Lacie's Updates en-US Sat, 02 Nov 2024 13:29:29 -0700 60 Lacie's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Friend1407971441 Sat, 02 Nov 2024 13:29:29 -0700 <![CDATA[<Friend user_id=117900287 friend_user_id=15976161 top_friend=true>]]> ReadStatus8462805110 Sat, 28 Sep 2024 21:40:15 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie has read 'The Couple Upstairs']]> /review/show/6886229194 The Couple Upstairs by Shalini Boland Lacie has read The Couple Upstairs by Shalini Boland
]]> Rating645977003 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:49:58 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie liked a review]]> /
Lacie liked JaymeO's review of My Husband: A Novel:
My Husband by Maud Ventura
"“We need to find a moment to talk. It’s important.�

This short 258 page novel is a tour de force in the domestic suspense genre. Winner of France’s First Novel Prize in 2021, My Husband is perfectly plotted perfection.

Over the course of one week, a nameless female Parisian wife and mother psychoanalyzes her 15 year marriage to her husband. Love is her hobby of choice, as she is a desperate romantic. Or is she just neurotic, paranoid, and jealous?

What happens when you love too intensely?
Is she enough for her husband?

After all, he compared her to a vulgar clementine.
…and he sleeps with the shutters closed
…and he ordered the lasagna

As relayed by her husband, the adjectives that best describe her are very beautiful, cold, in love, and observant.

How well does he really “see� her?

This darkly humorous novel of obsession is psychological fiction at its best. I didn’t guess the answer to the original question or the phenomenal twist!

A special thank you to Jayme for putting this book on my radar. It was absolutely delicious!

5/5 stars"
]]> Rating645976986 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:49:55 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie liked a review]]> /
Lacie liked Holly B (slower pace!)'s review of None of This Is True:
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
"The audio production was outstanding and with an ominous tone (5 star performance)!

I lost track of how many times I nearly fell off the couch! Although, I could never get quite comfy. It is NOT a comfy kind of read. 🖤

I had a sense of panic from the beginning when the "birthday twins" Alix and Josie unexpectantly meet. The story became darker than dark the further I read. It was quite unputdownable and going places that gave me anxiety. I think Alix felt it too, I wanted to shake her!! Tell her to just R-U-N 🏃‍♂�

A slippery slope of truth! Who do I believe? Who will you believe? Everyone is flawed and makes questionable, even detestable decisions. The characters were mostly abhorrent and toxic.

Lets just pack all the toxicity into one novel shall we - a pedo, a narcissist, an alcoholic and a psycopath! The train wreck is coming at full speed. In the end though, I still wanted a little bit more after all the highs and lows, something was missing for me.

I've made up my mind about the ending, and I hope I'll stop thinking about it now!

Library Audio / Published on July 20, 2023"
]]> Rating645976936 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:49:39 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie liked a review]]> /
Lacie liked Yun's review of Love, Theoretically:
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
"I love Ali Hazelwood, but this one stretched my incredulity to the limit. No one can possibly be this much of a doormat, can they?

Elsie is slaving away as an adjunct professor teaching too many classes to make ends meet. She supplements her meager earnings by being a fake girlfriend, putting her people-pleasing tendencies to good use. When a chance at her dream job arises, the only thing standing in her way is Jack, the annoying older brother of someone she's fake-dating, who also happens to be on her interview committee. But do they really hate each other or is it more like they secretly have the hots for each other? Ha!

I really enjoyed the first half of this story. It starts strong with all of the hallmarks I love from Ali Hazelwood—snark, banter, science, smart female in STEM, and puns. I was breezing through it, smiling and chuckling to myself on pretty much every sentence. No one does funny situations and dialogues quite like Hazelwood, and she had me in stitches.

I'll grant you that the premise is a bit out there. What are the odds that the guy Elsie is hating/lusting after, is also the brother of a guy she's fake-dating, while also being the only person who almost beat her at Go, while also being the guy who irreparably damaged her field of study back in the day, while also being the head of the physics department at MIT where she is interviewing? I'll tell you what, it's 100% according to this book.

But as the story went on, Elsie started to annoy me. First, she refuses to believe that Jack is attracted to her even though he tells her so on multiple occasions. At one point, she even interprets him saying "Can I take you out?" as he wants to murder her mob-style. Like what, girl?

Elsie also takes people-pleasing to heretofore-unseen heights. She lies to her roommate about pretty much every preference she has. She runs interference for her brothers at her mom's behest even though she doesn't want to. And she must get her mentor's approval before accepting a job offer that would give her several times her current salary and health insurance. Have mercy! My eyeballs were bruised from all the rolling.

It's no secret that I prefer my female characters to be strong and smart, ready to kick ass and save the world. Elsie is strong in her work, but the opposite in every other way. And slowly, over many demure "You can't possibly like me," it started to grate on my nerves. Not even Hazelwood's many comedic reliefs can save it from such never-ending waffling and meekness.

This may just have been a case where I wasn't a good fit for the book. Without being able to connect with Elsie, I never really invested in the story. Not to mention I couldn't feel any chemistry between Jack and Elsie, and it all made for a rather lackluster read by the end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
The Love Hypothesis
Love on the Brain

The STEMinist Novellas:
Under One Roof � Stuck with You � Below Zero
~~~~~~~~~~~~

� Connect with me � �
� This was a pick for my BOTM box. Get your first book for $5 ."
]]> Comment265646173 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:44:27 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie commented on Jen's review of The Intern]]> /review/show/5815729338 Jen's review of The Intern
by Michele Campbell

Great review for an unfortunate miss. Hoping your next one hits the spot. ]]> Comment265646019 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:38:16 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie commented on Margaret M - (having a challenging time's review of Legends & Lattes]]> /review/show/5826015409 Margaret M - (having a challenging time's review of Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
by Travis Baldree

Wonderful Review! I loved this book too. ]]> Review4544297422 Sat, 09 Sep 2023 13:01:21 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie added 'The Girl Before']]> /review/show/4544297422 The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney Lacie gave 1 star to The Girl Before (Hardcover) by J.P. Delaney
bookshelves: skip-these-reads
Have you ever felt gross reading a book?

The new show based on this book looks interesting, so I dived in and read the book. Oh, boy! I'm taking the hit here, so you don't have to if you missed this when it was first published. I'll cover all the bases for you with my sassy review! Something good must come from this. ;)

This book doles out plenty of opportunities to feel gross throughout with renters Emma, Jane, and house owner Edward. Edward is an award-winning architect who lands the women in this book into his rental house and his bed. While Edward plays out his psychotic male fantasies, the female characters are rendered down to female vessels of trauma (remember this is coming from a male author POV, which is infinitely worse).

There's the rape victim Emma, and the pregnancy loss vessel Jane. That's all the reader gets for the main female character development while the story is told in the past with Emma and present with Jane. Emma and Jane quickly become interchangeable and hard to tell apart without any clear voice as the EXACT story (yawn!) while Edward from the past mirrors the present.

The Girl Before dangles a magnificent architectural Smart House rental as a worthy hook, but the unreal and too good to be true house also comes with an asinine set of 200 "rules" the tenants of One Folgate Street must follow. Sounds super fun, right? Renters can't add any personal touches and must live as minimalists. They must agree to random searches of the house, and the housekeeper will tattle if any items are left laying around. They must wear a bracelet that tracks their movements like cattle while the "smart" house tells them what to eat, wear, and censors the Internet so that they can reach a new level of perfection.

Hmm, totally agreeing to live their lives in a rental (of all places), exactly as the strange owner sees fit. That sounds all warm and cozy, right? The ideal place to relax and start anew just as these two troubled women are desperately seeking. The deeply flawed craters of this thinly-drawn psychological thriller show in the first chapter.

During the interview process, both women are immediately attracted to Edward. In any other book this would be an interesting turn that creates tension, especially with Emma's story because she's planning to move in with her boyfriend, Simon. However, the lack of character development shift the "girls" into sexists props. This just feels disgusting, and even worse when Edward takes his sexual props to bed. There's no buildup, no sexy banter, or even light flirting. Edwards says it's to bed we go and the women jump.

Then out of the complete blue, the story dives into an awkward, erotic, and cringe-worthy (not sexy in the least bit!) turn with Edward as the hero. Seems the author is a proud fist pumping Fifty Shades Bro and just had to spin out his own classy yarn. (Umm, that's what fanfic is for).

I won't get into the racism, which is another whopping dose of vile grossness. (How did this book get published again?). Or the multiple stereotypes and sexism so lazily applied to this story. (How is this author mainstream?). This dazzling sexist snippet gives you a clue: Monkford Partnership, a well-bred female voice says. "Well-bred female" is a major nauseating book theme here. Jane learns how Edward also chooses his female tenants for their similar looks and proper postures, which matches his dead wife. (The one that's buried on the property with his child. Say what?). Yeah, the greasy layers just keep piling up.

Obviously, you can quickly sense where the gutter story goes from here as authoritative Edward takes the helm, trapping the helpless "girls" within his complete control. When they don't follow the rules, the Smart House predictably becomes disabled. And wait for it, of course spanking commences! (Commence gross male fantasy!) This is not what the book blurb portrays at all! Not even a hint of the disgusting sexist male controlling goodies hidden here. But can this book get any worse? You betcha, and in too many ways to count!

The "girl" before is Emma, the rape vessel who died in the house under mysterious circumstances. That leaves the new renter Jane, the pregnancy loss vessel, to figure out what happened. After reading disturbing news about Emma's death, what's the first thing Jane does? She sleeps with the horny hero Edward, of course! He runs off when she rightfully asks questions. (OMG, she has a brain!) While storing her baby's clothes, Jane finds terrifying evidence that Emma CAMPED in the attic just as Edward calls. Hmm, terrifying evidence of Emma hiding, spooky foreshadowing, and a coincidence of Edward's controlling interruption. Yet, Jane doesn't think so and jumps into bed with Edward again. (I spoke too soon! No brain, just cattle as Edward likes his women). Umm, what am I reading again?

Later, it's revealed to Jane that Edward also had a "relationship" with Emma. Emma's relationship with Edward devolves into a new level of grossness as he becomes "Daddy." Edward conveys to both women there's no expectations of emotions because apparently with minimalism, none are needed. Insert furious head scratching here. "No strings sex" just doesn't exist with their landlord, who controls their entire lives with his Smart House. Therefore, this ridiculous "no string sex" turns into disgusting male fantasy gone wrong.

What's the point of either women sleeping with Edward again? There's zero buildup of any type of relationship besides their interview, so this wacky erotic turn is just BIZARRE. Edward holds complete power over their lives and they happily jump into his bed. WHAT? Oh, silly me, I forgot that Emma and Jane are just sexual props for the dashing hero Edward (LOL), so none of this has to make sense!

But wait, this is supposed to be a thriller, remember? HA HA HA! So, what's an author to do? Obviously, burn down the nonsensical plot. When Emma tries to become intimate with Simon again after her assault, he flips out because Emma "let" her rapist do the same thing to him! Yup, now we've reached vomit-inducing grossness. There's lots of mind-blowing and poorly written moments surrounding her rape: blaming Emma for loss of evidence, lying, the police trying to pass the rape off as consensual, etc.

Dear Author, what a way to turn off your female readers forever! Seriously, peak level behavior here!

The rapist had a knife and FORCED Emma against her will. Again, the female is simply rendered down to her trauma while this sick plot device is used to get rid of Simon, leaving Emma alone in the house and eagerly welcoming Edward to her bed (insert deep eye roll here because that's exactly what a woman dealing with deep sexual trauma wants).

The rest of the comically nightmarish story, unfortunately, boils down to a cat-and-mouse game of Edward playing with his trapped vessels, or cattle, or blow up dolls. I lost track, honestly. This story just keeps nosediving as the author keeps digging for sewer lines, failing to deliver anything that resembles a thriller, or any type of psychological terror.

Amazingly, this story is fantastic at CREATING female trauma. I may have a concussion from shaking my head so many times at this silly, nonsensical book.

I need to highlight another fatal misstep (there's a ton in this book!) the author made by not adding the conversational quotation marks with Emma's PoV. While reading, the brain has to go into overdrive with a red pen, trying to figure out what is shared aloud in conversations and Emma's internal thoughts, which are only shared with the reader. These layers are important in a psychological thriller, and this is NOT an experimental piece of Literature!

And this gem: "Goes" should never be used as a speech tag. Obviously, this is a gross misuse of the innocent little verb "go." No matter how many times this ridiculous speech tag is forced in this story, it still doesn't work. That's what this story comes down to: a contrived and deluded narrative with the female trauma, sexist props, male entitlement, the racism, the misplaced eroticism, the poor writing execution and experimentation. None of this is passable on any level. ]]> Review4232339387 Sat, 09 Sep 2023 13:00:14 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie added 'Stolen']]> /review/show/4232339387 Stolen by Tess Stimson Lacie gave 2 stars to Stolen (Paperback) by Tess Stimson
Stolen by Tess Stimson certainly provides plenty of wild goose chases that become repetitive, exhausting, and downright implausible. There’s so many plot holes! The five hour time difference is a major one. The young child from London would be falling asleep at a sunset Florida wedding. Are we supposed to believe that she was just running around the reception for four hours after? WOW! Yes, suspend all rationality for this book.

A mother wouldn’t recognize her own relative staring at her child in the photo? The author told us many times how the mother and authorities studied every wedding photo. Quinn's editing software cannot save this plot hole! The airports had the little girl’s photo, checking all the flights out, going through all the photos of passengers. Somehow, conveniently just for the flimsy ending, we’re supposed to believe this old crazy dementia suffering relative pulled off this insane plan? I especially wish to point out the laughable, intensely disappointing final twist, and the merging of the kidnapper’s POV with the main story, which are cheap writing ploys. How in the world did more than one editor ever think this would fly with well-read thriller audiences?

I feel utterly drained even writing this review. The writer has us chasing our tails, only to keep giving us utter nonsense to stretch out this sordid story. Even though Lottie is a "smart" three year old, she comes across as a very self-aware eight year old. Again, a major miss with the editing here. Her friend went to jail, for something he wasn’t guilty of, but it was okay, because Alexa said he "deserved" to be there? And the main character doesn’t after the crazy crimes she committed against Flora? That is just silly!

A thriller about a kidnapping involving a young child will of course be dark, touching on uncomfortable subjects. However, when hot button issues, borrowed details from real sensational kidnappings, murders, and a few other well-known tragedies plays out as a decent thriller, I’ll pass. There is plenty of creative and imaginative material the author could’ve come up, but choose instead for cheap ploys.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC in exchange of my honest review. ]]> Review4544297422 Sat, 09 Sep 2023 12:52:19 -0700 <![CDATA[Lacie added 'The Girl Before']]> /review/show/4544297422 The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney Lacie gave 1 star to The Girl Before (Hardcover) by J.P. Delaney
bookshelves: skip-these-reads
Have you ever felt gross reading a book?

The new show based on this book looks interesting, so I dived in and read the book. Oh, boy! I'm taking the hit here, so you don't have to if you missed this when it was first published. I'll cover all the bases for you with my sassy review! Something good must come from this. ;)

This book doles out plenty of opportunities to feel gross throughout with renters Emma, Jane, and house owner Edward. Edward is an award-winning architect who lands the women in this book into his rental house and his bed. While Edward plays out his psychotic male fantasies, the female characters are rendered down to female vessels of trauma (remember this is coming from a male author POV, which is infinitely worse).

There's the rape victim Emma, and the pregnancy loss vessel Jane. That's all the reader gets for the main female character development while the story is told in the past with Emma and present with Jane. Emma and Jane quickly become interchangeable and hard to tell apart without any clear voice as the EXACT story (yawn!) while Edward from the past mirrors the present.

The Girl Before dangles a magnificent architectural Smart House rental as a worthy hook, but the unreal and too good to be true house also comes with an asinine set of 200 "rules" the tenants of One Folgate Street must follow. Sounds super fun, right? Renters can't add any personal touches and must live as minimalists. They must agree to random searches of the house, and the housekeeper will tattle if any items are left laying around. They must wear a bracelet that tracks their movements like cattle while the "smart" house tells them what to eat, wear, and censors the Internet so that they can reach a new level of perfection.

Hmm, totally agreeing to live their lives in a rental (of all places), exactly as the strange owner sees fit. That sounds all warm and cozy, right? The ideal place to relax and start anew just as these two troubled women are desperately seeking. The deeply flawed craters of this thinly-drawn psychological thriller show in the first chapter.

During the interview process, both women are immediately attracted to Edward. In any other book this would be an interesting turn that creates tension, especially with Emma's story because she's planning to move in with her boyfriend, Simon. However, the lack of character development shift the "girls" into sexists props. This just feels disgusting, and even worse when Edward takes his sexual props to bed. There's no buildup, no sexy banter, or even light flirting. Edwards says it's to bed we go and the women jump.

Then out of the complete blue, the story dives into an awkward, erotic, and cringe-worthy (not sexy in the least bit!) turn with Edward as the hero. Seems the author is a proud fist pumping Fifty Shades Bro and just had to spin out his own classy yarn. (Umm, that's what fanfic is for).

I won't get into the racism, which is another whopping dose of vile grossness. (How did this book get published again?). Or the multiple stereotypes and sexism so lazily applied to this story. (How is this author mainstream?). This dazzling sexist snippet gives you a clue: Monkford Partnership, a well-bred female voice says. "Well-bred female" is a major nauseating book theme here. Jane learns how Edward also chooses his female tenants for their similar looks and proper postures, which matches his dead wife. (The one that's buried on the property with his child. Say what?). Yeah, the greasy layers just keep piling up.

Obviously, you can quickly sense where the gutter story goes from here as authoritative Edward takes the helm, trapping the helpless "girls" within his complete control. When they don't follow the rules, the Smart House predictably becomes disabled. And wait for it, of course spanking commences! (Commence gross male fantasy!) This is not what the book blurb portrays at all! Not even a hint of the disgusting sexist male controlling goodies hidden here. But can this book get any worse? You betcha, and in too many ways to count!

The "girl" before is Emma, the rape vessel who died in the house under mysterious circumstances. That leaves the new renter Jane, the pregnancy loss vessel, to figure out what happened. After reading disturbing news about Emma's death, what's the first thing Jane does? She sleeps with the horny hero Edward, of course! He runs off when she rightfully asks questions. (OMG, she has a brain!) While storing her baby's clothes, Jane finds terrifying evidence that Emma CAMPED in the attic just as Edward calls. Hmm, terrifying evidence of Emma hiding, spooky foreshadowing, and a coincidence of Edward's controlling interruption. Yet, Jane doesn't think so and jumps into bed with Edward again. (I spoke too soon! No brain, just cattle as Edward likes his women). Umm, what am I reading again?

Later, it's revealed to Jane that Edward also had a "relationship" with Emma. Emma's relationship with Edward devolves into a new level of grossness as he becomes "Daddy." Edward conveys to both women there's no expectations of emotions because apparently with minimalism, none are needed. Insert furious head scratching here. "No strings sex" just doesn't exist with their landlord, who controls their entire lives with his Smart House. Therefore, this ridiculous "no string sex" turns into disgusting male fantasy gone wrong.

What's the point of either women sleeping with Edward again? There's zero buildup of any type of relationship besides their interview, so this wacky erotic turn is just BIZARRE. Edward holds complete power over their lives and they happily jump into his bed. WHAT? Oh, silly me, I forgot that Emma and Jane are just sexual props for the dashing hero Edward (LOL), so none of this has to make sense!

But wait, this is supposed to be a thriller, remember? HA HA HA! So, what's an author to do? Obviously, burn down the nonsensical plot. When Emma tries to become intimate with Simon again after her assault, he flips out because Emma "let" her rapist do the same thing to him! Yup, now we've reached vomit-inducing grossness. There's lots of mind-blowing and poorly written moments surrounding her rape: blaming Emma for loss of evidence, lying, the police trying to pass the rape off as consensual, etc.

Dear Author, what a way to turn off your female readers forever! Seriously, peak level behavior here!

The rapist had a knife and FORCED Emma against her will. Again, the female is simply rendered down to her trauma while this sick plot device is used to get rid of Simon, leaving Emma alone in the house and eagerly welcoming Edward to her bed (insert deep eye roll here because that's exactly what a woman dealing with deep sexual trauma wants).

The rest of the comically nightmarish story, unfortunately, boils down to a cat-and-mouse game of Edward playing with his trapped vessels, or cattle, or blow up dolls. I lost track, honestly. This story just keeps nosediving as the author keeps digging for sewer lines, failing to deliver anything that resembles a thriller, or any type of psychological terror.

Amazingly, this story is fantastic at CREATING female trauma. I may have a concussion from shaking my head so many times at this silly, nonsensical book.

I need to highlight another fatal misstep (there's a ton in this book!) the author made by not adding the conversational quotation marks with Emma's PoV. While reading, the brain has to go into overdrive with a red pen, trying to figure out what is shared aloud in conversations and Emma's internal thoughts, which are only shared with the reader. These layers are important in a psychological thriller, and this is NOT an experimental piece of Literature!

And this gem: "Goes" should never be used as a speech tag. Obviously, this is a gross misuse of the innocent little verb "go." No matter how many times this ridiculous speech tag is forced in this story, it still doesn't work. That's what this story comes down to: a contrived and deluded narrative with the female trauma, sexist props, male entitlement, the racism, the misplaced eroticism, the poor writing execution and experimentation. None of this is passable on any level. ]]>