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manikahemmerixh's Reviews (220)
Surprisingly quick read, but I'm sure is meant to be broken down and taken a bit slower. Simple story line on the surface, but deep implications and explorations of culture, kink, religion, and femininity. Probably would be great on Kindle where you have the built-in dictionary feature because the vocabulary could be pretty obscure. That said, most of the words I looked up I was understanding properly in context, so if it doesn't bother you I think you can surmise the implied meaning without looking anything up. Some stark stand out moments woven within, and although very flowery, beautiful prose.
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"Listen to us," Lidija said. "Such ladies, living to serve the group. I, like you, require not a thing. In fact, I don't quite exist."
I told Lidija what, before I left social media, I'd loved. It was the self flaunting, I said. People who'd post bold pictures, bids for praise, a dollop of lust, which they'd get...I found it elating, I said. Nephilim of style. Posing, radiant. It felt like such an open, giving part of life. People calling, Do you see me? Others replied, with delight. I'm here. I do.
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"Listen to us," Lidija said. "Such ladies, living to serve the group. I, like you, require not a thing. In fact, I don't quite exist."
I told Lidija what, before I left social media, I'd loved. It was the self flaunting, I said. People who'd post bold pictures, bids for praise, a dollop of lust, which they'd get...I found it elating, I said. Nephilim of style. Posing, radiant. It felt like such an open, giving part of life. People calling, Do you see me? Others replied, with delight. I'm here. I do.
Exactly what I needed in the midst of a reading slump. Not exactly ground breaking, but it's okay to follow a blue print if you do it well. The world building is great, and the stakes are adequately high. It throws the reader right in to chaos, but in a good way. Aren and Lara had me captivated. Then I quite literally could have audibly screamed at the end. Betrayal and separation at the end of a book is not my favorite, though I've come to accept that it's very common in romantasy. I'm nervous to get into the second, but also desperate to know what happens next.
Started off interesting but lost me by half-way through. Basically from the revelation about the supposed murder weapon, I was bored. I don't know if it was too long, or if the story just wasn't focusing on the right things for me.
I didn't care enough to really be shocked by the twist, but I also have two major qualms with it. 1. If Marshall is killing Grace's boyfriend's so that she can focus solely on him, what the heck good did it do either of them for her to go to jail for ten years covering for him? 2. Grace can remain incredibly loyal to her murderous brother out of guilt and a sense of duty, but has no second thoughts about framing her life long friend (who she also had reasons to feel indebted to outside of just having someone in your life for that long) ? Then the end felt oddly rushed and unfinished (I say oddly because no time was wasted inserting unnecessary detail in the rest of the book), which I guess this worked in my favor this time since I was ready to be done anyway.
I didn't care enough to really be shocked by the twist, but I also have two major qualms with it.
Oof. I don't usually DNF books, but I got 60% of the way through and just was not connected to the story. So, I skimmed through a bit to see if I saw anything worth keeping going for another 200 pages and decided not to. I don't mind that Powerless resembles other stories, but what I do mind is that it doesn't stand out. The Crowns of Nyaxia duology and Fourth Wing are two books I loved that are also super popular (i.e. marketable and digestible) and used trials, but those have strong world building and characters with depth. Powerless could be set anywhere. I read 300 pages but I still couldn't really tell you a thing about Ilya. Killing machine love interest who's only soft spot is her? Check but you told me not showed me. In a lot of ways it felt like this book was written to meet tropes and that's it.
I do think that for me I've just read, and enjoyed much more, books that are so similar to this one - that it rendered reading this one pointless. The very ending did look just intriguing enough that maybe if it had been shorter or faster paced, I might have stuck it out or considered looking into the second one, but as is I'd rather quit while I'm ahead.
I do think that for me I've just read, and enjoyed much more, books that are so similar to this one - that it rendered reading this one pointless. The very ending did look just intriguing enough that maybe if it had been shorter or faster paced, I might have stuck it out or considered looking into the second one, but as is I'd rather quit while I'm ahead.
Unfortunately I just didn't like this book. I think that the core of the story was intriguing, but it was executed in a way that felt unnecessarily drawn out. There were too many POVs and most of them, like the cabin host and even Cricket, didn't add enough to the story to justify having their own chapters. There are other ways to distribute information to a reader without putting us in the eyes of every single character. Similarly, I think that I would have appreciated the story more if it was more refined. It's the nature of many thrillers to try and throw you off by pointing in different directions, but in this case I felt more bored than intrigued by the mystery stories. The entire ghost element didn't need to be added since it wasn't really flushed out. I probably should have heeded my inner warning signals and DNF'd when men were described as "virile" more than once. Not my vibe.
This is the kind of memoir that was most enjoyable to me as a reader when I saw myself in it, but that is also deeply personal to the author - which means that it is not always going to resonate and that's okay. I really liked what Shannon Reed did with this memoir, so even though some chapters were much slower for me, I overall had a pleasant reading experience. I actually shed a few tears with her as she shared her encounter with Where the Red Fern Grows which felt so silly but also ironically suited to the situation. I didn't get all of it, there were nondescript references to things I haven't read and other things like cookbooks which I don't read at all. If you love books though, there's more than likely something in here for you.
Although, I do hate to say it, if you've never loved to read or haven't for a long time, I'm not convinced that this would [re]spark the passion despite Reed saying it's one of her motives in writing the memoir.
Although, I do hate to say it, if you've never loved to read or haven't for a long time, I'm not convinced that this would [re]spark the passion despite Reed saying it's one of her motives in writing the memoir.
Re-reading (and finishing for the first time) this series as an adult. I planned to do all four books, but seeing that Extras is a spin-off sort of, I'm probably not going to read that one as I'm content to leave this world with Tally's story, rather than dive into another. The Uglies series started out strong but my enjoyment tapered off a bit with each book. The premise is still completely relevant almost 20 years later, but the execution is hit and miss. Since I was reading them all together this is a general review of the three.
I mostly liked Tally as a FMC. Shay wasn't incorrect in suggesting that Tally can be a little self-centered but she is only a 16 year old and I could believe she always meant well. Now what I didn't enjoy was the back and forth frenemies situation between Tally and Shay. It was a really weak portrayal of female friendship, especially since it was the only other relationship besides the romantic ones where the reader got to see the friend for more than a few sentences. As for the romance, eh. It's clearly not the point of the story so it's okay that it isn't very believable. Justice for Zane though. I do feel like more ground work was done with that relationship, only to have it end tragically just to set up for the chosen ending. The only other main gripe that stuck out to me was the poor handling of ED and "the Cutters". In Uglies Tally is horrified eating disorders used to exist, and the irony of her then starving herself to stay "bubbly" and stick it to the operation, doesn't justify risking romanticizing not eating to young teens. And I don't think Cutters needed to extended from Pretties to Specials. If there was a point to be made, it was already done, and it became obvious enough anyway that being Special was its own kind of brainwashing.
Like I mentioned before, the concept holds up for me enough, and I loved the terminology used in the series. These are still fun to read and have plenty of action.
I mostly liked Tally as a FMC. Shay wasn't incorrect in suggesting that Tally can be a little self-centered but she is only a 16 year old and I could believe she always meant well. Now what I didn't enjoy was the back and forth frenemies situation between Tally and Shay. It was a really weak portrayal of female friendship, especially since it was the only other relationship besides the romantic ones where the reader got to see the friend for more than a few sentences. As for the romance, eh. It's clearly not the point of the story so it's okay that it isn't very believable. Justice for
Like I mentioned before, the concept holds up for me enough, and I loved the terminology used in the series. These are still fun to read and have plenty of action.
This book isn't bad. I read it in one sitting so I was clearly enraptured enough by the story. The thing is that after finishing it I feel kind of meh about it. I'm not squeamish, but the body horror definitely had me a bit queasy throughout, so I think that deserves recognition as a successful element. As the number of pages in front of me got smaller and smaller though, I knew that I wasn't going to be blown away by the story. Overall there was kind of just a combination of elements where I was like okay, I could really like this, but where is it going? And none of them went deep enough to make me feel like I really got something special out of this book. I think the writing is solid though and I still find the premise interesting enough to decide not to give this a lower rating.
I actually really enjoyed this book. Maybe I just read it at the perfect time and didn't have my hackles up, but I was intrigued the whole time and didn't see the twist coming until it was already there. All of the characters are flawed. All three siblings say terrible things to each other that they shouldn't, but that felt raw to me. They aren't bad people to add to the intrigue of the story (mostly), they're just humans who've been hurt and haven't addressed it and healed from it properly so they lash out at each other. I can see why people would think that a lot of elements don't add up here, and normally I also hate when it's so clear that things could have been completely different (and the whole plot seems almost pointless), but I didn't feel that way about Home Is Where the Bodies Are.
No doubt that this book is unique. The prose was my favorite part about it. The descriptions and imagery were so clear in my mind and chapter 15 specifically had it's own voice and was so fun to read. The actual plot itself, not my favorite. I think I was expecting it to be more about the dynamics of girlhood with a horror twist and less about all of the other stuff that it really focused on in parts 2 & 3. I do want to check out more of Mona Awad's other works after reading Bunny though.