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probablyjenna's reviews
360 reviews
The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
3.0
I love this series, but I wish it would have ended as a trilogy. This book just didn’t do anything for me, and it actually made me start to dislike characters I’d previously loved. Sometimes, it’s good to stop while you’re ahead.
This isn’t BAD, it’s just unnecessary and sometimes that’s worse for me personally as a reader.
This isn’t BAD, it’s just unnecessary and sometimes that’s worse for me personally as a reader.
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
5.0
Top 10 Reasons Wanderers is the best:
1) Chuck Wendig creates an entirely immersive world, one that is eerily similar to our own. The attention to detail in his world-building is simply immaculate, and I truly could not stop thinking about the world of Wanderers.
2) The characters in Wanderers are going to remain in my favorites for a long, long time. Wendig was smart in his selection of whose pov we needed most/when, and his main characters are all so vastly different & fascinating.
3) On the note of characters, pete motherf***ing Corley. No further comment.
4) Wendig is not precious about his characters, but he’s also not cruel. Basically: he isn’t afraid to let his characters suffer (and in turn, his readers) but he is not going to cause a character to suffer unless it serves a necessary point. He’s brave enough to know that characters are gonna have to go through it, but clearly not just trying to cause shock.
5) Wanderers gives us political intrigue! Science fiction! Technology moral dilemmas! Dangerously contagious illness! Issues of philosophy and religion! Sleepwalking! if you can dream it, it’s probably in there somewhere.
6) As far as I can tell, wendig is a straight white man. One of his main characters is a teenage girl, and I would never guess she’s written by a man…that’s basically the highest compliment I can give. He has lots of other female characters and all of them feel that way.
7) Again, Wendig appears to be a straight white man…but besides his teenage girl MC, three other main characters are Benji, a Black man, Pete, a gay man, and marcy, a latinx woman. Again, these characters feel so well done. there are so many straight white authors who use these identity markers as if they’re checking off boxes of diversity, or as if these identities simply add a little ~flair~ to their otherwise very white/straight seeming character (looking at you, Taylor Jenkins Reid!!!) it honestly blows my mind how seamlessly wendig wrote these characters. their respective race and sexual orientation are key aspects of their character, but not necessarily a focal point except in some heated moments. I was so happy to have such an array of MCs & to see how certain events impacted each of them in different ways.
8) Each chapter opens with a really brief snippet of something that gives us more insight into the world of wanderers: newspaper clippings, Reddit posts, podcast transcripts, journal entries…it adds so much interesting context!
9) Similarly, there are interludes between each part of the book. The interludes range in style, focus, and perspective. I looked forward to each new part because it meant a new interlude!
10) Dystopian novels are probably my favorite genre. I am drawn to them for so many reasons, but at the heart of each one is this question of humanity’s place in this world. A great dystopian novel, for me, leaves me pondering different philosophical questions about humanity and ya know what? I have not stopped thinking about the ideas posed in wanderers since I set it down. Wendig’s mixture of topics creates the perfect backdrop for questioning our collective purpose in this world. This novel made me feel human, and also feel a bit ashamed of many aspects of my humanness. It made me feel deep empathy, yet also had moments where I felt filled with anger and hatred. Wanderers taps into the vast spectrum of emotion, and forces you to grapple with the uncomfortable realization that there are rarely easy answers.
1) Chuck Wendig creates an entirely immersive world, one that is eerily similar to our own. The attention to detail in his world-building is simply immaculate, and I truly could not stop thinking about the world of Wanderers.
2) The characters in Wanderers are going to remain in my favorites for a long, long time. Wendig was smart in his selection of whose pov we needed most/when, and his main characters are all so vastly different & fascinating.
3) On the note of characters, pete motherf***ing Corley. No further comment.
4) Wendig is not precious about his characters, but he’s also not cruel. Basically: he isn’t afraid to let his characters suffer (and in turn, his readers) but he is not going to cause a character to suffer unless it serves a necessary point. He’s brave enough to know that characters are gonna have to go through it, but clearly not just trying to cause shock.
5) Wanderers gives us political intrigue! Science fiction! Technology moral dilemmas! Dangerously contagious illness! Issues of philosophy and religion! Sleepwalking! if you can dream it, it’s probably in there somewhere.
6) As far as I can tell, wendig is a straight white man. One of his main characters is a teenage girl, and I would never guess she’s written by a man…that’s basically the highest compliment I can give. He has lots of other female characters and all of them feel that way.
7) Again, Wendig appears to be a straight white man…but besides his teenage girl MC, three other main characters are Benji, a Black man, Pete, a gay man, and marcy, a latinx woman. Again, these characters feel so well done. there are so many straight white authors who use these identity markers as if they’re checking off boxes of diversity, or as if these identities simply add a little ~flair~ to their otherwise very white/straight seeming character (looking at you, Taylor Jenkins Reid!!!) it honestly blows my mind how seamlessly wendig wrote these characters. their respective race and sexual orientation are key aspects of their character, but not necessarily a focal point except in some heated moments. I was so happy to have such an array of MCs & to see how certain events impacted each of them in different ways.
8) Each chapter opens with a really brief snippet of something that gives us more insight into the world of wanderers: newspaper clippings, Reddit posts, podcast transcripts, journal entries…it adds so much interesting context!
9) Similarly, there are interludes between each part of the book. The interludes range in style, focus, and perspective. I looked forward to each new part because it meant a new interlude!
10) Dystopian novels are probably my favorite genre. I am drawn to them for so many reasons, but at the heart of each one is this question of humanity’s place in this world. A great dystopian novel, for me, leaves me pondering different philosophical questions about humanity and ya know what? I have not stopped thinking about the ideas posed in wanderers since I set it down. Wendig’s mixture of topics creates the perfect backdrop for questioning our collective purpose in this world. This novel made me feel human, and also feel a bit ashamed of many aspects of my humanness. It made me feel deep empathy, yet also had moments where I felt filled with anger and hatred. Wanderers taps into the vast spectrum of emotion, and forces you to grapple with the uncomfortable realization that there are rarely easy answers.
Chaos Theory by Nic Stone
4.0
I love Nic Stone - if she writes it, I’m probably gonna read it.
I thought Chaos Theory was a really wonderfully written story about addiction and mental illness; I also appreciated the thoughtful opening author’s note and ending author’s note Stone included to ensure her readers know what types of triggers exist in the book.
These major issues were wrapped up into a teen love story, and it left me feeling very hopeful. The love story was very much a focal point, but it was approached in realistic ways given the struggles both MCs we’re dealing with.
The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda
4.0
Will I remember the plot of this book in a month? Probably not. But in the less than 24 hours it took me to fly through this, I was totally enthralled. And really, that’s all I want from a thriller/mystery. I picked this up because I wanted something I would be motivated to read quickly because I’d be dying to know how it ended - this did its job!
I love Megan Miranda’s writing. I like that she writes slightly unhinged female characters who always have GOOD REASONS for being unhinged. I like that romance is rarely a big plot piece. I think she does great atmospheric setting writing &
I’m here for it.
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan
3.5
This felt promising, but landed pretty flat. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite books of the year (When We Fell Apart) but like…a disjointed and less compelling version. While it tried to cover hard hitting themes, I ultimately found myself not feeling connected to the characters at all.
***Extremely mild spoiler in the next sentence, read at your own risk**** Also in the last third a magical realism element is added in despite nothing about the rest of the book suggesting this. It felt really random and ultimately didn’t work for me.
Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda
4.75
This was quiet horror perfection to me. It’s bizarre and kind of gross and sort of meandering in a way that really creeped me out in the perfect way. This is a definite must read for fans of horror. The writing itself is poetic, making the unsettling nature of the story feel juxtaposed in really cool ways.
What really makes Jawbone a standout for me is how it centered girlhood in a really uncomfortable, unique way. I want more girlhood centric horror!!
It’s also a translated text, which I have been trying to read more of. The translation feels seamless, which is always a plus.
A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani
4.25
This book was wildly unique and really beautifully written - it only has 760 reviews on Goodreads, and that’s a travesty!
It follows a mixed race teenage girl and her complicated relationship with her Russian mother. Like, complicated is putting it lightly - her mom is unstable, intelligent, vicious, restless, entirely unhinged.
The book explores themes of mother/daughter relationships, feeling as if you don’t belong, issues of poverty, immigrant life, and so much more. It’s certainly not a story that wraps things up neatly, but it is one I’ve thought about a lot since finishing.
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
4.25
Etaf Rum writes really incredible character portraits, and this one showed the cyclical nature of depression extremely well. The main character is stuck in a life she feels unfulfilled by, and must of the novel shows her realizing that. It gets a bit repetitive but I truly think that’s the point - she’s stuck and unsure how to break the monotonous cycle of her life.
The main character is a Palestinian woman living in the United States, and also does a lot to show how generational curses are hard to break, especially when paired with the micro aggressions that exist against Muslim people. A really great read if you’re trying to explore more fiction by Palestinian authors.
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
If there is one book I can influence you to add to your TBR, let it be this ghosty historical fic masterpiece from Tananarive Due. This is an absolute tour de force. Due could have given us a great ghost story or a thoughtful piece of historical fiction, but she instead combined those two concepts and created an absolutely remarkable story of grief and struggle that takes place in the Jim Crow south.
I love when I finish a book and my first thought is that I’ve never read anything else quite like it, and that’s exactly how it felt upon finishing The Reformatory. There were so many layers to the story, and with a less careful hand that could have become overwhelming, but Due is clearly an expert; I felt like I was getting multiple books in one, but they all fit together seamlessly. When I finished one part, I was equally excited and anxious to begin the next. It’s hard to explain just how well constructed this novel is; you really just need to experience it.
My heart broke a million times over for Gloria and Robbie. I immediately missed them both after finishing the novel; their voices were distinct and real to me, and I still find myself thinking about them even though I finished this book mid November.
And to know me as a reader is to know I love a good author’s note, so of course, I have to mention Due’s. The Reformatory, while a work of fiction, has a lot of basis in true history.
I could honestly rave all day, but all you need to do is pick this up and read the first few page: you’ll get it. Due is certainly an author to watch, and I cannot wait to read whatever she comes up with next.