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rubybereading's Reviews (95)

How to End a Love Story

Yulin Kuang

DID NOT FINISH: 10%

Just very bored. + I left the book club that was reading this. I may revisit it later though.

After You've Gone

Margot Hunt

2.5

emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was okay. Predictable than a m'er-f'er, but would probably make for a good filler audiobook to hold you for a few hours through a reading slump if you don't need anything too heavy. For that, it'll do. It was nothing special though.

Icarus

K. Ancrum

2.25

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was ok. A little weird, but I didn’t hate it. Didn’t love it either. The chapter structures made it hard, early on, to care about the MC. Then, by the time I probably should’ve, I was already so confused about how I felt about the whole thing in general, that it was even harder to care. The slow burn of it all was a little too slow. And some parts were kind of cringe. The tense and suspenseful climax at the end was gripping, but it was kind of too little too late. And then the end gave too “happily ever after” for me. It felt corny. Plus it was all just so odd. Idk. I’m actually really confused about how to feel about it. The compassion I was able to garner for Icarus, since I do have a heart and he had a sad story but seemed to be a good person at heart, is the only thing that “saved” it for me. Otherwise, it was meh. Cool story though. I guess. Just not quite my cup of tea.

The Davenports

Krystal Marquis

3.75

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*Close to 3.75* Very much insta-lovey, had a whole lot of unnecessary love triangle activities, was very extremely (!!!) pickme-ish, and was very wordy to the point that it felt longer than it was. Yet and still...I was enthralled! I was surprisingly emotionally invested to the point where many points in the story were starting to piss me off. I just wanted everybody to grow some backbones and stop thirsting over these men! Jeez! 🙄! But, yeah, it was well written and a good read overall. Though the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, it wasn't the obnoxious type. actually am interested in the sequel without feeling like I'm being forced into reading it. I appreciate that.

All Systems Red

Martha Wells

3.75

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

It was cute. I liked that it was simple—not overly unnecessarily complex just for the sake of being complex. It was just enough to be a proper introduction to this new genre of sci-fi for me. I enjoyed it enough to likely continue the series. Especially since I kind of want to be friends with Murderbot. 😊

Recitatif

Toni Morrison

5.0

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Toni Morrison is a literary genius. There is no other writer I respect more. Just know that she’ll never get less than a 5⭐️ from me. They could discover an unpublished book and all it says inside is “pee pee poo poo”. It’s getting a 5 damnit! Anything less would feel blasphemous!! That’s MUVA!! All due praise and honor to HER! 💞💞💞

So Let Them Burn

Kamilah Cole

2.5

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It’s the fact that it took me 25 days to finish an 11.5 hr audiobook. It was just so GYATdamn boring! I only kept going because I used this month’s Audible credit on it & didn’t want it going to waste. So I drudged through it. It started to redeem itself in the 2nd half, but I already barely cared by then. The concept, plot, world was all cool in theory, but it didn’t really deliver. Then at one point it was stupid. Based on their knowledge & powers, there should’ve been simple resolutions to their problems. And I hate cliffhangers. You should tie up the story enough where each book could be a standalone (in my opinion). Forcing us to have to read further installments to get any kind of closure feels like cheating. I might, just to see what happens & in hopes that it’s better since all the build up is out of the way. But if I do, I’m reading it with my eyeballs. Those narrators’ voices and speaking patterns didn’t fit the story for me. They sounded very corporate. Elara’s pov narrator reminded me of a news anchor. It was a very odd choice for this type of book. It may have ruined it for me, but I also think I would’ve been extremely bored either way.