cassiecollins's reviews
267 reviews

Lust and Other Drugs by TJ Nichols

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

It's pretty clear the romance was the author's primary focus here. Jordan and Edra have great chemistry and a really unique relationship/dynamic for the genre. The rest of the book is a bit middling, though it certainly isn't bad. The world-building is a believable look at how people would react to the appearance of mythological beings, but the actual exposition gets pretty clunky. The "mystery" is also a bit light and is often progressed off-page so we only hear about it later. I do really like Jordan and Edra, though, as well as several of the side-characters.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

dark emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

dark reflective sad slow-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

4.5

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

This was a fun read! The prose was a smidge drier than I'm used to from Grann, but he's masterful at portraying these unique and interesting characters and their struggles. I felt fully immersed in their struggles both on board the ship Wager and Wager Island. It's a fascinating showcase of the chaos that can ensue among even the most sound-minded of people in the face of hunger and devastation.

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This had some great spooky, gothic aesthetics. The narrative and characters are a bit basic, so it did teeter into being more style-over-substance. The ending also turned into a kind of deus ex machina, which I often find disappointing. I still found it entertaining, though. If you're looking for something gothic and eerie to read for the Halloween season, this would certainly be a decent pick!

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

Don't get me wrong, I've seen my fair share of outright silly thriller endings. But, here... The big twist—y'know, the "how" of the women's deaths—and the actual ending are just so fucking stupid and nonsensical that I could not abide a higher rating. I did enjoy the little bits we did get regarding Maya's Guatemalan heritage and her struggles with feeling disconnected from it and her father, but that's about it. The dual timelines, the drugged-out unreliable narrator trope, and most everything else was just dull padding. This absolutely feels like yet another piece of literary fiction that was chopped and maimed to fit into a thriller/genre box for the sake of "marketability".

Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

It's a little tricky to describe my feelings on this one. There's no one thing I can point to that I didn't like here that I actually did like in the author's other work. I don't know, I guess the best way to describe it is this just didn't have the spark that the first book had. The characters aren't as endearing (including Loup and Pilar), the narrative isn't as engaging, and the globe-trotting feels perfunctory. It's not bad, just...aggressively "meh".

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Keefe is an excellent storyteller. He's also focused—the narrative zeros in very specifically to the primary tale of Jean McConville's kidnapping and murder, telling the stories of her children and the relevant members of the IRA who committed, or participated in, the crime. I think this was an excellent choice, since there's a lot that could be discussed with regard to the Troubles, and keeping the McConville family as a throughline with some branching paths worked great to keep the pacing and prose engaging. The book also does a great job of framing things from as many viewpoints as possible to try at a clear understanding of what actually happened during a chaotic and much-obfuscated time-period. Keefe is definitely becoming one of my favorite non-fiction authors.