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taliahsbookshelf's reviews
215 reviews
Twisting Minds by Tessonja Odette
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Can you trust your eyes? No, really, are you sure? Do you know what you’re seeing is in fact... reality?
Twisting Minds plays with this concept, forcing readers to confront the fact that we have no way to truly trust our senses, even if we think we can.
Set in a dystopian future reminiscent of the Selection and the Divergent era, there are societal rungs that individuals have to climb in order to get protection. Claire Harper, only seventeen years old, suddenly loses her position in society and falls to the lowest of the low. In order to climb back up, Claire finds herself in an environment she can’t really be sure is real.
When Claire meets Darren, he shows her what living really means, with comments on the hyper-capitalist society they live in. But is Darren quite what he seems?
I really liked this book. The premise was intriguing, and even though the setting felt extremely similar to other books in the same genre, the plot felt refreshingly new. I think the only thing that could have pushed this to a five star from me is if the last quarter of the book was 50 pages longer. It felt rushed, and things didn’t feel like they were paced properly towards that end. Other than that, though, this book was a ride, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants something fast-paced enough to read in one sitting with elements of a psychological thriller.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
No matter how much BookTok tries to tell you otherwise, this book was simply not good.
400+ pages of absolutely nothing happening except Addie lamenting about the fact that she can’t be remembered by anyone and will never make a mark on the world until oh no! Suddenly she’s interesting! Except that lasted for a grand total of one chapter and then it went straight back to boring. The number of times I was ready to be hooked into the story was also the same number of times that Addie decided “oh! I’m just going to go back to my same stupid small original French town for absolutely no reason whatsoever! Sounds like a plan :)” No. Stop. This was boring, repetitive, and so incredibly frustrating.
There were so many times I wanted to DNF this book, and the literal only reason I stuck it out was because I needed to know about what happened to Henry. That’s it. I didn’t care if he died, or lived, or had any of a million different things happen, I just needed to know what happened. And then I get to the end and somehow feel disappointed? I was expecting a lot from this book, and it gave so little.
This was fairly forgettable (haha, pun) and I don’t think I would recommend this to most people. You’ll get the gist of it by looking at spoiler reviews and reading the sparknotes, without the painfully dredging task of actually going through the process of reading it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, and Alcohol