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Review: Under Story

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Under Story by Chloe Benjamin My rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh my. This book is one of a kind. As a person who reads a lot, it's rare that I read something that's so unique and so unlike anything else. But this one, this one absolutely checks that box. It's so unusual that I think people will either love it or really not care for it. Consider me 100% in the first category. I loved every minute I spent with this unusual, one of a kind story. First of all Benjamin's writing is absolutely beautiful. The settings, the characters, the crazy plot. But what's even more beautiful is all the emotion in this story. The things we will do for love, because of grief, for science, trying to make up for regret. The chances we miss and the deep desire to get even one more moment with the people we love. There are a ton of nitpicks I can have with it but at its heart it's a story about love, grief and regret and the rest are just details. And those...

Review: The Shattered King

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The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this one in one swallow. It was fun, interesting and visually stunning. Loved it. View all my reviews

Review: Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane

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Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane by Lindy West My rating: 2 of 5 stars Here's what's interesting. I loved Shrill and when I first started reading this book, it felt similar and I found myself in the same zone where I loved West' voice and the way she told her story. But then at some point, the voice memos really started to annoy me and so did the narrative. It felt almost like she was trying to convince me of something she herself didn't believe. Or maybe I didn't get it. Either way maybe this was the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I wish her nothing but joy and if West writes more, I will read those too. View all my reviews

Review: Ideal Life: A Novel

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Ideal Life: A Novel by Evelyn Skye My rating: 5 of 5 stars I've read every Evelyn Skye book. Not only do I love her writing style but I love her as a human being I get to call a friend. How lucky am I? This was both a departure from her other stories and not really. As someone who works in tech, I really enjoyed the setting of this book. And even though as a reader, I could totally see that Talia was making poor choices and getting addicted to the ability to undo even the smallest of mistakes, I completely believe that if any of us actually had this power, we would have a really hard time not using it both for ourselves and for the people we love. Especially if it seemed like it didn't have adverse reactions, who wouldn't want to tinker and make things just right. Or to give others (or themselves) an opportunity to correct things. The thing is, throughout this whole story Talia never uses the power to truly take advantage of anyone else o...

Review: Innocent

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Innocent by Scott Turow My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this because I was stuck looking for something to read and I knew this wouldn't be terrible. And it wasn't. It held my attention all the way through. It was interesting. But not nearly as captivating as the original. View all my reviews

Review: Under the Falls

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Under the Falls by Richard Russo My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm not entirely sure why the reviews for this book are so so bad. I thought it was perfectly average. Yes, there are a lot of open plot-points and several things don't seem to make sense but once i started reading I found myself wanting to read more and more. In fact, I read the whole thing in a single sitting. I think there are two main issues with this story: it wasn't well-developed. The characters are not interesting and as the reader I didn't feel like I understood any of their motivations enough to figure out why they made the choices they made (I felt like Curt was the only one that came close.) And they all make such terrible choices the whole time. So if you don't understand them, they are not textured enough and they make poor choices, it becomes harder to read the story. Second issue is that this novel is written by an author who is clearly capable of writing so ...

Review: Under the Falls

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Under the Falls by Richard Russo My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm not entirely sure why the reviews for this book are so so bad. I thought it was perfectly average. Yes, there are a lot of open plot-points and several things don't seem to make sense but once i started reading I found myself wanting to read more and more. In fact, I read the whole thing in a single sitting. I think there are two main issues with this story: it wasn't well-developed. The characters are not interesting and as the reader I didn't feel like I understood any of their motivations enough to figure out why they made the choices they made (I felt like Curt was the only one that came close.) And they all make such terrible choices the whole time. So if you don't understand them, they are not textured enough and they make poor choices, it becomes harder to read the story. Second issue is that this novel is written by an author who is clearly capable of writing so ...