sarahesterman's reviews
212 reviews

Accidentally Kidnapping the Mountain Man by Alyson Archer

3.25

Seized by the Mafia King: an age gap stolen bride romance by Evie Rose

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Say I Do by Lucy Darling

fast-paced

3.5

Accidentally Kidnapping the Cowboy by Chloe Maine

lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

ok this was cute as hell

Loyalty Card by Ella Goode

lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

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

3.5

I really wanted to love Babel and its message is not wrong, but this sort of felt like reading Moby Dick, in that I learned more about silver magic, history, and language etymology than I ever did about the characters and their motivations. If this book were 100-150 pages shorter and lacked much of the tangential expositions during climactic scenes (

like I know silver is keeping London and Oxford running but what is going to happen with this tower siege??!!!

), I would’ve rated it higher. 

Love Contract by Ella Goode

4.0

Stalking His Prey by Jenna Rose

2.0

His Last Nerve by Cassie Mint

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Walk the Vanished Earth by Erin Swan

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

Finished this just in the nick of time before book club (which is in 30 minute) and I’m sure I’ll have more thoughtful things to say about it later when things he’s settled a little but initial thoughts 

- wtf did I just read?? and I don’t know if I feel that in the good way for thjs book 
- beautiful writing. I genuinely loved how Erin Swan wove words together 
- the last part 100 or so pages of the book dragged for me. I felt it was so much stronger earlier on and then it just got… less interesting 
- the climate crisis in this book definitely gave me nightmares 


Idk. If it weren’t for book club I wouldn’t have picked this up at all… or finished it. And I probably would’ve been fine with that.