A tale of hauntings, but it’s not the ghosts that will make you nervous; it’s the narrators hints that everything is about to go horribly wrong that will have you anxious.
Krishnasamy’s writing will draw you in as the characters come vividly to life, making it nearly impossible to put this book down.
Well worth the read.
I deeply enjoyed this character-driven novel about friendship and the long-term effects of trauma.
One of my favorite things is how different each of the girls is, and how each time the POV shifts you can feel that difference in the writing.
I am always excited to find platonic love in stories and this book was so full of love it practically flowed from the pages.
East Coast Girls was well written and infinitely quotable, and I recommend it to older YA fans (the 20+ crowd), anyone looking to get into the New Adult genre, and fans of Women’s Lit.
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Isabella is everything Bridget is not, and Bridget loves her more than anything. When the two friends travel to an Italian academy together, Bridget hopes this will be their chance.
The pacing of this book might be called slow by some, but I would call it leisurely. The story is rolled out for you at a steady, dreamy pace that will pull you deeply into the main character’s heart and mind.
Belladonna is a very character driven book about obsessive love. If you’re looking for something with a very active plot, this book is not for you. But if your favorite thing about a book is getting to know the characters, you will probably love this.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
This was an interesting historical fiction, with a main character, Rune, that I cared and rooted for pretty much immediately.
It was hard to read in places, knowing that these witch hunts really did occur and the horrors that Rune faces are from our actual history, but that’s part of what makes the story so good.
There are two POV characters, but the focus is clearly more on Rune than Laurentz. His POV really only exists to clue the reader in on some things that Rune had no way of learning in her own story arc.
My only complaint is the ending. It felt rushed and pretty confusing. It really felt like some chapters were missing or something. I think if she had drawn out the ending more, dropped a little more foreshadowing about some things revealed in the ending, and possibly left out that whole thing with the villagers coming back (I won’t expand on that because spoilers) then the ending would have felt more satisfying. As it is, I was left wanting despite enjoying the majority of the book.
There is a sequel, but Forest of Whispers can be read as a standalone. Overall the book was enjoyable and I recommend it to people who want a quick little witchy read.
I received a free eARC copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Real Rating: 4.5 stars! Check out my video review as well 🙂
Content Warnings: bullying (on page), anxiety (we see a few anxiety attacks on page), sexual assault (we witness a near miss), animal abuse (you don’t see the abuse, but you see the aftermath briefly)
I want this to be a spoiler-free review so I won’t talk more in-depth about those trigger warnings here, but if you feel like you need more details to know whether you should read this book, please feel free to reach out, I’d be more than happy to discuss it further.
The Anti-Virginity Pact comes out June 16th (2020). I don’t preorder books for my own reasons, but I will absolutely be buying this book the second it’s available.
The story centers on a girl named Meredith, a preacher’s daughter and a relative nobody at her high school. She’s dealing with some inner conflict because she doesn’t believe in god and doesn’t really want to, which makes dealing with her family more difficult. As a joke with a friend, Mare signs a pact to lose her virginity by the end of senior year. This would be just fine, except that the local mean girl finds out and spreads the details all around the school. Now Mare is infamous and becomes the focus of a lot of bullying and sexual harassment. Also threatened by the Pact, is her budding romance and her family dynamic. And as if all that weren’t enough to deal with, Mare is really worried about one of the dogs at the animal shelter she works for.
Don’t worry, this book isn’t all doom and gloom, though. Mare’s struggles only serve to highlight what a kind-hearted, passionate, brave person our main character is. There are a lot of funny and adorable parts to this book that offset the hard parts nicely. And we all know that can be a hard balance to strike. The difference between “logical conflict” and “everything that can go wrong, does go wrong” is a finer line than one would think.
I connected to this story really well, which is rare for me within the YA Contemporary genre. Usually I find it too difficult to get into the POV character’s mind and even harder to care about their life, but this book drew me in immediately. I identified with Mare’s inner life and cared quite strongly about her highs and lows. I believe this is because it was so well written.
One of my favorite parts about this book is how realistic the relationships are. From the budding romance to the sibling relationship, it all just seems so real. I felt like I had experienced something identical or very similar to every relationship Mare had and I deeply appreciate that in a book.
I also really loved the writing style. Katie Wismer has a really excellent, and potentially distinctive, writing voice. (Which happens to be one of my favorite things in a writer.) I look forward to seeing future books from her so I can compare.
My favorite part was the end, but don’t take that the wrong way. I don’t mean like “oh I’m so glad it ended” I just mean that the way she wrapped things up felt so good. Like not everything was perfect or tied up with a little bow, but it was a satisfying ending. The kind of ending where you put down the book and just breathe a deep sigh because you feel so good, you know?
Overall, my thoughts on this book are very positive. I do a favorite and least favorite for every book I read, and I couldn’t even think of a least favorite for this book, that’s how much I liked it.
I definitely recommend this if you like YA Fiction, but even if you aren’t a YA reader, I think you could enjoy this book, it was that good.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was simultaneously the best and most infuriating book I have read so far this year.
By best I mean:
The writing style was super interesting and something I’d never read before. The story was compelling and I didn’t want to put it down once I picked it up. And the characters were (sometimes unfortunately) completely believable.
By most infuriating I mean:
Men suck and women should have more rights.
This book may be primarily geared towards the South Korean woman, but I maintain this has something that will speak to every woman and I’m so glad it’s been translated to English.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Failure to Appear is an emotional look at one woman’s life as a fugitive in the late-60’s through 80’s.
This book read almost like a slice-of-life novel, which is an interesting way to share an experience that most people will never have. The pacing of the memoir, an easy but steady walk through almost 20 years, helps to balance the emotional nature of the events the author lives through. Freeman rolls out her story as if telling it to a friend and it makes you appreciate it all the more.
In addition to a portrayal of fugitive life before the digital age, the book touches on several serious and moving subjects from the open violence of the Vietnam war to the passive violence of the AIDS crisis. We learn about American and LGBTQ+ history from the first-hand perspective of a deeply caring woman.
It was easy to forget while reading that this wasn’t just some story, but the life of an actual person. Coincidences, lucky breaks, and tragedies alike take on a whole new weight every time the reader remembers that this is the life of a thinking and feeling person who simply wanted to do the right thing.
I recommend this book to everyone, but especially other LGBTQ+ people and anyone with a particular interest in the day-to-day of our history.
Sloane and Myles are happily married. Or are they? When Sloane discovers Myles’ infidelity she is devastated. She has so much going on in her life, but it feels like everything has fallen apart. Can she rebuild her life without Myles?
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Genre: women’s lit, fiction
Pros: coffee shop scene, empowering message
Cons: pacing
I received a free ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review.
I want to start this review off by saying that most of the summaries and blurbs you will read for this book will not really tell you what it is. The summaries make it sound like the only thing happening in the book is Sloane’s relationship troubles and the blurbs call this a romance. Neither are accurate.
Sloane has a full life outside of her marriage. She has friends, a successful business, and a loving father, all of which we get to experience in this book. But her marriage, something Sloane counts on in her life, is not what she believes it to be. And unfortunately, the man she loves isn’t who she thought he was.
No, We Can’t Be Friends is a painfully accurate portrayal of the demise of a marriage due to infidelity. As someone who has been in Sloane’s place I found it both difficult to read and extremely validating.
The author speaks through her characters to make sure the reader knows who exactly is in the wrong and why Sloane is in no way at fault for her husband’s philandering. Sloane is better off without Myles and Ranald makes sure we know it without a doubt.
One particular part of this book that I have to praise is the portrayal of gaslighting manipulation. When Sloane confronts Myles he goes on the offense and leaves her feeling like everything is her fault and she can’t trust her own knowledge and feelings.
I also really loved the “women supporting women” aspect of this story.
The only thing I didn’t like was the pacing. I felt like the part of the story where Sloane is trying to make her marriage work took up too much of the novel, and the part where she is on her own again not enough. All the scenes before she confronts Myles seem to drag, possibly because we already know from the beginning what is coming and are not blindsided the way Sloane is.
If you are a fan of women’s fiction or just someone who has been through what Sloane has and wants to see their experience laid out in a novel, this book is for you.
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