jennametheny's reviews
166 reviews

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

sad slow-paced

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

1.0

It would have been a DNF if I weren’t reading for book club. There are beautiful bits of writing in this, strung together by no plot at all. So many times an interesting concept would be introduced simply to never come back up again, or if it did it wasn’t for any significant reason. I’m sure some readers can find pleasure in these collections of scenes or vignettes with no true main character, but I spent the entire book waiting for a plot to appear.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.0

A+ romance with a dose of found family. I adore the characters, all of them! Yes, even that one. Our antagonist is extremely compelling. Nate is amazing, and his innate goodness even comes full circle and feeds into his only flaws, which make him feel more well rounded than “random perfect hot guy.” And I will not stand for the Anastasia slander in these reviews. She’s hot headed and passionate and I love those character traits on her. It’s nice to find female characters who are allowed to be emotional and temperamental, instead of generically “strong and independent but not in an offensive way.” Plus,

it was made very clear that some of her irritability and other “annoying” habits were due to her eating disorder. She even starts to flex on her planner toward the end of the story.

I love the way HG managed to construct a romance plot that’s shockingly free of miscommunication tropes and unlikely coincidences. In this romance, decisions make sense and healthy communication exists and we love it.

I knocked half a point off for infodumping character backstory in the beginning and half a point for the epilogue. IYKYK. Finished in less than 24 hours so it’s safe to say I loved it!

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

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funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I’m disappointed by my own review. I absolutely adored the first book, so when this one became such a slog I was truly shocked. It’s sloooooow. I got through it because I came to care for these characters during the first installment, but this was a struggle to finish line.

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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emotional sad slow-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

4.5

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

It’s such a fun ride. I really enjoyed it.

Pros:
-Likeable characters
-Fun bad guys
-Unique fantasy plot
-Dragons!
-inclusivity
-well paced

Cons:
-author attempts to be clever in world building delivery, but it just ends up being an info dump distracting from tense scenes

-contemporary writing in a fantasy setting can take a bit to adjust to, but once you do it’ll only occasionally shock you

-I knew exactly where the love story was going beat for beat, and even guessed the twist, but the plot itself was so fun I didn’t care

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced