wisteriariaa's reviews
131 reviews

All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley

emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

This book is so, so incredibly frustrating to me. It’s so close to being genuinely great and there is a lot to love about it. I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of this book. I liked seeing Marin bond with Thea and Wren, along with her sweet romance with Evie. Usually I find the beginning of these types of books tedious as I wait for the supernatural elements to kick in, but these characters all have such good chemistry with each other that I hardly noticed. I also found said supernatural elements to be interesting, and I liked that the whole mystery of the house wasn’t that the family was evil satanic cultists or something. It was more personal and character driven, and helped develop the book’s themes of loss and grief. I also liked the climax and ending, and I thought it was executed well and made sense.

But goddamn the last third of this book is an absolute mess. It meanders around so much and it feels like the author was adding random bullshit and deliberately keeping the characters from doing things to advance the plot to make the book longer. The book completely falls apart at this point, which was extremely frustrating to read. The amount of time Marin and Evie spend making out and repeatedly having the “I’m a monster! How could you love me?” angst moment made me want to rip my hair out. At first I didn’t mind because I liked their relationship and was happy to see them together. But oh my god, why did the book choose to do all this when there were like 3 other more interesting reveals and plot lines that I was waiting to see be developed. I also felt like there were some reveals that came a bit out of nowhere and would have benefited from more foreshadowing before being dropped on the reader. 

I don’t know. I still think that most of this book is good enough, and I’d probably reread it again just to get more of that sweet chemistry between Marin and the family. It just upsets me that this book fumbles most of its last third so badly

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not quite sure how to feel about this one. I thought the first 2/3 were really good and I was gripped by the story. However, I have some issues with the choices made with the ending that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

The decision to make the ultimate villain of the story a Willowbrook resident and not one of the employees seems misguided to me. It feels weird to create a story focused on Sage’s helplessness in her situation due to the apathy and ignorance of the people who worked there and then make the big bad a generic “I have to save these people by killing them” guy.

I’m a bit disappointed with that but it doesn’t kill the rest of the book for me. I really wish that the author didn’t insist on using the r-slur all the time though, kinda put me off.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Coming back to later 

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

Coming back later

The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs by

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

Yeah I’m sorry I’m not wasting my time with this one. The contents of the book are VERY different then what the blurb and title promise. Not what I signed up for

Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

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? It's complicated

3.5

Definitely a bit of a mess, but a fun one. I think the author included too much unnecessary information to try and create a bunch of red herrings, especially towards the end. But I think the ending twist itself was pretty well executed and supported the books overall themes so whatever.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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

4.5

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

medium-paced

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

4.0

Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier

medium-paced

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

3.75

It’s okay. Some of the twists were good, some were half baked, but I did enjoy it overall.

I will say that it’s baffling to me that you would have a character we’re supposed to see as a halfway decent guy consistently deadname a trans person, but whatever.