bookswithlydscl's reviews
594 reviews

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A few twists and turns and love the female rage idea running throughout. Unreliable narrators abound but overall I really enjoyed this.

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me. I struggled with the style, narrative voice, themes and characters. I love the premise and there is so much potential in the story but right now unfortunately it didn't land for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone | Merky Books for this digital review copy of "Model Home" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

The Wives of Halcyon by Eirinie Lapidaki

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

This one took me a little while to get into but once it clicked it moved at a pace for me. Think FLDS but in Scotland, all too believable! 

Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

4.25* - as good as Faebound for me and definitely no middle book curse! Took me a little while to become reacquainted with all the characters and feel I should have re-read Faebound as its been over a year since I read it. Other than that really enjoyed it!

Chlorine by Jade Song

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't know what the heck is just read but I think I enjoyed it.

A coming of age/mermaid fictional memoir this was weird and awkward and just felt very different and pretty unique.

The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was pure cosy magical realism with a lovely premise about finding family, home and belonging. I love that there's not really a romance storyline to this, instead it's about finding truth and breaking a curse to be able to create a future. There are a few repetitive elements and I would love to have had more in the story about the periphery characters of the town but when I finished it I immediately said "well that was lovely" and I think that's just the most apt way to sum up this story. Gentle storytelling that moves quickly and makes for an easy, relaxing read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this digital review copy of "The Warbler" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

3.75* 

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and loved the idea of a book within a book with sci-fi elements and for the most part I was really satisfied with what I found.

This is definitely sci-fi lite and felt much more literary and family drama focused (which if you've read any other books with Nigerian families will feel very familiar). I thought the writing was fantastic and I loved the slower character focused build up in the first half. We have events happen but they feel natural and well paced and I loved the quasi future elements (the self-driving cars, the exoskeleton) mixed in with the 'Rusted Robots' book excerpts.

It really was building up to be a high 4* read for me but I felt that the story took an abrupt turn with the introduction of the space launch prospect and it just didn't feel as grounded in reality as the rest of the book had been to that point. The pace then ramped up so that the careful story telling of the first half turned about face as we raced to the end which felt a little too abrupt for me. 

Don't go into this expecting a true science fiction novel and you will be more likely to enjoy it. Thankfully I'd seen some reviews highlighting that so went into it with the right level of expectation and I really did like it, I just ended up not loving it overall as much as I hoped to.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group | Gollancz for this digital review copy of "Death of the Author" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Solid but won't be particularly memorable for me

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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

3.5

on the nose, nothing subtle about this whatsoever but that helps make it a co pletely wild ride. Extremely timely and truly horrific at points. Enjoyed this one

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

3.5 but rounded up for the final chapter of book 7.

Not a fan of stories that have a predominant focus on infidelity- makes it very difficult to feel any kind of connection or empathy for those involved.

Much like Middlemarch I did spend a decent amount of this wondering what the heck the point of most of it was. Far too long but Maggie Gyllenhaal and 2+ speed on the audiobook didn't make it feel as daunting.