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lenorayoder's Reviews (163)
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
"I'm over thirty, and you're a high schooler!" "Who cares about our ages?" Me. I do.
I'm too old to be reading a romance where the only conflict is their ages, and therefore their age difference gets brought up constantly. 17 and 30-something? In the modern era? Where the 30-something is constantly telling himself it's wrong? Can't do it.
I love the art style and I still think the concept would work with Shin being a college student, so I'm annoyed at the decision to make him a high schooler. A guy in his 30s dating a 19 or 20 year old is still sketchy, so you could still have the plot include Minato rejecting Shin based on age. And I could enjoy the nice drawings and the trope of a younger person pursuing an older one without the younger person being so young it's gross. Ugh.
The high schooler's persistence reminds me of that House episode with Leighton Meester. Like teenagers pursuing older men with a persistence that's beyond reason. Even asshole House thinks it's a sign of some sort of illness and turns her down after a couple interactions. This guy is just dragging it out with half-hearted protests.
I'm too old to be reading a romance where the only conflict is their ages, and therefore their age difference gets brought up constantly. 17 and 30-something? In the modern era? Where the 30-something is constantly telling himself it's wrong? Can't do it.
I love the art style and I still think the concept would work with Shin being a college student, so I'm annoyed at the decision to make him a high schooler. A guy in his 30s dating a 19 or 20 year old is still sketchy, so you could still have the plot include Minato rejecting Shin based on age. And I could enjoy the nice drawings and the trope of a younger person pursuing an older one without the younger person being so young it's gross. Ugh.
The high schooler's persistence reminds me of that House episode with Leighton Meester. Like teenagers pursuing older men with a persistence that's beyond reason. Even asshole House thinks it's a sign of some sort of illness and turns her down after a couple interactions. This guy is just dragging it out with half-hearted protests.
Very whatever.
I could NOT keep up with all the timelines, and I didn't get why the story wasn't being told chronologically. There isn't any kind of mystery or reveal here, so why add the confusion of jumping around the school year? The characters were fairly bland, and because of that there was no chemistry. Miyano being a BL fan gets brought up a lot, but it doesn't really add anything to the plot or character, and it's never used as a framing device or something clever either. Like we don't even know what kind of BL he likes, or how having a niche interest has affected him. Just zero characterization happening.
With a chronological story I would have been bored, as is I was bored and confused. Not going to keep reading the series.
I could NOT keep up with all the timelines, and I didn't get why the story wasn't being told chronologically. There isn't any kind of mystery or reveal here, so why add the confusion of jumping around the school year? The characters were fairly bland, and because of that there was no chemistry. Miyano being a BL fan gets brought up a lot, but it doesn't really add anything to the plot or character, and it's never used as a framing device or something clever either. Like we don't even know what kind of BL he likes, or how having a niche interest has affected him. Just zero characterization happening.
With a chronological story I would have been bored, as is I was bored and confused. Not going to keep reading the series.
Worms Eat My Garbage, 35th Anniversary Edition: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System: Compost Food Waste, Produce Fertilizer for Housep
Joanne Olszewski, Mary Appelhof
Informative and interesting.
There were times that the information could have been better presented or organized for clarity. There were several instances when I thought the decision about what information was included, thoroughly explained, or briefly mentioned before referring the reader to another resource was either odd or wrong given the title and goal of the book.
There were times that the information could have been better presented or organized for clarity. There were several instances when I thought the decision about what information was included, thoroughly explained, or briefly mentioned before referring the reader to another resource was either odd or wrong given the title and goal of the book.
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
So mediocre in every way that it circles around to bad. So much telling instead of showing. The main character supposedly learned something but it didn’t feel like it. For a high drama situation I was incredibly bored. What a wasted concept.
emotional
funny
Loveable characters:
Yes
I was not expecting this level of satire. A good, fun, and funny read with heart. Think Drop Dead Gorgeous. The plot meanders a bit, but it was still entertaining most of the time. It's nice that the jokes punch up. Still thinking about Sosie and the snake, that was wild.
4 stars is maybe a bit generous, but I’m willing to give this book leeway since I’m an adult reading something that wasn’t made for me. Probably a better read if treated like a short story collection and spaced out.
4 stars is maybe a bit generous, but I’m willing to give this book leeway since I’m an adult reading something that wasn’t made for me. Probably a better read if treated like a short story collection and spaced out.
mysterious
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was looking for an easy, engrossing read to knock out a slot in my Summer Challenge, and this delivered!
A bit heavy-handed at times, but overall I liked the themes and plotting. I love both mysteries and the survival/stranded-on-an-island trope, and Ware does a good job of combining the genres. Not only do they meld well, she uses each to enhance the other, raising the stakes of both scenarios.
I also really enjoyed some elements of her writing. Ware starts each chapter with a flash-forward, but only through bits of communication that might be found after a disaster - radio communications and diary entries. It's a great way to foreshadow events without giving anything away - we're never reading anyone's point of view, just getting bits of communication that's intended for the public/strangers without any context. It creates anticipation that is especially important given the storm that strands the characters doesn't happen until we're already a third of the way into the novel. Knowing a little bit about what's to come lets the reader pick apart everything that's happening in that first chunk of the novel for clues, and keeps the setup from feeling tedious or boring. It's also interesting to catch up to those flash-forwards, and experience the perspective change once you have their context. The flash-forwards have a pretty low word count, but they do an impressive amount of work in the novel.
The book does get heavy-handed at times. This is most obvious when one of the main themes/messages of the book gets outright stated by characters, but it also happens with the mystery elements. The hints about the antagonist were so obvious that I wondered if they were a red herring. It's not a huge problem, because part of the melding between the mystery and survival genres means that even when if you know who the antagonist is, seeing if their identity will be discovered in time and what the characters will do about that discovery is still interesting.
Overall an entertaining read! It's nothing exceptional - marketing compares it to And Then There Were None, and while I see the similarities, the mystery is nowhere near that good - but I would still recommend.
hopeful
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I loved this one.
Moore uses non-linear storytelling and multiple narrators so well. We switch between the end of summer and the beginning of summer, between campers and counselors, between the 50s and 60s and 70s, between a stifled housewife and her employees, and every point of view in every time feels purposeful. Not only that, but despite decade-long jumps and frequent moves forwards and backwards in time, I was rarely confused, and never for long. Moore weaves characters and timelines together to draw parallels, compare and contrast emotions and situations, and reveal clues and answers to the book's mysteries at the perfect pace. Some characters narrate throughout the book, some only narrate for one or two chapters, and some only narrate once. Moore puts her characters where they will have the best effect, and at times her method worked so well that I literally got chills.
I'm a big character reader, and every character in this book feels like a real person. Even characters who never narrate, or whose thoughts and intentions are unclear to both narrating characters and the reader, feel like real people with inner lives. You gain new perspectives on them when characters with different knowledge narrate, or you see them in a different life stage, or before and after an event that changed them. You feel worried, sad, and happy for these characters. You root for some and against others. You feel invested in the mystery because you're invested in the characters.
It's just... so good. Both haunting and hopeful. I really admire the skill it took to write this. I definitely recommend, and I'm absolutely going to read more books by Liz Moore.
mysterious
Absolutely devoured this one.
Finally a gothic that commits! Until now, every modern gothic I’ve found has either been poorly written, or shied away from going full sick-and-twisted. I had some predictions early on in the book, and lamented that they probably wouldn’t happen because quality, published books never go that far anymore. I’m so glad I was wrong. Beverly-Whittemore goes there and further. It was amazing.
Loved the writing, the twists and turns, the layers, the reveals, the characters. The letters were great, but the future narration created a distance that this book would have been better off without. I think 1) being more immediately in Mabel’s head and 2) a little more time with certain characters after certain reveals would have made this a 5 star book.
God I love a gothic. 100% recommend.
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I've been trying to find and read books that have autistic women as their protagonists. That and the Irish setting are why I borrowed this, since "literary" books can really go either way for me. What a mistake. This book pissed me off.
The first half of the book is intentionally slow, but that intention doesn't make it any less of a drag for the reader. The second half picks up a little more and has bits of a great novel in it. When Majella divulges pieces of her past, lists things she's "not keen on" versus "sees the point in," or reveals various relationships (familial, platonic, and sexual) and how she thinks about them, you see the book this could have been. There's good quality writing throughout, and I enjoyed the way the author wrote and incorporated Irish slang.
Unfortunately, Gallen was too busy looking down on all the characters, including Majella, to write the book this could have been. This author was either never fat, or she lost the weight and looks back on that time with total disgust. Despite this story being told from Majella's point of view, and Majella being totally fine with being fat, the story is constantly interrupted to point out a fat part of her body, describe her eating in the grossest way possible, or point out some bodily function in a negative way. Gallen puts all of her creative writing ability into making us feel like Majella is disgusting, and it just sucks to read. There's no literary motivation for this - Majella doesn't think of herself this way. It's just the author hating fatness.
A quote on the cover of this book calls it "deliciously hilarious," and the book is generally marketed that way. It's true that on occasion, a character will say or Majella will think something funny. But this is a sad book. This is a book about a woman who's depressed and has spent her whole life being beaten down and repressing herself. So I can't help but think that the people calling this book "hilarious" and comparing it to Derry Girls are doing so because they think the way Gallen writes about Majella is funny. It's not.
Fuck this book. I do not recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I loved this! Great mystery and well-written. I was having such a good time I stayed up until 5am to finish it.
I really enjoyed Jo as a character. The point-of-view changes kept things interesting and were always handled really well. Excited to read the next book in the series! I would love to seeJo put Tony, her ex, in his place somehow. That slime-ball needs to be knocked down all the pegs .
I really enjoyed Jo as a character. The point-of-view changes kept things interesting and were always handled really well. Excited to read the next book in the series! I would love to see