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The Garden

Clare Beams

DID NOT FINISH: 30%

Sorry to say I don’t care about any of these characters and nothing has grabbed my attention to keep going
fast-paced

Picked up because I love Annie’s podcast, but finished it feeling a bit meh. 

I thought I could relate more as I live in my hometown, and I did but not as much as I thought I would. 

Kind of felt self righteous like “Oh I stayed and my brother and all my friends left”.
mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I’ll be back with more thoughts, but my initial review is that Small Rain hasn’t received enough attention. 

If you think you can handle a book following an unnamed narrator set inside an ICU with a mystery illness at the height of COVID, give this one a shot
mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Thank you to Sourcebooks for this copy.

I am disappointed. I will admit that I did enjoy this new Winstead more than her last release, but overall this left me with a bad taste in my mouth. 

I think using an Idaho case as biggest part of the plot was in bad taste given that it closely resembled the actual Idaho murders case, which is still in court. 

I understand that the point of the book was to show how obsessed people have become with true crime, whether it’s sleuthing cases or releasing podcasts. However, I think by using the Idaho case in the foundation of this novel Winstead only joined in on what people don’t like about true crime. 

I also think this was way longer than it needed to be. By the time I got 50% in, it felt like I should’ve been 90% done. It was long and predictable over all.

Lastly, Winstead portrayed Panhellenic women as partiers with no redeeming qualities. I’m guessing I won’t be the only alumna of a Panhellenic sorority that’s extremely tired of this overdone “sorority women are only partiers” characteristic that authors love to use. Especially since Winstead used a real Panhellenic sorority. Wondering what Kappa Delta members think of the portrayal here?

Will I pick up another Ashley Winstead? Yes, because I loved In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and The Last Housewife. However, I’ll be extremely cautious once again. This is the second highly disappointing release.

Girlhood

Melissa Febos

DID NOT FINISH: 8%

I’m not a prude by any means, but listening to someone describe how they masturbate is apparently the line I’m stopping at.