blewballoon's Reviews (763)

I got this because I loved Foster by Claire Keegan. I didn't like this one nearly as much. It is set around Christmas time, which is nice if you read this around that time of year. Something about the main character rubbed me the wrong way, I appreciated that he tried to do something good at the end, I suppose, but it's left on a massive cliffhanger. I wouldn't say this is a feel-good story because the ending is left far too open and the journey to get there all feels like a bit of a downer.

I wanted to like this more. I found that there would be times I would get yanked out of the story by the feeling of "oh yeah, this is a translation" where things just didn't quite flow right. I also found the characters to be too flat for me. The main character isn't actually very likable, although she is at least better than the villain who is awful and has motivations that don't even make much sense.

Very fun look at some behind the scenes info for fans of Heartstopper.

I loved this. It's a very simple story, narrated in a voice that feels so much like the age of the main character, a young girl being fostered by some family members on their farm. It is clear that she has a far deeper perception than she's able to voice or even put into words for herself, still a child but not quite naive. 

Action. Adventure. Magic. Explosions. Emotions. I knew this would be good, but it was even better than I expected!

I rated this so low because when I tried to think of things I liked about the book I could hardly come up with any (the small bits of magic stuff, the bonds between the sisters), and I could come up with so much I didn't like or even hated (the portrayal of women in love, the men in general, the animal cruelty, meandering prose that felt like reading a summary of events rather than a book, the toxic relationships, the unnecessary references to sexual assault and harassment, and more). I watched the movie and it was definitely better, but still not great. They changed a lot and left out a lot, which is for the best. If you are worried you are missing out by not watching/reading either, I promise you're not.

Adorable, wholesome, and very creative. I loved being in this world.

I think I was a little let down because I was hoping for something supernatural, but the real "scares" here are prejudice, mob mentality, and young girls with a loose grip of reality.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk and I highly recommend! I recommend any books narrated by her, she imbues a lot of emotion and tension into her reading style that really sucks you in. I wonder if I would have liked this book as much without her charming narration, but I think so. It is what it says on the tin, Victor Frankenstein had a sister who worked with him and she made her own man to be her match. Romance, drama, moral quandaries, and hilarity ensue. If you don't like romance in general you may not like this, since that's what it is at its core with a blanket of spookiness over the top. That worked great for me, since I love spooky stuff and I love romances. My biggest issue I think is that it had a weird mixed message about religion? It felt out of place.