victoria_2002's reviews
97 reviews

Extasia by Claire Legrand

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

Wow this book ticked so many boxes for me! I loved the dystopian feel, it reminded me of the hand maids tale. I loved how it was a mix of both horror and fantasy. It managed to be disturbing and gory whilst also beautifully and lyrically written. I loved how witchy it was, the lesbian representation made me so happy too! There was also a non binary character! Overall this was a great book and I will definitely be reading more by this author! 

The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce

slow-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed this more than Blood Orange. That being said, the pacing of the book felt very similar to Blood Orange, slow with not much happening in the first 300 pages. I did enjoy the epilogue, that gave me a small chill but I think it was a bit of a silly and unexplained plot twist. Maybe it could have benefited from having other POVS. The writing style was nice and easy to read but overall the pacing was too slow and I didn’t feel much emotion while reading. 

The Widow by Fiona Barton

slow-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

2.25

Major trigger warning for child abuse and SA! 
So, I just finished this book and it was.. just ok. It really didn’t make me feel any emotion at all apart from disgust at some of the SA/pedophile parts. This book is a thriller but it didn’t shock me or thrill me in the slightest, I was expecting twists and turns or at least some suspense but really it was just a long lead up to what I was already expecting. I didn’t realise there was a detective’s POV so maybe it just wasn’t for me. I will say that it was written in a way that is easy to read, and there was a small amount of interesting psychological aspects. 

The Gone and the Forgotten by Clare Whitfield

medium-paced

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

3.0

Major TW for SA and SH! 
I adored the writing style this author used, it felt easy to read while also being captivating. That being said there was some underlying fat phobia that I was not at all a fan of. The characters were fleshed out and didn’t feel one sided at all. It is a slow start but the suspense and overall creepy/eery vibe to the book kept me reading. Most of the twists didn’t really feel shocking, but there was one twist I didn’t guess. Despite the twists not feeling shocking I think the ending was satisfying and tied everything up nicely. 

The Devil You Know by Elisabeth de Mariaffi

slow-paced

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

1.0

Yawn. Almost 400 pages of boring stupidity that doesn’t even make sense. Hated this book, it put me in such a slump and it was such a chore to finish it. The ending was absolutely terrible, the entire thing is pointless. I hated the author’s writing style and the fact that there was no speech marks when dialogue was used? By far the worst book I’ve read this year. 

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

slow-paced

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

1.5

This book gave me a headache! It was so hard to get through and wayyyy too long. There’s so many things I can say here about this book. Firstly, I hated the writing style and pacing, the way it would randomly swap character POVS or quote random characters was really annoying and made everything feel superficial. There were moments that I appreciated where the characters felt really real, but then there was also moments when characters would say the most NPC thing ever that felt very cringeworthy (“oh calamity” being one of them.) Almost 400 pages into the book and the reader still has no clue truly what is going on! It felt like slowly going round and round in circles and I was honestly just bored. The only thing I liked about this book was the overall message it was trying to portray, I enjoyed the feminism but this could have been done much better in a much shorter, faster paced book. 

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

medium-paced

4.0

This book made me laugh so much out loud. I don’t normally read non fiction much, so I enjoyed learning and also was genuinely interested! 
Some parts haven’t aged too well, a little bit of fat phobia, and one slur. 

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay wow, did not expect that! I feel so silly, I trudged though this book thinking I had the plot twist all figured out by page 36 😂. I was so wrong! I didn’t see the plot twist coming at all! That raised the rating of the book much higher for me. At the revelation I literally got chills, I had to stare into space for a few minutes! I read this book slowly and the first two thirds of the book I found a little hard to get through, but to me the plot twist at the end was worth it! 

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden

medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow okay. This is my second experience reading Freida and I ate this book UP. I finished the entire thing in basically one sitting, and read it much faster than my average reading speed. Honestly it was so gripping I just couldn’t get enough. I did unfortunately have a small inkling of the plot twist but that didn’t stop me feeling emotion and shock at the revelation. This was such an easy and gripping read. I love that Freida didn’t mess up the teenage perspectives, to me it was very accurate without being over the top. Some thrillers that I have read in the past with teenager POVs have been a terrible portrayal of a teenage mind. I definitely preferred this book to the locked door. 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

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

3.0

This is a generous 3 stars for me. I really wasn’t sure about the writing style, I felt it was trying too hard to be poetic and beautiful and therefore became the opposite. There was way too many cringy moments and strange metaphors. The book drastically improves at around 60% onwards which I was thankful for as it almost put me into a reading slump. I liked the idea of having some words crossed out I thought that was a fun and creative idea. I didn’t like Juliette at first but she grew on me. I think some of the scenes are a little weird because she’s only 17, but that might just be from the perspective of a 21 year old reading this. The revelation towards the end of the book was interesting meaning I will probably continue the series to find out more and see if it gets any better.