trishupaper's reviews
34 reviews

Hide by Kiersten White

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I ADORE Kiersten White's writing in this one. I love how she builds up suspense and fear without giving too much - that is until she gave too much in the end, which was a shame. I really liked the parts where it is insinuated that something isn't right; that something bad happened, but it's described in ways that still leaves something to the imagination, which makes it scarier. The characters were two dimensional but had enough substance in that slasher film kind of way. Substance enough to make me interested, but flat enough that they were type cast.
The flow of the book is smooth and fast. I think it had a good balance of giving us character stories and backgrounds without sacrificing the pace of the horror elements.
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Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

Thoughtful, considerate and welcoming, Sweet Bean Paste is a book that is deceptively simple. It started out dull, to be honest, with its slow pace. And the sudden shift in tone by the middle can be a bit too noticeable, but what it lacks in structure, the book makes up for in thought and spirit. Reading this was encouraging and comforting. I wish I also had Tokue to talk to. 
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Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

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

3.75

This book is eventful but slow at the same time. It takes it time making the reader feel the claustrophobia and the decay of the store, which is a character in itself. The actual characters are distinct if not totally fleshed out. The main character, Amy, is not necessarily someone who’s loveable, but she’s definitely easy to root for. The scare factor in this book is a bit hard for me to pin down. It’s basically “what if the haunted house is in a store?”. It has many of the haunted house tropes, but mingled with elements that are specific to a store experience. I especially loved the extra detail to make the store believ able - the illustrations, the jargons, the scripts. It’s a fun read, that’s just scary enough. 
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