Reviews by ecn | The StoryGraph

677 reviews by:

ecn

If You Come Softly

Jacqueline Woodson

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Kalynn Bayron

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Exactly what you’d want and expect from a cheesy horror story

I Have Some Questions For You

Rebecca Makkai

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

Delicious Monsters

Liselle Sambury

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This one really surprised me!! (In a good way). I loved the alternating storylines and how the mirrored one another and there were so many different components that really reeled me in

Content Warnings

The Writing Retreat

Julia Bartz

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I can definitely say this book got me out of a reading slump!

It’s a thriller so the writing isn’t as flowery/deep as I usually like to read, but this one was still 😘👌🏻 chefs kiss

There were so many twists and so many different factors that actually kept me entertained and hooked into what would happen. So aspects were predictable (how different can you possibly make a thriller?) but still fun to watch it play out and keep guessing

I’m a HUGE sucker for anything involving writers retreats/trapped bc of a blizzard/mirrored symbols/suspense/paranormal and this one had almost all of that!

Perfect amazing brilliant choice for either a cabin retreat (duh) OR a beach read imo

Content Warnings

Kiss Her Once for Me

Alison Cochrun

4.0

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

You’re gonna get exactly what youd think from this book. Once I started reading this in the same way I used to read Sarah Dessen books in high school, I was able to enjoy it more. Obviously it’s full of poorly written or cheesy lines, shallow characters, and an overwhelming hallmark fairytale but it’s exactly that. Predictable and moderately entertaining. I’d you’re in the mood for a book like this, then you’ll love this

Content Warnings

The House in the Pines

Ana Reyes

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Exactly what you’d expect of a psychological thriller. Easy to read and interesting concept, but extremely predictable (I figured out the ~twist~ almost immediately).
Great for people who love Gillian Flynn and magical realism (some aspects kind of felt like a fantasy).

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing

Emily Lynn Paulson

3.75

adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Nothing new but super interesting to have someone who was in it reflect on their time in an mlm

House of Cotton

Monica Brashears

2.75

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The technical writing was really beautiful and great overall. However, the story itself was majorly lacking. I will say, this is definitely not a book for me since I cannot stand unlikeable characters, but there wasn’t a single thing to grab onto to enjoy the story.

The concept was intriguing but the shitty characters, bad sex, stupid decisions, and rushed ending take away from every good aspect. It felt like, between the last major event the and the final 3 chapters, there was a HUGE missing chapter. I needed something to bridge that gap bc I genuinely do not think it was properly finished and I could not tell you *at all* how this story actually ended or what happened? Maybe if I were to physically read the book (I listened to the audio) it would have made more sense but I highly doubt it. It was just really lackluster :/

Also wtf was going on with the grandmother and her absolute NEED for the MC to see/talk with her aborted fetus??? I cannot tell if this is supposed to be pro-life or not and I have no idea why ANY aspect of that storyline needed to be included? Unless I missed something huge but????

Content Warnings

High-Risk Homosexual

Edgar Gomez

3.75

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

I went into this not knowing much and it was a huge jumpscare to have almost half of the book be about the author’s experience/relation to the Pulse shooting. What a heavy book in general and that being added in took
me OUT (I read this at work - definitely don’t do that)

Content Warnings

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