megansmith's reviews
183 reviews

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

This book had a bit of a slow burn, but in the best way. If you make it through the trials of a terrible relationship and the repeated crimes of a terrible old man, then Anita won't be the only one laughing last at the end of this book. I did struggle a bit at times during this book, finding it hard to believe Raquel would come back to Nick after some of his worst offenses, but boy was it worth it.

This book was very well written - I loved the similarities, but also the differences the author struck between Anita and Raquel, and I'm glad I never felt like I was in Jack's true point of view. I was always an outsider, similar to Anita, seeing these two important threads coming together and not giving too much space to the man who was trying to pull them apart. I was surprised by the end at the pace and how much was fit in at the very end, but the slow build was worth it! 

Overall, I highly recommend, and will definitely be looking to read Olga Dies Dreaming in the near future. 

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad 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? Yes

4.5

Sally Rooney, the woman you are 💖

I really loved this! I teared up at the end, it got me - like usual, Rooney does a great job adding poignancy to every day life, and making the mundane interesting. I really appreciate her ability to capture an era in time, especially in this book. Many people walk around this world wondering, what big “thing” is next, but we’re all still fated to keep going on with our lives and valuing “trivial” things like romantic relationships over the “big meaning of life”. Because maybe those smaller moments, those mundane things, the people we come to know and love, are really what live on this beautiful world is about. 

I think my only complaints would be, 1) I found myself getting lost at times in the Eileen / Alice writing - I liked it as a way to break up the content and get this more “clean” view of their relationship, but some of the ramblings were lost on me. More of a me issue probably. 2) Eileen and Simon’s relationship could be SO FRUSTRATING, again though more of a me thing that characters who dont listen to themselves and just do self destructive things can get on my nerves.

Overall though, really liked this and highly reccommend!! 

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

I admittedly didn't expect to pick this up when I did (library hold my mom put in, not even me, was suddenly ready and I was very brave about it) and to be honest, I probably could have lived without reading this sequel. I feel like the first book was a pretty solid ending. You have this open-ended resurrection, the characters are free to do what they wish and you don't need to keep things going. 

I just think this second story felt tacked on and frankly, a little underwhelming - I read Marcella's introduction in the first book's "extras" section and wasn't feeling it, but I have a problem with wanting to finish every series I start, so I felt compelled to keep reading.

for all this buildup of how powerful she and her associates were, her death was so incredibly anticlimactic.

She could have had more interactions with the main characters, more stakes or intertwining with the original story to make her feel more relevant, or more than just the vague notion of "power" as her end goal. Even a small insight into what she was going for with the final act would've been nice other than

setting up this huge ball for some of the most influential people in the city of Merit

. You honestly could have removed her from this story, made 1-2 final tweaks and had a much better book in the long run. I think also Marcella bugged me since I noticed a recurring error in the writing that threw me off - the book made this whole mention of her cutting her hair to a short black bob early on, and then just a few weeks later she has a ponytail, and tons of references to flowing hair going down her back. If you're gonna commit to someone with short black hair on the freaking cover, then follow through! 

Pair the underwhelming character add with the literal ending, the culmination of this two-book-long fight, and

Eli dies in just about two pages? It was pretty underwhelming, even if Sydney got her poetic justice, that still could have gotten more of the build up it deserved.

. 

Generally this book has a pacing problem - pages amble on but critical moments are cut too short and feel anticlimactic, or don't really explain enough of a character to get a close enough connection (I had a hard time feeling much for June throughout this whole book - and Sydney, girl, just because you text a girl every other day or so for a month doesn't suddenly mean she's "like a sister"). I could justify the page count if pacing was addressed and the new female characters felt more fleshed out. 

Overall I just don't know if this lived up to the first book, and I could've lived without this to be honest. This hasn't tainted Schwab's work in comparison to Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, however I'm a little more hesitant to push for her more magic-focused series anytime soon over some of my other TBR reads. You could read the first book and pretend this one doesn't exist and be totally fine imo. 

Exit Interview: A Memoir by Kristi Coulter

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

I quite liked this! Its so rare to read about someone who had a long tenure in tech and survived, and I appreciate the candor Kristi wrote with in this novel. Every book written by a woman who survived Big Tech makes me feel a little less alone. I appreciate her ways of demistifying the bullshit that is tech culture in an approachable way. Highly reccommend! 

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I....i'm kind of speechless. I have so many thoughts but this book was also a mindf*ck of a last 50 or so pages, and I don't know if it's in a good way or a bad way? 

Pro for this book: I've read a lot of fiction and nonfiction in the "terrible workplace" category, and this definitely turns that concept on it's head. It's unique and surprising as you work your way towards the end, which I think these books tend to lack in this category - shock-filled descriptions of workplace abuse with flat, predictable endings plague this genre. This is not that...but also, what even is this? It almost catapults into an entirely opposite direction, flipping from weird moments of surprise and intrigue to complete shock and disgust. I want to find the meaning in why the author chose to go this route, but the direction feels SO stark and graphic that it feels done more as a means to shock over saying something meaningful or going to those violent extremes for a purpose. 

The ending also, for all the violence it built up to, fittered out in the most important moment. Even just a few more pages of struggle, or not a random cut

when Victor finally catches up to the narrator and has his hands around her throat, to suddenly her safe in a hospital? I don't think there was even a mention of her passing out, no struggle or anything, just sudden touch and the next chapter.

. 

The writing building up to this moment was well done, and thoughtful in building out the character's back story before bringing her to the main conflicts. But the ending just frankly ruined any hard work done by the beginning of the book, all in the name of shock value. I wanted to like this more but I'm not really sure how to feel other than kind of disappointed by the ending. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Pregnancy

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book is a totally different turn from the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but I do enjoy how Schwab’s strengths as a writer (great story building, good twists, an interesting plot) carry over in this different style. This read a the golden era MCU movie - fast-paced, enticing - with the gore and rawness of the Boys, or Birds of Prey. I really enjoyed it overall, and Ill definitely be reading the next. My only main complaint might be some of the goriest bits early on with Victor and Eli. I had a hard time reading it, which maybe just means it was particularly well done, but even if I stuck to the page to read what was happening, I had a few moments it was hard to follow the physics of the exact sequence. That extreme of horror is maybe just not for me? But either way will still be reading #2 lol

Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed this, I think it's honestly a must read for just about anyone. I realized while reading this I like nonfiction books that feel more based in fact and less fluffy / prose-y, and this definitely fit that bill! I liked learning about the history and it made everything feel far more informed when looking at the present day - but I also enjoyed balancing the history with modern day stories from people in these industries. 

I think my only complaint would be, after a while the formula got a little old, but I think some of that ties back to history having so much overlap (shocker, Regan fucking suuuucks and he just didn't hate one industry, he hated em all! Same with Thatcher). 

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

challenging dark funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book so much, like to the point I don't want to look up reviews. Maaaybe it's my (painful) RA experience that had me feeling all kinds of stressed as this book progressed, but I found it hard to put down and even if I was busy and couldn't read that day, I was thinking about the book and wondering what would happen.

Kiley Reid is a fantastic author and this book really shines. I liked Such a Fun Age but i LOVED this book and you can tell Reid took her work as a researcher seriously (more than Agatha did!) and wrote living truth into great prose. She summed up a feeling I've been chasing in books lately in one line in her "making of Come & Get It" section - 

The fiction I want to read places the best and worst parts of a person on the same page and lets the reader make up their own mind.

For all the complicated choices her characters made, many of which I disagreed with, I still felt myself pondering their stories and wanting the best for them, wondering where they'd go from here.  She did a great job finding multiple perspectives and intertwining three relatively separate stories into one coherent story. 

I will say, I thought about knocking off .25 of a star, since after Halloween I lost track of time in this book and couldn't tell if it was the end of semester, or the end of the year, but I think that might have just been me flying through this book and not reading slowly enough to catch cues where Reid left them. 

Overall, I recommend this for anyone who enjoys; books about the college experience that do not have pretentious & overly-complicated prose, anyone hustling in tough circumstances, anyone who liked Such a Fun Age...or almost anyone. I do think this is such a great book and it's my favorite so far of '24! 

OUTSPOKEN: Why Women's Voices Get Silenced and How to Set Them Free by Veronica Rueckert

challenging hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

3.75

I enjoyed this! I think this made me think about my voice in a very different way - I went into this focused on the mental side, the words I may not vocalize etc, but didnt consider the physical aspects of having a voice. Breathing and making space for breath, conditions that can impact your vocal health, and verbal techniques to interrupt professionally were just a few of the tips shared in this book. I do think the first half caught my attention more, but the second half lost me a bit, mainly since it felt less research-grounded and a bit more opinionated in the assertions being made. I do understand where the thinking is coming from and agree with parts of it, I did just like the first half more and the solid roots in science. Overall, really interesting read if this is something you feel like you struggle with at work, at home, or anywhere, honestly. 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

First five star of 2024! Wow, this book was intense in such a good way. I found myself thinking about this a lot when I wasnt reading it, and got hooked tonight around 40% and couldnt stop until I finished. The story is really well done, even for how much i found myself cringing at the unreliable narrator I was reading the perspective of. I loved the pacing, loved the important themes this tackled, loved a lot of this. The hype around this book was so worth it and I highly reccommend!