sierablane's reviews
69 reviews

The Unseelie Wish by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I like the maze of shadows series better, but this was still pretty good!

Last One to Die by Cynthia Murphy

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book moves fast, which i appreciate. I was able to read it in one sitting. I don’t love the sharp supernatural turn since that wasn’t exactly a focus throughout the book. But it’s a good thriller nonetheless!

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Every once in a while, I read a more “renowned classic” and every once in a while I find myself a bit surprised by its staying power

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This is good beach read. Nobody in this book is truly likable - just 263 pages of people existing on a scale of not great to really not great

Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This was a very well done suspense novel. If I didn’t have to work, I would have finished it in a couple of days - a page turner for sure! 

No Bad Parts: How the Internal Family Systems Model Changes Everything by Richard Schwartz

informative reflective slow-paced

2.25

This is probably a sign that IFS isn’t the treatment for me, but I find this author’s (and therapist’s!) word choice and personality in this book to be off putting. Maybe even creepy. I don’t want to write IFS off completely, as it sounds like it’s been truly transformative and helpful for others. Though I guess if those testimonials are sprinkled throughout a book of the founder’s own writing, it can be safely assumed that only the positive ones were cherry-picked. Among other things, the constant paralleling to the worlds most largely followed religions makes IFS sound less like a form of therapy and more like cult doctrine. Kind of reminds me of cults like Heaven’s Gate, which are so obviously borrowing concepts from Christianity, re-packaging them loaded with space jargon, and then selling it as the answer to all of life’s questions. I understand and agree with the core concept of IFS, but this book kind of steers me away from the practice. 

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

This book is pretty far outside of my normal reading, and at first I thought it was moving too slowly. I’m glad I stuck to it. When I read The Scarlett Letter in high school, I was so frustrated with Hester’s treatment and the narrow views of the townspeople. It was moving to see a happy ending 

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.25

This book was more sad than I was expecting. It kind of felt like it was dragging on in the end 

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to love this book but it just fell short in every way. The rivals to lovers strand is poorly developed.. The overall plot was painfully slow for the first half of the book. Things which should have been making me gasp seemed rushed and thrown together. It just felt like the author had way too many ideas for a plot twist and couldn’t pick one, so she went with all of them.. I feel disappointed in this book, and would be angry if I hadn’t been able to read it for free