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lostcanticles's reviews
863 reviews
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Couldn’t give a proper rating for this, it took me so long to get through it for some reason; I didn’t even think it was a bad read.
To start, style and tone of this book was enjoyable for me. I liked how the focus was heavy on Rachel and James as bffs and their shenanigans as twenty - somethings, told from the perspective of an older Rachel. There was something really grounding when she recounts an event and admits how embarrassed she was. I mean, I don’t think we get a lot of narrators (or I may not be reading enough) that admit when they’ve been wrong and/or what they’ve done wrong. In this case, I liked Rachel’s honesty. In a way, telling it all without filters (not hiding that they were all really messy).
This is also one of those books wherein I genuinely wanted every character to be OK. They’re not perfect and it’s one of the aspects that made things feel more real in this book. When they mess up, I was just like “well, that really does happen” and I say that as a twenty - something myself. And as a twenty - something, Rachel and James looking for opportunities, trying to build connections for their career, not knowing where to start, seemingly having no direction was so on point for me actually. Giving a plus for all that.
Aside from all those babble, the ending was not what I expected but I was very glad it went the way it did.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the arc!
To start, style and tone of this book was enjoyable for me. I liked how the focus was heavy on Rachel and James as bffs and their shenanigans as twenty - somethings, told from the perspective of an older Rachel. There was something really grounding when she recounts an event and admits how embarrassed she was. I mean, I don’t think we get a lot of narrators (or I may not be reading enough) that admit when they’ve been wrong and/or what they’ve done wrong. In this case, I liked Rachel’s honesty. In a way, telling it all without filters (not hiding that they were all really messy).
This is also one of those books wherein I genuinely wanted every character to be OK. They’re not perfect and it’s one of the aspects that made things feel more real in this book. When they mess up, I was just like “well, that really does happen” and I say that as a twenty - something myself. And as a twenty - something, Rachel and James looking for opportunities, trying to build connections for their career, not knowing where to start, seemingly having no direction was so on point for me actually. Giving a plus for all that.
Aside from all those babble, the ending was not what I expected but I was very glad it went the way it did.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the arc!
Chinatown by Thuận
Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.
DNF @ 65%
Probably not the best time for me to read this. I could get back to this sometime.
Probably not the best time for me to read this. I could get back to this sometime.
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
2.0
First book I read by Kelly Barnhill was the Crane Husband, which I thought was quite good. Still took me a while to decide to pick this up, and to be honest I could have done without. The feeling after eating something that didn’t taste good then immediately looking for something better to battle it away was how I felt after finishing this. I thoroughly appreciated the themes of the book, the idea behind it, what it wanted to convey and all, but I didn’t like the execution.
Actually, I enjoyed the first half and expected to give this a higher rating. The more I progressed though, the more I found that I’m not taking anything seriously anymore and I couldn’t properly explain why. Aside from the narrative being quite repetitive, the “dragoning” fell flat for me.I mean, you suddenly got dragons carrying purses, sewing, baking, knitting, etc. Where did the rage go…
Maybe this disappointment had a lot to do with my own expectations going in, especially with the dragons. Maybe I just expected too much.
Actually, I enjoyed the first half and expected to give this a higher rating. The more I progressed though, the more I found that I’m not taking anything seriously anymore and I couldn’t properly explain why. Aside from the narrative being quite repetitive, the “dragoning” fell flat for me.
Maybe this disappointment had a lot to do with my own expectations going in, especially with the dragons. Maybe I just expected too much.
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
I’d like to sit on my rating more, but it certainly won’t be low. I wanted a devastating read and I got it.