tabitha_thorns's reviews
125 reviews

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

This book hit me at exactly the right time. Well-written surrealist fiction/light sci-fi, excellent critique of late-stage capitalism and how it makes us passively cruel. Loved every word. Loved the last few paragraphs. Horrifying in the right doses. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Sorry To Bother You. Heartbreaking and wonderful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death

Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker

dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

The author set up a lot of cool concepts but didn't really know how to finish them. The whole vampire kids thing was kind of underutilized and basically disappeared in the last third of the book. I liked the reflections on motherhood but the book waffles between those & whodunnit thriller moments so the whole thing just feels disjointed. Had things I liked, but didn't execute them well enough for a higher rating. 

Also the audiobook narrator's "child voice" is so grating and annoying that it genuinely made me consider DNFing. I may have liked this more if I'd read it instead of listening to the audiobook 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Murder

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.

A little too earnest and fanfic-y for me. Noticing all the Reylo tropes took me out of it. I think I'm just not really in a romance mood right now, might try this again later. 

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

dark mysterious 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

3.75

Solid thriller. But didn't wow me. Dragged in the last third. 

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

It took me a couple chapters to get into the book but once I did I was hooked. it was so tender, the plotting was impeccable, and Bao is just a delightful detective. first book from BOTM and a total hit! 

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": The Authorized Graphic Adaptation by Shirley Jackson, Miles Hyman

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

Good companion to the original story, but not a replacement 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I wanted to love this, but the last third of the book fizzled so hard. The character work is EXCELLENT, and I really felt attached to the characters, but the plot stalled and stopped and then the latter third was contrived at best. The characters lacked agency as the book went on, and I felt like none of them were active participants in their own lives in the latter half of the book. The author also included too many themes and was only able to touch on each of them briefly and shallowly - campus racism and classism are supposedly the themes of the book, but they're only really explored on a surface level, as well as

Millie's sexual awakening not being examined

. Even though I loved Agatha and Millie as characters, I feel like they barely DID anything and didn't grow as the story went on. This book had a lot of promise but needed some more refinement. The last few sentences also really bummed me out!

Kennedy spends the whole book ostracized and obviously struggling with an emotional shopping addiction,

and then the book ends on

her going shopping.

Is that supposed to be inspiring? It made me incredibly sad. A bunch of expertly-crafted characters with nothing to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Classism

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Did not finish book. Stopped at 62%.

When two heists happened and were both boring, I gave up. While I liked what the book was trying to do, I didn't need the characters to reflect on the same information every few minutes. After a while it starts to feel like the author doesn't trust you to understand the themes of the novel, so she has the characters discuss them in very explicit ways that just...don't feel like real or natural dialogue. I liked the character work but it was so repetitive that I decided to cut my losses.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

dark funny sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Read with my four year old, one chapter at a time. What a sweet, sad book. I love this series.