idk_indigo's Reviews (723)

Such a cute little story! I cried, so automatic 5 stars. 

It got quite a bit slow towards the middle, but the ending with Marcellus was so touching! I cried, it was very sweet and I have a newfound love of octopi (cue me looking up fun octopus facts? We'll see :D). There were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments for me also, and we all know that I'm such a sucker for grumpy old widow/er meets found family and becomes optimistic that life can and will be good again... throw in a marine animal and sorry babes but I'm sold!! 

Also, I just finished Ugly Betty & I was like... Marc St James, is that you?? Michael Urie was so perfect for Marcellus :) 

Cute little love story :) 

Well I'll be damned, this book was insane. I feel like June's absolute downward spiral was so much fun to hear about, I was like, "Damn, I wonder what this bitch is gonna do next..." and truth be told, the chaos never once disappointed. I also loved the 1st-person internal monologue, how we see June try to justify every single one of each terrible, ill-rooted decision she makes. From the start of the whole mess (stealing her frenemy's manuscript) to literally everything else (including stealing a second manuscript, bullying a high school student, contemplating murder, and briefly considering arson, among other things), she just tries so hard to make herself the victim. And she even considers doing the right thing (eg., coming clean, not bullying a high school student) and every single time she's like "Hmmm, actually no, I'm going to be a menace." I ate it up.

She's such an unlikeable person & an unreliable narrator because she just never once stops assuming what other people are thinking (and it is always, always about her). Self-centered jester vibes (no slay queen girly pop for Ms. Juniper). Which I think is something all of us struggle with, and on a more intrapersonal level says a lot about how we are far more likely to react disastrously when we assume negative intent. Like, maybe June needs to remind herself that, shocking as it may be, other people are not actually thinking about her constantly? Idk, might be a little far-fetched but... 

I also loved the audiobook narrator for this; she was amazing and I think she did such a perfect job of narrating a non-self-actualized villain. Slay! Even more loved because homegirl June was so morally grey but there wasn't anything she did that was like any good at all, so like probably would've been a villain if we hadn't seen her internal narrative. 

And the insider perspective RFK has about the publishing industry, etc. lent such a great world of knowledge towards the book & Athena/June's relationship. It was also so far removed towards any of her other works (of which I've only read Babel, but would be excited to dive into The Poppy Wars) that like...omg... the talent this woman has. 
 
Not quite 5 stars because of Candice's

villainous monologue thing towards the end

cause like idk shut up... but overall I really enjoyed the book! Very fast-paced. 

I liked this a lot more than I thought I did! Reviews say the main characters are unlikeable, but I enjoyed reading their development. I also enjoyed the mental health focus that a lot of this book took, regarding a thriller/crime perspective & recovery from trauma & such. It was solid, maybe not the best mystery ever but I enjoyed it! :) 

I will be restarting again, I just have a lot on my ebook plate (bc of Bridgerton S3 + I need to finish Remain Nameless before Bethany loses her sh*t)

I love romances set in Scotland & Ireland & whatnot; I also loved the accent of the narrator who did the MMC. I did not love the insta-love; it felt like the characters were moving way too quickly and it felt like they didn't even know each other at all, even at the end when they were literally

getting engaged

. I also hated the fact that their 3rd act breakup resulted in him literally berating her and saying she was

just like her dad, and that she was incapable of getting close to anyone

and I'm like girl DUMP HIM! He's toxic. Also lowkey sorry not to dictate how anyone recovers from their trauma but sometimes people need to realize, like, therapy does exist, like... her mom died ages ago I mean no disrespect but please process your shit. Sorry but that emotional aspect was just a tiny bit stupid for me

I wanted to like this book, I really did. And some of it was incredible! I loved the unique formatting, a son's letter to his mother brought a very emotional approach to the writing, and also a perspective that is so interesting. Letters are very intimate, and that is definitely how the book presents, in emotion but also in what the letter-writer is choosing to share (especially with a mother). I also really loved the formatting, almost like a poem but in prose, and you can tell when you're reading that the author is skilled in poetry. So yes, I definitely think this book is all that people say it is: deep, emotional, tragic, and beautiful. 

That being said, I don't really think this is for me... it honestly felt a bit like trauma porn at times, which is probably an unfair thing of me to say because I understand that an entire facet of poetry is making tragedy beautiful (/s), but I found myself almost wanting to roll my eyes at times. Idk. Also, I know this is coming from the perspective of written correspondence, and that definitely changes how a person talks about themselves/their experiences/reality, but I genuinely just got very sick of the main character, Little Dog. And towards the end, the poetry-as-prose format got very old for me. There's not anything specifically wrong with it, per se, I just didn't like it. I think maybe it would've held up better if it was shorter, but I'm almost like there's a reason why poems are short. 

I may read something else from the author, maybe some of his poetry, because the content of this book was super interesting to me. I think I would have liked this better had I been in a different mood, but I am not, so... 2 stars. 

Super cute little book :) 

I don't like the short stories in audiobook format. It's too confusing. I also don't think this is the book for me. A lot of the stories were interesting, but heavy warning for so many things. 

The pace was weird; way too slow at times, then sped up way too much. It took me so long to finish this book because parts of it dragged so much. But then I would pick it up and it would move so quickly that I felt like I forget everything that went on beforehand. 

The concept of a ghost child living in the enchanted woods was interesting, and I loved the storytelling aspect, though I do wish that had been played up more especially at the ending. I felt like lots of stuff went unexplained, like Chloe's narrator or the Albatross. None of the characters were particularly multi-dimensional, but I enjoyed the story overall. 

Overall, a fun change of pace from what I usually read, and I'm giving it higher than I normally might because the concept was so interesting.