sarahthegaymer's Reviews (305)

*Takes a deep breath* 

Man...the further along I get in this series...the more disappointed I am. This book was an absolute sh*tshow. However; I am a creature of habit so I know that I will continue to read them to the very end because that's just what I do..

Alas, in this book; we see Sookie interacting a bit more with the WerePanthers and the WereWolves. Alcide makes a lot of appearances & Sookie's "incident" with Debbie comes to blows. I think the vampires make an appearance...I truthfully don't even remember. All in all..the moral is Sookie runs into some trouble and has to be saved.

The end. :)

I'm not even sure what to say or to think about this book? 

Earlier this year I decided I wanted to start reading Classics - even bought myself a really nice starter set with really pretty covers! So, seeing as it was Christmastime, I decided this would be a good place to start. (Let me preface this with the fact that I knew literally nothing and haven't ever even seen the movie.)

...Hmm...I can't say that I hated it, because the overall story wasn't bad and I liked the idea behind it. I'm known to be a bit of a Grinch or "Scrooge" myself, so I liked the idea of the Spirits coming to visit him and showing him what his life was, is, and had the potential to be. I was glad to see that in the end, it wasn't too late for him to change! 

However; the writing made me feel like I was reading a book in another language. (And before you come at me, yes, I know that it is a classic and written long ago..) There were times where I was reading along and literally felt like I had absolutely zero idea what was going on. I mean overall, I understood what was happening, but it was hard to follow at times. 

I also feel like some of the characters and situations that he was visiting just...didn't flow or make sense? I don't know..maybe I'm just not smart enough to read classics. LOL

Guess I'll have to watch the movie and compare. Or, maybe classics just aren't for me. We'll have to try another and see!

This is another short story in Sookie Stackhouse Series that falls between Book #5 (Dead as a Doornail) and Book #6 (Definitely Dead). While some of the other short-fillers I've read for this series don't necessary have meaning, I do feel that this one does. 

In this short chapter, someone dies and leaves their estate to Sookie.  In the second chapter of Book #6 this is mentioned and had I not read this, I might have been a little confused as to what was actually happening. 

Therefore, I did give this a higher rating since it relates!

I'm not gonna lie, I mostly listened to this because it was an Audiobook that was only about 1.5 hours & I'm desperately trying to complete my goal of 50 books this year! (Whoopsies!)

I *think* this was a Children's/Middle Age short story. It's about a home in a town that is supposedly haunted & a group of teens who end up there as a dare. While they're there, some creepy stuff happens but they're all determined to get to the bottom of a logical explanation. 

Overall, it was a cute short story with a sweet ending that made me smile! If you have a young reader in your life, I think this would be a good story for them if they like haunted houses and mysteries!

This is a quick, witty, and comical memoir written by someone who aside from being a Vegetarian, I think we’d be friends.

Raised in a pretty religious family where he was subjected to the constraints of church and strict parents; Zach Zimmerman talks about his growth and changes he’s made as an adult to be uniquely himself. 

While my family was nowhere as strict as his, there were a lot of things I related to when it comes to struggling with your sexuality and coming to terms that you might be the thing church said you’ll go to hell for. Oh well ;)

I also related to his experience in regards to being present at a family function where not only is your identity an elephant in the room, but also your political stance that differs from almost everyone in your family. 

Nothing philosophical or world-changing here, however, it’s a good account of what it’s like just trying to navigate your life and the changes being an adult brings. 

BOOK FRIENDS - why do I keep subjecting myself to romance in the hopes that it’s going to knock me off my feet when it truthfully just falls flat for me? Will I ever learn?Absolutely not but I like to think I might. But enough of that..let’s talk about the nitty gritty. 

So, first and foremost this has been praised as a re-telling of “When Harry Meets Sally” which I can with 100% certainty say I have never ever watched and after reading this I don’t know that I will. (#sorrynotsorry)

Here we’re following the relationship of Ari - a bisexual Comedian who moved to New York to follow her dreams though they keep seeming to crash around her & Josh - a Chef that is struggling with the expectations of what his Father wanted him to be and what he wants to be. Their first true, face-to-face interaction, is at Ari’s apartment when she finds out her roommate is ‘dating’ Josh (and she’s been sleeping with her roommate, too). Sworn to be mortal enemies, the world has an interesting way of constantly bringing them back together with meet-cute’s. But can they make it work? 

So, I will hand it to the story that the enemies to lovers trope is in full force here and it’s executed fairly well in about the first 25% of the book. The dynamics and banter between Ari and Josh is palpable and I love the small digs they can bring to each other and the comedic relief it brings. 

The next 50% of the book is the necessary building of their relationship - the ups and downs - every time you think they’re headed in a positive direction, they end up at the bottom of the hill again and have to start the climb all over. Truthfully, for me, it just seems like the characters are both genuinely so miserable that it’s almost unbearable. I know that they’re going through things while they’re trying to work on each other - but at some point the self-loathing gets old. And maybe that’s just a personal thing because I generally cannot stand people who ‘Whoa, is me’ constantly but won’t make any effort to freaking change it. 

The last 25% did pick up again and we can tell the story is going to wrap up, but it still seems to take SO SO long for them to get there as a couple and then it just ends. There isn’t a whole lot of resolution or how they fix things, it’s just like “Happily Ever After, The End” and I hate, hate, HATE that. 

So, I definitely think there is a group of people this is for (my wife being one of them) but I am not one of them. 

Surprisingly  enough, I have never watched a single episode of The Gilmore Girls. *gasps* I have however watched Lauren Graham on Parenthood and throughly enjoyed the show and fell in love with her character. So, why wouldn’t I read a collection of personal essays not only written, but told by her via audiobook? 
If anything, it’s made me want to watch Gilmore Girls and check out the hype - though I may end up regretting bingeing another show! 

Aside from just being a really great story to listen to, Lauren touches on some things that are so true to not only herself as an actress in the public eye, but for each and everyone of us ‘normal’ people, too. (And she has an entire chapter where she talks about Betty White..I mean, do you even know me? FRICKIN’ BETTY WHITE!) 

One of my favorite things that she talked about was diet culture and how terrible it is for people and that how we as a society are so desperate to do anything for a quick fix. She also mentions that her 90-something year old Grandmother has not once ever purchased something that was “Organic” or “GMO-free” and she is doing just fine. (Note this isn’t up for discussion, I’m just saying that..it sort of makes sense!)

All and all if you’re a fan of Lauren, I recommend 100%! And if you’re not a fan or don’t know who she is - I still recommend! 

Meh. Thankfully this was a short one otherwise it may have been a DNF for me. No, it WOULD have been a DNF for me. Undoubtably. 

The title and the premise have such potential but it fell incredibly short on the delivery. 

Expecting a thriller/horror book that talked about a sister who was indeed a serial killer, what we actually got was a contemporary novel that was more of a character study on two sisters; one who likes to murder her boyfriends and the other who enables her sister’s murders. 

Then, enter some drama where the serial killer sister, Ayoola starts dating a Doctor where Korede works, and a Doctor with whole she actually fancies. 

In the end, I think they wrap it up with some explanation as to *why* her sister murders her boyfriends but honestly at that point I stopped focusing on the story and just wanted it to end. 

I did enjoy the relationship between the sisters - even if it was toxic - because as an older sister I can understand wanting to protect my sister at all costs. I also did enjoy about maybe the first 25% and some of the satire that was there which again allowed me to hope for a promising story. 

Just wasn’t a vibe for me but maybe it’s your thing. 

"The Once and Future Witches" by Alix Harrow was an adventure that I'm not sure I was ready for nor am I am happy I took it. Let me start by saying, I also understand that I'm probably in the minority here when I say, I didn't really care for this book but can appreciate it just the same.

This is a book that the star-rating kept changing as I read it, and I wasn't sure where it was ultimately settle, but I think I'm confident with the 3-stars I've decided to give it. Let me preface this by saying I bought the book two year's ago; where I tried to read it during Halloween time and I just could not get into it at that time but didn't want to DNF it indefinitely so it went back on the shelf. This year, it fit the one of the prompt's from my TBR Tarot Card pack so I decided this was going to be the year! 

The first time I read it I had got about 86 pages in, but I didn't remember much so I decided to start at the very beginning again. Diving back into the 3 sister's story, I felt a certain type of fire that I didn't have the first time around and was reading with vigor, following along to see what was going to happen next. 

In this story, we're following the three Eastwood sisters: James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna. Taking place in New Salem status post the burning of witches in Old Salem, this town's 'witches' have been pushed back into hiding, just merely humming or singing the tales from their Mother's long ago. Years ago, through a series of unfortunate events they were separated from one another leaving the sisters angry, betrayed, and generally untrusting of the world around them. Agnes and Beatrice were sent away from home at the hands of their abusive Father, leaving Juniper to suffer alone and take comfort with her Grandma Mag's. After their Grandmother passes away, Juniper takes it into her own hands to get rid of her Father and escape Crow Country; landing her in New Salem. Only a few hours after arriving, an act of 'magic' has the three sisters - two who had been unknowingly living in the same town - back together and plotting how to bring Witchcraft back! 

Obviously, they are met with many trials and tribulations but their hope is that they can suffer to pave the way for those who are to come.

So, the first 1/4 of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was getting some necessary background out of the way in order to set up where the story was going to go. Juniper was perhaps my favorite of the sisters - it becomes even more apparent in the end why I felt so strongly for her from the beginning. Was feeling a strong 4-star as I read this.

Then, I hit the middle of the book and for about 50%, this book was sitting at a 1 or 2 star. I found there to be a lot of information that was just unnecessary. Lots of character's coming and going with stories that weren't really relevant, a lot of "mayhem" happening but we weren't privy to the mayhem only the boring bits in between that was all the same. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, Agnes and Beatrice were just so incredibly boring to me. I literally could not have cared less about their storylines; they were basically there because 3 sisters were needed..it was just my opinion that so many fine details about non-important things were woven into the story where there could have been opportunities for building the sister's character. I mean, in the end, the things that Juniper does for her sister's and the fact these two are just ungrateful wenches. UGH. Truthfully, at one point around the 375 page mark, I didn't even know if I was going to finish the book and thought that maybe this time it would be a permanent DNF. I didn't find myself wanting to pick it up and keep reading and when I did, I really didn't care what was happening. 

But, I persisted, forcing myself to power through the last 1/4 of the book - and though I can't say "I'm glad" I read it, I am happy that the ending had some thrilling storyline that was what this book needed after 200 pages of nothing to bring it up to the final 3-stars I think it's worthy of. I can't go into too much detail of the end without spoiling things, but just know that Juniper is the badass that I knew she could be throughout and I respect the choices that she made to protect the people she loved and cared about. 

If you look at the book from the family perspective and the perspective of these three sisters who really loved each other and who were willing to go to great lengths to protect each other, easily a 5-star book at the surface level. When you dive a little deeper and get into the nuts and bolts and the nitty-gritty, it's just flat. It's just not good to me. There are just so many missed opportunities for storyline that could have been exciting and riveting and chaos in the city with witches' running amuck & instead we were watching them go to a different home every Chapter and watching them do the same thing over and over again. I mean the Chapter literally would state like "Juniper is out causing mayhem" and instead of knowing what she was up to we're watching the other two sisters sit at home and sulk about their lives while Belladonna writes stories and pines after a woman that is just not worthy of her love to be honest and Agnes feels bad about her life. Ok, I'll quit rambling.

So, all in all. Solid 3-star. I don't love it nor hate it. Read it for yourselves and let me know what you think! 

Friends..this is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I just don't know if Grady Hendrix is for me. I want to like him. Like, I want to get on this bandwagon and ride it but..*sighs*. 

My second reading experience with Grady Hendrix was 'Horrostor'; a story where the company Orsk is experiencing some shady things at night when the lights go out and the store is empty. Basil, a pretentious dillweed of a manager convinces two employees, RuthAnne and Amy to stay on overnight and work an 'under the table' shift to get to the bottom of things. Amy, short on cash and needing to pay her rent, and RuthAnne, the 'grandmotherly' employee that everyone loves and never tells to company 'NO' agree, and together the three of them are in for a night of suspense. 

In their search of the floor just after their shift starts, they run into two other employee's Trinity and Matt who snuck in and are looking for 'ghosts' so that they can be on television as Paranormal Investigators. Apparently Orsk was built over some horrible penitentiary and chaos ensues. 

I knew about 1/3 into the book that I wasn't going to like it, but I persisted, breaking my - DNF if I'm not vibing with it rule - because I wanted to know the outcome. By the end of the story, I wasn't cheering for a single customer and was really hopeful that the store was just going to gobble them up and no one would escape. #sorrynotsorry

So, maybe it was just this story. And while I understand this was suppose to be a Horror Parody, making fun of IKEA, I just could not get into it. While the premise was interesting enough and I was exited to see what sort of scary things could take place in a big warehouse, it just wasn't for me.

So, yeah..I'm going to stop at that.