Ok I found this book from a tiktok trend where you type in "book" and the the first book that comes up is algorithmically aligned with you and you'd probably like it. This was my book. 

When I started it, I thought 'How strange Tiktok aligned me with this book,' because it was ruthless and violent and mean. I do read those kind of books and I'm not sure how Tiktok knew that. I was kind of bored though - after Cows, I feel like violence for the sake of violence (especially against women, perpetrated by a man) is boring. Change the record. I'm tired of that. What an uninspired tale. But this book pulled out of the lurch! The guy was a piece of shit for awhile but, just like in real life, sometimes people change. 

He got sober. He stopped inflicting senseless violence against women. He moved and started over. He is now a workaholic. He stays focused. He goes to AA. I was rooting for him. Which is why the 2nd half was such a shock. He is slowly duped in a karmic twist, just like he describes in Saving Private Ryan. Just because he's changed doesn't mean everyone around him is benevolently rooting for him, or just quietly ignoring him. No he attracted another psychopath with his pheromones or wounded puppy archetype. This was pretty good! I was really wondering where it would end, and I found the ending satisfying. I would watch a movie of this!

I made a Google doc with the chapter 23s cheat sheets to refer back to at work. I also loved the axioshq smart brevity tool - you can upload a piece of writing and it will smart brevity-fy it with suggestions. 

I was geared up to find this mediocre. But it was really cute. I found it very sweet! Liz was a fun main character. I think the characters were nuanced enough. I had a good sense of Liz's healing from her internal monologue and her actions. I could feel her grief; her whole family and community experienced this loss in different ways and I appreciated the way the author told that story. I would chuckle at parts and also tear up at others. I thought it was a bit prudish for high schoolers, I was a bit more sexualized than the characters but for a book aimed at s younger audience, I let it slide! 

This was boring. Something about the story never really held my interest. I didn't like the audio narrator, one male voice doing all the characters. As I filled out the review, I think the character depth was missing for me. I didn't think the characters were faceted. 

Two people I think would enjoy this book in my life are 

1. A recruiter 
2. A pro choice friend living in SF 


I would read more by this author. I liked the pacing and the plot. The atmosphere did a good job of feeling suffocating and artificial. Her friendships felt possibly rooted in reality for someone in that lifestyle. For someone working in tech, this felt omniscient at times, especially when Cassie can't find a moment's peace in the office, even in the bathroom.  And hey, we have the same name, this Cassie in tech feels that Cassie's pain. 

If I rated the book up to 55%, it'd be a lot closer to 5 stars. After that point, I felt like the book could've ended several times. There were just too many gotchas and surprises. I didn't find myself attached to the ancillary characters but I did connect with Annie. 

After Annie's escape, I don't think we needed to keep exploring the backstory of how The Freak obtained her. I was perfectly happy knowing he got his justice and wouldn't hurt anyone else. I suspected the mom because of their dynamic but yeah the plot just kind of ran amock with Annie banging Gary, Luke and Christina banging while she was gone, and her uncle or whoever in prison meeting other criminals. The last 25-50% dragged for me, I was getting fatigued being thrown more plot points.

I liked this book and will go onto #2 (Exodus) but I do think her dialogue is a bit fake. The dramatic discussions between characters didn't ring true to me, but maybe I can't remember what it's like being 19. I liked the role of music in the book and discovered a new song, K by Cigarettes After Sex. I liked that this was a bit deeper and complex than your average romance. I feel like the average romance I read is Debbie Macomber-esque, fairly clean, Puritanical, straight-line strangers to matrimony, and simple. These characters had more depth, characteristic-wise, but the same weird hangups DM MCs usually have, where the female kind of spins out over something small (how could he ever accept me when he finds out I like to crochet or some shit) and the male is kind of distant and broody. I liked that these characters weren't all good or all bad. 

I honestly think Dom and Sean seem a bit toxic but it was still a fun romp, and I'll keep going to see more about The Frenchman, Horner Industries, and the Ravenhood. 

I heard about this book from uncarley. I knew the premise/spoiler going into it but that really made me want to read it. It is a very tense act 1 and a reeling/untangling act 2. 

I found the characters interesting. It reminded me of Search Party, you have these vapid-ish characters slogging along, doing the least, and then something happens that snaps everyone into the present moment and we see the characters process something deeper than their every day lives. Loved the layout/pacing/organization of the story (act 1 v act 2) and the conversations of the characters. I wish we could have gotten more growth from the characters (this feels mainly plot driven) but maybe that's the point: when a deep thing happens to shallow people, some of them still remain shallow. 

As an aside, I really like when writers (and playwrights) mention music. I put on Bach while I read this, it's a very quick read, I probably read it in the amount of the Gloria section of Bach's Mass in B Minor and that felt orchestrated and I appreciated that. 

STRONG START TO 2025! 

One of my 2025 goals is to source more things for myself and stop letting the general pop make my recommendations. So I found this book in a comments section of what else is like Demon Copperhead. 

This book reminded me of many books I enjoyed, the most recent of which is in fact Demon Copperhead. I also got vibes of The Jungle (extreme capitalism and poverty), Grapes of Wrath (dust bowl Hoovervilles), & The Goldfinch. The revival also reminded me of the show Carnivale. It's a fraught tale of two brothers and their misfit friends enduring hell at an Indian School in Lincoln, Neb in the 1920s. 

I was rooting for these characters and I enjoyed the scenery changes where we kept getting fresh characters and new plot points. I loved Odie's way to storytelling and how the kids had to trust their instincts about whether someone was a friend or foe. It really was a good blend of plot and character development. 

I laughed at the acknowledgements when he thanked Caribou saying this book wouldn't be possible without them 🤣 

A deserved 5 star book if you liked any of the above mentioned books. I also tagged it as a doorstopper even though it was "only" 450 pages. There was an afterword, then acknowledgments, then discussion questions and then a preview of another book so I'm counting it.