Read this book if you're in the mood for something: adventurous, emotional. funny, lighthearted, & medium-paced Plot- or character-driven? A mix Strong Read this book if you're in the mood for something: adventurous, emotional. funny, lighthearted, & medium-paced Plot- or character-driven? A mix Strong character development? Yes Loveable characters? It's complicated A Diverse cast of characters? No Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Book Rating: 4.25 stars This book was mostly humorous and an overall fun journey. I truly loved the format and would have loved to read the blog and be part of creating this romp. It did get emotional in parts, which I liked as it was balanced out by humor. The ending was excellent as well, a great twist!
The only element that I didn't enjoy was Jim, who got to be a bit repetitive and annoying around 80%. But once you get to the ending his over-the-top character makes more sense. So I guess narratively it worked. It was also a bit too long and didn't keep my attention past a certain point. Overall, a very enjoyable Halloween book that's satirical instead of scary.
Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars The narrator did an excellent job. While Jim's voice fits his character, it got grating at points. However, the narrator did a great job doing different voices for each character.
Content Warnings (view spoiler)[ Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol Moderate: Death and Violence Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Murder
Notes on CWs: Lots of unnamed drug use including pot & hallucinogens. As well as binge drinking. (hide spoiler)]...more
Read this book if you're in the mood for something: informative, reflective, & medium-paced
Book Rating: 4.5 stars This book was an intriguing look int
Read this book if you're in the mood for something: informative, reflective, & medium-paced
Book Rating: 4.5 stars This book was an intriguing look into the history of the views on sexuality in the United States, in a timeline from Indigenous People's views before North America was settled by Europeans until today.
Those views, as well as laws on certain things surrounding sexuality, have vacillated over time. From people tending towards polyamory to being able to openly live as a non-binary person, or as a trans person, to everyone having to be in the closet and acts of "gay" sex being punishable by death to today's views on sexuality.
The book cites examples from historical records, which I appreciated. The people the author talked about were made into someone you could relate to. The author kept the book interesting this way, as this could have been a dry topic for a book.
My only complaint is that the author got a bit overly descriptive in parts, which made the book a bit longer.
Narrator Rating: 4.75 stars The narrator did an excellent job. They added to the book and made it more enjoyable and engaging.
I received an audio advanced reader copy through Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings (view spoiler)[Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Classism
I received an Audio ARC from the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are original and my own.
Read if you're in the mood for something: emotiona
I received an Audio ARC from the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are original and my own.
Read if you're in the mood for something: emotional, funny, hopeful, inspiring, & medium-paced Plot- or character-driven? Character Strong character development? Yes Loveable characters? Yes A diverse cast of characters? It's complicated Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Book Rating: 4.75 stars This book was very emotional but in a good way. It was a great body-positive romance. I truly enjoyed it. I loved that the author included the men's body image issues, as well as the part with their mother.
Everett's fear of snakes added some much-needed levity. I would have liked a tiny bit more spice though. I loved the ending with Kelsey's song and as well as Odin getting his comeuppance. I honestly wish we lived in the author's world and not the real world!
Overall, a realistic but still escapist romance, with a great body-positive message about loving yourself as you are.
Narrator Rating: 5.0 stars The narrators did an amazing job, and it was nice to get some new narrators for the series to give the characters some unique voices.
Content Warnings (view spoiler)[ Graphic: Body shaming and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, and Fatphobia
Minor: Death of a parent
Notes on CWs: Body shaming and fatphobia were done by others to the female main character and her friends. (hide spoiler)]...more
Read if you're in the mood for something: challenging, emotional, hopeful, reflective, & medium-paced
Book Rating: 4.75 stars I loved that it was frank
Read if you're in the mood for something: challenging, emotional, hopeful, reflective, & medium-paced
Book Rating: 4.75 stars I loved that it was frank and honest on many hard topics and how they talked about finding community. I wish I could find that kind of crip community. I have some crip friends but none who live near me.
As a crip, mentally ill, queer person. I really enjoyed this book! However, it's not for everyone. There's talk of drug abuse, child abuse, and sexuality and kinks (nothing I found disgusting or extreme, as a fairly vanilla person, see spoilers in content warning notes section). It's definitely not what most would consider a "mainstream" book club type book.
However, if you want to learn more about being a mentally ill and/or disabled person, and the author's personal journey, and none of the above mentioned topics would stop you from reading, it's an excellent read!
Overall, it was an excellent book that I've already recommended to people I know. I think we need more honest disability memoirs like this. One's that aren't about being the miracle crip who "overcomes" their disability to do extraordinary things, as that's just not realistic for most crip people.
Narrator Rating: 5.0 stars
I found the author did an amazing job of reading their own book! It flowed well, and Johanna's narration added a personal element to the stories, as how they felt when writing each essay came through in the narration.
I received an Audio ARC through the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are original and my own.
Content Warnings (view spoiler)[ Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment (hide spoiler)]
Notes on CWs: (view spoiler)[The author's kink is to punch/hit consenting individuals who identify as male, and then have some kind of sexual encounter with that person. (hide spoiler)]...more
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read if you're in the mood for something: emotioThank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read if you're in the mood for something: emotional, dark, reflective Pacing? Slow
Book Rating: 2.25 stars The book was a bit disjointed, at least in the audio version, it was hard to tell where you were in the timeline and who was speaking. Since the author did a lot of interviews and she switched between others' quotes and her point of view it was hard to follow. It also was more focused on Carrie's life, but in a kind of shallow way, the author didn't get into much detail on a lot of things that happened. It was more focused on privilege and sexism/misogyny than Carrie at times. This book could have been good, but was focused on the wrong things and not well plotted out for narrative cohesion.
Narrator Rating: 2.0 stars I wish they'd gotten a professional narrator to do this book, not the author. She just wasn't that good at narration. Nothing to make it horrible, but nothing to enhance the experience of the audiobook.
Content Warnings (view spoiler)[ Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny
Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Grief, Sexual assault, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Medical content, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts (hide spoiler)]...more
Book Rating: 3.75 stars   I received an audio ARC from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.   When Audrey Covington goes missinBook Rating: 3.75 stars   I received an audio ARC from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.   When Audrey Covington goes missing at Clearwater Ridge during their yearly summer vacation, her best friend Paige and brother Dylan get drawn into the mystery of what happened to her as the case gets cold a year later. As well as where the local girl, Madison, went missing before Audrey may have gone.    I found the ending a bit underwhelming. Some of the mystery parts were easy to figure out like the one who may have done something to Madison and Audrey. While other parts I didn't see coming. The book overall felt very rushed. You didn't get much of the summer that Audrey went missing, and the summer they went looking for her seemed to only happen over a week or so, though it may have been longer it just rushed by so fast. I wish the book had been longer.    There wasn't a great amount of character development. Paige stayed pretty similar throughout the book though she did realize some things about the people around her. For once, I didn't mind the romance between her, and Dylan and it didn't feel forced. I would have liked some of Dylan's POV though.    While I liked the overarching theme of certain people being able to get away with a lot of things while others are basically powerless. It's a bit overdone in YA thrillers.   You'll enjoy this book if you like thrillers but aren't someone who reads almost exclusively mystery thrillers. If you read a ton of thrillers, you'll probably figure out the whodunit part pretty easily.
Narrator Rating: 4 stars   The narrator did a decent job, but the book could have used more variety of voices, so you knew who was talking to Paige easily.
Elemental Levels: Â Fluff-1/5 Â Heartfelt-3.5/5 Â Helpful-NA Â Â Horror NA Â Â Inspiration-NA Love aka Romance-2.5/5 Â Mystery-3/5 Â Â Predictability-3.5/5 Â Spice-0/5 Â Â Suspense-2.5/5 Â Â Tear- 1.5/5 Â Thrill-4.5/5 Â Humor-0.5/5Â
Content Warnings Graphic: Grief, Classism, and Alcohol Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Violence, Sexism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail Minor: Vomit and Toxic friendship...more
I received an audio arc from the publisher through NetGalley. Thank you so much to RB Media for that. All opinions are my own.
Book Rating: 3.75 starsI received an audio arc from the publisher through NetGalley. Thank you so much to RB Media for that. All opinions are my own.
Book Rating: 3.75 stars When two women with secrets and trauma in their pasts get entangled in a series of murders, you can't trust anyone. Also, know one thing, everyone is lying about who they are. Plenty of twists and turns, though I think the conclusion without the epilogue would have been better, as I saw that part coming about halfway through the book. Which was a letdown. The whole mission to destroy Cass was misplaced and I am glad she finally saw that. (view spoiler)[ Cass didn't sexually assault her and as with most young adults Cass was so wrapped up in herself she didn't consider he could have, as well as that having been a very different time from today. Not that she shouldn't have spoken up when the lawyer came to her and said that he might have. (hide spoiler)] This book tackled A LOT of difficult issues and was quite dark. But overall, it was good.
Narrator Rating: 4 stars The narrators did a good job. Though some words were pronounced oddly, and not as I would assume someone from that part of the US would say them.
Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt-5/5 Helpful-NA Horror-NA Inspiration-NA Love aka Romance-1.5/5 Mystery-3/5 Predictability-2.5/5 Spice-NA Suspense-1.5/5 Tear- 3.5/5 Thrill-4/5 Humor-0/5
Content Warnings Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death, Alcohol, Rape, Drug abuse, Grief, and Death of a parent Moderate: Self-harm, Car accident, Violence, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Gun Violence Minor: Physical abuse and Adult/minor relationship...more
This book was a great look into what makes a killer. It didn't get too graphic on the crimes, that were committed, but focused more on the c4.0 stars
This book was a great look into what makes a killer. It didn't get too graphic on the crimes, that were committed, but focused more on the criminal’s life and what led them to kill. Followed by what they'd done with their lives since. I found most of the killers to be redeemable people who had had very tough lives. The narrator did make it hard for me to keep my attention focused on the book. And my attention drifted at times. Overall, an interesting and informative look into what makes a murderer. ...more
I received a copy of the audio arc from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
Content Warnings: Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Drug abusI received a copy of the audio arc from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
Content Warnings: Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Animal Cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Grief Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Vomit, Drug use, Infidelity, and Body shaming Minor: Adult/minor relationship Book Rating: 2.0 stars-
When Teddy's father commits suicide, years after her sister's disappearance, Teddy falls down an internet and life rabbit hole. Well, Teddie was very unlikable, I know she was in a pit of grief, but having no reference for her, other than that she was supposedly a likable, and good teacher before this, she seems extremely self-centered and selfish, as well as a horrible teacher who hates children. She treats her boyfriend like crap, and I'm not sure why he stays with her other than maybe pity, but then why would he want to move things forward, unless he has a hero complex. The whole storyline around Wolfie just shows how cruel Teddy and her mother acted toward his end of life. I get that they had sort of trauma bonded to him, but if they'd thought about how much he was suffering they should have put him out of his misery as Bill suggested. And the scene in the woods broke my heart. I was not too fond of the ending because we didn't get a real answer about what happened to her sister. And her declaration at the end! Ugh! She shouldn't be doing that when she just supposedly got out of her spiral of grief and from a long period of self-destruction. I didn't realize how little I was enjoying the book until I was at 61% and since it was for review I finished it or I would have DNF'd it around 30%.
Narrator Rating: 3 stars The narrator was okay, though her voice got a bit grating at times, it worked for Teddy.
Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 5/5 Helpful -NA Horror -NA Inspiration -NA Love aka Romance- 1/5 Mystery -5/5 Predictability -2/5 Spice -2.5/5 Suspense -3.5/5 Tear- 4/5 Thrill -1.5/5 Humor-0/5...more
I received an audio review copy from the publisher through Netgalley all opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this book a lot. However, I found Layla a bit I received an audio review copy from the publisher through Netgalley all opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this book a lot. However, I found Layla a bit difficult to like at times. She frustrated me in certain situations with her reactions. I had mixed feelings about the ending, since what was the cause of the problems in the room was never entirely clear, which was a bit frustrating, but the final part was also very good. I liked the diverse characters and the thoughts on immigrant parents and how they kind of get stuck in time. The romantic element was predictable. I wish the book had been longer, which is rarely a feeling I have in these types of books. Overall, a pretty good book! The narration was excellent....more
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