This novel wanted to be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets Mexican Gothic and missed the mark on both. Between the boring family drama of the present-day scenes and the flat characters of the flashback scenes, there really wasn't enough substance to make this book worth reading. The horror elements of the haunted house were interesting, but the prose was very simple which was disappointing. Had the author gone in the literary-horror direction instead of the action-horror direction, I think I would have rated this novel higher. If this novel had better descriptive language and a more immersive atmosphere I think that I would have enjoyed reading it more. 

The mystery subgenre of murder on a train is already fairly overdone and With A Vengeance has nothing new or interesting to add. I never felt connected to any of the characters, who were all so one dimensional that I didn't care which of them were alive or dead. The twist ending was uninspired and was not at all shocking.

I don't typically read crime thrillers but as soon as I hit the 10% mark I was hooked by the plot. I loved the morally gray characters and I couldn't help but root for Roman even as the body count started to add up. The lengths that Roman went to in order to protect Dante and Neveah really made his character stand out. I liked the ending: how for every piece that Roman won, he lost just as much. I wish that we had gotten to see more of Khalil, since he came across as more of a plot device than a fully-fleshed character. 

 Very well crafted in both prose and in structure. 

 

The intertwining stories of the cats and of Gustafson’s own life made for a very compelling read. I was very moved by her story of caring for the stray cats on her property. There are so many complex topics explored in this memoir, from systemic poverty to misogyny to loneliness to hunger to community, and all of these themes are so carefully tied to stories of the cats that Gusafson cares for. 

My only critique is that this book ended fairly abruptly. I think that it would have benefited from an epilogue or some sort of closing paragraph.

Harrowing yet hopeful. Fantastical yet deeply grounded in historical reality. This strange and wonderful story kept me entranced to the very end. The prose was absolutely gorgeous. Both the characters and the setting felt like they were jumping off of the page. There were so many tiny details that made the setting and the characters feel so real. 

 

The Avalon felt like such a real and vivid and magical (in more ways than one) place. I felt so immersed in the world of luxury hotels and the 1940s hospitality industry. The whole novel felt very well researched, from the luxury hotel setting to the relationships between the foreign diplomats and US government employees, to the daily lives of Appalachians during WWII. 

 

The use of the sweetwater as a fantastical element personifying the attitudes and feelings of the guests of the Avalon was very clever. The metaphor of June giving her own liveliness and joy to remove all of the negative emotions of the wealthy hotel guests was simultaneously very subtle and very overt. I enjoyed reading about June’s love for the Avalon but also felt very empowered when she decided to prioritize her own values to leave the Avalon for good. 

 

The character of Hannelore and her relationship with her parents was so interesting to me. There was so much nuance in the fact that her parents were proud Nazi sympathizers, yet their love for their neurodivergent daughter colored all most all of their actions. 

 

I loved the relationship between June and Tucker. It was somewhat of a slow burn, but I think that the romance made sense for both of their characters, as it allowed them to confront different aspects of their lives that they had been avoiding. For Tucker, this was confronting his past and the actions that caused him to leave West Virginia. For June, this was confronting her present and the fact that despite her love for the Avalon and for Edgar Gilfoyle, both were taking more from her than they were giving back. Most of all, I loved Tucker’s declaration of love to June: 

 

 

Other assorted elements that I loved: the dachshunds that popped up around the Avalon, covert operative Sandy Gilfoyle (which I guessed almost immediately and felt very satisfied about during the reveal), Hannelore’s perspective on the world as a neurodivergent child, Pennybacker’s character development, the quiet dignity of the Avalon staff, the lack of an overt antagonist allowing all of the characters to act as individuals with plenty of good intentions but limited good options, the way that everything kind of worked out in the end. 

A nerve-wracking thriller with lingering traumas and no one to trust. I liked the characters, especially Emma and Vivian. I thought that the final twist was clever (

that Vivian was never trying to expose the secrets of the camp and that she tricked the original girls into drowning as revenge for her sister

) and it took me completely by surprise. 

Overall, it was a pretty classic summer camp thriller with an exceptional final twist!

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn meets All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers. 

I really enjoyed the character of Olivia. I admired her tenacity and her drive to support marginalized voices even when it seemed that the universe was punishing her for that choice. I also loved the character of Poppy. Even though her story is told mostly through flashbacks, her personality was very vivid. 

The plot was thrilling and went in some unexpected directions. I liked how Vincent's dementia was used to create a compelling reason for the unreliable narrator trope, and I liked the twist that

the manuscript was written with false information on purpose, as part of Vincent's final treasure hunt, to motivate Olivia to dig more deeply for the truth

. Everything tied together very neatly at the end, which elevated this book to one of my favorite thrillers. 

There were definitely some relationships that the book could have explored further, particularly Olivia's relationship with her partner Tom and with her former best friend Jack. 

I really liked the romance between Sofiya and Matteo. The tropes were exactly what I was looking for: arranged marriage, abused FMC, protective MMC, sweetheart FMC. The first 50% of the book was  perfect for me, as I really enjoyed Sofiya learning to trust Matteo and Matteo caring for Sofiya. I liked the disability rep (even though there were some inaccuracies in how service dogs actually function). 

Unfortunately I did not love the plot of the second 50% of the book. I don't think that the worldbuilding of the different mafia families and how they functioned on the day-to-day made much sense. I had a hard time getting into the world of the mafia which meant that I didn't really care about the mafia plot.

Painfully depressing to read but incredibly enlightening to see the truth of pervasiveness of sexism in our society laid out all in one place. Having grown up on the internet, a lot of the content was familiar to me, but even I didn't understand how much support these extremist groups actually have. 

My primary critique is that there isn't much of a storyline to follow throughout the book, which made it difficult to engage with the dense and depressing material. Even though I was interested in the topic, I found it hard to motivate myself to keep reading at times. 

I liked how Bates ended the book by placing the onus on men to take leadership in tackling toxic masculinity. This is a perspective that I rarely see online, so it was interesting to have it stated so obviously. I liked how Bates included that perspectives of many different anti-misogynist men.

Strange and enthralling story with interesting details and original characters. The plot itself is fairly constrained and self-contained to one main storyline (the relationship between Greta and Big Swiss), but even when the pacing slowed down, the humorous moments and the unique characters kept me engaged. The therapy transcripts were captivating to read, in a voyeuristic way. I appreciated the nuanced discussion about trauma and accountability. I had a little bit of trouble with the end of the novel, as there isn't much closure to Greta's story.