vanishing_librarian's reviews
441 reviews

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked the audiobook for this one! There is the podcast part which is delivered very well through the audio and I would definitely recommend the audiobook!

Story-wise, I thought it was a little slow in the beginning since it felt a little too much like a legal thriller instead of what I was expecting - hence I'd probably lean more towards a 4,5-star rating. But having the two stories run parallel to each other definitely made it more interesting! I just would have wished for the stories to connect more than they did in the end. I could go into detail about this, but I want to avoid spoilers so I'll leave it at that. 

Please be aware of the trigger warnings though - towards the end it does get pretty graphic and was quite hard to stomach at times.

The House Plant by Jeremy Ray

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

The Lunchling by Jay Alexander

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Dear Laura by Gemma Amor

dark mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

2.0

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.0

Crossroads by Laurel Hightower

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

 I had high hopes for this. I did enjoy Sour Candy by this author and the premise sounded like it would be a thrilling horror story!

But I must say I was pretty disappointed and it took me quite sometime to actually finish it. It starts off with a really horrific that makes you feel really bad for Claire but after that I just lost all empathy I had for her for some reason. A big reason for it was that it was just too long and the writing style made it had for me to keep up who is who and what their reasons were for decisions they made.

Sadly, I can only give this 2 stars.