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lucybbookstuff's Reviews (376)
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a bad book or experience, but certainly not my favorite. I think I was expecting mostly heartwarming small-town charm and not quite so much abject trauma...
I really hated waiting around for the baby to die. And I hated that the main character died at the end so unceremoniously. And I was clearly supposed to find this restaurant charming, but I mostly was just thanking every god and my family that I wasn't born into any kind of business dynasty.
As a multigenerational story, this left me quite unsatisfied. I didn't feel like most of the generational drama was tied up very well. I don't even mean that it wasn't cute or nice enough, I mean it just wasn't done well.
I also didn't love that this story, which is so much about women, relationships between women, and pregnancy, was written by a man. I'm not sure if he didn't do it well enough for me because he is a man or because he just didn't do it well. But either way, that rubbed me the wrong way. (Which is not to say that men should never write women's stories. But this one in particular seemed like a weird one for a man to tell.)
In the end, I enjoyed the writing and the Midwest humor. But this was not the story for me.
As a multigenerational story, this left me quite unsatisfied. I didn't feel like most of the generational drama was tied up very well. I don't even mean that it wasn't cute or nice enough, I mean it just wasn't done well.
I also didn't love that this story, which is so much about women, relationships between women, and pregnancy, was written by a man. I'm not sure if he didn't do it well enough for me because he is a man or because he just didn't do it well. But either way, that rubbed me the wrong way. (Which is not to say that men should never write women's stories. But this one in particular seemed like a weird one for a man to tell.)
In the end, I enjoyed the writing and the Midwest humor. But this was not the story for me.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
AHHHHH. Okay okay okay. This book was slow as hell, I have to get that out of the way, but I'm currently REELING from the ending!! Goddamn!!!!
Okay. This book is 500 pages long and about 425 of those were all buildup. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was definitely some middle book syndrome, transitioning the crazy plot of book 1 into what I'm SURE will be absolute insanity in book 3. But it was just SUCH a jarring change of pace after the ridiculously fast Darker Shade of Magic.
So for that, it gets a lower rating, but I did generally enjoy the plot, and I'm still liking the characters, even when they're fucking killing me (COUGH, Rhy and Lila) and treating my sweet, long-suffering son, Kell, like absolute garbage. I need only good things to happen to Kell from here on out. I know I won't get that wish, but damn it, he deserves it. ðŸ˜
I wasn't expecting Holland's whole plot at all. I knew something would be happening with him and White and/or Black London, but I had no idea what. That was cool. I'm very excited (and nervous) to see where book 3 goes.
Okay. This book is 500 pages long and about 425 of those were all buildup. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was definitely some middle book syndrome, transitioning the crazy plot of book 1 into what I'm SURE will be absolute insanity in book 3. But it was just SUCH a jarring change of pace after the ridiculously fast Darker Shade of Magic.
So for that, it gets a lower rating, but I did generally enjoy the plot, and I'm still liking the characters, even when they're fucking killing me (COUGH, Rhy and Lila) and treating my sweet, long-suffering son, Kell, like absolute garbage. I need only good things to happen to Kell from here on out. I know I won't get that wish, but damn it, he deserves it. ðŸ˜
emotional
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
Perfect babies. 🥹
I'm glad this one had a little timeline in the back! I put "This Winter" and "Solitaire" on hold so I can get up to date. 😊
I'm glad this one had a little timeline in the back! I put "This Winter" and "Solitaire" on hold so I can get up to date. 😊
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I generally just wish I felt more about this. I don't have much to say. It was fucking weird lol but I enjoyed it. I liked the nontraditional narrative structure (my ADHD brain really appreciated the short passages) and the often-poetic writing. I did not like most of the body horror and disgusting imagery. I'm struggling to understand exactly what the meaning of the mutations is. The allegory behind it. Unless it's literally just about grief and loss... but that feels too obvious??
I don't know. I definitely liked the book and enjoyed the experience and I found it beautifully written. I think I just expected a more emotional reaction.
ETA after book club discussion: I think I'm realizing that I just wanted MORE. I was really interested in all the characters, scenarios, and ideas in this book, and while I loved the poetic writing style, it didn't really allow for the kind of deep digging that I wanted from all of that. I want both, ya know? Oh, well. Still a really lovely book, and I appreciate the themes more now after hearing my friends discuss it.
I don't know. I definitely liked the book and enjoyed the experience and I found it beautifully written. I think I just expected a more emotional reaction.
ETA after book club discussion: I think I'm realizing that I just wanted MORE. I was really interested in all the characters, scenarios, and ideas in this book, and while I loved the poetic writing style, it didn't really allow for the kind of deep digging that I wanted from all of that. I want both, ya know? Oh, well. Still a really lovely book, and I appreciate the themes more now after hearing my friends discuss it.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
For me, the vast majority of memoirs get a baseline 4 stars. They are hard to rate because they're such personal works, and they're often not even really FOR the reader. So, even if I didn't love the experience of reading it, they mostly get at least 4 stars just for the feat of doing that emotional labor.
But this one gets a full 5. This woman is so beyond talented. She wove this story together so well and narrated it to absolute perfection. I already knew that she's a talented actress, but I had no idea about her past and the extent of the work she put in. Just incredible.
But this one gets a full 5. This woman is so beyond talented. She wove this story together so well and narrated it to absolute perfection. I already knew that she's a talented actress, but I had no idea about her past and the extent of the work she put in. Just incredible.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-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:
Complicated
This was a fun read! Very interesting concept, and probably executed about as well as it could have been. Of course some things were a little extra convenient, but then again, you can make things convenient for yourself when you time travel lol.
Speaking of time travel, it's not a favorite trope of mine. Mainly because I'm not smart enough for it. Thinking of different timelines and changing your fate and how things you do in one spot can influence everything else that ever happened to you and how nothing in any timeline would happen if you hadn't already lived the other timelines........ it all makes my brain bleed lol, it's too much.
But overall, this was a nice, heartfelt story with a clear message of living every moment to the fullest and taking nothing for granted.
Speaking of time travel, it's not a favorite trope of mine. Mainly because I'm not smart enough for it. Thinking of different timelines and changing your fate and how things you do in one spot can influence everything else that ever happened to you and how nothing in any timeline would happen if you hadn't already lived the other timelines........ it all makes my brain bleed lol, it's too much.
But overall, this was a nice, heartfelt story with a clear message of living every moment to the fullest and taking nothing for granted.
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kiley Reid is such a fantastic character writer. She can really capture being human. There are so many little thoughts the characters have that are generally not important to any kind of plot, but as a fellow human, they are just SO relatable.
The plot wasn't exactly riveting, but that's not really what you're here for anyway. It was definitely an interesting examination of many things, such as campus culture, being young and impressionable (read: dumb), attitudes around money, and interpersonal racial politics.
The plot wasn't exactly riveting, but that's not really what you're here for anyway. It was definitely an interesting examination of many things, such as campus culture, being young and impressionable (read: dumb), attitudes around money, and interpersonal racial politics.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As the reviews for this started coming in, they seemed very mixed. I was getting really worried that I would be disappointed. But I really liked it! I'd need to reread the whole series to know if I like it as much as the others, but I definitely did like it.
I think part of it is that so much of the fandom had very bloated expectations. I've been on reddit and seen the insane theories and everyone going crazy waiting for it. Personally, while I think the theorizing is cool, I never took it that seriously. I didn't know what to expect from it, so I just let it be what it is, and I really enjoyed it.
I do think that this world and all the characters to keep track of keeps getting a little too expansive. The Ithan and Tharion bits especially went a little overboard, I think, and could certainly have been cut down, cut out, or severely changed to serve the story at hand a bit better. But whatever. She clearly is setting it up for those two to be future protagonists, which I'm not NOT interested in lol.
As always, Sarah's plots are a little insane and sometimes eye-rolly, but I can never deny what intelligence it takes to even come up with them in the first place. Girl's got IDEAS. Even if they get slightly lost in translation sometimes.
And she remains allergic to killing off any main-adjacent characters 😂 but oh well. It's not like I WANT them to die, it's just kind of silly that none of them do.
Overall, enjoyed myself! Now happy to forget the Maasverse for a while until the ACOTAR 5 campaign begins in earnest lol.
P.S. I'm REALLY glad that I started this immediately after finishing an ACOTAR reread. That ended up coming in very handy.
I think part of it is that so much of the fandom had very bloated expectations. I've been on reddit and seen the insane theories and everyone going crazy waiting for it. Personally, while I think the theorizing is cool, I never took it that seriously. I didn't know what to expect from it, so I just let it be what it is, and I really enjoyed it.
I do think that this world and all the characters to keep track of keeps getting a little too expansive. The Ithan and Tharion bits especially went a little overboard, I think, and could certainly have been cut down, cut out, or severely changed to serve the story at hand a bit better. But whatever. She clearly is setting it up for those two to be future protagonists, which I'm not NOT interested in lol.
As always, Sarah's plots are a little insane and sometimes eye-rolly, but I can never deny what intelligence it takes to even come up with them in the first place. Girl's got IDEAS. Even if they get slightly lost in translation sometimes.
And she remains allergic to killing off any main-adjacent characters 😂 but oh well. It's not like I WANT them to die, it's just kind of silly that none of them do.
Overall, enjoyed myself! Now happy to forget the Maasverse for a while until the ACOTAR 5 campaign begins in earnest lol.
P.S. I'm REALLY glad that I started this immediately after finishing an ACOTAR reread. That ended up coming in very handy.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Delightful. 🥲 I just want MORE! I would love to get the entire trilogy from Cardan's perspective tbh. 😂 But this was a wonderful little look inside his head.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I usually don't like super atmospheric novels, but I found this one quite beautiful. I guess the trick is that I still need a clear plot and connection to the characters, which this book provided. Plus, maybe I just love Iceland and was happy to learn more about it. Even if what I learned was more than a bit gruesome.
Beautiful, but not difficult, writing. A very interesting history lesson. Some potent dark, wintry vibes. A pinch of righteous anger and sadness.
I could maybe have used a little more... oomph, for lack of a better word lol. But I though this was well-done and would generally recommend it.
Beautiful, but not difficult, writing. A very interesting history lesson. Some potent dark, wintry vibes. A pinch of righteous anger and sadness.
I could maybe have used a little more... oomph, for lack of a better word lol. But I though this was well-done and would generally recommend it.