lindseythelibrarian's Reviews (559)

I really wanted to like this book. And the first 40% of it was so funny and interesting. I enjoyed the fact that this offered a more diverse romance option than what has traditionally been promoted and was interested in seeing some of the cultural differences present in this story. I was anticipating some interesting insight into the app development and coding elements. However, we get none of that and it just started to feel lifeless and flat. 

I started to grow tired of the story and began to feel underwhelmed by some of the characters. 

Overall, I felt myself not very invested in this story, but since there were some positives, I’ll keep it at three stars for now. 

The audiobook version of this was perfection! Having it narrated by Tyson was fantastic as it really added some humanity in the technical aspects of the book. 

It was like a short refresher course from my intro-level Astronomy courses in college, but I love it. As someone who is a religious person myself, there is nothing more inspiring than hearing about the marvels of science and what we have discovered. 

I didn't watch the show, but I found the book to be an interesting look into aspects of the justice system. The author seems to acknowledge her privilege in some aspects, and not in others.

It's a very interesting story, but the flow of the books was kind of strange in that the only clear direction was time itself. I guess that makes sense in prison. I wanted to know what happened after prison seeing as we are given insight into what happened before prison. Did she keep up the relationships she made behind bars? It was just odd that everyone also seemed to like her and saw her as this classic "white girl". Maybe it was the case, but I don't know. 

Our justice system is so broken, and I hope restorative justice actions continue to take place and create a better society for those who are incarcerated and I appreciated her insight into this aspect. 

I know for a FACT I would not have loved this book that much had I not watched the Netflix series first and would have probably given it 4-4.5 stars. The series, for me, was probably deserving of five-stars! After listening to this title, it was definitely interesting, but I found the show to be more iconic. I liked the narrator and I thought they perfectly encapsulated the generally reserved but driven Beth Harmon. 

Even though I know little to nothing about chess, I still found the many parts of this book that reference chess to be interesting and found that I was still able to understand what was happening enough to stay intrigued.

While this book follows Beth Harmon who ends up at 19 at the end of the book, this is not a YA title; this book almost read like a nonfiction title. I would recommend this book for people who liked the show, enjoy stories about women's empowerment, and would enjoy reading about 1960's society.

What a unique short story. 
Overall, it has a message that I would argue portrays that many individuals in society do not need to change if they are sufficiently happy with their life. 

I found the main character to be fascinating, almost morbidly so, and would completely re-read this again. 

 This book was such a fun read. The tone is smackdab in the middle of feeling like a cozy mystery and a thriller. Set in the small town of Beach City, corruption is rampant affecting the lives of business owners and citizens alike. A handful of townspeople work together to discover motives for lawlessness, including murder.

I liked the LGBTQ rep, Jewish rep, and of course the Librarian rep. We love to see it. Something that surprised me was the very real addition of COVID-19 into the story. While I don't think it really added anything, it helped cement this in the reality of today. The author has their own perspective which undoubtedly came through in the story. Having almost lost someone in their 50s to COVID this year, I appreciated that element.

Admittedly, the first 20 percent of the book gave me character whiplash. This served to establish the town and some of its key players as well as highlight the rampant corruption. After this point, we start to focus on specific townspeople and their part in the corruption, whether that's uncovering or aiding and abetting through action or complacency.

I definitely liked the story and will be following this story more in the future. It was an easy, fun read, and I enjoy supporting small authors who write just as compelling stories as some of the bigger names out there.