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lifeofchrstnlvly's reviews
178 reviews
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
sad
slow-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
2.0
It was okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
tense
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
4.5
It hurts to rearrange everything you think you know. Lies are comforting. Truth is painful.
Fourth Wing is a mix of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and a bit of How to Train Your Dragon. As someone who loves fantasy books, I was hesitant to read it, but my book club on Fable picked it, so I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, even with some predictable tropes and repetitive themes.
Fourth Wing is a new adult fantasy romance. The writing is easy to understand, the plot is fast-paced and action-packed, and the characters are diverse, with the added bonus of DRAGONS. The banter and sarcasm are entertaining, although the banter I enjoyed the most was not between the main human characters. The book also has a great cliffhanger, and Yarros does an excellent job of making the reader feel a range of emotions throughout.
That being said, the world-building could have been better, and some characters come off as a little too dramatic. The romance can be a little cheesy, too. Oh, and the Audiobook narration was terrible, so I recommend reading the e-book version or the physical copy instead (I listened to the Audiobook while reading the e-book version).
Fourth Wing is a high fantasy book with high stakes. However, sometimes it being high stakes doesn't make sense. They were in a war, training people how to fight in the war, but during training, it felt like life was nothing. There were deaths everywhere, sometimes without any logical reason. I get that they need to weed out the riders because they need the strongest to fight in the war, but you can't help but feel how they wasted some lives (note that I said some since some who died also deserved to die). More people alive means more can fight in the war. They should have just trained them better. I still plan on reading the rest of the series. Yarros might explore it more in the following books. I hope I can get a physical copy because it's sold out everywhere.
Lastly, can we talk about how amazing Tairn and Andarna are? Tairn is like a therapist and friend, while Andarna is like an intelligent little kid you just want to protect. I wish I had them in real life!
Fourth Wing is a new adult fantasy romance. The writing is easy to understand, the plot is fast-paced and action-packed, and the characters are diverse, with the added bonus of DRAGONS. The banter and sarcasm are entertaining, although the banter I enjoyed the most was not between the main human characters. The book also has a great cliffhanger, and Yarros does an excellent job of making the reader feel a range of emotions throughout.
That being said, the world-building could have been better, and some characters come off as a little too dramatic. The romance can be a little cheesy, too. Oh, and the Audiobook narration was terrible, so I recommend reading the e-book version or the physical copy instead (I listened to the Audiobook while reading the e-book version).
Fourth Wing is a high fantasy book with high stakes. However, sometimes it being high stakes doesn't make sense. They were in a war, training people how to fight in the war, but during training, it felt like life was nothing. There were deaths everywhere, sometimes without any logical reason. I get that they need to weed out the riders because they need the strongest to fight in the war, but you can't help but feel how they wasted some lives (note that I said some since some who died also deserved to die). More people alive means more can fight in the war. They should have just trained them better. I still plan on reading the rest of the series. Yarros might explore it more in the following books. I hope I can get a physical copy because it's sold out everywhere.
Lastly, can we talk about how amazing Tairn and Andarna are? Tairn is like a therapist and friend, while Andarna is like an intelligent little kid you just want to protect. I wish I had them in real life!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, War, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Murder, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent
Priest by Sierra Simone
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Although I didn't particularly enjoy it, I didn't dislike it enough to hate it. The more accurate description was I was able to tolerate it enough. There was little to no plot, and the characters were flat. In all honesty, their relationship appeared more lustful than loving. The smut was okay at first, but I eventually grew tired of it and skipped over those scenes about halfway through.
I only read this because it was book club #4's pick of the month. I know I could DNF it, but I wanted to finish it so I can join in the discussion.
I only read this because it was book club #4's pick of the month. I know I could DNF it, but I wanted to finish it so I can join in the discussion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Stalking, and Sexual assault
No Exit by Taylor Adams
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Vomit
Glint by Raven Kennedy
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Gild by Raven Kennedy
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
Minor: Animal death and Infidelity
The Inmate by Freida McFadden
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" perfectly describes this book. Also, Brooke is dumb.
What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell
This is definitely my worst read of the year (so far).
It was boring. It should have been 250 pages shorter. Flynn/Eugene is not charming. Rapunzel is dumb as hell.
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
“The past is over, child. Don’t dwell overmuch on its echoes,” the old woman said gently. “you will find no rest that way.”
This is definitely my worst read of the year (so far).
It was boring. It should have been 250 pages shorter. Flynn/Eugene is not charming. Rapunzel is dumb as hell.
Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
I find it challenging to get into this book; it needs to be more engaging.
The characters Bree and Archer don't appeal to me, and I'm not invested in their relationship. Even the presence of dogs in the story, which usually piques my interest, fails to hold my attention.
The writing style is also disjointed and disorganized, failing to provoke any emotional reaction in me as a reader. As we all know, the quality of writing is a critical component of any book. If it's lacking, it harms the entire story. So while this book may be getting a lot of buzz, I'm only convinced it's worth my time if the writing is up to par.
I won't force myself to read something that isn't captivating me.
The characters Bree and Archer don't appeal to me, and I'm not invested in their relationship. Even the presence of dogs in the story, which usually piques my interest, fails to hold my attention.
The writing style is also disjointed and disorganized, failing to provoke any emotional reaction in me as a reader. As we all know, the quality of writing is a critical component of any book. If it's lacking, it harms the entire story. So while this book may be getting a lot of buzz, I'm only convinced it's worth my time if the writing is up to par.
I won't force myself to read something that isn't captivating me.
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
I feel bad for Chloe. She's surrounded by people who are either liars or immoral.
I did guess early on the plot twist, but I did not expect this to have many (minor) plot twists. Those little plot twists kept me engaged and made me skim this. However, I needed some help with this book.
Sometimes the transition of Chloe's thoughts from the present to the past (or vice versa) could be more apparent. It could have been more seamless. One minute we're reading about what Chloe was thinking about now/in the present, then the next minute, we're transported to her past, reading about what past Chloe was feeling at that moment. I don't know if this is intentional since Chloe is supposed to be an unreliable narrator, but it sometimes kept me confused. I've read enough thrillers to know there's a better way to do this.
Additionally, some parts are really repetitive. Since this is a first-person POV (Chloe's POV), we know her whereabouts and thoughts, so there is no need to recount what we read in the past chapters. We just read about 1 or 2 chapters about what happened over the weekend because we were "with her" as readers; there's no need to have 2 or 3 paragraphs of summary the chapter after.
It really bothered me how many times the words "flick," "flicker," "flicking," and "flicking" was mentioned (if you're curious: flick = 6, flicker = 13, flicking = 5, flickering = 9... that's a whole lot for a book less than 400 pages).
Overall, I did enjoy this book. I understand this is the author's debut novel. As she writes more books, her writing style will get better. It was okay, I'm glad I read it since it entertained me, but it had some problems. 2.5 stars.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
…the past never stays where we try to keep it, stuffing it deep into the back of a closet and hoping to forget.
I feel bad for Chloe. She's surrounded by people who are either liars or immoral.
I did guess early on the plot twist, but I did not expect this to have many (minor) plot twists. Those little plot twists kept me engaged and made me skim this. However, I needed some help with this book.
Sometimes the transition of Chloe's thoughts from the present to the past (or vice versa) could be more apparent. It could have been more seamless. One minute we're reading about what Chloe was thinking about now/in the present, then the next minute, we're transported to her past, reading about what past Chloe was feeling at that moment. I don't know if this is intentional since Chloe is supposed to be an unreliable narrator, but it sometimes kept me confused. I've read enough thrillers to know there's a better way to do this.
Additionally, some parts are really repetitive. Since this is a first-person POV (Chloe's POV), we know her whereabouts and thoughts, so there is no need to recount what we read in the past chapters. We just read about 1 or 2 chapters about what happened over the weekend because we were "with her" as readers; there's no need to have 2 or 3 paragraphs of summary the chapter after.
It really bothered me how many times the words "flick," "flicker," "flicking," and "flicking" was mentioned (if you're curious: flick = 6, flicker = 13, flicking = 5, flickering = 9... that's a whole lot for a book less than 400 pages).
Overall, I did enjoy this book. I understand this is the author's debut novel. As she writes more books, her writing style will get better. It was okay, I'm glad I read it since it entertained me, but it had some problems. 2.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Blood, Death, and Mental illness