liz_ross's reviews
44 reviews

All My Lies Are True by Dorothy Koomson

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dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

2.75

I  had this feeling when I bought the book. Reading it just confirmed that feeling. This book is just unnecessary. It may seem harsh, but it's exactly what I feel. It adds nothing new to Serena and Poppy's story. Actually, it even ends up destroying the extraordinary ending of the last book, which felt just so right.

Everything Serena and Poppy had achieved in the end of the first book, Koomson had to undo in order for this book to even stand a chance. They had already moved on, accepted their past, made peace with it and where now looking for a future that could give them some hapinness. They had got their closure, which was exactly what they needed. In order to write this book, Koomson had to force them to give up on that closure that was so right in a way that doesn't really make much sense. They just wake up one day and decide "Oh, wait. I actually didn't get the closure I needed. How can I when me being unhappy and suffering is of the upmost importace to allow the book to have the drama it needs?". They are very right, you know? Without them still unable to move one after spending ten years happy after getting the closure they needed, but who is counting, right?!the book wouldn't have half the drama it had. And it had very little drama as it was, so half of it would be pretty much none.

You may be wondering how could it have no drama without Serena and Poppy going back to not having their closure if the story wasn't even about them. That's because although we could try to not see them as main characters, they were the reason for everything and no matter how much the plot tried to run away from them,  it would inevitably go back to them and their unsolved past. And in part I am thankful that's true, because every time it would try to run away from them and focus on Verity and Logan it would just get... annoying.

Don't get me wrong, the idea has potential and it's something we need to raise awareness about, but it was so freaking obvious that it actually hurt. Obviously, the story would repeat itself. What would be the fun if that didn't happen? Annoying or not, obvious or not, what's a fact is that when the book reached its climax I was on the egde of my seat, there's no way of denying it. But I wasn't surprised, just worried, because although I knew how things woukd turn out, I was still scared for the characters.

Which says more about Koomson's writing style and her capacity to make the readers feel every single emotions she wants us to feel than the chracters themselves, which were rather bland. It didn't get to the cliche level, but they were without doubt bland.

There's things Koomson did right, though, and one in particular that I am really, really glad she chose to include in the book. However, that's the one I will speak about lastly, because I think the matter is far too important to get lost in the middle of the others.

So, first thing I think Koomson did right. Jack. His appearence was obvious, I mean I would be disappointed if he didn't show up. What was even the point then? I do think he could have been used to add more drama, though. I mean Poppy barely shared three words with him and with Serena it was kind of a side plotline that got almost no attention at all, when it could have been a main part of Serena's path to find closure again. Anyway, although I think some of his potential was wasted, I do like what she did with him and the twist she gave to the uncover of the truth and which reminded me why I love her books.

The second thing I liked was that ending. It is just perfect. Once again the characters managed to get their closure and to accept their mistakes and to learn to live with them. It's not a perfect happily ever after ending, just like first wasn't. It leaves questions without answer, problems needing solving. It is not the ending of a book that Koomson wrote. She wrote the end of a chapter in Poppy and Serena's lives and their families', to which will follow another and another with their own problems to be solved. It's the end of a chapter of their lives and so it isn't perfect, it isn't a happily ever after because there's no such thing in real life. New problems will follow sooner or later, but there's always time to celebrate between chapters. So, no, the ending isn't perfect, but it is the perfect ending for this chapter of their lives.

And now the last thing I liked and by far the most important matter. As I said story repeats itself. You couldn't really be expecting anything else, could you? But this book also has something the first one didn't. Domestic abuse and violent relationships don't always have the woman as the victim. Koomson reminds us of that in this book and that's something I believe more authors should try to do. The number of women suffering from domestic abuse and in violent relationships is so much higher than the men's that we often end up forgetting that men suffer from that too. Which cannot happen because they deserve just as much help as women. There has to be more people figthing against the idea that only women can be the victims, so men can get help in cases like this more easily. Raising awareness for both sides of the problem is of the upmost importance and I think Koomson did great by bringing that matter up in her book. Even if she never gave the matter never got much "screen time" when it was brought up, she did bring it up several times, giving it a little time to "shine" in every single one, adreesing it with all the attention and seriousness it deserved, which perhaps was even better as Koomson was capable of making sure we didn't forget about it through the book.

Overall, sure the book had great things in it. But although I liked the twist, was Jack really necessary? And I can find an ending in every single one of Koomson's books. The only thing that I liked and that was actually unique was the third and she could have perfectly write a new book, with a new set of characters to talk about that. Which means that even if I did like all that, I still think this book was unnecessary, especially because for all its lenght it robbed Serena and Poppy the closure they had fought so hard to get in the first book.

<u>SCORE: 2.75 out of 5.00 stars</u>

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The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

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dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

I remember reading this when I was younger and think it deserved 5 stars. I was younger back then and, although I did remember most of the story, I would never dare to write a review based on the memories I had from a reading I did so long ago (which explains why so many of the books I read are still waiting for a review).

So, obviously I reread the book. It wasn't the perfect, extraordinary book I remembered to read, but it is quite close anyway.

But you look at the cover of this book, at the title, and then at me, someone who has said several times that does not like Romance books, and I bet the first thought that comes to your mind is "she went crazy". I did not. Let me repeat the warning I saw in other reviews: DO NOT LET THE SWEET COVER AND THE INNOCENT TITLE FOOL YOU. Don't let them trick you into thinking this is the perfect light summer read, don't let them trick you into thinking this is a sweet story about two best friends. You couldn't be farther from the truth.

This book is dark, has several triggers and has awful graphic scenes that actually managed to make me feel sick. The only thing that ease that horror is the writing style, which is beautiful, allowing the plot to flow perfectly and kind of shields us from the nightmarish events happening - the horror and the gory are still there and I stil felt sick, but it wasn't as hard to read as it would have been if this book would have been written by some other authors, whose writing style is not as beautiful as Koomson's.

Other thing that the beautiful writing style allows is making the whole plot much more entincing, making you so addicted to it that you pretty much ignore almost all the things about this book that could potentially make you confused until after you read the book and start thinking about it. For example, the whole Court trial, which I will not explain further as I don't want to give any spoilers, is just so weird when you think about it. I mean, I am no Law expertise, especially not in the UK law, but considering historials and ages, I just can't understand why Poppy and Serena were always considered suspects and never, not even for a second, victims.

Aside from that, which I think that is a quite obvious plot hole, the plot is very consistent and good, though. It's a hearbreaking, frightning plot that actively looks forward to raise awareness of the dangers that surrond us without us realizing it, about how fatal can it be to sometimes ignore what seems obvious just because at the time we thought other things were more important. A reminder of how a bad person can ruin lives so easily, about betrayal and death and the choices that decided what we become and becomes of us but don't necessarily have to define us. It's about the challeges love has to face, being that not only the love between a couple, but also the love a family feels. And about broken bonds and new that are forged. It's the story of two girls that had nothing in common but their love for the wrong person and whose lives became forever intertwined because of that. The story of their courage to face what life threw at them,  a courage that was always mixed with fear, regret and bad memories.

However, I don't think that even the very best writing style in the whole Universe would be good enough  to allow anyone to ignore how freaking annoying Serena is in the beginning. You just don't know enough about her to feel emphaty towards her and therefore all her actions seemed excessive, her thoughts beyond irritating. It's only when you start uncovering her past that you can start empathizing with her, which made the annoyance vanish and her chapters became enjoyable.

The other characters are far better, most of them (the ones that matter, at least) where easy to connect with, but Poppy, the other main character, had a major flaw in her behavior in my opinion. Her past, which Koomson makes sure we can't forget by having Poppy mention it in every single one of her chapters, conditioned her behaviour and personality in every single side of her life, except the most important - the love life. After what she went through, and as she said several times, she shouldn't be able to trust anyone. And yet when the love interest shows up in her life she trust him blindly after a few hours. I am not Poppy, I had a much easier life than her (actually, there's no comparation possible to be made) and I would have freaked out if I found someone trying to fix my house without my consent. Apparently that's just me as Poppy was perfectly fine with that. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall, although the story isn't as good as I remembered it is still really, really good. It's a dark and full of triggers story like few can be, but it is beautiful in its own way. A story of courage, acceptace of the past and learning to move on that won't let you indifferent. 

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Baltasar and Blimunda by José Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero

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

3.25

Saramago's writing style is so annoying and yet so beautiful. His way of phrasing things is unique, easily recognized and can be so incredibly perfect sometimes and yet so infuriating in other moments. 

His writing style is different, unique and that surely makes him special. But his books wouldn't thrive if it didn't work. And whereas it is true that the only reason why the book got only 3.25 stars was the writing style that made it so hard to understand what was being told sometimes, it's also true that I can't imagine a better person to describe some of the scenes. Beautiful, poignant descriptions of times, people and places that envoke the images in your head with such vividness you can't help being surprised by that.

I complained so much in the beginning about the title of the English version. And while I still think that the original is a better one as more than about the lives of those two characters that make the English version title, this book is about that convent and all the lives lost, all the men forced to leave their homes to honor a promise they didn't make. To honor the promise of the King that would get all the credits in the end while the common people is forgotten. But Baltasar and Blimunda isn't that bad of a title either. And their love story, although with a quiet weird and undoubtely too rushed beginning, is an unforgetable and extraordinarily beautiful one. Especially in the end the descriptions are absolutely  heartwarming and that end (which I believed that I knew, only to realize it was actually the other way around) is at the samd time heartwarming and heartbreaking, mixing both in one single emotion impossible to describe, but that Saramago painted magnificently in his last scene.

Saramago's writing style isn't for everyone, his books are not for everyone. But if you are willing to give him a chance, you will, sooner or later, realize the beauty hidden in the complexity of his writing style, the beauty that shines in those descriptions made like no one else can because no one has a writing style as unique as his.

And if you give this book a chance, if you open it willing to read it till the end, I am sure you will find its beauty too and actually enjoy the time you spend reading it, even when it takes longer than you expected, because beautiful or not, his writing style sometimes becomes to much.

Full review coming soon!

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The Killing Man by Mickey Spillane

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

1.0

Before anyone even thinks about saying that the fact that I couldn't connect with our "lovely" main character may have anything to do with me starting his books series by the number 12, let me explain how, in my opinion, a policial series should work. It doesn't matter which book you choose to read first, the book must always offer enough character development for the reader to be able to connect with the main character or at least enough to make that character credible. And why? Because we are talking about a Mystery. The main character is not that important. The plot line, the crime, the investigation - those are the important things. It is not that difficult to make a main character in this genre be credible. You just need to offer him/her a little development.

  So no, I do not think, not even for a second, that the fact that I couldn't connect with Mike Hammer is my fault. But more than that, I am glad I couldn't connect with him. Because if I did, then the disgust I felt would have became hatred and seriously it would be a waste of my time to hate a character of a book that doesn't even deserve the money spent on it, And you may now be wondering why I was so disgusted by him. Let's think... it may have anything to do with the fact that he was an arrogant, sexist son of a bitch. Or maybe it is related with the fact that the "love" Spillane wants us to think he feels towards his secretery has more to do with the fact that she is a pretty face than anything else. You can choose. Any of this two things alone would be enough to make me disgusted so you can imagine how I felt with both thrown at me at the same time.

  But how I wish Mike was the only problem! But nooo... What a better thing to allie to a sexist main character than a bunch of female characters that are meant to be nothing else than walking bodies with pretty faces and boobs that shamelessly throw themselves at Hammer from the very second they see him?! I am pretty sure I don't need to tell how that made me feel. How utterly disgusted it made me feel to see women represented like this. It's one thing to have one female character throwing herself at the main character. She fancies him, wants him even if just for a one night stand. Fine. But all of them, especially when the description of every single one of them begins with the fact that they have boobs and ends pretty much there? Not acceptable.

  And it doesn't stop here. Can you guess what comes allied to this bunch of disgusting characters that are impossible to connect with? I will help you out. A shitty plot. It begins pretty well and undoubtely promissing, with Hammer entering in his office just to find his secretery on the floor, badly injuried, and a dead body sitting on his chair. And you read that, not knowing how sexist things will get, and you think "Cool!", because that's one of the most dramatic and memorable beginings you've read in a while. But then you find out how sexist the book is and the plot goes downhill, becoming one of the most complex and inconsistent plot I've ever seen. An agency collusion, influence over presidential candidates,  corruption and mafia, all of them thrown into this book in a confuse sequence of events that made my head spin. I completley lost track of the plot, got unsure about what the hell the main plot line was meant to be and when I finally reached the end I had just given up. A finale tha had everything to be shocking had no impact on me because I had lost all my interest on the book many, many pages ago.

  Overall, I guess there's anything else to say. I think it couldn't be more obvious that I HATED this book. Definitely, I do not reccommed it and I'll make 100% that I avoid any other book of this series, because one book about such disgusting characters was more than enough.

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