mcclapper's reviews
76 reviews

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this up until about 3/4 of the way through, then it kind of dragged. We don't end up getting a full resolution at the end either which was a little frustrating. As others have stated, the MC was kind of grating and with her use of vocabulary I had a hard time believing she was only 20 years old, although I won't doubt that there are 20 y/o that do have that vocab. 

I'll be honest and say I barely read any of the footnotes. I just wanted to get to the end. Maybe on a second read through I will. 

But, I very much enjoyed reading about Eugene and his progression throughout the book. I'm an educator and it's really fun to see things from a different perspective especially kids with special needs. And the mystery around the dad missing was really fun as the family was connecting all the pieces to find out what truly happened. I also enjoyed reading about the HQ and hope to find some more reading that's related to that. 

In all, I enjoyed the book and the journey it took me on, but was disappointed with the ending. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a quick, fun read. I enjoyed the main character a lot, but I did wish we got a bit more character development with the two parents. 

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

2 stars because the first two thirds of the book kept me interested, but once the "twist" occurred, it all fell apart for me. 

The major players were woefully unlikeable except for poor Michael. Avery was absolutely deplorable; no 9 year old would ever have the cognitive ability to act or talk the way she did. It was just completely unrealistic especially

her interactions with Marion.

And I felt like we could've learned more about Gully, but the author was more concerned with moving the plot forward than character development. 

As for the ending, I was disappointed and felt like it was rushed. It made zero sense to me. I don't understand why the parents would ever agree to

Avery doing an interview, especially when they didn't want anything to do with the press.

You are the parent! Parent your

psychopath!

Ugh. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Infidelity

Minor: Domestic abuse

The Women by Kristin Hannah

challenging emotional tense medium-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

4.25

This is one of the best books I've read in a while. I got it by chance somehow through my library and I was enthralled the whole time. I really enjoyed reading about Frankie's time in Vietnam. I feel like so many books focus on the world wars and it was really interesting to read about the war in Vietnam as it seems to have been swept under the rug by the US. I especially appreciated the fact that it was from a woman's perspective as we don't get that often in books set in/during wartime either. I'm a fan of Kristen Hannah's so I might be a bit biased, but I think this is actually my favorite written by her. 

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I was really enjoying this book until the end. The amount of twists in the end was a bit much and the main one was a bit out of left field for me.

I think if Kit's dad was fleshed out more as a character, then it would make more sense, but it just felt weird to me.

Overall it was decent. 

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Things I liked:

• The setting: haunted house with spooky ghost vibes was great. Gave me Haunting of Hill House and Amityville Horror flashbacks which was great
• Book within book: Maggie's dad's book House of Horrors was a fun read between Maggie's POV in Baneberry Hall.
• It was relatively fast paced, but I did get bored with Maggie at points. 

Things I disliked:

• The main character: I find it hard to like any main character of a horror/thriller. Too many times they are too gullible and unsuspecting. 
• Character development: Hardly any of the secondary characters were fleshed out. I'm not even sure what the point was of Dane. 
• The ending: What the f*ck was that ending. So weird and disappointing for me. 

This is my second Riley Sager book, The Final Girls being my first. I liked this book infinitely more than Finals Girls, but it still didn't live up to my expectations. 

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I was a little bored at the start, but the premise kept me intrigued so I kept going. I would say the first half of the book is a slow burn and then it picks up speed becoming a runaway train about 80% through. I honestly wasn't really surprised by any of the twists in the book, but it was a good read. 

Final Girls by Riley Sager

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This was not a great read for me. None of the characters were remotely likable and were written so poorly. Nothing really happens until 3/4 of the way through and the climax ends up being a mess that makes no sense really. The twist wasn't really all the surprising either. I did finish it, so I'll give it 2. 

Oh and if I have to read about taking Xanax with grape juice again, I might go mad. 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Rating this as a 3.5 because I think Grady did a great job with the creep factor

I hate dolls and puppets and am a scaredy cat in general

as well as describing the scenes and settings. I was able to visualize everything so well with what happened within their house. It really felt like I was watching it as a movie played out in my head. However, I really loathed the characters Louise and Mark. Their constant bickering was annoying and with all the stuff that happened in their childhood, I wouldn’t think that Louise would be so blind to what was happening to her toward the beginning of the novel

Pupkin appeared out of nowhere to her dad’s chair watching tv and she thought nothing of it even though he tried to have her kill her own brother when she was 5? She knows the puppet is alive, why would not do something then?

Towards the middle of the book, Mark explains his experience at BU to Louise to paint a better picture of what happened between him and the antagonist. This part went on far too long for me and I hated every second of it. Aside from the political talk about 9/11 and the war that followed, I could not have been any less interested in the story and it wasn’t scary at all.

I wished we found out what happened to his friends that were in the house too. Did they actually die? Did any of it really happen?

 

This is the first book I read by Hendrix and it seems like a lot of people really enjoyed his other books, so I might give him another go. 

TL;DR: characters sucked; visuals and creepiness were great.