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remi_jane's reviews
183 reviews
Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Lizzie has big aspirations of owning her own gym. For the moment, she is broke trying to support her alcoholic mom and herself, so she has to settle for just working at a gym. Here, she meets her bestie James, who is also the owner’s son. James talks her into going to his sister’s wedding as a plus one. At the wedding, she finds a girl crying in the bathroom. She gives her some awesome advice that she doesn’t deserve her boyfriend since he isn’t making her happy. It turns out, that was really Cara, Jame’s sister, and she ends up cancelling the wedding from the advice Lizzie gives her. They end up connecting and falling for eachother.
I don’t read enough LGBTQ+ reads and I enjoyed this one enough. There was nothing spectacular about it and it probably won’t stick with me forever. I enjoyed our main character, but not James or our love interest. Both of them were rude, to be frank. The plot was okay— lots of lies and drama. The writing was good enough.
You can’t convince me that Lizzie had never seen Cara before. I get that James and Cara lost touch, but you’d think Lizzie would have at least seen a photo of Cara SOMEWHERE. Or even a simple mention of her name? Especially since Lizzie and James spend so much time together AND Lizzie works for their family. This was kinda outlandish.
I do feel like some things weren’t hashed out like they should have been. Specifically, Lizzie’s situation with her mom. Her mom’s character wasn’t redeemed at all. Lizzie also never stood up to her draining mother either. Another thing that wasn’t completely hashed out was how awful James, Cara, and their family treated Lizzie during the 3rd act breakup. I felt like Lizzie deserved a bigger apology for the hateful things they all said to her. Frankly, Lizzie deserves better than everyone who has been placed in her life.
While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students by J. Reuben Appelman
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Elliott Chase tells us the tale of a murder on a remote Greek island. Lana, a famous ex movie star, goes on a secluded trip with two of her best friends (one of which being our narrator), her husband, and her son. All is well until gunshots fire and a body is found. The biggest question isn’t WHO got shot but as to WHY they were targeted.
I’m convinced that I’ll love anything that Alex Michaelides writes. His writing style is what I love most about his books. You can definitely tell that he wrote this one and The Silent Patient even though they have total different plots. His writing style is so captivating and unique.
This book follows a very non-linear timeline. Elliott takes us in the past quite a bit, right when readers are on the edge of their seats. I feel like this was necessary in order to get the level of character development that it did achieve.
The Fury is a bit slow paced, but this actually didn’t bother me. I was so invested in the characters that it didn’t matter. The short chapters also made this a quick read, despite the pace of the writing.
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy plays, theater, and Nick Caraway from The Great Gatsby. I swear Elliott Chase and Nick Caraway are the same people😂
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rhea, Darby and Mary Beth are navigating their way through motherhood when the unexplainable happens. Preschoolers at Little Academy develop a rare medical condition in which they start to crave the taste of blood. To make matters worse, the dead body of the preschool teacher is found, along with tiny foot prints in the blood. The book goes through the challenges of motherhood and begs to ask the question, “how far would a mother go to protect her children?”.
Preschoolers develop this vampsirtic condition. They don’t have pointy teeth, have an adversion to garlic, or burn at the sight of holy water. These four year olds suddenly just crave the taste of blood. The only thing that will curb their behavior is a little sip of the red stuff. I believe this was a brilliant plot, one that I haven’t read before.
The overarching theme of this book is motherhood. The audience it’s conditioned for is mothers. Mothers will bleed theirselves dry (quite literally in this book) for their children. They give everything up for their kids. Mother’s don’t get a sick day, they don’t get many breaks, and their main obligation is to be a good mother. This isn’t to denounce anything about a father, because there are really great fathers out there, this is just the main theme of this book. I believe I enjoyed this book more because I am a mother. I really resonated to a lot of the difficulties these three mothers face in “Cutting Teeth”.
The narrator did a wonderful job on this audio. I would recommend this to a mother who is looking for a gory, horror read.