ladykatka's reviews
947 reviews

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan

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

5.0

Perfect for a young person's first book about residential school. The characters are 12 but I would give this book to 9 years old and up. It is easy to read and not overly graphic. It is an easy entry level book to a very heavy and hard topic. 
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She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai, Tsubasa Yamaguchi

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

4.0

A very cozy book. A great pallette cleanser after some of the heavy books I have been reading. Read it with my own cat in my lap and that just felt right.
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

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challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Rating it at 4 ⭐ because it took a little while to pick up but once it did I couldn't stop. A lot of people hate Eva and so do I. She's very hateable. However, I don't think Franklin gets enough hate, he was equally as horrible as Eva was. I know this brings up the question of was he born this way or was he made this way because of his mother's like neglect or non- existent love? But I find that Franklin didn't help the matter at all because he didn't listen to Eva and he brushed a lot of the troubling behavior aside or under the rug. Whether he really didn't believe it or he just buried his head in the sand who's to say, but I think that he contributed just as much as Eva did to Kevin's ultimate behavior and decision making. 

This was a tough read. I won't lie. It was dark and disturbing and incredibly uncomfortable. There were times where I thought I was going to have to stop reading because of what he did, especially to the most vulnerable around him. I think it was well written and it was hard to stop reading. The subject matter should not be easy to read about. But definitely trigger warning on this one. Not for sensitive readers.
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Humans: A Brief History of How We F**ked It All Up by Tom Phillips

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funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

A very enjoyable and easy to digest book. I only read the amusing parts out to my partner, which means I read the whole book to him. 
Find Her by Ginger Reno

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was the longest short book I have read in a long time. It was very difficult to read so I had to put it down and take breaks quite often. It was too real, and as someone who has worked closely with both of the issues that are brought up in this book, it was a very uncomfortable read. I would not recommend this for anybody who cares about animals deeply. However, this is very real life, and the unresolved ending is a perfect reflection of that.
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Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

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dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really liked this book. I can't give it five stars though because there were a few things I didn't really get.
What was the point of the Misha double? Why did the little boys decide to be him. Misha never saw the double, only heard about a few things that he had done after it had died. Nothing came of it. I also didn't understand why those parts were written as a movie script. This didn't land for me but it was a very minor part of the book and didn't really take anything away.
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The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite

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reflective slow-paced

2.25

I will be transparent, I picked this up on the new arrivals shelf at the library because I loved the title. I had no idea what it was about. I thought it was a fiction, but once I started I realized it was a non-fiction memoir. Oops. That's likely why this was not what I was expecting.

That being said the first 50% was pretty decent. Spill that hot tea gurl. But then it gets really new age spiritual with mediums, psychics, tarot, and the dead reaching out to us. This got boring quickly. I lost interest and the only reason I finished it was because I had the audiobook and I could just have it on while I did other things.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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

5.0

I highly recommend the audiobook. Sound is so important to the story that it really adds an extra layer of enjoyment.
I loved this book. I knew it was sci fy but I didn't realize it would also be really funny. There was a lot of math and science but I didn't have to understand it which was nice. 

Side note - This is not the first sci fy book to make me care about a spider. Why is it always spiders? Did the scientific community get together and decide that spiders are the most likely to be the shape aliens will be? 
The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue by Jerzy Drozd

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adventurous 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

3.0

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

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

5.0

Any book that I sit down and become so engrossed that I read it in one or two sittings gets a 5 ⭐ rating. The only reason why I didn't finish it in one sitting was because I actually had to go to bed. Once I woke up I immediately picked it back up again. It was really good and entertaining. A fabulous female rage revenge novel. It reminded me a lot of the movie Promising Young Woman if the main character had taken it to murder. But since I love that movie, I love this book as well. I agree with all other reviews that say it had a great ending. 
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