bestja01's reviews
303 reviews

Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Despite the very non-human blob, it’s a very human story

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I love the universe created in the Stormlight books, and I love the characters Sanderson has created as well- I feel so invested in their journeys. This book was a wonderful and epic continuation/kinda-conclusion, and I can’t believe I’ll have to wait YEARS for the next one. It was a bit too “talk-y” for my taste, and some of the philosophizing felt repetitive and slowed the pace down. I think the book could have been 200-300 pages shorter and still been effective, but since it’ll be a long time until I see these characters again, I’m glad I had 1400 pages to spend with them.

Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me about the Myths of Equality, Motherhood, and Upward Mobility in America by Stephanie Kiser

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

As someone who has worked around the wealthy, I enjoyed this very intimate look into the world of the ultra-rich. It is written with honesty and vulnerability, and is a great exploration of class and money, and what it is like to be exposed to that level of wealth while not having it yourself. 

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A series of beautiful, loosely connected vignettes about a pandemic that happens in the near future- some of it was hard to read, but it was gorgeous. Realistic but hopeful, weird but relatable. I loved it.

A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath

3.75

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

A beautiful book about the power of stories we tell ourselves and others. And also cheese.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

Unnerving and intriguing, and it seems like the kind of book that should be right up my alley, but for some reason I had trouble staying focused in the second half. 

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fun conclusion to the adventure! My main qualm was that everything got a bit too neatly tied up at the end- the stakes were so high, and yet it felt like they didn’t have to sacrifice anything at the end of the day.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Can’t go wrong with a good vampire romance. Very “Hunger Games meets Vampire Diaries” but in a good way.