julies_cozycontentclub's Reviews (264)

I will admit that I got this book after seeing the trailer for the movie and therefore had a few expectations before starting to read the book (which I wanted to finish before watching the full film). So to everyone who‘s thinking about doing the same:

Lower your expectations. The trailer makes Mickey7 significantly more action-packed than it actually is. It mostly consists of the day-to-day happenings on the station (+ a secret extra Mickey) interjected with the occasional story from past, failed settlements. (Which I would have loved to read more of. They were fascinating.)

Regardless, it was an interesting read with some surprisingly philosophical thoughts on death, but mostly an unserious plot and a lot of humor. 

There is only so much classism and sexism I can take.

I honestly thought this was satire. That this behavior is some social commentary on the topic of people with privilege and the whole "not like other girls" mentality. 
Judging from the reviews and the author's advertising, that is sadly not the case here. 

Since there is no character development whatsoever, so I quit.

The love interest's red flags are so big you make a sail out of them and sail Alosa away from him, if only she saw them and decided she doesn't need a partner who has equally big daddy issues to match hers.
The only negative thing that gets as much screentime as all the toxic main relationships is the "captivity" plot, which feels repetitive and uncreative. 

With a love interest that keeps the balance between being a boring carbon copy of every other love interest and being incredibly problematic, consent-hating, and filled with unchecked sexism
e.g.:

and all of the problematic this book does not make for an enjoyable read. 

(I could talk about my problems with this book for hours. This is the massively shortened version.)

I love Sherlock Holmes adaptations. I really do. They have so much potential.

Especially with classics that are set in a modern context, there is a lot of room for new ideas that take the original into account, as well as relying on a well-known story as a foundation.

However, this potential sadly wasn‘t fully achieved with "Moriarty".

On the positive side, the amount of spotlight John Watson got was a really pleasant surprise, since he is usually regarded as just a sidekick. Furthermore, I liked getting some insight into his character, as well as the grief he dealt with after losing Sherlock.

It also had some really fascinating takes on Sherlock's adventures and pointed out some interesting flaws in his reasonings.

Sadly, this story wasn't free of those either, so there were some really intransparent motives (I know that there was manipulation involved, but I would have loved more insight into what exactly the words that pushed a character to murdering someone were, especially in such a terrifying fashion as the teardrop killers').

In addition, I had some problems with the character Zenisha Lestarade. At times it seemed like the only reason why she was written as a female character was to open up the possibility of her being a love interest to John, which had no real purpose in the grand scheme of the story.

What really dropped my rating, though, was Moriarty. He kept on insisting that he was better than Sherlock when in reality he was guilty of exactly the same actions, especially with the secrecy he so condemned when talking to John.

Some of my feelings towards the way this book shook out could also be chalked up to the fact that I didn‘t really get a great insight into what kind of story I would be getting myself into before starting it, since the blurb was the only information I could find online regarding this book.

To sum up, this book has a few problems. However, if you can look past them and want to read a story about a modern and sometimes quite funny take on Moriarty, give this a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review. 

I would totaly evade my Dramatic Backstory Tax just to meet that chaotic duo in person.

If Love in Focus were a cocktail, it would consist of a base liquor of friendship moments, a shot of forgiveness and alcohol (no metaphor needed here), a lot of talk about love, with the vibes of Casual by Chappell Roan on top.

And while the concept was amazing, the delivery had its weaknesses, so I had a bit of a hard time when rating this book.

On one hand, you had some really awesome takes on love from a big variety of characters, and on the other, there was the entire conflict between Gemma and Celeste, which was solved by a conversation pretty early on, but which ended up changing hardly anything in the long run and didn't really help their conversation skills either. 

Regardless of my thoughts on the story, I loved the voice acting. The actors were excellent choices for the two main characters and showed all of the feelings of the source material with the biggest emotional impact they could have.

When taking this into account, I decided to round my rating up to 3.75 stars. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio  for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review. 

I could undoubtedly praise the writing style or the poetically interwoven history in the poems of the martyrs, but since there are already so many other reviews doing that, you can tell how big the impact of Kaveh Akbar's writing is.

I can definitely see how Martyr! has the potential to be a classic in the future and how the different thoughts will be dissected and end up being the spark of inspiration for others' future projects. This creation just feels monumental.

Regardless, something that I could need help with dissecting right now is the ending, because damn. I am a bit confused. 

When I found out that "He's to Die For" is a queer murder mystery focusing on a police officer and his main suspect, a famous rock star, my interest was piqued. When I then also found out that it was pitched as Brooklyn 99 & The Charm Offensive, I could not stop my excitement. 
And oh boy, this book did not disappoint!

An irresistible kind of humor, characters that make you want to root for them, and a mystery with lots of crazy twists and turns are just a few of the properties that make this story so intriguing. 

However, there is one quality that deserves to be specially highlighted: the communication in this book is incredible. 
Even though they are in a high-profile situation  the way Rav and Jack handle communication is insanely well done. 
There were multiple times during the story where I had to put my phone down because of the excitement and happiness I felt at all of the avoided drawn-out misunderstandings and issues they solved simply by being honest and making sure they were both comfortable in the situations they found themselves in. 
I NEED more books with healthy communication like that. 

All in all, an incredible debut book, and I am already looking forward to reading more of Erin Dunn in the future! 

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.