sierra13's reviews
198 reviews

I read this for a book club and while I don't regret it, I can't say I enjoyed it. Which makes me so sad because I've been wanting to read this book for years and the reviews are great. I don't even really know where to start with this review so I'm just going to get into it. This is gonna be all over the place. I didn't find any of the characters likeable. I'm pretty sure we're supposed to sympathize with the main character but I kinda just find her insufferable. The whole "i haven't cried since I was six and I hate everything" vibe was just not for me. We're supposed to believe she was so unbothered she only had a panic attack once in the two years she was there. I'm also supposed to believe she can spot a pedophile a mile away based on body language and that she ran away to new York at the ripe age of 14 as well as pretended to be 19 at the age of 16. This was supposed to be a thriller but none of it really felt thrilling. Not only was it not thrilling, I found some of it to be repetitive. Maya (inara?) mentioned some of the same things two or three times. She also mentioned something about being the gardeners favorite which we already knew because earlier in the book he quite literally told her she's not like other girls. Huge eye roll. I guess we're also supposed to sympathize with his younger son because he just feels so bad. He's supposed to be 21 but is written very much like a naive uwu soft boi. Bigger eye roll. Speaking of, most of the "butterflies" are supposed to be teenagers but they sure as hell do not talk or act like teenagers. Also I just cannot suspend enough disbelief that the gardener is able to just... keep enough formaldehyde resin from his job to encase a bunch of full grown women and line the hallways with it. Back to the youngest son real quick, wtf is up with the weird ass romance between he and Maya/inara? That felt pointless and also unbelievable. It's totally okay because he totally feels bad and it's just super complicated and he loves her 🥺 ugh, no. He asked why she doesn't hate him and I'm wondering the same. If he felt so damn bad why didn't he tell the fucking police? He didn't want to disappoint his dad? Or hurt his mother? Also what is with all the girls at the hospital wanting to talk to Maya/inara before the speak to the police? Some of the language in this book was just gross as well. An officer saying Maya/inara wasn't "a typical victim", one of the butterflies being described as having the mind of a six year old and being scared and confused by what the gardener wanted from her and at least one offhand comment about the race of another character. Are we just supposed to forgive Des at the end because he finally called the police? The "twist" at the end honestly wasn't all that shocking. Not to say I expected it but it just fell flat. This felt like a worse version of The Cellar. I won't be reading the rest of this series.

Midnight Mass by Sierra Simone

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challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed this but I think the first Priest book will always be my favorite. I just didn't love Tyler's Jealousy here. I loved the authors note at the end talking about happy endings usually ending with a baby and how that's not the case for everyone. Everything felt pretty realistic (or realistic enough) in my opinion

Content Warnings

Saint by Sierra Simone

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 51%.

I love Jacob Morgan's voice so much. But I'm just not a fan of Sean Crisdens voice. This is the first book I've heard with him and I don't think I like it. I'll be reading the paperback at some point because I do love this series but this Audiobook was just not for me

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced