Everything I dislike about weird fiction. Another reviewer put it as "all vibes and no plot." If you like Jeff Vandermeer you'll probably like this? IEverything I dislike about weird fiction. Another reviewer put it as "all vibes and no plot." If you like Jeff Vandermeer you'll probably like this? I don't and I didn't.
Much of the story felt inevitable, like I didn't have to read it to know what would happen. If you read a story about vampires you don't need an explanation, you can skip all those parts. Even though I've never read anything like this before, it felt like that. I knew exactly what was going to happen.
This probably doesn't sound like a three-star review, but I did like the writing. I also like the cover....more
I liked the art, I liked the TV heads, I liked the love story, but didn't fall in love with it like everyone else. I might come back to it in the futuI liked the art, I liked the TV heads, I liked the love story, but didn't fall in love with it like everyone else. I might come back to it in the future when the series is complete....more
This started out absolutely insufferable and I almost put it down about an hour into the audiobook. I'm not alone in this - many of the reviews on AudThis started out absolutely insufferable and I almost put it down about an hour into the audiobook. I'm not alone in this - many of the reviews on Audible say the exact same thing. The epitome of the Sex and the City generation - middle-class white ladies finding meaning through candles and baths. I'm not sure when it started to win me over, but it did. Instead of rolling my eyes at their gushing compliments on the joys of picking flowers, I started to think of the various hobbies I used to do before drinking became the One and Only Hobby. It - eventually - made me want to write. About sobriety, about the price of mocktails (SERIOUSLY WTF WHY ARE THEY 12 DOLLARS THERE'S NO ALCOHOL IN THEM), about making it through my birthday, Christmas, AND New Year's without taking a drink. I know, hold your applause! *pats self on back*
I'm surprised at how much I liked this! The audiobook narrator's voice was completely mesmerizing so that might have had something to do with it.
I lovI'm surprised at how much I liked this! The audiobook narrator's voice was completely mesmerizing so that might have had something to do with it.
I loved the main character. Her flaws were completely relatable and human. Everyone was three-dimensional actually, which is such a RARITY!
The rules of the magic are very wishy-washy because it's not really that important. It was a story about humans and magic happened to be around....more
My book club discussion question: So, what's it like to see into the mind of an abuser?
Marking this as a separate book because the Modern Library editMy book club discussion question: So, what's it like to see into the mind of an abuser?
Marking this as a separate book because the Modern Library edition is dumb as hell and put books 5 and 6 into a single volume and I disagree with that....more
Almost abandoned at the 10% mark. The audiobook narrator does TERRIBLE children voices, they were so incredibly grating. Alternatively, the charactersAlmost abandoned at the 10% mark. The audiobook narrator does TERRIBLE children voices, they were so incredibly grating. Alternatively, the characters of the children were incredibly grating and the audiobook narrator did the best she could. Unclear.
It got better after that, though. Far fewer annoying children piping up with oddly grownup opinions.
Totally fantastical plot but kind of enjoyable for it nonetheless....more
Waffling hard between 2 and 3 but I think I'll go with 2 stars.
It had promise for the first act. There was a long period in my life where languages weWaffling hard between 2 and 3 but I think I'll go with 2 stars.
It had promise for the first act. There was a long period in my life where languages were everything to me, and I collected them like trading cards. I loved the little linguistic asides, the comparisons of words between two languages, how meanings differ. I've always found the theory that the language we know shapes how we see the world so interesting, and I thought this book might be going places with that idea.
Even with the repetition, the milquetoast relationships, the one-dimensional characters, I was ready to be dazzled with some linguistic ingenuity.
It fell off a cliff at the 60% mark. This is the narrative we're going with? Someone should have told her to go back to this point, change that one decision, and rewrite the book. This was the wrong choice. The last 40% all spooled out because of that one thing and it did not work for me. I was glad it was over....more
A little too much wish-fulfillment for me. I get this is a romance novel and we always know from the first page that our main characters are going to A little too much wish-fulfillment for me. I get this is a romance novel and we always know from the first page that our main characters are going to end up together. That's part of the genre! And it can be comforting. But something about the way it was presented here bugged me. They had met for like a second before our outrageously hot Hollywood actor was already into her. You may think it took longer than that but it really didn't. There was something about their absolute frictionless relationship that bugged me.
But Kaila! You always hate it when there's fake drama in romance novels! Geez okay, I know. I KNOW! But there was just something about the way they immediately fell in love that felt surface-level. It didn't get me in the feels, and certainly not All the Feels.
I really enjoyed Spoiler Alert so it was a hard act to follow....more
Most of this book really didn't work for me. I've never seen an episode of The Bachelor or any other dating show. Despite its representation of mentalMost of this book really didn't work for me. I've never seen an episode of The Bachelor or any other dating show. Despite its representation of mental health issues, I got very annoyed at the two main characters, especially Charlie, constantly breaking down. How did he even make it that far in tech? How the hell does he have a perfect body when he spends zero time working out except like once? That's the real fantasy in this book!
Still, the ending made me cry in my car, so it had that going for it. ...more
I absolutely loved this book in high school. I think I read it 3 or 4 times. I've been having a hard time concentrating on reading lately so I thouOOF
I absolutely loved this book in high school. I think I read it 3 or 4 times. I've been having a hard time concentrating on reading lately so I thought I'd try an old favorite and YIKES. This is a case of loving something when you were younger and when you come back to it, it's embarrassing.
I remembered the first half fairly well. That was clearly my favorite half as a teenager, all about teenage Rowan getting her powers and finding a hot man to go sailing with. There's a time skip halfway through to adult Rowan and that storyline did not write itself into my memory at all. It's on my "baby or bust" shelf and that's really all you need to know about me and about the book.
Anne McCaffrey was a huge part of my adolescence but as society has grown up, these books have not grown up with it....more
I think I laughed out loud more times reading (well, listening) to this than any other romance book I've read. The author has clearly spent some time I think I laughed out loud more times reading (well, listening) to this than any other romance book I've read. The author has clearly spent some time around fan fic/fan fic writers.
Actually, I have never spent any time around fan fic/fan fic writers so it maybe seemed realistic but maybe it was all a clever sham!
Well, I enjoyed those parts anyway.
Like all romance books, this one has issues. The characters have exactly one character trait each and their entire personality and life choices revolve around that one trait. For her, she's plus-sized. For him, he's been pretending to be dumb but is actually *gasp* super smart. Every decision they make, every bit of drama infused into this overly long romance, revolves around those two traits.
This is 100% fan girl fantasy service. I've never watched Game of Thrones but I've read the books, and right away I cast our main lead as Jaime Lannister. Apparently, the guy who played Jaime Lannister is named Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The main character in this is Marcus Caster-Rupp, blonde, plays a hero on a fantasy TV show that everyone hates the last season of. So our plus-sized heroine ending up with him is absolutely fantasy but you know? Who cares, it was fun.
Our leads end up in a relationship they fit perfectly into within seconds. Their sex is amazing right away, they both want to say I love you right away, they are perfectly comfortable with each other without any of the normal anxiety that goes into the beginning of a relationship. I mean I'm not dating a movie star over and I was still pretty anxious the first three months of my relationship with my now husband. Because that's what happens at the beginning of relationships! So yes, very fantastical.
The drama was stupid like drama in romance books always is.
I'm definitely going to be reading the next one.
Also, as a redhead, I am sad that if I ever write a romance book my lead cannot be a redhead because there are SO MANY redheads in romance, wtf is with that....more
This review is only for The Fugitive portion of this book. Modern Library decided to put volumes 5 and 6 together into one binding and I disagree withThis review is only for The Fugitive portion of this book. Modern Library decided to put volumes 5 and 6 together into one binding and I disagree with them. I think that was the WRONG MOVE. So I split it up myself for my reviews.
This book was rough. Proust apparently died before he was able to finish editing this volume (and Time Regained), and it shows. There are 200 pages of meditating on the nature of Albertine's sexuality and another event that happened to her that I won't spoil for you. By far my least favorite volume.
The last hundred pages were much more palatable and I finally picked up my reading pace.
Apparently I'm alone in thinking this. Many of the reviews here say The Fugitive is the pinnacle of ISOLT and wow I disagree....more
My favorite character wasn't around for the first half of the book and honestly it really sucked without him. He brings the group together. Otherwise,My favorite character wasn't around for the first half of the book and honestly it really sucked without him. He brings the group together. Otherwise, they're all just a bunch of goody two shoes (even Roy!) and are very boring to read about. The new thing in this installment was jobs and wow I could have done without that whole storyline.
Once Nick showed back up it got way way better.
I'm enjoying the complete overpoweredness of our main heroes. Maybe unrealistic but it's fun to read about. And PLUS he came up with a way to make it okay for how overpowered they are so I'm all for it.
The ending battle was really great. There were actual stakes! Looking forward to the next one as soon as I forget how much the writing ticks annoy me. ...more
I remember when I first learned about the Myers-Briggs test (shout out to ISTJs everywhere) my partner at the time, a philosophy major, was mad that iI remember when I first learned about the Myers-Briggs test (shout out to ISTJs everywhere) my partner at the time, a philosophy major, was mad that it boiled people down to a mere 16 boxes. "People are more complicated than that!" He said. Or something like that - it was a long time ago. It's a microcosm of society as a whole right now. We love boxes. We love labels. On dating apps there are a hundred different ways to label what you're attracted to. Maybe it's an unintended consequence of having access to the internet, that we can even know such labels exist and immediately want to put people into said labels.
Of course, as an ISTJ, I kind of not-so-secretly love the Myers-Briggs and its associated boxes. "It helps to know how people will react to you in the workplace!" I probably said to that long ago partner.
But when it comes to book genres I am not so generous.
"Why must everything have a label?" I inquire at my local book club where another member and I are constantly bickering over whether something counts as young adult or not. This is hard science fiction - that is space opera - this, of course, is military science fiction.
Even so, it helps me pick and choose. I know my preferences pretty well nowadays, and Scandinavian thrillers usually do not fall into the I-will-enjoy-this category, so they're easy to avoid.
Romance has many different subgenres. So many! It can be hard to know whether the book you are picking up, clearly labeled as romance, will actually have any smut to be found in it at all, while the one next to it, also labeled romance, would make a sailor blush. How can you tell which one to choose?
This brings us, of course, to In Five Years, a book labeled and marketed as romance but which I decline to see as romance at all. Our love of labels has done this book a disservice. It was definitely marketed wrong, and because of that I read it, and I must give it a low star rating because had I known what it actually was, I never would have chosen it.
What was it, actually? Honestly, I'm not sure. Chick lit? Adult fiction? Curse these inane labels!
All of that to say, do not read this book and expect romance. Expect rolling your eyes at the high-powered lawyer and her manic-pixie best friend. Expect cheating. Expect, of all things, cancer....more
I made it to 45 minutes before even I couldn't continue hate-reading this.
I came up with a lot of theories in that time. Maybe it's a generational thiI made it to 45 minutes before even I couldn't continue hate-reading this.
I came up with a lot of theories in that time. Maybe it's a generational thing? This was written for the Sex and the City crowd. Gen X'ers. The dating scene has changed a lot since 2004.
Maybe it's a coast thing? Sex and the City, again - very New York, very East Coast. I'm from Portland, Oregon. Maybe things are just different here.
Don't give guys the time of day if they're not for you? Stop making them fit into a life they're not 100% yes about? Absolutely!
Don't ever make the first move because guys like the chase and if you don't let them chase you have given up any chance for happiness?
Whattup my reading homies I am now 2/3s of the way through In Search of Lost Time YES I feel accomplished.
There was even a cliffhanger at the end of tWhattup my reading homies I am now 2/3s of the way through In Search of Lost Time YES I feel accomplished.
There was even a cliffhanger at the end of this one would you believe it? I hardly believe it. What's going to happen?! (scream face emoji)
The narrator is a huge dick in this one, sometimes it's funny, mostly it's sad. I keep reminding myself what an absolutely terrible person I was in my early to mid-20s, I just didn't write it down in a 4000-page novel for all and sundry to read.
The opening 50 pages relating gay sex to bees and flowers was a wild ride.
I laughed out loud at the part where the narrator, from the point of view of the future, laments that in the timeline of the story he hadn't yet heard about bisexuals.
I feel like I need to read a history on French classism or something. Like why, as a country, do they seemingly constantly reject class and then can't help themselves but come back around to it. The aristocracy has better blood than the gentry, no doubt about it, according to Marcel. Don't you remember that whole "beheading everyone" bit a few years ago? What happened to that?
World War One is fast approaching so maybe some shit will be shaken up then....more
Not exactly a book anyone would be excited to read, but it was a good listen and there were a few lines that will stick with me. I did it on audio andNot exactly a book anyone would be excited to read, but it was a good listen and there were a few lines that will stick with me. I did it on audio and it may warrant a reread on paper to really get into the exercises of the healing chapter. Be warned going into it, it is very heteronormative. At one point she finally says she uses "he/him" to talk about partners just for ease, but it certainly feels like it's aimed at hetero couples the whole way through. So much of growing up with a narcissistic mother manifests in relationships and I would be interested in knowing more about gay couples. Surely not every daughter of a narcissistic mother is straight....more
Super cute relationships all the way through, full of secure attachers, and no fake drama for the sake of drama.
It fell victim to one of my least favoSuper cute relationships all the way through, full of secure attachers, and no fake drama for the sake of drama.
It fell victim to one of my least favorite tropes - bonding. It makes sense, in a romance book kind of way. You want the reader to know these two people are meant for each other, but you only have 300 pages to do it. Bonding is a shortcut lots of romance writers take. But that's exactly what it is - a shortcut. It does not get me to care about the couple and their relationship, it's stupid werewolf bullshit and it comes up in romance all the time.
I immediately spotted which friends would be the main characters in the next book, and reading the blurb, yup! You get a sense of these things after years of romance!
Do I kind of want to be in Lou's family and eat all the food?
.....yes, yes I do.
Also, pigeons have a brief appearance at the end of the book and "coo coo baby" made me laugh out loud....more
Huh. I'm honestly surprised. I picked this up with glee, ready to shit all over it. It was not what I was expecting. At all. I went into it totally blHuh. I'm honestly surprised. I picked this up with glee, ready to shit all over it. It was not what I was expecting. At all. I went into it totally blind besides, "Colleen Hoover is all over BookTok." I thought it was just a romance, a la Ali Hazelwood, another BookTok author I can't stand. Maybe it wasn't the deepest book on physical abuse out there, but I can see how it resonated with so many people. It made me very thankful for my life, my parents, my husband. And it also kind of sucks that I feel lucky instead of normal. But I guess Tolstoy told us a long time ago about unhappy families, and those are the ones we read about....more
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