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bottomofthebookshelf's reviews
236 reviews
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
5.0
This book was everything I wanted and more!
The Hate U Give handles topics such as racism, systemic oppression, and police brutality in such an empowering way. I found myself crying, laughing, and gasping my way through the protagonist, Starr’s, story and it really made me look closer at the society we live in. The overwhelming message I got from this book is that our voice is our biggest weapon, and nothing is going to change if we stay silent.
Favourite quotes:
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” -Page 154
“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr. It means you go on even though you’re scared...”
-Page 331
The Hate U Give handles topics such as racism, systemic oppression, and police brutality in such an empowering way. I found myself crying, laughing, and gasping my way through the protagonist, Starr’s, story and it really made me look closer at the society we live in. The overwhelming message I got from this book is that our voice is our biggest weapon, and nothing is going to change if we stay silent.
Favourite quotes:
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” -Page 154
“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr. It means you go on even though you’re scared...”
-Page 331
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5.0
I can’t believe it took me so long to finally read this classic! At first I was unsure if I would enjoy it, but I soon found myself intrigued by the characters and their relationships. Even though it had a simple plot, I was always excited to see what was going to happen next. This is a book I see myself rereading time and time again!
Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick
2.0
Wow, never has it taken me so long to finish 200 pages. Let me start by saying that I thought this was a fiction novel written as non-fiction, but turns out it’s just a not-very-interesting true crime tale. I have to admit that the first half wasn’t super terrible, as I couldn’t wait to read about Charles dying (he deserved it). But the characters were still uninteresting to me and I didn’t really care to find out who committed the crime. Then the second half was just so bad. Suddenly going from telling the story from a narrative perspective to talking about research killed the flow of the book for me. I went from being uninterested in the story, to actively wanting to DNF the book. On top of the writing style being odd in the second half, the author dismissed certain facts in ways that didn’t make sense to me. The way he would seemingly rule someone out as a suspect, then bring them back up later with more evidence was also odd to me. I felt like I was getting whiplash from all the theories. The cherry on top for me was the end that dragged out after we find out who he thinks the murderer is. I’m sorry, but I didn’t find it necessary to list when the physicians that treated Charles died or where everyone was buried. All in all, I do not recommend this book even if you typically like true crime.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft
3.0
I listened to this on audiobook, and enjoyed it for the most part. There were certain parts that had me eagerly listening to hear what would happen, but ultimately I didn’t feel like much did happen. The ending just wasn’t for me, and I had higher hopes for this one. I would, however, recommend this to anyone who enjoys classic horror.
Athena's Choice by Adam Boostrom
2.0
*Thank you to the author and Book Sirens for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I was excited. A world without men and a mystery to boot? Sign me up! The futuristic ideas were interesting, and when I started reading the book I found myself intrigued with the world building. Unfortunately for me, that’s where the fun stopped.
Firstly, I felt no connection to the characters. Not even our main character, Athena. We didn’t get a ton of character development and the conversations between characters didn’t seem realistic to me, so I felt like we never really got to know any of the characters on a deeper level. On top of that, I found Athena and Nomi’s relationship confusing until near the end of the book (where I was left less confused, but still confused). Because of this, I found myself not feeling any emotions while reading scenes that were clearly supposed to stir up said emotions.
Next, the plot was just really messy for me. From the very beginning, nothing felt believable and a lot of things just didn’t make logical sense. There are certain details I thought would be explained, that never were. The pacing was so quick that I felt like the main character didn’t even have time to react to what was going on before the next thing happened.
Lastly, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. A lot of backstory information was given to the reader via web articles, school work, and news stories in between chapters. This format just really killed the flow of the book for me and I felt like there must be a smoother way to integrate all of this into the story. Also, I was super duper disappointed by the ambiguous ending.
In conclusion, this book just didn’t live up to my expectations. I think it had a great premise, but unfortunately it just wasn’t executed that well in my opinion.
As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I was excited. A world without men and a mystery to boot? Sign me up! The futuristic ideas were interesting, and when I started reading the book I found myself intrigued with the world building. Unfortunately for me, that’s where the fun stopped.
Firstly, I felt no connection to the characters. Not even our main character, Athena. We didn’t get a ton of character development and the conversations between characters didn’t seem realistic to me, so I felt like we never really got to know any of the characters on a deeper level. On top of that, I found Athena and Nomi’s relationship confusing until near the end of the book (where I was left less confused, but still confused). Because of this, I found myself not feeling any emotions while reading scenes that were clearly supposed to stir up said emotions.
Next, the plot was just really messy for me. From the very beginning, nothing felt believable and a lot of things just didn’t make logical sense. There are certain details I thought would be explained, that never were. The pacing was so quick that I felt like the main character didn’t even have time to react to what was going on before the next thing happened.
Lastly, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. A lot of backstory information was given to the reader via web articles, school work, and news stories in between chapters. This format just really killed the flow of the book for me and I felt like there must be a smoother way to integrate all of this into the story. Also, I was super duper disappointed by the ambiguous ending.
In conclusion, this book just didn’t live up to my expectations. I think it had a great premise, but unfortunately it just wasn’t executed that well in my opinion.
The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
3.0
I wanted to love this more. The idea of Cthulhu is really cool to me and I enjoyed the ending of the book, but the occult parts just weren’t for me.
幻想中的朋友 by Stephen Chbosky
3.0
When I started reading this book I had such high hopes! I really cared about all of the (many) characters, and the mystery of it all kept me intrigued for a while. Later in the book I was genuinely impressed by how scary some scenes were.
Unfortunately, this book was just too weird for me. So many times I’d read a line and go “wait... what??”. I’d be so into the story, then I’d be thrown off by a weird twist or strange detail. I also wasn’t expecting so much religious theming throughout the book, and even though it’s a big part of the story, I think this would have been a more interesting/scary story without all of that. I also found that the book dragged on and I just wanted to move on to something else after getting 400 pages in. All in all, I think this could have been executed much better considering the base plot and development of characters. It just really fell flat for me beyond that.
Unfortunately, this book was just too weird for me. So many times I’d read a line and go “wait... what??”. I’d be so into the story, then I’d be thrown off by a weird twist or strange detail. I also wasn’t expecting so much religious theming throughout the book, and even though it’s a big part of the story, I think this would have been a more interesting/scary story without all of that. I also found that the book dragged on and I just wanted to move on to something else after getting 400 pages in. All in all, I think this could have been executed much better considering the base plot and development of characters. It just really fell flat for me beyond that.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5.0
What a wonderful classic! I had heard so much about this book, and it did not disappoint. I laughed and cried along with the March family throughout this episodic story. Each sister was uniquely interesting and I cared about each one of their stories so much, especially Beth. This book will forever have a place in my heart.
Cryptofauna by Patrick Canning
4.0
*Thank you to BookSirens and the author for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review*
This was a fun one! I really enjoyed the adventure aspect of this book as well as the mystery surrounding Cryptofauna. The characters were all so loveable and I really felt for them any time something happened. I especially loved the dog, Mars. I found myself intrigued with what would happen in the plot as well as with the world this all happens in.
I’m omitting one star because I just wanted the book to be a bit longer. I felt like the first half of the book had a good pace, but the second half was a bit rushed. For example, there’s a certain plot line involving and school (no spoilers) that I felt was rushed over when it would have been interesting to read what happened instead of telling us after the fact. I also wasn’t a fan of racial slurs being used throughout the book; they just weren’t necessary.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I recommend to anyone looking for a fun mysterious adventure!
This was a fun one! I really enjoyed the adventure aspect of this book as well as the mystery surrounding Cryptofauna. The characters were all so loveable and I really felt for them any time something happened. I especially loved the dog, Mars. I found myself intrigued with what would happen in the plot as well as with the world this all happens in.
I’m omitting one star because I just wanted the book to be a bit longer. I felt like the first half of the book had a good pace, but the second half was a bit rushed. For example, there’s a certain plot line involving and school (no spoilers) that I felt was rushed over when it would have been interesting to read what happened instead of telling us after the fact. I also wasn’t a fan of racial slurs being used throughout the book; they just weren’t necessary.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I recommend to anyone looking for a fun mysterious adventure!
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
5.0
I can’t believe it took me until now to read this! It had me hooked from the very first page, and even though I knew the main twist it STILL shocked me with the details. This book does a great job of making you think one way, then pulling the rug out from under you right when you think you’ve figured everything out. I didn’t like any characters in the book, which would normally throw me off, but I felt like that worked well with the whole plot and didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. Overall, I have nothing negative to say about this book and would recommend it to any mystery lovers out there.