lizsmartie13's reviews
663 reviews

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book took me an unreal amount of time to read, and not only because I took breaks to read three other books. It’s pretty slow and very ruminative, and while this meant I wasn’t always clamoring to read it, it ended up being the thing I liked the most about it. Laurie Frankel is always asking the questions I’m most interested in, and especially ones I’ve been asking myself recently, specifically about birth defects and broadly about parenthood. I’m very grateful to her as an author for pondering these difficult questions, and if nothing else I /love/ stories about small towns and evil corporations.

Bunny by Mona Awad

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.25

Damn! Damn!! This book is a ride from beginning to end. The writing is spectacularly funny and dark and terrifying. I felt like I could see it all so vividly, as insane as it all was. The specificity of the characters as we see them through Samantha’s eyes is just so precise. I don’t know that I fully understand the ending but man! So compelling. I eat this shit up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom by Clint McElroy, Carey Pietsch

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Crystal Kingdom is my least favorite arc (Kravitz intro non-withstanding) and part of me is like, this is exactly why I love these as graphic novels, because I understood the story about a million times better in this format. However, there were a few choices I was absolutely baffled by and some that I understood but was still bummed about. More than anything this drove home how challenging it must be to adapt this series— how do you preserve the goofs while sticking to a coherent storyline? Also, I have to wonder if there are people reading these who haven’t listened to the show, because I feel like the way certain information is disseminated could be confusing to first-time readers.

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ughhh Bridget. She did it to me again. I want to give this five stars SO. BADLY. I was invested in this book from moment one. I’m obsessed with the grand jeu (whatever the fuck it is), I absolutely love the characters, this whole WORLD is fucking on point for me. I was itching to read every moment I could. It’s absolutely gorgeously written and everything is so detailed and rich. However… spoilers below.

HOWEVER. I feel exactly how I felt after reading The Binding, which is that structurally, I was very frustrated. I saw the gender-twist coming but couldn’t see how it could be pulled off without my having huge issues with it, and I was right. It’s hard to articulate, but I’m having difficulty with Leo falling in love with Carfax with no issue, having what seems like a VERY politically convenient lavender marriage with Chryseïs, and then falling in love with Claire in a way that feels rooted in misogyny! (ie. all of his insane thoughts about how women are so ~emotional and wow her grand jeu must be so ~womanly and ~feminine). I think this book is trying to ask questions about gender and I appreciate that but it’s asking the wrong ones. I almost wondered if it would have been better to begin with us knowing all of this because then the book could be about exploring it. Ugh. I DON’T KNOW! I’M FRUSTRATED! It’s like one half-note off from perfection.

Once again I am like WHERE is the sequel but also BRIDGET! Stop making me MAD!

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was quite fun! I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this series as much when it wasn’t about Ellingham but the Box in the Woods murders were actually VERY compelling. The answer to the mystery itself is a little… much but I really enjoyed all of the smaller pieces surrounding it and I got legitimate chills at a certain reveal— Maureen Johnson is EXCELLENT at doling out information in really exciting little bites.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I loooove V.E. Schwab’s writing. She has such a knack for creating characters and having them wrestle with difficult concepts. I really enjoyed Addie in this book but I absolutely ADORED Henry— he is the kind of character I really connect with. I think there’s something really beautiful about legacy being not what you yourself do, but how the people around you remember you and what you leave behind, however inadvertently. 

The only thing I didn’t really love about this was the consistent name-dropping of famous artists who Luc had also done deals with. I don’t know why this snagged with me— maybe because it feels overdone and honestly beneath VES’ creativity. I also don’t love the insinuation that famous artists are only famous because they did a deal with a demon for talent or fame… I guess I feel like it undermines the real and fascinating reasons that those artists DID create what they did and why it resonated with people at the time (or didn’t). This is really nitpicking but it did bother me so it’s worth recording here.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

hopeful lighthearted fast-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

3.25

3.5 rounded down. Very fun! A dynamic I always like to see and very diverse. The writing was a little rough at points and I think some plots could have used more of a through line, but I found both characters very realistic and enjoyed seeing their journeys.

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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

4.75

Gotta be honest. When I started this, I thought it was terrifically stupid. I’m not usually a fan of the *record scratch* you’re pRObAbLy wOnDeRing hOw I gOt in tHis siTUaTioN! style of writing and I thought that the amount of attention the press was giving him for being a celebrity child was disproportionate and unrealistic. I also had trouble at first distinguishing tone— the side characters are so goofy to the point of parody and I didn’t get it. 

But then… something just clicked. Luc and Oliver became very real to me, amidst their ridiculous, extreme world, and therefore the stakes of it became real to me as well. I’ve read 50,000 iterations of fake relationship and I can honestly say I’ve never read one like this, where the artifice becomes part of the problem in a truly unique way. I could not put this down all day and as I was walking down the street reading it, I exclaimed so loudly at a plot development that a stranger gave me a look. That’s how deep I got. I absolutely loved it and its screwball, Notting Hill vibes. I’m just so happy. 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0