A review by vagariousmind
Amen Maxine by Faith Gardner

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)