finalgirlkate's reviews
232 reviews

She Started It by Sian Gilbert

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Cabbage by C.S. Fritz

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this. It’s a super short novella, read it in under an hour

This novella covers grief and sacrifice, and what we’re willing to do for the ones we love. It’s so surreal and creepy, and the Spotify playlist makes this SO much more eerie. I will definitely be rereading this one again. 

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

The majority of this story was just kind of boring - there is a lot happening plot-wise, but I just didn't care about any of the characters, and so I wasn't invested in what was happening to any of them. 
I didn't like how Jake (the missing neighbor) was just the worst person imaginable. You only hear about how he was a terrible husband, very arrogant with a god-complex  and an attempted rapist, so why am I supposed to be invested in his disappearance? Even his wife who is searching for him doesn't seem to like him very much. 

The ending was very rushed, the entire resolution happened in like 5 minutes of the audiobook, then a sudden jump to 8 years later. It felt like they needed to wrap-up the story really quick at the end for some reason. 

I'm pretty disapointed with this one after I loved Local Woman Missing, this just didn't hold up for me. 

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.25

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This story is unique, and if i had read it a few years ago I probably would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. But Peter Swanson just isn’t for me. 

There were so many twists, the story felt a little convoluted by the end. But it was very difficult to predict, and I haven’t read anything like that, which is a plus. 

I don’t know how they have this a sequel. The story ends at a weird place, it doesn’t feel totally finished, but it doesn’t seem like there’s enough questions left for an entire other book. 

An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

The first two thirds of this book are pretty predictable. The current timeline is so painfully boring, and it feels very disconnected from the past timeline. The past timeline is much more interesting, but there’s zero tension. 

But about two thirds of the way in the entire story shifts into a taken outline that feels so far out of left field. Everything is so coincidental and random, it just feels totally absurd. And the ending doesnt make any sense. All of the random plot lines that are started in the first half are wrapped up in a sentence or two, it just feels like there isn’t any real stakes in this story at all. 

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book has the best use of the podcast trope I have ever read. I loved how the podcast episodes were used to give you new information, instead of just reiterating what we already knew, like some other books do. 

I loved how dark and twisty this story is. I was really unsure of who or what to believe, all the way through the ending of the book. Although I think I believe what was said in final chapter, I can see readers being really torn on what they think the truth is. I really appreciate how dark it got as well, much scarier than a typical domestic thriller.

The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.5

The first few chapters of this book REEK of pick me energy, it’s a bit much. 

And I hate the narration style where they are talking directly to the reader in the second person, in a quirky way. It feels like narration from a bad teen movie.  

The ending was super rushed, and much more chaste than i was expecting. 

All Girls by Emily Layden

slow-paced

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

2.25

This book is marked as a thriller on GoodReads, and the synopsis sounds like it’s a literary fiction about a school handling a sexual assault allegation. Neither of those are true. 

This is more like a series of vignettes, following girls at an all-girls boarding school. But there isn’t anything tying the stories together. The rape os barely mentioned, and has no impact on any of the stories. 
You spend so little time with each character, it’s difficult to get invested with any of the individual girls, and even harder to tell them apart. 

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.

I thought Ava was annoying from the first chapter, so I had a hard time getting invested. And they fall in love SO fast, I just thought the whole thing was really cringy. I was dreading picking it up, so I decided not to finish.