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abbier_14's reviews
181 reviews
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. I wanted to read this for Halloween but it was never actually scary, more just weird and uncomfortable in a gross way.
I feel like this is the case for a lot of female lead horror (I hate to say it) that i read where the protagonist is just gross and bordering on an edge lord because they talk about poop and every other bodily fluid known to man constantly. I think its trying to rely on shock value which i saw another reviewer say and i tend to agree, even though in of itself thats not a bad thing as obviously scary books rely on shock but it flopped in this book.
Also the dead mom was barely a ghost or a feature??? Like her being undead is maybe mentioned in a couple of the first chapters but Abby is never really haunted by her imo. Abby focuses more on her own mother and Laura is more sidelined than i expected her to be, as well as Ralph like Abby leaves him alone at home most of the time. So again weird description for this book. And omg what was that scene where she goes to this person with the business card with the eye on it?? A lot of the times in this book i was confused about what was going on, like the writing style was trying to not be coherent for the vibes but instead it just frustrated me.
Then like i said the book wasnt really scary bc the only murder that occured was right at the end. This book was relatively short but even then it dragged. I think it didnt live up to its promises which made you anticipate something that was never really delivered.
So yeah disappointing which is a shame because this was a book id been eyeing for a while
I feel like this is the case for a lot of female lead horror (I hate to say it) that i read where the protagonist is just gross and bordering on an edge lord because they talk about poop and every other bodily fluid known to man constantly. I think its trying to rely on shock value which i saw another reviewer say and i tend to agree, even though in of itself thats not a bad thing as obviously scary books rely on shock but it flopped in this book.
Also the dead mom was barely a ghost or a feature??? Like her being undead is maybe mentioned in a couple of the first chapters but Abby is never really haunted by her imo. Abby focuses more on her own mother and Laura is more sidelined than i expected her to be, as well as Ralph like Abby leaves him alone at home most of the time. So again weird description for this book. And omg what was that scene where she goes to this person with the business card with the eye on it?? A lot of the times in this book i was confused about what was going on, like the writing style was trying to not be coherent for the vibes but instead it just frustrated me.
Then like i said the book wasnt really scary bc the only murder that occured was right at the end. This book was relatively short but even then it dragged. I think it didnt live up to its promises which made you anticipate something that was never really delivered.
So yeah disappointing which is a shame because this was a book id been eyeing for a while
The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Cute short story. I think what took me out a little is how incredibly hot the guy is meant to be and im like what are the chances you message a stranger and theyre like a god lmao. Like the description of his looks and endearing qualities was a little over the top and cheesy. Although this is called the improbable meet cute so ill let it slide. When they did meet in person it was alright, obviously this is a short story so it cant be amazing. But if this was a full story I would read it.
Happy Medium by Sarah Adler
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was very average, kinda like the fast food of romance books. Even though originally when reading the blurb I thought it was a unique idea, but then getting into it it was just too cliche and unoriginal. However I did laugh out loud on occasion which was good.
- The first thing that I don't like is the book is set in 3rd person. I don't know why but something about it just always throws me off and I prefer 1st person 100%. I'm like whos this random omniscient person who knows their whole life story? It also wasn't like fully 3rd person? So sometimes ill be engrossed in Gretchen's mind, and then suddenly the narrator would say 'she walked away' or something and it would take me out of the story.
- The beginning was very cringy. So cliche with her wearing one of his shirts and him blushing and I'm like girl do you have any decorum? Then we had her reaching for a high shelf, a pool playing scene etc. I also wasn't very convinced with their romance so the ending wasn't very heartwarming or cute. Also the spice sucked ngl. But it wasn't all bad ig you just get kinda what you asked for just not at an amazing level. I also didn't really like the transition between him being sus of her to him liking her.
The whole plot at the end also was like what where she was gonna give up her life to run the farm and basically kick him out when they just started dating lol?
- The characters were also one dimentional and I didn't feel that close to them, especially the MMC. He was just a little farmer guy with a farmer heritage and thats it. He has a Grandad with dementia but we see him once and then he is briefly mentioned again just with dialogue. That scene where the MFC barges into his room and then gets mistaken for his dead wife was so cringy I don't know why this plot line was needed at all. The MFC was slightly better with the stuff with her dad making sense with who she is. Everett was the only saving grace of the book.
So yeah, it's good if you have a few hours to spare and want some entertainment but not showstopping never done before.
- The first thing that I don't like is the book is set in 3rd person. I don't know why but something about it just always throws me off and I prefer 1st person 100%. I'm like whos this random omniscient person who knows their whole life story? It also wasn't like fully 3rd person? So sometimes ill be engrossed in Gretchen's mind, and then suddenly the narrator would say 'she walked away' or something and it would take me out of the story.
- The beginning was very cringy. So cliche with her wearing one of his shirts and him blushing and I'm like girl do you have any decorum? Then we had her reaching for a high shelf, a pool playing scene etc. I also wasn't very convinced with their romance so the ending wasn't very heartwarming or cute. Also the spice sucked ngl. But it wasn't all bad ig you just get kinda what you asked for just not at an amazing level. I also didn't really like the transition between him being sus of her to him liking her.
The whole plot at the end also was like what where she was gonna give up her life to run the farm and basically kick him out when they just started dating lol?
- The characters were also one dimentional and I didn't feel that close to them, especially the MMC. He was just a little farmer guy with a farmer heritage and thats it. He has a Grandad with dementia but we see him once and then he is briefly mentioned again just with dialogue. That scene where the MFC barges into his room and then gets mistaken for his dead wife was so cringy I don't know why this plot line was needed at all. The MFC was slightly better with the stuff with her dad making sense with who she is. Everett was the only saving grace of the book.
So yeah, it's good if you have a few hours to spare and want some entertainment but not showstopping never done before.
Crush by Tracy Wolff
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
SPOILERS
So im baffled at how this book has a higher average rating than the first one. Did only the people who adored the first one go onto read the second one? bc wth?
so the whole reason why I read this book is because I enjoyed the romance in the first one. So you can imagine how overjoyed I was when Grace comes back from being a statue that she is suddenly repulsed by her bf. Like they only kiss around two times bc the annoying voice in her head is unable to deal with it🙄 Stupid blocking all the action for all of us.
So Hudson is in her head yay....So my first gripe with him is that he was British lmfao. This was definitely aimed at all the American readers who fancy harry styles and benedict cumberbatch and all those people bc they are british. If i have to read the word wanker or 'british swearwords' coming out of Hudsons mouth one more time i might kms. And i was almost pushed over the edge when in the chapter from his pov shit was spelt shite. It doesnt even make sense with accents bc his voice is described as proper and pronouncing all the syllabels so he has like a posh accent, but then hes saying wanker? whatever im just not into british characters surrounded by Americans in books bc they are just so over the top, and i do not find it attractive as a british person myself as its clearly for an outside audience.
I also have some questions about the logistics of Hudson when hes in Grace's head that weren't addressed:
- So he's able to interact with objects both that appear in the plane of existence (?) and also ones that he seemingly just has, probably from his lair which is in the place that Grace went when she was a statue? So no one else can see hudson, so what happens when Hudson picks up objects? Do they appear to float or do they completely dissappear?
- So Husdon can only see what Grace sees/ has seen in her memories.. So when Grace is looking at Hudson's illusion is he just seeing himself the whole time? Bc surely somewhere in this book Hudson mentions Grace's expression which he would not have been able to see. Can he control his illusion? bc he will walk around, pick up objects, roll his eyes etc. Then that would mean he see out of illusion Hudson's eyes? Also why wasn't there a scene where one of the characters sits on him surely that would be a thing.
- Apparantly he naps???????????????????? Like how tf does that work. There's this whole energy stealing thing🙄so maybe it replenishes that? But then he also sometimes randomly dissappears but hes in Grace's head all the time? In the bonus chapter from his POV it said something like he accessed part of Grace's brain that would be able to notice him? so??? See what i mean this is just too confusing
Another thing that annoyed me was Grace's stupid comments and thought processes. Like she honestly might have some sort of deficiency. One example is a character tells her to 'break a wing' (shes a gargoyle) and she takes that to mean they want her to fail and dieðŸ˜ðŸ˜Like seriously? how could she not know its a play on break a leg? And then Hudson is begging her not to sit up front next to his parents bc they might use that as an opportunity to kill her, but then shes like nope! Even though seconds earlier she was talking about how nervous and intimidating they seem? Then she gets mad when Hudson takes control of her body to force her to sit at the back. But honestly this happened a lot where a character would say something, Grace would be like NO and disagree, then a page later she would be like 'so and so was right' and act as if she held that opinion the whole time and never disagreed??????? Like is she ok?
Another thing that was annoying about Grace is that she had literally no struggle. She will moan about something being hard without even trying it but then on her first try shes suddenly a pro? Like when shes turning into a gargoyle shes able to find these 'strings' that contain every facet of her life apparantly and she just pulls on it. (honestly i hated those stupid strings the worst analogy of anything ever) And then when she was learning to fly she fell on her ass once when she jumped off a fence but then as soon as her dragon friend took her up in the air she was suddenly doing it? Like no tension or drama at all.
I guess this also links to a time in the book that frustrated me where the gang were off to kill the unkillable beast and had to get through THE KINGS TRAINED GUARDS. One of the friends gets hurt so Grace goes and repairs their wound with her stone. So shes turned away for the entireee battle, and when she turns back these high schoolers have somehow won against trained guards for the most protected guy? ok sure. And then ofc the unkillable beast is actually also a gargoyle so they don't even defeat it bc its family or whatever. AS SOON AS the author said that the beast was made out of stone I KNEWW IT WAS A GARGOYLE I was like 'urgh how convenient its like Grace'.
So Hudson kept mentioning these forgotten memories of Grace's where they apparantly had a connection. Do we find out about any of this? NO even though the book is 632 pages! What we do get is a bomb drop right at the end which is so great I love that for my sanity and will to live (this is why I hate series). This is honestly the worst way to set up for a love triangle in the history of romance books (maybe a bit drastic but oh well the point still stands). Like Evil Cole TM breaks the mating bond, then soon after Grace gets over it and she comments on how hot Hudson is and how good he smells. Like gross? That is so disrespectful to Jaxon who is like bond or not ill love you and shes like thirsting over his brother. Eww
Then I think the thing that is stupid about this series is the timeline. So youre telling me that the first book happened within the span of like 2 weeks? (i cant remember what exactly they said but a review I read said it kept changing so ig i doesnt matter anyway). I cant remember if I put in my review that the romance moved fast or not but it was honestly ridiculous when they would say how fast it moved. Like girl are you not embarrased at how quickly youre like ride or die with your man? (idc about mates as thats seemingly pointless now). And then this book takes place within the span of 2 weeks as well??? Like why the rush Tracy? My theory is that she wants the books to be set in the Academy but theyre already in senior year. Or she just has no concept of time.
(I will give my critique on the timeline and tension of the book the benefit of the doubt as I did take a month to read this so my perception may be all over the place but still, 2 weeks for all that happened is ridiculous)
Now im talking about random things that annoy me that I have no energy to develop into a full paragraph:
- Lots of real world references like Rolling Stones music, 'now if this was a romance/fantasy novel i would...', favourite artists and stuff. This really annoys me bc it makes Grace feel like a self insert and less of her own person. People like to criticise my queen Stephenie Meyer for making Bella a self insert (not gonna rant now) but at least she doesn't put loads of her favourite things in the book and act like Bella likes them (apart from Jane Austen ill give you that).
- The chapter lengths at the start of the book were atrocious. Like theyll be 3 pages long and suddenly cut off even though the next chapter is in the EXACT same scene and dialogue with no reasons to break it up at all. It made it so aggravating to read as it wasnt smooth. The chapter names as puns were also painful and I swear some repeated from the last book or earlier mentions like 100% that witch and stuff like that
- She somehow 'made piece' with her parents muder because the ex of the murderer apologised for it? nah
- Hate stereotypical 'mean' characters like Cole which enables the MCs to act all higher than everyone as they are being 'unnecessarily attacked'. Also Grace kept mentioning people would stare and whisper about her and im like get over yourself love.
- How the hell was Grace able to have a conversation and joke around like 5 minutes after she was bitten by the King, when 1 minute after she was bitten she could barely keep her eyes open. Like she hadn't had any treatment yet but was suddenly better instead of worse? Maybe the author forgot what happened.
- The last bonus chapter of Hudson being boring and working on his powers like WTF was that why was it included. TBH Hudson's powers are reallly scary like he can destroy a whole stadium with a single thought (also had all the students left the stadium by then or?) I honestly think im on Jaxon's side and that it would be better if he were gone, no matter how 'good' of a person he is. I honestly hated when Grace was like 'he's a good person trust me!' when there is clearly something shes missed. And then everyone believed her? Do they have a death wish trusting an apparant genocidal maniac?
Do you think im gonna read the third one lol? Probably not bc I hate Hudson but you never know I apparantly like torturing myself bc hate reviews are fun.
So im baffled at how this book has a higher average rating than the first one. Did only the people who adored the first one go onto read the second one? bc wth?
so the whole reason why I read this book is because I enjoyed the romance in the first one. So you can imagine how overjoyed I was when Grace comes back from being a statue that she is suddenly repulsed by her bf. Like they only kiss around two times bc the annoying voice in her head is unable to deal with it🙄 Stupid blocking all the action for all of us.
So Hudson is in her head yay....So my first gripe with him is that he was British lmfao. This was definitely aimed at all the American readers who fancy harry styles and benedict cumberbatch and all those people bc they are british. If i have to read the word wanker or 'british swearwords' coming out of Hudsons mouth one more time i might kms. And i was almost pushed over the edge when in the chapter from his pov shit was spelt shite. It doesnt even make sense with accents bc his voice is described as proper and pronouncing all the syllabels so he has like a posh accent, but then hes saying wanker? whatever im just not into british characters surrounded by Americans in books bc they are just so over the top, and i do not find it attractive as a british person myself as its clearly for an outside audience.
I also have some questions about the logistics of Hudson when hes in Grace's head that weren't addressed:
- So he's able to interact with objects both that appear in the plane of existence (?) and also ones that he seemingly just has, probably from his lair which is in the place that Grace went when she was a statue? So no one else can see hudson, so what happens when Hudson picks up objects? Do they appear to float or do they completely dissappear?
- So Husdon can only see what Grace sees/ has seen in her memories.. So when Grace is looking at Hudson's illusion is he just seeing himself the whole time? Bc surely somewhere in this book Hudson mentions Grace's expression which he would not have been able to see. Can he control his illusion? bc he will walk around, pick up objects, roll his eyes etc. Then that would mean he see out of illusion Hudson's eyes? Also why wasn't there a scene where one of the characters sits on him surely that would be a thing.
- Apparantly he naps???????????????????? Like how tf does that work. There's this whole energy stealing thing🙄so maybe it replenishes that? But then he also sometimes randomly dissappears but hes in Grace's head all the time? In the bonus chapter from his POV it said something like he accessed part of Grace's brain that would be able to notice him? so??? See what i mean this is just too confusing
Another thing that annoyed me was Grace's stupid comments and thought processes. Like she honestly might have some sort of deficiency. One example is a character tells her to 'break a wing' (shes a gargoyle) and she takes that to mean they want her to fail and dieðŸ˜ðŸ˜Like seriously? how could she not know its a play on break a leg? And then Hudson is begging her not to sit up front next to his parents bc they might use that as an opportunity to kill her, but then shes like nope! Even though seconds earlier she was talking about how nervous and intimidating they seem? Then she gets mad when Hudson takes control of her body to force her to sit at the back. But honestly this happened a lot where a character would say something, Grace would be like NO and disagree, then a page later she would be like 'so and so was right' and act as if she held that opinion the whole time and never disagreed??????? Like is she ok?
Another thing that was annoying about Grace is that she had literally no struggle. She will moan about something being hard without even trying it but then on her first try shes suddenly a pro? Like when shes turning into a gargoyle shes able to find these 'strings' that contain every facet of her life apparantly and she just pulls on it. (honestly i hated those stupid strings the worst analogy of anything ever) And then when she was learning to fly she fell on her ass once when she jumped off a fence but then as soon as her dragon friend took her up in the air she was suddenly doing it? Like no tension or drama at all.
I guess this also links to a time in the book that frustrated me where the gang were off to kill the unkillable beast and had to get through THE KINGS TRAINED GUARDS. One of the friends gets hurt so Grace goes and repairs their wound with her stone. So shes turned away for the entireee battle, and when she turns back these high schoolers have somehow won against trained guards for the most protected guy? ok sure. And then ofc the unkillable beast is actually also a gargoyle so they don't even defeat it bc its family or whatever. AS SOON AS the author said that the beast was made out of stone I KNEWW IT WAS A GARGOYLE I was like 'urgh how convenient its like Grace'.
So Hudson kept mentioning these forgotten memories of Grace's where they apparantly had a connection. Do we find out about any of this? NO even though the book is 632 pages! What we do get is a bomb drop right at the end which is so great I love that for my sanity and will to live (this is why I hate series). This is honestly the worst way to set up for a love triangle in the history of romance books (maybe a bit drastic but oh well the point still stands). Like Evil Cole TM breaks the mating bond, then soon after Grace gets over it and she comments on how hot Hudson is and how good he smells. Like gross? That is so disrespectful to Jaxon who is like bond or not ill love you and shes like thirsting over his brother. Eww
Then I think the thing that is stupid about this series is the timeline. So youre telling me that the first book happened within the span of like 2 weeks? (i cant remember what exactly they said but a review I read said it kept changing so ig i doesnt matter anyway). I cant remember if I put in my review that the romance moved fast or not but it was honestly ridiculous when they would say how fast it moved. Like girl are you not embarrased at how quickly youre like ride or die with your man? (idc about mates as thats seemingly pointless now). And then this book takes place within the span of 2 weeks as well??? Like why the rush Tracy? My theory is that she wants the books to be set in the Academy but theyre already in senior year. Or she just has no concept of time.
(I will give my critique on the timeline and tension of the book the benefit of the doubt as I did take a month to read this so my perception may be all over the place but still, 2 weeks for all that happened is ridiculous)
Now im talking about random things that annoy me that I have no energy to develop into a full paragraph:
- Lots of real world references like Rolling Stones music, 'now if this was a romance/fantasy novel i would...', favourite artists and stuff. This really annoys me bc it makes Grace feel like a self insert and less of her own person. People like to criticise my queen Stephenie Meyer for making Bella a self insert (not gonna rant now) but at least she doesn't put loads of her favourite things in the book and act like Bella likes them (apart from Jane Austen ill give you that).
- The chapter lengths at the start of the book were atrocious. Like theyll be 3 pages long and suddenly cut off even though the next chapter is in the EXACT same scene and dialogue with no reasons to break it up at all. It made it so aggravating to read as it wasnt smooth. The chapter names as puns were also painful and I swear some repeated from the last book or earlier mentions like 100% that witch and stuff like that
- She somehow 'made piece' with her parents muder because the ex of the murderer apologised for it? nah
- Hate stereotypical 'mean' characters like Cole which enables the MCs to act all higher than everyone as they are being 'unnecessarily attacked'. Also Grace kept mentioning people would stare and whisper about her and im like get over yourself love.
- How the hell was Grace able to have a conversation and joke around like 5 minutes after she was bitten by the King, when 1 minute after she was bitten she could barely keep her eyes open. Like she hadn't had any treatment yet but was suddenly better instead of worse? Maybe the author forgot what happened.
- The last bonus chapter of Hudson being boring and working on his powers like WTF was that why was it included. TBH Hudson's powers are reallly scary like he can destroy a whole stadium with a single thought (also had all the students left the stadium by then or?) I honestly think im on Jaxon's side and that it would be better if he were gone, no matter how 'good' of a person he is. I honestly hated when Grace was like 'he's a good person trust me!' when there is clearly something shes missed. And then everyone believed her? Do they have a death wish trusting an apparant genocidal maniac?
Do you think im gonna read the third one lol? Probably not bc I hate Hudson but you never know I apparantly like torturing myself bc hate reviews are fun.
The Nanny by Lana Ferguson
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I somehow developed high expectations for this, idk what I read but this was an anticipated read.
Unfortunately the characters fell flat. Cassie was not fleshed out in the slightest and didn’t really have any hobbies or friends or things that made her human. Like we would get some sentences about her doing her homework but that isn’t enough to make her believable.
Aiden was poo I’m sorry. With romance books I like to be as attracted to the MMC as the MFC is, but with this I didn’t understand the attraction at all. Again he had no personality or hobbies or anything about him that made him attractive. The MFC just saying he’s hot isn’t enough. (Also why was he paying for someone’s onlyfans if he was that hot surely he could get real human connection irl. Also it’s a bit misleading that a random guy you’ll interact with on onlyfans will be like model worthy hot and rich lmfao)
The side characters sucked. Sophie was 10 but acted more around 7. Like there were some things that she acted oblivious about that 10 year olds would know? Like her describing dating as ‘kissing and stuff’ just felt really juvenile, which is weird as I’ve seen other reviews saying she was too smart or mature for her age. Obviously I don’t expect her to give a dictionary definition and she could just have been feeling awkward but I just wasn’t convinced. Also she got excited about going to the zoo, parks, and encanto, maybe I was just a chronically online child but I feel like I was over all that by age 10. I think the characterisation wasn’t helped by the other characters treatment of her, like they would carry her from the car when she fell asleep as if she was a toddler and her dad helped to take her shoes off to name a few things. So yeah I wasn’t enamoured with her as other reviews are.
I also hated Wanda, nothing she said I could picture coming out of a 76 year old women’s mouth. I don’t know why Cassie couldn’t have friends her own age and why Wanda was a necessary character. Maybe so she could give that speech about her lost love at the end? And then Iris was just annoying as she was the antagonist. I did sympathise with her at the end as I can’t imagine what it would be like if you care for this child and they suddenly get taken away by someone you see as unfit. Honestly the Iris storyline made me not like Aiden as much bc I can kind of see how he’s neglectful.
That’s another thing I didn’t like. Cassie had this backstory with neglectful parents and how she practically had to raise herself, she even got a scar from it by boiling water at a too young age. But then she was so hypocritical when it came to Aiden she would be like ‘he’s trying his best and that’s all that kids want to see’. I’m like no? If kids feel neglected they’re gonna be angry that you’re prioritising your job over them, they aren’t going to care if you’re trying when they feel like poop. I just think with Cassies backstory it would make more sense for him to be harder on Aiden about this than she was.
Yeah the onlyfans bits were good but very sparse. Like the little snippets of their online convos at the end of the chapters were so good and motivated me to read (btw don’t read this in public when people are behind you lol). I feel like the onlyfans bit wasn’t the focus, and instead the nanny bit was. Like I guess that makes sense because that’s the title but then the blurb focused more on the onlyfans. From the blurb I thought it was going to be that Aiden found out about the onlyfans thing first so I was suprised when it was Cassie. Also the conflict was terrible the characters just lived in their own heads and made assumptions.
All that being said (a lot of negative lol) I think it’s alright for romance. Like the characters got together pretty quickly (compared to other stuff I’ve read) and there are many scenes to suit you if you are craving romance. Honestly I didn’t hate it while I was reading but there is a lot to nitpick when you really think about it. There was basically no character development it was mainly just about plot if that’s what you like.
Unfortunately the characters fell flat. Cassie was not fleshed out in the slightest and didn’t really have any hobbies or friends or things that made her human. Like we would get some sentences about her doing her homework but that isn’t enough to make her believable.
Aiden was poo I’m sorry. With romance books I like to be as attracted to the MMC as the MFC is, but with this I didn’t understand the attraction at all. Again he had no personality or hobbies or anything about him that made him attractive. The MFC just saying he’s hot isn’t enough. (Also why was he paying for someone’s onlyfans if he was that hot surely he could get real human connection irl. Also it’s a bit misleading that a random guy you’ll interact with on onlyfans will be like model worthy hot and rich lmfao)
The side characters sucked. Sophie was 10 but acted more around 7. Like there were some things that she acted oblivious about that 10 year olds would know? Like her describing dating as ‘kissing and stuff’ just felt really juvenile, which is weird as I’ve seen other reviews saying she was too smart or mature for her age. Obviously I don’t expect her to give a dictionary definition and she could just have been feeling awkward but I just wasn’t convinced. Also she got excited about going to the zoo, parks, and encanto, maybe I was just a chronically online child but I feel like I was over all that by age 10. I think the characterisation wasn’t helped by the other characters treatment of her, like they would carry her from the car when she fell asleep as if she was a toddler and her dad helped to take her shoes off to name a few things. So yeah I wasn’t enamoured with her as other reviews are.
I also hated Wanda, nothing she said I could picture coming out of a 76 year old women’s mouth. I don’t know why Cassie couldn’t have friends her own age and why Wanda was a necessary character. Maybe so she could give that speech about her lost love at the end? And then Iris was just annoying as she was the antagonist. I did sympathise with her at the end as I can’t imagine what it would be like if you care for this child and they suddenly get taken away by someone you see as unfit. Honestly the Iris storyline made me not like Aiden as much bc I can kind of see how he’s neglectful.
That’s another thing I didn’t like. Cassie had this backstory with neglectful parents and how she practically had to raise herself, she even got a scar from it by boiling water at a too young age. But then she was so hypocritical when it came to Aiden she would be like ‘he’s trying his best and that’s all that kids want to see’. I’m like no? If kids feel neglected they’re gonna be angry that you’re prioritising your job over them, they aren’t going to care if you’re trying when they feel like poop. I just think with Cassies backstory it would make more sense for him to be harder on Aiden about this than she was.
Yeah the onlyfans bits were good but very sparse. Like the little snippets of their online convos at the end of the chapters were so good and motivated me to read (btw don’t read this in public when people are behind you lol). I feel like the onlyfans bit wasn’t the focus, and instead the nanny bit was. Like I guess that makes sense because that’s the title but then the blurb focused more on the onlyfans. From the blurb I thought it was going to be that Aiden found out about the onlyfans thing first so I was suprised when it was Cassie. Also the conflict was terrible the characters just lived in their own heads and made assumptions.
All that being said (a lot of negative lol) I think it’s alright for romance. Like the characters got together pretty quickly (compared to other stuff I’ve read) and there are many scenes to suit you if you are craving romance. Honestly I didn’t hate it while I was reading but there is a lot to nitpick when you really think about it. There was basically no character development it was mainly just about plot if that’s what you like.
Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
aww this was heartfelt and sweet. I am so so glad this didn't have a third act breakup, I saw other reviews calling for more drama but I think this had enough romance that it didnt need all that rubbish.
I really liked Bo as a love interest he was nerdy and kind of lame but in the best way, and blondes are underappreciated in the romance book community for somereason. However, Fred wasnt my cup of tea she was kinda hollow which makes the little minor annoying things stand out more. Despite this I definitely appreciate her passion for the camp that supports disabled children and im glad she found success (although she only started this dream bc of the MMC. I would prefer her to have been more successful in her own right as she was a little directionless and apathetic but then I can see how the MMC helped her to grow which makes for a good book ig.)
I also like that the main characters had a support network around them which was more interesting to read about that just two characters for the entire book. Caleb is hilarious he stole the show in every scene he was in.
As other reviews said I do think the pacing is a little bit slow and then the delivery is one page so the buildup didn't have a very strong payoff. The epilogues also didn't really scratch the itch for me either as the family scene 10 years later was boring if im being honest, the marriage one was sweet (tears in my eyes) but didn't satisfy the family cuteness overload. However I disagree with reviews saying that they didn't like how the characters clearly liked each other but didnt get together. Like hello theyve got to stick together now for at least 9 months and hopefully 18 years or beyond, I dont think rushing into a relationship would have been a good idea for two people who didnt even know each others surnames.
Little things did annoy me in the book like the main characters randomly lying to a pregnant women in the ultrasound waiting room for their own enjoyment because she 'looked smug'. She didn't even do anything to them apart from ask if it was their first and saying they must be nervous, then the main characters just inferred all their own judgemental insecurities onto the woman and proceeded to prank her by coming up with elaborate lies. Then in the 20 week ultrasound Fred tries to make a joke like she was at the cinema saying something like 'two tickets please' and then acting like the receptionist is the weird one for looking at them blankly. This humour was just not hiting, please leave people alone and stop using them for entertainment at their expense.
Finally I also hated Fred getting superrr annoyed at Bo for getting a bath installed for her like what. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones but I just hate it when MFCs shout at their man like it just comes across as super agressive, and i hate to use the phrase but iF RoLEs wERe ReVErSed it would be concerning. Then they proceeded to have extremely loud sex, purposely trying to make the workers hear??? excuse me does that not count as some sort of sexual harassment? The poor innocent people did not sign up for that.
So yeah apart from that it was a cute story with a few unaligned pieces but not bad at all.
I really liked Bo as a love interest he was nerdy and kind of lame but in the best way, and blondes are underappreciated in the romance book community for somereason. However, Fred wasnt my cup of tea she was kinda hollow which makes the little minor annoying things stand out more. Despite this I definitely appreciate her passion for the camp that supports disabled children and im glad she found success (although she only started this dream bc of the MMC. I would prefer her to have been more successful in her own right as she was a little directionless and apathetic but then I can see how the MMC helped her to grow which makes for a good book ig.)
I also like that the main characters had a support network around them which was more interesting to read about that just two characters for the entire book. Caleb is hilarious he stole the show in every scene he was in.
As other reviews said I do think the pacing is a little bit slow and then the delivery is one page so the buildup didn't have a very strong payoff. The epilogues also didn't really scratch the itch for me either as the family scene 10 years later was boring if im being honest, the marriage one was sweet (tears in my eyes) but didn't satisfy the family cuteness overload. However I disagree with reviews saying that they didn't like how the characters clearly liked each other but didnt get together. Like hello theyve got to stick together now for at least 9 months and hopefully 18 years or beyond, I dont think rushing into a relationship would have been a good idea for two people who didnt even know each others surnames.
Little things did annoy me in the book like the main characters randomly lying to a pregnant women in the ultrasound waiting room for their own enjoyment because she 'looked smug'. She didn't even do anything to them apart from ask if it was their first and saying they must be nervous, then the main characters just inferred all their own judgemental insecurities onto the woman and proceeded to prank her by coming up with elaborate lies. Then in the 20 week ultrasound Fred tries to make a joke like she was at the cinema saying something like 'two tickets please' and then acting like the receptionist is the weird one for looking at them blankly. This humour was just not hiting, please leave people alone and stop using them for entertainment at their expense.
Finally I also hated Fred getting superrr annoyed at Bo for getting a bath installed for her like what. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones but I just hate it when MFCs shout at their man like it just comes across as super agressive, and i hate to use the phrase but iF RoLEs wERe ReVErSed it would be concerning. Then they proceeded to have extremely loud sex, purposely trying to make the workers hear??? excuse me does that not count as some sort of sexual harassment? The poor innocent people did not sign up for that.
So yeah apart from that it was a cute story with a few unaligned pieces but not bad at all.
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed getting back into the Twilight universe ive been missing it since I finished Life and Death. I love that this book is a thing and that I can easily find a page that answers a question I have or something ive forgotten, and that its all in one place. The illustrations were also gorgeous and I LOVED the inclusion of fanart at the end, so sweet.
One thing that suprised me when reading this was how much I enjoyed reading about the wolves. With the main books of the saga I wasn't really interested in the wolves all that much and just saw them as an obstacle to Bella and Edward. However I loved relearning about the dynamics and history of the tribe that I probably didn't pay that much attention to during eclipse.
I also loved getting more in depth into Alice's backstory with how she got sent to the asylum, plus Jasper's and Emmett's backstory. Bella, Emmett, and Rosalie are officially my top three favourite characters.
So yeah I love the Twilight saga, I love Stephenie Meyer, and if you want to be the best at Twilight trivia then definitely read this book.
One thing that suprised me when reading this was how much I enjoyed reading about the wolves. With the main books of the saga I wasn't really interested in the wolves all that much and just saw them as an obstacle to Bella and Edward. However I loved relearning about the dynamics and history of the tribe that I probably didn't pay that much attention to during eclipse.
I also loved getting more in depth into Alice's backstory with how she got sent to the asylum, plus Jasper's and Emmett's backstory. Bella, Emmett, and Rosalie are officially my top three favourite characters.
So yeah I love the Twilight saga, I love Stephenie Meyer, and if you want to be the best at Twilight trivia then definitely read this book.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I had a psychic feeling about this that it wasnt going to be my cup of tea. Definitely not as good as the other 2 books in this series and im glad I didnt read it in order as it may have put me off the third one which imo is the best. This isn't bad enough to be a 2 stars as its just your standard romance, but it also had aspects which i dislike which meant no 4 stars. I feel like im being too harsh with my rating systems but it is what it is.
*After reading my review I feel like im being particularly scathing lol which makes me question what I did like about it, but I think it did have just enough of your basic elements of a romance to get me through instead of it being completely overshadowed by annoying characters or the miscommunication trope.
So one thing I did like about this book is the older person representation. Ok they arent old lol theyre in their 30s, but still I think its refreshing for the author to write romance books about people this age. It typically makes the characters more well rounded, grounded, and mature so they are less frustrating.
However it also has the potential to make me expect more from the characters which is what I think happened with Briana, the MFC. At first I thought she was understandably overwhelmed and worn out like shes gone through a divorce, lost her house, her brother needs a kidney transplant, and shes potentially going to miss out on a promotion bc of this random new guy. However over the course of the book she just becomes more and more immature and irrational which makes it difficult to like her.
One of the things I hateeeee hate and will make me immediately disconnect with any characters is when they do petty revenge on their ex (or just people in general). Like Briana pouring glitter all over her ex's house (unoriginal and cringe) or when she says when she was a barister she would get back at annoying customers by making their drinks so good it could just never be replicated. IDK what it is about me but I hateeee this sort of thing. I just wish the character took the high road and was mature and collected about things. It actually makes me sympathise with her less and see her as not my sort of person. I think the author was trying to create this kinda bad ass, stands up for myself and doesnt take shit from anybody thing but you can do that without stooping to their level.
Another thing this book was terrible as its MISCOMMUNICATION AND MAKING ASSUMPTIONS AND THE INABILITY TO SEE WHATS RIGHT INFRONT OF YOU OML. So both characters are to blame for this. Briana overhears a snippet of a conversation between the MMC Jacob and his ex and assumes hes still in love with her?? When he then asks her on a date which clearly shows hes interested she assumes that hes just in it for sex with no basis for her reasoning at all??? When Briana talks to this guy from her childhood and Jacob is jealous instead of asking if shes into him or if he has a girlfriend he just makes assumptions that shes texting him all day when in reality shes inlove with the MMC??? When Briana tells him that she loves him (when drunk), tells him hes an 11 and stuff he brushes it off and assumes that she must actually just want his kidney and then be done???? GOD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SPARE ME AND TALKKKKKK URGHHHH THIS ABSOLUTELY WAS WHAT RUINED THE BOOK.
This miscommunication meant that it was the slowest of slow burns because they don't kiss until like 82% and im pretty sure it was a thing where it happened all at once where they kiss then sleep together. Then to put it in an even worse perspective im pretty sure that Briana and Jacob are a happy and actually together couple for less than 10 chapters out of a 49 chapter book. Come on what is this absurdity, how is this a romance novel if theres no romance in it? Like how can you have this much of a slow burn but also choose to do a third act breakup over a stupid reason where Briana suddenly tells Jacob to stop touching her after sex and that they never can do this again despite thinking hes hot and wants to get with him for the entire book but never expresses this to him like a normal human being.
Overall the spice and actual romantic moments were severely severely underwhelming after waiting EIGHTY FREAKING TWO PER CENT. There was just no pay off which left me deeply unsatisfied and confused and frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. Especially because in both Briana and Jacob's narratives they would big up how sexually attracted they are to each other and that they just want to jump each others bones and stuff that it just kinda flopped when i was presented with...whatever that futon scene was.
Now for the random additional things I didn't like. Jane (Jacobs sister) and Benny (Brianas brother) getting together. Like ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww I HATE when one set of siblings date another set of siblings. Its just gross to me does no one else find that weird. Especially since Jacob and Briana are married now like for their kid thats like your uncle and aunt from different sides of the family
getting married... which is seriously weird imo. I think this was hinted at in the first book of the inheritance games as well and i just hate stuff like this.
Second but i feel like Jeremiah and Jacob's relationship weren't really explored and I barely can remember a single sentence Jeremiah says. Surely this relationship is now weird due to Jeremiah stealing jacob's girlfriend, however Jacob never really has a though about his brother other than 'im happy for him' or whatever. and im like huh? Additionally we are meant to care for and like Amy (the ex girlfriend who got swapped) in the end even though we spent the whole book saying how she was blind and unsympathetic to Jacobs anxiety? idek anymore.
*After reading my review I feel like im being particularly scathing lol which makes me question what I did like about it, but I think it did have just enough of your basic elements of a romance to get me through instead of it being completely overshadowed by annoying characters or the miscommunication trope.
So one thing I did like about this book is the older person representation. Ok they arent old lol theyre in their 30s, but still I think its refreshing for the author to write romance books about people this age. It typically makes the characters more well rounded, grounded, and mature so they are less frustrating.
However it also has the potential to make me expect more from the characters which is what I think happened with Briana, the MFC. At first I thought she was understandably overwhelmed and worn out like shes gone through a divorce, lost her house, her brother needs a kidney transplant, and shes potentially going to miss out on a promotion bc of this random new guy. However over the course of the book she just becomes more and more immature and irrational which makes it difficult to like her.
One of the things I hateeeee hate and will make me immediately disconnect with any characters is when they do petty revenge on their ex (or just people in general). Like Briana pouring glitter all over her ex's house (unoriginal and cringe) or when she says when she was a barister she would get back at annoying customers by making their drinks so good it could just never be replicated. IDK what it is about me but I hateeee this sort of thing. I just wish the character took the high road and was mature and collected about things. It actually makes me sympathise with her less and see her as not my sort of person. I think the author was trying to create this kinda bad ass, stands up for myself and doesnt take shit from anybody thing but you can do that without stooping to their level.
Another thing this book was terrible as its MISCOMMUNICATION AND MAKING ASSUMPTIONS AND THE INABILITY TO SEE WHATS RIGHT INFRONT OF YOU OML. So both characters are to blame for this. Briana overhears a snippet of a conversation between the MMC Jacob and his ex and assumes hes still in love with her?? When he then asks her on a date which clearly shows hes interested she assumes that hes just in it for sex with no basis for her reasoning at all??? When Briana talks to this guy from her childhood and Jacob is jealous instead of asking if shes into him or if he has a girlfriend he just makes assumptions that shes texting him all day when in reality shes inlove with the MMC??? When Briana tells him that she loves him (when drunk), tells him hes an 11 and stuff he brushes it off and assumes that she must actually just want his kidney and then be done???? GOD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SPARE ME AND TALKKKKKK URGHHHH THIS ABSOLUTELY WAS WHAT RUINED THE BOOK.
This miscommunication meant that it was the slowest of slow burns because they don't kiss until like 82% and im pretty sure it was a thing where it happened all at once where they kiss then sleep together. Then to put it in an even worse perspective im pretty sure that Briana and Jacob are a happy and actually together couple for less than 10 chapters out of a 49 chapter book. Come on what is this absurdity, how is this a romance novel if theres no romance in it? Like how can you have this much of a slow burn but also choose to do a third act breakup over a stupid reason where Briana suddenly tells Jacob to stop touching her after sex and that they never can do this again despite thinking hes hot and wants to get with him for the entire book but never expresses this to him like a normal human being.
Overall the spice and actual romantic moments were severely severely underwhelming after waiting EIGHTY FREAKING TWO PER CENT. There was just no pay off which left me deeply unsatisfied and confused and frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. Especially because in both Briana and Jacob's narratives they would big up how sexually attracted they are to each other and that they just want to jump each others bones and stuff that it just kinda flopped when i was presented with...whatever that futon scene was.
Now for the random additional things I didn't like. Jane (Jacobs sister) and Benny (Brianas brother) getting together. Like ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww I HATE when one set of siblings date another set of siblings. Its just gross to me does no one else find that weird. Especially since Jacob and Briana are married now like for their kid thats like your uncle and aunt from different sides of the family
getting married... which is seriously weird imo. I think this was hinted at in the first book of the inheritance games as well and i just hate stuff like this.
Second but i feel like Jeremiah and Jacob's relationship weren't really explored and I barely can remember a single sentence Jeremiah says. Surely this relationship is now weird due to Jeremiah stealing jacob's girlfriend, however Jacob never really has a though about his brother other than 'im happy for him' or whatever. and im like huh? Additionally we are meant to care for and like Amy (the ex girlfriend who got swapped) in the end even though we spent the whole book saying how she was blind and unsympathetic to Jacobs anxiety? idek anymore.
A Short Walk Through a Wide World: A Novel by Douglas Westerbeke
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
How can someone make a book about someone with an illness which makes them travel the entire world boring? Seriously tempted to DNF but i have a mental block about abandoning books for some reason. This was giving GCSE creative writing.
The characters were extremely surface level and were not fleshed out in the slightest. I dont know if thats intentional for the side characters as Aubry can only know them for 3 days, but Aubry herself was also lackluster. I often blame this on books that are set like in the old times (by this i mean 1880s- around 1940s for this book) as it means the characters and narrative are very formal which makes me feel like we cant get close to them. Obviously this is not the case for all books set in that time period but its just something ive noticed about my preferences.
The perspective also doesnt help with connecting to characters. It was often flipped around depending on what the author chose for that scene. For example, some parts of the book where Aubry was a girl was told in 3rd person which saw her as brave, stubborn, strong willed etc, but then when we are in Aubry's own mind in 1st person she loses these traits or they are not as overpowering as the narrative suggests. She felt like a very blank slate, like a vessel to carry the reader around in rather than actually being a character. So if Aubry only has a personality when being described by others and not when we are in her mind, does she actually even have those traits?
Another thing ive noticed about the characters and storyline which i saw another review mention is that there are elements of exoticism. Most of this book is set in the East or in Africa, which obviously in of itself is not a bad thing at all. I actually was pleased as I feel like these parts of the world I often overlook myself, and it would be interesting to explore these places to maybe get inspiration for where I could travel to. Also reading the description about the author being from the US I could guess this book would not feature any US destinations as people would definitely complain about it implying that the US is 'The World', and many people from the US would not see that as a great adventure.
However the issues im highlighting is that Aubry would often mention that she was the only white person in the community that she was staying in or that she was the first white person they have ever seen. She also mentions how Lionel the guy she meets with on the train is the first non-white male she has seen in months, and then swiftly proceeds to hook up with him. I think all of the guys she has sex with in this book are from the east or Africa. Again, THIS IS NOT BAD IN ITSELF, but its just within the context it kinda has this romanticisation and fetishisation for people who are perceived by Aubry to be 'foreign and exotic'.
The timeline also needed some serious editing and refining, I think this is the thing that really makes you start to disconnect with the story if you cant even work out whats going on. So Aubry would often meet up with people who help her travel to different places, they would then ask what her story is which enables both us readers and the characters in the book to hear about her life. However it was sometimes confusing as the next chapter would then proceed as if we are in Past Aubrys mind and perspective from the time she was actually experiencing the events, but then she would suddenly mention the characters that she is telling the story too, which she hasnt met yet in this timeline.
For example (this is made up), "i was sitting in the trees aiming my spear at a deer below. Lionel once told me to always have my spear pointed at the biggest animal I find". But then in this scenario Lionel is in the future and is the one who is hearing the story like us readers, so in the situation she is describing she would not have yet been told that advice. This maybe happened a couple of times, but it just highlights how bad the timeline and perspective is because it would often jump around literally per sentence. Are we in the past in first person, or is Aubry telling the experience in third person in the current moment which enables her to add these comments? Its just not clear.
This book is so repetitive and I literally dont understand it because Aubry has the whole world to explore. Aubry will travel to a place, settle down for three days, maybe have sex with a foreign prince, and then oh no she starts to bleed. Then we get this over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until the book ends, its never anything different. The narrative treats us as if we are unfamiliar with Aubry even when the book goes on. Like the author didn't need to include Aubry bleeding in every single location, we can use context clues to work out that Aubry eventually had to leave because of her sickness and because we have already read the future so we know she is in a different place as the timeline is non linear.
The writing style was also terrible and read like a list. There were frequent paragraphs that read like "I could tell the family about the time I drank tea in london, or swam the channel, or had paella in spain, or made pizza in italy". This shows that the author had ideas for the places he could take Audry but then he just never executed them well, just stuck them into a couple of words so at least he could say he included them. This is why I dont understand why it was so boring and repetitive because the opportunities for the author were so vast, we barely explored the world we were just TOLD Aubry had.
Then instead of maybe implementing these different places, the author just had Aubry go into this library where she slept and aged for years to waste time. Great. Which also lead into this weird Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban time travel type thing where it was actually Aubry in her old age who told her younger self to go back to her mother who was dying? So time travel exists? How are there two Aubrys? What??????????????????
There were these weird magical elements that were included that had no payoff or explaination, which I think is the most frustrating about all of this. So Aubry believes her illness started because she refuses to throw this puzzleball into a well. This puzzleball moves on its own and is also impossible to open but Aubry doesnt care. EVEN WHEN SHE BELIEVES IT CONTAINS THE ANSWER TO CURING HER ILLNESS (when she does open it its literally the most anticlimactic pointless thing that im not even going to include it in this review). Then Aubry sees the well twice in different places throughout the world. What does she do? Stares in mild shock for about a minute and then never thinks about it again or investigate further...Aubry also has access to these libraries that pop up all around the world at random. She never sees anyone in them and they somehow contain stories about people's lives. Does Aubry ever question this? nope. She also can somehow talk to her illness, so is it a curse from the devil? is it compleately psychological?
WHO KNOWS BECAUSE AUBRY IS THE MOST APATHETIC CHARACTER TO EVER EXIST. What was point in all these things if they dont offer us any explaination for her illness and their only purpose is to confuse us. The author needs to do some refining as it is clear they are bursting at the seems with ideas but they do not need to all be included at once and should be implemented better.
So yeah terrible. I dont really even remember the start of the book being good because I was more interested in how she developed her illness and how it suddenly took over her normal life, but then that had no build up whatsoever. Im trying to think of something good to say but its too difficult to come up with anything.
The characters were extremely surface level and were not fleshed out in the slightest. I dont know if thats intentional for the side characters as Aubry can only know them for 3 days, but Aubry herself was also lackluster. I often blame this on books that are set like in the old times (by this i mean 1880s- around 1940s for this book) as it means the characters and narrative are very formal which makes me feel like we cant get close to them. Obviously this is not the case for all books set in that time period but its just something ive noticed about my preferences.
The perspective also doesnt help with connecting to characters. It was often flipped around depending on what the author chose for that scene. For example, some parts of the book where Aubry was a girl was told in 3rd person which saw her as brave, stubborn, strong willed etc, but then when we are in Aubry's own mind in 1st person she loses these traits or they are not as overpowering as the narrative suggests. She felt like a very blank slate, like a vessel to carry the reader around in rather than actually being a character. So if Aubry only has a personality when being described by others and not when we are in her mind, does she actually even have those traits?
Another thing ive noticed about the characters and storyline which i saw another review mention is that there are elements of exoticism. Most of this book is set in the East or in Africa, which obviously in of itself is not a bad thing at all. I actually was pleased as I feel like these parts of the world I often overlook myself, and it would be interesting to explore these places to maybe get inspiration for where I could travel to. Also reading the description about the author being from the US I could guess this book would not feature any US destinations as people would definitely complain about it implying that the US is 'The World', and many people from the US would not see that as a great adventure.
However the issues im highlighting is that Aubry would often mention that she was the only white person in the community that she was staying in or that she was the first white person they have ever seen. She also mentions how Lionel the guy she meets with on the train is the first non-white male she has seen in months, and then swiftly proceeds to hook up with him. I think all of the guys she has sex with in this book are from the east or Africa. Again, THIS IS NOT BAD IN ITSELF, but its just within the context it kinda has this romanticisation and fetishisation for people who are perceived by Aubry to be 'foreign and exotic'.
The timeline also needed some serious editing and refining, I think this is the thing that really makes you start to disconnect with the story if you cant even work out whats going on. So Aubry would often meet up with people who help her travel to different places, they would then ask what her story is which enables both us readers and the characters in the book to hear about her life. However it was sometimes confusing as the next chapter would then proceed as if we are in Past Aubrys mind and perspective from the time she was actually experiencing the events, but then she would suddenly mention the characters that she is telling the story too, which she hasnt met yet in this timeline.
For example (this is made up), "i was sitting in the trees aiming my spear at a deer below. Lionel once told me to always have my spear pointed at the biggest animal I find". But then in this scenario Lionel is in the future and is the one who is hearing the story like us readers, so in the situation she is describing she would not have yet been told that advice. This maybe happened a couple of times, but it just highlights how bad the timeline and perspective is because it would often jump around literally per sentence. Are we in the past in first person, or is Aubry telling the experience in third person in the current moment which enables her to add these comments? Its just not clear.
This book is so repetitive and I literally dont understand it because Aubry has the whole world to explore. Aubry will travel to a place, settle down for three days, maybe have sex with a foreign prince, and then oh no she starts to bleed. Then we get this over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until the book ends, its never anything different. The narrative treats us as if we are unfamiliar with Aubry even when the book goes on. Like the author didn't need to include Aubry bleeding in every single location, we can use context clues to work out that Aubry eventually had to leave because of her sickness and because we have already read the future so we know she is in a different place as the timeline is non linear.
The writing style was also terrible and read like a list. There were frequent paragraphs that read like "I could tell the family about the time I drank tea in london, or swam the channel, or had paella in spain, or made pizza in italy". This shows that the author had ideas for the places he could take Audry but then he just never executed them well, just stuck them into a couple of words so at least he could say he included them. This is why I dont understand why it was so boring and repetitive because the opportunities for the author were so vast, we barely explored the world we were just TOLD Aubry had.
Then instead of maybe implementing these different places, the author just had Aubry go into this library where she slept and aged for years to waste time. Great. Which also lead into this weird Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban time travel type thing where it was actually Aubry in her old age who told her younger self to go back to her mother who was dying? So time travel exists? How are there two Aubrys? What??????????????????
There were these weird magical elements that were included that had no payoff or explaination, which I think is the most frustrating about all of this. So Aubry believes her illness started because she refuses to throw this puzzleball into a well. This puzzleball moves on its own and is also impossible to open but Aubry doesnt care. EVEN WHEN SHE BELIEVES IT CONTAINS THE ANSWER TO CURING HER ILLNESS (when she does open it its literally the most anticlimactic pointless thing that im not even going to include it in this review). Then Aubry sees the well twice in different places throughout the world. What does she do? Stares in mild shock for about a minute and then never thinks about it again or investigate further...Aubry also has access to these libraries that pop up all around the world at random. She never sees anyone in them and they somehow contain stories about people's lives. Does Aubry ever question this? nope. She also can somehow talk to her illness, so is it a curse from the devil? is it compleately psychological?
WHO KNOWS BECAUSE AUBRY IS THE MOST APATHETIC CHARACTER TO EVER EXIST. What was point in all these things if they dont offer us any explaination for her illness and their only purpose is to confuse us. The author needs to do some refining as it is clear they are bursting at the seems with ideas but they do not need to all be included at once and should be implemented better.
So yeah terrible. I dont really even remember the start of the book being good because I was more interested in how she developed her illness and how it suddenly took over her normal life, but then that had no build up whatsoever. Im trying to think of something good to say but its too difficult to come up with anything.
A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5 rounded down
This is a bit different from my other two stars as i didn't actually hate this book but i just think it was disappointing as it missed the mark quite a bit.
The beginning was so funny I was actually laughing out loud. The prose was written in a kind of basic, detached way that made this a very easy read. It was funny when sentences which are so absurd were written in this serious tone as if they were completely normal.
I liked this hippie, new age millenial culture as the setting for the book. I think this added to the comedy as the characters were the classic born rich so had the opportunities to 'live in the moment and not be forced into traditional jobs to escape the tyranny of money that oppresses all of our lives'. Ridiculous, especially when again the prose was treating them as if they were completely sane.
However it then all went down hill when the paranormal fantasy stuff started happening. I discovered this book from a tiktok recommendation of books that feel like a Black Mirror episode. So I was expecting a kind of realistic dystopia where everything seems normal apart from something very sinister that you have to work out. Unfortunately the 'horror' of the book was actually a fictional monster which is not what I enjoy as its just so unfounded in reality that it takes all the fear out of it for me.
I sort of did like the aspect of this monster connecting to their new age spiritual culture of the friend group. However I also think this made it confusing as you are trying to work out why this is happening and how Remy is going to solve it, but you cant understand it as all the characters are just talking in hippie buzzwords, again taking the reality out of the situation as it seems so made up (yes ik this is fiction). Idk why im obsessed with my horror/thriller books being realistic but thats just my preference.
So yeah the book went downhill after Alicia dies as she was the most entertaining character for me and was the one who I thought would make a convicing psycho, and maybe make the plot less convoluted
The title is also sort of misleading as they mention Alicia's instagram page 'touchofjen' once and then its never brought up again. I think the couples' obsession with Jen is sort of put on a backburner in order to focus on this whole monster plot line when it was actually the more interesting aspect of the book. So that was disappointing.
However this book has made me in the mood for more thriller type books so thats good i guess.
This is a bit different from my other two stars as i didn't actually hate this book but i just think it was disappointing as it missed the mark quite a bit.
The beginning was so funny I was actually laughing out loud. The prose was written in a kind of basic, detached way that made this a very easy read. It was funny when sentences which are so absurd were written in this serious tone as if they were completely normal.
I liked this hippie, new age millenial culture as the setting for the book. I think this added to the comedy as the characters were the classic born rich so had the opportunities to 'live in the moment and not be forced into traditional jobs to escape the tyranny of money that oppresses all of our lives'. Ridiculous, especially when again the prose was treating them as if they were completely sane.
However it then all went down hill when the paranormal fantasy stuff started happening. I discovered this book from a tiktok recommendation of books that feel like a Black Mirror episode. So I was expecting a kind of realistic dystopia where everything seems normal apart from something very sinister that you have to work out. Unfortunately the 'horror' of the book was actually a fictional monster which is not what I enjoy as its just so unfounded in reality that it takes all the fear out of it for me.
I sort of did like the aspect of this monster connecting to their new age spiritual culture of the friend group. However I also think this made it confusing as you are trying to work out why this is happening and how Remy is going to solve it, but you cant understand it as all the characters are just talking in hippie buzzwords, again taking the reality out of the situation as it seems so made up (yes ik this is fiction). Idk why im obsessed with my horror/thriller books being realistic but thats just my preference.
So yeah the book went downhill after
The title is also sort of misleading as they mention Alicia's instagram page 'touchofjen' once and then its never brought up again. I think the couples' obsession with Jen is sort of put on a backburner in order to focus on this whole monster plot line when it was actually the more interesting aspect of the book. So that was disappointing.
However this book has made me in the mood for more thriller type books so thats good i guess.