natreviews's Reviews (445)

Tbh, I don't want to read about his life story, just what he did. 

I picked this book up for one specific reason, the title. It described how I feel/felt when I saw it. I wanted to know how to be fixed, what I could do, etc. That's not what I got.

Instead, I got to dive more into depression from another point of view. The first section of this book dives into Anna's own experience with depression and her time in a psych ward. The following four sections shows what's being done to treat depression, some of the barriers for people to get treated, and much more.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves someone with depression and wants to understand more. I would also recommend this to anyone who just wants to learn more about depression. For me, the section that gripped me the most was the first. Knowing what depression is like for me, I really appreciated seeing someone else with it. I wasn't looking for all of the knowledge about how to treat depression or some of the physical and social barriers, but found that information interesting.

Overall, it's a good book, and one I will keep on my shelf, but may not read again.

I really don't like the writing style. 

Okay! This book! For context, I first saw this book on TikTok with one of the authors (I think Alex?) talking about the book, and how when the big supernatural love story craze (i.e. Twilight) was happening how he and his friends were like mummies are gonna happen right? They never did, so him and his friend Ezra decided to make one.

It is the perfect mix of sappy teenage love story, a book that is self aware and uses all the tropes, and a parody all at the same time. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Does it riff on mainly Twilight by basically stealing the entire plot outline? Also yes (btw, I highly recommend those who've read Twilight to read this, as you will laugh at how similar it is). It's the perfect blend of being self aware while also still being within it's own genre.

5/5 mummies did in fact happen.

I enjoyed this book. I love the Carpenter film, and found out it was based on this book. Did I fully understand it? No. It was written in the 1930's, and I haven't read a lot of science fiction from those years. I was able to follow the plot enough to know what was happening though. 

Overall, a good read. 

I liked this story enough. It's a quick 99 pages, so good if you need to finish up your reading list at the end of the year.

Somethings I'm pretty sure they got wrong, for example: the definition of sedir is a bit different than what the glossary states. Some things aren't clear throughout the book, and would probably make sense on further readthroughs. It also perpetuates the myth of Viking Funerals (fun fact: the flaming arrow lighting the boat carrying the dead body on fire never actually happened), but that's alright as it's an artistic choice.

Will I read the rest of these short stories? Probably. The one thing I will also note is the price. Each story ranges from $17-25 CAD for the paperback. I might try the next story on kindle, as I think it's only a couple of dollars. For the amount and quality of story you get, it's not worth the paperback price. 

I will say it's a good night or one day read, has an interesting story and characters. I do wish it was maybe 50 pages longer though. I feel like there was an element missing, but can't pinpoint exactly what.

I have to credit BookTok with this find. I saw this one tiktok based on the idea of this series, and put the book in the description. I knew as soon as I saw the idea of FBI boyfriend not knowing his girlfriend is a serial killer, I had to check it out.

Now I don't want to give too much away (as the majority of my 5 star book reviews), but if you love crime and revenge, this is for you. Basically, if you are a fan of the Good For Her genre (Midsommar, A Promising Woman, Jennifer's Body, The VVitch, etc.) you will love this book. 

It has twist and turns, smut (as it is still a romance) and doesn't shy away from gore and very descriptive imagery. It also flows really smoothly together. This series was originally an ebook release, with the complete series in this paperback format. I'm inclined to believe she might've wrote the whole story as once, then went back and turned it into 5 separate books. It flows that well and has very little, if any, continuity errors.

This one is staying on my shelf forever I think.

Also, since her death was recent, I would like to send my love and good vibes to C.M. Owens' (who wrote this book under the pen name S.T. Abby) family, friends, and surviving loved ones. I don't know if I'll check out the rest of her novels (since they aren't super up my alley content wise), but this book has become one of my favourites, and I will cherish that. 

When I was 14, Amanda Betty, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped from 2207 Seymore Avenue in Cleveland. The case was everywhere, that after 10 years of captivity they were free. Now, at 23, I read their story for the first time.

Firstly, I will comment on something outside of the book, but a big deal. Everyone knows who Amanda Berry is, very little (internationally) know who Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are. This can be attributed to a phenomenon called "White Girl Missing" syndrome. This is essentially where a missing white woman/girl gets more media coverage than women of colour who go missing. This isn't apart of the book, but kept on popping up in my mind from what I know about the case. When you say Amanda's name, everyone knows who you're talking about, but not so much Gina and Michelle. Of course, this could also be attributed to the fact that Amanda was the first one to escape and made the 911 call, but just a bit of information to let your brain chew on.

Now onto the book. Emotionally, this is a hard read. I had to distance myself from what was written until the entries where they are in the hospital. I broke down crying there. It's so hard to read all of the violence they went through for those 10 years. You really need to emotionally turn off. The only thing that made me feel safe was knowing they made it out in the end. It's horrible reading these thoughts over the years, and knowing what they went through. Do I think we got everything? Of course not, nor are we owed that. 

I think every parent, woman, and girl has thought about this scenario. What if my child/I get kidnapped one day? What will happen? This story (I hope) brings hope that it might be okay in the end. During the book, Amanda actually mentions the Elizabeth Smart case, saying that if she made it for 9 months, I can at least do that. I hope this book brings hope to those parents of missing children, and I hope this story inspires those who are being held captive that there is hope of escape, even 9-11 years after you were kidnapped (9 years for Gina, 10 for Amanda, and 11 for Michelle).

I just send all of my love to Amanda, Gina, Michelle and their families, and hope that they get everything they deserve after going into hell and coming back to the living.

Quick TW Note: There is some light non-consent consent in this book (a character says no and don't when they are really saying yes), so before going in please be aware that that's in this book.

So, I'm now an official sucker for these books. When I saw this book available for pre-order I got so excited. I was able to get my hands on it yesterday (which is why I spent all day yesterday finishing Neuormancer) and I started and finished this book today.

If you want to know my thoughts, pretty much they're the same as Ice Planet Barbarians. It's the same story, except we pick up with Liz right when all of the alien males come to rescue the remaining women in the ship. From there, you see from Liz and Raahosh's perspectives (similar to Georgie and Vektals). Are ther things that don't line up? Yes (the big one is having Liz ask about Raahosh's past, and then later on never hearing about his past), which actually leads me to believe more chapters might've been added to this book. I haven't read the ebooks (and probably won't as I prefer paperback) so I can't really compare, but it gives off the feeling that some chapters may have been added in or re-written, and continuity errors never got picked up in post. 

Liz was once of my three favourite characters from the original book (Georgie, Liz, and Kira) so seeing her story and the explanation of why Raahosh decided to steal her away was really cool. This book is more stranger enemies to lovers than just strangers to lovers, which I really appreciated. It showed a new side to how the khui works and what happens if you try to resist it.

I am so excited to see the next book (because, let's be honest, these things will sell well enough to all be made into paperbacks) brings, and the future of the series.

Note: you maybe wondering why I'm choosing to wait for the paperbacks to release instead of buying the ebooks. Oher than the fact that I'm not a huge ebook nerd (paper is still my jam), I like to read the updated story. This is proven more in the first book because it was mentioned in the authors notes, but there was a scene that was included in the original that was taken out for being too graphic and because the author knew it didn't need to be in there. I like it when a new version gets released after time and the author decides to tweak it here or there. Not a whole story change (although I have read a book that did note that before), but updating the story to how they view it should be with all of this newfound experience they have. I'm also a sucker for extra content and having whole stories more of less summed up in one book (so for this series they take the two characters we focus on, and include their tale + Ice Planet Honeymoon).  Doesn't mean characters we love will never show up again (like Georgie and Vektal), but show up with a new perspective and light from different characters points of view.

Anyway, this book again is getting a 5/5 not for it's story quality (this isn't some classic in the making of literature like Dracula), but because it's a fun time, made me laugh, and is self aware of itself. It doesn't take itself too seriously. It's more of this situation has happened to us, so sure now there are aliens who want to mate, makes complete sense. It's a fun light read to spend a day with, and I wouldn't have this series any other way.

So this review is going to be in two parts; the first being about the novel, the second being about it's connection to The Matrix (1999).

So... I'll be honest... I have no clue what I just read. This novel is credited as one of the first cyberpunk novels to ever be written. William Gibson has pioneered the genre. I had read some of his other books, and needed a 'N' book for my Alphabet Challenge this year, so Neuromancer it was. I'll be perfectly honest, you can 100% tell this was his first book. Usually, you're just thrown into his books with the main overarching story/technology explained within the first 50 pages. Here, I had no clue what was happening. I sorta get the overarching story, but not really. Like I get what the mission is. I don't fully get the meaning of the book. There was too much not explained to really understand what was going on. I feel like this book is one that will have to be read at least 3 times to really get the plot. I'm happy he dialed it back for his other novels to make it an easier read for a wider audience (making it really easy to tell this was his first). It gives off the feeling that he plotted this story down to the very last detail, but forgot that we don't know the story. It feels like he got so caught up in knowing his story and what everything means that he forgot to explain that for people who don't know the story at all.

Now, why am I bringing up The Matrix (1999)? Neuromancer is credited as one of the main inspirations for the film. Knowing how often cyberpunk gets ripped off without proper credit (just look at the table top game and CD Projekt Red), I was curious. So other than some characters and names mentioned nothing is similar. The matrix is a place in the novel that gets jacked into, sort of like a computer database where you can draw and 'see' information. Not like the movie where it is our world. Zion is mentioned in the book as a people/place, but far from what the movie depicts it as. Finally, there are obvious parallels between Molly and Trinity, although I'd say the two characters are vastly different (same goes with Morpheus and Armitage). Originally, what I thought happened was The Matrix had too many similarities to Neuromancer, that not giving it an even inspired by credit in the film might've been on some shady legal grounds, but that is not the case. Did this book inspire The Matrix? No doubt. Did it rip it off or need a credit? 100% not.