jbellomy's reviews
445 reviews

Dear Prudence: Liberating Lessons from Slate.com's Beloved Advice Column by Daniel M. Lavery

4.0

Wish it had an actual ending but Danny's Prudence rules so hard. I don't say this lightly -- if you don't like his Prudence, I think you are a bad person. Like if you consistently disagree with his takes, then we do not reside in the same moral universe. Also he is funny. I hehe and haha'd my way through this. Listened to it in one day. Good stuff.

I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

I love Courtney Summers -- truly, she's one of my favorite ya writers -- but someone needs to rein her in. The forward of this book, in which she reiterates critical praise her writing has received in the past and claims that this new story is "groundbreaking," put such a bad taste in my mouth and kind of soured me on the whole thing. I kept expecting something truly """groundbreaking""" to happen and it just didn't. I have no idea why they included that forward -- was it supposed to serve as a trigger warning? Super weird. (And you might argue that I wouldn't be so annoyed if a male author had done the same thing. You'd be wrong! I'd hate that way more! If a male author had inserted that self-congratulatory, pointless forward into a book, I would have never started the story proper.)

Anyway this was fine, not out of the ordinary for Summers. Not as good as Sadie or All the Rage but better than The Project. Huge fan of Nora and the brother. It truly sucks that the forward tainted the experience.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

Go to review page

lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

Weirdest pacing, milktoast characters. Absolutely unbelievable "flaw" for the female MC -- what 28-year-old is still this obsessed with how her high school music teacher perceives her?! I don't think anyone pushing 30 is thinking about high school this much. Wild stuff.
Also, !! PSA !!: pointing out the fact that you're relying on boring-ass cliches/tropes (e.g. hitting absolutely every beat of the Hallmark Movie Romance) does not mean those tropes are now fun & fresh! I am so tired of lampshading! It should be illegal!

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

Nothing but respect for MY near-utopian space society

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Most straightforward and, weirdly, least disturbing of Flynn's three books. Solid mystery that follows a structure classic to the genre.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Go to review page

dark emotional funny sad medium-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

4.0

Wish we spent more time in Anika's perspective or none at all, but other than that, I think the author accomplished what she appeared to have set out to. I was floored by her ability to endear me to each character through their perspective; starting with Isthma, for example, was so smart because it gave insight into her later appearances, and the two boys I disliked/distrusted until I read their sections. That aspect being the book's strength works well on a meta-narrative level too -- by the end, you can't view any of the characters in the way you might if you were watching the events unfold over the news. It's not a spectacle. They're all too human to be othered. Points were made. A simple but deceptively effective little book.

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott

Go to review page

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

HOT DAMN why do people like domestic thrillers? It's all low-effort, no-plot, slightly ominous ~vibes~ until something happens at the end. Like I love (LOVE, truly) a good twist, but there has to be something it's twisting on, some foundation of events and characterization. It's not a surprise if the whole book has been one big question mark -- "ooo something's going on, what could it be????" -- and the "twist" is the answer. Bigger mystery is why I keep reading this genre & honestly that's on me.

There's a bit at the end that's slightly redemptive but even then

I was really hoping it'd pull a Most Dangerous Game & was deeply saddened when it didn't.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced