sarahthegaymer's Reviews (305)

*It's Britney, bitch!* 

I will say that initially avoided this book like the plague. I wanted to read it but when things tend to blow up and be 'all the rage' I end up being disappointed and wait awhile to read them so that the hype dies down. (This is why it took me almost 1.5 years to read "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jeanette McCurdy..)

If you haven't read this yet, don't sleep on this book. So, so, so good. The Audiobook was positively phenomenal - and thankfully - though I love you Britney - it is not narrated by her. 

As someone that was literally getting into Pop Music at the time of Britney Spears' breakout album (..anyone else raised for like 9 years thinking that Country music was the only music that existed..no?..ok..) - I witnessed all the highs and lows of Britney's career. I remember sitting in my room watching Crossroads, buying her CD's and learning them start to end, trying to dance like her..literally obsessed. 

I remember watching her world crumble around her and wondering what the hell was happening...this book is here to bring you the tea. Truthfully, fuck her family. I know there are always two-sides to a story, but the abuse that she suffered at their hands, particularly her Father's, makes me so, so angry. I'd make a horrible judge because as far as her family's side of the story..straight to jail.

Also, please note that I do rate memoirs though some people will give you side-eye. I don't rate based off their experiences, anyone who is able to come out here and pour out their heart an soul gets a five-star from me babe. However, I do rate based on enjoyability and if they're writing about aspects of their life that people would care about, relate to, etc..and this gets a 5-star on that, too. 

With March's Book Club pick being centered around "International Women's Day", our book club chose to go for a 'good for her' route, leading us to "They Never Learn" by Layne Fargo. 

In this novel, we're following Scarlett Clark who is an excellent professor at Gorman University, but she's also an excellent serial killer. *drops mic* 

Carly Schiller is a freshman at Gorman University, doing her best to fit in in a world she feels she'll never be a part of. 

When a influential football player at Gorman is found dead, supposedly by suicide, Scarlett is quick to jump into the task force at hand that is looking at many murders that have taken place over the years. 

Personally, I really enjoyed this book! I loved the idea of a book where a woman is filled with rage and wants to just serve 'justice' to any man that has done something wrong. What a place the world could be...
One of the things that I personally loved about the book was that I did feel it was quite fast-paced and kept me intrigued. The ending was a bit sloppy, but it didn't stop me from my overall opinion of the book. When trying to finish it prior to club, I also was dual listening to it on audio while reading and I think that the audiobook did a pretty good job, too! 

Some overall thoughts from book club, overall, most of us enjoyed it:
PROS: There were quite a few twists in the book that most of us did not see, but once they happened, we felt we 'should' have seen it. It was a bit suspenseful at times, which helped us to fly through the chapters.

CONS: *****************SPOILERS*********************
1. Some of the group didn't care for the writing and felt that the female characters were written by a man, changing the entire vibe of the book for them.
2. ***SPOILER*** A few people also hated the ending of the book because it played on the 'crazy lesbian' trope and the two of them just moved on with their lives after getting away with it and continued to be lovers and murderers. Overall, the ending felt like a bit of a let down for how it could have played out. 

A Mother overcome with grief when her son Santiago dies takes a piece of her son's lung, keeps it in a jar, feeds it, and watches it become the monster known as Monstrilio. We follow Monstrilio on his journey from 'feral animal' to 'childlike' to 'teenager' to 'monster'. 

Personally, even though this is classified as horror I can say that I anyone can read this as the 'horror' is minimal. And like, despite being a monster I found Monstrilio quite cute and enjoyed reading about him, especially in his young monster form when he was just flying around and terrorizing people. 

Cordova has a really vivid imagination and tells the story in a really immersive experience that makes you feel like you're right there in the story. Monstrilio's journey with self-discovery is both heartfelt and compelling, and the supporting cast of characters adds depth and intrigue to the narrative, especially since you get to follow their POV's as well. 

One of the biggest negatives for me was that the story is more 'slice of life' and while I do like those types of novels typically, I don't know if 'this story' fits that narrative.

Overall, I thought that this was really well done and can understand why it was part of the Goodreads choice award. I'd definitely read additional works by this author.

I said that 2024 was going to be the year when I started to explore 'classics'..my TBR jar in March was like "Ok bitch let's go!" and then we read Fahrenheit 451. 

I literally had zero idea what this book was about, I just had this 'thing' where I assumed I loved Ray Bradbury because one of my most favorite English teachers in high school had us read "Dandelion Wine" and I loved it so much that I was like: "I'm a Ray Bradbury stan.." ...but am I? 

In this book, you're following a 'fireman' Montag whose job is to not save houses that are burning, but to burn books. The government is very fixated on censorship and wants all books out of the world. That is, until Montag decides that maybe he wants to read the books after all...so he does and then embarks on a journey of wanting to no longer be a fireman, chaos ensues.

First and foremost, holy metaphors. I'm obviously out of practice and didn't pick up on a lot of them. If I was in school reading this and had to dissect it, would have probably understood it a bit better. Secondly, this hits creepily close to home judging by how some places are going to extremes to control what people are reading. 

Overall, I enjoyed it. I don't think I'll be necessarily recommending it to people unless you enjoy classics and enjoy being able to discuss something unique. But otherwise I'm glad I read it and am glad that I'll be continuing to look at some additional classes this year.

I went into this book with absolutely ZERO idea what it was about or where it was about to take me. What a welcome surprise!! I loved it so much and was so, so, so happy to get a 5-star review after some really less than exciting reads!

Mia and John's Father has gone missing and their younger brother Eugene was the last person to see him, however; Eugene is non-speaking and therefore can't tell them just what happened. We follow along as they try and beat the clock find their Father, solve some mysteries, and help their brother be able to communicate with them.

I seriously loved this so, so much. I highly encourage you to pick it up. Not only is it beautiful; but it reads like a thriller where you'll find yourself speed reading and turning the pages to know what happens next. The pacing is perfect and there are a lot of beautiful, difficult discussions that really have you as the reader thinking. 

Gosh, I just loved it so much! I can't stop encouraging people to read it.

I went into this one with really high expectations after enjoying "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" by the same author last year. While I wouldn't say that I'm disappointed, because I obviously still rated it 4-stars, I did not love it quite as much as I loved the first one.

Told similarly to the first novel, we're once again following Ernest Cunningham as he embarks on a train trip through Australia with lots of other Authors. Call it a murder-mystery author seminar with some rich fans who have come along for some fireside chats. Ernest is struggling to write his second book and he hopes that this trip will give him the inspiration he'll need. Obviously, a murder takes place and those left on the train are left to solve it, enter: Ernest's Second Book.

While I loved the overall story and I enjoyed my time reading it, I will say that the pacing seemed a bit off in true 'second book fashion' but I did enjoy that the author poked fun at second books which made some of those pacing issues actually enjoyable. I feel like there was a lot of things that repeated and wasn't crucial to the story but was simply used to fill up space. It took over half way through the book to get to the murder itself, and then once it took place it was like "boom" "boom" "boom" with other facts being thrown at you to finish it up. 

I enjoyed that there were mostly new characters with a few previous characters sprinkled without, and I did enjoy the ending and am excited to see if any other books come out of this series as I will be reading them to see what they're about. 

This was our Feburary pick for Book Club. I was super excited to read it as a former band geek. 75 pages in and I literally hated everything about it. The main character was whiny and mopey over a violin and like I cannot comprehend it. I also think that the word "violin" was used entirely too many times, like..we get it. Also, only 75 pages in and I had literally guessed most of what was going to happen without even needing to finish it. 

Also, finally, they lost me when they're like 'this violin has been stolen and now the FBI is involved which seems super crucial but we're not going to give you any back story so it's basically unbelievable that the FBI gives a flying fuck about a Violin'. 

Yup, just not the book for me. #sorrynotsorry

I read the blurb on the inside cover of the book and was like, "This sounds like a really good time"! Then, I realize that it's the same author as the Veronica Speedwell series, and I'm like "Point #2, check"! 

This book is just OK to me. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. 

Things I loved:
1. A group of badass, elderly ladies who were assassins.
2. The chemistry-banter between said ladies.
3. Female rage, oh female rage. 
4. Someone is after them now that they've retired and they're hear to fuck shit up. 

Things I didn't love:
1. The need to suspend disbelief.
2. The fact that everything these ladies set out to do just comes super easily.
1. & 2. are things that in other books, such as Stephanie Plum or Finlay Donovan, I have no problem with - I even enjoy it. But for some reason to me, I just didn't like it in this story as I just feel it didn't fit the narrative. I mean, I know there were the best at their job but...like they just always knew exactly what to do and even when they ran into a sticky situation they just walked away unscathed...that doesn't even happen in the silliest of books I've read. 
3. There is not major conflict - or if there was I missed it. 

So, ultimately: this isn't a book I'm necessarily going to be shoving down people's throats - but if you're look for a light, funny, book about some badass elderly assassins, maybe this is it for you.

Went into this audiobook with zero idea what I was getting into, honestly. But when you put Sitcoms and Homo/Queer in the title you can bet yourself that I'm going to pick it up. I mean, 70s-80s sitcoms are life for me. (Like I have a Golden Girl's tattoo for goodness sake - truthfully, the Golden Girls are just a way of life who are we kidding)?

Matt Baume is very intelligent and I really enjoy the ride we went on starting with Bewitched, traveling all the way to Modern Family - and everything in between. You can tell this books was really written with the intentions of bringing to light that Queer Culture has 100% always existed, sometimes you just had to look a little harder for it. It also shows that even in the year 2024, we still have a long way to go. 

I highly recommend checking this out and I'm curious to know - what is your favorite TV show with queer representation!? 

I'm not one for self-help books. But I really enjoyed this and what it had to say about trying to just survive and do your best each day. It's not as easy as just saying "prioritize this" or 'prioritize that".

It made fun of other self-help books which I appreciated. I appreciated the simple and easy approach it had to making a list of like 5 things and doing things in that order to succeed. One step at a time. 

Have I implemented anything I learned? Absolutely not, but...I appreciate it none the less. 

Highly recommend checking it out if you're trying to survive and think that a simple process would be helpful for you.