shereadytoread's Reviews (806)

A sapphic slasher that packs a punch in a (relatively) short novel. This book kicks off from the start and has that great dread build of a slasher. As the reveals start to happen you're left trying to figure out who will survive. I was not a fan of all the twists, but I think overall the story came together well. It was fast-paced and action packed once things get going. 

This book was a wild ride. There is a clear homage to horror films which was a bit heavy handed at times, but it definitely serves a purpose in the story. This was a bit more of a slow burn than I expected with slasher horror but once it takes off, it definitely goes from 0 to 100. The narrator is a bit unreliable as at times the readers is not sure what is reality and what is her fantasy, but it all comes together in an interesting way. As always SGJ is a master of atmosphere, really setting the community feel and he uses the woods/forest in a great way. 

I enjoyed this book. A main character that is unlikeable to the point that most readers hate her, is difficult to pull off because you still have to be invested. Wow June's rationalizations, cognitive dissonance and straight up lies kept me pretty interested. You want to see her taken down and you wonder how it will happen. 

I think this book stumbled a bit for me too long because we spend a bit of time in June's repeating thoughts. A lot of the publishing insight I think is a little obvious if you spend even a moderate amount of time in any online book community but I think the "peek behind the scenes" aspects were still fun. 

R. F. Kuang certainly has a way of keeping me interested in genres/books that are pretty far outside my wheelhouse. 

This is a novella with a full story that doesn't waste a single page. The fantasy elements blend into the noir seamlessly, providing a murder mystery, magical fantasy and love story in one. I absolutely loved how the relationships are revealed over the story, and the plot twists are pretty well woven into a shorter story. 

This is a book that you can definitely learn a little about a lot of topics of Judaism and folklore. I found the characters intriguing but I felt like the plot bloated a bit in the middle and had filler that wasn't really useful to the story. Overall I enjoyed it.

TWs: Antisemitism 

This book drew me in almost immediately. You have an out of place teen with an out of place idea. I enjoyed the main character! Even though she made some less than moral choices at times, you really understand where she is coming from. I liked the depth of her background story and her "sidekick" had an interesting mysterious backstory as well. This was a 5 star read until the very end. It wasn't super predictable but it did hinge on the MC not paying attention to pretty glaring detail which was out of place with the rest of the story. It felt a little cheap to me. Otherwise a great read.

This book was a great YA romance with a lot of fun tropes along the way. Both main characters are lovable and you really want it to work out for them! I really enjoyed the cultural history that is added into this book and finding out the importance and meanings behind different dishes and activities. Both of the background characters have their own personal conflicts and issues to overcome. 

This is a good overview of women in horror. Although it took me a little while to get use to the organization of the book. Instead of a chronological organization, it's split into topics and each chapter dives into how women are reflected in that topic in both horror and society. There are not many deep dives into specific films but rather more general connections of films and themes to aspects of history and society. 

This book was an okay read. I really enjoyed the journey of the main character and the inclusion of generational differences and pressures associated with living up to cultural expectations. But this book is a romance and I didn't care about the romance. It was nice enough but I wasn't invested in it at all. The romance seemed like a secondary plot and was only present for about 1/4 of the entire story.