skconaghan's reviews
451 reviews

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

dark 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

3.0

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer

emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

3.5

It’s a bit dry innit. I’ve had more chemistry with the man from the Polo ads than what these two enemy-lovers build their flimsy relationship on.

However, let it be said that the plot is certainly intricate and interesting as plots go; it’s not all starry-eyed witless teenage love.

Reveals are unexpected. Cool…

I think that’s about all the celestial good I can think of…a unique story, the execution of it wanted more passion in the telling. 

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

emotional, sentimental, melancholic, nostalgic, devastating, yet always hopeful

The supernatural elements undergird our belief in a happy ending… and this story emphasises our desperate need for the supernatural in our bleak hopeless existence.

There’s a sweetness to the blind hopeless hope demonstrated here. Again, beautiful writing from Arden.

Christmas with the Queen by Heather Webb, Hazel Gaynor

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A feel-good nostalgic novel, full of the Christmas spirit and themes of reconciliation and (a hesitant) romance, but also includes moral and ethical dilemmas through the complex lives of its very human, very relatable characters. 

At times the writing was a touch distant and stiff (an ironic criticism considering…), but overall, the unfolding of a reluctant flower to its vulnerable, personal, sentimental heart.

Lovely moral: It’s always worth taking a chance on love; no matter the result, the choice to choose love is rarely the wrong one. 

Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A modern take on the cosy English murder mystery. This vicar is not quite the sleuthing saint of dear Father Brown—and not all the naughty of auld Father Ted—but something in between, and thus quite more relatable in the long run.

And in the mix of murders and trysts, our vicar is desperately trying to be a decent father to a pubescent daughter and an upright Father to his unruly parishioners. Somehow, he stumbled across the solutions to several interwoven mysteries, but not without getting a bit of blood on his own hands along the way. 

A good addition to this series in an age old genre of entertainment.