botanyandbookends's reviews
154 reviews

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

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5.0

It will be the book that comes to mind when someone asks, “What books have stayed with you long after you finished them?” I will list it as one of my favorites. A book that draws you in with its prose but the true, difficult work is happening underneath it all. I love subtlety; I appreciate an author who respects their audience enough to trust them to make the necessary connections. I cannot recommend this book enough. Beautiful. Moving. Funny. Intriguing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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3.0

There are so many five stars and glowing reviews for this book. And yes, I was sucked in quickly and found the initial issue intriguing as to how it was manipulated and handled in days past. But by the end of the book, I felt so issue-laden I found it easy to just ‘hurry up and finish the book already.’ It seems as if there was originally a good behind-the-scenes approach but then the author crammed in so many other issues that my compassion (nor interest) couldn’t cover them all. It was too much. And too often, prosaic and sugary; throw away lines below the ability of the author that caused involuntary eyerolls from this reader.

I didn’t hate the book. Again, it had a solid start and interesting approach. But, I didn’t love the book either.