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”I spent half my time loving her and the other half hiding how much I loved her.”
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is an absolute masterpiece. The story follows a once-Hollywood starlet revealing everything in a tell all interview with a nobody interviewer, Monique Grant. The book starts out in the early 50s with Evelyn living in nowhere New York all the way to the end of her film career, as well as modern day Evelyn and her life now. She explains the circumstances of each husband she had, and how they helped her advance or deteriorate her career.
Evelyn Hugo just feels real to me. She’s a very morally grey character, with loose morals and she knows how to get what she wants. She’s not at all ashamed of using her looks, fame or body to get any of it either, which just made for a very captivating read. (Just because of how grey Evelyn is as a character, and sometimes you hate her guts and sometimes you love her to death.)
I think the main reason I loved this so much was because Evelyn was just interesting. She didn’t care who she had to hurt to get what she wanted, and she’d hurt whoever she had to to uplift the few people she loved. And yes, was it depressing at times to read? Absolutely. This book made me cry in every fucking section. But that was really the allure of Evelyn Hugo. It’s as Monique says here: ”Evelyn always leaves you hoping you’ll get just a little bit more. And she always denies you.” I think that is genuinely the best depiction of Evelyn in this story, and it made me, the reader want to know more, because I just wanted to know what Evelyn would try to pull off next, or what she’d act in next, or what husband she’d take on next. Evelyn Hugo is not even real and she reels you in from her first appearance down to her last.
Overall, an absolutely incredible story. I cannot wait to read more in this world by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and this has easily made it on my top books of all time list (and of the year!!). Also ALL the stars for the sapphics <333
➸ 5 stars
spotify playlist <3
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is an absolute masterpiece. The story follows a once-Hollywood starlet revealing everything in a tell all interview with a nobody interviewer, Monique Grant. The book starts out in the early 50s with Evelyn living in nowhere New York all the way to the end of her film career, as well as modern day Evelyn and her life now. She explains the circumstances of each husband she had, and how they helped her advance or deteriorate her career.
Evelyn Hugo just feels real to me. She’s a very morally grey character, with loose morals and she knows how to get what she wants. She’s not at all ashamed of using her looks, fame or body to get any of it either, which just made for a very captivating read. (Just because of how grey Evelyn is as a character, and sometimes you hate her guts and sometimes you love her to death.)
I think the main reason I loved this so much was because Evelyn was just interesting. She didn’t care who she had to hurt to get what she wanted, and she’d hurt whoever she had to to uplift the few people she loved. And yes, was it depressing at times to read? Absolutely. This book made me cry in every fucking section. But that was really the allure of Evelyn Hugo. It’s as Monique says here: ”Evelyn always leaves you hoping you’ll get just a little bit more. And she always denies you.” I think that is genuinely the best depiction of Evelyn in this story, and it made me, the reader want to know more, because I just wanted to know what Evelyn would try to pull off next, or what she’d act in next, or what husband she’d take on next. Evelyn Hugo is not even real and she reels you in from her first appearance down to her last.
Overall, an absolutely incredible story. I cannot wait to read more in this world by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and this has easily made it on my top books of all time list (and of the year!!). Also ALL the stars for the sapphics <333
➸ 5 stars
spotify playlist <3
Update: I cannot stop thinking about this book, I loved it so much. I’m going to have to give it 5 stars. I just cannot explain my love for this book, it deserves way more than a 4.5, I cannot get it out of my head.
*
”It wasn't made for love, the house.”
“Any place is made for love,” she protested.
“Not this place and not us. You look back two, three generations, as far as you can. You won't find love. We are incapable of such a thing.”
What the fuck. This is probably one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read in my entire life, but in the absolute best way possible. I’ve said many times on here how much I love gothic books, and weird shit. But I really think this one takes the cake for some of the most atmospheric gothic and weirdest shit I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Mexican Gothic is not only a gothic horror story, but it also touches on topics such as colonialism, white supremacy, race, and eugenics. Set in early 1950s Mexico, a woman named Noemí gets a strange letter from her newly wedded cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims that there are people in the walls of her new home and her husband is poisoning her. Her letter is a plea for help. Noemí’s father, worried of scandal and of Catalina’s mental state, forces Noemí to travel to Catalina’s new home and check on her. Noemí arrives to find a moldy, crumbling mansion, and an oddly intense family. Catalina acts just as strangely as she did in her letter, and the family gets weirder by the day. Upon further stay in the crumbling manor, Noemí starts having visions, and the house might even be haunted.
Mexican Gothic is a fucked up, spooky story with some gross, slow burn fungal horror, and very descriptive, gothic imagery. I was very pleased with the strange style of writing in the book, and the slowbuild horror elements. Noemí is also a very smart and fearless heroine, which made her very fun to follow. I quite enjoyed watching her girlboss her way through this book, and the patriarch’s of her cousins new family.
I also quite enjoyed the romance elements in this story, which was not something I was expecting to find in here at all. I didn’t really like Noemí’s love interest, Francis at first, but I really think the romance came to be quite nice as the story went on. Noemí and Francis didn’t have the most chemistry ever, but I still found them interesting enough to root for. Francis was also a nice character to follow as the story went on, I did end up liking him, and he did end up being a sweet love interest for Noemí.
I really did love everything about this book but one thing. I really didn’t like nor appreciate the very firm fixation on rape and sexual assault/abuse in this story. Our heroine, Noemí does get assaulted more than once by men in the house she’s staying at (not by her love interest), and she’s even mind-raped into allowing these things happen to her. Noemí feels completely disgusted after all of these encounters, and these men also have a history of violence towards women/rape and sexual assault. It just made me wildly uncomfortable to read, and I really don’t think it added much overall to the story or the plot. So I just can’t really find it in myself to give Mexican Gothic 5 stars for that reason.
However, I think the reveal was very satisfying, as was the conclusion of the story. I’ve never read anything like Mexican Gothic before. While it’s bones are semi-similar to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and the fungal horror reminiscent of The Last of Us (literally my favorite video game/one of my fave shows ever!!!), it really is it’s own thing. And I really did love every minute of it (besides the sexual assault…). This was definitely up my alley, and I’m so excited to read more from Silvia Monroe-Garcia! If you guys have any more book recommendations like this, please let me know in the comments. I’m definitely in a gothic horror mood right now!
*
Gothic Reading Playlist
*
”It wasn't made for love, the house.”
“Any place is made for love,” she protested.
“Not this place and not us. You look back two, three generations, as far as you can. You won't find love. We are incapable of such a thing.”
What the fuck. This is probably one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read in my entire life, but in the absolute best way possible. I’ve said many times on here how much I love gothic books, and weird shit. But I really think this one takes the cake for some of the most atmospheric gothic and weirdest shit I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Mexican Gothic is not only a gothic horror story, but it also touches on topics such as colonialism, white supremacy, race, and eugenics. Set in early 1950s Mexico, a woman named Noemí gets a strange letter from her newly wedded cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims that there are people in the walls of her new home and her husband is poisoning her. Her letter is a plea for help. Noemí’s father, worried of scandal and of Catalina’s mental state, forces Noemí to travel to Catalina’s new home and check on her. Noemí arrives to find a moldy, crumbling mansion, and an oddly intense family. Catalina acts just as strangely as she did in her letter, and the family gets weirder by the day. Upon further stay in the crumbling manor, Noemí starts having visions, and the house might even be haunted.
Mexican Gothic is a fucked up, spooky story with some gross, slow burn fungal horror, and very descriptive, gothic imagery. I was very pleased with the strange style of writing in the book, and the slowbuild horror elements. Noemí is also a very smart and fearless heroine, which made her very fun to follow. I quite enjoyed watching her girlboss her way through this book, and the patriarch’s of her cousins new family.
I also quite enjoyed the romance elements in this story, which was not something I was expecting to find in here at all. I didn’t really like Noemí’s love interest, Francis at first, but I really think the romance came to be quite nice as the story went on. Noemí and Francis didn’t have the most chemistry ever, but I still found them interesting enough to root for. Francis was also a nice character to follow as the story went on, I did end up liking him, and he did end up being a sweet love interest for Noemí.
I really did love everything about this book but one thing. I really didn’t like nor appreciate the very firm fixation on rape and sexual assault/abuse in this story. Our heroine, Noemí does get assaulted more than once by men in the house she’s staying at (not by her love interest), and she’s even mind-raped into allowing these things happen to her. Noemí feels completely disgusted after all of these encounters, and these men also have a history of violence towards women/rape and sexual assault. It just made me wildly uncomfortable to read, and I really don’t think it added much overall to the story or the plot. So I just can’t really find it in myself to give Mexican Gothic 5 stars for that reason.
However, I think the reveal was very satisfying, as was the conclusion of the story. I’ve never read anything like Mexican Gothic before. While it’s bones are semi-similar to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and the fungal horror reminiscent of The Last of Us (literally my favorite video game/one of my fave shows ever!!!), it really is it’s own thing. And I really did love every minute of it (besides the sexual assault…). This was definitely up my alley, and I’m so excited to read more from Silvia Monroe-Garcia! If you guys have any more book recommendations like this, please let me know in the comments. I’m definitely in a gothic horror mood right now!
*
Gothic Reading Playlist
DNF at 11%
Look, I know I’m not even 20% into this one, but I can tell this isn’t going to be for me already. The magic system and world building is next to nonexistent, and the FMC has a romance with a different man than the romance is supposed to be with? I hate when that happens so this is gonna be a no from me. I was really excited for this one, especially since it’s supposed to have dragons, but I just know I’ll rate it low so I’m just going to DNF and find something else to read.
Give me some fantasy romance recs if you have any though, I’m definitely in that mood rn.
Look, I know I’m not even 20% into this one, but I can tell this isn’t going to be for me already. The magic system and world building is next to nonexistent, and the FMC has a romance with a different man than the romance is supposed to be with? I hate when that happens so this is gonna be a no from me. I was really excited for this one, especially since it’s supposed to have dragons, but I just know I’ll rate it low so I’m just going to DNF and find something else to read.
Give me some fantasy romance recs if you have any though, I’m definitely in that mood rn.
DNF at 45%
All that has happened in this book so far is the FMC, Auden, getting SA’ed at every turn, and her supposed love interest, Midas, gaslighting her that it’s all for her own good. Literally made me fucking sick to my stomach. There absolutely needs to be trigger warnings for this book for graphic sexual assault, graphic rape, emotional abuse and extreme gaslighting. Absolutely nothing else has happened in this book so far, I’m snoring and highly triggered. Also Midas is an absolute asshole and I cannot stand him and the way he’s allowing other men to sexually assault Auden literally right in front of him???Idk if Auden is going to get with his goofy ass or not but I’m not sticking around to find out.
All that has happened in this book so far is the FMC, Auden, getting SA’ed at every turn, and her supposed love interest, Midas, gaslighting her that it’s all for her own good. Literally made me fucking sick to my stomach. There absolutely needs to be trigger warnings for this book for graphic sexual assault, graphic rape, emotional abuse and extreme gaslighting. Absolutely nothing else has happened in this book so far, I’m snoring and highly triggered. Also Midas is an absolute asshole and I cannot stand him and the way he’s allowing other men to sexually assault Auden literally right in front of him???Idk if Auden is going to get with his goofy ass or not but I’m not sticking around to find out.
I think going into this one thinking it was going to be similar to The Cruel Prince really hindered my reading enjoyment. This book was nothing like Holly Black’s world and story, except maybe the way that the fae were portrayed and written (which I quite enjoyed). If I was really going to compare this story to another, it would definitely be Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett (which I absolutely adored). This book is definitely a cozy fantasy with a few stakes and the tone overall just felt…weird? The romance was the main focus of this story, which isn’t what I enjoy reading in fantasy-romance. I really want a well-written fantasy world with a good magic system that happens to have a strong romance plot.
I had a few issues with this story overall that didn’t make me enjoy the story to its core. I found the romance enjoyable, but there were just things I found myself wishing were more prevalent in here. It seemed the author was trying to write a story with a heavy political plot focus, but I felt like there just weren’t enough stakes for me to care. All of vibes and ideas in here really pointed at a cozy fantasy story, and the plot the author was following really didn’t go with the writing style of the book.
I don’t think this story was necessarily bad. The writing was solid, and the romance and characters were quite sweet. But I couldn’t really connect overall with the story because of the way this was written. I’m interested in reading the sequel (which I didn’t even know existed until we were left on a cliffhanger. This book really read like a stand-alone, and I saw this marketed as such before it came out), but it’ll definitely be lower on my TBR list. I’d try more from this author, but this wasn’t a new favorite as I thought it’d be.
I had a few issues with this story overall that didn’t make me enjoy the story to its core. I found the romance enjoyable, but there were just things I found myself wishing were more prevalent in here. It seemed the author was trying to write a story with a heavy political plot focus, but I felt like there just weren’t enough stakes for me to care. All of vibes and ideas in here really pointed at a cozy fantasy story, and the plot the author was following really didn’t go with the writing style of the book.
I don’t think this story was necessarily bad. The writing was solid, and the romance and characters were quite sweet. But I couldn’t really connect overall with the story because of the way this was written. I’m interested in reading the sequel (which I didn’t even know existed until we were left on a cliffhanger. This book really read like a stand-alone, and I saw this marketed as such before it came out), but it’ll definitely be lower on my TBR list. I’d try more from this author, but this wasn’t a new favorite as I thought it’d be.
DNF at 25%
My first DNF of 2020. That sucks to say really. It wasn’t that I hated ‘Truthwitch’ it just was a bad written novel, and here is why.
• Truthwitch is a YA fantasy novel following the ‘sisters’ Safiya’ (Safi) and ‘Isuelt’ as they run away from people throughout their continent/empire, while still making time for romance?
• One of the main reasons I have given this book one star is because of the world building. Or the lack of it. Their is only a segment in the book that talks about a 20 year agreement of some sort (which I couldn’t care enough about to remember) and that their are 3 empires. THAT’S IT. That’s bad world building. A lot of others say the world building gets better throughout the books, but you need to give your reader a basic understanding of the world. Me not understanding the world set me out of the story.
• Their isn’t really a plot either. I started the audiobook last night (because I was sorting my bookshelves and I wanted something to listen to) but I found myself seeing NO plot. All we have is two girls running away from guards for reasons totally unknown to us and falling in love with pirate princes? I just couldn’t find myself to see a plot.
• Plus we have a romance that we can see from 10 miles away. From the moment we met princeling, I KNEW he would Safi’s love interest and one true love. It was bound to happen and their was literally no build up. Many people I heard were calling this a “hate to love romance”. Bitch I think tf not! It’s a instalove to ultra instalove romance! Their is no tension, no hate, and no questioning the other person. You can’t tell me that’s a hate to love romance. I’ve read plenty in my time, and hate to love is when two characters actually have a mutual hatred (or strong dislike) for the other and their is big tension. The ‘hate to love’ was poorly portrayed, and not put together.
• The characters also have NO personality, and nothing special or interesting enough about them for me to care a single bit. Our ‘special one’ Safi is a Truthwitch. But she had no interesting qualities, and nothing remotely interesting to make me like her. Iseult is the exact same way (except she’s not a witch). Also our main love interest (who’s name I forgot because I could give 0 shits) is all ‘my sister is evil, my family is evil, but I’m good’ trope thing. God give me a damn break.
• And the fact that people would kill Safi if they knew her secret...yet somehow everyone knows? Plot holes. It doesn’t make sense to me. Their running from some guy that can’t be killed (and he has red eyes), yet somehow everyone else just magically knows Safi is a Truthwitch. It doesn’t make any sense.
Overall this wasn’t a good book. It has poor world building, boring characters, a bad hate to love romance, uninteresting and nonexistent plot, and plot holes.
-Another trash review from yours truly , the rat
-it’s the year of the rat after all
My first DNF of 2020. That sucks to say really. It wasn’t that I hated ‘Truthwitch’ it just was a bad written novel, and here is why.
• Truthwitch is a YA fantasy novel following the ‘sisters’ Safiya’ (Safi) and ‘Isuelt’ as they run away from people throughout their continent/empire, while still making time for romance?
• One of the main reasons I have given this book one star is because of the world building. Or the lack of it. Their is only a segment in the book that talks about a 20 year agreement of some sort (which I couldn’t care enough about to remember) and that their are 3 empires. THAT’S IT. That’s bad world building. A lot of others say the world building gets better throughout the books, but you need to give your reader a basic understanding of the world. Me not understanding the world set me out of the story.
• Their isn’t really a plot either. I started the audiobook last night (because I was sorting my bookshelves and I wanted something to listen to) but I found myself seeing NO plot. All we have is two girls running away from guards for reasons totally unknown to us and falling in love with pirate princes? I just couldn’t find myself to see a plot.
• Plus we have a romance that we can see from 10 miles away. From the moment we met princeling, I KNEW he would Safi’s love interest and one true love. It was bound to happen and their was literally no build up. Many people I heard were calling this a “hate to love romance”. Bitch I think tf not! It’s a instalove to ultra instalove romance! Their is no tension, no hate, and no questioning the other person. You can’t tell me that’s a hate to love romance. I’ve read plenty in my time, and hate to love is when two characters actually have a mutual hatred (or strong dislike) for the other and their is big tension. The ‘hate to love’ was poorly portrayed, and not put together.
• The characters also have NO personality, and nothing special or interesting enough about them for me to care a single bit. Our ‘special one’ Safi is a Truthwitch. But she had no interesting qualities, and nothing remotely interesting to make me like her. Iseult is the exact same way (except she’s not a witch). Also our main love interest (who’s name I forgot because I could give 0 shits) is all ‘my sister is evil, my family is evil, but I’m good’ trope thing. God give me a damn break.
• And the fact that people would kill Safi if they knew her secret...yet somehow everyone knows? Plot holes. It doesn’t make sense to me. Their running from some guy that can’t be killed (and he has red eyes), yet somehow everyone else just magically knows Safi is a Truthwitch. It doesn’t make any sense.
Overall this wasn’t a good book. It has poor world building, boring characters, a bad hate to love romance, uninteresting and nonexistent plot, and plot holes.
-Another trash review from yours truly , the rat
-it’s the year of the rat after all
Wow this was such a great classic. I'm not gonna write a full length review for this, but it's genuinely one of my favorite books I've ever read. I loved Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. And the Bennet sisters, and Mrs. Bennet were so fun to read about. Also I think Darcy is my new book boyfriend and I'm not mad about it. And now whenever I say I've loved the hate to love trope, I can also say I read the OG hate to love romance
For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.
For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.