katrod's reviews
489 reviews

One of the Best: Skill Sportsmanship Self-Discipline by Joe Palumbo

informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book started off real strong but really lagged for me in the middle.  I can’t tell if it was just the story, or because I hated the narration of the audiobook so much 😂. I still really enjoyed the story and the magic/world building was interesting.  Just not particularly attached to the characters yet.

Solito by Javier Zamora

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Not easy to read, but definitely important to read, Solito tells the story of Javier Zamora’s journey to immigrate from El Salvador to the United States at the age of 9 years old.  He does it alone, but luckily finds I himself taken in by some truly wonderful people and ends up having somewhat of a “found” family as he crosses.

This story is gut wrenching in so many ways, but what broke my heart the most, was the incredible way Zamora was able to let us into his 9 year old experience.  Often I’d find myself wondering if we were reading straight from a journal of his, and then I’d read a beautifully poetic passage about the way the sun rose over the mountains and I’d realize he was just that good at blending stunning writing with the reality of his young journey.   It was truly masterful.

It’s a story not for the faint of heart, but if 9 year old Javier survived it, we can certainly be brave enough to read of this very real, daily experience for so many people. 

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Not much need for me to do a full review here.  TLDR I loved it.  I have some questions, but I’m choosing to have faith that we’re not supposed to have the answers yet and that they’ll be answered in the subsequent books.

Mostly, I loved the plot, the twists and turns, the dragons, and continued to love Xaden and Violet’s romance.  All the conflict felt valid, the tension remained intriguing, and I still obsessed over them.  I cannot wait until book 3 😭

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

adventurous informative 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

4.5

Okay, I’m really into this story now.  Though Harkness definitely has a tendency to write about extraneous details and go off in a tangent (a La Outlander), I actually really enjoyed reading them in this book.  The historical research she had to have done was astounding.

I also thought the way she wove history and Diana and Matthew’s story together was so fun.  I loved the tidbits of real history we got, mixed in with Harkness’s own alterations and opinions on what might have really happened.  

There were a few questions I had about the logistics of the time spinning, but they didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the book. 

Overall I’m really getting into her writing style and so excited to see what happens now that they’re back and Diana’s magic has been explained/discovered. 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? N/A

4.0

This book is a perfect window into the 2010’s vampire craze and mixes the romance and magic of both Twilight and Outlander.  But I almost had to put it down because the first 350 pages are a MAJOR slog.  There is so much jargon about alchemy and historical texts, it is almost not worth getting through the first half of this book.  (And 350 is barely past the halfway point.)  However, the remaining pages were riveting!  Once I got past that point I truly could not put it down and was so excited by all that was coming together and unfolding.  

I am still so angry that the first 350 pages weren’t condensed into 150 or even 100 (which I believe could have been done very easily).  But I’m now hooked on the story and immediately had to start the second book… maybe Harkness was gaining her footing as a writer? I just wish it had been edited better. 

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to love this book, I really did.  But I just couldn’t get behind our MC.  I just couldn’t believe how dumb she was when it was so clear to me from the start all the bad choices she was making.  This made for a very anticlimactic discovery in the end. 

I also felt like it was so long and at the same time, I essentially learned almost nothing about Haxahaven and the Sons… and didn’t really feel like the build of any relationships made sense.  I didn’t feel any of the history that was supposedly there

I feel bad.  This is a fun concept and I really wanted to like it, but it was just average.  Maybe the next one is better? 

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Ok loooooved.  The middle had me doubting… I just think it was a wee bit too long and I was getting kind of disengaged around that halfway mark, especially in the present day chapters.  But DAMN once we hit about 3/4 through I was hooked and couldn’t put it down till I finished.  Sobbed, wept, contemplated life…. Major book hangover with this one.  Rebecca Yarros is swiftly becoming a new auto-buy author for me.

Paper Names by Susie Luo

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I had a love/hate experience reading this book.  It was an immigrant story I’ve not read yet, so in that way, it was really engaging.  There were also some really beautiful passages and phrases that stuck with me.  I liked most of the characters’ complexities (though some were completely unforgivable in my opinion).  

But what threw me off most about this book was the pacing.  First, for 3/4 of the book, I didn’t really understand why the reader should be there.  It wasn’t clear what message the author was trying to get across… just seemed to be a collection of anecdotes from a few different lives.

Second, time jumped around all over the place and I often doing myself getting lost and confused and not knowing where we were in the timeline.  And these time swaps didn’t seem to serve a purpose for the reader.  It was just confusing. 

That being said, I certainly had moments where I felt so swept away in the story and felt it’s poignancy.  I truly loved it at times, but the pacing just didn’t work for me. 

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book started off really strong.  I started it hoping to just read a few chapters at the airport and I ended up not being able to put it down and reading more than halfway through on the plane. 
 The pacing struggled a bit from there.  

This story is about Palestinian women and the roles they are forced into in their Arabic culture and the unfortunate circumstances they must deal with no matter where they are, whether it be Palestine or the US.  It's about mothers and daughters, cycles of abuse, trauma, and shame.

My only complaints are that things got repetitive after a while and and there were meetings Deya had (with someone I'll leave unnamed) that just parroted self help lines and I wanted a bit more from those conversations.   It was also just so depressing and heart breaking.

Other than that though, it was still a very important story, well written, and I loved the ambiguity of the ending.  Of course, we know what happens, but the final chapter leaves the readers with a small window of imagination, which I really enjoyed.