laurenleigh's reviews
526 reviews

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

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funny informative reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This tells the story of a neurodivergent boy solving a neighborhood mystery that quickly devolves into a pretty messy family drama. One one hand, I think this could increase empathy and understanding for autistic people and folks on the spectrum. There were so many times where Christopher felt scared, uncomfortable, and anxious, while adults in his life kept trying to push him past his limits. It was so frustrating, especially when you can see things through his first-person perspective. On the other hand, I couldn’t find any reporting that this author is neurodivergent, and I feel conflicted about that. I’m generally neurotypical, so my review should totally be taken with lots of salt grains!
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The Phoenix Crown by Janie Chang, Kate Quinn

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

4.0

A nicely engaging historical fiction novel about the 1906 SF earthquake! I’m so glad Quinn reached out to Chang to cowrite this piece. Bringing in the Chinese perspective was really enriching to the story, and it’s so important to remember the immigrant labor that built so much of the West Coast. My favorite character turned out to be a real person, so that was a fun discovery! (Google Alice Eastwood, so cool.) I saw most of the “plot twists” a mile away, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. This definitely made me look up current earthquake response recommendations, and a few things have changed since we were doing earthquake drills under our school desks! (Now I feel old.)
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A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

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

5.0

I am CONVERTED. I don’t know why I resist popular books sometimes, but everyone was right about this one. You really do have to read the first book (ACOTAR) like it’s a long intro to this book. This still bugs me to some degree, but the payoff is so great, it’s worth it. The rush I got from this ending was on par with the first time I read Prisoner of Azkaban. This is the high we readers are always searching for!! I had to rush out and buy book 3 immediately, and I’m officially a fangirl. 6 stars if I could!
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Lara Love Hardin, Anthony Ray Hinton

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0

My latest car buddy read with Ben! Not the cheeriest read, but uplifting and important. I for sure happy cried at the end. I was inspired to read this after reading Lara Love Hardin’s memoir (which I loved!). Hardin cowrote this with Hinton. I guess I expected a similar structure to her own book, but this was almost entirely about his time on death row. His life after release is basically just the afterword. As a reader, I felt just the tiniest hint of what impatience Hinton must have felt, as the court system failed him time and time again. The appeals system in particular seems insane and nonsensical to me. I kept thinking “now he’ll be released,” only for it to take SO much longer than it should have.
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The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

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

4.5

My first ever experience with Percy Jackson! I don’t know if these were marketed only to boys or if I was too old when they gained popularity, but I missed that boat. My friend Lenny was so excited about the new series, that I was inspired to give this a try. It was so fun! I think popular children’s books and movies are the most successful when they can also appeal to adults. Like I probably wouldn’t have got every Greek mythology reference when I was 12, but I appreciated it all now! I’ll probably read on in the series when I want something quick and fun.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley

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

4.0

This might actually hover somewhere around 3.75 stars, but it was a perfectly fine, entertaining thriller. Almost thriller-lite, for those that don’t want too much violence or scary bits. It was more like a moody, dramatic character study. I liked all the different narrators, and I felt that added to the reading experience. The ending felt abrupt and somewhat disappointing, though I’m not sure how else you could have wrapped it all up.
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XOXO by Axie Oh

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

For a light, quick, palette cleanser read, this did the trick, though I have to take some points off for one of the worst audiobook narrators I’ve listened to in a while. Somehow both robotic and whiny. Narration aside, I appreciated all the elements of Korean culture we got to explore through the lens of our Korean American FMC. I didn’t realize how intense Kpop fan culture is, or how there’s a whole system churning out new groups constantly. I’m curious to learn more about Korean culture’s international impact (K-pop, K-beauty, K-drama), and I might pick up the companion novel, but in a different format.
Warcross by Marie Lu

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

5.0

I feel like I’ve read a lot of first books in series lately, but finally one has me immediately reaching for the second! Lots of Ready Player One vibes, where a virtual reality game has basically taken over the world and everyone plays it. Our main character accidentally gets thrown into the world championships, as well as a high stakes bounty hunt. The ending was really good, if a bit scary spot-on. I definitely want to see what happens next for these characters.
Silk: A World History by Aarathi Prasad

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

My first ARC! (Advanced Reader’s Copy, this one publishes 4/30.) This author clearly did a TON of research. It’s pretty densely packed, so if you’re into the science, genetics, and natural history elements of fabric, you’ll probably get into this. I appreciated Prasad’s attempt to humanize all this data by trying to expand on the scientists or researchers’ lives and backgrounds. I think I was looking for a stronger narrative thread to pull it all together, and I found it hard to retain all the information. Maybe it’s just because I was listening to a lot of Articles of Interest lately, but I think this could have been more successful for me as a Podcast series, where we have more time to situate these facts in the broader global history.
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion

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challenging reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

My initial response after reading this short book was that the main character—actually all the characters—were quite unlikeable. But I recognized that this was perhaps the point. Maybe Didion wanted to show us (in 1970) a female main character who isn’t fulfilling the expected wife/mother roles, who isn’t happy and cheerful and positive, who isn’t (and doesn’t need to be) likable. After discussing with my new book club, I found new appreciation for our MC, and a deeper appreciation for the book as a whole. Yay for finding a new book community!
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