harryjandrews_99's reviews
86 reviews

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

This is my second Yanagihara book after reading A Little Life which I absolutely loved, and To Paradise I found was quite a rollercoaster. It’s separated into 3 strokes which take place 100 years from each other and is set in an alternative version of America. The first book I loved and was my favourite of the 3, though it was also the shortest. It seemed quite happy and “fluffy” compared to A Little Life and I wasn’t sure what to expect from Yanagihara’s second novel.  Book 2 was my least favourite, it’s split into two parts: part 1 I loved once again but part 2 I didn’t care for as much - although Yanagihara’s writing is truly beautiful and so I wasn’t bored by it. The final book really had me confused at first, so different thematically to the first two books that I was like wait what is happening here. It seemed to have gone left field and onto a subject matter, irrelevant to the first two stories. But as I read more of this final story, it grew on me, I was rooting the Charlie and intrigued to know what was going to happen. The biggest issue I had with book 3 was I found the context of the dystopian 2093 society a bit too confusing. There was a fair bit of scientific terminology and it was a bit hard to follow the history and society of this alternative America. Nonetheless I still enjoyed it. Overall, the book centres on storylines all about characters, which I suspect are descendants from each other, yearning to find the perfect place for themselves and their loved ones. I’m essence a journey To Paradise

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

The first half of the this book was quite slow, although I was in a bit of a reading slump so it could’ve been that. It bombards you at the start with the new terminology of this world (e.g. Dante, Virgil, Lethe House, Houses of the Veil…) but I found it was quickly explained or defined. The latter half of the book was what grabbed me, when the storyline started becoming intense as tensions increased and the investigation into Tara’s murder kicked off. And by the end I was enthralled with the world of Ninth House and didn’t want it to stop

Ghost Town by Kevin Chen

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There was some beautiful writing in this book but I was often a bit lost at times with the switching narratives and timelines. But it was a decent read. The conclusion to Keith and T’s story came a bit out of nowhere to me, seemed a bit random but it was intriguing to read nonetheless

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

One of a few collections of short stories I’ve read and seeing it described as horror struck me. The stories I found were mostly creepy and disturbing rather than scary and also were a bit confusing in others, as in the storyline didn’t seem to be completely finished. Still enjoyed it though, just wasn’t outstanding

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I was in a bit of a reading slump so it took me a while to get through it and considering I was absurdly unexcited about reading this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It offers insights into the sides of Nazi Germany that we don’t think about when we reflect on the war and the humanity that connects us all

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-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? No

5.0

FEMINISM. I bloody loved this book it was so brilliant I’m not going to try to even explain it. I was blown away I loved how emotional yet funny and quirky this book was and the relevance it has to the real world. It was so good. One of my favourite parts is that at times throughout the book it is narrated by Six-Thirty (the dog) who has his own thoughts and feelings and was so smart too. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This is the 3rd Taylor Jenkins Reid book I’ve read and once again I loved how easy and intriguing the storyline was. It was such a simple concept, required little thinking and yet still had the emotional baggage to keep you glued to it. The star of this book, for me, was definitely the Riva siblings - Nina, Jay, Hud and Kit. Each had their own lives with their own distinct personalities and complications which made the book lovable. There was quite of lot of tension building in the first part and it comes to a great crescendo in Part 2, I think that there could’ve been some more drastic plot points just to make the ending a bit more dramatic but nonetheless it was still a great, entertaining, emotional read

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I loved the horror and apocalyptic narrative of this book it was so interesting and engaging and having trans women as the focal characters of this dystopian disaster novel was truly enlightening. My only qualm was that there was a lot, like a lot, of graphic sex scenes which were bit too frequent for my taste. And these sex scenes felt like they were fan fiction in a way in their descriptions, they were pretty graphic, often and hid from nothing. Which is great in the sense of trans sex representation but I did think bloody hell there’s a lot of fucking going on. Otherwise would’ve been 4 stars

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I’m struggling to sum up how I felt about this book, it felt pretty slow in times but I did love the magic of the world Blake created. However, I felt the whole book was building up the inevitable “initiation” which

doesn’t end up happening and a twist occurs instead

But it seemed to be the focal point of the narrative and it took so long to get there with little pay off and I’m left with more questions that when I first started. Having said that, I also didn’t find this book boring, at times confusing, but I still wasn’t disinterested enough to not keep going with it. All in all, I was expecting more from it and curious to see where the series will go but not in such a rush to find out.

Bunny by Mona Awad

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

2.5

What the fuck was going on in this book? I was so confused reading it but at the same time I wanted to know more, became more engaged within this world. I couldn’t put it down, yet I was still bewildered as to what was happening. A fine concept, rather odd, Mean Girls meets Culty-Margaret Atwood esque plot.