Reviews

Message Not Found by Dante Medema

2econdsightsillies's review against another edition

3.0

Eh. This book was pretty disappointing. When I first picked it up, I was hoping it would be more supernatural in the way she got clues on what happened to her friend. I was hoping her ghost would start saying something’s that point to clues to her death but nope, main character just stole phones and private messages to get farther with her AI development.
The story shows grief in a absolutely beautiful way, showing how grief can change people, and how curiosity can really kill the cat. I think the betrayal of each character was such an asshole thing to do, but then again, grief can break down even the nicest people.
The writing wasn’t bad, just not what I was expecting.
3/5

bibliobrandie's review against another edition

3.0

Set in Anchorage, Bailey misses her best friend Vanessa so much that she creates a chat bot using Vanessa's old texts and emails and continues to communicate with her long after her friend's death. Ultimately she learns some things about her that she didn't want to know. Grief, secrets, forgiveness, friendship, dating, it's all in here.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

3/5

I thought I would enjoy this book more but it was hard to really get into the side characters and piece together why they were important in some way. The two main characters were alright. I just felt like there could have been more to the story.

kmsmith1776's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

This book was a quick read and had some unique ideas in it. Given how much technology is changing right now, the chatbot friend was an interesting concept. This book was so sad, but I thought it did well in dealing with the grief all of the characters were working through and showing just how complicated people and feelings can be. 

emmavieira's review against another edition

half way through and I still couldn't get into it 

syncstarlight's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jennneely82's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ok, so this book is very well-written and I really wanted to love it. The book focuses on family, friendship, grief, and AI, all very relevant and important subjects. However, the story seemed to drag on and how the author wrapped up the book bothers me. While we all grieve in our own ways, not every action can be forgiven or excused because of grief. Just a bit disheartening. 

windermerepeak1's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m so fucking sad😭😭😭 reminds me of that black mirror episode, and the book definitely delivered in emotion

optimisticbooknerd's review against another edition

5.0

5 ⭐

I found Dante on tiktok and I absolutely love her content and one day I saw her talking about this novel and after hearing the summary I RAN to add it to my goodreads tbr and I've been wanting to read this one for what seems like forever. I finally picked it up and read it in one sitting.

I never wanna say books are perfect but this one is pretty darn close if not perfect. It explores the discussion of friendship, grief, betrayal and it was such a beautiful journey.

I want a physical copy so bad to annotate it and highlight all the beautiful passages. I rarely see anyone talking about this one but it was so incredible and it needs all the attention. I cried, I laughed, I cried some more it was devastatingly perfect and even the authors note made me cry!

I think I reccomend this for anybody who wants an emotional book with beautiful quotes, outstanding writing and amazing characters. everything about this was absolutely incredible.

villainy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0