sarahthegaymer's Reviews (305)

Honestly, it's been over a month since I listened to this audiobook and I don't really remember much about it other than it was super cute and it was interesting to listen to the perspective of children as they made a decision about what they would save! 

Basically, this was something to listen to at work to drown out all the obnoxious people I work with.

This is not a DNF forever, it was just a DNF for right now. Heavy trauma topics that were just not feasible for the current state of mental health. 

Definitely check out the TW prior to diving into this one. 

I wanted to like this so much. I wanted to LOVE this. I'm focusing on my physical TBR backlist this year and this was one that I was excited to dive into.

 I love Meryl Streep and I thought the idea of reading a book about a movie club that watches her movies would be a good time. It was not a good time. It might have become a good time but there was so much heaviness and sadness in the first 80 pages that I just couldn't even fathom going further. Definitely check for TW and make sure you're in a good headspace if any of those TW might effect you before going into it. (TW: Cancer, Job Loss, Infidelity, Death)

Also, any book that says "She left out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding." six times in three pages is too much. #sorrynotsorry

So, I want to be an Agatha Christie girlie. I also needed to read a book during the month of January that had the word "There" in it for Kayla's Buzzword Challenge. So, here we are. 3-stars, solid. I do not hate this book by any means, I actually sort of enjoyed it. I'm not going out and purchasing every Agatha Christie book to exist but I do see her being an Author that I might reach for again in the future. 

This is a secluded-island mystery where a bunch of random individuals with no ties to one another show up to this house where they were summoned.  One-by-one they start to die and the rest are left to try and solve the mystery; can anyone be trusted?  (A lot like Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (which was better in my opinion)).

Personally, I enjoyed the storyline and the characters were likeable, even the ones I didn't completed trust. I will be completely transparent when I say that with any mystery I read, I almost can never figure out who did it. I'm not sure if I lack intellectual skills, critical-thinking skills, or what..I just have never been able to and that is what make Thrillers and Mysteries so much fun for me because I'm always unsuspecting.  "And Then There Were None", however; did not have an ending wrapped up in a cute bow. (I still to this day don't know who did it? Did we find out? Did I miss it? Like..someone smarter than me please explain!)  

So, solid 3-stars, again. 2 stars for the entertainment aspect and likeable characters, and 1 star for the overall plot and solution. 

As much as I enjoyed The Midnight Library by the same author, this one is just really not for me. I loved the idea behind it - it gives Addie LaRue vibes - but at 151 pages in, I’m incredibly bored. We just wondering around England following this guy (I literally can’t remember his name) as he tells us memories of many years ago. I think there is a purpose - I have an idea that I know how it ends based off what’s been happening - and I just don’t think I can force myself to finish it. I’ve been reading it since around the 1st of the year and it never takes me 19 days to finish a 300 page book, ever. 

This is one of the books that when I finished it, I found myself saying. "What the fuck did I just read? I dunno what it was but I loved the shit out of it."

Kevin Wilson tells a really interesting story about two children that combust. Like, literally. They just catch on fire. And TBH, I am sort of jealous. 

We are following Lillian who was roommates with Madison at a private, pretegious high school and Madison's family because they had money fucked Lillian right over and pretty much ruined the trajectory of her life. (Typical rich white folks). Fast forward a lot of years later and Madison is married to some high political figure, they have 'the perfect baby boy' but there is the problem of her husband's children to a previous marriage. The fire twins. Trying to make it up to Lillian, Madison offers Lillian the job of being live-in nanny to the fire children - and these twins are life. 

The twins are literally hilarious. And ultimately it ends up becoming a story of found family and it's everything. I don't know if there is an actual plot to the story, outside of maybe some character development, but I really enjoyed it and it was a nice little escape from reality. I'm excited to check out what else Kevin Wilson has to offer. 

This was my first book of 2024 and my book club's first book of the year! 

I really enjoyed it in a simple kind of way. I loved it while I was reading it, but to be perfectly honest other than discussing it from book club, I haven't thought about it since. 

A couple thoughts:
1. This was set in the late 80s or early 90s and both characters families where just so openly accepting of having gay sons and TBH I just don't think that's realistic. Shit, it's 2024 and families are still fucking kicking kids out for being queer so I just find that highly unrealistic.
2. Ari and his brother. While I understand the importance of Ari being frustrated at his brother's crimes and his families ability to just act as if he didn't exist, I feel like it took up entirely too much of the story. I also kept getting extremely frustrated because I wouldn't remember this book wasn't set in the current day and I'd find myself saying. "Why the hell don't you just google him bro?" ...because he couldn't, Sarah. Get it together. 
3. Ari and his anger. This was probably the most relatable part of the book for me. As a teenager, unable to articulate what I was feeling about possibly being queer. Or once I finally KNEW I was queer but then developed anger because I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to live a 'normal' life. I understand that frustration and anger and feeling of just hopelessness. My wife is also like my Dante, she was sweet and kind and from the moment we became friends I knew that I wouldn't ever be able to spend my life without her. So, in that regards, I relate. 
4. Overall, I'm really glad that for Ari the main conflicts of the story were resolved. His Father and he started to have a better relationship, and he finally found out what his brother had done. I am apprehensive of the fact that Ari would ever have a relationship with his brother because of the crimes he did commit - TW: Homo/Transphobia - but I'm glad that was resolved. 
5. For the book being titled "Ari and Dante" - I don't think we learned enough about Dante other than he was ready to live life to the fullest and then got beat up for kissing a boy (truthfully, probably the only realistic thing in the whole book). 


Anyways, those are just a few of my thoughts on the book. I don't think that I'll read the second one & I don't think I'll ever re-read this one, but I'm glad we read this and were able to talk about it as a group! 

The fifth installment in the 'Wayward Children' series by Seanan McGuire was yet another 5-star magical and heartwarming read. 

In this novella we get to visit the Moors again along with Jack, Jill, Kade, Christopher, Sumi, Cora, and newcomer, Alexis. Trouble has struck the Moors and Jack and Jill's bodies have been swapped - Jack needs the assistance of her friends knowing they're the only ones who can help. Follow along to see if they make it back to the school and if Jack can get her own body back before it's too late. 

I personally really enjoy the Moors and I really enjoy Jack as a character so I was excited to be visiting there again. I also love Christopher, Kade, Sumi, and Cora so I was glad that they got to be a part of this story and adventure. 

I really encourage you to pick up this series if you're looking to dabble into Fantasy where there isn't a lot of world-building but enough to make sense and we're focusing more on the characters in short-chunks. As I've mentioned before, I love this so much and often times have to fight between just finishing them all in one day or savoring them so that they never end! 

Finally, one thing I will say that I didn't care too much for in this story - and it was theme in the fourth installment, too - is that there is a lot of buildup but the action is happening on the side and sometimes I find myself missing that action. But, that could just be me. 

Remember in my last review for 'In an Absent Dream' I mentioned that I wanted more about the story while Lundry was in the Goblin Market and that was why I gave the book a low review??

...well, thank you, Seanan McGuire for delivering!! :) I didn't even know this existed until I saw it pop-up on a forum I follow and I immediately dove into reading it. This is following one of the events that had taken place during Lundy's time in the Goblin Market and while it was devastatingly sad, it was also written so beautifully that I couldn't help but love it. 

The fourth installment to the 'Wayward Children' Series, this book is following beloved Lundy who is introduced to us in the first book. Every. Single. Time I read one of these books, I have to fight between the urge to literally gobble up every one of them as fast as possible and instead read a few at a time to just savor them because they are literally beautiful. 

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big Fantasy reader but Seanan McGuire makes it so easy to fall into a world and feel like you're living and exploring right along with the characters. And that's just magical to me. Takes me back to being younger and reading HP for the first time! 

We follow Lundy to the Goblin Market, the place for outsiders to 'fit in' and belong. We meet a few new characters and follow her through life as she has to make the decision to come back to her birth world or to stay in the Goblin Market. But, as always, there is a cost to any decision you make. And it *should* be fair value. 

I really enjoyed this story and enjoyed following Lundy through life up until her time at Eleanor West's school. While I think it might have been one of my favorites in the series, yet, I did give it 4.5 stars instead of 5 because I felt that there were a lot of things mentioned that 'happened' in the Goblin Market during Lundy's time there, however, we weren't given those events and I found myself really, really wanting them.