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miarae's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really struggled with this book and was close to DNFing. I found all the jumping through time incredibly tedious and it caused me to not really get invested in the story and characters. It was all too vague and the writing was incredibly boring at times, to the point I skimmed past a lot of descriptions. Downside of a time travel story, it involves too much describing of the scenery. I know the author wanted us to love the women in the story, but there were too many and their stories too short to get attached. The plot had a lot of potential but it just ended up a confusing mess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder
beccaand's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Abortion
thisameliagirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
sophielouise98's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
anniepatt's review against another edition
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I've been choosing audiobooks by sorting randomly and available now on Libby, then scrolling until I like cover art. It's kind of fun to go in mostly blind. Somehow I've read at least 4 time travel books so far in 2024, and here's another one!
The villain in The Shining Girls was the most disturbingly written evil man I've encountered. Masterfully repulsive, 5 stars on that character development.
This is another one of those stories with incredible potential that just didn't resolve satisfactorily, in my personal opinion-but I'd still seek out another book by this author. I did enjoy her style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abortion
caoimhemia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Torture, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism
kleddy13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.25
I loved the structure and the originality of the plot, and the authors writing style. I predicted the ending half way through the book which is slightly disappointing in a thriller. I would rather an ending that I could have never predicted than one that makes me happy for the protagonist. I also only felt really emotionally attached to two characters, Tokyo the dog and the abortion activist who had a very short chapter. All around I really enjoyed reading it and would recommend it, but it’s not perfect (what book ever is!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
battybookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
2.0
Unfortunately, I kind knew this wasn't going to be a top book for me. The main reason I stuck with it at all was the opening scene with the bee (I had a similar experience at girl scout camp with my peers and a daddy long legs). Beyond that though, I found the focus of this book and the layout off putting. There are elements here that are deeply complex and could be quite interesting. I don't tend to enjoy narratives like this one, somewhat akin to Forrest Gump where they touch on multiple points in history in a sort of cursory way. It feels a bit trite I guess, I don't know.
I will also say, this book is written very specifically in the US and takes a lot of culture and history as a source for its plot. However, the author is not from the US and there were many random wording errors that made it rather disbelievingly placed in the US (some things felt rather obvious like how we say going to the hospital rather than being in hospital, likely could've been edited out at some point). I don't think this is the worst offense in books, but I do think that it allowed the author to sort of surface level many of the characters without giving them backing to actually make sense in the world. This is mostly a racial thing, basically every major character is a POC but it feels silly at the end when this is suddenly revealed.I'm mostly referring to Dan, the Dan reveal annoyed me.
Beyond all that, my favorite part was Kirby and there's a part of me that still wants more of her. I wish the book had given her more time, made her more central. It focused so intently on Harper and his murders when we already kinda had the gist there. Kirby was complex and strange and I never felt like we saw that as internally or fully as we did Harper's getting his rocks off.
I will also say, this book is written very specifically in the US and takes a lot of culture and history as a source for its plot. However, the author is not from the US and there were many random wording errors that made it rather disbelievingly placed in the US (some things felt rather obvious like how we say going to the hospital rather than being in hospital, likely could've been edited out at some point). I don't think this is the worst offense in books, but I do think that it allowed the author to sort of surface level many of the characters without giving them backing to actually make sense in the world. This is mostly a racial thing, basically every major character is a POC but it feels silly at the end when this is suddenly revealed.
Beyond all that, my favorite part was Kirby and there's a part of me that still wants more of her. I wish the book had given her more time, made her more central. It focused so intently on Harper and his murders when we already kinda had the gist there. Kirby was complex and strange and I never felt like we saw that as internally or fully as we did Harper's getting his rocks off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug use, and Abortion
This book depicts multiple graphic murder events in fairly slim but clear detail. If you cannot stomach violence that includes stabbing and gore, I would recommended missing this book.caitlynfox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
First things first- reading this on kindle was a disservice to myself as this is a novel that jumps between years (time travel will do that) so I never really knew where I was. It was still decently easy to follow but I think being able to pop back and forth easily would’ve been nice.
That being said, Kirby is my new girl, we love a homegirl who can hold her own guts in and get shit done… literally. The time travelers wife if she was a bum ass man/serial killer.
That being said, Kirby is my new girl, we love a homegirl who can hold her own guts in and get shit done… literally. The time travelers wife if she was a bum ass man/serial killer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abortion
knretaleato's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Abortion
Minor: Transphobia, Vomit, and Dementia