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carlisbookshelf's Reviews (169)
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (rounding it up to 4 because the ending made me weep.)
The Dictionary of Lost Words centers around our main character, Esme Nicoll, a young girl who grew up motherless and surrounded by a world of words and her father’s work on the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary. Ever the curious young woman, Esme took a unique fascination to the Scriptorium her dad and his fellow lexicographers worked at & the countless new words found in every nook and cranny.
We watch Esme grow up before our eyes & follow her journey from childhood into her adulthood, watching her relationship with words and the Scrippy evolve as she does. Esme goes through trials and tribulations that, even though the story takes place in the late 1800’s and continues into the height of the Women’s Suffragette movement in early 1900’s, is still relevant today. It’s a beautiful story and, damn, you can tell the author did her damn research and put every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into this baby.
I truly loved Esme as a character (especially her relationship with Lizzie). I thought she was a beautifully written protagonist with just the right amount of nuance. But, I definitely found myself resonating more with her journey later on in her life, as opposed to in the first 1/3 of the book. (Which helped pull me through to the end).
The blending of fictional characters with real-life editors & contributors to the original edition of the Dictionary definitely made parts of this book slightly easier to get through. The reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because it’s a *very* slow-paced read and my big, dumb ADHD brain definitely struggled to maintain interest despite it all (I think that’s to be expected with historical fiction, especially as well-researched as this novel).
Life Hack: I ended up downloading and following along with the audiobook for most of the book which helped me significantly
The Dictionary of Lost Words centers around our main character, Esme Nicoll, a young girl who grew up motherless and surrounded by a world of words and her father’s work on the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary. Ever the curious young woman, Esme took a unique fascination to the Scriptorium her dad and his fellow lexicographers worked at & the countless new words found in every nook and cranny.
We watch Esme grow up before our eyes & follow her journey from childhood into her adulthood, watching her relationship with words and the Scrippy evolve as she does. Esme goes through trials and tribulations that, even though the story takes place in the late 1800’s and continues into the height of the Women’s Suffragette movement in early 1900’s, is still relevant today. It’s a beautiful story and, damn, you can tell the author did her damn research and put every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into this baby.
I truly loved Esme as a character (especially her relationship with Lizzie). I thought she was a beautifully written protagonist with just the right amount of nuance. But, I definitely found myself resonating more with her journey later on in her life, as opposed to in the first 1/3 of the book. (Which helped pull me through to the end).
The blending of fictional characters with real-life editors & contributors to the original edition of the Dictionary definitely made parts of this book slightly easier to get through. The reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because it’s a *very* slow-paced read and my big, dumb ADHD brain definitely struggled to maintain interest despite it all (I think that’s to be expected with historical fiction, especially as well-researched as this novel).
Life Hack: I ended up downloading and following along with the audiobook for most of the book which helped me significantly
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So much about this book screamed “perfect transition into fall!”
Reminiscent of the Addams family in a way I was NOT expecting, The Dead Romantics follows our main character, Florence Day. Florence, a romance (ghost)writer New York City, believes romance is absolutely dead after dealing with heartbreak post-breakup. Already feeling like a failure and completely down in the dumps, life throws another curveball her way; Florence is forced to travel back to her small hometown after her father passes away unexpectedly and is forced to confront the demons that pushed her to leave in the first place.
To be totally honest, the synopsis on the back of the book did NOT do this book Justice. There is so, so much to this story that made me fall in absolutely love with the writing and characters. I am a BIG fan of Florence and find her to be so freaking relatable and I absolutely loved the whole dynamic she had with her entire family. I don’t want to spoil any of those surprises for you, but this is a must read for sure. Perfect for fall!
So much about this book screamed “perfect transition into fall!”
Reminiscent of the Addams family in a way I was NOT expecting, The Dead Romantics follows our main character, Florence Day. Florence, a romance (ghost)writer New York City, believes romance is absolutely dead after dealing with heartbreak post-breakup. Already feeling like a failure and completely down in the dumps, life throws another curveball her way; Florence is forced to travel back to her small hometown after her father passes away unexpectedly and is forced to confront the demons that pushed her to leave in the first place.
To be totally honest, the synopsis on the back of the book did NOT do this book Justice. There is so, so much to this story that made me fall in absolutely love with the writing and characters. I am a BIG fan of Florence and find her to be so freaking relatable and I absolutely loved the whole dynamic she had with her entire family. I don’t want to spoil any of those surprises for you, but this is a must read for sure. Perfect for fall!
This one took me a bit longer to get through. Not because it was a bad book; I definitely enjoyed more parts than not. But, something about how the story itself flowed is keeping me from rating the book higher than a 4 star rating.
The world this story takes place in is super fascinating and left me wanting more history about the society and the origins and the growth of medeians throughout history, which obviously wasn’t the number one goal of this story, but I wouldn’t be mad to eventually read a prequel about.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed so much about the book. The concept was interesting and kept me going because I wanted more answers. The world building, albeit bare in some aspects, is really cool and interesting and a more adult take on the typical wizarding world concept. But there were certain things that left me wanting more. For one, there was a lot more telling and not showing in the style of writing… which made some parts of the story feel slow, particularly the moments they’re in “classes”. I found so much qualities of the six main characters to be insufferable, to be quite honest.
The only characters I found redeemable/somewhat like-able were Nico and Libby because I got the most out of both their stories from an emotional standpoint. Overall, if you’re interested in dark academia style new adult stories involving magic and wizardry, I’d give this one a chance because the foundations of the world built in this story are unique!
The world this story takes place in is super fascinating and left me wanting more history about the society and the origins and the growth of medeians throughout history, which obviously wasn’t the number one goal of this story, but I wouldn’t be mad to eventually read a prequel about.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed so much about the book. The concept was interesting and kept me going because I wanted more answers. The world building, albeit bare in some aspects, is really cool and interesting and a more adult take on the typical wizarding world concept. But there were certain things that left me wanting more. For one, there was a lot more telling and not showing in the style of writing… which made some parts of the story feel slow, particularly the moments they’re in “classes”. I found so much qualities of the six main characters to be insufferable, to be quite honest.
The only characters I found redeemable/somewhat like-able were Nico and Libby because I got the most out of both their stories from an emotional standpoint. Overall, if you’re interested in dark academia style new adult stories involving magic and wizardry, I’d give this one a chance because the foundations of the world built in this story are unique!
4.25 out of 5.
Emily Henry and her A1 writing restores my faith in the straights; as a bisexualllll lady (meant to be read in a JennaMarbles singing voice, iykyk)
Okay joking* aside, I think I cried CONSISTENTLY while reading the last 50 pages of the book because of how much I related to the deep rooted anxieties Nora came to terms with. Where I usually am the first to absolutely obliterate Hallmark movies for being cheesy and predictable, I actually loved how this book took that concept and flipped it sideways. The fact that Nora, our main character starts off as this almost ice-cold and extremely ambitious editor who also obliterates the same hallmark movie tropes I do without blinking makes me feel SEEN.
This book has heart. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Emily Henry’s books feel like a warm hug. The reason I didn’t rate the book higher is that while I absolutely enjoyed the heck outta this book, I almost feel like the characters and the world are… missing something? Like instead of being 100% fully fleshed out, well-rounded, multidimensional characters… the characters were at 80-90% in that department of being fully fleshed out. I felt the same with the small town aspect of the book.
It also took me slightly longer to get into the book, especially compared to Beach Read. But that doesn’t mean much, because at the end of the day, I still truly enjoyed reading this book. Yeah, I’m becoming an even bigger Emily Henry fan.
*disclaimer: I may only be half joking about the straights
Emily Henry and her A1 writing restores my faith in the straights; as a bisexualllll lady (meant to be read in a JennaMarbles singing voice, iykyk)
Okay joking* aside, I think I cried CONSISTENTLY while reading the last 50 pages of the book because of how much I related to the deep rooted anxieties Nora came to terms with. Where I usually am the first to absolutely obliterate Hallmark movies for being cheesy and predictable, I actually loved how this book took that concept and flipped it sideways. The fact that Nora, our main character starts off as this almost ice-cold and extremely ambitious editor who also obliterates the same hallmark movie tropes I do without blinking makes me feel SEEN.
This book has heart. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Emily Henry’s books feel like a warm hug. The reason I didn’t rate the book higher is that while I absolutely enjoyed the heck outta this book, I almost feel like the characters and the world are… missing something? Like instead of being 100% fully fleshed out, well-rounded, multidimensional characters… the characters were at 80-90% in that department of being fully fleshed out. I felt the same with the small town aspect of the book.
It also took me slightly longer to get into the book, especially compared to Beach Read. But that doesn’t mean much, because at the end of the day, I still truly enjoyed reading this book. Yeah, I’m becoming an even bigger Emily Henry fan.
*disclaimer: I may only be half joking about the straights
CW: Racism, domestic/child a*use, and r*pe.
Uh oh… I may get heat for this… But, I kinda hated this book. I’m sad about it. But I truly, truly hated it.
I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style, which I hoped I could suck it up and push through because I wanted to believe all the hype and reciprocate all love this book gets regularly. The story/writing felt like it was going through some sort of identity crisis and didn’t know what kind of book it wanted to be which I think also added to my initial dislike. None of the characters did anything for me except frustrate me or annoy the hell out of me; everyone felt only half fleshed out and not complete/round characters.
I wanted more of the true crime part of this story that the summary somewhat promised me and the only reason I’m not giving Where the Crawdads Sing less is because the last like 50-75 pages picked up and built up to what the kind of story that I was WANTING to read for the entirety of the damn book. The story was slow, boring, repetitive and a lot of it was just… unnecessary for me. It felt like I was reading one of those “Award-Winning-But-Vastly-Boring-and-Self-Important” kind of books written decades prior that I was assigned to read in my high school honors English classes and I also hate that. Ironic, as I teach Language Arts as a day job.
So, for many reasons, Where the Crawdads Sing really didn’t do anything for me except vastly disappoint and bore tf outta me. Whelp. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Uh oh… I may get heat for this… But, I kinda hated this book. I’m sad about it. But I truly, truly hated it.
I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style, which I hoped I could suck it up and push through because I wanted to believe all the hype and reciprocate all love this book gets regularly. The story/writing felt like it was going through some sort of identity crisis and didn’t know what kind of book it wanted to be which I think also added to my initial dislike. None of the characters did anything for me except frustrate me or annoy the hell out of me; everyone felt only half fleshed out and not complete/round characters.
I wanted more of the true crime part of this story that the summary somewhat promised me and the only reason I’m not giving Where the Crawdads Sing less is because the last like 50-75 pages picked up and built up to what the kind of story that I was WANTING to read for the entirety of the damn book. The story was slow, boring, repetitive and a lot of it was just… unnecessary for me. It felt like I was reading one of those “Award-Winning-But-Vastly-Boring-and-Self-Important” kind of books written decades prior that I was assigned to read in my high school honors English classes and I also hate that. Ironic, as I teach Language Arts as a day job.
So, for many reasons, Where the Crawdads Sing really didn’t do anything for me except vastly disappoint and bore tf outta me. Whelp. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3.75 out of 5. Rounding up to 4.
I’m not one to dive into memoirs but when I caught wind of Harry writing one, I was definitely intrigued. Hearing and reading things from his perspective, however reliable the general public might deem it to be, was incredibly eye opening to me. (Aka an American who has is both morbidly fascinated by the history of the British monarchy and hypercritical of it.)
Hearing first hand accounts of how brutal the British media was and how the unfair treatment affected both Harry and Meghan is upsetting. I feel foe both of them. The treatment was disgusting to me, and the complicity by the ones closest to them was just as abhorrent.
What I loved about reading this was how much he talked about his mom and how open he was about his own lifelong grieving and healing process. Diana is someone I admire greatly (people’s Princess and all that) and I can’t imagine losing my mom so young and in such a tragic way. Quiet honestly, I think his mom is smiling down on him and is full of pride. Reading his firsthand accounts of his budding relationship with Meghan is something that Id want to read another 5 books about!
Needless to say, I’m even more pro-Harry-and-Meg after reading this.
I’m not one to dive into memoirs but when I caught wind of Harry writing one, I was definitely intrigued. Hearing and reading things from his perspective, however reliable the general public might deem it to be, was incredibly eye opening to me. (Aka an American who has is both morbidly fascinated by the history of the British monarchy and hypercritical of it.)
Hearing first hand accounts of how brutal the British media was and how the unfair treatment affected both Harry and Meghan is upsetting. I feel foe both of them. The treatment was disgusting to me, and the complicity by the ones closest to them was just as abhorrent.
What I loved about reading this was how much he talked about his mom and how open he was about his own lifelong grieving and healing process. Diana is someone I admire greatly (people’s Princess and all that) and I can’t imagine losing my mom so young and in such a tragic way. Quiet honestly, I think his mom is smiling down on him and is full of pride. Reading his firsthand accounts of his budding relationship with Meghan is something that Id want to read another 5 books about!
Needless to say, I’m even more pro-Harry-and-Meg after reading this.
I could NOT put this book down. I love a good thriller and Local Woman Missing is no exception to that.
11 years ago, a woman goes missing from an ideal Chicago suburb while on a late night run and within days another woman and her 6 year old daughter go missing, shaking the neighborhood to the core. After 11 years, the daughter (Delilah) miraculously resurfaces, which causes newfound interest in the case and opens another handful of questions about what happened. The story shifts timelines and switches between the POV of Meredith, one of the women who goes missing, Leo (her son), and one of their neighbors, Kate.
I found it interesting and creative how the author weaved all their stories together because it left me guessing at every corner. I loved how we got to witness the main adults become so worn down by the burden of Meredith and Delilah’s disappearances and how all of that trauma and grief settles in the way that Leo recounted his POV.
Like I said, I inhaled every bit of this book. I was addicted to getting all of the answers. I’m not a quick reader by any means so the fact that I read this in less than 2 days should be telling of how good and mysterious this book was. Highly recommend!
11 years ago, a woman goes missing from an ideal Chicago suburb while on a late night run and within days another woman and her 6 year old daughter go missing, shaking the neighborhood to the core. After 11 years, the daughter (Delilah) miraculously resurfaces, which causes newfound interest in the case and opens another handful of questions about what happened. The story shifts timelines and switches between the POV of Meredith, one of the women who goes missing, Leo (her son), and one of their neighbors, Kate.
I found it interesting and creative how the author weaved all their stories together because it left me guessing at every corner. I loved how we got to witness the main adults become so worn down by the burden of Meredith and Delilah’s disappearances and how all of that trauma and grief settles in the way that Leo recounted his POV.
Like I said, I inhaled every bit of this book. I was addicted to getting all of the answers. I’m not a quick reader by any means so the fact that I read this in less than 2 days should be telling of how good and mysterious this book was. Highly recommend!
Okay, I enjoyed the actual heck out of this book. It was lighthearted, it was funny, it was witty, the characters and their interactions with each other are funny and felt genuine…
And I am officially obsessed Phoebe! I loved how the author saw something in the pop culture trendiness of true crime content and tapped into that and made that a part of this book because I’d made the character of Phoebe so much more relatable
The reason I’m not rating it higher is because, despite some of the tough/traumatic situations that the characters went through in their past (Phoebe’s parents’ somewhat volatile relationship and divorce and how that affected her growing up, Etc.), I felt like there could have tapped into that slightly deeper to add even more of an emotional depth. Because I did feel like, while the characters were all fun and relatable, we only got to know these characters at a surface level. It left me wanting even more out of the characters and the story.
Still, this was a fun read and I still suggest picking it up for a quick read.
And I am officially obsessed Phoebe! I loved how the author saw something in the pop culture trendiness of true crime content and tapped into that and made that a part of this book because I’d made the character of Phoebe so much more relatable
The reason I’m not rating it higher is because, despite some of the tough/traumatic situations that the characters went through in their past (Phoebe’s parents’ somewhat volatile relationship and divorce and how that affected her growing up, Etc.), I felt like there could have tapped into that slightly deeper to add even more of an emotional depth. Because I did feel like, while the characters were all fun and relatable, we only got to know these characters at a surface level. It left me wanting even more out of the characters and the story.
Still, this was a fun read and I still suggest picking it up for a quick read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .5 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in Paris/London in the late 1800’s Lenna Wickes is looking for answers in the unsolved murder of her sister. Knowing her sister was involved with spiritualism and seances, Lenna begins to study the art of mediumship under famed medium Vaudeline D’Allaire, a personal hero for Lenna’s sister. When Vaudeline is called to London to perform a seance of her own to help the London Seance Society solve the murder of their CEO, Lenna joins hoping to kill two birds with one stone to also solve the murder of her sister.
Penner took all the best aspects of the Lost Apothecary (aka the stories set in Victorian-ish era Europe with strong female characters and super dark atmospheric settings) and turned it up a few notches with this one. I loved the spookiness behind the story… and more importantly, I am a big fan of our two main heroines, Lenna and Vaudeline. I loved that they had such starkly opposite approaches to spiritualism (and life, I suppose) and yet they balanced each other out so well.
The only critique I had revolved around the final seance around the major climax of the book. I was kinda taken out of the story a little while reading because parts of that final seance came off as slightly chaotic and a little TOO fantastical/unrealistic for my liking. I totally get that the entire book was leading up to something big, but I personally just felt that, FOR ME, final seance scenes just crossed that uncanny valley.
REGARDLESS — and I may be treading into spoiler territory but, yolo. I am a FAN of unexpected LGBT/WLW storylines and was PLEASANTLY surprised that our two heroines ended up romantically together. (thank you for that lil nugget.)
Final thoughts: if you loved the parts of The Lost Apothecary that took place in the actual Apothecary, you’ll love this one. (Lost Apothecary was my favorite read of 2021 — if that helps sway your decision at all!)
Set in Paris/London in the late 1800’s Lenna Wickes is looking for answers in the unsolved murder of her sister. Knowing her sister was involved with spiritualism and seances, Lenna begins to study the art of mediumship under famed medium Vaudeline D’Allaire, a personal hero for Lenna’s sister. When Vaudeline is called to London to perform a seance of her own to help the London Seance Society solve the murder of their CEO, Lenna joins hoping to kill two birds with one stone to also solve the murder of her sister.
Penner took all the best aspects of the Lost Apothecary (aka the stories set in Victorian-ish era Europe with strong female characters and super dark atmospheric settings) and turned it up a few notches with this one. I loved the spookiness behind the story… and more importantly, I am a big fan of our two main heroines, Lenna and Vaudeline. I loved that they had such starkly opposite approaches to spiritualism (and life, I suppose) and yet they balanced each other out so well.
The only critique I had revolved around the final seance around the major climax of the book. I was kinda taken out of the story a little while reading because parts of that final seance came off as slightly chaotic and a little TOO fantastical/unrealistic for my liking. I totally get that the entire book was leading up to something big, but I personally just felt that, FOR ME, final seance scenes just crossed that uncanny valley.
REGARDLESS — and I may be treading into spoiler territory but, yolo. I am a FAN of unexpected LGBT/WLW storylines and was PLEASANTLY surprised that our two heroines ended up romantically together. (thank you for that lil nugget.)
Final thoughts: if you loved the parts of The Lost Apothecary that took place in the actual Apothecary, you’ll love this one. (Lost Apothecary was my favorite read of 2021 — if that helps sway your decision at all!)
Starting off by asking myself: WHY do I do this to myself? (“this” being; put off books that I know I’m going to love as much as the books this series and then hate myself for not reading it sooner?) Because Ashley Herring Blake does it AGAIN baby. This story made me feel all the feels and brought me back to the beginnings of my own coming out journey and my figuring things out.
Okay, first thing’s first: I didn’t like Astrid at all after reading Delilah Green Doesn’t Care last year but, boy, did that change after this. (Which, I suppose is the point. Obvi). So having a whole book centered around Astrid and her self-discovery was a wild ride that had me relating to her journey in an almost spiritual way because her and I have similar outlooks on success (SIMILAR — not identical, just saying I relate!) The way that Astrid and Jordan both, at the root, felt like failures in their own lives but had completely different life approaches to their perceived failure was such a nuanced take on the whole opposites attract trope that’s all too common. Their chemistry alone is and should be enough of a reason to read the book because who doesn’t love an enemies to lovers trope? But, the most beautiful part of the whole journey was just watching Astrid discover herself and deconstruct her old habits and views on what happiness means to her. The same could be said about Jordan’s own journey snd finding her self-worth as well.
I don’t want to dip into spoiler territory, but there’s so much to love about this book if you love modern, LGBT-centered romcoms. After reading Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, my new goal in life is to find a girlfriend who radiates Ashley Herring Blake character energy because A. She knows how to write impeccably realistic, hilarious, and amazing queer characters and B. Because her writing restores my faith in/makes me believe in love, man.
Okay, first thing’s first: I didn’t like Astrid at all after reading Delilah Green Doesn’t Care last year but, boy, did that change after this. (Which, I suppose is the point. Obvi). So having a whole book centered around Astrid and her self-discovery was a wild ride that had me relating to her journey in an almost spiritual way because her and I have similar outlooks on success (SIMILAR — not identical, just saying I relate!) The way that Astrid and Jordan both, at the root, felt like failures in their own lives but had completely different life approaches to their perceived failure was such a nuanced take on the whole opposites attract trope that’s all too common. Their chemistry alone is and should be enough of a reason to read the book because who doesn’t love an enemies to lovers trope? But, the most beautiful part of the whole journey was just watching Astrid discover herself and deconstruct her old habits and views on what happiness means to her. The same could be said about Jordan’s own journey snd finding her self-worth as well.
I don’t want to dip into spoiler territory, but there’s so much to love about this book if you love modern, LGBT-centered romcoms. After reading Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, my new goal in life is to find a girlfriend who radiates Ashley Herring Blake character energy because A. She knows how to write impeccably realistic, hilarious, and amazing queer characters and B. Because her writing restores my faith in/makes me believe in love, man.