eliiizabethrae's Reviews (273)

i didn't know this was a collection of essays the author had published to a newspaper, but that explains my confusion from the first chapter to the second. the way she spoke about her chickens was endearing but i'm not sure she was illustrating her care and appreciation for them in the way she thought she was. i was hoping for a more personal memoir on the beauty of animals, and i don't think i'm going to get that, and some GR reviews are confirming this.

i want to say i got to around page 200 until i literally couldn't do it. i didn't know what was going on and it was way too long and my thoughts were: Literally, what. 

this was a No from me. 

i can be convinced to try this one again. this was one of my most anticipated reads of the entire year because the premise sounds (chef's kiss) delightful (yeah, those were puns.) people who devour books as fuel, and then one kid who needs human brain to survive instead?? so good! this was available on kindle unlimited so i picked it up and the formatting was ALL WRONG. and the audiobook didn't help my experience so i gave up on it, but with enough positive reviews i think i could try it again with better formatting and a greater outlook. from what i read, i enjoyed it but i wasn't gravitated, you know? it isn't as dark as i was hoping and it was centering more on a mother-son relationship which doesn't interest me at all. 

i was promised a novel about three college friends whom study dead poets and ruminate on death and life and instead i'm met with one girl in particular, who isn't very interesting, dealing with grief and a weird boy who is obsessed with "figuring her out" and the writing is bland and i wanted more "dead poets society" and instead i just got.. unflavored oatmeal oops

the love interest is so pushy. the romance was not working for me at all. 

boring. vibes were good at first, then not. no idea what was going on and the writing was choppy. descriptive, but didn't flow well. i can't believe i stopped with only an hour to go, but i couldn't keep going. 

similar to Lolita, this premise of such a large age gap and two characters finding an unlikely comfort in each other intrigues me to no end, but reading about it gives me the ick. i think this is one i can see myself returning to and trying again, but at the time, it wasn't working and i couldn't get over my uncomfortableness. 

way too much back and forth. Gus and Roman don’t even know what they want with each other besides sex. Gus claims she loves him and apparently he loves her but… he’s honestly just an a-hole and i don’t buy into their romance after 13 years. politics are putting me off a bit also.

dnf: no harsh feelings. might return, just not into it or interested. missing the charm from the first book and i don't feel drawn to the characters. 

update: it's perfection.