staxreads's reviews
52 reviews

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

An amazing start into the world of Stephen King novels for me. I went into this completely blind and it simply pulled me in page after page. 
Somewhat predictable yet able to keep me on the edge of my seat. 

Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.

It was simply ok. The premise was good, however I wasn't feeling any connection to the characters and I did not feel that desise to continue reading. I gave it a fair chance but in the end there was too many other books piquing my interest for this to take up more of my time 

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Slow to start, however by halfway through the book I found it more increasingly difficult to put the book down.

Boy In The Tower by Polly Ho-Yen

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

Despite this being a children book, the story was actually pretty good. 

The Four by Ellie Keel

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

It was a bit of a weird one and I'm not sure how to rate it as a whole. I was oddly hooked on this book yet felt little / no connection to any of the characters. The story was gripping yet I felt that the 'serious' parts were over the top and unnecessarily violent. Honestly there were times when I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue reading, yet I could not bring myself to put the book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.

I really wanted to enjoy this, and whilst it wasn't the worst thing I have ever read, I just did not feel the urge to continue with it and just kept wishing for it to move faster so that I could finish it and move onto the next book. I could possibly pick it up again, just not at this point in time. 

Flawless by Elsie Silver

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

Priest by Sierra Simone
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.

I paused this when keeping 13 was delivered and I was too impatient to finish this book before starting the next one. However, as much as I had been enjoying this, in the end I just didn't feel the pull to pick it up again. 

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0