sarahdkdc's reviews
164 reviews

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Another atmospheric mystery filled with heart. I really love the covers of this series, they give readers spooky little hints as to what horrors await! 

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

A weird and beautiful take on mushroom horror. I feel as if Morris shared a bit of her soul with us in this novella. I'm looking forward to more!

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

 Coming back to this and giving it 3.5 Stars. While it's a great vampire book, that has certainly inspired the vampire media that has come after it I cannot get over the way Stephen King writes women. I understand that this book came out in 1975, and it depicts a certain point in time, but the disgusting attitude EVERY male character in this book has towards women is egregious. Are there any men in Stephen King's world that don't see a women - or even worse, GIRLS - as sexual objects that exist solely for their gratification? I'm not sure, and I don't really care to find out. 

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-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

5.0

Everything Claribel A. Ortega writes, I desperately wish I could have read as a child. A beautiful little graphic novel about hair, self-acceptance, and loss. I only wish it was longer! 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

 I simultaneously loved it, and it put me in a reading slump. I never know what to rate books anymore! 

Gay Girl Prayers by Emily Austin

emotional funny hopeful reflective

4.0

I think this would have resonated a lot more with me if I were a lapsed Catholic, but I still enjoyed myself.

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

SOooo many thoughts on this. 

I occasionally watched 17, 18, and 19 kids and counting re-runs on TLC, along with John & Kate Plus 8 re-runs, after school as a kid, and I found the family to be incredibly peculiar then - much more so now. Much more sinister now, too. 

I absolutely feel sympathy towards Jill, and the abuse that she, and her sisters, faced at the hands of her parents, her brother, the whole IBLP movement, Bill Gothard, Scott, Chad - nearly all the adults that surrounded her childhood. A lot of the people mentioned in this book should, in my opinion, be serving prison time. In no particular order those people include: BILL GOTHARD, Jim Bob Duggar, Jim Bob Duggar, Jim Bob Duggar, Jim Bob Duggar, Scott, Chad, oh . . . and! JIM BOB DUGGAR. 

I truly don't think Jill understands that her parents never actually apologized to her in any meaningful way. They financially, spiritually, and emotionally abused her for years, and they still don't think they did anything wrong. She refers to them as "good people" in the final chapter. I hate to break this to you, Jill, but "good people" do not raise their daughters to believe that their bodies are inherently shameful, and that they are to blame for men's lust. "Good people" do not continually enable their abusive pedophile of a son, refuse to discipline him in any meaningful way, BEG people not to report him to the police, AND guilt their daughters into being the face of the positive PR following their CSA. In my eyes, Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar are not "good people" and they are not good parents.

Now, you could argue that capitalism could be the ruination of any of us, but let's be honest, Jim Bob Duggar's failures as a father began when he enrolled his family into the cult that was (is?) IBLP, and cozied himself up to Bill Gothard. 

I really disliked the constant presence of Jill and her husband's mission trips in this book. They both come off as having a very holier than thou attitude toward the local people of the places that Jill claims she felt so much like "home" in. This feels completely in line with those Tweets that Jill would like to just skip on past. Please note: Jill's husband is a raging transphobe. Unsurprisingly, they are both incredibly, openly homophobic as well, sharing that they don't support the "lifestyle," and would disown their children if they turned out to be gay. 

I cannot believe that in the end she has chosen to make peace with her parents. I cannot believe she let her father hold her baby! Let's not even discuss her choice of names.

I honestly hope that Jill one day goes individually to a therapist, and continues to deconstruct, like she did with pants. 

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I really really wanted to love this book. The cover is a masterpiece. I just found the writing to be a bit too similar to that of fanfic, and the language a little pretentious - but, maybe that was how it was supposed to come across?? This type of book absolutely has an audience, I just don't think that's me. 

You Get So Alone at Times by Charles Bukowski

funny reflective sad

3.5

There are some poems in this book that are beautiful representations of the human experience. But then there are plenty of poems that show just how much of a curmudgeonly old man Bukowski was. I like how he asserts that he is not a "sexist pig" in this book . . . the poems unfortunately disagree. 

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I love the gothic, sickly Victorian woman vibes of it all.