rainbowofcrazy's reviews
285 reviews

Treats & Tribulations from a French Kitchen by Guillaume Long

adventurous funny informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

3.75

This has been such a charming series that blends food, travel, and comics. One small downside is that the handwriting font is used a lot more in this volume, and if you have the digital format, it's hard to read when you zoom in and everything goes pixelly. I also didn't love the comics that involved his publisher, the humour there just didn't land for me. But I always adore his travel pages, and his obsession with Burger King always makes me giggle. I think overall the second book may still be my favourite. 

Rat Queens, Vol. 4: High Fantasies by Kurtis J. Wiebe

adventurous funny fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

LPT: forget to catch up with this series, let several months pass, and then you won't even remember what the previous art style was like! ✌️

The humour and fun felt like it was amped up with this volume and I really enjoyed it. It was more like what the first volume felt like. Though the plot left me VERY confused after what took place in volume 3. I read that it all makes more sense later on; so let's see how long it takes me to read the next volume now! 

Saga #70 by Brian K. Vaughan

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Loving the more recent focus on Squire, and things are getting tense and I NEED TO NEXT ISSUE RIGHT NOW PLEASE!! 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I enjoyed this dystopian world, and Panem with its messed up districts and sad history. The characters felt fleshed out and interesting and it was so easy to immediately want to root for them. The pacing worked so well for me that I never really felt like I was bored or that things were moving too fast – well, as Hunger Games and kids trying to kill each other go.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Tatiana Maslany. I also love Tatiana Maslany and her narration brought so much to the experience of this book. She brought this tenderness, sorrow, warmth, and humour into the narration and the characters. Her capital accent made me GUFFAW. It felt so perfect. She sang – SHE SANG and I almost burst into tears because she made that moment (you might know that one) that much more gut wrenching.

This audiobook version also included a few minutes at the end with Tatiana sharing her experience narrating and how much she loved the books when they came out. Can we please get Tatiana Maslany narrating the prequels too? Can someone get on this? Please and thank you 🙂 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

Talking to Canadians by Rick Mercer

funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

5.0

Get the audiobook! I’m sure this book as a physical book or ebook would be great, but if you’re a fan of Rick Mercer, or even if you don’t know who Rick Mercer is, his voice and the way he speaks is so iconic that IMO the audiobook really makes the experience so much better.

The title of the book is a twist on his famous “Talking to Americans” segments on This Hour has 22 Minutes, but the title is also true in that it really just feels like you’re hanging out and chatting with Rick Mercer. He tells you about his life growing up, his family, how he liked school (spoiler: he didn’t – but stay in school, kids), how he got into performing, and meeting his partner.

This memoir is a fascinating glimpse into his life in the entertainment industry.  He talks about his one man shows, and the birth of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. How his segment Talking to Americans came to be was a delightful listen, as was his chapter about his show Made in Canada. 

Talking to Canadians is an entertaining, funny, and touching look at the different, vital points of Rick Mercer’s life. My only complaint with this memoir is that it’s missing one key part of his story: the Rick Mercer Report! This entire book is the lead up to the moment – The Moment, rather, of the birth of the RMR. He left me wanting more!

But that’s okay, because I listened to his sequel, The Road Years, soon after finishing this. (Another spoiler: It is awesome!) 

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 79%.

I usually finish a book if I'm so far in, and I got 79% into this audiobook... and I don't care who the murderer is. I liked this read initially. The quirky format with the author talking directly to the reader and giving spoilers was charming at first, but having it happen through the whole book was distracting and I stopped enjoying it. 

The narrator was good but I don't think this works very well as an audiobook. Way too many references to certain pages and too many characters to keep track off. (and none of whom I liked, main character included.) It somehow had too much happening and dragged at the same time. I felt like I needed to make lists of who was who and where and when things happened just in order to get into this properly. 

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Take all my goddamn stars. JFC. I don’t even know where to start with this one. It’s a dark, erotic romance with a touch of thriller in there. This book spoiled me. I feel SPOILED now.

It wasn’t just the amazingly performed narrations that made this book so fun. This story was so ridiculous and I LOVED it. We have two characters that, I say this with love, are both batshit insane. And this book is spicy. The trigger warnings are long for a reason. If you’ve got some kinks or want to unlock a new kink, this book might be a fun one to check out. Mask play, knife play, anal, consensual non-consent. The list was uh pretty long. And even if you’re not particularly into kinks, this is still a fun one to check out. The spice was fun, the characters were interesting and layered, and their chemistry was fire. And my favourite part – the characters are hilarious. My soul craves a book that can make me laugh and this was such a hilariously fun, slightly fucked up time, and it was right up my alley.

I will say the third act kind of fizzled a bit for me. It didn’t feel as strong as the rest of the book, but by the end, I still had a fantastic time and I was sad that it was over. I’m very much looking forward to the sequel.

100% get the audiobook. The narrators did such an amazing job and you could just tell how much fun they were having with this one. This was such a treat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I was so thoroughly invested in this book! I loved the characters. The two main characters were compelling and I really enjoyed the similarities (and ultimately differences) between the two. I really enjoyed the writing; the overall unease that developed through the story was delicious. There were so many moments where I was dreading what was going to happen next as the true nature of the characters was slowly revealed, and I was not disappointed as things became more and more unhinged.

The format was interesting as it shifted between the main plot, to tv segments taken in the future, revealing that a Netflix special was later created based on the events of this story. So you know shit went down, and you know that it was crazy enough to warrant a true-crime documentary on Netflix. I’m not particularly a true-crime fan, but I liked the interview format intertwined with the main story.

At times the early reveals did feel a little too heavy handed, almost too gimmicky, like it was telling me too much ahead of time, just to keep me reading. And when so many of the events were revealed so early, it made the ending felt less impactful. But I still enjoyed reading how it all unravelled, and I very much enjoyed the extra twists and turns that kept me on my toes until the very end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Murder

The Christmas Ruse by Jennie Goutet

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

1.0

This was a super quick 2 hour listen. ...And I feel like this helped confirm that I just don’t like regency romances. Maybe the story and writing just wasn’t for me. And the climax involved a card game and wat?

The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

I totally need more LGBTQ romances in my life. I bounced between liking and disliking the story and the characters. So much drama. But hey, that’s pretty apt for a story about spending holidays with family (and bringing a fake girlfriend who then falls in love with your sister behind your back OOP!) There was this interesting mix of trauma and Hallmark holiday magic. Lost me a bit by the end though.