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lilydoyle6's Reviews (1.47k)

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

i love this series. it’s queer. it’s well-written and compelling. i love the community in this book and the setting. something about everyone constantly smoking cigarettes in the rain while solving a crime really does it for me. 

i thought about stopping several times to go to bed at a reasonable hour and decided to finish the book instead. i hope there will be more. 

i didn’t see the resolution coming either which was a great twist. came up at the right time to take me out of reality. 
emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

i’ve always loved ina garten but listening to her read her memoir gave me a new appreciation for her. 

she has always seemed to have such a great attitude and experience with life & work. her recipes are approachable and fun and attainable. but learning about her, in my words, emotionally abuse childhood, and her relationship with jeffrey was great too. you thought you knew most of what she’d been through but it was nice to see her get so real in this way. 

i also appreciate that her whole message is just going for it. what you want & being ready when things feel right. 

highly recommend. love ina!!
challenging reflective slow-paced

i liked the connection this book has with jorge luis borges and the library of babel. i think it captured the feeling of hell, longing, the mystery of living & the desire to want more & do better. 

it was a slow read & i guess i expected more based on a someone else’s blurb of this book. but some good quotes at the end too and something to think about
slow-paced

as someone with pmdd, this was a comforting read. i know a lot of mechanics of pmdd and how to manage it. i think this book leaned more into personal experiences & anecdotes from others on how it affects daily life & relationships & not enough on science & treatments other than anti-depressants. 

either way, an informative read & made me feel less alone. more menstruating people should be aware of the condition. 

lighthearted medium-paced
dark mysterious medium-paced

this book kept me reading because it was like following a breadcrumb trail - you kept getting tiny morsels of information that fed your interest. i love an unhinged, crazy woman but perla takes the cake. 

her plotting, scheming, and insanity were calculated and interesting to read. i felt like i wanted the pace to pick up but it unfolded nicely. the ending was fine. i just felt like it was a step down from what i wanted. like perla was so batshit i wanted the entire thing to be so. 

but it was still good. i felt like it was a good story and setup. 
emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
medium-paced

i enjoyed this novel. how it was written, the emotions behind it, and the exploration of character. it’s always a fun ride when a woman decides she’s unhappy and just seems to go a bit crazy and embark on a new life (complimentary). 
dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

did i pick this up because i saw rf kuang liked it? yes. did i also like it? yes. does this mean rf kuang has wonderful taste? also yes. 

there were 2/10 stories i didn’t particularly care for but the others really pulled me in. there was something dark about them all. they really made you think about what they were really about. allegories for capitalism and how terrible it is. CURSED. etc. 

overall a strong collection. definitely recommend