aoutrance's reviews
2206 reviews

Say I Do by Skyler Snow, Brea Alepoú

dark tense fast-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

4.5

Harlow laughed. "Count me in. I like scaring the shit out of people."
"I know you do, baby." 

This is my favorite dynamic.

This was trending toward a 5 star read for me - the baby thing kind of brought down the whole vibe, which sucks since it's was the ending. It's always harder to sort my feelings about a book as a whole when I don't like how it ends.

Inviting Bedlam by Grae Bryan

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

Unnatural by Alessandra Hazard

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

4.5

I wouldn't have minded another 100 pages about their relationship and increased world building.

Prince of L.A. by Patricia Logan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

Just riddled with stereotypes and infodumps even at 11% in, so I knew I couldn't handle finishing this one.

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Trauma is mourning the fact that, as an adult, you have to parent yourself. You have to stand in your kitchen, starving, near tears, next to a burnt chicken, and you can’t call your mom to tell her about it, to listen to her tell you that it’s okay, to ask if you can come over for some of her cooking. Instead, you have to pull up your bootstraps and solve the painful puzzle of your life by yourself. What other choice do you have? Nobody else is going to solve it for you.

This book left me in TEARS. Multiple times.

Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System by M. Chris Fabricant

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Love that so many people in the justice system are resistant to understanding scientific progress and applying it to serving actual justice. The ending in which the author is hopeful that the Biden administration will better serve justice than Trump did is like a knife in the chest, given we are now less than a week into a second Trump presidency. Any movement toward progress the justice system may have made in the last 4 years is going to be totally erased.

Does not surprise me that most modern refusals to entertain junk science was applied to civil cases in which the wealthy were the plaintiffs. Each system we have in this country is built for them and will only be changed for their benefit.

The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie

challenging emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

All That Is Wicked: A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind by Kate Winkler Dawson

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

For a book about a supposed genius psychopath, I see little evidence of the "genius" part. He was intelligent for sure, but plenty of people can claim that adjective without anything more. The most fascinating section of this book was actually at the end after Rulloff was executed - the discoveries made by the burgeoning neuroscience field. 

Perhaps I am less than impressed due to modern knowledge of so many different known figures (fictional and real) who were actual geniuses and psychopaths. At the time, I suppose it was harder to conceive of someone who could do such things and not also be a raving lunatic. 

The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

Realizing your own mother was incapable of truly seeing you—of loving you for who you are rather than as an extension of herself—is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s the death of a fundamental childhood hope, the one where if you just try hard enough, Mommy will love you unconditionally. 

Shari has an impressive sense of objectivity about her mother, her father and the abuse heaped upon her and her siblings. The real story was so much worse than the news - but I applaud her for refusing to talk about what her youngest siblings suffered at the hands of Jodi and Ruby prior to their arrest. I hope they are able to find the same peace that Shari was able to obtain.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Meet Me at Midnight by Max Monroe
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

I'm just not the target audience for romance novels about twitterpated early 20-somethings, especially if they're also part of the 1%.