hmgauthier's Reviews (242)

City of Lost Souls

Cassandra Clare

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

“There are some people, people the universe seems to have singled out for special destines, special favors and special torments. God knows we’re all drawn toward what’s beautiful and broken I have been but some people cannot be fixed or if they can be, it’s only by love and sacrifice so great it destroys the giver.”

“My heart is your heart, your hands are my hands.”

Loved:
- I now know why I love the word “incredulous.”
- never knew how romantic it could be to plot the death of a (evil) sibling.
- Simon telling the plot of Star Wars as a bedtime story.
- Saint magnus’ home for wayward shadowhunters.
- the theme of struggle (good v evil, one v many, if someone’s save able, etc)

I will say, the book needed an edit to remove about have the uses of “incredulous.”

“The Bone Chandler” is one of the best chapters of any book I’ve ever read.

I liked Molly Quinn as the narrator, she would have been a great Clary in the show. Will forever fight the official pronunciations of some of the words.

The Only One Left

Riley Sager

3.75

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

3.5!

“The world is not a kind place for women accused of violence. You, of all people, should understand that.”

This was FUN, love the little murder rhyme, the eerie setting, and the positively beguiling mystery.

This story and its plot were very complicated to follow at times (in ways that made sense and didn’t) but wow is Kit fast to leap to conclusions. Also how did this take place like over a week, I’m a little confused about that

All the Painted Stars

Emma Denny

4.0

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

“She had thought it typical then that the only man who had ever stirred anything in her stronger than begrudging acceptance was a man of no name or rank, completely unsuitable. And now, she realized, he was not even a man.”

“Jo had always buried her feelings, pressing them into the soft lomey earth of her mind, she hadn’t known that burying them would make them grow and put down roots…”

The sapphic The Knights Tale of my DREAMS

The narrators were fantastic!!

Could have used a little more yearning in my opinion

Vampires at Sea

Lindsay Merbaum

2.0

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!

“I binged, seeking ecstasy.”

“I’m on a barge of starfkers and I’m not the star.”

I thought this was written for me: a queer horror book about vampires on a cruise, yes PLEASE should be my favorite read of the year. Sure it was fine and it may be perfect for someone else but it never quite delivered for me.

Lots of unanswered questions remain at the end and I can’t help but feel that the authors goal of creating a meaningful/symbolic story came at the expense of actual story.

I like that these weren’t traditional vampires but the story lacked on the horror element that was promised.

I thought it was interesting how Hugh ended up being spiteful of the life they lived that was tailored and created for his comfort, quite realistic.

Mickey7

Edward Ashton

3.0

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was entertaining but I didn’t love it.

I thought the chapter about the planet Galt and how Far Home dealt with Galt was very entertaining.

Really interesting commentary about colonization, space colonization, immortality, and genocide.

Nice reminder that even if we manage to go to other planets we will still bring our baggage with us.

The Belles

Lacey N. Dunham

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!

“Tradition was a force that could not be stopped.”

“… she had learned her lacking make others uncomfortable, even angry.”

The Belles is everything good a dark academia book should be: a compelling look at class, race, and power. Where other books may focus on an aesthetic, The Belles to its core fits the brief.

I found the pacing rough, picking up and slowing down randomly until the end.

These girls are horrible and compelling and I loved reading about them. The rising hysteria and cult like following that festered until one act of “disobedience” upsets the pack beyond fixing.

The flashbacks to Bellertons founding were probably my favorite part of the story!

The Heiress

Rachel Hawkins

4.5

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation

Tommy Dorfman

4.5

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

Huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!

“I’ve always been a loud-ass bitch.”

“Why should I have to change how I exist for other people’s comfort?”

This is a very raw, real story that is undoubtably hard to read at times. Tommy Dorfman is an excellent writer, cutting hard moments with humor and gorgeous turns of phrase.

I really loved the inclusion about how her parents met and Uncle Tommy, these stories were such great reads and so heartfelt.

It was deeply moving reading about Tommy’s journey into becoming the person she was meant to be and how it didn’t look like what she really expected it to be.

At times it was hard to tell the linear-ness of the story which made it sort of hard to tell where the reader was in the timeline of events. But at the same time I love how the story is told through a tarot card pull and the stories each card illicit.