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splitdice's Reviews (151)

My Darling Dreadful Thing

Johanna van Veen

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

overall I really liked the concept but i feel like everything from the romance to the antagonists needed to develop a lot more

A Long Time Dead

Samara Breger

4.0

adventurous dark emotional 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: Complicated

this is not my genre at ALL (I was surprised at the amount of spice) however i thought this was a really sweet book. all of the main characters thoughts seemed really believable. I didn't buy the main relationship too much, I think they needed more time to help with the pining. honestly I think this book could've been even longer to help establish relationships in general. the writing wasn't my favorite but it wasn't overtly bad.

over all really sweet book that did make me cry at some points :') if you're more of a romance reader than I am it's definitely a good read

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

4.75

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i have no idea why this became booktok famous or the corner stone of the dark academia genre. this book just reads as a satire of the same people who read books like these.

loved it tho

Interview with the Vampire

Anne Rice

2.75

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really liked the writing and some of the nuances of this book but honestly it was SUCH a slog to get through that I just sped read the end and I don't know why.. just weird

Grey Dog

Elliott Gish

5.0

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this is such a haunting story. i will be honest, i don't necessarily think that this is a 5.0 book out of craft, but i read this at such a critical moment in my life where i feel like i related to every aspect of this book. it reads pretty fast thanks to the diary-style of the book. genuinely made me really anxious at some parts. that being said i can definitely see how some parts can be too much or feel over the top

A Sweet Sting of Salt

Rose Sutherland

1.75

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

okay, so i want to start out with don't let my low review sway you because i think at least part of the problem was that this book wasnt what i expected/wasnt for me. this book reads so much more like a romcom/romance than historical fiction, which made the entire reading process feel really off for me. it utilizes third person following the main character, jean. this writing style made the entire book sound very tell-not-show, which honestly made it feel like i was reading fan fiction. it wasnt just the writing style, however. it was also just how the scenes were? there is a week where the two women grow really close apparently but we arent really shown a lot of it and just told. no character in this book felt like a real person and no one said things that seemed even a little bit realistic. the way everyone talked and acted seemed like a contemporary romance but taking place in 1830s nova scotia. so why make it historical in the first place? so some vilianous characters are homophobic and everyone else is not? it was so hard to take anything seriously in this book too because of the writing. and some really fucked up things happened if you thought about it too hard and when there were these darker moments none of it felt serious! and whenever the main character had emotional/dark things happening everything just seemed to go over really quickly? i dont know, it was a huge mess and everything was clashing in terms of tone, writing, characters, setting, plot. and even though everything in theory in this book is interesting it was SO BORING. like i really should have dnfed it but im stubborn. i didnt care about any of the characters and i was rushing to be done with this book.
i wanted to like this book so much and i think thats why its so disappointing :( im giving it more than 1 star bc i do enjoy the lesbian rep and it isnt necessarily bad/harmful/egregious unlike some other books i read but it was just flat out bad.

Juniper & Thorn

Ava Reid

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

so ill start off with what i really did not like, which was the romance for the most part. it never seemed very believable to me and kind of insta-lovely. that being said i really dont like m/f romance in general so that might just be my bias.

i really loved the eastern european backdrop and how rich and vivid the prose was. i also really enjoyed the cannibalism metaphors/actual things that happened too, i thought they had a very heavy emotional impact. and for the part of romacne that i did like, it was that

it was shown that their love did not instantly heal their trauma and sometimes made it worse which i liked the realistic depection of

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

4.25

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"Cursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God in pity made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of your's, more horrid from its very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested."

a classic for a reason!