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149 reviews
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
5.0
Everyone said the movie was incredible. I had no idea it was a book series first. So, I thought I'd give The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris a shot.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter was notorious around the world for his cannibalistic killings. Of course, all killers have their slip-ups and get caught eventually. But even though he's been locked up in an asylum for quite some time, he still manages to increase the number of deaths he has caused.
Introducing Clarice Starling, a young student at the FBI Academy in Quantico. She's not at the top of her class like roommate Ardelia Mapp, but she's not too low in it either. A slightly above average student, you could say. Just as she thought things were going fine, she got called into the office of Jack Crawford and was given an assignment that placed all of the doubt in the world on her.
Crack Hannibal Lecter.
So, just months from graduation, she went to the hospital that had kept Dr. Lecter slightly in check to try and get as much information from him to track down a copy-cat killer that had been traveling around the country to get desirable part of women. Yes, desirable parts of women. To make a suit. A costume. Whatever you want to call it. Soon enough, a Senator's daughter is among the kidnapped, and Starling has to make the most unlikely alliance with the most unlikely man on the planet to save this girl before it's too late.
I really, really, really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting, then read it again in the same sitting because it was that great of a book. Fantastically written, The Silence of the Lambs captured my attention from page one and kept me on the edge of my seat for every page.
The only problem I had with it was that there was hardly any mention of Will Graham and what he had accomplished in the book prior. In fact, that was why I started to reread the book in the first place - I had forgotten if that had even mentioned him once. They did mention him, but from what he did in the last book of the series, he deserves more recognition.
Overall, this book is one of my new favorites. Easily takes a five-star rating. I do think that I will end up rereading it again, and again, and again. I really did enjoy it, despite how dark it was.
Maybe I'll give the movie a shot.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter was notorious around the world for his cannibalistic killings. Of course, all killers have their slip-ups and get caught eventually. But even though he's been locked up in an asylum for quite some time, he still manages to increase the number of deaths he has caused.
Introducing Clarice Starling, a young student at the FBI Academy in Quantico. She's not at the top of her class like roommate Ardelia Mapp, but she's not too low in it either. A slightly above average student, you could say. Just as she thought things were going fine, she got called into the office of Jack Crawford and was given an assignment that placed all of the doubt in the world on her.
Crack Hannibal Lecter.
So, just months from graduation, she went to the hospital that had kept Dr. Lecter slightly in check to try and get as much information from him to track down a copy-cat killer that had been traveling around the country to get desirable part of women. Yes, desirable parts of women. To make a suit. A costume. Whatever you want to call it. Soon enough, a Senator's daughter is among the kidnapped, and Starling has to make the most unlikely alliance with the most unlikely man on the planet to save this girl before it's too late.
I really, really, really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting, then read it again in the same sitting because it was that great of a book. Fantastically written, The Silence of the Lambs captured my attention from page one and kept me on the edge of my seat for every page.
The only problem I had with it was that there was hardly any mention of Will Graham and what he had accomplished in the book prior. In fact, that was why I started to reread the book in the first place - I had forgotten if that had even mentioned him once. They did mention him, but from what he did in the last book of the series, he deserves more recognition.
Overall, this book is one of my new favorites. Easily takes a five-star rating. I do think that I will end up rereading it again, and again, and again. I really did enjoy it, despite how dark it was.
Maybe I'll give the movie a shot.
11/22/63 by Stephen King
2.0
Over the last few months, I've been reading many books by Stephen King. From It to Carrie to The Shining and more, there was not a book by him that I did not enjoy. So when I saw the high ratings of this book, I immediately picked it up. I never thought I would dislike it as much as I did.
Jake Epping, a high school teacher from Maine, is recently divorced and desperately trying to help one of the janitors at the school earn a degree. His friend Al Templeton, who owns a local diner, disappears for only two minutes, but ages many years and develops terminal lung cancer in just those two minutes. After speaking to each other, Al explains that in the pantry of the diner there is a portal that brings whoever steps foot in it to September of 1958. Whatever happens there puts in place a "butterfly effect" and changes the course of the future for good. So when Jake finds out the janitor's father beat his entire family to death, he determines he has to go back in time and change everything. Soon, Al dies of cancer and leaves his final, dying wish to have Jake finish one task: save John F. Kennedy from his assassination.
I liked this book for about 200 pages. Having taken place in 1958, King brought in characters from It to give information to Jake. He also had Jake spend a lot of time in Derry, right after the murders stopped for that year, and I thought that was a great element to add to the plot. I loved reading It, so bringing back characters from that made it much more worth the read.
However, by the time the Derry plot was over, the storyline became so incredibly boring that I couldn't even finish the book. I went another 350 pages of reading basically nothing, where he "fell in love" for about 12 pages, but that was over quickly. None of what he did in Texas for the first 600 pages or so was interesting enough to keep me reading.
I never thought I would be so disappointed by Stephen King, especially since so many people loved this book. I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy long stories of complete nonsense. His other reads are much much more worth it than this, and I hope anyone would choose another book of his instead of this to read.
Jake Epping, a high school teacher from Maine, is recently divorced and desperately trying to help one of the janitors at the school earn a degree. His friend Al Templeton, who owns a local diner, disappears for only two minutes, but ages many years and develops terminal lung cancer in just those two minutes. After speaking to each other, Al explains that in the pantry of the diner there is a portal that brings whoever steps foot in it to September of 1958. Whatever happens there puts in place a "butterfly effect" and changes the course of the future for good. So when Jake finds out the janitor's father beat his entire family to death, he determines he has to go back in time and change everything. Soon, Al dies of cancer and leaves his final, dying wish to have Jake finish one task: save John F. Kennedy from his assassination.
I liked this book for about 200 pages. Having taken place in 1958, King brought in characters from It to give information to Jake. He also had Jake spend a lot of time in Derry, right after the murders stopped for that year, and I thought that was a great element to add to the plot. I loved reading It, so bringing back characters from that made it much more worth the read.
However, by the time the Derry plot was over, the storyline became so incredibly boring that I couldn't even finish the book. I went another 350 pages of reading basically nothing, where he "fell in love" for about 12 pages, but that was over quickly. None of what he did in Texas for the first 600 pages or so was interesting enough to keep me reading.
I never thought I would be so disappointed by Stephen King, especially since so many people loved this book. I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy long stories of complete nonsense. His other reads are much much more worth it than this, and I hope anyone would choose another book of his instead of this to read.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
4.0
I thought this book was good from the start, and then I found out it was originally written as a fanfiction. I used to read a lot of Wattpad fanfiction when I was in late middle school so this writing style is very familiar to me.
Overall, the plot was very intriguing and kept me at the edge of my seat. There were some arcs I felt were unnecessary but there was minimal filler and every subplot followed through and stayed connected. I always worry about open ends but everything tied up perfectly for the most part. The prologue set the book up so perfectly that I didn’t want to put it down.
I do have a few critiques: I’m not a fan of third-person writing, especially not in fanfiction-style books. The third-person tone mostly follows Olive and I would’ve liked to either have it in first person from her POV or had the third person speech be more neutral than following Olive. I also did not like the last chapter or the epilogue. The last chapter felt mostly unnecessary and didn’t completely tie up some of the ends that were left loose in the chapter prior, although I do feel a few mini parts of it were necessary and very well written. The epilogue felt short and vague and I would’ve liked to see more to tie the story up perfectly.
Also, the “He could fit her entire breast in his mouth” line? WHAT WAS THAT?
Anyways, great read. 4 stars due to having so many little critiques, but I don’t think that any of them are big or important enough for me to knock it down to a 3. Would absolutely recommend reading… Despite how mad I was when I found out it was originally a fanfiction.
Overall, the plot was very intriguing and kept me at the edge of my seat. There were some arcs I felt were unnecessary but there was minimal filler and every subplot followed through and stayed connected. I always worry about open ends but everything tied up perfectly for the most part. The prologue set the book up so perfectly that I didn’t want to put it down.
I do have a few critiques: I’m not a fan of third-person writing, especially not in fanfiction-style books. The third-person tone mostly follows Olive and I would’ve liked to either have it in first person from her POV or had the third person speech be more neutral than following Olive. I also did not like the last chapter or the epilogue. The last chapter felt mostly unnecessary and didn’t completely tie up some of the ends that were left loose in the chapter prior, although I do feel a few mini parts of it were necessary and very well written. The epilogue felt short and vague and I would’ve liked to see more to tie the story up perfectly.
Also, the “He could fit her entire breast in his mouth” line? WHAT WAS THAT?
Anyways, great read. 4 stars due to having so many little critiques, but I don’t think that any of them are big or important enough for me to knock it down to a 3. Would absolutely recommend reading… Despite how mad I was when I found out it was originally a fanfiction.
The Fall of Bradley Reed by Morgan Elizabeth
5.0
If you had told me when I first started this book I would be giving it 5 stars, I wouldn’t believe you.
The whole “people pleasing” gag was really annoying at first, especially with how the phrase was just thrown about constantly the first couple chapters when it would’ve been just as easy to just explain it without directly *saying* it. I went into this thinking the plot was lame and that it was going to feel underdeveloped and overly obvious what was going to happen.
But that’s literally the only critique I have.
This was a perfect book. I love a good epilogue too, and that was just as perfect as the rest of the story. I feel hollow now that I’m finished with it. Completely, absolutely hollow, in the best way possible.
The whole “people pleasing” gag was really annoying at first, especially with how the phrase was just thrown about constantly the first couple chapters when it would’ve been just as easy to just explain it without directly *saying* it. I went into this thinking the plot was lame and that it was going to feel underdeveloped and overly obvious what was going to happen.
But that’s literally the only critique I have.
This was a perfect book. I love a good epilogue too, and that was just as perfect as the rest of the story. I feel hollow now that I’m finished with it. Completely, absolutely hollow, in the best way possible.