kaceyjoy's reviews
791 reviews

Throwback by Maurene Goo

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

First book of the traveling book club for 2024 and I loved this fun back to the future meets mean girls story! Sam and Priscilla are such great characters! I love all the 90s nostalgia! Definitely pick this one up!

Edited to add full review:
This is a perfect combination of Back to the Future and The Joy Luck Club with a dash of Mean Girls! Part time travel fantasy, part family drama, part high school teen drama, but all heart!

I thoroughly enjoyed this blast from the past, as I'm only a few years younger than the mom in this book. Having been through high school in the nineties, being a lover of Back to the Future and of teen dramas (especially ones from the 90s) - I am the ideal audience for this book! 

Sam is the daughter of Priscilla who is the daughter of  a Korean immigrant. Priscilla and Sam don't see eye to eye when it comes to their goals. Priscilla wants Sam to shape up and fit in with the country club elite. Sam wants Priscilla to chill out and be more easy going like her Halmoni, but Priscilla has a very different relationship with her mother than what Sam sees. 

After a huge fight between this mother and daughter - in the parking lot of a mall no less - Sam finds herself taking a ride share to school, but Throwback Rides is not your average ride share! After Marge, the nosiest driver ever, drops Sam off at school, she soon realizes she's traveled from 2025 to 1995! Now the "new girl" in school, Sam bumps into one of the most popular girls in school - her mother! Can they start to understand where each other's coming from and even become friends? Can Sam solve her time travel dilemma and get back to the future?! All in time for homecoming?! 

Definitely check this one out if you love Back to the Future, coming of age stories with a cute romance plot, and an all around heart warming multi generational tale.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Dark Age by Pierce Brown
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

Second try, first time got to nearly 5 hours. Just not in the head space for this many POV right now

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by Natalie Haynes, Kate Mosse, Lucy Foley, Alyssa Cole, Jean Kwok, Naomi Alderman, Elly Griffiths, Ruth Ware, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Leigh Bardugo, Val McDermid

mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams Live in Concert by Douglas Adams

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

Super fun very funny! Not the first book but a collection of shirt stories from throughout the books. 

The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna

adventurous mysterious tense 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

4.25

Unbirthday by Liz Braswell

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Enjoyable but a bit long at times

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn

medium-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? Yes

4.0