Her worst book yet? At least with her other ones I was able to crack a smile at the craziness of it all, but this one I just kept getting more angry. Too repetitive and the twist (predictable like always) was just not satisfying enough even in a "yeah knew it" kind of way. McFadden these newer books ... are you losing your spark?

Yes ... I already have my next McFadden book on hold at the library don't worry.

Cool premise, boring execution. I think this would have been suited for a much more mixed media approach instead of just interviews. A lot of stuff happens right off the bat that for the last 50% of the book nothing is really all that shocking or interesting. The interviews also start to take on the same tone after a while. Not much else to say about this honestly.

Much better than the other Michaelides book I read (The Fury (?)), but still not much better in the long run. I will say that I was able to get through this much easier despite still hating the narrator. I gotta give it to Michaelides, he has a special talent with writing some of the most insufferable male narrators possible! This whole story basically just felt like filler to lead up to the big "twist" and all the characters failed to feel remotely real in any regard. 

I think if you want a silly book to pass the time ... pick up a Freida McFadden book instead. 

There are definitely things about this book that went over my head because I'm not that well informed about Japanese culture. However, I can see how their declining birth rates and the value they place on conformity shaped the story. Coming at it with a more American point of view, I can't help but think about, what feels like to me, the increasing puritan view that younger people online seem to take. I couldn't stop thinking about what a world would be like if these increasingly censored thoughts about sex were allowed to shape the future and just how far they would go to create true "purity". 

Overall I didn't hate this, but it lacked the charm of Convenience Store Woman (the only other Murata work I've read so far). I wish it was even shorter than it was, if just to avoid how repetitive it began to sound. One last note to add: with the way that sex is covered throughout this whole book was that ending really a surprise at all?

Oh my god was this so boring! This was disappointing because it started off really good and I didn't mind the tone of the main character so much. However, it so quickly becomes stagnant and until about 50% there is basically nothing that happens except some flashbacks and constant ramblings about being a "gifted" kid with nothing to show for it. When things do start to happen I had already lost all interest in this story and I was just ready for it to be over it. The twist is no shock at all and the romance felt so flat. All the conversations about wealth inequality felt surface level and I wish instead this book had just focused on the flaws of the characters without trying to make a commentary on everything else. Filled with endless descriptions of things that added nothing to the story. 

If this puts me in a reading slump I might actually cry. 

Going in I had a feeling this wasn't going to be a book I was going to like and I just had my feelings confirmed. I think I'm bored of the dom/sub stereotype with a tall, handsome man and a stressed, overworked woman. I want something nontraditional! I want the short, dorky femme domming the shit out of some tall, burly guy. Fuck it! Anyway, yeah this was lame lmao I just could not care at all about anything that these characters were going through and it all felt so forced. Ali Hazelwood ... might we never meet again. (This is a lie I'm gonna try and read her Bride book.) 

This has been on my physical TBR for so long I don't recall what initially made me buy this book. I think the premise is interesting and something that actually makes my skin crawl, the inevitable loss of water in California. However, this was such a bore to get through and it just felt like for so much of the opening nothing was happening that was interesting enough. Also the characters are so completely unlikable I can't excuse it just because they're going through some kind of hardship. Eventually it got to a point where I knew I was gonna rate this horribly and I have too many other books calling my name. 

I wish I had liked this book more than I did. I felt that there were a lot of topics covered that I could relate to, such as being ashamed of where you come from, your parents, and challenges of poverty that you just cannot control. It also explored the challenges of refusing to come of age until you have no other choice but to accept it. 

The parts I struggled with this book were mainly that it felt too bogged down by unnecessary, repetitive scenes of partying and drugs. I thought that, although beautiful, the writing style chose to focus too much on telling us what the characters were feeling instead of showing us through conversations. I read someone state that it felt like as the reader I was ready to move on, but Nila was stuck in this almost endless loop. I can also see the other side of it, that even when we are ready for others to move on, they themselves cannot. Also one small gripe I have with this, is that it's labeled LGBTQ+ and I was interesting in reading how she would navigate this, but it's pretty much summed up in one chapter only to be brought up again momentarily at the very end. 

I think that we spend too much time exploring the turmoil of Nila's coming of age, but not enough time getting to enjoy her actually getting to enjoy the start of her life after. I was felt feeling overall disappointed and just glad it's over. 

I will start off by saying that I did DNF the titular story, Stag Dance. However, my rating is based on the rest of the stories which I did finish and enjoyed.

I couldn't get into Stag Dance no matter how hard I tried and all the jargon pertaining to lumberjacks kept making it harder. It felt as if the story just kept dragging on so I had to move on. With that being said, I did really enjoy the other stories. I think Peters does a great job of taking a story and putting just enough characterization and background to deliver a quick, concise, and decently impactful story. I'm really curious to read Detransition, Baby and see how she's able to translate a story into longer form. 

I cannot stop thinking about this book at random times throughout my day and for that I'm rating it higher than I was going to initially. I found myself captivated by the first part of this story and the way Thompson described being a teenager. We really get a feel for these characters and the type of adults that they are going to grow up to be. I also selfishly wish we had spent the whole book just in this part alone. 

The second part is where I got lost a little and struggled to lose myself in the story again. The introduced of Theron's girlfriend, Lou, unfortunately felt underdeveloped and as if she was merely a placeholder instead of a real character. The one thing I really loved about this part of the book was the way that Thompson describes the feeling of missing someone who greatly shaped parts of who you are. There is such a visceral longing embedded within the words of this story that really spoke to the experience of just being alive and having to move on from people. 

And even though I knew the ending from the synopsis, it didn't fail to hurt. I keep coming back to these characters and the way they expressed their love for one another. The way they also kept themselves from taking more of what they wanted from one another. And this book also made me spiral into a Faye Webster binge. I cannot listen to Jonny and Jonny (Reprise) without feeling like I'm back in this book.