bookishaddictions's Reviews (310)

I’m not a graphic novel person, so I will say upfront that it may have impacted my reading experience. I was not impressed by Volume 1 (Issue 1-5). American Vampire is essentially dedicated to vampires during the Western era; the authors express their goal was to make vampires “scary” again. I found the storyline was underwhelming, but the artwork was cool. I normally love Stephen King, but this just didn’t do it for me. To be fair though, I also do not like Westerns. Check it out (or don’t)- it’s your call on this one 🥴

I love a good classic retelling, and Gaiman writes the tale of Snow White from the standpoint that Snow is the problem. Doran created absolutely gorgeous art to show our wrongly persecuted queen and the monstrous child. This story is short, not so sweet, and definitely for mature readers.

I’m all for learning about educational psychology, but this was written in the least engaging way possible. While Vassallo’s content knowledge is strong, I had zero interest in learning it from them.

A friend loaned me her copy, so I decided to give Demian a go. Let me start by saying that I’ve read Hesse’s Siddhartha and found it interesting…. This one, not so much. I was completely underwhelmed by Demian, especially after seeing so many positive reviews online. I know this book is meant to be philosophical, but I just felt so disengaged the entire time. I found that the lack of real events surrounding the character’s self-discovery journey made the whole story boring; I don’t like reading 100+ pages of what’s essentially a diary when the person’s life really isn’t that interesting in the first place. It’s possible that this book is great and just wasn’t for me, but I’m not going to be actively recommending this story to anyone 🤷🏼‍♀️

I enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale, so I snagged this short story when it was an option from Prime First Reads. I was underwhelmed, but the story was alright, I found the mother and daughter’s dynamic to be somewhat interesting, I really don’t like ambiguous endings to stories. I like to know with pretty decent surety what is happening, and I was missing that with this one.

I snagged this as my Prime First Reads a little while back, and I finally had the chance to read it… This is probably one of my favorite PFRs yet. I love a good historical fiction story, and the initial cover information sounded intriguing. I found myself very curious about what kind of person could love the monster that led to lobotomy becoming the norm in the U.S.; although this wasn’t historically accurate, as acknowledged by the author, I did find that the wife (Ruth) felt very authentic. I was able to see how someone may have not seen/believed the villain that their husband was becoming, and as such, how the villains of a story can become convinced that they are really the heroes. I don’t know a ton about how the procedure is performed (beyond the basic ice pick method or lobe removal), but Woodruff wrote in a way that I could fully understand what was happening. Despite knowing the nightmare lobotomy became, I found myself excited for the Apters as they continued to make “progress” toward curing mental illnesses. Similarly, I found myself sharing a parallel level of concern and dread as Ruth began to discover the truth about their so-called cure; I know it was the persuasive power of Woodruff’s writing style that allowed me to empathize so much with the characters. I would definitely recommend checking The Lobotomist’s Wife out if you haven’t done so already!

Okay, so I really thought this book was weird; considering some of the stuff I’ve read, that’s saying something. I thought the general concept was interesting, but I thought we’d get more information about the main character as a dog. Also, I found it really annoying that most of the characters never get a name. Pairing the lack of namelessness, I feel like we don’t really get to know the characters very much. The graphic animal murder was just disturbing; very little makes me feel genuinely nauseated, but Kitty’s death really got me. Beyond that, the story left neither impressed nor disappointed. I don’t know that I would ever gift a copy of this book to anyone, but at least I checked this one off my TBR 🤷🏼‍♀️

This one has been on my shelf forever it seems, so it was time to give it a read. I started this hyped to learn since I don’t normally hear much about Cambodian Americans, and I found I myself researching often and learned quite a bit. Overall, I thought the stories were interesting. Each of the short stories depicts one people living their daily (and often connected) lives; this includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. This book did make me uncomfortable in a bad way though, and that ultimately made it a three star read for me. I do not have an issue with smut or dirty scenes in themselves, however, I typically like my books to be upfront about there being sexual content. I was not prepared for the amount of detailed sexual content was included, so it caught me very off guard. If there had been some indicator that there was sexual content in this one, I think I would have been cool with it. On the bright side, there was a lot of talk of yummy sounding food; I’m now looking to see if I have Cambodian near me 🤣✌🏻

I read this novel for the “road trip” reading challenge prompt, and it was the perfect light read! I would definitely by a copy of this for my class library, as this YA novel touches on a ton of important life lessons that many teens need to hear. As Norah and Skyler explore their childhood friendship through their current young adult experiences, a completely believable story is born. The development of their friendship to strangers to friends to lovers feels authentic, and I could see their love story serving as the basis of a  YA romance movie. Overall, this book is worth checking out. I found this one via @libby.app, so check with your local library!

One word for this book: wow. I snagged this novel on Kindle because of the beautiful cover, and I have zero regrets. This is probably one of my favorite books so far this year (and I’ve read quite a few). Harrow provides strong and authentic characters, a solid plot, and interesting perspectives as she shows old ideas in a new light. Follow along with the Eastwood sisters as they work to rediscover the magic that is believed to be lost in this historical fantasy. This is a story of sisterhood, resiliency, love, and survival; it is the reminder that if a woman has the will, she must only find a way. The Eastwood sisters give us everything a reader could want, and I definitely found myself considering what Hogwarts house they would each theoretically belong to. Juniper gives us the tough and fierce witch we always are tempted to be (she’d def be a Slytherin). Agnes shows us the strength of a mother’s love (and is argubly a Griffyndor). Beatrice is our soft-spoken witch that reminds us we that we are all important (and she’s our Ravenclaw). Overall, I 100% support you checking this book out!