libsbooknook's reviews
112 reviews

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Okay. So this wasn’t exactly “𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈“ or “𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈“ in the way you would get about a crime thriller book. But it was in the way of true love life quarrels. I can’t even begin to explain how easily I related to Phoebe. She’s rude as all hell, sarcastic and blunt; but she’s scared of a committed relationship to anyone or anything. Love is not in her vocabulary, until it is. 

🔪 🔪 

The only thing I didn’t like, was Phoebes dissertation. I was so stressed out reading about that part, it doesn’t ever go away and it was like a cloud of endless school work that I, myself couldn’t get away from. 

🔪 

Kudos to the cat, Lenore! Love that cat. 

🔪 🔪 

The relationship between her and Sam was just so real. Her personality mixed with his, her standoffishness until she realizes what she truly wants. Her character growth is something to watch. Going back to her childhood home helps her see things from the past as her present awareness. Great character building. 

🔪 

🩸 I really, freaking loved this book!! 

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

༻🎧ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ♪༺

“𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 (𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙) 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆; 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕.“ 

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.  𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐛, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝.

𝐖𝐨𝐰. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝒘𝒐𝒘, 𝒘𝒐𝒘, 𝒘𝒐𝒘. 

Going into this book, I knew Matthew Perry had a problem with alcohol. I did 𝐧𝐨𝐭 know, however that he had such an addiction to Opioids as well. That was tough to listen to. Being an enormous 𝐹𝑅𝐼𝐸𝑁𝐷𝑆fan, like most of us are, the episodes hit different. Thinking back on them, knowing what I know now is absolutely heartbreaking. Yes, you can tell when hes on alcohol, or when hes on pills during those seasons. Now I'll say season 9 is my favorite knowing he was fully sober and did his best. 

There was some humor to his tragedy,  and I am so glad he shared his story with the world. Albeit, a bit repetitive towards the end, I looked at it as a recap of the entirety of his story; maybe that's what it was supposed to be anyways. Knowing what I know now, his book has opened my eyes to the world of addiction a little more & how it runs your life. 

It was definitely worth the listen, I didn’t see it as him being an asshole, I see it for what it is, an addiction that he’s been struggling with. He gives his apologies and makes it clear what was happening, not as an excuse but as a testament to what addiction really is. 

🎧His narration was a wonderful help with this book, (It’s better for me to listen to the author), and he sounded pretty great.

🙏🏻I'll keep you in my prayers Mr. Perry, your someone special is out there, and I'm happy you can help people like those that have helped you! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism

ReInception by Sarena Straus

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

💭 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏. (𝑰𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝑨 𝑩𝑰𝑻 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔)! 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 “𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔“ 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 “𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎“ 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈? 

𝑨𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏! 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇“𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕.“ 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 wrong 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔... 

Ask Alice by Kell Frillman

fast-paced

3.0

***SPOILERS***
***************

There were a few things I couldn’t really look past. 
- Alice was a child in wonderland before, so hatter, Cheshire, rabbit and the jabberwocky knew her then. They protected her.. they’re basic adults watching over this child, then when she comes back to wonderland at 18, it’s immediate f*cking. 
There was no talking, no leading up to this, nothing, just going at it. Walked back in, bang.
Big No thanks from me. It’s just weird. 
- Some of the lines said to her about “I’ve been wanting to do this for so long… ever since…” like WHAT. Ew! 

If you can look past that, the rest of it is fine. I skimmed all the s*x stuff because it just grossed me out knowing that stuff. Ugh. The ending made the book better… I don’t know.

I don’t know how to fully feel about this book to be honest. I enjoyed it, but i also just couldn’t get past the beginning. 

Overall, not bad. 

The Bone Thief's Tale by Heleen Davies

adventurous medium-paced

4.5

Loved this book! 

I loved this concept and enjoyed the storyline. In the beginning I was slightly confused as to how things worked but once I kept reading, all my questions were explained! 
(The hardest thing for me was trying to understand exactly what the underworld was and what that meant for Lynne’s character; what and who she really was). But like I just stated, keep reading and things will be answered!! 

It just gets better and better as the story continues! Rio’s character growth was tense yet wonderful to see. Lynne is a great character just trying to survive but falling in love was an added bonus for her. The ending had me gaping for a hot minute, it was 👌🏻. 
♥︎I Can’t wait to continue this series!!

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

mysterious medium-paced

4.75

I am never disappointed in a book by Simone St. James! I love the mystery in everyday life mixed with a tad bit of paranormal to keep the spark of the story alive. The connection between the past and present of Idlewild Hall was written smoothly. Always easy to follow.

❣︎The relationship between a journalist and a cop seems to be a stressful one in this story, yet shows realistic expectations from both. 

❣︎Fiona’s character was bold and intelligent. 

❣︎This book has a touch of everything! 

• ᴘᴀʀᴀɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛs
• ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ
• ᴍʏsᴛᴇʀʏ 
• ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅsʜɪᴘ/ʟᴏᴠᴇ
• ᴘᴀsᴛ & ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ/ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪɴɢ sᴛᴏʀɪᴇs 
• The narrator, Rebecca Lowman was fantastic! i really enjoy listening to her. 

River of Ashes by Alexandrea Weis, Lucas Astor

dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

What a great read! Immediately picked up book 2 in the St. Benedict series. The truth speaks volumes through this story: why women/girls don’t come forward as a victim of r*pe, how things can be manipulated and the consequences of the abuse. Leslie and Dawn were a powerful twin dynamic, and you can see why Beau was trying to ruin their relationship in order to get what he wanted. 

The twist at the end???? 👀 jaw dropping. 

This book is jarring, at times difficult to swallow but overall put together so well. It really pulls you in from beginning to end and you just want justice for these girls. Can’t wait to continue to the next book! 

❦ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ❦

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Alcohol

Framed by Ivy Wynter

emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Such a cute story! 
I love the fantasy aspect of this novel, the orcs, witches, vampires and humans alike just going on with daily life. 
This is like a mystery novel wrapped around the center of a love story between Frederick and Vivian. 
Adorable, and a shorter read which was honestly nice! 
Maybe there could be an on-going story with these two?Ayyy?? 

Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

4.0

This was a fun listen! Narrator nailed it with Celine’s character, it was the icing on the cake. A fun little mystery with great characters. I liked witnessing Yale’s character grow from closed off and slightly reserved to a more outgoing person. The cousins together are a fun duo, they have opposite personalities but it made for some entertaining circumstances in the story. I will be reading more from this author, I really enjoyed this one! 

Beyond the Wand: The Magic & Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

inspiring medium-paced

5.0

I really loved listening to this. Tom is such a joy. Learning about his time before, during and after the Harry Potter movies really explained how his life was shaped. I found myself smiling and nodding along in agreement to a lot of his stories. I laughed out loud numerous times. I highly loved this narrative. 

Tom goes into details about his time with alcohol, rehab and how he came to terms with what he was dealing with. I just thought, 𝒘𝒐𝒘. He really is an inspiration. Plus going into depth about the importance of needing to speak to someone about your mental health and the importance of it. 

🎧𝑻𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔.