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readitg's review against another edition
3.0
Amen Maxine – Faith Gardner
Goodreads Synopsis:
“Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high … and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot.
Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assistant, Maxine has “advice” and “prediction” modes that have shown promise for patients with mental health issues. To Rowena’s shock, the device turns out to be not just helpful, but eerily accurate, predicting events before they occur.
It’s a godsend until Maxine offers a series of increasingly bone-chilling predictions that will change Rowena’s life forever.
This domestic suspense novel asks, who do you trust more—your mind, your man, or your machine?”
My thoughts:
I’ll do my best to lay out my thoughts without giving spoilers – it is difficult with this one because it was such a fast-paced, quick read.
OK. So this thriller touches on 2 major things: Mental Health and Artificial Intelligence. Rowena, who suffers MAJORLY with anxiety and depression, spends almost the entirety of this book trying to determine if she’s being gaslit into thinking she is paranoid and truly depressed and anxious by her husband, or if she is actually paranoid, anxious and depressed. This is all thanks to her new robot buddy, Maxine. Rowena’s increased obsession with Maxine’s abilities, and Maxine’s Facebook-esque ability to collect data and contribute to Rowena’s paranoia and anxiety via predictions had me hoping Rowena would fall off the face of the earth 3 quarters of the way through. She was so fucking awful. Her personality, her hypocrisy, all of it.
Look – I am not a subject matter expert on mental health but I have spent 24 years of the 34 I’ve been alive dealing with anxiety, depression and ADHD. You cannot blame being a shitty person with a constant woe-is-me attitude on your psychiatric state as much as Rowena does.
The writing, however, I felt was pretty good. It was fast-paced and to the point.
And… the ending. There was no plot twist, no shock, no awe, no… nothin’. But it was satisfactory. It tied the story up with no loose endings.
3 stars.
Goodreads Synopsis:
“Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high … and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot.
Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assistant, Maxine has “advice” and “prediction” modes that have shown promise for patients with mental health issues. To Rowena’s shock, the device turns out to be not just helpful, but eerily accurate, predicting events before they occur.
It’s a godsend until Maxine offers a series of increasingly bone-chilling predictions that will change Rowena’s life forever.
This domestic suspense novel asks, who do you trust more—your mind, your man, or your machine?”
My thoughts:
I’ll do my best to lay out my thoughts without giving spoilers – it is difficult with this one because it was such a fast-paced, quick read.
OK. So this thriller touches on 2 major things: Mental Health and Artificial Intelligence. Rowena, who suffers MAJORLY with anxiety and depression, spends almost the entirety of this book trying to determine if she’s being gaslit into thinking she is paranoid and truly depressed and anxious by her husband, or if she is actually paranoid, anxious and depressed. This is all thanks to her new robot buddy, Maxine. Rowena’s increased obsession with Maxine’s abilities, and Maxine’s Facebook-esque ability to collect data and contribute to Rowena’s paranoia and anxiety via predictions had me hoping Rowena would fall off the face of the earth 3 quarters of the way through. She was so fucking awful. Her personality, her hypocrisy, all of it.
Look – I am not a subject matter expert on mental health but I have spent 24 years of the 34 I’ve been alive dealing with anxiety, depression and ADHD. You cannot blame being a shitty person with a constant woe-is-me attitude on your psychiatric state as much as Rowena does.
The writing, however, I felt was pretty good. It was fast-paced and to the point.
And… the ending. There was no plot twist, no shock, no awe, no… nothin’. But it was satisfactory. It tied the story up with no loose endings.
3 stars.
kayleigh_ann97's review
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
casaveli's review against another edition
2.0
This book had a lot of potential but ended up being very anticlimactic. There are inconsistencies with how the book begins and how it ends. This was a buddy read and my friend described it: The author over focused on mundane aspects and short handed big moments.
shakeela's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
noodlebooknook's review against another edition
4.0
Rated closer to 4.5 than a straight 5 but below are my thoughts:
The good:
- this book is a master class on suspense I’m serious if you are a creative writing professor have your students read this to understand suspense in a thriller. I have read many thrillers and it is one of my least fav genres because they can be done so badly, this is not one of those books.
- I forget who said this but a twist ending should not be unpredictable once you think back to the foreshadowing and this book is exactly like that, I knew something bad was going to happen obviously and based on the authors amazing use of foreshadowing I was able to roughly predict the plot but it was still a twist ending to me.
- I think this author PERFECTLY encapsulated gaslighting even if this was the ‘extreme’ to the point of even before the big reveal I was not a fan of a certain character.
To the criticism:
- I felt that the main protagonist was a bit ‘not like other girls’ which in hindsight actually made sense but still turned me off in some sections which is just a personal thing.
- 99% of the time the dialogue was amazing BUT there were a few sections I felt a bit forced especially when talking to the best friend.
Honestly though this was one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in awhile despite the (very few) flaws. If you are a fan of thrillers you will certainly enjoy this.
The good:
- this book is a master class on suspense I’m serious if you are a creative writing professor have your students read this to understand suspense in a thriller. I have read many thrillers and it is one of my least fav genres because they can be done so badly, this is not one of those books.
- I forget who said this but a twist ending should not be unpredictable once you think back to the foreshadowing and this book is exactly like that, I knew something bad was going to happen obviously and based on the authors amazing use of foreshadowing I was able to roughly predict the plot but it was still a twist ending to me.
- I think this author PERFECTLY encapsulated gaslighting even if this was the ‘extreme’ to the point of even before the big reveal I was not a fan of a certain character.
To the criticism:
- I felt that the main protagonist was a bit ‘not like other girls’ which in hindsight actually made sense but still turned me off in some sections which is just a personal thing.
- 99% of the time the dialogue was amazing BUT there were a few sections I felt a bit forced especially when talking to the best friend.
Honestly though this was one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in awhile despite the (very few) flaws. If you are a fan of thrillers you will certainly enjoy this.
vagariousmind's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so tense! It was really difficult to read, for me, because a lot of the emotional abuse and gaslighting was very similar to what I went through and it all definitely hit close to home for me, but that was part of what made the book so intense and stressful and compelling, I think. When writing about subject matter like this, I think you have to stress your reader out, otherwise they're not going to care as much about what happens.
The unreliable narrator was so well done in this book, too. I was consistently questioning what was real the entire book.
My only issue was that there were moments where I personally felt like some of the internal dialogue was a little disjointed, and it took me out of it a little because it felt sort of unnecessary and forced. (for instance, when she internally made a bad joke/pun, and then also internally said that she hated herself for making jokes at a time like that.)
But other than that one little thing~
Stressful, but so good! Definitely one I would recommend to anyone looking for a tense and claustrophobic read!
(I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily)
The unreliable narrator was so well done in this book, too. I was consistently questioning what was real the entire book.
My only issue was that there were moments where I personally felt like some of the internal dialogue was a little disjointed, and it took me out of it a little because it felt sort of unnecessary and forced. (for instance, when she internally made a bad joke/pun, and then also internally said that she hated herself for making jokes at a time like that.)
But other than that one little thing~
Stressful, but so good! Definitely one I would recommend to anyone looking for a tense and claustrophobic read!
(I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily)
emily_loves_2_read's review against another edition
4.0
Amen Maxine
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 7/23/22
Author: Faith Gardner
Publisher: Mirror House Press
Pages: 278
Goodreads Rating: 4.31
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Mirror House Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: A transplant from New York, Rowena Snyder moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assistant, Maxine has “advice” and “prediction” modes that have shown promise for patients with mental health issues. To Rowena’s shock, the device turns out to be not just helpful, but eerily accurate, predicting events before they occur.
My Thoughts: This was more of a domestic suspense novel for me than a psychological thriller. The story is narrated by Rowena, from her POV, with a touch of ‘Maxine.’ Set in a futuristic dystopia, this fast paced turner will have you flying through the pages. This book received a lot of hype upon its release and it has been on my TBR for awhile, it definitely lived up to the hype. We highly depend on technology in today’s world so this plot premise is not unrealistic or unbelievable, except the ending, but this is an art of fiction. The premise and the cover is what drew me to this book. The characters were well flushed out, well developed, had depth, mystery, and creatively written. The author’s writing style is complex, suspenseful, twisty, intriguing, and kept me engaged. I highly recommend you picking up this book and giving it a try, you will not be disappointed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 7/23/22
Author: Faith Gardner
Publisher: Mirror House Press
Pages: 278
Goodreads Rating: 4.31
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Mirror House Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: A transplant from New York, Rowena Snyder moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assistant, Maxine has “advice” and “prediction” modes that have shown promise for patients with mental health issues. To Rowena’s shock, the device turns out to be not just helpful, but eerily accurate, predicting events before they occur.
My Thoughts: This was more of a domestic suspense novel for me than a psychological thriller. The story is narrated by Rowena, from her POV, with a touch of ‘Maxine.’ Set in a futuristic dystopia, this fast paced turner will have you flying through the pages. This book received a lot of hype upon its release and it has been on my TBR for awhile, it definitely lived up to the hype. We highly depend on technology in today’s world so this plot premise is not unrealistic or unbelievable, except the ending, but this is an art of fiction. The premise and the cover is what drew me to this book. The characters were well flushed out, well developed, had depth, mystery, and creatively written. The author’s writing style is complex, suspenseful, twisty, intriguing, and kept me engaged. I highly recommend you picking up this book and giving it a try, you will not be disappointed.
machadofam8's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Booksirens for an ARC of Amen Maxine. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I'm a bit of a geek and the premise of Amen Maxine, an AI that is a personal friend definitely appealed to me. It did live up to my expectations but honestly the ending was a bit meh.
Rowena Snyder is a woman in need of a friend. She's got a 6 month old adorable daughter and a husband who clearly does not have her best interests in mind. He brings home an AI companion for Rowena from his high tech job in Silicon Valley. When Maxine starts to predict terrible things the story takes an even darker turn.
It was believable to a point but the end felt rushed.
I'm a bit of a geek and the premise of Amen Maxine, an AI that is a personal friend definitely appealed to me. It did live up to my expectations but honestly the ending was a bit meh.
Rowena Snyder is a woman in need of a friend. She's got a 6 month old adorable daughter and a husband who clearly does not have her best interests in mind. He brings home an AI companion for Rowena from his high tech job in Silicon Valley. When Maxine starts to predict terrible things the story takes an even darker turn.
It was believable to a point but the end felt rushed.
garrid's review against another edition
3.0
3. Perhaps if you guys are more of a science fiction fan than I am, you will enjoy this story much more than I did. The idea of a device with artificial intelligence that becomes our assistant, advisor and even our friend is very interesting. The story unfolds through a few typical bunch of characters: wife, husband, mother-in-law, friend, lover. But something is still missing. This group is joined by Maxine, the technological assistant that will change absolutely everything. ¿Can a machine become a killer? That is the question yet to be answered.
filemanager's review against another edition
4.0
What a cool book!! It's set in a high-tech future time, but it's not over-the-top like The Jetsons.
Such an interesting plot, it kept me intrigued the entire time!! I was right there with the main character, not knowing who to trust!
Such an interesting plot, it kept me intrigued the entire time!! I was right there with the main character, not knowing who to trust!