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bebocarrick
I feel like I've been looking for a book like this my entire life, honestly. It speaks to my love of horror, art, surreal shit, and religion all in one wonderful little novel. I've never read anything like it, and I doubt I ever will.
It reminded me a bit of a medieval version of another book I read this year and enjoyed, Bête by Robert Adams. I do think Hollow was executed much better and lagged less, so I enjoyed it more. (Not to mention the VIBES were just *chef's kiss*).
I loved how the three separate storylines intertwined and played off of each other. The wordplay in the book was also incredible! I'm excited to read more by Catling because I loved this one so much!
It reminded me a bit of a medieval version of another book I read this year and enjoyed, Bête by Robert Adams. I do think Hollow was executed much better and lagged less, so I enjoyed it more. (Not to mention the VIBES were just *chef's kiss*).
I loved how the three separate storylines intertwined and played off of each other. The wordplay in the book was also incredible! I'm excited to read more by Catling because I loved this one so much!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I recently taught the OG Frankenstein to my students, and while it is one of my favorite classic texts, they had a lot of trouble getting into it.
After reading this version, I can definitely see myself using it in class for some of my students who need additional support and prefer visual cues!
The adaptation is incredibly faithful to the original text, with only a few minor changes. Even the language remains incredibly similar, which I really enjoyed because I think it helps keep the integrity of the text.
The art is also wonderful, and I greatly enjoyed the author's commentary on the back on the process of adapting the novel. I could also see myself integrating that into my class as well.
I recently taught the OG Frankenstein to my students, and while it is one of my favorite classic texts, they had a lot of trouble getting into it.
After reading this version, I can definitely see myself using it in class for some of my students who need additional support and prefer visual cues!
The adaptation is incredibly faithful to the original text, with only a few minor changes. Even the language remains incredibly similar, which I really enjoyed because I think it helps keep the integrity of the text.
The art is also wonderful, and I greatly enjoyed the author's commentary on the back on the process of adapting the novel. I could also see myself integrating that into my class as well.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I think this book will find an audience who will love and adore it, but that audience just wasn't me. The description of this book really intrigued me, especially because I have enjoyed the few magical realism books I have read so far and wanted to hear about some Nigerian mythology. However, upon reading Dazzling, the narrative mostly fell flat for me.
I was incredibly lost by the timing of everything in the story. One moment Ozoemena was at boarding school, the next she was at home arguing with her sister. It made me so unsure of when everything occurred and what the order of events in her life was. I also wish I knew how the timelines between Treasure and Ozoemena were intersecting, but the only information the reader received about this was the "Then" and "Now" at the beginning of the chapters.
I was also disappointed that so much of Ozoemena's story dealt with the ins and outs of boarding school life, rather than her journey as a Leopard. I wanted to hear more about her traveling to different worlds and looking for her tether, rather than how she felt about school.
In contrast, I greatly enjoyed Treasure's story, and I was able to follow her narrative with much more ease and enjoyment than I was with Ozoemena's.
All this being said, the writing style was beautiful, and I think that plenty of other readers will not have the same hangups about the timeline or the everyday details that I did.
The narration was also STELLAR. I enjoyed that both girls had distinct voices and that the narrators (Precious Mustapha and Tara Tijani) put so much emotion into each of their narratives. I would love to listen to more books narrated by these women!
I think this book will find an audience who will love and adore it, but that audience just wasn't me. The description of this book really intrigued me, especially because I have enjoyed the few magical realism books I have read so far and wanted to hear about some Nigerian mythology. However, upon reading Dazzling, the narrative mostly fell flat for me.
I was incredibly lost by the timing of everything in the story. One moment Ozoemena was at boarding school, the next she was at home arguing with her sister. It made me so unsure of when everything occurred and what the order of events in her life was. I also wish I knew how the timelines between Treasure and Ozoemena were intersecting, but the only information the reader received about this was the "Then" and "Now" at the beginning of the chapters.
I was also disappointed that so much of Ozoemena's story dealt with the ins and outs of boarding school life, rather than her journey as a Leopard. I wanted to hear more about her traveling to different worlds and looking for her tether, rather than how she felt about school.
In contrast, I greatly enjoyed Treasure's story, and I was able to follow her narrative with much more ease and enjoyment than I was with Ozoemena's.
All this being said, the writing style was beautiful, and I think that plenty of other readers will not have the same hangups about the timeline or the everyday details that I did.
The narration was also STELLAR. I enjoyed that both girls had distinct voices and that the narrators (Precious Mustapha and Tara Tijani) put so much emotion into each of their narratives. I would love to listen to more books narrated by these women!
I really hated a lot of this book. It wasn't all bad, but I just think it dealt with some of its key themes/characters so poorly that it truthfully made me sick to my stomach and I never want to pick it up again. It also heavily relied on some tropes that I'm sooooo tired of.
1. Ghost's character immediately turned me off with how fucking pretentious he sounded in his grief. Grief is a bitch, but the way he thought and talked about it made me so angry. How he treated Piper was also so icky. I was CRINGING when he started creepily talking to her at the hospital and constantly thinking about her "lost innocence." I cringed so much harder when he
2. At least in the audiobook, there was no trigger warning for incredibly violent gang rape or homophobia of any kind. As both of these went hand in hand in the book, it was incredibly hard to read as a queer person, and it wasn't necessary to include traumatic descriptions of this AT ALL. The victim also sympathizing with/finding his attacker attractive was such a damaging portrayal for rape victims. I'm all down for queer horror, I just don't want the horror to be homophobia because like... I get that enough in real life. It's just such an overdone/unnecessary thing to have queer characters whose whole plot revolves around queer trauma.
3. Ghost and Malik's storylines were not tied together well at all. It felt incredibly rushed and I wish they were integrated so much better.
4. The whole "chosen one" trope in this book also pissed me off.
I left this book angry at the treatment of queer characters/queer trauma, pissed off at Ghost for being creepy and getting away with it, and super annoyed at the trope-heaviness of it all.
Sadly, the prologue got me so excited to read the book! I was super excited and hoping the rest of the book was as spooky and fun as the prologue, and then it just let me down big time. :/
1. Ghost's character immediately turned me off with how fucking pretentious he sounded in his grief. Grief is a bitch, but the way he thought and talked about it made me so angry. How he treated Piper was also so icky. I was CRINGING when he started creepily talking to her at the hospital and constantly thinking about her "lost innocence." I cringed so much harder when he
Spoiler
KIDNAPPED HER and justified the whole thing in his brain as taking her to see her "sick" mom.2. At least in the audiobook, there was no trigger warning for incredibly violent gang rape or homophobia of any kind. As both of these went hand in hand in the book, it was incredibly hard to read as a queer person, and it wasn't necessary to include traumatic descriptions of this AT ALL. The victim also sympathizing with/finding his attacker attractive was such a damaging portrayal for rape victims. I'm all down for queer horror, I just don't want the horror to be homophobia because like... I get that enough in real life. It's just such an overdone/unnecessary thing to have queer characters whose whole plot revolves around queer trauma.
3. Ghost and Malik's storylines were not tied together well at all. It felt incredibly rushed and I wish they were integrated so much better.
4. The whole "chosen one" trope in this book also pissed me off.
Spoiler
Like... you're so mad at God that you can somehow withstand his presence without worshipping him and thus you're the ONLY reasonable choice to be a ritual sacrifice to him? Really?I left this book angry at the treatment of queer characters/queer trauma, pissed off at Ghost for being creepy and getting away with it, and super annoyed at the trope-heaviness of it all.
Sadly, the prologue got me so excited to read the book! I was super excited and hoping the rest of the book was as spooky and fun as the prologue, and then it just let me down big time. :/
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
To say I am not a fan would be an understatement. As a high school English teacher, I had such high hopes for a book about a high school English teacher WRITTEN by a high school English teacher. Unfortunately, this book fell short in so many ways.
1. The writing was CLUNKY. The golden rule of "show don't tell" felt completely ignored. I was told every. single, little. thing. This was especially apparent in the first few chapters. They felt like the biggest infodump and I seriously thought about putting the book down as early as chapter 2. Unfortunately, this didn't get much better.
2. The plot twists were gimmicky, obvious, and made me want to scream with how unrealistic they felt. I know books require some suspension of disbelief, but as a trained teacher, Hazel's actions "for the sake of the students" were incomprehensible. The publishing of the school magazine with a wildly risky story? The going to a students' house to check up on her? The telling the office secretary to basically fuck off? WHAT??Not only this, but the big reveal about Vance's affair partner was something I saw coming a mile away, and I don't consider myself particularly good at spotting plot twists either.
3. The story screams white saviorism. It is over the top and sickly how Hazel talks about her minority students as if they are incapable of taking care of themselves. It is important to give a voice to minority students, but talking about it in front of them CONSTANTLY and making comments about protecting them is so icky and feels very performative. Not to mention the whole Febe situation at the end of the book.
4. Related to point 1, but slightly different: the dialogue felt overly dramatic and like nothing actual people would say. Having taught AP English, I can pretty much guarantee that most of the kiddos are NOT going to make such insightful comments, but somehow most of the AP Lit kids in this book understood the book to the same level as their teacher? Wild. The weird stuck-in literary references (by students, nonetheless) didn't help the dialogue at all.
All this to say, I disliked this book from both the perspective of a reader and as a teacher. The writing was not fun to read and I couldn't suspend my disbelief about the main character's actions because they go against so many things teachers know to do. It made this book so hard and frustrating to read, and I leave it incredibly disappointed.
Publication date: Dec 20, 2023
To say I am not a fan would be an understatement. As a high school English teacher, I had such high hopes for a book about a high school English teacher WRITTEN by a high school English teacher. Unfortunately, this book fell short in so many ways.
1. The writing was CLUNKY. The golden rule of "show don't tell" felt completely ignored. I was told every. single, little. thing. This was especially apparent in the first few chapters. They felt like the biggest infodump and I seriously thought about putting the book down as early as chapter 2. Unfortunately, this didn't get much better.
2. The plot twists were gimmicky, obvious, and made me want to scream with how unrealistic they felt. I know books require some suspension of disbelief, but as a trained teacher, Hazel's actions "for the sake of the students" were incomprehensible. The publishing of the school magazine with a wildly risky story? The going to a students' house to check up on her? The telling the office secretary to basically fuck off? WHAT??Not only this, but the big reveal about Vance's affair partner was something I saw coming a mile away, and I don't consider myself particularly good at spotting plot twists either.
3. The story screams white saviorism. It is over the top and sickly how Hazel talks about her minority students as if they are incapable of taking care of themselves. It is important to give a voice to minority students, but talking about it in front of them CONSTANTLY and making comments about protecting them is so icky and feels very performative. Not to mention the whole Febe situation at the end of the book.
4. Related to point 1, but slightly different: the dialogue felt overly dramatic and like nothing actual people would say. Having taught AP English, I can pretty much guarantee that most of the kiddos are NOT going to make such insightful comments, but somehow most of the AP Lit kids in this book understood the book to the same level as their teacher? Wild. The weird stuck-in literary references (by students, nonetheless) didn't help the dialogue at all.
All this to say, I disliked this book from both the perspective of a reader and as a teacher. The writing was not fun to read and I couldn't suspend my disbelief about the main character's actions because they go against so many things teachers know to do. It made this book so hard and frustrating to read, and I leave it incredibly disappointed.
Publication date: Dec 20, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I ADORED this book! Not only was the audiobook narration stellar, I was also completely sucked into the story. I loved puzzling together all the little details of the twins' lives just as Kat was doing the same. I also really enjoyed hearing both Kat and Jude's perspectives and seeing how they came together in certain moments.
Also, I've read few books with pacing as good as this one. It felt slower when it needed to, and sped up when that made more sense, and I absolutely loved the pacing ebb and flow that felt so deliberately created.
As a big fan of cult documentaries, The Plan felt very well thought out and so many of the details reminded me of pieces I'd seen from various documentaries. I'm so intrigued by the story this book claims to have been based on, and if I had any critiques, it would be not being able to find that info! Otherwise, I am completely sold on both this story itself and this wonderful audiobook version.
So excited to get a physical copy when it comes out! Publishing date: Jan 16, 2024.
I ADORED this book! Not only was the audiobook narration stellar, I was also completely sucked into the story. I loved puzzling together all the little details of the twins' lives just as Kat was doing the same. I also really enjoyed hearing both Kat and Jude's perspectives and seeing how they came together in certain moments.
Also, I've read few books with pacing as good as this one. It felt slower when it needed to, and sped up when that made more sense, and I absolutely loved the pacing ebb and flow that felt so deliberately created.
As a big fan of cult documentaries, The Plan felt very well thought out and so many of the details reminded me of pieces I'd seen from various documentaries. I'm so intrigued by the story this book claims to have been based on, and if I had any critiques, it would be not being able to find that info! Otherwise, I am completely sold on both this story itself and this wonderful audiobook version.
So excited to get a physical copy when it comes out! Publishing date: Jan 16, 2024.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved the sweet slow burn between Muirin and Jean. The chemistry was SO GOOD and I was cheering them on the entire way! There was also some incredible side characters (looking at you, Anneke and Laurie) that I grew to love almost as much as Muirin and Jean themselves.
Not only were the characters and their relationships fantastic, the writing was lovely too! I was able to very clearly visualize the setting, and the little historical tidbits helped me do this wonderfully. I hope Rosie Sutherland continues her writing career because this debut novel was fantastic and I would 100% read more from her.
Publication date: April 9, 2024
Spoiler
I have a love/hate relationship with sapphic historical fiction. The idea is always lovely, but usually the central characters end up facing TOO MUCH and don't even end up together. BLESS ROSIE SUTHERLAND FOR NOT DOING THIS! Yes, our central characters face a LOT, but thankfully, there is a beautiful happily ever after in the end that makes it all worth it.I loved the sweet slow burn between Muirin and Jean. The chemistry was SO GOOD and I was cheering them on the entire way! There was also some incredible side characters (looking at you, Anneke and Laurie) that I grew to love almost as much as Muirin and Jean themselves.
Not only were the characters and their relationships fantastic, the writing was lovely too! I was able to very clearly visualize the setting, and the little historical tidbits helped me do this wonderfully. I hope Rosie Sutherland continues her writing career because this debut novel was fantastic and I would 100% read more from her.
Publication date: April 9, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book! I feel like I learned more about my period from this book than from any doctor I've had, (or honestly from my own research!). I really liked how the information was explained in such a way that it used the anatomically correct terms for things while still not being super technical.
Dr. Gunter's fun metaphors and commentary kept me interested, even through some of the more science-heavy chapters. My favorite chapters though would have to be the ones explaining the history behind contraception and menstrual products.
I also greatly appreciated Dr. Gunter's inclusivity of trans and nonbinary people in her discussion of periods. It can feel rather alienating to be a nonbinary person with a period and to have all messaging around periods be so feminine. I also appreciated her informed care approach, and I truly feel like I am more equipped to advocate for my menstrual needs because I have read this book.
I will say that I think I would absorb some of the more science-heavy chapters (especially those in the second half of the book) better if I read them rather than listened to them, but that has nothing to do with the content of the book, simply the method of delivery being auditory and not visual.
On a final note, I also enjoyed that Dr. Gunter herself read this book. It felt incredibly personal and offered even more humor to her jokes because she was the one who wrote them, after all! I have never listened to an audiobook narrated by the author before, and now I wish this was a more common thing because it truly was a treat to hear the author's words spoken by the author, exactly how she wanted them said!
Publication date: January 16, 2024
I really enjoyed this book! I feel like I learned more about my period from this book than from any doctor I've had, (or honestly from my own research!). I really liked how the information was explained in such a way that it used the anatomically correct terms for things while still not being super technical.
Dr. Gunter's fun metaphors and commentary kept me interested, even through some of the more science-heavy chapters. My favorite chapters though would have to be the ones explaining the history behind contraception and menstrual products.
I also greatly appreciated Dr. Gunter's inclusivity of trans and nonbinary people in her discussion of periods. It can feel rather alienating to be a nonbinary person with a period and to have all messaging around periods be so feminine. I also appreciated her informed care approach, and I truly feel like I am more equipped to advocate for my menstrual needs because I have read this book.
I will say that I think I would absorb some of the more science-heavy chapters (especially those in the second half of the book) better if I read them rather than listened to them, but that has nothing to do with the content of the book, simply the method of delivery being auditory and not visual.
On a final note, I also enjoyed that Dr. Gunter herself read this book. It felt incredibly personal and offered even more humor to her jokes because she was the one who wrote them, after all! I have never listened to an audiobook narrated by the author before, and now I wish this was a more common thing because it truly was a treat to hear the author's words spoken by the author, exactly how she wanted them said!
Publication date: January 16, 2024
