turninpages_sippintea's reviews
241 reviews

Stitches and Witches by Nancy Warren

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

After reading the first book, I expected the sequel to include witchcraft and vampires more, but to be honest it was quite disappointing. It seemed like the characters could've easily been just some insomniac geriatrics from a nursing home who like to knit and gossip, their vampirism came into play exactly 0 times throughout the whole book. Lucy used her spells a bit more often, but then again, the results of her using magic could've easily been written off as simple luck and coincidence. The story itself was alright, and I'd easily give it alone 4 stars, but I thought that the whole point of this series was in vampires and magic, and Stitches and Witches wouldn't lose any crucial parts if we took said vampires and magic out of it completely. Another thing that I noticed here is that all characters sound kind of the same. I mean, there's no diversity in speech, slang, dialects, accents... I listened to the audiobook, but I don't think the narrator is the only one to blame here. None of the characters has a quirk that would make them stand out or point at the environment they grew up in, which, as soon as you notice it, takes you out of the experience.

The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren

funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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

It's quite a fun read if you decide early on not to take the book too seriously. I liked it and am excited to read the second part! The only 2 things I was a bit annoyed by (because I didn't take my own advice about being too serious to heart) were: 

• the main character's coooonstant nagging about how she was too young for knitting, and then, after learning that she was a witch, thinking that no, it can't be, she's too OLD for that, and also crushing on an ancient vampire who doesn't even look young... like... make up your mind, lady, if you're ageist, go all the way! 
• the overly precise descriptions of locations in the beginning - I was not necessarily annoyed by them, I just never understand why writers give all but coordinates for locations in their books, only for those locations to not be important or even mentioned ever again.

Down with the System: A Memoir (Of Sorts) by Serj Tankian

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

If you're choosing between reading it or listening to the audiobook, I highly recommend the latter! I believe that this is the best way to experience Serj Tankian's memoir - in his own voice, at his own pace (well, perhaps the pace is negotiable, but still, I wouldn't rush it!)

I loved it. This book is a mix of SOAD's history, the history and ongoing struggles of Armenia, activism, Tankian's thoughts on spirituality and cultural self-identity; it's quite heavy on politics (I mean... duh, who's surprised??), but the writing is very accessible, I didn't find myself dozing off or wanting to skip some parts because I couldn't understand what he was talking about. Because I could! Honestly, if politicians didn't beat about the damn bush so much and spoke about politics in the same way Serj Tankian speaks about it here, more people would get it and into it. And even though he raises quite serious and sometimes truly heartbreaking and enraging topics, the overall tone is friendly and educational without breaching the preaching territory or sounding indignant with the reader for possibly not knowing certain things. 

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I don't know what I expected from the book, but not this. I usually struggle when an author leaves some  whys unanswered (AuDHD, what can you do, I need full context to understand things), but here I'm actually quite satisfied with the ending. The book was reasonably terrifying (to be honest, the things that the teens were doing to the Thin Kid in the screenplay were scarier than

the murder in the end

), somehow I was more afraid of Valentina's character (both Valentina the teen and Valentina the director) than the Thin Kid. I find it hard to genuinely say that I enjoyed Horror Movie - the

torture

scenes were really hard to get through, but definitely not because they were written badly, they were just... difficult - but the book was really hard to put down.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

The first half was intriguing. The book raised interesting questions about self-identity, although I don't believe that it's the first to do so in its genre. (It was hard not to compare it to Replay by Ken Grimwood that was published good 3 decades before Dark Matter.) But whatever points it gains for the intrigue, accessible writing and atmosphere, it loses on logic and characters' motivations, at least for me, because:

• why on Earth was Leighton mad with Jason when he
  learnt the truth? Wasn't discovering multiverse Leighton's whole purpose? Shouldn't he be more excited? Sure, it's not HIS Jason, but it's A Jason, from a whole ass different universe, why the fuck are we trying to hurt him? You're telling me killing Daniela was easier than convincing her that Jason's gone off the rails? Or that he'd been stalking her for years, and that's how he knew so much about her, and definitely NOT because he's practically an alien, because that's absurd, Daniela, be reasonable? Like... fucking come on. Was gaslighting and brainwashing not invented in that universe?

• why did Daniela question whether the Jason that came back to her was HER Jason or not, even though her husband explained that ALL abducted versions of Jason are him, all the memories and experiences with her are shared, it's the choices they made AFTER the abduction that make the versions different? I thought that it made sense for Daniela to have a breakdown because of shock from it all, but her reasoning was a but redundant;

• since we're on the topic of the versions of Jasons, why did it seem like literally ALL of them who survived made it their life goal to reunite with Daniela at all cost? Like, we could see in the end that some of them were ready to hurt her or their son JUST to be the one version who'd "win it all", but it'd make no sense for those Jasons who were already married and with a family - they'd never hurt those they loved - and being obsessed with her would need a lot of explanation from those Jasons who had never married her in the first place AND weren't the versions of Jason2, who got to spend some time with her after getting rid of Jason1. Like... I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, but the whole thing seemed weird and confusing;

• why was this stupid raffle thing even mentioned?? It didn't lead to anything at all, their location wasn't discovered because Jason posted it, he discarded the idea pretty quickly, AND it made NO FUCKING SENSE after everything he'd gone through to get his wife and son back!!! After he was assuring her that it was really him that got back to her!!! Like... WHAT WHY "I've been through hell to get to you, I almost got killed several times, this is the ONLY right thing for me to do!! ... actually nvm lol we'll have a lottery decide who gets you, dear wife, because you're not a real person with her own wishes, I don't have to take your thoughts on the matter into account, I make decisions, and all of them are stupid as fuck, but hey, I'm the main character, sooooo"....................;

• I really hated how possessive Jason was of Daniela, in the sense that the ONLY thing he felt when he thought of her with another Jason was jealousy. Not fear for her well-being and safety, but pure, unadulterated jealousy. That she might be happier with Jason2, that he fucks her better. As if she was some toy, a pack of chewing gum or chips, that he reeeeally didn't want to share with other boys. I know that this kind of treatment of a spouse is common among real life people, too, but I find it disgusting and couldn't find Jason in any way likeable;

• it felt like Charlie was just an afterthought as a character, because mostly, when Jason speaks about how much he loves his family and how he's ready to do anything to get them back, he really only means Daniela;

• Amanda was only there to serve as a tutorial for the box, no depth to the character, nothing. We're made to believe that she's got a bigger role to play, buuuut nope,
  she's gone
  as soon as Jason understands how the box works. Just another object for Jason to save, lust over, and then forget about.

Wow, writing this I'm realising now that I disliked this book even more than I initially thought. I'm tempted to give it 2*, but I think that would be too petty, the premise was actually fun, and it was easy to imagine the gradual descent into madness Jason was going through.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Did not finish book. Stopped at 78%.

I can't put my finger on why, but I just really don't care about the characters 🤷‍♀️ also, the repetitive manner in which Addie keeps mentioning how people forget her is quite annoying. we GET it! we read the part where you got cursed!

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book does to you what a tea monk from said book does to their visitors. I feel comforted and hugged. I've never encountered a story that was written with such kindness. Loved every page and every line, and I will read it again and again, every time I find myself in Dex's shoes.

A Quiet Life in the Country by T.E. Kinsey

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang

emotional funny hopeful informative sad fast-paced

5.0