sarahrahrah's reviews
98 reviews

The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

And by Olivia Chalkley, Kerri Monnerat

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

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

I won my copy in a story graph giveaway, thank you!! 

Also, thoroughly enjoyed this story. As a primary grade teacher, I think this power of "and" and recognizing holding multiple emotions is so key to social-emotional development. Thanks for writing and sharing this great book!

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

The premise is interesting, but not executed well in my opinion. The 4 weeks of growing friendship/attraction was so boring and unbelievable that I nearly DNF, but the intrigue picked back up again at the end. 

I found both characters to be unrealistic and contradictory. Especially Mili - we're meant to see her as an innocent village girl clinging to this "marriage" to someone she hasn't seen in 20+ years; and she was very naive and innocent about the world. But also she was fiercely independent and had gotten herself to America to study (which, kudos, that's awesome and intriguing). But then it just goes back and forth between that strength and bumbling through her innocence/naiveité. I think the characterization just needed to be fleshed out a bit more.

 My biggest beef is that her reaction to

having sex with Samir and losing her virginity made no sense. Her somewhat coming on to him just did not fit AT ALL with her innocent character who was so committed to her "husband". Idk, maybe it just felt preposterous to me because of how boring/unbelievable I found their falling in love montage to be. But even so, she was still blushing about saying the word "dick" even when she started seeing it as more than friendship. So how could that same person then be found in this scene?!

 

Also her friendship with her roommate felt odd, and the whole driving out for the wedding just felt like wasted pages because we never actually saw them as close friends, and just kinda had to believe because the author said so

The Emma Project by Sonali Dev

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Butt-dialing the Billionaire by Annika Martin

medium-paced

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

1.0

The others in this series were fun guilty pleasures, so I was excited to see there was another. But this was not it for me. Disappointed since I had loved the others so much