katietotallybooked's Reviews (785)

This book was a fascinating and provocative read. It shares the stories of three American women’s sex lives in a way that is enlightening and gripping. The writing is a very attention-grabbing narrative style that is easy for a reader to follow. Lisa Taddeo does a wonderful job of telling these stories without inputting herself as a researcher and author into the narrative.

I appreciated the honesty and bravery of these three women to have their stories shared. I know that this topic is under talked about but I don’t agree with that. I could relate to parts of these women’s stories as well. I felt empathy for Lina and protectiveness for Maggie. Sloane’s life is one I couldn’t find common ground with as much but I still appreciate her emotional and sexual story.

This book was unlike what I normally read but I’m glad I picked it up. It reflects exactly what I love about books and reading which is the stories that are told and the new perspectives you can gain.

I think this book is an example of "bookstagram made me do it". It was so hyped and a few that I follow really loved it when they read it. I am JUST getting into true crime, having only read one book and a tv documentary or two so far. So, I had heard of the My Favourite Murder podcast but knew nothing else about this book.

That being said, this wasn't what I expected. I thought that the authors were going to share more about true crime than their own stories. Not that I didn't enjoy and appreciate their stories and all of the background info they shared, because I did. But I just felt disconnected to this book because I had no idea who these ladies were and I felt I needed more background to understand them better, and also find them more funny I think.

What I did love was how these ladies are a true example of taking risks in business, following your passions, hanging onto and striving for creativity, and enjoying life's journey. So, I recommend this book for fans of their podcast because I bet you will really love, but not to anyone who is just looking for some true crime insight.

I finished this book a few days ago and I still feel so on the fence about my rating. There were so many times where I wavered from really liking it to shaking my head at it. Let’s start with what I really liked about this book:
1. The premise. I love the idea of a young woman with terminal cancer wanting to experience a wedding day, with or without a groom! I think as an unwed (but not single) 30 year old I would also want that experience.
2. I appreciated Ava’s attitude about living your best life. No one, fictional or real, knows how many days left they have on the earth. So living authentically, following your heart, cherishing the moments and enjoying your passions are all great ways to live.
3. The supportive girl friends and family of Ava. They really put Ava’s wishes first, and did not dwell on their own hard feelings about her cancer, diagnosis, and ultimately the loss they would face.
4. Ava’s overall humbleness and grace.
What I didn’t like:
1. The entire romance. Way to insta-love for me. Ugh. Consider me a skeptic, but I don’t really believe in love at first sight. And just a lot of cheesy parts. And very predictable.
2. The cancer portrayal, in the way that it just didn’t leave me heartwrenching or make me feel much at all. And I’ve been the supportive family member at my mom’s bedside. So this just didn’t bring up any feelings or emotions for me as I read.
This book definitely has Me Before You vibes. I also felt similar A Walk to Remember vibes in the “don’t fall in love with me because I’m dying” aspect. Also, on a side note – I was trying to determine the setting of this book the entire time I was reading since that is an aspect I track. Thank goodness for the South Island, Aurora Australis clue near the end!

So a 3 star, middle of the road book is what Photos of You gets from me.

Winter in Paradise is a very typical beach read. The storyline is quite predictable. But I read it completely because of the cover image - it was sending me all the beach vibes! However, I don’t plan to continue the series. I’m slightly curious about what happens next, but that’s what spoiler reviews are for!

While this book may seem long at almost six hundred pages, I think it needs just that to tell the story of Cyril Avery. Spanning from 1949 to 2015, Boyne captivate his readers with the trials and tribulations of his protagonist - providing a window into Cyril’s life at seven year increments. .
.
I did not expect to love this book. I knew nothing about it, which is often the beauty of my book club because the majority of our picks are random, leaving all to be discovered as we read. John Boyne’s writing is excellent, with an even flow and enough detail to paint a vivid picture of the setting and the character’s happenstances and experiences, but without getting too caught up in flowery language that takes away from the storyline. I was so drawn to Cyril too. I haven’t read many books with gay protagonists and LGBTQ fiction is not a genre I really delve into. But I know that life is not perfect and that everyone goes through tragedies and hardships and I think that is how I could empathize and connect with Cyril. Plus, there was enough serendipitous moments throughout the story and a seemingly happy ending which appeals to my love for neat and tidy conclusions to books. .
.
Lastly, I wouldn’t have been able to read (and enjoy!) such a long book in 7 days if I was not enthralled with it. Because that is a lot of reading! .
.
I highly recommend The Heart’s Invisible Furies. .
.

I have given this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. At times, I liked it. It was an easy read. The writing was decent. It flowed well. At times, it also aggravated me. I didn’t enjoy most of the characters (Briar was the best one,by far. Alix made me cringe). I couldn’t make sense of the racial comments. The main incident happened in the first 15 pages of the book. I was just puzzled by it all.
.
Here’s what had helped me to come to terms with it...looking at it in a satirical way. Once I saw this as a satire, I could accept it. But guess what - I don’t enjoy satires because I am way too literal of a person. It definitely didn’t live up to my own hype.

I generally don’t plan out my celebrity memoir reads each month, or my audiobooks. I often choose to read them on a whim and based on what’s available. I read This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps in February. Even though I had a copy on my TBR shelf I chose to read the audio version on Scribd.

Let me say that the amount I enjoyed this book for not really knowing anything about Busy Philipps was a bit shocking to me! Her stories were authentic and often humourous without even trying to make them that way. I was shocked by the amount of grief and sudden loss she has experienced in her friend circle. I had no idea she struggled with body image and was called ‘fat’ often by casting directors and producers. And her vivid description of going into in labour and giving birth to her first daughter was almost enough for me to rethink what I want in life!

This book was very very twisted but so captivating! I love books that feature mother-daughter relationships, and the relationship between Patty and Rose Gold was nothing short of complicated.

Rose Gold lived her first 18 years believing she was chronically ill. Turns out, she was just being poisoned. Patty has just been released from prison at the start of the novel. Upon release, she moves back in with her daughter Rose Gold, who is now in her early 20's and is raising a baby boy named Adam. This book is told from alternating perspectives of both characters and features a timeline that goes back and forward from the time of Patty's sentencing.

I don't know that I would classify this book as a thriller, but it is a very dark psychological contemporary story. It reads very well. The writing is evenly paced from start to finish. I was always wondering what was going to happen next and I couldn't really ever predict what would happen next.

The cover is stunning, and for a debut novel, I believe that Stephanie Wrobel nailed it! Her passion for creative writing really comes through. I look forward to reading more in the future from her!

This book was not what I was anticipating. I chose it for my Library book club's February read and I had greater expectations for it then what it delivered. I chose the book because the premise and story line sounded intriguing.
Here it is: Eleven individuals of various ages and social status embark on a private jet from Martha’s Vineyard. Sixteen minutes after take off the jet crashes into the ocean and only two survive. Was it chance that saved these two survivors or was there something else at work? What made the plane crash - mechanical failure? Terrorism? Human error? Questions of fate, human nature and the ties that bind humans together are raised in this pulse-quickening suspense novel.

Wouldn’t you agree that sounds like an intriguing novel? I certainly thought so but alas I was not overly impressed. Mainly I had trouble with the writing style. There was too much flipping back and forth between characters plus the timeline was mixed up a lot. There would be a chapter focusing on the back story of one individual on board the plane, then a chapter in the present day where the solving of the mystery took place with FBI agents and media/news reporters. I find this type of writing format confusing and hard to follow. There was also a lot of characters to keep track of and I might have been better off if I had started making a list of their names from the beginning. But I didn't. I found the language at times to be vulgar, which there was no warning of to the reader either. Lastly, the mystery was all around just very disappointing. When I did find out how the plane crashed and the mysteries were solved, I honestly thought to myself that it all was rather stupid and unnecessary.

**Spoiler**There was an admittedly interesting section in the middle of the novel when we were given the back story of Racheal, the 9 year old girl on the airplane who did not survive. It turned out that she had been kidnapped as a toddler from the summer home where her family was staying and her nanny was murdered. Their family was targeted due to their wealth and social status. I thought perhaps this incident would connect to the plane crash, but it didn’t. There were other missed connections too, and I feel Hawley could have made this a very tricky and tangled story if he had managed to connect multiple dots between backstories, characters, and the event of the crash better.

I rushed to get through this book just so that it would end and if I wasn’t reading this for book club, I would not have finished it at all. I’ve learned that life is too short for books we don’t like, especially when there are literally thousands more out there to discover.

Every so often I like to break up my reading with a non-fiction book. I grew up watching curling and knowing about the sport. My parents were both active curlers before I was born and in my early childhood. I can even say that I've now tried my hand at the sport. It's fun to play, there is a lot of strategy involved, and its even on ice but you can wear shoes, not skates! I've always known the names of the greatest men's and women's curlers at any given time, like Randy Furby, Mark Dacey, Jennifer Jones, Brad Gushue, Rachel Homan, and of course Colleen Jones - the youngest woman to ever win a Scotties title. Throwing Rocks at Houses has been on my to-read list since it was published and with it being the curling season, I thought now would be the time to finally read this title.

The book itself was an easy, light read and I enjoyed it for what it was. It's not the greatest writing - it's very simple, factual, and straightforward. But for fans of Colleen Jones or anyone interested in reading about her curling career and her life outside of the rink, it's an interesting and worthwhile read. I certainly wouldn't recommend this book to everyone and it's definitely not a must-read. I finally am able to check it off my to-read list though and it gave me that quick break from reading fiction that I was needing.

It also came with some solid life advice: "Do the things that make us happy now, because tomorrow isn't guaranteed. Appreciate life, don't sweat the small stuff, and enjoy the ride." p. 15