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geraldine's reviews
319 reviews
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
the author really was like ah yes our villain is the lesbian who wears doc martens, and whose wife wouldn't agree to let her carry a baby with a friend as the donor so she instead kidnapped a friend's baby HELLO??? PLEASE??? also that her wife is all "ah yes I fell in love with my historic house because it has """servant stairs"""" PLEASE??????????
i saw multiple people in my book club rate this 5 stars and depending on their reasoning I may finally quit for real. secret note for thestorygraph only because I have half of these women on goodreads. return soon to see if I finally do myself a kindness and quit
i saw multiple people in my book club rate this 5 stars and depending on their reasoning I may finally quit for real. secret note for thestorygraph only because I have half of these women on goodreads. return soon to see if I finally do myself a kindness and quit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia
Dune by Frank Herbert
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I read a significant part of this in the early voting line for the 2020 presidential election, with my phone on 4% battery. Anyway i early voted in the 2024 primary last week so I figured I should finish this.
I think a guy named Craig should have shown up. I think there was a missed opportunity for there to be a guy named Craig. maybe Duncan Idaho could have been his friend and also indoctrinated him into his "barefoot is best" lifestyle
I think a guy named Craig should have shown up. I think there was a missed opportunity for there to be a guy named Craig. maybe Duncan Idaho could have been his friend and also indoctrinated him into his "barefoot is best" lifestyle
The Grave Between Us by Tal Bauer
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
i have got to stop reading stuff like this right before i go to sleep
how is it not prime government incompetence and corruption that they take a known murderer constrained with only handcuffs AND A SEATBELT and put him in a NORMAL ASS CAR and then act like it's the fault of the young new employee who interviewed him and not the fault of, i dunno, his SUPERIORS WHO PUT HIM IN A NORMAL ASS CAR AND NOT A PRISONER TRANSPORT VEHICLE??? NOT EVEN A NORMAL POLICE CRUISER BUT A NORMAL MERCEDES???? "oh you didn't see him eating a pencil" IF HE BROKE HIS CUFFS IN AN APPROPRIATE VEHICLE HE COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING UNTIL THEY STOPPED AND TOOK HIM OUT INSTEAD OF DRIVING. COLE, THIS IS NOT ON YOU. MIKE: LOSE YOUR JOB FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my god. they put this guy through the ringer. i wish they could both quit and move away with katie somewhere safe. was really glad their wedding was not in a cornfield though, they kept listing wedding venues and i was covering my face with my hands. those damn midwestern men and their cornfields...............
i do like all the main characters and i love a compelling mystery. wish i could rec these to my book club but the main girl bans explicit sex scenes (she WILL read them but doesn't want to discuss them in a book club with her mother) and also i don't trust them enough to rec a book with gay sex and gay main characters in it. anyone wanna start a gay mystery/thrillers book club with me
my god. they put this guy through the ringer. i wish they could both quit and move away with katie somewhere safe. was really glad their wedding was not in a cornfield though, they kept listing wedding venues and i was covering my face with my hands. those damn midwestern men and their cornfields...............
i do like all the main characters and i love a compelling mystery. wish i could rec these to my book club but the main girl bans explicit sex scenes (she WILL read them but doesn't want to discuss them in a book club with her mother) and also i don't trust them enough to rec a book with gay sex and gay main characters in it. anyone wanna start a gay mystery/thrillers book club with me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
Small Beauty by Jia Qing Wilson-Yang
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
read this for my book club, I voted against it when it came time to narrow down the list of books but it made it through anyway (twice!) so i was already biased against it when it came time to read it, but i did try very hard to give it a chance.
i've seen a lot of reviews criticize the writing style and while i didn't prefer it don't feel like it warrants a criticism as such, i feel like it does a decent job of putting you in milly's headspace where she's constantly in a state of flight or fight (or fight-flight-freeze-fawn i think it is now) and to that effect it works. i mean i didn't really enjoy it but i did understand and i think this one is just a matter of taste
however,
i really disliked the book itself. the whole time i felt like the author had definitely done research into how abused children act and think because the whole milly hates her mother/milly loves her mother/milly misses her mother/milly is terrified of her mother thing felt very true and heartbreaking, but then how the story resolves......
honestly i should have seen it coming. and by "it" i mean the author's note where the author reveals that she worked as a child psychologist and thanks her patients and says they were the basis of this book (??) and without them it wouldn't exist (!!!). i need you to know that throughout the entire book, i hated mike, the psychologist dad. i felt like it was an unbelievable conflict of interest to have him be both her psychologist AND her foster parent and was fully expecting a nasty twist with him, especially when milly finds out that he's trying to write a book about her which is both gross and exploitative. but then nothing happens because..................................... he is the stand in for the author?! unbelievable.
i had more compassion for phoebe than the author seemed to, writing her with almost no nuance at all solely to justify what happens to her at the end. girl is in a home where they desperately need family therapy but will never get it because apparently her father thinks he's all they need, where her mother had such severe post partum depression that she had to be hospitalized, where her father keeps bringing home foster children and ignoring his first daughter. not to justify the things phoebe does, but why is it when milly's older brother acts out and does awful to get away from his family, he is given compassion and understanding for what he does, but then phoebe is demonized and gets killed?
additionally i got a weird misogyny vibe that's hard to pin down as intentional and somewhat understandable in the narrative or the author's thoughts coming through. similar vibe to gillian flynn and this is NOT a complement, because i've read enough of flynn's work to know she personally genuinely hates women. i think milly having severe internalized misogyny is understandable considering what happened to her in her life, but again it's hard to say whether that's what the author intended or whether it was the author's true feelings coming out. really off vibe, especially about the foster family mother and the way milly talks about her. did not like this.
anyway this book made me realize that the british children's tv show Brum about a sentient car is named that because instead of saying cars and vehicles go "vroom vroom" in england they say "brum brum" which is pretty funny and a really late in life realization to have lmao
i've seen a lot of reviews criticize the writing style and while i didn't prefer it don't feel like it warrants a criticism as such, i feel like it does a decent job of putting you in milly's headspace where she's constantly in a state of flight or fight (or fight-flight-freeze-fawn i think it is now) and to that effect it works. i mean i didn't really enjoy it but i did understand and i think this one is just a matter of taste
however,
i really disliked the book itself. the whole time i felt like the author had definitely done research into how abused children act and think because the whole milly hates her mother/milly loves her mother/milly misses her mother/milly is terrified of her mother thing felt very true and heartbreaking, but then how the story resolves......
honestly i should have seen it coming. and by "it" i mean the author's note where the author reveals that she worked as a child psychologist and thanks her patients and says they were the basis of this book (??) and without them it wouldn't exist (!!!). i need you to know that throughout the entire book, i hated mike, the psychologist dad. i felt like it was an unbelievable conflict of interest to have him be both her psychologist AND her foster parent and was fully expecting a nasty twist with him, especially when milly finds out that he's trying to write a book about her which is both gross and exploitative. but then nothing happens because..................................... he is the stand in for the author?! unbelievable.
i had more compassion for phoebe than the author seemed to, writing her with almost no nuance at all solely to justify what happens to her at the end. girl is in a home where they desperately need family therapy but will never get it because apparently her father thinks he's all they need, where her mother had such severe post partum depression that she had to be hospitalized, where her father keeps bringing home foster children and ignoring his first daughter. not to justify the things phoebe does, but why is it when milly's older brother acts out and does awful to get away from his family, he is given compassion and understanding for what he does, but then phoebe is demonized and gets killed?
additionally i got a weird misogyny vibe that's hard to pin down as intentional and somewhat understandable in the narrative or the author's thoughts coming through. similar vibe to gillian flynn and this is NOT a complement, because i've read enough of flynn's work to know she personally genuinely hates women. i think milly having severe internalized misogyny is understandable considering what happened to her in her life, but again it's hard to say whether that's what the author intended or whether it was the author's true feelings coming out. really off vibe, especially about the foster family mother and the way milly talks about her. did not like this.
anyway this book made me realize that the british children's tv show Brum about a sentient car is named that because instead of saying cars and vehicles go "vroom vroom" in england they say "brum brum" which is pretty funny and a really late in life realization to have lmao
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
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? No
3.0
solid 3/5 stars. not bad! felt like pretty classic YA fantasy with its story beats, but on the better side of the average. had some thought put into it, i can see how she was able to write like 6 other books in the series because it does feel like the world is larger than just our hero alina
tell my why my library ebook edition ended on 59%!!!!! why was 41% OF THE BOOK not actually the book??????
tell my why my library ebook edition ended on 59%!!!!! why was 41% OF THE BOOK not actually the book??????
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
challenging
funny
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
worst part of this book was finding out that david fincher directed the music video for george michael's Freedom! '90
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
in the middle of reading this i started to get a weird feeling that in 2007 i read solely the last 10 pages of this while standing in the library. did i do that?? if i did that, why did i do that????
why did teen me only (maybe) read the last ten pages. if i read this as a kid i think i would have liked it more!
WAS SAM WESTING ACTUALLY A UNION BUSTER: DISCUSS NOW
WAS SAM WESTING ACTUALLY A UNION BUSTER: DISCUSS NOW
Father of Lies by Brian Evenson
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
don't be like me and choose to start reading this in your bed at night because not only could i not fall asleep but i also had truly horrific nightmares. learn from my mistakes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia and Sexual assault
Moderate: Murder
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
contains quite possibly the only likeable call of duty-playing star wars audiobook-reading character to ever exist, managing this is quite a feat, jason i don't know how you did it
found this gripping immediately from the first two pages, the way he described her going to that weird telepathy meeting really worked for me. i genuinely liked his writing style and thought it worked! i also thought he did a good job both of setting up the mystery and also setting up its red herrings but then bringing it all back together in the end, i felt like it was well constructed all around. i was texting a friend about it as i was reading like "i'm not sure how he's going to pull this all together because there's a couple threads left hanging" but he did actually do it in away that felt intentional and planned.
i found mallory herself very compelling as a character though i am curious about how she reads to someone who has struggled with addiction themselves!! and i really liked the sequence where it draws a parallel to mallory's moment of distracted driving with anya's moment of distracted painting and how accidents can always happen and it really does just take a moment. and how many other distracted near misses have you had in your life? i thought this really worked and was compassionate though i'm very curious as to how my book club feels here. i'm leading the meeting and i'm glad i picked this one because i think there's a lot to discuss.
also mr rekulak clearly has met a teen girl before because beth and her friends seemed very real to me. her friend and her eating gummy spaghetti in the back of the car really worked for me and i thought was a really great image and effective scene
teddy also feels like a real child, not too cutesy or twee, just a kid in what ends up being yknow.... a pretty fucked up situation. i'm still on the fence about the twist though, it was definitely set up and foreshadowed but i think it can be taken a bunch of different ways and some of those are offensive. like are you trying to say that even a young child can have a fully formed gender identity and even if someone says otherwise they'll still feel the same way? or are you trying to say something about like trans identity being a deception as this is how caroline is basically using it for teddy? it is true that sometimes people hide terrible things they've done/are doing by co-opting progressive language but it's hard to judge whether the author is going for this angle or whether he thinks trans kids are being harmed by being allowed to freely live as who they are.
this last point also makes me think of the scene where caroline tells mallory that she's bought teddy books on sex-ed and mallory questions the books' content, to me this read like the strawman critique on sex-ed in schools, where people claim that schools are going to teach five year olds about explicit sex instead of just like, appropriate language to talk about their bodies and enough information to be able to recognize and communicate harm. i know it's setting up the reveal that caroline is making teddy live as a boy but it really just feels off to me and makes me question the reasoning behind that entire plot point. this honestly would have been an easy 4 star book aside from this specifically, it really rubbed me the wrong way.
namedropping heir to the jedi as the book he was reading was probably one of the most benign books he could have had. now, if he had been reading maul lockdown while playing COD on his phone.......................................
i found mallory herself very compelling as a character though i am curious about how she reads to someone who has struggled with addiction themselves!! and i really liked the sequence where it draws a parallel to mallory's moment of distracted driving with anya's moment of distracted painting and how accidents can always happen and it really does just take a moment. and how many other distracted near misses have you had in your life? i thought this really worked and was compassionate though i'm very curious as to how my book club feels here. i'm leading the meeting and i'm glad i picked this one because i think there's a lot to discuss.
also mr rekulak clearly has met a teen girl before because beth and her friends seemed very real to me. her friend and her eating gummy spaghetti in the back of the car really worked for me and i thought was a really great image and effective scene
teddy also feels like a real child, not too cutesy or twee, just a kid in what ends up being yknow.... a pretty fucked up situation. i'm still on the fence about the twist though, it was definitely set up and foreshadowed but i think it can be taken a bunch of different ways and some of those are offensive. like are you trying to say that even a young child can have a fully formed gender identity and even if someone says otherwise they'll still feel the same way? or are you trying to say something about like trans identity being a deception as this is how caroline is basically using it for teddy? it is true that sometimes people hide terrible things they've done/are doing by co-opting progressive language but it's hard to judge whether the author is going for this angle or whether he thinks trans kids are being harmed by being allowed to freely live as who they are.
this last point also makes me think of the scene where caroline tells mallory that she's bought teddy books on sex-ed and mallory questions the books' content, to me this read like the strawman critique on sex-ed in schools, where people claim that schools are going to teach five year olds about explicit sex instead of just like, appropriate language to talk about their bodies and enough information to be able to recognize and communicate harm. i know it's setting up the reveal that caroline is making teddy live as a boy but it really just feels off to me and makes me question the reasoning behind that entire plot point. this honestly would have been an easy 4 star book aside from this specifically, it really rubbed me the wrong way.
namedropping heir to the jedi as the book he was reading was probably one of the most benign books he could have had. now, if he had been reading maul lockdown while playing COD on his phone.......................................