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hannahleelovestoread's reviews
609 reviews

Forked Accents by Osadolor Osayande

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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The Ex-Wives Club by Sally Hepworth

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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SOMETIME AROUND MIDNIGHT by Stephanie Pass

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Darci has almost everything going for her. She has a successful career as a children’s librarian, a cozy home of her own, and an unbreakable bond with her best friend, Claire. However, she can’t help feeling a little envious of the love Claire shares with her fiancé, Edison. Meanwhile, Darci’s neighbor Alex, a doctor in the local hospital’s emergency room, is fighting to overcome his grief over a personal tragedy that took place years ago. When Darci and Alex cross paths, their interactions are full of miscommunication and misunderstandings — but some unidentified force keeps leading them back to each other. 
This book was such a fun, dynamic read. Author Stephanie Pass managed to combine comedy and spice with relatable characters and a realistic depiction of grief. The vulnerability, love, and hesitation of the scene in which Alex brings Darci along to the cemetery brought me to tears. The only thing about the story that didn’t resonate with me was the slight element of magical realism with the annotated romance novels; it felt detached from the rest of the plot. Overall, though, I highly recommend this book. 
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Data Independence: Reclaiming Privacy in an Era of Evolving Tech by Wes Chaar

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Data Independence by Wes Chaar is an eye-opening book written from a uniquely informed perspective. Chaar, who worked with Delta Airlines in the 1980s, had employee access to the earliest customer relationship management (CRM); in other words, he helped collect customer data to optimize revenue. As time has gone on and this practice has grown exponentially in both the public and private sectors, Chaar has become a firm believer in every person’s fundamental right to privacy. The book focuses on the public need for a “Data Constitution” and proposes three core tenets of data consent, data control, and data currency. The author points to the role government policy now plays in the regulation (and lack thereof) of data collection and promotes citizens’ active participation in the legislative process. 
I am amazed at the sheer volume of information I learned from this book. Chaar has a knack for breaking down a complicated topic into easily digestible pieces for the less-than-tech-savvy like myself. Frankly, however, my optimism is not equal to his. While I believe that citizens can and quite possibly will take back a small amount of their privacy, I am afraid that much of the damage is done. Because of books like this one, though, I am a well-informed citizen able to make more conscious decisions about my privacy in the digital arena. As such, I highly recommend this book to everyone.
The Blanks by Grady Hendrix

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dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This story packed a punch of the most bizarre variety. The plot was so incredibly strange that I almost DNF’d at one point. However, I’m so glad I didn’t. The story — and the beautiful, symbolic, dread-inducing writing style — reminded me a little of Shirley Jackson’s. 
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American Picts: A High Octane Thriller by Jack Dancer

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

American Picts by Jack Dancer hits the ground running from the first page with its fast-paced action and twisty, thrilling plot. Tucker has landed an inheritance from a distant relative in McKinnon County, North Carolina, in the depths of Appalachia. The residents there — mostly members of the same complex family tree — are tough; jaded; and tattooed blue like their ancestors, Pictish warriors native to Scotland. Along with his inheritance, however, comes an increasingly complicated murder mystery. The obvious culprit is Julian Blackhardt, head of Blackhardt Mining Company, which has international reach but particularly values the high-purity quartz found in McKinnon County. But who else is involved? And how does all of this pertain to a 1923 assault case which has plagued local race relations for a century? 
This was a fun book full of surprises. Admittedly, I found myself a little lost at times, and I felt like a lot of action was packed in at the end. Similes were overabundant in the text, but Dancer has an undeniable talent for writing. His snappy, witty style and charming characters have me hooked. I highly recommend this book. 
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The Starfire Prophecy by Chantelle N. Kerr

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
I’m very thankful to NerdFam for sending me a copy of this book. It has great potential; the characters are dynamic, and the stakes are high. However, I just couldn’t get into the plot. 
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THE INTERCHANGE by John Steven Welch

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Interchange by John Steven Welch is a wild, dystopian ride through the upper echelons of “New American” society in the year 2094. An imaginative, shocking, and occasionally humorous look at a potential crescendo of all our society’s current social troubles and tensions, this Orwellian work tackles such issues as gender, climate change, and surrogate pregnancy. The plot features Aureole Agnor, a prominent “Manx” — designated inherently masculine, as opposed to Femina — wife and mother who heads the Military, Cyber/Intelligence, & Police branch of the New American capital’s Command center. When Aureole personally interrogates a captured member of the Red Dawn movement, a treasonous effort to bring back the supposedly antiquated notions of natural pregnancy and birth, she is uncomfortable with the increasing curiosity and empathy she feels. In Aureole’s modern world, where will these emotions take her? 
I was fascinated by the creativity it clearly took to write this book. The story within is the most thought-provoking thing I have read in quite some time. The characters are incredibly memorable, and the dystopian setting is immaculate. The Interchange is a work of art, and I highly recommend it to all readers. 
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Cold War Two: Navigating a New Era of Uncertainty for the Economy, Finance, Energy, Technology, Trade, and Supply Chain by Jason Schenker

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

This book takes a detailed look at the geopolitical intricacies of the fallout of the Cold War and why, in author Jason Schenker’s opinion, the world is in the midst of the titular Cold War Two. He posits that China, not Russia, is in fact the most dangerous power facing the United States and its allies. Schenker points out that, unlike former generations, modern American students learn about the World Wars as two parts of one broader conflict. The infamous Cold War, he argues, should similarly be viewed as a twin of the alliance declared by Russia and China on February 4, 2022.
Admirably, Schenker prefaces the bulk of the text by reviewing his credentials as an economist and futurist who is clearly well-versed in twentieth-century history. His line of thinking is not politically biased; he criticizes — albeit gently — the Nixon, Biden, and Trump administrations for what he sees as their fumbling of the situation at hand. While this is no light read, it is an essential one for anyone desirous of a deeper understanding of current events. 
The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.
For lack of a more eloquent explanation, I didn’t get this story. I didn’t connect with the characters or understand the point of anything that was going on. I would have stuck with it for longer, but there was a lot of violence that seemed gratuitous. 
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