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cordelia_gretson's reviews
283 reviews
The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It wants to be better, but I don’t think the author is capable at writing at all higher, less juvenile level. Where she tries to have a romantic feels with the FMC and potentially two of the four brothers, it reads 6th grade or first crush vs 18/19 year olds. Like, ma’am these are seniors to early college- hormones are popping off and you’re making it sound like a crush at bible camp. Where there could be tension, it falls flat.
“Puzzles” and mysteries aren’t strong enough to make me “not want to put it down.” Not until the last 80 pages, maybe, did much happen and the low level of imagery made world building difficult to paint an accurate picture of the scenes. Mapping out actions to puzzles came across as messy, but potential was there.
Characters aren’t lovable, more annoying than anything. The FMC bff wants to have Lily vibes from Princess Diaries, is my initial thought, with super strict parents that don’t let her swear and you’re fed ridiculous lines the author put in their hoping to make her lovable, avoid swearing (oh fucking dear), and make the book “age appropriate” (what was her target audience??)
Sometimes it feels AI written or guided with good premise but lacking any kind of emotion or suspense when the premise begs for it.
Notes to friend at 65% read:
Also, I don’t officially know yet, but I think I know why she’s chosen and if it’s the reason I think- womp, womp 🙄 😒 boring. The “who done it” aspect was guessed early on with a bizarre encounter combined with an inadvertent homage to Fred on Scooby Doo kids, “it’s the Red Herring,” but it was… might as well of had House (MD) guess lupus and be right every time.
Epilogue felt like an after thought that should’ve been the penultimate chapter instead, providing an adequate hook to suck you into the next book. As it is, it fell into the, “I don’t care anymore. Yay! The book is over.”
Overall it has promise and potential and if you’ve never ready any mystery before or puzzle ridden books it could be for you. I don’t envision myself caring to continue.
“Puzzles” and mysteries aren’t strong enough to make me “not want to put it down.” Not until the last 80 pages, maybe, did much happen and the low level of imagery made world building difficult to paint an accurate picture of the scenes. Mapping out actions to puzzles came across as messy, but potential was there.
Characters aren’t lovable, more annoying than anything. The FMC bff wants to have Lily vibes from Princess Diaries, is my initial thought, with super strict parents that don’t let her swear and you’re fed ridiculous lines the author put in their hoping to make her lovable, avoid swearing (oh fucking dear), and make the book “age appropriate” (what was her target audience??)
Sometimes it feels AI written or guided with good premise but lacking any kind of emotion or suspense when the premise begs for it.
Notes to friend at 65% read:
Also, I don’t officially know yet, but I think I know why she’s chosen and if it’s the reason I think- womp, womp 🙄 😒 boring. The “who done it” aspect was guessed early on with a bizarre encounter combined with an inadvertent homage to Fred on Scooby Doo kids, “it’s the Red Herring,” but it was… might as well of had House (MD) guess lupus and be right every time.
Epilogue felt like an after thought that should’ve been the penultimate chapter instead, providing an adequate hook to suck you into the next book. As it is, it fell into the, “I don’t care anymore. Yay! The book is over.”
Overall it has promise and potential and if you’ve never ready any mystery before or puzzle ridden books it could be for you. I don’t envision myself caring to continue.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
reflective
tense
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
So much more than the back jacket advertised. Loved the multiple story lines within a single chapter, kept the pace up and never felt like you were dragging. TJR’s style continues to capture my attention three books in.
Lived the TJR world Easter eggs and crossovers from TSHOEH and DJATS and how interconnected, yet independent the worlds are.
Actually satisfied with the ending for virtually every character (and there’s a lot of them!)
Publishing kudos (something I always note, but never gets mentioned specifically): the font, size, spacing, and margins were greatly appreciated. Pages are thick enough that they aren’t bleeding through, nor crinkle as you turn them. The physical book size is perfect, itself knows how to sit and hold itself open. It practically screams “read me.”
Lived the TJR world Easter eggs and crossovers from TSHOEH and DJATS and how interconnected, yet independent the worlds are.
Actually satisfied with the ending for virtually every character (and there’s a lot of them!)
Publishing kudos (something I always note, but never gets mentioned specifically): the font, size, spacing, and margins were greatly appreciated. Pages are thick enough that they aren’t bleeding through, nor crinkle as you turn them. The physical book size is perfect, itself knows how to sit and hold itself open. It practically screams “read me.”
Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty by Diane Keaton
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
2.5
One of those things where you don’t know exactly what you’re getting into, but you love the subject so you jump in anyways.
My love for Diane Keaton far outweighs any liking for this memoir. It was semi chaotic and attempted to be philosophical, but more often than not just dragged on without much plot or know where the final destination would be. Some stories were funny , but it was hard to tell on audiobook what was a random quotes and what was finally her reflex. It would have been less if she hadn’t narrated it.
Would have never guessed she collected so much stuff, bizarre amounts of 8x10’s, paintings, photography, shoes, hats, turtle necks, houses, and the stories to fill them with several times over.
My love for Diane Keaton far outweighs any liking for this memoir. It was semi chaotic and attempted to be philosophical, but more often than not just dragged on without much plot or know where the final destination would be. Some stories were funny , but it was hard to tell on audiobook what was a random quotes and what was finally her reflex. It would have been less if she hadn’t narrated it.
Would have never guessed she collected so much stuff, bizarre amounts of 8x10’s, paintings, photography, shoes, hats, turtle necks, houses, and the stories to fill them with several times over.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
challenging
slow-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
1.0
By “challenging” I mean finding the will to keep reading this trash. (It wasn’t a challenge to find people irl to scream into the void about this book/series and author in general). What the hype is all the hype about? The most intriguing part of the book was the back cover’s description of “thrilling and fierce.” The only parts that met either criteria was the intense naps this hurled me into. I guess I should thank SJM? I suffer with DSA insomnia and her writing might just be the cure.
I’ve never come across so many ways to not refer to a character by the character’s name. Erilea must be known as Epithet City. Extremely annoying to have non-dialogue about one character start a paragraph only to end with another character speaking.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I actually purchased this book, cringing at what a waste that was even on sale on amazon, I would have DNF’ed it and yeeted it out the second story window into the mud and snow. It took 116 pages to get to the promised competition/eliminations all for it to be nothing more than… archery. smh. Half the competitors either don’t have names or are mentioned long enough to prove she tallied them up correctly with no story, no development, and no contribution to the 404 page fire starter. It took 310 pages for me to finally spike an interest and at that point I forced myself to power through until the end so I could mark it towards my read books for the year. (Much like 2025 so far, it’s a big WTF). Even the formatting of the book - why so many damn words on a page? Need to make the book look shorter to bribe people into reading it? I mean, maybe that’s the editors choice since there were *so many* words with so little substance.
I was willing to *try* and look past the Hunger Games vibes with champions from all over their world, but when more similarities kept coming up, it became rage inducing. A secret chamber and mysterious creature that’s unseen by virtually anyone and controlled by a single person - the premise of HP CoS. We even have our MC stab it in the face with an ancient sword that’s not been seen in years AND the creatures fangs pierce them, thus poisoning and threatening her life. Fine, change the creature from a sneaky lil snek and make it resemble Miss Peregrine’s. Oye.
I cannot for the life of me understand the SJM hype and was most excited to find the option on this app to block her as a suggested author. Guess there’s one thing I won’t miss about the TikTok ban, not seeing this littering up BookTok.
I’ve never come across so many ways to not refer to a character by the character’s name. Erilea must be known as Epithet City. Extremely annoying to have non-dialogue about one character start a paragraph only to end with another character speaking.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I actually purchased this book, cringing at what a waste that was even on sale on amazon, I would have DNF’ed it and yeeted it out the second story window into the mud and snow. It took 116 pages to get to the promised competition/eliminations all for it to be nothing more than… archery. smh. Half the competitors either don’t have names or are mentioned long enough to prove she tallied them up correctly with no story, no development, and no contribution to the 404 page fire starter. It took 310 pages for me to finally spike an interest and at that point I forced myself to power through until the end so I could mark it towards my read books for the year. (Much like 2025 so far, it’s a big WTF). Even the formatting of the book - why so many damn words on a page? Need to make the book look shorter to bribe people into reading it? I mean, maybe that’s the editors choice since there were *so many* words with so little substance.
I was willing to *try* and look past the Hunger Games vibes with champions from all over their world, but when more similarities kept coming up, it became rage inducing. A secret chamber and mysterious creature that’s unseen by virtually anyone and controlled by a single person - the premise of HP CoS. We even have our MC stab it in the face with an ancient sword that’s not been seen in years AND the creatures fangs pierce them, thus poisoning and threatening her life. Fine, change the creature from a sneaky lil snek and make it resemble Miss Peregrine’s. Oye.
I cannot for the life of me understand the SJM hype and was most excited to find the option on this app to block her as a suggested author. Guess there’s one thing I won’t miss about the TikTok ban, not seeing this littering up BookTok.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Learning more about the woman who I first knew as Emily Gilmore has been eye opening. She’s an articulate storyteller with more than 60 years of a star studded life to tell. From her early memories of ballet and a supportive mother many can only dream about and a something to be desired of a paternal DNA donor, to the bars of ballets studios across the country. Her fierce determination and sense of true value and worth are inspiring and captured eloquently throughout her career in the cut throat industry of music, dance, broadway, and as an actress.
Her ability to thread a lifetime of achievements, a sprinkle of disappointments, a failed marriage, and decades with her soulmate, countless rescue animals as her children (and never apologizing for not wanting children, in fact openly talking about her abortion and activism for reproductive rights and abortion access) is personally inspiring in a country that tries forcing the storyline of childless women being inherently less.
Much love to The Third Gilmore.
Her ability to thread a lifetime of achievements, a sprinkle of disappointments, a failed marriage, and decades with her soulmate, countless rescue animals as her children (and never apologizing for not wanting children, in fact openly talking about her abortion and activism for reproductive rights and abortion access) is personally inspiring in a country that tries forcing the storyline of childless women being inherently less.
Much love to The Third Gilmore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Abortion
The Housemaid's Wedding by Freida McFadden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood
Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy
Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
1.5
Far from I thought it would be and what I was hoping for. A lot of laundry lists of day to day life, a list of flight times and destinations, food eaten, admittedly too many drinks consumed, and a sadly long list of friends, family, and colleagues dying.
Interesting to hear his views on ongoing projects, opportunities turned down, and brutal honesty when reviewing productions, shows, movies, music, and other actors. Overall he was more interesting and likable in interview and press clippings. I may know more about his life, but I don’t feel like I’ve gained anything in any aspect from deep diving into a beloved actor’s life.
Interesting to hear his views on ongoing projects, opportunities turned down, and brutal honesty when reviewing productions, shows, movies, music, and other actors. Overall he was more interesting and likable in interview and press clippings. I may know more about his life, but I don’t feel like I’ve gained anything in any aspect from deep diving into a beloved actor’s life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent
The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.5