so much this year and at this point I don’t know if it’s me or the books I’m choosing to pick up. This one may just be an audience thing because our MC is annoying as fuck and it reads severely YA. All the focus on kissing is grossing me out too. I’d rather have spice than awkward kisses with strangers 🤷‍♀️

The Night Guest was such a beautifully written story and a great work of Icelandic translation. I loved so many elements of this short horror book, but I didn’t love the ambiguous ending. If you’re a fan of psychological horror, open endings, and in need of a quick read… this may be for you!

This kills me because I really loved the first half of this book. It felt like Daisy Jones and Carrie Soto. The audiobook was great and the narration was full cast. It was set up to the a highlight of the year. 

And then I started hating their relationship. I didn’t care about the skating shit as much as I would’ve liked. I didn’t know a damn thing about tennis, but TJR made me eager to watch a match. If anything, Fargo made me want to stay away from watching ice dance.

The petty drama wasn’t entertaining. The rifts in Kat’s and Heath’s relationship were frustrating (and not in a good way). The side characters made me cringe. The plot points toward the last fourth of book had me wanting to DNF (and I truly should’ve). This was not what I wanted and I’m so sad.

This is a very difficult book for me to review because I didn't love it... but I respect it? If this story was told by someone else, I may have enjoyed it more. I don't vibe with King's writing style, but I love his ideas, plots, and (in most cases) his well-developed characters. 

Misery in particular was interesting to read because it's an allegory. Being a writer in the world of publishing is intense; you're hobbled, trapped in what makes you popular, and overall unable to write what you want. I know I'm probably missing other symbolic scenes (it's been a while since I studied literature), but I appreciated when I did pick up on.

I listened to the audiobook and I had to speed through some scenes that were just too much for me. I do not like body horror and there are a few things in here that made me squeamish and in need of a break. The psychological horror was interesting to follow and I do love how twisted King's mind is.

Speaking of the audiobook... okay, the narrator was great, but the format wasn't? I borrowed it through Libby, so I don't know if it was just the copy I was able to listen to, but it was just one really long file (no chapter breaks) and there were weird dinging sounds throughout. There were also really long pauses that made me think my app was glitching. I may be showing my age since I don't know when this audiobook was recorded, but they really took me out of the story.

It's also important to note that the ending was absolutely solid. I struggle with thriller/horror endings most of the time,  but I really enjoyed the way King wrapped Misery up.

Annie's death was brutal and kind of sick... but I was into it? She was such a crazy character, that it worked for her. And when they didn't find her body at the end. It had me gaping. Especially when Paul had the PTSD episode with her showing up in his apartment and dismembering him. I was gagged, but then we realize he just has huge PTSD symptoms and that she was found in the shed next to the chainsaw.

I have not watched this movie because I wanted to read the book first, so my sister and husband are going to join me in a movie night this weekend. <3