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dckathleen's reviews
214 reviews
My Husband by Maud Ventura
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Exhausting. I get it, but am not into it.
Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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
2.5
Ingredients: Moon landing, steadily escalating dinosaur extinction conspiracy theory, ex CIA cryptographer turned monk, rogue secret government agency, murderous ex con, illegal fossil hunting, kidnapping, and obsure yet findable random mineshafts and caves.
This book would have benefitted from either good editing or more writing. It was too short to make these bonkers components make sense, so they should have lost several elements...or added 200 pages and really developed the characters and storylines so it made sense.
Points off for descriptions of a large person that were over the top, the use of the R word (so we know a bad guy is ignorant), and the most central casting descriptions of rough and tumble men and snub nosed women. Also, everyone is white.
This book would have benefitted from either good editing or more writing. It was too short to make these bonkers components make sense, so they should have lost several elements...or added 200 pages and really developed the characters and storylines so it made sense.
Points off for descriptions of a large person that were over the top, the use of the R word (so we know a bad guy is ignorant), and the most central casting descriptions of rough and tumble men and snub nosed women. Also, everyone is white.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Sexual assault
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is one of those books that gives you an uneasy feeling the whole time because you know it's building up to something bad. The story builds well, has some twists, and was good overall.
This book definitely has several content warnings!
This book definitely has several content warnings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Yara is a Palestinian American woman who reflects on the curse which plagues the women in her family. On the outside her life looks perfect, nice husband, two beautiful children, a comfortable life. Internally she is struggling with the feeling of disconnection in her life. She's depressed and constantly feels inadequate, she's haunted by memories of her childhood.
I found the book extremely repetitive. If this had been 25% shorter it would have been a much better book and literally nothing substantive would have been lost. Maybe this is just Rum's writing style.
CW for domestic violence and generational trauma.
I found the book extremely repetitive. If this had been 25% shorter it would have been a much better book and literally nothing substantive would have been lost. Maybe this is just Rum's writing style.
CW for domestic violence and generational trauma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
What if your parents die and you go to settle their affairs only to find that nothing is as it appears and your estranged brother gets in the way and things in the house are very strange.
This is the story of loneliness and family secrets and generational trauma, but also haunted stuff....
This is the story of loneliness and family secrets and generational trauma, but also haunted stuff....
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
challenging
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A father and his non-verbal teen son go missing in a park in Virginia. After some misjudgements, his family doesn't notify anyone that he's missing until later. In the course of the search for the father, we learn more about the son's capabilities and what he and the father were doing together. This is a lovely story about communication and competence within a family, told from the perspective of the young adult daughter. Highly recommend.
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I liked it, but it wasn't what I expected. In a world where the seas are even more depleted and corporations are even more powerful than now, an intelligent octopus species is found living in a derelict ship near an archipelago.
This books isn't really about that though, it is about the meaning of sentience and intelligence. Can we recognize traits that we value in ourselves in others? Do humans inevitably destroy other intelligent life forms?
This books isn't really about that though, it is about the meaning of sentience and intelligence. Can we recognize traits that we value in ourselves in others? Do humans inevitably destroy other intelligent life forms?
Outside by Ragnar Jónasson
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This was too long for a short story and too short for a novel. The characters were not well developed and ultimately I didn't care what happened to them.
Group of friends goes to a remote place and bad stuff starts to happen, it turns out the close friends are not as close as they thought... you know the deal.
Group of friends goes to a remote place and bad stuff starts to happen, it turns out the close friends are not as close as they thought... you know the deal.
Abandon by Blake Crouch
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Interesting parallel timelines revolving around an abandoned mining town. Points taken off for overuse of the word whore (dude, I get it, there were sex workers in the old West mining town), the number of times that blood pools darly, and the end felt like the author ran out of pages, closed his laptop, and said, "done!"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Child death, and Domestic abuse
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A secretive language center is able to teach native level language skills in three weeks. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say, this takes a weird turn. It's good, and it looks at privilege and appreciation, colonialism and feminism.