izzyvb023's reviews
81 reviews

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

Loved this one! It was half legal drama, half thriller, with a splash of lqbtq romance and Satanic Panic. The pacing was great and I never felt like it slowed down or dragged along. I thought the setting and the time period were really apt for the story and I enjoyed how the author tied in the different timelines. You could also tell that the author was well researched on both Canadian and American legal procedures. This made for a fun, face paced read as I wait for my law school application decisions.

Content Warnings

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

Go to review page

adventurous challenging slow-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? Yes

3.75

Slow middle but a wildly fun ending. Leto ii is a freak.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this one! Unfortunately, the wait at the library was far too long, so I had to listen to the audiobook (which is free on Spotify by the way). I prefer print & digital books over audio, and didn’t really love the narrator for this one; but nonetheless i enjoyed it overall!

Some people have criticized them, but I actually really enjoyed the time jumps / character povs. It felt like a great ensemble cast and definitely kept me engaged because I wanted to find out what happened to all the different people. The time jumps were a little difficult to track at first, but after a couple chapters, they weren’t bad at all! I also really appreciated how human each main character was. I felt like I could truly understand the choices each of them made and why they made certain mistakes. That is, I understand the stakes and the importance of some of the decisions for Judy, TJ, Tracy, Barbara, Louise, and even Alice. (Not so much the serial killer or the old men haha). I understand why TJ and her father

did what they did

. I understand why Louise

stayed with JPM

for as long as she did. And I understand why Barbara

disappeared.

In many reviews, I see Alice being critiqued as weak and unlikable. I agree for the most part. But I really think more than anything, her character is just so tragic. She was never really allowed to have ambitions or show emotions. She was forced to marry to a man almost twice her age as a teenager. Her husband

has an affair with her own sister

. On top of all that, both of her children are either dead or missing- all the while she is being force fed Valium and shuffled around by the men. That being said, she was still a terrible mother to Barbara. But I still really felt sorry for her.

Things I loved:

The name “Judyta.” I had never heard it before and I thought it was so beautiful, especially how it was pronounced by the audiobook narrator
The setting. The author does a fantastic job immersing the reader into the mountains/woods themselves. I could imagine all the aspects of the camp and the preserve. The atmosphere was done really well
The misdirection/thriller aspect. I loved all the clues and investigation parts. It was fun to try to piece the story together and come up with my own theories.
The class tensions / the relationships between the townspeople and the Van Laars. At times it was a little too on the nose, but I do think it added a really interesting element to the story.
The ending. I was hoping
this is what happened to Barbara. Maybe it’s wishful thinking to hope this would happen in real life, but I was satisfied with the conclusion, and especially Judyta’s reaction to it
The ghost stories: i loved how the children’s ghost stories at camp revealed themselves throughout the novel/how we discovered the real life inspirations! I thought that was a really fun touch
The silence of the lambs esque side plot: nothing to say other than i thought this was fun. Judy was totally giving Jodie Foster interviewing Hannibal.

Things I didn’t love:

The cook. I don’t even remember his name because he was such an unnecessary character.They try to redeem him later in the story, but it doesn’t land for me. He should not have been working at a summer camp in the first place.
I had really hoped
Bear was alive somewhere :((
The audiobook narrator kept doing silly man voices each time she voiced a male character. I get that she was deepening her voice to better act out a male voice, but it was just kind of comedic to me and was sometimes distracting
I wish there was more “God of the Woods” imagery/discussion. I loved the part about Pan & the root word for Panic. The title of the book really drew me in, so i wish there was just a little more of that

Overall, this was an absolutely riveting read and I enjoyed it quite a bit! I’d absolutely recommend for anyone who’s in the mood for a good mystery with a great outdoorsy atmosphere

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

This was a relatively short read and a great one for October. It’s definitely YA, but enjoyable regardless!

Pros:
- The vibes are immaculate: Spooky Girly Sapphic Medical Body Horror
- characters were equally likeable and flawed.
- it was a great read if you watch “Yellowjackets” and are waiting for the 3rd season to come out. Similar vibes and scratched the itch

Cons:
- i wish we learned more about the Tox itself! I thought the whole

global warming aspect

that gets sprinkled in towards the end is really interesting. And the

worms

were super cool too. I personally would have loved to have more of the scientific elements fleshed out
- the romance is pretty brief. If you’re looking for a fully fleshed sapphic horror romance, i’d look elsewhere. I still enjoyed it though!

Content Warnings

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

Perfect short read for October! Classic haunted spooky lesbian vampire vibes.

Beholder by Ryan La Sala

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

As a huge fan of “The Honeys,” I was so excited to see that LaSala has another spooky psychedelic horror book out! The cover art was an incredible touch that immediately drew me in. I was not disappointed.

For fans of “The Honey’s,” this one is less kaleidoscope-y, but still colored in rainbows. (if that even makes sense at all)?
Its still supernatural, just in a different way. “The Honey’s” was a kind of horror that I can only describe as ‘glittery.’ “Beholder” is more of an artsy occult vibe. (And i loved it)!

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in:
- mirrors / reflections / rainbows
- unconventional horror monsters
- queer YA stories
- secret art collector cults that do their business in tunnels deep below NYC

Don’t read if you aren’t a fan of
- eldritch beings
- spiders
- eldritch beings that are spiders

youthjuice by E.K. Sathue

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

‘Youthjuice’ is very accurately being described as the little sister to Ling Ling Huang’s ‘Natural Beauty.’ It was overall pretty good and entertaining. Fans of ‘Natural Beauty’ or Mona Awad’s ‘Rouge’ would probably enjoy it. However, it was lacking a bit for me in terms of plot/characters.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

I think the flashbacks to the moments with Mona would have been more compelling if the big twist was that the secret ingredient to youthjuice was the blood of addicts/homeless people. To me, Tree and Sophia both would be much more compelling and terrifying characters if the addiction storyline was fleshed out in that way- I could totally see Tree justifying it by saying that nobody would miss these people. It would tie in the Dom story with the Mona story and help make better sense of the moment Sophia sees Tree in the park. Furthermore, it would then be especially heinous for Tree to be seemingly secretly getting the interns addicted to drugs. Instead, the story with the interns is a little clunky. The big reveal was predictable and not really satisfying. I also wish we got to understand more of Sophia’s mental state. There are several parts of the book where she is delirious and then doesn’t remember what happened to her. She doesn’t drink, but describes several instances of feeling drunk. There wasn’t really a resolution on this-was it the blood? Was it drugs? Was it just her deteriorating health? Why did she write those things in her journal and forget them entirely?

Overall it was a fun Halloweeny horror read and I liked the unreliable narrative. But if readers haven’t read ‘Rouge’ or ’Natural Beauty’ yet, I recommend reading those first.

Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place by bell hooks

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

bell hooks herself describes the book perfectly in her introduction: “Dirge-like at times, the poems repeat sorrow sounds, connecting the pain of a historical Kentucky landscape ravaged by war and all human conditions that are like war.”
‘Appalachian Elegy’ was a beautiful meditation on the spiritual and natural elements that linger over Appalachia and give it its unique character and sense of place. I much prefer hooks’ prose to her poetry, but I still really enjoyed this short collection of poems. To anyone who wants to read ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ I would highly recommend reading this book instead.

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I think more people need to be worried about prions diseases.

I liked this book well enough. It was paced pretty slowly, but the reveal was good. The narrator was unreliable and oftentimes even unlikeable, but I still wanted her to succeed.
There was also some very thoughtful commentary about translation, colonialism, and feminism. I was especially interested in the way the author described the act of translation and compared it to prayer.
The ‘meta’ bit at the end was good. It definitely achieved its goal and had me questioning the author and her lived experiences.

Overall, it was a good mild horror read. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for any of the following:

- dark academia
- plot twists
- mild body horror
- unreliable narrator
- meta
- translation/linguistics/language learning

Content Warnings

The Bacchae by Euripides

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

great read for any girls who like to dance, drink wine, participate in terrifying rituals, cross dress, and hunt the upholders of the patriarchy.

More...

izzyvb023's reviews 81 reviews

izzyvb023's reviews
81 reviews