_lia_reads_'s Reviews (757)

I'm not sure what more can be said about this than has already been said. It is not a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. There are definite similarities, but if you go into it with that mindset, you will be frustrated and disappointed. It is a magical love story with a slightly irritating but redeemable female lead. I appreciated Feyre's faults, most of which result from the way that she was raised and had to provide for her family, but at times they made her a bit annoying.

I don't really understand the fan affection for Rhys, but I guess that will come with the next book?
Many have already commented that this is not her best-written work, but I do see the potential and I am excited to pick up the second book in the series.

TW: death; violence; sexual content (Pg-13 ish)

On paper this was one I thought I would really like: a family drama set in Cape Cod and with a blurb from Chole Benjamin (The Immortalists) on the back. But in reality, I struggled with this one.

The book begins when the Gordon children are teenagers, over the course of a couple of summers at their Cape house. A tragic series of events drives them apart, changing everyone's lives. Fast forward to fifteen years later, and Ann, one of the siblings, has returned to the Cape to sell the house. But what follows is a conflict over who truly has claim to the estate and who doesn't.

One of my biggest pet peeves in books is where conflict could be solved by the characters having a simple conversation. The inability of anyone in this family to say anything of substance to each other drove me crazy! Pretty much everything in this book could have been solved by one conversation early on. When the conflict was eventually solved in the end of the book, it wrapped up so quickly and neatly because of this; everyone's resentment of one another seemed to vanish in thin air. Other twists in the plot just felt contrived.

I enjoyed each of the characters, though they often read as caricatures of people. Poppy initially did not feel necessary to the story, but I liked how she eventually played her role later on in the story.

Semi-spoiler, but there is a sexual assault scene at one point in the book that was unnecessarily graphic and I almost put the book down after it.

I think that I am not the right audience for this book, and others might really enjoy the plot and characters here. It certainly feels like a good book to bring with you to the beach (maybe even the Cape!) and read there.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

TW: sexual assault; suicide; death of a parent; unwanted pregnancy

2.75-3 stars

I went into this book really wanting to love it and it ended up falling flat for me. This was my second experience with a Kingsolver novel, the first being The Bean Trees the summer before ninth grade. I have vivid memories of struggling through that one and had hoped that time would have made me a different reader. But I think I can conclude I am not a fan of Kingsolver's style.

The Poisonwood Bible alternates between the POVs of the female members of the Price family, who are all shipped off to a mission in the heart of the Congo so the patriarch of the family can minister to the people there. They all have their own reaction to being put into this remote, lonely, and sometimes dangerous situation and it was at first very interesting to read these different perspectives. Then it started to wear on me. Yes, we get it, Adah is different and talks (reads) in palindromes. Yes, Rachel is a spoiled brat. Yes, Ruth May is the baby of the family, and acts as such. Yes, Leah is the one who is going to fall in love with Africa. All four of the children play into these stereotypes and seem to hold onto these characterizations their whole lives. I wanted more change from all 4 of them, but that didn't seem to be their fate, and after awhile their personalities were grating.

I found the intermingling of the history of the Congo region with the story itself to be interesting, but a bit heavy-handed at times. Some sections, especially in Leah's later history, felt like they were just dumping all the history onto the reader and then left it there without much advancing of the plot.

All of this combined to explore Kingsolver's agenda through the whole book. I have nothing against her using this novel to explore the evils of colonialism in Africa; lots of (white) nations have come into that continent and done a lot of really awful things there. But I think her interest in portraying the different sides of colonialism and its consequences led to very stark, almost black and white (no pun intended) stereotypes of characters. I also felt as those it bogged down the plot, extending the story way longer than it needed to be (especially towards the end).

Overall, I think Kingsolver's work will appeal to a certain audience, but I've learned that her books are not for me. Her writing is beautiful, and normally that is enough to carry a book for me, but that wasn't the case here.

3-3.5 stars

TW: Murder; death of a child; poverty; racism; colonialism

This was my first Maas book and it certainly will not be my last. Were there flaws with the book ? Of course (including the fact that it didn't REALLY need to be 800 pages). Was I completely devastated because I did not read the synopsis before starting the book? Yes. Was this book the escape that I needed during a pandemic? ABSOLUTELY.

While the beginning is a lot--especially with all the names that she drops without much of an explanation--the flash forward in time is where the book really excels. It become a murder mystery mixed with magic, which is just fun. Maas pulls out a few twists that got me, even while other parts of the book were predictable.

I loved the character of Bryce, especially how she developed and became more nuanced as the book went out. What really stood out to me were the friendships she had and the ones she gained throughout. The book is ultimately about holding on tight to those that love you and learning to trust.
The secondary characters were great too, both the good ones and the evil ones. Plus the world Maas has created, weaving in bits of different mythologies, was an enjoyable one to come to understand.

I look forward to seeing where this series goes with the next book.

TW: Violence; heavy drug and alcohol use; language

I don’t think I can write a review without spoilers. But oh. my. God. The conclusion to this trilogy DELIVERED. So many directions I didn’t expect and so much character growth. I think this will be a satisfying conclusion for fans; it was at least for me. This is a series I plan to come back to!

TW: death, gory descriptions

I think this is going to be one of my top books of the year. I loved Bennett's debut, The Mothers, and was excited to have the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Vanishing Half (thanks Riverhead!).

While the summary of this story says this is a book about the Vignes twins, it is much more than that. The twins are two of the main protagonists, bur it is also a story about relationships between women: between sisters, mothers and daughters. The mother-daughter relationships are so complex and strong in this story, each feeling real and true to the characters.

Even more than relationships, though, this is a story about identity. How does outward appearance define a person's life? How do you reconcile an outward appearance with what you feel you truly are inside? These are questions that several characters, notably Stella, Kennedy, Barry, and Reese, all grapple with throughout the book, leading to different reflections on race and gender.

Bennett is a master with words. I found myself highlighting many insightful and beautiful phrases throughout the story, ones I'm sure I'll come back to again and again. I loved the representation in her characters, too, including her portrayal of the two LGBTQ+ storylines. These characters didn't feel like token representation, but were important pieces of the message of this book.

My only warning with this book is the timelines. While the story is split into distinct timelines, there are times within those that the story flashes forward or back without much warning. Because of this and of Bennett's writing, I found this to be a book I wanted to take my time with, so I could fully capture all the nuances of the story. Immediately upon finishing, I wanted to pick it up again so I could savor the story once more.

TW: racism (including a violent scene early on); racial slurs; death of a family member; sexual assault of a minor

Thank to LibroFM for the free audio copy of this book.

This was an interesting read that made me think more deeply about language and the ways we used it. In all honesty, the beginning of the book was more interesting than the last couple of chapters, which became way too scientific for the casual listener. I think that might have translated better (no pun intended) in the written book than in the audio.

This book was not written for me. It was written for an audience of queer, Black teens. HOWEVER, there is so much to be learned from Johnson’s words. Thank you for sharing your story of growing up “different” and bringing us on your journey through life. This is a powerful memoir and hearing it through Johnson’s own voice on audio made it that much powerful.