nicolinebl's reviews
252 reviews

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Quite enjoyed this graphic novel! Loved the artwork and the story itself was also very interesting!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Honestly not sure what to say about this one. I was definitely intrigued by it. The ending felt a bit off for the rest of the story (I mean, I guess we did see it coming but still)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Did not finish book. Stopped at 5%.

Okay I'm so not into this. Sci-fi has never really been my thing but the concept seemed nice. But I just don't care about this story. So I'm going to just accept that and move on.

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

Very obviously written by someone either vegetarian or vegan which I appreciate. It was a very heavy topic and I'm very disturbed still. That ending, the kinda gross descriptions of things. Aaaahghhh. Can't give a number to a book like this, honestly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.

I think I'm gonna wait a few years before I try to read this again

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

A very disturbing read. Don't read this right before you want to eat. Not sure what to think of it, especially not of the ending.

Felt a bit weird that it is written by a men since it's very sexual and about lesbians but I don't think it is necessarily fetishizing because the writer seems to be gay himself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, and Suicide

Verity by Colleen Hoover

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

Once I started reading I could barely stop. This was such an immersive experience, honestly. So frigging good. The best introduction I could have possibly had to Colleen Hoover!

I am going to add that I thought the sex scenes were a bit unnecessary at times; feel like it could have been shorter and less explicit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was a confusing but intriguing read. Honestly, just calling it that is underselling it; it was definitely an experience. 

I started reading this book two days ago and barely did anything else besides that because I just needed to know how it ended. 

It starts of slow, then it gets really intense for a while but then it takes a turn that I honestly didn't appreciate nor understand and then it changes directions near the end again, leaving me quite puzzled. 

None of the characters in this book seem like nice people, Nora probably being the nicest one and the main character Scott honestly being one of the most annoying characters. There are a lot of characters to keep track of by the way, I started writing them down lol!

There are also a lot of trigger warnings for this book, the one that made me the most upset being transphobic undertones. Not sure if that's the writers prejudice coming through or her showing that her character is transphobic, but I got really pissed at that part.

There were some parts where the writer tried to make things lighter by jokes or "funny" thoughts but in my opinion, they didn't really work. Also some parts - besides supernatural plotlines or course - were a bit unbelievable. Like how Scott was apparently so rich even though he'd been fired from his job and didn't seem to have a great job at the moment. And since he's investigating for like +-7 months and not actually working or something he's only spending money (and spending it like crazy). Nobody has that many spare change right?

Also, an in my opinion unnecessary loveplot near the ending - if you've read the book you know the part. 

Besides that I am still fascinated by this book. I love the mix of mediums: articles, websitepages, documents, photo's etc. and even bonus content on the writers website (definitely check it out, especially the last one!) 

I chose to read this book in October because of Halloween and must admit I was kind of let down, it wasn't that scary and

I hated that they had a whole supernatural plot, then decided to explain it all away and then afterwards sort of went back to the supernatural route.

I will end my review by saying that I do think this story could have been told in less than 600 pages and dragged a little at some parts but I most certainly do no regret reading this story; because at its main core, it did have some intriguing themes and phenomenal aesthetics. And gosh darn, I'm kind of sad that I'm not able to see the movies Cordova has made, him being fictional and all. 

PS: Think this would be awesome in film format so that I could show my brother and friend who will never read a 600-pages book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Trafficking, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Vomit, and Alcohol

De zeven echtgenoten van Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I'm honestly sort of still speechless but I will say that Taylor Jenkins Reid has written an absolute masterpiece and that this was a brilliant story. I'm still mindblown. Phenomenal story, really. Carefully crafted, beautifully written. Recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Miscarriage, Abortion, Outing, and Alcohol

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully illustrated by probably my favourite illustrator at this point - Chris Riddell - this was a treat for the eye to read. Had an unexpected twist in what at first seemed like a predictable story. Neil Gaiman is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors.