alltheradreads's Reviews (1.9k)

I honestly don’t know what positive spin to put on this one... I didn’t get it. Dysfunctional characters, bizarre plot lines for each sibling, nothing like able or redemptive or even rational about them... it was baffling to me. But hey, if you like books that have heroin addicts and elephant poachers and Russian dance troupes and failed LA actors and ivory dealers and sibling drama and affairs and drug trips in the forest, this one’s for you!!!

Continuing the trend of dud books I don’t recommend reading... this one was not twisty, was confusing, had a lack of motive or real drive, the characters didn’t have any depth or likability or even interesting traits... it was a fast read that went backward in time and I wish I hadn’t bothered with it.

Thanks to @randomhouse for this one on @netgalley! // When you say in your own subtitle that you’re offering questionable advice... it’s hard to take you seriously. This book was suuuuper cotton candy fluffiness with a lot of made up vocabulary (like they were trying to be a white lady Urban Dictionary???) and stories about their sex lives and dating fails. I wasn’t a fan but if you’re into unfiltered women and the whole #ladygang #girlboss movement, you might enjoy it.

I love the way Marisa de los Santos writes — it’s beautiful and heartfelt and a joy to read. This story is layered and well-told, with old lies and hard truths and tragedy and nuanced relationships woven together in a way that keeps you hooked. I read it in one sitting and loved how it wrapped up!

I was SO intrigued by this one and also a little uncertain about reading it— a fictional story of the wife of Jesus— would it be sacrilegious? Would it feel inappropriate? Would it be bizarre? I went into it open minded and curious, and I LOVED it. It was so much more focused on Ana than Jesus, so it never felt sacrilegious to me, and instead felt rich with nuance and cultural relevance and depth. It was so thoroughly researched, felt really authentic, and was just a beautiful and well told story of a woman with fiery dreams and passion and a voice, in a time when women weren’t allowed to have such freedom. I thought it was an incredible read and it made me cry at the end (the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made for me will never fail to make me an emotional puddle) and I truly savored it. (ps— TW for references to rape/ sexual abuse, as was sadly common back then and in the day of women as property and concubines)