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kecordell's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cestrella's review against another edition
1.0
Dnf @ 80ish pages. The first night I tried to read this I fell asleep. Tried the next day and still couldn’t get into it.
I try to give books at least 100 pages before giving up. At about page 80 I was still bored so I skipped to page 100 to see if anything interesting was going on. There wasn’t so I decided not finish this book.
I try to give books at least 100 pages before giving up. At about page 80 I was still bored so I skipped to page 100 to see if anything interesting was going on. There wasn’t so I decided not finish this book.
moorealexa's review against another edition
4.0
This was a super interesting and random read. I loved our main character and truly had no idea where this story was going. I was literally holding my breath at times. Highly recommend for a quick and unique story!
meenaa's review against another edition
3.0
It's always nice to read books by diverse authors, you realise just how limited a lot of the perspectives of popular english fiction are when you do. I did the audiobook of this one, and Hannah Choi did a good job (even though her pronunciation of insurance scratched my brain in a bad way).
I'll be honest though, this book felt longer than it needed to be. The first half, setting up stuff oscillated between very boring moments and really electric imagery which had me on the edge of my seat. The second half, when the mystery starts unravelling was more interesting. I saw a lot of reviews saying they loved Katrina but I didn't love her haha. Her struggles with her mental health and her kitchen door world were well done, but I found her exhausting (which is the point I know but still). I also found the ending to be a little convenient.
tldr: I enjoyed it, but didn't love it.
Anyway I think I'll continue reading books exclusively by POCs, women and LGBTQIA authors for the rest of the year <3
I'll be honest though, this book felt longer than it needed to be. The first half, setting up stuff oscillated between very boring moments and really electric imagery which had me on the edge of my seat. The second half, when the mystery starts unravelling was more interesting. I saw a lot of reviews saying they loved Katrina but I didn't love her haha. Her struggles with her mental health and her kitchen door world were well done, but I found her exhausting (which is the point I know but still). I also found the ending to be a little convenient.
tldr: I enjoyed it, but didn't love it.
Anyway I think I'll continue reading books exclusively by POCs, women and LGBTQIA authors for the rest of the year <3
realityczar's review against another edition
5.0
This book is fantastic. Terrifying and tense and lovely and exactly what I needed right now. Just when you think the book is one thing, it takes a turn and leaves you laugh-gasping. CW for mental illness but, dang.
abaranes's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars.
This was a chilling mystery novel, with a really unique view by having the main narrator suffer from (what I assume is) paranoid schizophrenia. Seeing things through this lens definitely had me questioning what was real or not.
That all said, it did run out of steam towards the end and I'm not sure I'm fully satisfied with how everything was wrapped up. Still, worth picking up if you're a mystery/thriller fan!
This was a chilling mystery novel, with a really unique view by having the main narrator suffer from (what I assume is) paranoid schizophrenia. Seeing things through this lens definitely had me questioning what was real or not.
That all said, it did run out of steam towards the end and I'm not sure I'm fully satisfied with how everything was wrapped up. Still, worth picking up if you're a mystery/thriller fan!
elise_nk's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
2.75 stars. This book could have been shorter, and I think if so, I would have rated it higher. It started fast paced and ended fast paced but the middle dragged for me. I appreciated the character development of Katrina, but I feel like it really only came out at the end, and for most of the book she just seemed like a mentally-ill, unreliable narrator. I appreciated the mental illness representation and first-generation immigrant experience explored in the book, and I personally think if more of that was included, rather than the middle of the book slowly moving the plot around, I would have enjoyed it more.
aktunmore's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just too weird for me. I went in expecting a stalker, murder mystery type thing and it had that, but too much other. Katrina is obsessed with a pretend world from a children's novel, needs to draw sigils to feel safe and above all she becomes obsessed with things and makes terrible decisions because she can't let them go. If I wasn't obsessive about finishing a book once I started it, this would have been a DNF because I knew right away it was too weird for me