Scan barcode
beeshep's reviews
291 reviews
Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved this book so much more than the first. As an SA survivor, I identified with the rehabilitation of her mind and body so much, and somehow this read healed me in ways I don't think I ever thought I could be better in. My one issue? The whole freaking premise of the cat and mouse bit where she has to be hunted down and punished. It's weird in this book and can be captured in this one quote from the book: “And I can’t imagine a man that puts his life on the line to save these victims forcing an innocent woman into a relationship.” (4%).
Dirty Pucking Player by Gwyn McNamee
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I had low expectations of this book and they were met. While the romance was okay, this is a hockey book and there was zero mention of true hockey atmosphere - the games, the team, just like maybe a few comments here and there. This couple could have been working in cubicles having a side romance and this book could still exist.
The ending was cute and character-redeeming for me, but this book missed any sense of excitement or fun for me.
The ending was cute and character-redeeming for me, but this book missed any sense of excitement or fun for me.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
3.0
This was my second Ali Hazelwood read and it did a great job of keeping me coming back for more. What did I like? The wedding of two people from different worlds married forcibly and falling in love. What I didn't like? The turns and the fallout of the two lovebirds.
While I was drawn in immediately, it lost me at certain plot turns. Besides the confusion of the time jumping at the start being unclear in the audiobook, I rewinded several times, extending the time on this audiobook read to 17 hours, 3 minutes over 32 pickups. And while I want to pin this all on the audiobook, the plot just had me feeling like I was missing something. And while I think the mystery / unfolding was good - I don't know if enough hints were dropped. I felt more like I was on a wild episode of Scooby-Doo rather than a mystery novel that I was solving alongside the narrator.
Hazelwood left me rather unfulfilled by the romance in this book. I could not get over Lowe's casual brush aside and avoidance of the situation he created - something he might have been able to come back from if he apologized but I felt him pulling the "you'll never understand" card was uncalled for. I will also say, the spicy scenes made me so uncomfortable! I think some of it was certain words or phrases but it felt rather low on the actual build-up and anticipation scale for me.
Cute but could have been better.
While I was drawn in immediately, it lost me at certain plot turns. Besides the confusion of the time jumping at the start being unclear in the audiobook, I rewinded several times, extending the time on this audiobook read to 17 hours, 3 minutes over 32 pickups. And while I want to pin this all on the audiobook, the plot just had me feeling like I was missing something. And while I think the mystery / unfolding was good - I don't know if enough hints were dropped. I felt more like I was on a wild episode of Scooby-Doo rather than a mystery novel that I was solving alongside the narrator.
Hazelwood left me rather unfulfilled by the romance in this book. I could not get over Lowe's casual brush aside and avoidance of the situation he created - something he might have been able to come back from if he apologized but I felt him pulling the "you'll never understand" card was uncalled for. I will also say, the spicy scenes made me so uncomfortable! I think some of it was certain words or phrases but it felt rather low on the actual build-up and anticipation scale for me.
Cute but could have been better.
Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Oh wow, this is a dark book! While I enjoyed this read, it was too much of a stretch for me to actively get into. The wording in some contexts was so weird and it was simply off-putting.
An Assassin in Utopia: The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder by Susan Wels
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Well, that was a journey. I knew the premise was a sex cult, however the meandering journey I just took to get to the point of this year felt wildly drawn out and involved so many new characters, that I forgot about the characters that were on the continued journey. Instead of a concise collection of these people and these events culminated in this tragic historical event, it was more like here is a giant collection of everything that happened in that period that I found interesting. It was an excellent reminder to me that... authors are human and they are defining the window through which I am looking into history.
I think that Susan Wels is a great writer and I was pulled in for the first 40% of the book, but once I realized that we were just hitting people adjacent to the assassin and that murder to explain context, I felt myself led rather astray by the author. At the core, Wels is connecting a presidential assassination to a cult because the assassin was in said cult 15 or so years before. This book is cherry-picking antidotes and events in that period that she feels are relevant and I found that to be where I got lost in being excited about the journey she was taking me on.
I know this is a book on cults, so there are moments to be rightfully repulsed, but this was hard to read: "At Oneida, it was the duty of the oldest, most trusted members to teach the youngest. Men as old as sixty instructed the young girls, and boys were intimately tutored by women past menopause." While on the other hand, it seemed like they valued sex: "Sex, according to Noyes, was a sacrament, the most exquisite method of communing with God and Christ. Group marriage, he preached, was commanded by Jesus and the apostles." And there are some far reaches...
I think that Susan Wels is a great writer and I was pulled in for the first 40% of the book, but once I realized that we were just hitting people adjacent to the assassin and that murder to explain context, I felt myself led rather astray by the author. At the core, Wels is connecting a presidential assassination to a cult because the assassin was in said cult 15 or so years before. This book is cherry-picking antidotes and events in that period that she feels are relevant and I found that to be where I got lost in being excited about the journey she was taking me on.
I know this is a book on cults, so there are moments to be rightfully repulsed, but this was hard to read: "At Oneida, it was the duty of the oldest, most trusted members to teach the youngest. Men as old as sixty instructed the young girls, and boys were intimately tutored by women past menopause." While on the other hand, it seemed like they valued sex: "Sex, according to Noyes, was a sacrament, the most exquisite method of communing with God and Christ. Group marriage, he preached, was commanded by Jesus and the apostles." And there are some far reaches...