sarai0410's Reviews (404)

I really appreciated Melville's discussion on how American cemeteries demonstrate its history and showcase, in many ways, the dark parts of the country's past; with a large focus on the historical significance of cemeteries for marginalized communities. I found the author's viewpoints refreshing and the storytelling aspect, where he inserted of his experiences visiting each cemetery, interesting. 

I love Maki but I also miss understanding what is going on. 

Dreadful is quite a fun time - humorous, cozy, and silly, I enjoyed watching our MC, Gav, stumbling his way through having lost his memory in the middle of a world-ending plot orchestrated by an evil wizard, with him as an accomplice (at least his former self, Gavrax).

It's a silly goofy time and definitely not something to take seriously - there are conveniences in the plot that are just right for this type of fantasy. 

This was a favorite after reading it in high school and reading it again 16 years later, it's still a favorite. 

While it took me a long time to get into the story - finally snagged my attention around page 170 - I ended up enjoying this more than I was expecting considering its rocky start (Jimmy's written accent is...rough and almost made me DNF). 

This was wild (ha, get it?). Ernshaw knows how to create atmosphere and build tension slowly through her characters and their environment. There were bits of the plot that I found predictable, but honestly, I'm not one to care about that as long as it is still done well. I do wish we got a little more of one particular element -

the ability that Travis has in Part One

, but it makes sense why we didn't get a ton of it. 

WOW - that was a real of a read. Crime fiction is not my usual genre and after the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure if this was going to be the book for me due to the topics it was going to cover, but I decided to keep going as I really wanted to try something outside my comfort zone, and I am so glad I did! All the Sinners Bleed is gritty and compelling with an addictive writing style, and hits on hard subjects in a manner where I just couldn't put it done. 

As someone petrified of storms and tornadoes, this was hot 🔥

I will never tire of the way Kayla writes her characters - confident plus size women and hot men that are ready to worship them 👏 

I can see why people love this book...unfortunately, I just found it to be mediocre for 85% of the book. The story was interesting and the characters were fun but really don't get to experience any of that to it's fullest potential because the writing style is so discombobulated - too many comparisons, dialogue was choppy and couldn't always tell who was speaking, and it felt like the story was going nowhere until it finally went somewhere, and then it was like a race to the finish.

I will say, despite the strange writing style that I just couldn't vibe with, the author did have some bangers for quotes and I did finally start to feel something for the characters at around page 315 (of 339..) 

I had a good time with this. The setting was very atmospheric and I enjoyed the characters - especially Louis and Margaret's relationship as they became closer. Unfortunately, there were a couple of things that rubbed me the wrong way in the end, mostly to do with the way the story wrapped up: 

Margaret and Paul formed quite a bond at Hartwood Hall; Paul was attentive, sweet, helpful, loved his job despite the hardships, and was open to the fact that his employer was with a woman - in the 1800s (and now..) a man like this is a keeper. In the end though, Margaret threw him to the side and determined she 'wasn't really in love' with him after the miscarriage, and left him all alone after deciding to run away with her employers. Within the span of a day, Paul lost someone he loved, a child he didn't know he could have, his job, AND his home. I can't help but feel terribly for him and feel that Margaret was too cold with him.

The ending and big reveal felt a little rushed in the end. I am looking forward to reading another of Lumsden's book in the future because the writing overall is quite good.