michellekiara's reviews
73 reviews

The Girl in the Box by Ouida Sebestyen

dark sad medium-paced

2.0

The most impressive thing about The Girl in the Box is how it manages to build an entire story with just one character in a setting completely stripped of outside stimulation. It’s just this girl, Jackie, trapped in a “box” with an old typewriter, and somehow the author stretches that into a full novel.

The premise sounded rather interesting. A kidnapped girl, confined in total darkness, left with only her thoughts and a typewriter. She types letters to the police, to her parents, to herself, etc. It’s eerie and claustrophobic and has all the makings of something deeply unsettling. But instead of pulling me in, it left me feeling glum the whole way through.

I get that it’s supposed to be bleak. I get that it’s meant to sit heavy in your chest. But for me, it felt pointless. There was no payoff, no answers, nothing. I was left wondering why I spent all that time feeling hollow for no reason.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

My friend Clara recommended The Midnight Library to me (thank you Clara), and I finally picked it up thinking it might feel too much like nonfiction, which usually isn’t my thing. But I ended up loving it way more than I expected.

I’ve always been drawn to stories that question the meaning of life. One of my favorite creepypastas is The Egg by Andy Weir, and this gave me a very similar feeling. It also taps into my long-standing obsession with parallel universes (teenage me went DEEP into that rabbit hole), so this concept instantly reeled me in.

The idea is brilliant. When someone dies, they land in a kind of in-between space where they can try out all the lives they could have lived. If they find one they truly want, they can stay. Even though there’s a pretty big plot hole with this concept that never really gets addressed (probably my biggest gripe), it’s still thought-provoking and packed with little references that made me smile. Nora works at a music shop called String Theory, which made me giggle because of course teenage me once got obsessed with that too.

You can kind of tell early on where the story is going. The ending and the message become pretty clear by the first quarter of the book, so if you’re looking for unexpected twists or unpredictability, this won’t be the book for you. But the journey is what matters here. Watching Nora move through these lives, questioning everything she thought she knew, was so satisfying. If you’re kind of person who lies awake wondering what would have happened if you had done things differently, pick up this book.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.25

This book does a fantastic job pulling you into that small, stifling town where everything feels both familiar and foreign. The isolation, the weird comfort of being surrounded by people who know you too well, or think they do… it’s all there, and it’s done so well.

But the way the book tries to catch you up on everything feels exhausting sometimes. There were so many moments where I just wanted the story to move forward, but instead I was stuck reading about the history of a place or all the names and backstories of people never even show up again. It slowed everything down and made me feel like I was wading through a swamp of details I didn’t ask for.

It’s not a bad book at all, but because this book is treated like a classic of the psychological thriller genre (especially from that pre-trend era), I thought it would leave more of a mark. Kind of like how I felt with The Girl on the Train. Good, but not the earth-shaking read I expected.

Also, there were a few scenes that made me deeply uncomfortable, especially the ones involving kids and sexuality. I get that it’s necessary for the plot, but still, you might want to check trigger warnings beforehand.

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No

2.5

Girls Like Girls had so much potential. I went into it wanting to love it. A story about a teenage girl (Coley) falling for another girl (Sonya) who is struggling with compulsory heterosexuality is powerful. And knowing it was based on the author, Hayley Kiyoko’s own iconic music video, which meant so much to me and so many other sapphic girls, I really thought this would be an emotional hit.

The book starts strong. The opening chapter is raw and incredibly quotable. It captures that feeling of queer loneliness in such a relatable way. For a moment, I thought I had found something special. But it quickly lost me.

Sonya was hard to root for. I wanted to support her and Coley, but Sonya made it very difficult, even outside the comphet. I kept waiting for something that would make their connection feel worth it, but instead, I found myself wishing Coley would walk away. She deserved better.

The structure also felt repetitive. Party scene. Lesbian yearning. Repeat. It was the same cycle every few chapters, and while I love yearning as much as anyone, it just did not build into anything meaningful here.

And then the ending. It reached this big emotional peak and suddenly stopped. No space to breathe. No reflection. No real growth from Sonya. It felt like all the build-up went nowhere.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

My Sister, the Serial Killer was a pretty quick and engaging enough read. It’s the first book I’ve read that’s set in Nigeria, and I really loved that, as it felt refreshing and gave me a glimpse into a culture I hadn’t been exposed to before. From the way the characters speak to their day-to-day life, it felt like I was learning little things along the way without it ever feeling like a lesson.

A responsible older sister constantly cleaning up after her beautiful, murderous younger sister is exactly the kind of dark, twisted story I usually love. The chapters were short and punchy, and I flew through them. The sibling dynamic was messy in a believable way; full of resentment, but also loyalty.

But even with all of that, I didn’t really feel connected. I usually love stories that center female rage or empowerment in some way, but this didn’t quite hit that mark for me. I didn’t find myself siding with the sisters, and when I reached the ending, it felt more like a quiet shrug than the satisfying punch I was hoping for.

Nightmare Hour: Time for Terror by R.L. Stine

Shoutout to my friend Gwen for recommending this book and buddy reading it with me! As someone who loved scouring for creepypastas online as a teenager and is now a Junji Ito fan, I love a good collection of short horror stories. I’ve been searching for something to recapture the feeling of The Creepover series I adored as a kid, and this book absolutely scratched that itch.

One thing to note though, I’m not used to reading horror for kids, so I kept expecting things to take a much darker turn. Every time a story pulled back right before going full nightmare fuel, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Not because the book did anything wrong, but because my horror expectations have been shaped by much more unsettling, no-holds-barred storytelling. It was an interesting experience, constantly adjusting my mindset and reminding myself that these stories weren’t meant to go that dark.

As Gwen said, “You win some, you lose some”, so here is my ranking of my favorite to least favorite stories:

The Black Mask (4.5 ⭐️)

I’m Not Martin (4.25 ⭐️)

Alien Candy (4 ⭐️)

Make Me a Witch (3.25 ⭐️)

Pumpkinhead (3 ⭐️)

The Dead Body (3 ⭐️)

The Nightmare Inn (2.5 ⭐️)

The Most Evil Sorcerer (2 ⭐️)

The Ghostly Stare (1.75 ⭐️)

Afraid of Clowns (1.5 ⭐️)

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I don’t usually go for fantasy, so I really love how this book blends witchcraft with a contemporary setting. The magic is there, but the story still feels grounded in reality, making it easy to connect with. On top of that, there’s a whodunit element that kept me hooked, especially as a fan of psychological thrillers.

One of my favorite things about this book is how unapologetically lesbian it is. The main character doesn’t just happen to be a lesbian, but she also says the word, owns it, and experiences all the messy emotions that come with it. The yearning, the resentment toward an ex you’re forced to be around, the push-and-pull of wanting something new but still feeling the weight of the past… it’s all here, and it feels so real. This book is undeniably written by a lesbian, for lesbians, and there’s something incredibly comforting about that.

The worldbuilding is another highlight. Reading this felt like being a reg (non-witch) who just found out witches exist and is slowly getting drawn into their world. The magic system reveals itself in a way that feels natural and intriguing.

For some reason, though, I’m not in a rush to pick up the sequel. It’s not that I wouldn’t read it, but I just don’t feel particularly attached to the characters despite how relatable they were. The story itself was fun, but once I closed the book, I didn’t feel that aching need to dive right back in.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

emotional funny sad slow-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

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of people. Those who understand the beauty of this book (people with taste), and those who don’t. 

Going in, I already had a rough idea of what it was about since the movie adaptation was so popular. I knew it followed a grumpy old man living in a neighborhood and assumed it would be about him slowly softening. What I did not expect was how much I would actually relate to Ove. Yes, I am a 23-year-old girl, and he is a 70-something-year-old man, but I saw so much of myself in his bleak outlook on life and his tendency to push people away due to his strict set of principles (literally me AF).

This book had so many heartfelt moments that I could not help but shed some tears. Fredrik Backman’s signature writing style shines here, especially in the way Ove refers to characters by how he remembers them rather than their actual names. One man is simply “the lanky one” because Ove cannot recall his name, and a woman is “Blonde Weed.” More books should do this. It feels so realistic.

My only gripe was that the first half felt slow and only really picked up after the 50% mark. Even so, by the end, I was completely won over, especially due to its perfectly executed full-circle moment.

The Patient by Jasper DeWitt

3.75

I love how this book is formatted like a series of posts under r/nosleep, complete with Reddit-specific lingo like “I can’t believe the mods stickied my post!” I have been searching for a book that reads like an r/nosleep post, and this one absolutely scratched that itch.

The premise feels like creepypasta, in the best way possible. A young psychiatrist takes a job at a mental hospital and becomes obsessed with the case of a patient who has been institutionalized since childhood. No doctor has lasted more than a few days treating him, and no one can explain why.

For the first 75%, I was completely hooked. The tension kept building, and I could not put it down. But the last quarter of the book fell flat. The setup was so strong that I expected more from the payoff. The premise had so much potential, and I wish they had taken it further.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

The premise is fascinating. A psychic on a plane predicts the cause and age of death for a strangers on a plane. Some brush it off, while others become obsessed with trying to change their fate. It is a thought-provoking concept, especially with how the book explores real theories like determinism.

Every time I tried to challenge the idea of fate, I ended up second-guessing myself. How can someone’s death be predicted? Can they not just avoid it? One character is told he will die in a workplace accident that year, and my first thought was, just take a year off. But then the book made me think deeper. What if he cannot afford to? What if his boss refuses? What if fate always finds a way? It really messed with my head in the best way.

I found the passengers’ chapters much more engaging than the psychic’s. The book jumps between them, but I couldn’t get myself to care when it switched back to her.

Also, do not expect a thriller even if it is marketed as one. It feels more like a drama. If you go in expecting suspense, it will probably feel slow and anticlimactic, but as a drama, it works.