snowdropfairy's reviews
46 reviews

Buzzing by Samuel Sattin

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-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? No

5.0

I didn’t expect for this to be a book that would change my life, but boy, was I in for a spiritual—hehe—journey with this one!

Truly a story that reaches across generations, with strong themes of living life to its fullest while it is to be lived! Also great encouragement to express oneself freely and trust in oneself. I purchased this after reading a library copy, because it was that good.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Literature, England, Cute Dogs, Sex, Murder, Ghosts, and Witches?! This book went in directions I did not anticipate, in all the best ways. I had just come off a string of DNF books—you know the kind, after having read a particularly brilliant book and then struggling to find anything that compares. I am happy to report that this book broke my dry spell, and was everything I didn’t know I needed. Brilliant and not too fluffy, the story progresses at a medium-fast pace. Told through multiple viewpoints, you get a different perspective on the story as a whole, throughout. I’m going to try another from this author next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Animal cruelty

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.

Will probably read at a later time :)

The Maid by Nita Prose

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.0

I read The Maid by Nita Prose and the ending was so f*cking cathartic and powerful, as an autistic woman, to hear the main character’s recognition of how she knows she has been taken advantage of and is historically misunderstood and dismissed as an autistic person. It was healing to see her change and grow. It made me feel seen and also reminded me that I deserve respect and love. Overall this was a good read and I plan to read the next in the series. Molly the Maid, where will you go next? :)

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape and Kidnapping

Alone by Barbara De Smedt

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this book in about two days because I wanted to see what happened. It does a good job of keeping you on your toes and interested. I enjoyed the writing and dialogue. There was strong character development. I enjoyed that the book jumped between past and present timeline to give perspective and background. That being said, I feel the ending was rather abrupt compared to the pace of the rest of the book. The chapters toward the end when

the husband is grieving are very choppy and disjointed, which I believe was the author’s way of showing how dissociated and depressed he was.

I was most disappointed by the way the book ended.

Call me a romantic but I wanted some form of resolution to this sad ending. Ending with the antagonist stalking the daughter made me angry lol. I will say, I thought it was a nice twist of fate that the author wrote in the car accident and the fire to have been connected and that Oscar and Julie were perhaps destined to play out this tragedy as the Fates had irreversibly woven the strands of Oscar and Julie’s lives together in that night.

The abrupt ending made me immediately want to read the next book, which appears to only be available in Dutch. If it releases in English I am unsure if I will read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Did not finish book. Stopped at 75%.

Triggers. 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

I predicted who done it in the first two chapters. I googled to confirm my suspicion and after reading the summary of the plot, didn’t feel the need to continue reading. 

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0