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amyvl93's reviews
902 reviews
They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The emotional manipulation really got to me okay!?
They Both Die at the End follows Mateo and Rufus, teenage boys who live in a version of the world where you recieve a phonecall at midnight on the day that you die to inform you that at some point in the next 24 hours you will die in some way. For various reasons, they both join the Last Friend app - an app that allows people living their last day to match with a friend to spend their time with and the novel follows their last day together.
A lot of what I liked about this novel was the concept that Silvera creates, a world that is like ours but that confronts mortality as something that you can have an element of control over - with entire apps, websites and venues supporting you to live the best last day you can. In addition to Mateo and Rufus's narratives, we get other people's stories woven in between - those that are also living their last days and those that are not but are impacted by the death focused world.
Mateo and Rufus are polar opposites in many ways - Mateo has lived a quiet life trying to avoid bringing any danger into his life particularly as his Mum died giving birth to him & his Dad has been in a coma, and Rufus is much more sociable, building his own chosen family after losing his own in an accident. Their characterisation and indeed a lot of the characterisation is fairly one-note, although I did like the diversity of characters that Silvera brings to the pages in this novel. I found Mateo and Rufus' friendship really evocatively drawn and whilst I could have done without the romance sub-plot near the end of the book I was generally very drawn to these characters.
Whilst some of the messaging is quite heavy-handed I did generally really like the world Silvera built and getting to spend time with Mateo and Rufus and their friends.
They Both Die at the End follows Mateo and Rufus, teenage boys who live in a version of the world where you recieve a phonecall at midnight on the day that you die to inform you that at some point in the next 24 hours you will die in some way. For various reasons, they both join the Last Friend app - an app that allows people living their last day to match with a friend to spend their time with and the novel follows their last day together.
A lot of what I liked about this novel was the concept that Silvera creates, a world that is like ours but that confronts mortality as something that you can have an element of control over - with entire apps, websites and venues supporting you to live the best last day you can. In addition to Mateo and Rufus's narratives, we get other people's stories woven in between - those that are also living their last days and those that are not but are impacted by the death focused world.
Mateo and Rufus are polar opposites in many ways - Mateo has lived a quiet life trying to avoid bringing any danger into his life particularly as his Mum died giving birth to him & his Dad has been in a coma, and Rufus is much more sociable, building his own chosen family after losing his own in an accident. Their characterisation and indeed a lot of the characterisation is fairly one-note, although I did like the diversity of characters that Silvera brings to the pages in this novel. I found Mateo and Rufus' friendship really evocatively drawn and whilst I could have done without the romance sub-plot near the end of the book I was generally very drawn to these characters.
Whilst some of the messaging is quite heavy-handed I did generally really like the world Silvera built and getting to spend time with Mateo and Rufus and their friends.
Reputation by Lex Croucher
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I wanted to love this so much more than I did, Bridgerton is a guilty pleasure and I was hoping that this would fill its gap in my life and I've followed Lex online for years so was quite optimistic. However, Reputation didn't quite hit for me.
Our protagonist is Georgiana Ellers, a young woman of mediocre means who has moved in with her aunt and uncle, the Burtons, as her hands-off parents move to the coast to help with her mother's ill health. Georgiana is taken under the wing of local wealthy party girl Frances Campbell and is transported into a world of wild parties alongside Frances' friends, but (as is always the way) it turns out there are costs to popularity.
I think my main issue with Reputation is that it didn't really seem to know its audience. A lot of this novel reads like YA fiction (which the cover would probably better suit), which would have been fine if it was marketed at younger readers. It also attempts to tackle some quite dark issues - but these are only very lightly touched upon - again, making it feel both more like it was aimed at younger readers and also like Croucher slightly forgot the amount of threads she was opening. The anachronisms in here in terms of speech and partying didn't bother me as much as other readers - but I do agree that the no consequences vibes of the lives of the wealthy felt a little extreme - whilst it is true that wealth does protect some actions, many wealthy women would still be married off to avoid a scandal for their families.
Speaking of wealthy women, in terms of characters - Croucher does play with a more diverse cast of characters, both in terms of race and sexuality. As a protagonist Georgiana is a tad beige, we're told she's incredibly well read and witty but we don't see very much of that outside of her letters to her love interest - however, even with her infuriating behaviour I didn't dislike her. Frances is by far the most interesting character, even if there are aspects of her personality that we only scrub the surface of. The rest of the supporting cast feel a tad underwritten - we've got a clutzy, cringey neighbour, airhead friend, bitter lesbian, lonely gay man, various cads and a quiet gentleman.
Saying all this, it was a fun enough read and definitely went some way to filling the fun historical drama hole in my life, but you could always just re-watch Mean Girls.
Our protagonist is Georgiana Ellers, a young woman of mediocre means who has moved in with her aunt and uncle, the Burtons, as her hands-off parents move to the coast to help with her mother's ill health. Georgiana is taken under the wing of local wealthy party girl Frances Campbell and is transported into a world of wild parties alongside Frances' friends, but (as is always the way) it turns out there are costs to popularity.
I think my main issue with Reputation is that it didn't really seem to know its audience. A lot of this novel reads like YA fiction (which the cover would probably better suit), which would have been fine if it was marketed at younger readers. It also attempts to tackle some quite dark issues - but these are only very lightly touched upon - again, making it feel both more like it was aimed at younger readers and also like Croucher slightly forgot the amount of threads she was opening. The anachronisms in here in terms of speech and partying didn't bother me as much as other readers - but I do agree that the no consequences vibes of the lives of the wealthy felt a little extreme - whilst it is true that wealth does protect some actions, many wealthy women would still be married off to avoid a scandal for their families.
Speaking of wealthy women, in terms of characters - Croucher does play with a more diverse cast of characters, both in terms of race and sexuality. As a protagonist Georgiana is a tad beige, we're told she's incredibly well read and witty but we don't see very much of that outside of her letters to her love interest - however, even with her infuriating behaviour I didn't dislike her. Frances is by far the most interesting character, even if there are aspects of her personality that we only scrub the surface of. The rest of the supporting cast feel a tad underwritten - we've got a clutzy, cringey neighbour, airhead friend, bitter lesbian, lonely gay man, various cads and a quiet gentleman.
Saying all this, it was a fun enough read and definitely went some way to filling the fun historical drama hole in my life, but you could always just re-watch Mean Girls.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Increasingly I'm wondering if my love for Evelyn Hugo was a bit of a fluke...
Carrie Soto is Back is set in Jenkins Reid's every expanding pop culture universe, focusing on Carrie Soto, a character introduced to us in Malibu Rising as the woman who has an affair with Nina Riva's husband. Back then, she was a global sensation - smashing world records as a tennis player deadly focused on winning at all costs. Now in the 1990s, she's supposedly retired until Nicki Chan takes over her record of winning tournaments - and Soto re-enters the world of tennis to take her record back at the age of 37.
The is is a story that is very much set around and about tennis. I didn't mind this too much as I like a tennis match, but I felt the constant switch between training montage and match sequence got a little grating even for me.
Unusually for Jenkins Reid, the character development also felt a little missing here. Carrie wants to win because she just...wants to win, and comes back because she simply can't cope with losing. I kept waiting and waiting for their to be some kind of reasoning behind her inability to not let Nicki be but there just doesn't seem to be one - until the very, very end of the novel. Whilst I did still find myself rooting for Carrie, I was also quite frustrated by her entire personality being tennis. Javier, her father and coach, is far better drawn - as is Bowe Huntley, a former love interest who feels quite inspired by John McEnroe, if McEnroe wasn't actually mentioned in the book.
There's some fun references to the other novels in here, but I didn't think the use of multi-media as well here - there's transcripts and sports articles sprinkled throughout and whilst some of these worked, they started becoming quite heavy handed about women's place in sport.
Overall, one for the Jenkins Reid universe completists but I think I'll pick up the next one in paperback.
Carrie Soto is Back is set in Jenkins Reid's every expanding pop culture universe, focusing on Carrie Soto, a character introduced to us in Malibu Rising as the woman who has an affair with Nina Riva's husband. Back then, she was a global sensation - smashing world records as a tennis player deadly focused on winning at all costs. Now in the 1990s, she's supposedly retired until Nicki Chan takes over her record of winning tournaments - and Soto re-enters the world of tennis to take her record back at the age of 37.
The is is a story that is very much set around and about tennis. I didn't mind this too much as I like a tennis match, but I felt the constant switch between training montage and match sequence got a little grating even for me.
Unusually for Jenkins Reid, the character development also felt a little missing here. Carrie wants to win because she just...wants to win, and comes back because she simply can't cope with losing. I kept waiting and waiting for their to be some kind of reasoning behind her inability to not let Nicki be but there just doesn't seem to be one - until the very, very end of the novel. Whilst I did still find myself rooting for Carrie, I was also quite frustrated by her entire personality being tennis. Javier, her father and coach, is far better drawn - as is Bowe Huntley, a former love interest who feels quite inspired by John McEnroe, if McEnroe wasn't actually mentioned in the book.
There's some fun references to the other novels in here, but I didn't think the use of multi-media as well here - there's transcripts and sports articles sprinkled throughout and whilst some of these worked, they started becoming quite heavy handed about women's place in sport.
Overall, one for the Jenkins Reid universe completists but I think I'll pick up the next one in paperback.
Here and Now by Santa Montefiore
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This novel is, essentially, Elizabeth is Missing as directed by the Hallmark Channel.
We open on Marigold, a selfless loving wife who has been married to her perfect husband Dennis for many glorious years. She runs the village shop, and is a prominent member of her community. Her younger daughter Suze is 25, and a self-obsessed influencer; her glass-half-empty mother has recently moved in and her oldest daughter Daisy has returned from living in Italy after the breakdown of her relationship. However, Marigold is just thrilled to get to look after her family because isn't that just women's natural instincts (a paraphrase, but also the main vibe of the plot). Things start to go awry in this picture perfect world when she starts to forget things and her family and friends have to become the carers.
This was very readable, I managed to polish it off on a couple of train journeys and even if the setting is saccharine it is well built, I could picture the village very clearly in my mind. However, whilst there were moments that did feel moving, the shiny gloss over everything really stopped this book being able to have much of an impact. There's hardly a glimpse of tension anywhere; there's an incredibly benevolent local landowner, the village dramas are slightly ridiculous and Daisy returns home and instantly becomes a smash hit artist and gets her own new romance plotline within weeks.
Montefiore also leans heavily on stereotypes for some of her characters - sassy gay man with cats, self-obsessed influencer daughter (as well as showing a fairly limited understanding of how income works from instagram - 30k followers would definitely earn you something), misogynistic Italian men, women whose only focus is marriage and children, and even a random bit of bashing of both the NHS and inheritance tax. Every time you think one of these stereotypes has been set up to be bashed maybe Sir Owen the landlord wasn't a perfect man, maybe Daisy returned from Italy because her boyfriend wanted commitment and she didn't, maybe Suze will have literally any character development , it is found wanting. The most impactful parts of the novel for me were with Dennis and towards the very end.
A perfectly fine read, but if you want to read something that tackles the impact of dementia without the sweetness, there are other books you can read.
We open on Marigold, a selfless loving wife who has been married to her perfect husband Dennis for many glorious years. She runs the village shop, and is a prominent member of her community. Her younger daughter Suze is 25, and a self-obsessed influencer; her glass-half-empty mother has recently moved in and her oldest daughter Daisy has returned from living in Italy after the breakdown of her relationship. However, Marigold is just thrilled to get to look after her family because isn't that just women's natural instincts (a paraphrase, but also the main vibe of the plot). Things start to go awry in this picture perfect world when she starts to forget things and her family and friends have to become the carers.
This was very readable, I managed to polish it off on a couple of train journeys and even if the setting is saccharine it is well built, I could picture the village very clearly in my mind. However, whilst there were moments that did feel moving, the shiny gloss over everything really stopped this book being able to have much of an impact. There's hardly a glimpse of tension anywhere; there's an incredibly benevolent local landowner, the village dramas are slightly ridiculous and Daisy returns home and instantly becomes a smash hit artist and gets her own new romance plotline within weeks.
Montefiore also leans heavily on stereotypes for some of her characters - sassy gay man with cats, self-obsessed influencer daughter (as well as showing a fairly limited understanding of how income works from instagram - 30k followers would definitely earn you something), misogynistic Italian men, women whose only focus is marriage and children, and even a random bit of bashing of both the NHS and inheritance tax. Every time you think one of these stereotypes has been set up to be bashed
A perfectly fine read, but if you want to read something that tackles the impact of dementia without the sweetness, there are other books you can read.
Those Bones Are Not My Child by Toni Cade Bambara
dark
emotional
slow-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
<i>Those Bones are Not My Child</i> shines a light on a period of history I knew very little about, and I only wish the whole novel was a bit tighter so it could really pack the punch, and get the readers, it should.
We're placed in the period of the late 1970s and 1980s, during the period of the Atlanta Child Murders where at least 30 young people were murdered. We (mostly) follow Zelda, whose son Sonny at first doesn't return home after going out, and as the novel progresses it becomes clear that he as at risk of joining the number of young people who have passed away. Zelda and her estranged husband Spence become engulfed in the world of parent campaigners, local politics and their own investigation into what has happened to the children - rubbing against rumours of organised crime and the Ku Klux Klan.
There's a lot to like in here, Bambara crafts such close, detailed character studies, particularly in the first few days after Sonny's disappearance - and there are moments when you feel really placed in the family home, in the overcrowded police station and in the local barber shops.
However, it is also a novel which she spent about twelve years crafting, and was edited by her friend the legend Toni Morrison and published after her death. I think perhaps this was a slight flaw as as the novel progresses there are numerous time jumps which become increasingly difficult to follow, and numerous other characters added who also become difficult to keep track of.
An important story which is sometimes undermined by the structure - I am keen to read more of Bambara in the future.
We're placed in the period of the late 1970s and 1980s, during the period of the Atlanta Child Murders where at least 30 young people were murdered. We (mostly) follow Zelda, whose son Sonny at first doesn't return home after going out, and as the novel progresses it becomes clear that he as at risk of joining the number of young people who have passed away. Zelda and her estranged husband Spence become engulfed in the world of parent campaigners, local politics and their own investigation into what has happened to the children - rubbing against rumours of organised crime and the Ku Klux Klan.
There's a lot to like in here, Bambara crafts such close, detailed character studies, particularly in the first few days after Sonny's disappearance - and there are moments when you feel really placed in the family home, in the overcrowded police station and in the local barber shops.
However, it is also a novel which she spent about twelve years crafting, and was edited by her friend the legend Toni Morrison and published after her death. I think perhaps this was a slight flaw as as the novel progresses there are numerous time jumps which become increasingly difficult to follow, and numerous other characters added who also become difficult to keep track of.
An important story which is sometimes undermined by the structure - I am keen to read more of Bambara in the future.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
challenging
dark
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
This is a tough one to review because on the one hand I can't quite wrap my head around the amount of work that Danielewski has done to create essentially an entire artistic and academic world within these pages - but I also hit some pretty big slumpy moments making my way through this.
House of Leaves is a multi-layered story. It starts when a slightly eccentric elderly man Zampano dies, leaving behind hoards of academic writing on a film called The Navidson Record, which is discovered by Johnny Truant who decides to piece the documents together. The problem is, no one seems to remember this film existing, and being exposed to its contents appears to be sending Johnny mad. As a reader - the narrative is split between Zampano's writing on the contents of the film - and by extension the story of the Navidson's in their creepy shape-shifting house, and within the footnotes Johnny's story.
House of Leaves is a multi-layered story. It starts when a slightly eccentric elderly man Zampano dies, leaving behind hoards of academic writing on a film called The Navidson Record, which is discovered by Johnny Truant who decides to piece the documents together. The problem is, no one seems to remember this film existing, and being exposed to its contents appears to be sending Johnny mad. As a reader - the narrative is split between Zampano's writing on the contents of the film - and by extension the story of the Navidson's in their creepy shape-shifting house, and within the footnotes Johnny's story.
Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking by Ashley 'Dotty' Charles
funny
informative
medium-paced
2.0
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
If <i>How to Kill Your Family</i> suffered from uneven pacing, <i>Fifty-Fifty</i> was basically a speed run. Incredibly reminiscient of those episodes of <i>Law & Order</i> where everything goes absolutely bonkers, <i>Fifty-Fifty</i> is a strangely rompy story of the murder of a former Mayor of New York - both his daughters accuse the other of murdering him and a court room drama commences.
Character development is minimal (although this is book five of a series so I recognise that I may well have missed something) - we have skeezy big law solicitors, racist judges & DAs and an opposing defence attorney who is a genius in court despite...having zero experience but just a whole lot of pluck. There's a bit of tragedy that happens here as well, but the impact was fairly muted for me as I didn't really know enough about the character to care beyond a straightforward - that's a shame. We also have one of the accused racking up a body count during the course of the novel with no one apparently seeing any link to the case until towards the end of the book.
A fun page turner, and there was one section in particular that really effectively built tension as we know one of the characters we've been following is going to be killed, but I can't say I'll be in a rush to rejoin Eddie Flynn
Character development is minimal (although this is book five of a series so I recognise that I may well have missed something) - we have skeezy big law solicitors, racist judges & DAs and an opposing defence attorney who is a genius in court despite...having zero experience but just a whole lot of pluck. There's a bit of tragedy that happens here as well, but the impact was fairly muted for me as I didn't really know enough about the character to care beyond a straightforward - that's a shame. We also have one of the accused racking up a body count during the course of the novel with no one apparently seeing any link to the case until towards the end of the book.
A fun page turner, and there was one section in particular that really effectively built tension as we know one of the characters we've been following is going to be killed, but I can't say I'll be in a rush to rejoin Eddie Flynn
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was excited to pick up <i>How to Kill Your Family</i> when it was chosen as my book club pick but unfortunately it was a little underwhelming.
Grace Barnard is the illegitimate daughter of a business tycoon (think Philip Green) whose deceased Mum's pleas for support were ignored. Instead of slipping into the background, Grace has decided to enact vengeance on her father's family with the aim of getting her hands of their millions. However, her plan has been thwarted by her being found guilty of a crime she did not commit for which she is now whiling away time in Limehouse Prison.
The premise of this novel is great, and it starts out strong with Grace stalking her wealthy would-be grandparents to Spain but the pace frequently goes a bit off kilter. To explain her current situation we get a lot of detail about Grace's childhood and also random interludes about prison life, which slightly distract from the main plot. There's also sections that get slightly repetitive which felt like they could have done with a bit of an edit. The 'twist' ending also made me want to throw the book across the room, as it rendered basically everything that came before pointless, I get what Mackie was probably trying to say with it but in what was essentially a fairly light-hearted read it didn't quite land as well as it could have done.
Grace Barnard is the illegitimate daughter of a business tycoon (think Philip Green) whose deceased Mum's pleas for support were ignored. Instead of slipping into the background, Grace has decided to enact vengeance on her father's family with the aim of getting her hands of their millions. However, her plan has been thwarted by her being found guilty of a crime she did not commit for which she is now whiling away time in Limehouse Prison.
The premise of this novel is great, and it starts out strong with Grace stalking her wealthy would-be grandparents to Spain but the pace frequently goes a bit off kilter. To explain her current situation we get a lot of detail about Grace's childhood and also random interludes about prison life, which slightly distract from the main plot. There's also sections that get slightly repetitive which felt like they could have done with a bit of an edit. The 'twist' ending also made me want to throw the book across the room, as it rendered basically everything that came before pointless, I get what Mackie was probably trying to say with it but in what was essentially a fairly light-hearted read it didn't quite land as well as it could have done.