_lia_reads_'s Reviews (757)

Rating 3.5-4 stars

Beautiful Bad, a new thriller by Annie Ward, centers around a trio of characters: Maddie, Ian, and Jo, all three are troubled in their own ways. Maddie narrates the story and Ward makes you empathize with her from the beginning as she reveals her toxic relationship with Ian within the first few pages. You know early on that a murder or attempted murder has occurred, but you are unsure of who did it and who was involved. The novel jumps around in time, between the ‘Day of the Killing’ and flashbacks to Maddie, Jo and Ian’s time in the Balkans and the weeks leading up to the murder. As more details are revealed, the reader questions what the truth really is.

Mystery and thriller novels are not normally my go-to genre but the book summary intrigued me so I thought I’d give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got sucked into the story, which I finished in a matter of days. Ward has an MFA in screenwriting, and you can really see that influence in the way the story unfolds. I didn’t like reading the parts told from Ian’s point of view; they felt more stilted than the rest of the book. The story didn't seem all that original but it still kept me hooked and wanting more.
A little thing: the font used to indicate Maddie's writing also drove me crazy while I was reading!

If you like reading thrillers with unreliable narrators that make you read between the lines to figure out what is really going on, this book is for you!

Thanks to Park Row Books and Bustle for the ARC of this book.

Though I had been excited to get my hands on a copy of this book, I was a little hesitant to dig in because the reviews on Goodreads were so mixed. But 15 pages or so in, I knew this book was for me. The book is told through Bee, Bernadette's daughter, as she attempts to piece together her mother's disappearance. While Bernadette is actually present through a lot more of the book than I thought she would be, this did not actually bother me; instead, it was nice to get to know her and her eccentricities first. I loved the seemingly random emails and letters that are used in the first part of the book. I found them humorous and enjoyed learning about the characters through them. Yes, the events are absurd, yes the characters are unrealistic, but that's what makes this book so charming. It's a rollercoaster ride of privilege and eccentricities that constantly surprises you. As someone who studies architectural history, I also really enjoyed the fact that Bernadette is an architect and the various digs at contemporary architecture and architectural practice. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone who enjoys satire.

I'm a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I really struggled to get through this book. I think a lot of that has to do with it being short stories; I don't generally love short story collections. The works are a collection of stories from FSF's later years that were not published for a variety of reasons, including being too dark or racy. Each story is introduced by a little commentary that helps to set the scene and explain why that particular story was not released to the public. Some of the stories were positively charming ("The Couple", "Offside Play", "The Pearl and the Fur" were some of my favorites). Others were slow and hard to get through. There were a lot of stories that took place in hospitals or involved doctors, which was an interesting reflection of the problems that both he and Zelda had throughout their lives. If you're a fan of some of the darker themes in his novels, or just want some new FSF in your life, this is definitely the book for you!

I SPED through reading this one. The story was infectious and definitely kept me hooked. However, my one complaint (and the reason this book got 4 stars instead of 5) was the character of Bri herself. She's strong-willed, she's talented, she seems like a cool person to hang out with. But I felt as though we did not get enough of her emotions behind certain decisions or events. We hear a LOT about how other people feel about things that are happening, but sometimes Bri does things that do not seem to have any reasoning behind them. Maybe that's intentional; she is a 16-year-old after all, maybe we are meant to read her as impulsive. But it left me feeling as though I couldn't sympathize with her at times. That said, this book was so different from other books I have read and I appreciated hearing from a different set of voices.