bookswithlydscl's reviews
219 reviews

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.25

eArc full review to follow
Raw notes
Not as instantly charming as DATMB but still hit the cosy contemporary vibe I was after
Final third was what raised it up for me, a beautifully touching piece of translation work
Yet again a love letter to books, this time about finding books and finding comfort in stories
A series of vignette episodes tied together by Takako - like the Tomu and Takano piece
Did feel that the middle third dragged a little - a little repetitive and circular.
Nothing truly happens until the final third and even then it's about the beauty of family, love, loss and time passing.
Musing a little more on my feelings about this one overall

Queen B by Juno Dawson

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Raw notes
Loved this
The Tudors / Anne Boleyn - some of my favourite historical reading and I knew I needed to get onto this as soon as I heard about it
My favourite thing from the HMRC world and for me sits head and shoulders above the core books
I know it's tired - all the speculation about Anne Boleyn and witchcraft but I love that this is went wholeheartedly into answering - WHAT IF SHE A WITCH WAS THOUGH 
Grace's conclusion had me cheering
Love the interweaving of known historical figures and their perceived personalities - everything about Jane Rochford shows her to be a untrustworthy and selfish figure who was so ambitious it was to the detriment of those around her. Obviously we're lacking nuance as there's no 1st hand texts remaining but her characterisation in this sits with what information we do have.
Anne reads as how I picture Anne in real life (and how Claire Foy portrays her in Wolf Hall) and I love her for it
Not quite a perfect 5 as some of the language use felt a little too modern and was a bit jarring when i came across it
For me this did what it needed to with the right amount of story, detail, characterisation and world building. It could obviously have been made a full novel if it was looking at the rest of the Tudor period but it's Anne and her ladies story so this novella format was perfect.
We've got magic (a few highly effective scenes, especially at the end), we've got love in various forms and we've got feminist commentary which is much more even handed and nuanced than I found in HMRC book 1. 

The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The Last Final Girl walked so that Jade Daniels could run.

Not the most easily accessible book - the structure takes some getting used to and I think the audiobook really helped me get it (it's written in a multi-pov fluid screenplay style that is pure chaos and very abstract much like the story). But what is clear is that this is a love letter to horror and slasher movies and having seen a lot of the films/characters mentioned really helped me get into the story more.

I'll definitely need to listen to it again though, I feel like I missed some bits and I need to do the horror character / actor name scavenger hunt to try and pin book character name inspirations!

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Not quite a 4 as some of the middle section was a little repetitive - probably could have lost 25-50 pages and not lost anything from the story.

Besides that - generally tightly plotted, tense, and absorbing. I do love that you generally know what you're getting with a Megan Miranda thriller, and this time the small town setting was particularly evocative and effective. I liked the story a lot and Hazel, though not particularly memorable, made for a good general main character for the action to revolve around. Caden and Gage were a little one-dimensional, and the Jamie storyline kind of disappeared once it was resolved - no real closure despite all the build up, which was a little disappointing.

Felt that MM sticked the landing for the overall story better than a number of her other books, but as always, it wraps up just a little too quickly once the main secrets are revealed. 

This had made me want to re-read my first MM book again (The Last To Vanish) as I didn't appreciate the MM style at the time and it also had a very effective and claustrophobic small town with an outsider main character trying to uncover town and family secrets.

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 3 by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

3.5

Enjoyed this, liked the gothic setting and the fungus element was truly horrific (a different use to how SMG uses fungus in Mexican Gothic) but it didn't fully grab me.

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An effective family drama dressed up as a Werewolf horror onnthe surface.

As always with SGJ the story is not the story so whilst yes Werewolves are the primary attention grabbing hook it's so much more than that. 

And irrespective of anything, these are not Twilight Werewolves.

Teacher's Pet by Richie Tankersley Cusick

adventurous challenging dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The Whispering Walls by Phil Hickes

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

4.25

A suitably spooky Middle Grade Boarding School mystery.
Spooky goings on with a couple of scenes that gave me the creeps. A great series opener, think Malory Towers with ghosts.

Queer Heroes of Myth and Legend: A Celebration of Gay Gods, Sapphic Sirens by Dan Jones

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

3.75* - a lighthearted and fun look at, as the title says, queer heroes of myth and legend (and modern popular culture). A few chapters feel a little bit tenuous (Robin Hood) but I overall enjoyed the read, learnt a few new things and was sadly reminded about the outrageous decision to - 

Spoiler Alert - 

kill off Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.