jacobmillerchapin's reviews
42 reviews

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

Beach Read by Emily Henry

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.75

this book makes much more sense when understanding that the narrator is unconsciously unreliable

wishfully delusional, saccharine, and devourable

Emily Henry is one of the best romance writers in the business

The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Circe by Madeline Miller

3.0

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-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

4.5

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

adventurous funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I like how this book doesn't take itself seriously, but it definitely isn't a tight story—though maybe what felt like droning filler to me will feel like immersive world building to someone else! Everyone's got different tastes :)

Velise by Cebelius

medium-paced

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

2.75

The world is interesting but the character motivations aren't fully developped, and the romance collapses into an undeserved happy ending. The first protagonist, Bremmin, completely falls apart the second — not the second someone does something truly heartfelt for him, or helps him grow as a character — but the second someone manages to pull the strings he tries so hard to hide. He starts off as a fairly solid self-respecting man, but by the end of the book has completely transformed into a cookie cutter doey eyed malleable romance hero. Velise, the other protagonist, even if by the end she does claim to love him, there's no sense that that isn't only because of what he can give to her, and I'm left with the impression that her love only means that she would briedly hesitate before abandoning him. Refusing to use a safeword during BDSM play is a huge red flag. I like reading books like this because they give a good although not self-aware insight into relationship dynamics, and can reveal certain patterns in both myself and other people that by seeing clealry I can better navigate, but I really wouldn't say that anything about this story is romantic. Romantic in a self-destructive sense, if nothing else. I guess some peole are into that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

adventurous funny informative mysterious 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? No

3.75

intricately elaborate, well orchestrated, and a little bit outlandish. the research that went into this book is incredible, and I was ravenous to find out how the plot would unfold. I wasn't blown away by the characters, and the story might not be True—but it's a lot of fun.

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0